"Take care of yourselves, okay?" Vera said as she placed her left hand on Lux's shoulder, and patted Eiko's head with her right. "Visit me often."
"We will be careful, Grandma," Lux replied. "Please, take care of yourself as well."
"I love Manma!" Eiko stated, which made Vera smile. Vera kissed her adopted great granddaughter's head, causing the latter to giggle.
After looking at the father and daughter pair, Vera reluctantly stepped back. Whenever Lux returned to Elysium, she would feel worried about him. However, the red-headed teenager made sure to come home as much as he could, and each of his stays lasted for a few days before he left again.
Also, Lux would show her his Soul Book each time, just like a student who would show their parents their report cards, so they could see how well they were doing. The Half-Elf wanted to assure his grandma that she didn't need to worry about his safety in the Beginner's Zone because he was getting strong.
Since Vera already knew the extent of Lux's progress, her worries diminished a bit. But, just like a doting parent, she still felt sad whenever the two of them parted. After taking care of him for over sixteen years, the old lady knew that Lux had to take the path he had chosen on his own.
"Don't worry, Grandma. We will return safely," Lux said after seeing the worried expression that Vera wasn't able to hide as she looked at him.
Vera nodded. "I will be waiting for the two of you to return. May the Gods watch over the two of you."
Lux smiled as he placed his right hand over his chest.
"Open! Heaven's Gate!"
—----
Eiko, who had claimed the top of Lux's head as her nest, looked at her surroundings with great curiosity.
As the Half-Elf strolled through Leaf Village, several Dwarfs greeted him, while others gave him a brief nod as he passed through them. After defeating the Abomination, the reputation points that he gained after finishing his quest made the locals of Leaf Village treat him as a friend.
The little Slime on his head also caught the attention of some Dwarf children. Most of them would often look at Eiko with great curiosity as the latter walked alongside Lux.
It was at that moment when he heard a familiar voice calling out to him in the distance.
"Big Brother!"
Lux glanced at the balcony of the tavern he usually went to with Colette and saw the adorable little Dwarf waving at him.
He also saw Helen, Andy, Axel, as well as the Simp, Matty, who was looking at him with an annoyed expression.
Lux waved back as he walked towards the tavern where his friends were at. Today was the tenth day since they last saw each other. They were also planning to go to the Stronghold of Norria later in the afternoon.
The red-headed teenager still had the special permits that Boreas had given him to gain access to the checkpoints that they would be passing through along the way.
"What took you so long?"
That was the first thing that Matty asked when Lux joined their table. "We've been waiting for two hours already."
"Sorry, I was delayed a bit because I had breakfast with Grandma," Lux replied.
Matty clicked his tongue but didn't say anything else. Andy and Axel greeted Lux in a friendly manner, while Colette and Helen looked at the Blue Slime on Lux's head with curious gazes. Seeing the two girls' reaction, the Half-Elf decided to introduce Eiko to them.
"Everyone, this is my baby monster, Eiko," Lux said with a smile. "Eiko, they are your Big Sis Colette and Helen. These are your Big Brothers Andy, and Axel, and that Dwarf over there, just call him Simp."
Matty rolled his eyes, before drinking the ale in his mug. He was not interested in whatever the baby Slime called him because he didn't care about its existence.
"Sis!" Eiko said as she crawled down from Lux's head towards the table.
She stopped in front of Colette and looked up at her with innocent eyes, which melted the little Dwarf's heart.
"No good, I may not be able to kill Slimes anymore," Colette said as she lightly poked Eiko's cheeks, making the baby Slime giggle.
"Eiko, do you like pancakes? You can have some of mine," Helen commented as she used her fork to feed Eiko the pancake on her plate.
Eiko moved towards Helen's location and opened her mouth, allowing Helen to feed her.
"Is it good?" Helen asked.
"Un!" Eiko nodded happily, which prompted Colette and Helen to both feed her.
The baby Slime happily ate everything that the two girls gave her. Since Eiko had a transparent body, everyone was able to see how she digested it all.
"Do slimes digest things this fast?" Lux asked Colette, who had just finished feeding the baby Slime a small sausage.
The Half-Elf hadn't seen any Slime in the past, so she didn't know if Eiko's digestion speed was normal or not. Each bite of food that was given to her would be digested in less than five seconds, which made him wonder if all slimes were like Eiko.
Colette and Helen paused as they considered this question. Suddenly both of them looked at Eiko in disbelief when they realized that what they were seeing wasn't normal.
"As far as I know, it takes Slimes a few hours to digest anything they eat," Colette said as she looked at Eiko in a different light. "Even the Gluttonous Slime, that eats just about anything, takes at least half an hour to digest the things it eats."
Right after Colette finished talking, Eiko let out a burp before crawling back towards Lux's hand. Soon, she crawled back up to the Half-Elf's head before closing her eyes to sleep.
'I think I need to do a bit more research about Slimes,' Lux thought. 'Good thing, I have the Elysium Compendium. I will take a good look at it later.'
Looking at the baby Slime that was peacefully sleeping on Lux's head, Colette and Helen asked the red-headed teenager where he got Eiko. Since Lux couldn't possibly tell them that Eiko came from the egg that he had received as a bonus reward after killing Carbuncle, he just told them that she was given to him by his Grandma Vera.
The two Dwarves didn't find this strange because it was very common for parents to give their children gifts whenever they do something praiseworthy in Elysium.
An hour later, all of them left the tavern and went to the Merchant's Guild to hire a carriage that would take them to the Stronghold of Norria.
Before he left to return to Solais, Nevreal told him that they would bring the Nightmare Horse that he requested from the Stronghold while he was away. Lux was quite happy with this arrangement because he was also going there to pick up weapons and armor for his Skeleton Army.
He believed that even if they were just wielding the standard weapons that the Riders of Norria used, the strength of his minions would be raised to a higher level, allowing them to deal more damage, and be more resistant to the physical and magical damage that came from their enemies.