CHAPTER 256: FINAL PREPARATIONS

Lotte watched the little bun perched on top of Latifa’s chest with a faint smile on her face.

The Dim Sum God extended its little, stubby arm until its hand was only a few centimeters away from Latifa’s nose.

There was a serious expression on Dim Dim’s face, and anyone who didn’t know better would assume it was about to do something really, really, reeeeeeally important.

Suddenly, its free hand rose up to hold its right hand, stopping it from poking the sleeping beauty’s nose.

Lotte had seen this scene a few times since joining the Endless Horizon Club.

Dim Dim had promised it would not poke Latifa’s nose if she joined their club. Till now, the Dim Sum God had kept its word even though the defenseless girl’s nose was the perfect poking target!

Chuck watched Dim Dim with amusement and was even egging the little bun to do it.

"Poke!" Chuck chanted. "Poke! Poke! Poke!"

"Shut up, Chuck." Lotte glared at the teenage boy, who simply chuckled in response.

Alex only shook his head as he watched his little partner struggle internally. It wanted to keep its promise, but Latifa’s nose looked so tempting!

Shifting his attention to his other club members, Alex started their meeting.

"It is already Wednesday," Alex said. "I hope that all of you have finished your preparations by now. If not, you still have two days to prepare for the trip. Take note that this trip will not be a walk in the park.

"We will not be going to the Heracle Mountains for a picnic. We will be exploring an ancient ruin that is filled with traps, magic defenses, and possibly monsters."

Alex couldn’t share too much information about the ruin because if he did, his club members would ask him how he knew so much since a seer was not supposed to be all-knowing!

"Our seniors, Mr. Mark and Mr. Spencer, will be our guides. Although they are indeed strong, we cannot rely on them for our safety," Alex added. "Also, Princess, you cannot bring any of your personal guards to this trip. I hope you keep that in mind."

"I understand," Princess Xenia replied. "But I will not be allowed to go unless I have at least one escort with me."

"Is Chuck not enough?" Alex asked. "He’s your reliable fiance, right?"

"... Do you really think he’s reliable?" Princess Xenia asked dubiously.

"Not at all," Alex answered without hesitation. Not even a second after that, he accurately caught the rubber ball that Chuck had thrown in his direction.

Vaan giggled while Lavinia smiled faintly.

The antics between the two roommates were already a common thing in their eyes.

"I guess you can bring your Godfather with you," Alex stated after giving it some thought. "Sir Alphonse should be enough as a bodyguard, right?"

The middle-aged man with gray hair and an even grayer beard had left a good impression on Alex during their fishing trip with the princess.

He had conducted himself well as a Knight, making sure that the princess was safe at all times.

"However, you are not to tell him where we are going," Alex insisted. "Just tell him that you are going on a trip on Friday after classes end, so he should be ready by then."

"Very well." Princess Xenia nodded. "I’m sure Uncle will be able to protect me if the need ever arises."

Of course, Princess Xenia was also a warrior princess, so she could protect herself. However, having a Rank 5 Knight as a bodyguard would put her family at ease.

"Lotte, make sure that Lumi is back by Friday, okay?" Alex said as he turned his attention to the young fox lady. "Latifa has to be there as well, so one of you needs to carry her."

"Yes, we already talked about it." Lotte blinked. "And, by the way, you have a terrible naming sense according to Lumi."

Latifa’s alter personalities didn’t really have names.

Latifa only called them "Sis" since she believed that all of them, including herself, were of the same existence.

However, the players in the game who chose Latifa’s route couldn’t possibly call all of them Sis as well, so they gave them names.

Alex had thought long and hard on what names to give them, but in the end, he decided their names should all start with L.

Lotte, Lumi, Lulu, and Lala.

———

(A/N: Trust me. I didn’t plan to name most of my FL’s with the letter L. It just happened. Lol).

———

Perhaps Latifa had also felt that simply calling her Alters Sis could be quite confusing when she was talking to other people, so she had accepted the names for Lotte and Lumi.

As for Lulu and Lala? They would have to wait until Latifa gained five tails, bringing forth two more Alters.

Currently the young lady only had three tails, so only Lotte and Lumi accompanied her.

Fighting her was similar to fighting multiple people at once, making her one of the secret Mini Bosses in Frieden Academy.

Alex, who had been told that he had a bad naming sense, only smirked before glancing in Renard’s direction.

"What are you looking at?" Renard demanded, glaring at his president.

"Nothing." Alex smiled faintly.

There was an incident in the game when Renard left his party during the expedition of the Ruin in the Heracle Mountains.

The teenage boy said that something was calling out to him, and he left the party without explaining more.

No one knew what happened after Renard left, but he was in the final room when the expedition ended.

This incident didn’t always happen. In some of Alex’s playthroughs, Renard stayed in the party until the expedition ended.

Alex couldn’t help but feel a little conflicted about this matter—should he let Renard wander alone or should he accompany the hot-headed loner with trust issues just in case that "something" called out to him again?

"Nessia, please prepare some defensive runes," Alex added

"Okay," the bespectacled young lady replied without looking up from the Codex of Eternal Weave.

Alex then glanced at Vaan, who was resting his chin on the back of her intertwined hands.

"Vaan, I will give you two hundred thousand academy points, so please buy some soul-strengthening charms from the Exchange Center today," Alex said.

"Yes, Sir." Vaan playfully gave his president a salute, not even questioning why he was asked to get some soul-strengthening charms.

Truth be told, Vaan was suffering from a soul injury after Willow had forcefully taken over his body.

Also, the last attack that Willow had unleashed, which Alex had reflected back to her, had washed over Vaan’s body.

It had been impossible for the teenage boy to remain unscathed after getting hit directly by that attack.

Vaan might look fine on the surface, smiling even, but Dim Dim had told Alex that behind closed doors, the teenage boy was suffering and was always in pain.

This was also why Alex never pushed him away, patiently playing along with the pretty boy’s antics.

If teasing alleviated the pain he felt, the young man would not hesitate to let Vaan tease him so he could distract himself from the pain.

The Soul-Strengthening Charms cost 50,000 Academy Points each.

They could heal, slowly but surely, the injuries of the soul.

Alex hadn’t been able to afford it back then, but now he could.

He had given Charles the cure for his sister a day ago, and it was now Vaan’s turn to get his own treatment.

Since the expedition was bound to be dangerous, Alex wanted everyone to be at their peak condition when they challenged the ruin.

’I just hope that my preparations are enough,’ Alex thought as he scanned the faces of his club members. ’This lineup is strong, so we might not have any problems in clearing the ruins.’

But Alex believed that being over-prepared was better than being under-prepared.

After all, he possessed Hell Mode Difficulty.

He had already accepted that this was his default setting in the world of Arcana, so for better or for worse, he had to face each challenge with everything he had.