Chapter 52: Ubo!
[You have returned to the Deathwill's Castle.]
It wasn't a grand teleport.
Alex's body simply felt the familiar pressure, then he teleported to Deathwill's Castle. He appeared in one of the castle's towers, so no one was around him.
He lifted his eyes and gazed into the dark sky, "I really don't like those clouds."
Alex sighed and looked around. No one banged at the big gates since he did a splendid job with skeletons. Silence swathed the area, but the wind still occasionally whistled in Alex's ears.
He looked around.
The black castle hadn't changed at all. It was still the same castle that required a lot of work. Alex saw a few scratches left on the bricks, even where he stood. Those were from the enemies that had targeted the castle in the past.
"Before you turned this castle into your power, others did their best to stop you," Alex whispered; his eyes were on the battle wounds.
As his finger ran through the cold brick, Alex recalled Tomo Homie's words, "The Lost Kingdom."
Elias Deathwill used an unknown technique on this castle. He had achieved his goal, but he left a considerable burden behind. That burden became known as [The Lost Kingdom].
In that land, no one could live. Darkness prevailed here. And it was not normal darkness. It was the darkness that no one could tame. This unknown phenomenon had sucked everything into its embrace.
Former citizens of Elias Deathwill's Kingdom had disappeared into this darkness too.
Many strongholds had tried to see through that darkness, but everyone failed. It was too dark, too mysterious, and too dangerous.
Of course, not everyone had disappeared into that place. As history likes to repeat itself, the citizens had suffered the most. Most influential people had left the kingdom after Elias Deathwill's scandal.
Remia was one of those people.
But ordinary citizens had nowhere else to go… And thus, they had been sucked by the darkness.
Remia told Alex that Elias Deathwill probably didn't expect the side effects. After contemplating deeply, Remia confidently said that Elias didn't know about the darkness and what it did to the citizens.
Like his excellent fairy friend, Alex could only believe in the hypocrite father-in-law.
"This place lacks souls…" Alex closed his eyes.
The eerie silence and lack of souls heightened the heavy mood. But as if trying to refute his thoughts, the known girl raised her voice.
"You can't catch me, Ubo!"
That voice belonged to Celia.
She was like a little soul desperately trying to cheer up the whole castle. She was the only one who had been fighting here, so her mother and aunts looked forward to returning here!
But that was all Celia could do! She could only make this place a little merrier and hope that more people would visit her in the future.
She was helping in her own way.
She was also so loud that Alex could hear her from the tower.
He leaned forward and looked at her, "Is that a dog? A dog came out from the demon egg? How strange."
Celia's new friend had also hatched.
Although he looked like a dog, the real identity of this little friend was the demon wolf! Since he was young, he looked like a dog. No one would think of him as a demon, particularly in Celia's hands.
As he chased after her, he looked more stupid and cuter.
Alex couldn't help but smile. He turned around, went downstairs, and immediately headed to his little friend.
Growl!
Ubo suddenly stopped chasing his master. He smelled a new and unfamiliar presence! His tiny form jumped, then he turned around and faced Alex.
He bared his teeth and howled.
Celia turned around, curious as to what had happened to her friend. But as she noticed Alex, her little eyes trembled, and tears immediately flowed down.
She tightly clenched her plush toy and stared at Alex.
"You have noticed me, huh… Good job! You will protect Celia well in the future," Alex smiled broadly. He then titled his head, "Why are you crying, Celia? Have you thought that I wouldn't return?"
Celia didn't reply. She bit her lips while her whole body trembled. She looked like a cute doll that everyone would pay to hug. Soon, Celia whispered Alex's name, then hugged her plush toy, hiding her crying face.
Hearing Alex's name, Ubo stopped growling. He sat down like a disciplined dog and happily woofed.
Alex glanced at the wolf, "You must have told countless stories about me for him to behave like that."
He approached Celia, then patted her hair. That was the only thing he could do since Celia still hugged her plush toy.
She soon reared her eyes and peeked at Alex.
Alex chuckled, "Maybe I shouldn't have returned? How could I make our little princess cry? Sara will kill me."
"Mom won't kill you!" Celia shouted, revealing her face.
Her cheeks were red and puffy; Alex burst out laughing. He lifted her and brought her onto his lap. Then, Alex folded his hands into fists. He rubbed Celia's cheeks softly.
She happily laughed while wiping off her tears, "You returned! I wasn't worried at all!"
"Lies," Alex gave her a small noogie.
Celia let out faint cries, then lifted her eyes, "Alex!"
"Ah, present, right? I got-" Alex smiled and reached out to his system.
But before he took out his present, Celia grinned and said, "Welcome back home!"
Alex's finger froze.
He lowered his eyes and hovered his whole view on the smiling little dullahan. His expression melted, and he wrapped his hands around her, hugging Celia tightly.
He whispered, "I am back."
"…"
As Alex had never hugged her in this way, Celia silently looked down. But inside, she was so happy that too many thoughts swarmed her little head.
She unconsciously smiled widely!
Her mother was the only person who had hugged this tightly. Each time Sara did it, Celia would feel happy and treasured. And now that Alex similarly showed his feelings, Celia felt matching feelings as if Sara was hugging her right now.
No, she felt even happier as she had always longed to have a father.
Although she didn't call Alex with such a term, Celia barely was able to stop herself. But in the end, she managed to hold back.
Her feelings mattered the most. Even if it was fake or Alex didn't think of himself as her father, Celia would still treasure those feelings.
She also would continue to dream of having the whole family!
A family where she would have a father and her mother would have a husband.
After Alex let her go, Celia skipped her way toward Kubo, then tightly hugged her toy. Her good friend, Ubo, made his way toward her.
Both stared at Alex deeply.
Their eyes twinkled, but each had a different reason for it.
Celia grinned, "Let's surprise mom!"
"Alright," Alex chuckled.
He wasn't sure whether his return would surprise Sara. But it would be wrong to refuse his little friend's plan.
As for Ubo, the wolf's eyes sparkled as he had heard too many stories about Alex. Only a few of them were real… The rest was fabricated through Celia's imagination…
Three of them went together to Sara's room.
"But really… Ubo? Why did you pick such a name?" Alex rolled his eyes.
Wasn't Ubo just shortened Kubo?
Celia rubbed her nose proudly, "It's a cool name!"
Woof!
"If you two think so…" Alex shrugged.
