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Once everything ended, we closed the restaurant after we had lunch ourselves. Tomorrow we were going to explore the Salty Swamps and those Ancient Ruins to find more clues about the whole ordeal, so we had to close earlier to have enough time to properly prepare for what's to come, of course.
And as of now, I was rather happy.
Why?
Well, I had my two daughters, Benladra and Kate on my arms.
Or well, shoulders.
The two were so tiny it was easy to let them sit on my shoulders.
So while we were out shopping around and looking for new clues and ingredients, I let them sit there.
Though I am beginning to imagine that they must know their father enjoys this more than they do…
"You look awfully happy!" Said Miranda.
"Yeah that's a big smile you've got there, dear." Laughed Benladann.
"Oh yeah? Hahaha…" I laughed carefreely.
Suddenly, Benladra began smacking my head with her tiny hand.
"Papa! Papa!"
"Yes dear?"
"I want ice cream, they're selling some there!"
Kate nodded.
"Icy cream…" Said Kate.
It seems the two wanted some nice dessert after lunch. Rose and Coral have also come to accompany us today. I had utilized some magic items and clothes to hide their appearance easily.
Even when we went right in front of a group of guards, they didn't even noticed it was us. It is quite easily to just abuse the powers of Vampires now that I am one.
Amongst their many powers, there's the ability to utilize shadows to change one's appearance like illusions. It has many names, but the spell I was utilizing was named [Shadowy Self].
I used this to enchant clothes and… done! It was as easy as that.
"You want some ice cream too, kids?" I asked Rose and Coral, who had become like my new adopted kids at this point because they always kept themselves near me and my daughters.
"Ahh, i-it is fine?" Wondered Coral, getting all embarrassed.
"We don't want to ask for more things, we've received so much…" Rose felt flustered too.
Damn it, for being former little thieves, they're quite humble, aren't they?
"Don't worry about a single thing you two, today we're going to have some fun before tomorrow's busy day, so ask away anything you want!" I laughed. "Kids deserve to enjoy their childhood, smile, and laugh. So this is just natural, don't feel embarrassed. It is not quite good manners to reject another person's kindness!"
Coral and Rose looked at me with disbelief. Maybe I went a bit too far there?
"Hahahah… Okay uncle Drake." Rose smiled cutely.
"You're always like this?" Laughed Coral. "I don't think I can get used to having such a cool uncle."
"Papa's great! Papa's kind… So I will be kind like papa." Benladra said with an adorable smile.
"Nn!" Kate nodded. "I want ice cream though…"
"Right, let's get that right now then." I said with a nod.
This country had a variety of foods of their own, even ice cream, which they made using ice magic. Mermen had most of the time either water magic or ice magic in their mana cores upon birth, so methods to preserve food like freezing it and also making cold foods were common here.
"Freezers" although rudimentary as they were mostly made of wood, existed, people simply imbued freezing runes into their stuff and made ice cream very easily.
Of course, I began making ice cream since I was reincarnated! Though it wasn't a thing at all back in Jotunheim, Giants don't seem to really fancy sweet foods, but this country is different I guess.
Despite the corrupted side, I guess there's something nice about everything at the end… I could make my own ice cream too, but this place has various unique flavors, toppings, and syrups we have never seen before, so its always nice to try them out.
"Thank you for your patronage Lord Drake! You always come to buy my ice cream! I hope your children and wives can enjoy it!" A happy catfish-headed mermen said, as we bought almost his entire stock of ice cream he makes every day with his ice magic.
"We always do! Your ice cream is the best around here." Benladann said.
"I love the triple flavored ones, you meld the flavors of fruits so well together!" Said Miranda.
"Hahaha, you're overpraising me." The humble catfish-headed man laughed.
"Hmmm! Double ice cream!" Benladra had one ice cream in each of her hands, licking both one after the other.
"Beeg…" Kate in the other side was enjoying an hugely long triple flavored ice cream, mostly made of endemic fruits and berries with similar tastes to strawberries.
"I've tasted many by now, but the best one always ends up being the fish intestines flavored ice cream…" Coral said.
"It is a rather… experimental flavor," I sighed. "But glad you have your favorite."
"I prefer the berries and starfish ice cream! The blend of flavors of the sea and the land is so niceee!" Rose said.
Indeed, mermen ice cream had more than just fruits flavors, many of them included fish and other types of sea-going creatures. I have to admit I tried them out, though they were not the best, I ended liking a few of them, honestly speaking.
And as we spent the next of the day going from here to there, I connected my mind to the many slimes I had spread around the city. I have not been able to enter the castle nor the church, as they're protected by barriers which work using the Blue Orb Shards powers, but I've been sneaking around and hearing anything people has to say.
The guards' stations are never protected, so I can always spy on what they're up to, just like right now, as I suddenly started hearing some interesting information.
"Did you heard? Someone that went to the Salty Swamps reported they saw the Witch!"
"The Witch? They must be lying! There's no witch in here, its all fake to intimidate people and give them a reason to fear something other than our government."
"But they were terrified! They even said the witch cursed them, their magic power was completely sapped out of them!"
A witch, huh?
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