After having this breakthrough in his new magic system, Edward was elated. Although he still had many things to accomplish before this system was perfected, he was happy with his progress.
With his elated mood, he wanted to celebrate, so he thought of Olivier; he wanted to see her after so long. However, he did not enter the world again, instead, he created a clone and placed his consciousness inside.
The clone entered the world.
Fort Briggs:
Olivier–who had returned to the North after everything settled–was in her office overviewing documents. She felt something and raised her head, only to see a handsome man with blue eyes standing in front of her, smiling.
Instead of replying with the same smile, she sneered, "I thought you had left, returned to the embrace of your 4 wives."
"An emergency came up, so I had to hurry to deal with it. Then, I got caught on a new research project and lost track of time. I apologize."
"You disappeared for more than 6 months. If you think an apology is enough to get me to forgive you, then you are gravely mistaken."
"I know that I was wrong, so I have a surprise for you," replied Edward, still with a smile on his face. He did not mind that Olivier was mad at him. This only showed that she cared. If she was indifferent to his disappearance, then he would worry.
"What surprise?"
"We're going to a water resort."
"Resort?" muttered Olivier as she tried to remember the information about the Empire in her mind. Once again, she sneered: "You just want to see me in a bikini."
Edward shrugged his shoulders, "I won't deny this as one of my motives."
Olivier glared at him for a second before ignoring him. Amestris was a land-locked country, so there were no oceans. Additionally, the concept of pools and resorts was not invented yet in this world, or at least, not in Amestris.
She wanted to have such an experience. So, after grunting for a while, she accepted his offer. In fact, she was only thinking that if she was stronger than him, then she would beat him up a little before accepting the offer.
Olivier sighed as she told him that they could leave tomorrow as she had things to do for the rest of the day. Edward nodded and waited for her at Briggs.
The next day, Edward's clone teleported with Olivier inside his World Gate outside of the universe. After seeing two Edwards, she frowned: "Clone?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"My paranoia has gotten the best of me," replied Edward before dismissing the clone. He waved his hand and a holographic image of many types of bikinis appeared in front of Olivier.
"Choose the style you want, then Morgana will print it for you."
Edward decided to wait in another room; he thought that things would only last a few minutes, but he forgot that it was a woman shopping. Unfortunately, even the Ice Queen could not resist the allure of shopping for clothes.
In the end, Edward had to wait 3 hours before Olivier came up. During the wait, he asked himself many times if it was worth it?
However, when he saw her in a blue two suit with a transparent long nightgown, her long blonde hair loosely tied, and large dark sunglasses, he knew that it was worth it.
"My dear, you look breathtaking."
"I'm perfectly aware of this."
Edward smiled as he always liked a confident woman. After admiring her curves and perfect figure for a few seconds, he led her to another room in the Gate.
As soon as Olivier entered, she felt like she entered another world. There were many people, both women, and men, both young and old, flocking around and enjoying themselves.
Whether it was at the pool, at a restaurant, or a bar, they were everywhere.
As Olivier looked at everything in wonder, she started to wonder something: "Where did you get all these people? I thought you came here alone?"
"Do you really want to know?" asked Edward back.
"Tell me, I'm not that fragile.
"They're clones."
Olivier looked at him, wanting him to explain.
"When I first tried to travel to other universes, I did so while knowing that I might either die during the process or forever get lost in the endless void, forever not able to return home.
"So, I created this place as a way to interact with people, and deal with loneliness. Plus, they also served as a backup plan."
"Back up plan?"
"Yes. In case I get stranded somewhere, I can use them as populations to rebuild the Empire, then find another way home with the help of many people."
Olivier nodded her head as she looked at all those people, wondering how they would feel if they learned that they were just clones of someone else.
"There is no need to pity them. Compared to their other compatriots in the Empire that are used as either cannon fodder for war or experimental materials, they get to live their lives in peace, enjoying every day as if it was a vacation."
"I'm guessing that you do not use this place often. So, what happens to these people during your absence?"
"I use the power of the Gate to freeze them in time. Once I need to come here, I unfreeze them."
Olivier nodded her head but no longer asked any more questions. For the next few weeks, she enjoyed herself in the resort. She visited many water slides, the beach, 5-star restaurants, luxurious hotels, and even a movie premiere that Edward organized just for her.
With a beautiful dress, she walked the red carpets with countless paparazzi taking pictures. Additionally, she finally learned how vast this space actually was.
It was not just a resort, but a large city. However, Edward told him that freezing an entire city in time took too much energy, so he had to only freeze only the habited part of the city.
However, since he wanted to provide Olivier with the full experience of a modern vacation, he made more clones, implanted them with the necessary memories, and had these people occupy the city.
After that, Edward took her to watch different sports games, watched ballet, the opera, and even a concert. Unfortunately, besides American Football and Rugby, she did not like many sports or other activities.
What she enjoyed the most was watching the military training that Edward organized for her. She had a wide smile during the entire ordeal. It's a shame that the military training was only based on the modern 21st-century army, and not the Empire's Army Regiment of wizards and genetically engineered soldiers.
Nevertheless, Oliver was still satisfied. According to her, she learned plenty of things that she planned to use when she returned to Briggs, and eventually, for Amestris.
Once their date finished, Edward sent her back home, and he continued his magic research.
Title: Chain Circle
