Dragon Across the Multiverse (Si-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 40: A Princess and an Elf

Blinking at the familiar voice, Alexia turned in my direction, completely ignoring Cid, who was currently staring at me with wide eyes, clearly recognizing me, before quickly schooling his features back into his usual mob persona.

“A-Akari-kun!? What are you doing here?” Alexia asked, emotion clearly visible in both her voice and expression, a stark contrast to the cold persona she cultivated at school as she took a few steps toward me.

“Hehehe, isn’t that obvious?” I replied teasingly with a smile. “I came to see you, of course. It’s been a while since our last meeting.”

I then spread my arms and raised an eyebrow, causing her to blush slightly as she immediately realized what I was implying.

“Now then, doesn’t your wonderful friend and senpai deserve a welcoming hug?”

Huffing in embarrassment as her cheeks reddened further, Alexia did her best to act as if she wasn’t interested at all. Unfortunately for her, her body betrayed her as she walked forward until she was within hugging distance, though she stubbornly refused to take that final step like the typical tsundere she was.

Shaking my head at her antics, I stepped forward myself and met her halfway, pulling her into a warm embrace. She didn’t resist at all and even rested her head against my shoulder.

“Other than growing truly beautiful, you haven’t changed a bit, huh? My little tsundere,” I whispered teasingly into her ear.

She shivered slightly and buried her face deeper into my chest.

“S-Shut up! You disappear for two years and the first thing you do when we reunite is insult me? You stupid jerk! You haven’t changed at all either,” Alexia muttered into my chest in what sounded like anger, though the tight grip she had on my uniform betrayed her true feelings.

Noticing we were starting to draw attention from students still lingering around campus, I turned my head toward Cid, who was trying to sneak away unnoticed, and smirked slightly.

“By the way, Alexia, was I interrupting something? That guy looked like he was waiting for a response from you,” I asked as I pulled away and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

Blinking in confusion as if she had genuinely forgotten about him, Alexia widened her eyes in brief panic before quickly composing herself.

“D-Did you see everything?” she asked nervously, looking away while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly mortified at the thought of me witnessing that.

“Nope. I came in right at the end when he had his hand extended toward you,” I replied with a small shake of my head, deciding to lie a little.

She sighed in visible relief.

“That was just some nobody who wanted to ask me out,” Alexia said with a tired huff as she turned slightly, and we both saw Cid freeze when our gazes landed on him. Mine was amused. Alexia’s was completely blank.

“It happens all the time, really. I was just about to reject him when you showed up.”

Then she raised her voice slightly, making sure Cid could hear her.

“You heard that, right? I’m not interested, so please don’t bother me or speak to me again.”

Cid stiffened dramatically as if heartbroken, slumping forward before walking away toward his friends, who were waiting behind a nearby tree.

However, I did catch him glancing at me for a brief moment before leaving.

I responded with a smirk.

I’m going to enjoy making your life hell for the remainder of my stay here.

My thoughts about trolling Cid were interrupted when I felt Alexia hook her arm around mine and begin leading me away.

“Since I haven’t seen you in two years, you don’t mind treating your poor student and kohai to a nice meal, right? There’s a brand new company that opened recently that sells all sorts of things, and I wanted to check it out,” Alexia said with a cheerful bounce in her step.

“You just want to abuse your poor senpai’s wallet, don’t you?” I accused with a mocking glare.

Alexia ignored it completely, adopting a perfectly innocent expression.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Akari-kun~ This is simply an outing to catch up after all,” she said sweetly, though the mischievous gleam in her red eyes betrayed her.

“Haa, fine, fine. Just know that we’re having a spar later, and I expect to see how much you’ve improved since last time,” I warned teasingly.

Alexia paled slightly.

“Aha-hahaha… what was that, Akari-kun? I didn’t quite catch that. Come, we must hurry if we want to be back before it’s too late,” she said quickly, attempting to change the subject as she increased her pace, dragging me along.

‘Ha. That’s what you get for trying to outsmart the master,’ I thought triumphantly.

=====

Several Hours Later

Standing across from Alexia, who was lying on her back and panting in exhaustion after our brief spar had ended, I looked down at her proudly, impressed by how far she had come through her own efforts.

Just like she wanted, we had gone to Mitsugoshi, a company run by Luna, Gamma, where Alexia did her best to run my wallet dry by forcing me to pay for a bunch of things she found interesting.

I had to pretend not to recognize the workers there, since they were all part of Haru, but thankfully I managed to keep up the act.

Then, just as Alexia was attempting to return to her dorm, clearly trying to avoid what she knew was coming next, I grabbed her shoulder with an evil grin and forced her to draw her sword.

And thus here we were.

With me having soundly beaten Alexia black and blue as she groaned on the ground.

