BXBX NOVEL Chapter 129: Tidying things up
Monica was the first to act, going upstairs to open the large wooden chest that stored her weapons she had bought for training. Choosing two sharp daggers and a short sword, she placed them in a large bag. "These will be useful if we run into trouble," she murmured to herself. She then grabbed a set of lightweight yet durable clothes and a cloak to protect her from the cold night.
Monica descended the stairs with the items, finding Beatrice and Samira in the living room.
Beatrice was organizing her own arsenal. She picked up her favorite sword, well-balanced and deadly, along with a small collection of healing potions she had bought from a merchant a few days before that damned kidnapping. Beatrice also chose a set of travel clothes and a long cape. Looking at Monica, she said, "We have to be prepared for anything. We don\'t know what awaits us in Eldoria. Besides...
I don\'t want to lose my mother." She finished, a bit shy, while Monica smiled, thinking, "So cute."
Samira, who was already well-acquainted with long journeys, was checking her equipment and clothes, which were thicker than the other women\'s, as well as her large, sharp sword. She grabbed a pair of black boots and small water canteens, along with a bow carved from dark wood.
Samira also chose a set of thicker but functional clothes and a hooded cloak that would help conceal her identity if necessary—those thoughts about that city still lingering in her mind. "On the road, don\'t get distracted. Strax won\'t always be able to protect us, and you need to learn to fend for yourselves.
Don\'t forget, this is your first time on a real battlefield, so be cautious," she advised, handing Monica a small pouch of medicinal herbs. "You\'re the most delicate among us; it\'s better if you keep this. Being the perfect maid gives you a lot of advantage and discernment in handling this." She concluded.
With everyone gathered in the living room, the women piled their weapons, clothes, and other items in a corner. The house was abuzz with activity, each one of them determined to be ready for any situation. Strax entered through the front door, bringing nothing but himself, as he had left Apocalypse with the other horses that didn\'t quite get along with her.
"Ready?" he asked, looking at the group of women armed to the teeth with some bags in front of them. "Yes, here are our things," Beatrice replied, pointing to the pile of equipment.
Strax nodded, extending his hand over the items. "Very well, I\'ll store all of this with me. It\'ll be safer and easier to transport." He said as the women looked at him curiously. "What do you mean store?" Samira asked, genuinely unaware of what this meant. He just smiled, murmuring [].
Something they couldn\'t hear due to the low tone of his voice. A faint blue glow enveloped the items, which began to disappear one by one, being transported to Strax\'s personal dimension.
"What? Where did our things go?!" Beatrice was the first to speak, followed by Samira. "M-magic? Of this level? Where did you learn that!" she questioned, while Monica, ever curious, observed intently. "It seems so practical."
"It\'s a spell I bought in the city... it\'s called Inventory. It transports items to a specific place, and I can retrieve them whenever I want. I bought it because it makes it a lot easier when we need to carry many things without being overloaded, especially now that we\'ll be traveling more frequently," Strax lied, knowing he couldn\'t reveal that this was an ability of the system.
They wouldn\'t understand it, so he thought the best alternative was to say this.
"Dear... but doesn\'t this require at least an affinity with spatial magic?" Samira questioned. As the most proficient in battles, she knew it was very difficult to use things like this. "Well, the man who sold it to me said, \'Just use it, boy, you\'ll manage!\' And I succeeded on the first try," Strax explained again, a big lie, but necessary at the moment.
"I see... how strange," Samira said, thoughtfully.
"Do we have anything else to get before we go?" Monica asked, wanting to make sure nothing was left behind before they left. "Well, remember to close the entire house before we leave. We might be gone for a month or two," Strax said, stepping outside and looking at Apocalypse, who was waiting for him outside.
"Do you believe this nonsense?" Of course, his words wouldn\'t go unnoticed, especially by Samira, Monica, and Beatrice, who had already started to understand Strax very well. "When it comes to power, he hasn\'t been very fair with us, don\'t you think?" Samira concluded, making the mother and daughter duo look at him.
"Yes, for some time now I\'ve noticed that he isn\'t entirely honest with us when it comes to his evolution... he seems to be hiding something very serious that he can\'t tell us directly. Do you remember him ever going out? I mean, he likes to stay at home; this man is obsessed with us," Beatrice said, making all the women look out the open door at Strax, who was brushing Apocalypse\'s fur.
"Have you ever thought that... he might want to tell us but can\'t? He\'s not a man who hides things. Even with us, he always tries to be as humble and understanding as possible. I don\'t need to mention his desires. He loves us too much...
don\'t overthink it," Monica said, closing the living room windows. "Just trust him. At some point, he\'ll need to talk to us about his secrets; just be patient," she concluded, making Beatrice and Samira look at each other and nod.
"Okay, let\'s see how long it will take for that to happen," Samira\'s words reflected what Beatrice was thinking. She nodded and commented, "Let\'s go; soon he\'ll start complaining that we\'re too slow."
"Yes, let\'s go," Monica finished.