Chapter 3744: Price of Fame (Part 1)

"Oh, gods! Look at that!" Elina pointed at a man who was cooking in the garden while keeping an eye on his children.

The arrays of the house had conjured a labyrinth filled with plushie versions of Dragons for the children and a holographic version of Elina’s cookbook for their dad.

"Raising a Magus?" Lith read the title out loud and blinked in surprise. "Magus stew? Magus steak? Magus cake? What’s with the names of your recipes, Mom?"

"The kind editor the Royal sent to help me said that the cookbook needed a catchy name to sell well." Elina blushed a little in embarrassment while fidgeting with the embroidery of her dress.

"I titled it ’Raising a Magus’ because it’s you people are interested in, sweetie. All the recipes starting with Magus are your favorite dishes."

"As long as they pay you your due, I’m fine with it." Lith dismissed her worries with a wave of his hand.

"Don’t worry, Mom." Tista laughed at his expense. "There’s nothing wrong with riding the coattails of lil bro’s success a bit."

"I’m glad you think so, baby, because you have your own Chapter." Elina gave Tista a dazzling smile.

"Wait, what?" Tista went pale as a ghost and used her keen eyesight to read all the open pages of the books around her, hoping for the best.

’Tista’s sick days? Hekate’s lunch? Red days?’ She swallowed hard.

Tista had no issue with the meals Elina prepared for her back when she suffered from the Strangler, or that satisfied her appetite the best after turning into a Divine Beast.

Recognizing the comfort foods she used to eat during that time of the month, however, didn’t please her much.

"What about me, Mom?" Rena asked with a faint smile.

Tista’s face told Rena everything she needed to know, and it wasn’t good.

"I’m glad you asked, sweetie. There’s a Chapter dedicated to every one of you." Elina beamed with joy. "I wanted the entire Mogar to know how much I love you all."

"Thank you, Mom!" Aran hugged her. "You’re the best!"

He was the only one truly happy about Elina’s success.

’I need a copy of that damn book!’ Everyone else inwardly thought.

’How bad is it?’ Rena asked Tista via a mind link.

’About "Pie to shut Rena’s pie-hole up" kind of bad.’ She replied

’How could Mom do this to me?’ Rena turned to a bright shade of purple. ’I’ll-’

Just one look at Elina’s happy face and the idea of souring her expression became unbearable.

’I can’t ruin this for Mom.’ Rena sighed. ’Even when she’s annoying, she does it out of love. She just doesn’t real-’

As the revelation struck her, Rena turned to look at Leria, who was gaping at the kids’ dungeons and fortresses and pestering Lith to make the Mansion’s Park like that.

"Leria, pumpkin, have I ever embarrassed or annoyed you?" Rena asked.

"No, Mom. You’re the best mom in the world." Leria was a loving child and a terrible liar.

Her smile was sincere, but her words sounded as genuine as a politician’s promise.

’Good gods! I’ve already turned into my mother!’

"Isn’t that amazing?" Senton tapped her shoulder and pointed at the sky, snapping Rena out of her shock.

The stars were brighter than in Lutia thanks to Manaron’s arrays smothering the light going out of the city and focusing that coming in. It prevented light pollution and made the night sky as clear as if the citizens were staring at it from a mountain’s peak.

It also made the city invisible from the outside and harder to track at night, but the military value of the arrays was lost to Manaron’s gaping guests.

"I have a question, big bro." Aran said. "How can the Travelling Tavern move past the security and the guards?"

"Why are you asking him and not me?" Tista grunted.

"Because you don’t know the answer." Aran replied with a matter-of-fact certainty.

"And how can you be so sure?" Tista grunted harder.

"Because you never take us anywhere for dinner or lunch." Aran shrugged with an honesty that cut Tista deeply. "You just follow big brother with us. You have no reason to know."

"You’re right. I don’t." Tista whimpered.

"Good question, little brother." Lith chimed in to spare his sister from further humiliation. "Haug has a pass just like me. Whenever he comes to Manaron, he gets offered a choice of available spots, and he picks the one he likes best."

"Really?" Aran and Leria asked in unison. "Why is Milea so generous?"

Many people flinched at hearing the Magic Empress called by her first name, but no one complained. Lith’s white and gold robe made him a supreme Magus in the Kingdom, and his Dragon blood made him a legend in the Empire.

All people in the Gorgon Empire revered Dragons, and a few of them even worshipped Wyrms. Leegaain’s presence was well known, and so were his feats.

Among the most recent, there were the building of Academies on par with the Kingdom’s, the antidote to Jiera’s plague, and the spells that had restored the cultivated fields tainted by Veeza the Lich during her attempt to conquer the Empire.

The Gorgon Empire was a harsh and unforgiving land. Losing so much fertile ground would have caused a decades-long food shortage if not for Leegaain’s help. The admiration for the Father of All Dragons extended to his offspring.

There was no home without a plaque with his name on it or a scale replica.

An unwritten law of the Empire stated that all Dragons’ reproductions had to depict either a single scale or the full body. Anyone sporting a Dragon’s head or claw on their walls was looking for trouble and would find it fast.

The guards arrested the culprits on sight, but only to save them from the angry mob that would have lynched them otherwise.

"Milea is more cunning than generous." Lith replied. "As Leegaain’s apprentice-"

"Grandpa!" Salaark’s voice cut him short and made the babies cheer, even Surin and Dripha.

’Why is my baby girl cheering?’ Jirni’s paranoia went from zero to one million in half a second. ’How does Dripha recognize Leegaain’s name? She’s supposed to be a normal baby!’

"Fine." Lith sighed. "As grandpa’s apprentice, Milea is not recognized by the Council as a true Awakened. Helping Haug gives her direct contact with a Council elder. Whenever he comes to visit, she can ask him to mediate business with the Council and gain information she would have no access to otherwise."

"I didn’t know that." Tista admitted.

"See, big sis? We can learn together." Aran patted her back.

Tista didn’t know whether to find sadder her ignorance or her little brother treating her as an equal.

Finding the Travelling Tavern wasn’t hard once you knew where to look. Its neon-like insignia was unique on Mogar and impossible to miss.

Usually, Haug always chose a spot in the outskirts of a town for his establishment, in order to go unnoticed and avoid non-Awakened guests. In Manaron, however, the Tavern would have stuck out like a sore thumb and drawn a lot of attention.

It was the reason Haug had chosen a city block filled with popular restaurants whose enchanted insignias and extravagant designs dwarfed the Travelling Tavern, making it look shabby in comparison.

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