“Haah… you haven’t changed a bit, you jerk,” Alexia complained irritably. “Still willing to beat a beautiful girl like me like it’s no big deal.”

“Hahaha, of course. How else would I know how much you’ve improved?” I replied with an amused laugh as I willed my practice sword to disappear.

Walking over to her, I held out my hand.

“High Heal.”

My hand glowed gold for a moment, and in the next instant Alexia’s bruises and exhaustion vanished as the same golden light enveloped her body.

She blinked in mild surprise.

Normally that might have shocked her, but during the time I spent training both her and Iris, I had pulled similar tricks often enough that she was used to me suddenly using strange abilities.

Extending my hand toward her again, I gave her a genuine smile.

“Just as I expected, you’ve really gotten much stronger, Alexia. The you now compared to the small girl I first met are worlds apart. As you are now, I have no doubt you have a very real chance of defeating your sister.”

Blushing at my words, Alexia turned her head away as she shyly grabbed my hand and allowed me to pull her to her feet.

“You’re just saying that. Besides, this is all thanks to your teaching,” she muttered softly.

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m telling the truth.”

Smiling wider, I rubbed her head.

Alexia immediately pouted and swatted my hand away.

“S-Stop treating me like a kid, damn it! I’m not the same girl you knew back then who looked up to you,” she declared, her blush deepening until even the tips of her ears turned red.

Still, she met my gaze with determination.

“Someday, I’ll even surpass both you and my sister.”

Chuckling at that, I nodded, deciding not to mention just how arduous that task would actually be, and instead encouraged her.

“I’ll be waiting then. Now come on, let me walk you to your dorm room,” I offered, extending my hand.

Huffing cutely but looking pleased, Alexia took my hand and we started walking back toward the academy.

“By the way, Akari-kun. I forgot to ask earlier, but why are you wearing our academy uniform? Did you steal one so you could blend in?” she asked, giving me a once-over.

“You just noticed that?” I replied with a raised eyebrow.

She scowled and elbowed me in the ribs, which only made me laugh.

“I bet you were too distracted checking out how handsome I’ve become, huh?” I teased.

That earned me another elbow, this one with much more force, as she turned away with a red face.

“A-As if I would do that! Besides, don’t think I didn’t notice your wandering eyes toward my breasts or butt throughout our dat—ahem—outing. You’re just lucky I was in a generous mood after seeing you again, so I decided to let it go this time,” she rambled cutely, refusing to look at me.

“Sure, sure,” I said teasingly as I pulled her into a side hug.

She squeaked in surprise before punching me in the kidney, causing me to chuckle again.

‘What is it with tsunderes and always resorting to violence when they’re embarrassed?’ I wondered with an amused shake of my head.

“Anyway, to answer your question, I actually enrolled in the academy and I’m currently a second-year student. So don’t forget to call me senpai from now on~,” I revealed with a grin.

Looking up at me, Alexia appeared surprised before a smile slowly formed on her lips.

“If that’s the case… then I have a huge favor to ask of you~,” she said quickly, looking both excited and slightly shy judging by the small blush on her cheeks.

“Hoh? What is it?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

Alexia grew even more bashful and started playing with her hair with one hand.

“So… you remember how I told you about the jerk I’m currently betrothed to, right?”

“Yes. Go on,” I replied with a nod, already having a good idea where this was heading but wanting to hear it from her directly.

“I-I was hoping you could take the role of my b-boyfriend for a while… until I can convince my father to break the engagement,” Alexia finally admitted, stuttering adorably as her blush spread across her entire face.

Smiling widely, I came to a stop and turned to face her. Seeing my sudden movement, Alexia immediately ducked her head and stared down at the ground.

“Hmm… I might be inclined to agree,” I said with a small grin, “but only if you ask me properly~.”

Alexia grew even more embarrassed, letting out a stream of incomprehensible muttering, several of which sounded suspiciously like curses directed at me.

I simply waited patiently.

Eventually, Alexia took a deep breath as if gathering her courage. When she finally looked up at me, her eyes were slightly watery and her blush was as red as her eyes.

“I-I can’t believe you’re actually making me do this,” she muttered, glaring at me without any real heat.

Taking another breath, she spoke.

“A-Akari-kun… w-would you please go out with me?”

At her honest confession, my teasing expression softened, replaced with the gentle smile I reserved only for my lovers.

Alexia’s blush deepened all the way down her neck.

“I would love to, Alexia,” I replied softly.

Before she could react, I leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, just shy of her lips.

She froze completely as I pulled back with a satisfied smile.

“There. Now it’s official~.”

Seeing that she was still out of it, I shook my head and gently led her forward as we continued walking, Alexia automatically following my lead.

When she finally came back to her senses a few moments later, two things happened.

