Ep. 1171 The Island of Agardia Part 2
"In that case, I would say it is safe to assume that the demons control the island. We are probably in for a fight."
Athena says "Understood. I will make sure the elves are ready for combat and I will notify you when we approach the island. Based on our current speed, it should be about twelve hours from now."
"Alright. Thank you. Seronia should get in touch with you soon, she will be granting you the ability to gain levels."
Athena says "Thank you, master. I will look forward to it."
I leave Athena to handle things here and return to the castle to wake Lin up. It is a little early, but I want to tell her about what happened and my conversation with Seronia. She is a little upset that I didn't wake her up and take her with me to check on the ships.
I quickly explain that it wasn't that big of a deal and that she is extremely hard to wake up. She is not very happy with my answer, but she also finds it hard to argue against. She admits to having trouble waking up, but is still upset that I ran off without her.
I spend the rest of the time until breakfast soothing her anger and making it up to her. Of course, I enjoy myself thoroughly as I do so and it puts us both in a good mood. We head downstairs after we are done and join Bella and the kids for breakfast.
As soon as they are done eating, Bella and Lin head down to my workshop. Probably to do Bella's tattoo, which means I will need to enchant it once it is done. At that point I will talk to Bella about doing the wing tattoo for Nala and Albion.
Thinking of that, I ask the two of them to start thinking about what kind of wings they want. Albion immediately requests big white fluffy wings, basically angelic wings. Since that is what I would have picked for him, it isn't much of a surprise.
Nala on the other hand has no idea what kind of wings she wants, so I tell her to think about it. I expect she will end up going with the fire wings like Lin has, but you never know. It just means Albion will get his tattoo first, which will give her time to decide.
With that settled, I decide to go down to the workshop and see how things are going. After all, if Lin is good enough to do this tattoo, we don't really need Bella anymore. In that case, it would be time to send her home if that is what she wants.
Luckily, I think to stop on the stairs and ask if it is safe to enter before I do. I have to wait a minute before I am told that I can come in, but that is better than the alternative. Walking in on a topless Bella would have been really awkward, not to mention rude.
When I walk over and take a look, I find that one wing is already done and Lin is working on the second. It looks really good so far and I make sure to praise Lin for her work. She insists that it only looks this good because she is able to erase her mistakes and correct them.
"Mistakes are part of the learning process. The more practice you get the less mistakes you will make. Considering how little practice you have had, you are doing great!"
Bella says "I agree. Your progress is pretty impressive! You are doing much better than I did when I first started."
Lin says "Thank you. Did you need something, Ash?"
"Oh, Albion is going with angel wings, Nala still hasn't decided."
Bella says "Angel wings are easy enough. I will work on it as soon as Lin is done with me."
"Actually, I was thinking Lin could do it while you try out flying."
Bella says "Oh, I didn't think of that. You are right, I do want to try them out right away."
Lin says "That's fine. I will be glad to get more practice."
Bella says "Do you need me to draw the wings for you?"
Lin says "No, I think I can handle it."
With that decided, I sit down and quietly watch as Lin finishes Bella's tattoo. Then, while I am enchanting the tattoo, Lin draws the angel wings for Albion. Once the enchantment is done, I take Bella outside to try it out and send Albion down on the way.
It takes Bella quite a bit longer to learn how to use her wings than it did for Lin. Then again, Lin has a lot more experience using mana and has flown before. Even though it takes longer, Bella has a ton of fun learning to use the wings.
By the time we return to the castle, Albion's tattoo is done and ready to be enchanted. While I am working on the enchantment, Mulan informs me that Nala is downstairs getting her tattoo done. In the end, she chose to go with the fire wings just as I expected her to.
As soon as I am done, Mulan takes Albion outside for his turn learning to fly. Bella is going to head downstairs to check on Lin's progress, but I stop her. I have her sit down at the table with me so that we can talk.
Bella says "What's up, Ash?"
"Now that Lin can tattoo on her own, you have kept your part of the bargain. So, I am ready to keep my side, but have you decided what you want to do? Do you want to stay in this world or go back to Earth?"
Bella says "I don't want to go back, at least not yet."
"Does that mean you have decided that this isn't a dream?"
Bella says "No. I still think there is no way this can be real, but I also don't want the dream to end. I have had more fun in the past few days here than in the past several years."
"Alright. I will go ahead and enhance your body like I promised. After that, do you want to keep tattooing or should I have Lin do it?"
Bella says "What tattoos are left to do? I thought Nala's wings would be the last. At least until we get to the peninsula you keep talking about."
"No, far from it. My kids are only the start. Next we have a ship full of elves to tattoo. While not all of them are going to want them, a good amount probably will."
Bella says "Elves?! Like real elves?!"
"Yeah. Did you not see them when we were outside?"
Bella says "No! I saw people on the ship, but I didn't take a close look. I was kind of distracted with learning to fly!"
Before I can do more than chuckle in response, Nala comes running upstairs. Thanks to her vast mana pool, Lin does need to take any breaks to let the tattoo gun recharge. That means that she is faster than Bella, except for having to stop and correct mistakes.
Bella would also be faster at creating new tattoos, but that is down to experience. If Bella isn't leaving yet, then I should probably make another tattoo gun and erasing pen. That way both of them can do tattoos at the same time, if they want to.