Chapter 282 - Wanna Bet?

I'd called John and he was just minutes away. Apparently, he was actually helping out with the rebuilding. Lately, he picked up a bit of a housebuilding hobby. 

A world-class villain going around building houses? It was a laughing matter, but I guess no one would be stupid enough to make fun of him: other than me that was. 

"HA HA AH AH ahah!" And I did too. 

But the guy didn't get offended, or at least he didn't show any rage. He just shrugged it off with a grin.

I almost felt stupid: almost. 

"I just have to carry this back home?" John said, admiring the head. 

"Kind of? Though I don't know what I'll even do with this."

Remia said this thing was going to fetch me money, but- I didn't really know where I'd sell it in the first place. 

Mom would probably have an idea though. So, there was that. 

John tried lifting, and lifted it about half a meter high too, but- after a minute he sat down and panted. "This is heavy."

He needed a whole minute just to realize that?

"Think we can lift it and take it back if I covered it in my barrier and all three of us carried it?"

"It'll be tough but I think we can manage." John sure was pumped. 

"Alright!"

The geezer meanwhile kind of grimaced. "Must be nice to be young."

Anyway, I made a platform with the barrier and all three of us lifted the barrier and we flew. John was doing most of the heavy-lifting. 

We barely flew like a meter above ground but even this kind of started hurting. 

We were going maybe a bit faster than walking. 

My body was aching and my arms were basically barely hanging in there. 

The blood and smell coming from the snake weren't helping. 

"Argh, how far is it?" The geezer gasped. 

"We barely moved a hundred meters!"

"You're not helping!"

What was I supposed to say? A kilometer?

Sigh. 

Anyway, we kept going. 

***

People were staring. 

We were going so slow that it wouldn't have been odd if they formed a crowd and just walked along with us. 

But I guess no one had enough time. 

"let's rest for a minute." With the said, the geezer dropped his side. 

And I almost broke my arm!

I huffed and puffed and fell on my back. 

"This thing better be worth it, kid!" The geezer shouted out. 

"What is this for anyway?" John asked, sweating and breathing hard. "And just how big was this thing's core?"

"About a Ping-Pong ball sized? The snake itself was maybe half a kilo long."

And what I was going to use this for? Well, I sure didn't know. 

"Holy shi-" John abruptly stopped. "Wait, that small?" 

I guess he was both fascinated by the snake's size and disappointed by its core. I was the same, I couldn't blame. 

"Uh-huh." Though if I were to believe the geezer, it was supposedly a good core. 

Oh well. 

The geezer got up. "How far are we again?" 

We were halfway there. 

"We're almost there." But I defaulted to hiding the truth: it was different from lying, okay!

He grinned. "Aight boys, we going all the way!" he grabbed the barrier and all three of us started running. 

As if it wasn't tiresome enough!

Anyway, progress!

We just wanted to get this over with. 

Heehaw!

I so wanted to enjoy some alone time in a hot spring or something. 

Sirgh.

***

"What is this!" Elsa shrieked. 

We had arrived. 

All three of us were lying in the front yard, our faces facing the blue sky which wasn't that blue. 

Breathing was hard and my legs wanted to jump off a cliff. They were too tired to move though. 

"You okay?" Marg came over.

"I'm fine. We should worry about the geezer first." I was out of breath and talking was a chore. 

"At least call me grandpa kid!" He clicked his tongue. "I'm fine." He was also out of breath.

Yeah, I kind of didn't want to. 

Mom, grandma, dad and uncle also came out. 

They were all kind of surprised. Uncle however looked a bit out of it. 

"I kind of wanted to be the one you know," Uncle said. "Though I guess I can't be mad at you as I was the one who told you to go." He sighed. "Where's the rest?"

What the hell was that supposed to mean? And since when did the guy worry about all that?

"The core's in the saber. As for the rest of the snake-" I paused. Hadn't I made a promise to the headmaster that I wouldn't around spoiling the secret of the Nelbound?

I'd already spoken to this geezer, so I kind of broke my promise.

But-but I didn't want to break it again. 

'Is there even a point at hiding at this stage though?'