First, she drew her arm back and punched me as hard as she could in the stomach. Then she huffed cutely while looking away to the side, sneakily intertwining our fingers while I was still holding my stomach in a show of pain.

“You jerk… you better take responsibility for this,” Alexia muttered quietly, still refusing to look me in the face while tightening her grip on my hand.

Shaking my head at her cute antics, I stopped pretending her hit hurt and simply smiled and pulled her a little closer, tightening my own grip in response as we finally reached the academy.

Ignoring all the attention we were receiving from the other students, we continued walking in comfortable silence.

When we reached her dorm room, we came to a stop. I looked down at the platinum-haired princess, curious about what she would do since she still had a rather firm hold on my hand.

Letting out a small sigh, Alexia finally released my hand and took a step toward her door before pausing.

She stood there for several seconds.

Then, suddenly turning around with a bright red face, she rose onto her tiptoes and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek before quickly pulling away and whispering a few words.

“See you tomorrow, Akari-kun~”

With that, she hurriedly opened the door and slammed it shut behind her, leaving me standing outside with my hand on my cheek.

‘I must say… I didn’t expect her to be so bold. Even if she’s the more confident one between her and Iris,’ I thought in amusement.

Turning around, I headed toward my own dorm room, which, thanks to a little mind magic again, happened to be one of the nicest rooms in the academy.

Now I’m curious how Iris will react compared to her sister at my return.

It only took a few minutes before I reached my room. After stepping inside and properly locking the door behind me, I calmly walked toward the figure standing by the window overlooking the academy and hugged her from behind around the waist.

“Did I make you wait too long, Liriel?” I whispered against her long elven ear, making her shiver.

“Not at all. I just arrived myself,” Liriel—Alpha—whispered back, a soft blush on her cheeks as she looked both embarrassed and extremely pleased at the current situation. She was wearing a copy of the female uniform probably having stolen one somewhere and copied it with her Shroud.

“Good,” I said simply before gently kissing her cheek.

Her blush deepened all the way to the tips of her ears as she placed her hands over mine, resting on her stomach, as if trying to keep them there.

“You know, I never got the chance to thank you for working so hard and growing Haru to the extent it has,” I continued softly, resting my chin on her shoulder as I looked out the window at the stars already shining in the night sky.

“I have no doubt it wouldn’t have grown nearly as much without you leading it.”

“You give me too much credit,” Liriel said softly as she leaned further back into my embrace, settling comfortably against me. “Without your guidance, none of this would have been possible.”

“I’m sure you would have done just fine without me. You’re extremely capable in many fields, and that’s one of the reasons I trust you so much and didn’t mind leaving you in charge while I was away in another world,” I replied with a small shake of my head as I tightened my embrace.

“So have more confidence in yourself, Liriel. You’re a rare treasure that I’m lucky to have.”

My words caused her to blush as she turned her head slightly away.

“T-Thank you,” Liriel muttered softly, clearly touched.

“That’s why I want to reward you. If there’s anything you want, and it’s within my power to grant it, then name it, and it will be yours,” I said gently, removing one hand from her stomach and lifting her chin with my finger until we were face to face.

“T-There’s no need to—”

Liriel tried to protest, but I gently silenced her by placing a finger against her soft lips.

“None of that. I want to reward you, so I will. Now tell me, what do you want?” I asked quietly.

Her blue-violet eyes shimmered with emotion as she gazed back at me, a blush spreading across her cheeks. For a moment, we simply looked into each other’s eyes before Liriel shyly turned her face slightly aside, the color on her cheeks visible even in the dim light of the room.

“If that’s the case… then I—I want you to look at me as a woman, not just another subordinate,” Liriel murmured, as if it had taken all her courage to say the words aloud.

Smiling gently, I once again lifted her chin before shifting our positions so we stood directly face to face.

Then I leaned down and kissed her.

She gasped softly in surprise before quickly closing her eyes and leaning into the kiss.

After a few seconds, I slowly pulled away and was greeted by the sight of Liriel looking up at me with a radiant smile, tears of happiness running down her cheeks.

I wiped them away with my thumb.

“Granted,” I murmured softly before stealing another brief kiss.

“As of now, you belong to me, Liriel, and no one else. As my lover… and the future mother of my children.”

My possessive declaration made her shiver slightly in my arms.

“Yes…” Liriel answered immediately, nodding softly as another tear slipped down her cheek. “Nothing would make me happier.”

After giving her one more gentle kiss, I finally stepped back.

“Excellent. Now, before we get too carried away, how about we deal with the pest in the library? After that, I expect you to join me in bed for some rest,” I added with a small grin.

At my words, Liriel’s expression returned to its usual composed professionalism, though the smile still lingered on her lips refusing to leave.

“Of course.”