Chapter 335. Daily Life
"Of course, you two are the closest people to me," Charles said as he wrapped his arm around Anna's slender waist.
"Then, why don't you just stay here and enjoy your time with us every day?" Anna leaned against Charles' chest and asked, "Is there any meaning in going out there and seeking your own death?"
A tinge of hesitation fleeted across Charles' face, but his face quickly grew determined as he replied, "There's no way I can enjoy every day in this damned place. I will never feel safe until we've gotten out of this place.
"Yes, we've got ourselves an island, but the risk of sinking is there, not to mention the Divinities in the deep sea. Have you already forgotten what happened on the Albion Isles? What exactly are we in their eyes?
"Can we really forget everything and enjoy here every day?"
Anna lay on her back and stared at the glowing rift above them.
"What if we move up there?" Anna asked as she lifted a finger to point at the rift. "That place is so high, so there's no way it'll sink."
Charles smiled bitterly and said, "Easier said than done. Otherwise, Dawn One wouldn't be so lonely up there."
The pair stared quietly at the glowing rift for quite a while. Eventually, Anna shattered the silence and asked, "Are you sure that the surface world is up there?"
"Every single clue I had obtained from the Foundation is pointing that we are underneath the Earth's crust, so the surface world is definitely above us," Charles said firmly. He sounded so firm that it seemed impossible to change his mind.
"Is that so? But how certain are you that the world up there is the world where you had come from?" Anna asked.
"I don't know, but..." Charles clenched his fists unknowingly as he muttered, "I still want to try to get back."
Anna turned and sat on top of Charles. She looked down at him with a solemn expression and said, "I think you should consider a different way to resolve this issue. For example, how about we become the rulers of the Subterranean Seascape?"
"Rulers?" Charles smiled wryly and said, "We're not in some movie. Are humans even qualified to become the rulers of this vast Subterranean Seascape? If we're talking about rulers, then the Divinities are the real overlords here."
"Then let's find a way to defeat the Divinities and become Divinities ourselves!" Anna replied. A shadow was cast over Anna's expression due to the lighting, so Charles couldn't see her expression.
However, Anna sounded far too serious for him to consider her statement as a mere joke.
"Governor Julio represents the peak strength of mankind in the Subterranean Seascape, but has he ever made a Divinity shred even a drop of sweat against him? Has anyone in the long history of the Subterranean Seascape ever challenged the Divinities and injured them even in the slightest?" Charles asked.
Of course, he wanted to give the Divinities a good beating and lead humanity in a campaign to return to the surface world, but they weren't living in a fairy tale. The reality was both harsh and cold. To make matters worse, how could he possibly achieve something that even the Foundation—once rulers of the Subterranean Seascape—had failed to achieve?
Just then, Charles recalled something and cast a frown upon Anna.
"Did the Haikors tell you something? I advise you to stay away from them. If they truly are capable of such a thing, how come they've been hiding in the Sea of Mist without expanding their territory in even the slightest bit for the longest time now?"
"If you don't want to do it, then don't." Anna lay on Charles' chest and said, "Why are you even spouting such crap? Go ahead and continue on looking for the exit to the surface world. I'll go and look for men to have fun with every day once you're dead."
Charles held Anna's slender waist and closed his eyes to enjoy the warmth of the sunlight. "We came here to rest, and it's quite rare for us to have free time to do something like this, so we should just enjoy our rest and not think of such things."
Anna didn't say anything in response, but her breathing evened out as time went by, and she rolled over Charles' chest, falling asleep.
Just like that, Charles obtained a brief respite from danger. Charles and Anna wandered all over Hope Island in the next few days, and they were like a newlywed couple on their honeymoon.
The pair got even closer to each other, and the desolate Governor's Mansion with no maids nor servants finally felt like home to Charles, even though its emptiness seemed eerie in the eyes of anyone else.
However, the company of a gentle and virtuous wife as well as a mischievous child had filled the empty Governor's Mansion with a warmth that felt unprecedented to Charles.
In a cozy bedroom filled with faint, ragged pants, Anna was covered in a layer of beaded sweat. Charles didn't mind her sweat and hugged her tightly. Anna's beautiful and flowing hair clung to her fair back, but she ignored it and clung to Charles as if she were an octopus.
After a while, Charles gave her a few pecks and asked, "Anna, how did you know that Sparkle is a girl? What if she's a boy?"
"She's a girl because I said she's a girl. I gave birth to her, so there's no way I wouldn't know her gender," Anna replied.
Swoosh!
Sparkle abruptly appeared on the bedside. Her green eyes were fixed on the couple for a few seconds before she vanished once more upon realizing that neither of them had called her.
Charles and Anna exchanged looks and smiled.
"That was so fast. Is she that fast while teleporting people?" Charles asked. Even a child could see that Sparkle's special ability was useful, not to mention Charles.
"She can only teleport monsters and inanimate objects. I once made her teleport a living human being, but the result... let's just say that it wasn't good," Anna replied.
"I see..." Charles muttered, slightly disappointed. If Sparkle were capable of teleporting living human beings, she would become extremely helpful to him on his voyages as well as on his visits to other islands.
"Does she have any other special abilities aside from teleportation and blink?" Charles asked.
"Yep. Our Sparkle is pretty strong. Ah, let me tell you something interesting. It seems like she doesn't need food for sustenance, whether it be humans or my milk."
"She's pretty strong? What does that mean? She seems to command a fearsome presence before sea creatures. If we use the power ranking system at sea, how strong is she?"
Sparkle seemed to have encountered virtually no issues while fighting the powerful Swann previously. Perhaps she was stronger than her father in pure strength.
Anna's expression changed, and she glared at Charles with a hint of hostility. "Why are you asking me that question? Are you going to use your own daughter as a weapon?"
"Of course not. I just want to have a better understanding of our daughter. Half of her genes come from me, so I'm sure I'll have a better understanding of myself once I've understood her power," Charles replied.
"I see..." Anna's expression softened. Charles' question seemed to be a sore spot with her. "Like I said, she's pretty strong, but I haven't really tested her true strength. I remember teasing her by snatching away her toy, but she easily snatched it back from me. I guess she's at least Level 9."
"Level 9? Sparkle is almost as strong as those Deep Dweller Elders?" Charles muttered in stupefaction. He truly didn't expect Sparkle to be so strong.
"It's just a random guess on my end, so I don't think it's that accurate. I'm sure you also know that the power ranking system in this seascape isn't the most well-defined concept, and Sparkle is just about six months old...
"In other words, she's bound to become way stronger than she is right now."
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