The Achievement Junkie - 574 Visiting Grandpa's House

Jack took a seat and looked at Eliza. “Discussing what to do next with Sterfen, Lunara, and Eedaj… Things have gotten more complicated.”

“How so?” Maura asked as she laid the platters of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns on the table.

“Remember how we said Skaryn was our uncle? Well… while discussing our knowledge about Kylon and how she has the final enchantment key, our collective knowledge led to something we weren’t anticipating…”

Daliea spoke next, forcing out the truth, “Jack, speak up and spit it out. We’re here to help too.”

“Uncle Skaryn’s woman is pregnant with another man’s child.”

“WHAT?!” collectively, all three girls shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Yeah… And it’s Halmut that did it while messing with her memory about Skaryn.”

“WHAAAAT?!?!”

“So yeah… Sterfen left moments ago to–”

“How are you so calm?!” shouted Eliza. “If I were to–”

“I’m not calm!” Jack replied, not letting Eliza finish that phrase. “For the past hour, I’ve either been shouting or being shouted at! So… I’m trying to assess the situation calmly now…”

“Sorry…” Eliza leaned to the side and pecked Jack on the cheek.

“I get it, don’t worry about it. Thanks for calming down.”

The four of them ate their meal in relative silence. They didn’t each much though, only enough to get by for now. Their appetites had already vanished with the news.

“Let’s go, Eliza.” Jack stood up from his seat and glanced at his wives. “After my medicine, I’m taking you all to Daruun’s office.”

“Really?” Maura asked as all three of them were caught off guard.

“Yeah. It’ll be good for you three to see the place and I want to talk to him about all this…”

Leaving on a better note, Jack and Eliza made their way to Dragas’s courtyard. They were welcomed to a clothed Dragas’s, which was all Jack could ask for, and then proceeded to prepare the bath.

Eliza showed more curiosity than Jack had anticipated but wasn’t too surprised. Seeing Dragas and Eliza working together, Jack could tell this wasn’t the first time that Eliza had come to learn about herbology. Eliza picked the ingredients for the solution and helped prepare a couple of them while Dragas did most of the work.

Once everything was prepared, Jack noticed that his bath was greener than the last time.

“What’s with the color change?” asked Jack.

“Remember how you finished your bath early last time? Well, now that it’s stronger, you should be able to go for the whole twenty minutes!” Dragas answered with a beaming smile.

“… Yay…” Jack sighed, climbing into the bath with anxiousness.

“But that was before I knew you could handle more. Now, we can make sure you heal faster and better than ever,” stated Dragas. “Right, Eliza?”

“Right! Only the best!”

Lucky for Jack, his body processed the stronger solution in just fifteen minutes. Unlucky for Jack, that meant he would face an even stronger solution later that night.

Once Jack was finished and Eliza cleaned up, they hurried back to pick up Maura and Daliea. Together, the four of them teleported away.

As they reappeared in a dimly-lit dungeon chamber, the women were stunned to see that giant black door and the small stairway leading up to it. It was too unnatural to not stand out compared to the barren walls of the chamber, not to mention how eye-catching the door’s strange etchings were.

Jack calmly stepped forward and inserted the key he earned not too long ago. It clicked and the black doors began to separate, startling the women as the spatial gate revealed itself.

“Come on.” Jack held out his hands and brought his wives through the gate.

Their reactions to the ornate, white hallway on the other side of the gate mimicked Jack’s first impression. Jack allowed them to marvel at everything as he led them to the lounge. He knew that Daruun would eventually appear. It was Daruun’s specialty.

With his mind on other things, Jack recommended the chef’s special for all three of them and stewed in thought for some time. Jack guessed that almost half an hour passed while he was meditating and his wives were in awe of the miraculous meal with an underwhelming appearance. They let Jack meditate as they ordered another round and the ethereal butler brought them each a cosmix to enjoy.

“I see you made yourselves at home.”

“Why not? You are my grandpa, after all,” sighed Jack, chuckling as he got to his feet.

“Whoa!”

Jack and Daruun laughed as they looked to Maura, who was going gaga over her first sip of the cosmix. Her trained palette was overwhelmed and sent to heaven with the chef’s special and now she felt as if she was surpassing the heavens.

“Only one cosmix for each of you,” mentioned Daruun. “Any more, and your bodies will be having sensory overload for a week.”

“O-okay…” Maura hesitated, having chugged her cosmix in one go without realizing it.

“How are my granddaughter’s doing?” Daruun asked with a warm smile, hugging them one by one. But when he reached Eliza, Daruun’s smile perked up even more. “Finally! A great-grandson!”

As Daruun threw his arms around Eliza, she was taken aback. “Great-grandson? You already know?”

“I’m certain! I tell with just a look. Two months of progression is more than enough to deduce the gender, for me at least.”

“So it’ll be a boy…” Jack’s mind was dragged away from his worrying thoughts and into a temporary escape of paternal thinking. “Then… we can use that name!”

“Oh?” Daruun blinked. “What name?”

Eliza smiled as well, feeling some relief. “Tralon. If it’s a boy, then his name will be Tralon.”