"You didn't just dump the body in the water, did you?" Mom asked. 

"No, it's actually in good hands. Though I guess the ocean's kind of red from all the blood."

Mom sighed. But didn't say anything. 

"Anyway, go and get cleaned," Grandma said. "Marg dear, help him." She then proceeded to eyeball the geezer and John. "You two, to the baths, now."

We were all kind of drenched from all the intense sweating and the snake's blood, so it was natural. 

But wait, the baths?

Wasn't our house-

"Holy fuck!" I quickly grabbed my mouth as I recalled, I wasn't supposed to swear in front of my family. 

But yeah, there was a house in front of me.

A massive house- about twice as big as the last one. 

And no, it wasn't made of wood. 

"What the hell happened here?" I said, totally dumbstruck. 

The house was made with a mixture of concrete, wood, and even stone. It looked very durable if nothing else. Not to mention fancy.

"I called some of my friends over and so did mom and dad," John said, still lying on the ground. "Best of the best."

But even professionals couldn't pull this off in a matter of a week and these guys-

"You guys did this in less than three hours?" 

I was more worried about the durability of the house rather than anything else. 

And people were actually still painting the outside. 

"Well, I helped with the interior," Grandma confessed. "Though most of the heavy lifting was done by them. Anyway, inside, now." She glared. 

I gulped and stood up. "Alright, and thanks, guys." 

Before I could leave though, mom came close and whispered- "And we need to talk about that swearing of yours." She was smiling. 

Shit.

***

Apparently, our spring had survived. And they'd remodeled the actual spring and made it about twice as big. 

I kind of wanted to have a nice relaxing bath with Marg but- instead, it was a sausage fest.

Four guys in a bath like this! Who the hell came up with this joke?

And one of the guys wasn't even straight! Though I had a feeling he wouldn't be doing anything since we were family and all. 

"When I was your age-" The geezer began and went on. The typical hardship stuff- or so thought. "I used to have a cult of guys following me around. Our world favored heterosexuality like yours but." He grinned. "Turns out, we crave homogeneity more than hetero." That grin was very, very threatening. 

Yeah, I didn't need to know that. And what the hell was he getting at?

Dad cleared his throat. "I'm done, so I'll be out." The guy hadn't actually said a word in the past ten minutes. He just soaked a little and now was getting out. 

He was a tad taller than me and his body was awfully like mine. I guess I got that from him. 

He had bruises everywhere. Even with the healing, I guess he still needed time to get better. On that note, most of my injuries were minor and my stamina was almost full again. 

We were all wearing towels, so we weren't seeing stuff. But the geezer was still looking anyway. The guy didn't have much shame, that was clear. 

Anyway, now there were three of us. 

"I think I'll get up too," John said, getting up. "My body always shrivels up if I spent too much time in baths."

He was the most ripped out of us. He wasn't like the bodybuilding ripped type, but he was still pretty muscular. And he was actually taller than dad. 

As John walked out, the geezer checked him over with a grin.

"Don't even think about it."

He chuckled hard. "Not really into muscles. Too hard."

Yeah, I didn't need to know that. More like, I didn't want to know that. 

But, I dragged my body down a little and lied down against the wall. "Thanks."

This was kind of nice. The water was lukewarm and it felt nice against my skin. Though the slightly sulfuric smell was starting to get on my nerves. 

'Did they connect this with an actual volcano or something?'

"For what?"

"Everything. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Don't mention it. be sure to give me one of that snake's fangs and I'll call it even."

"That's not what I meant. If it weren't for you, I didn't know what would have happened to Marg and who knows if I would have been able to break that barrier and get into the island. I'm really indebted to you. So, thank you."

He smiled. "Don't worry kid. I couldn't be there for you when you needed me the most. So, this was nothing. Besides, you got me out of there. Glad I could be of help." His usual mocking smile was nowhere to be found. 

This was genuine.

But more importantly. "And stop staring at my junk. Or do you want me to make you sterile?"

"Wait, you can do that?"

I smiled: a very villainous smile. "Wanna bet?"

He kind of grimaced.. "I'll pass."