The days came and went, I kept 'training' (beating the shit out of) Calving and the other members of the extended Long family and 'catching up' with my new sister. What surprised me was that the more the guys got beaten up by me, the more their respect towards me grew. Sure, there was still resentment in their eyes - a lot of resentment in fact, but the way they acted, the way they spoke was beginning to resemble the way a student acts in front of a master.
The funny part was that I didn't even teach them anything, it was just sparring (more like a one sided beatdown). It's not like I didn't want to teach them or that I didn't know what to teach them, it's just that they already had the basics pretty much perfected and they trained to perfect their more advanced stuff through our sparring matches.
When time was plenty, I visited Elizabeth and the others back at the penthouse. It was a joy to take them out to town, to show them the wonders of this world - the food, the fashion, technology and, most of all, the internet.
Elizabeth was engrossed in tasting and then trying to recreate the foods of this world. Her determination to learn was like that of a grumpy old man trying to get the rowdy teens to get off his porch. I had the honor of tasting quite a few of her dishes. Some were average, some - simply divine and some… How should I put it… Some tasted like a deep fried horse shit with sprinkles on top. Don't ask me how I know.
little Lilia got into cartoons, spending most of her free time online. On one hand - it's nice just how quickly she learned to navigate the web, on the other hand - I doubt that her obsession was healthy. She'd spend most of her day online, not going to sleep until she could barely keep her eyes open and got really angry whenever anyone tried to take away her phone. I was kind of proud that she decided to follow the path of an addict, but Liz was getting extremely worried about her little sister and asked me to do something about it.
With a heavy heart, I started disconnecting the internet occasionally and lying that it happens sometimes. She wasn't happy, but there was no way for me to refuse Elizabeth's request. I couldn't refuse not because I was a pushover, but because Elizabeth's requests were so rare and I honestly just wanted her to get more comfortable with asking me or anyone else for something.
the lusty elf began trying out all the different types of tea she could find. While the tea in the other world was crudely made and expensive, the tea here was incomparably better and reasonably priced. Ultimately, Luna tried out hundreds of teas in that time, ranging from 'Macha' to 'Boba' and liked most of them, but her favorites were 'Gyokuro' - a Japanese green tea that was shaded for up to six weeks before picking, 'Silver needle' - a type of Chinese white tea made exclusively from tea buds and, when I was beginning to think that the girl had a refined taste, Boba - something akin to a tea flavored milkshake.
I have no idea what Alpha was doing most of the time, neither did I care, since she wasn't problematic like the other one.
Speaking of Pain, she was into internet videos as well, but unlike Lilia, Pain watched… Porn. A lot, loudly and the really, I mean really nasty stuff. I won't get into it too much, but a normal person wouldn't be able to take it… The volume wasn't the only issue since she asked me to star in something similar with her. When I refused, stating that I was already taken, she tried compromising - she'd be the director and me and Liz - the actors. Needless to say, I rejected that idea as well.
Well, it seems that the pervert wasn't happy with a flat 'no', since she tried pitching the idea to Elizabeth when I wasn't around, even showing Liz her source material. After that day, Elizabeth wasn't the same. Needless to say Liz began monitoring Lilia's activity on the net and needless to say - that stupid, perverted dragon was severely punished by me when I heard what happened.
Honestly, my severely dysfunctional 'family' was chaotic and unruly, but with them, I felt at ease. Sure, I was annoyed by them, I couldn't count the times I lost my temper, but I had so much fun.
With unlimited money, a limo at our beckon call and connections to the richest man in the world, we were living the good life. One of my new guilty pleasures became buying Liz deceptively expensive items and telling her the price only after the transaction was completed. Her flustered and panicked face was simply too precious and I might have gone a bit too far, since Liz became so paranoid that she would google the price of the smallest thing before letting me buy it for her.
This all might have started when I took the gang to an expensive restaurant that specialized in wagyu beef not telling them. The looks of joy on their faces while eating contrasted sharply with the expression Liz made when the bill came. She couldn't understand how beef - something that we ate weekly - could cost this much.
Sometimes I thought about inviting Jane to my little group. The poor girl had no real friends and clung to me desperately, I simply wanted her to be happy, she deserved happiness, in large part because she was Alex's sister and I kinda owed him that much, but part of me saw in her the one thing that I truly admire - the thing that connects all the people that I respect and love - the thing that I first saw in Alex and the reason we became friends.
It's strength, more precisely, I'm not talking about physical strength, but inner strength - will and determination to do something no matter what. Jane's strength was her unwavering desire and will to fight for the only true family member that she still had. This meek and shy girl would cause a storm if someone dared to even look at me the wrong way.
I knew how much she needed me, I knew how much she needed Alex and I knew just how devastated she'd be when the truth came to light, that was why I tried to keep my distance, that is why I didn't introduce her to my family.
I dreaded the day Jane would learn the truth. What would this girl - someone whose whole world revolves around Alex - do when she learned that her precious brother is dead? Would she lose it and attack me, would she simply refuse to believe it, or would she simply break? If something really would happen to Jane, I couldn't face Alex on the other side, so I decided to bounce. I would finish my task, write a short goodbye letter and leave the country, never to return.
I know that she'd be hurt, but having your brother that you love so much leave you forever is still better than having him be dead.
I don't know why, but I reduced the poison intake by a lot after returning, in fact, I barely used it at all. Maybe it was because of the amount of entertainment that this world can provide, or maybe I was finally getting better. Either way, I was happy and content, I had everything that I could have wanted. Yes, the guilt about the past still haunted me, but the light in my life shone brighter and brighter by the day.
I wanted to share that light with the people around me, I wanted to share that happiness with Elizabeth, I wanted her to have everything that she ever wanted, that might be the reason why her dresser was filled with clothing of every style and form and her stomach was always full of the best and tastiest food this world could offer.
Just like me, Elizabeth had it rough, even rougher than me, but unlike me, she was strong, far stronger than I could ever be, so I wanted to reward her for that outstanding strength and to reimburse her for all the suffering. It was mostly out of love, but a small part of me was simply desperate to prevent the flame inside her from ever going out.
That flame was the thing that kept me warm and gave me strength. I had already lost so many flames and couldn't simply let this one vanish into the void of eternal slumber.
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