The train started moving just a minute later and soon they were rushing through the midday heat.
Alex looked outside at the passing fields and houses and was very surprised. "So slow, I remember it being faster for some reason," he said softly.
"This is slow, father?" Ronron asked. "Are you used to traveling faster than this?"
"Yes, my boat can travel faster than this," Alex said. "If only controlling the boat wasn't an issue here, we could've taken that too."
"It is very slow," Scarlet said. "Given all your talk, I was expecting a speed on part with some Immortal rank flying boats."
"I haven't moved much for over 5 thousand years, so this is plenty of speed for me," the snake said.
Ronron looked at the three of them with obvious surprise and curiosity. "Father, is the outside world that much better than in here?" she asked.
"Better? Umm… I wouldn't exactly say better. They are a bit too different to judge which one is better than the other, but the outside world is large, so you will end up seeing many different things that you might end up liking a lot more than this."
"there may even be worlds just like this one. Who knows?" Alex said.
"Wow, Master rarely tells me anything about the outer world. Do you think I will get to see it someday?" Ronron asked.
"I don't see why not?" Alex said. "Are you curious about the outer world?"
"Yes, absolutely," Ronron nodded.
"Hmm, then I'll see if I can take you out there somehow. Maybe I can talk the senior into letting you go to the Northern Continent, or maybe the Western continent if not that," Alex said.
"Will you do that for me father?" Ronron asked excitedly. "Thank you." She hugged him excitedly from the side, making him feel a type of happiness he never knew existed.
'Is this what it's like to be a father?' he wondered.
A woman came by their section of the train collecting tickets. She came over to their seats and Ronron quickly pulled out 3 tickets.
"Oh, are you guys from the outside as well?" the woman asked politely.
"These two are, not me," Ronron said.
"I see," the woman said. "Welcome back. I hope you two have fun here." She spoke politely, so the others nodded back at her.
The woman was about to leave after checking the tickets when she noticed Scarlet on Alex's shoulders by the window.
"Ah, would you like some tissues to clean up after your parrot, sir? Just in case," the girl asked.
"Clean up?" Alex was taken aback for a moment and looked at Scarlet. "That won't be necessary at all."
"Yeah, that won't be necessary," Scarlet quickly replied too. She felt offended to be treated like a regular pet.
"Oh wow, your parrot speaks so clearly. You must have trained it a lot, sir," the woman said. "Take care then."
Before anyone could say anything, the woman moved on to check more of the tickets, leaving Scarlet stunned for a few seconds.
The Snake openly laughed while Alex giggled a bit under his breath too. Ronron wasn't sure if she was supposed to laugh or not at all. Instead, she felt scared that the Phoenix would start attacking people out of anger.
"That little…"
"Leave her be," Alex said. "Besides, you deserve it."
"What? Why do I deserve to be treated like an everyday pet?" Scarlet asked angrily.
"Who told you to become small like this and ride on my shoulder? We could've been flying back home right now, and it was because of you that we had to take the train," Alex said.
Scarlet wanted to speak back, but Ronron quickly spoke up. "Please calm your anger, aunt Scarlet. That poor woman doesn't know about you so she got mistaken,' she said. "Please leave her be."
Scarlet sighed and looked the other way to watch the scenery pass by outside.
The others also looked out the window to see the world that could only exist in a place like this. Alex and the rest asked Ronron about a few different things about the world to understand it even more.
About halfway through the ride, Ronron took out a smartphone from her storage bag and called back home to ask her father to come to pick them up.
"Oh, he'll come to pick us up?" Alex asked.
"Yes, Papa will be leaving soon," Ronron said. "He should be by the station by the time we get there."
"Can't we just take a cab?" Alex asked. "Why give him trouble?"
"It's no trouble," Ronron said. "Papa likes going on a ride on his little truck once in a while anyway."
"Oh, that's good then," Alex said.
Ronron nodded and looked around once more at everyone that was present. A part of her still found it hard to believe that she had finally met her real father that she had been hearing about for so long. Another part of her found it hard to believe that that father was bonded with one of the strongest beings in the world.
That was not counting her uncle Pearl who also had the possibility of reaching the same status.
"Wait, aunt Scarlet," she called out. "Your family rules the Southern Continent, right?"
Scarlet turned around. "Yes," she said. "Why?"
"Is the ruler someone close to you? Are they your direct family?" she asked.
Alex turned to look at Ronron weirdly and realized that she had made the same mistake he had met when he first met Scarlet.
"She is not related to the ruler of the Southern continent," Alex quickly explained.
"Oh," Ronron said. "I see. Well, you don't always have to be related, I guess."
"No, no," Alex said quickly. "She's not related, because she is the ruler of the Southern Continent."
"I see, that's not bad eith—" Ronron paused as the words that she heard seemed to mean something other than what she had been hoping for.
"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.
Alex smiled at the reaction.
The snake gave a weird look as well. "Did you not realize?" he asked. "Scarlet is a ruler too, just like me."
"Bu-but she's not an Immortal. How?" Ronron asked.
"She died and was reborn about 25 years ago. In fact, she is younger than you if we are going for technicality," Alex said.
"Wow," Ronron couldn't help but say. "So you are bonded with the ruler of the Southern Continent, father. That's amazing."
"It's… something. It would be amazing if I didn't have so much responsibility out of nowhere because someone got too lazy to rule their own land by themselves," Alex said.
"Hey! I needed time to fix my cultivation base, okay? And I made you a king, so what? You've been enjoying it quite a lot, haven't you? You wouldn't have gotten any of that if I hadn't done it," Scarlet said.
Ronron's eyes went wide once more when she heard the two of them. "Wait, what does she mean by making you a king?" she asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like," Alex said. "I'm the King of the Southern Continent. Oh, since you're my daughter, you're now the princess of the Southern Continent too. How does that sound?"
"I'm… a princess?"
Maron's world seemed to break with every conversation she was having with this new father of hers. Not only was he bonded with the ruler, but he was also a ruler himself.
And now she was a princess out of nowhere?
She slumped back in her seat and had to take some time to process everything. The rest of them let her take the time she needed.
She got over her shock a few minutes later and went back to asking many questions about almost everything she was curious about her father and Scarlet, as well as the outside world.
The train finally stopped some time later and they walked out of the station. The older Alex was waiting for them outside with a small truck that he had come on.
The older Alex was surprised to see someone other than the two he had been expecting. He had come for his daughter and the real Alex, but he hadn't expected to see a new man with them.
Judging from how he was dressed, the man definitely wasn't normal, but he couldn't tell who it was at all.
Ronron ran up to him and hugged him.
"Who… is he?" he asked as Ronron got off him.
"Papa, this is the snake senior that lives in my master's pond. He's the snake half of the ruler of the Northern Continent," Ronron quickly explained.
"Ah!" the older Alex realized. "It's nice to finally meet you, senior."
"I see," the snake looked at the older Alex and back at the real one. "Your clone is a lot older than I expected him to be honest, given how young you are."
"Mortals here can't cultivate, so it's understandable," Alex said.
"You should make them some pills to improve their longevity," the snake said. "Although, I don't know how long a mortal's age can be improved with just longevity pills."
"A thousand years should be possible, maybe even more depending on the ingredients. We'll see," Alex said.
The snake turned around to the older Alex and nodded. "Greetings, you've raised a wonderful child."
"Ah, uh… yes. Thank you, senior," the older Alex quickly replied.
"Also, this is aunt Scarlet. She's a Vermilion bird and is actually bonded with father," Ronron quickly said. "Believe it or not, she is the ruler of the Southern Continent, and thus father is also the King of the Southern Continent."
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