Then Jake nervously laughed while saying, "Haha, it's nothing really, boss. We just thought you impregnated some young miss of this city before running away."
All the words that came out of Lucian's mouth were, "Huh?"
He looked around, and he could feel their gazes. He looked at Jake, asking him to continue, and Jake gladly did while replying, "I mean, you didn't reject the little girl, and you are holding her close like a father would a child. Besides, when you replied to her as her father, we noticed that malicious intent just now might not be focused on us. With you shaking and trembling, then it's got to be you, haha." He completed it with a nervous laugh.
Lucian had already told them to always be observant of those around them. He had even asked Aria to take things from them before asking them if they noticed anything of the others. If they failed, he would have Aria throw them at a beast higher level than them by at least 3-4 ranks alone. They had all noticed something. Looking at the girl, they already knew if Lucian was going with the play, then she was probably going to be of use to him, so they understood what he meant.
Lucian could feel the little girl hugging his leg while he patted her. She didn't even reply to those around and just stayed on his legs like those dogs who don't want to leave their owner's side. While he kept patting her head, making it look like a father shielding his daughter from the world while comforting her, he didn't reply. He took a while to process what Jake said, then replied, "Yes, she's my daughter. You've got a problem with that?"
The others simply had their eyes open before looking at the little girl like they were looking at a treasure. They knew Lucian didn't go for anything unless he was assured it would bring him benefit, so this girl had to be something much more than she seemed.
Lucian simply shrugged his shoulders. He didn't care what they were thinking. He bent down to pick her up like he'd seen fathers do back on Earth. Since she didn't mind him patting her, that meant she was OK if he carried her.
He picked her up, and she just kept quiet, staring at him. Even when he carried her, he could feel her gaze on him. Then Jake shamelessly came to his side while saying, "I didn't recognize you! I forgot your dad always talked about you. Now that I look at you, your hair is red too, just like your dad's, probably not as red as his. And your eye color is green. Well, I thought you would have your dad's special eyes. Don't worry, now that I know it's you, I permit you to call me Uncle Jake!" Jake said while nodding like an old man who had just shared wisdom with a little kid.
The others rolled their eyes, simply understanding what Jake was trying to do. Since Lucian couldn't see, he always told them to give him descriptions of things around him, so Jake was probably describing her without being obvious and just kept it simple.
Lucian looked down at the little girl who was staring at him curiously. After a while, she said, "Daddy, I want to see your eyes. Why do you have a blindfold?"
Lucian looked at her and replied, "Daddy destroyed his eyes, so they look dead. But you can take the blindfold off and check if you want. Just make sure you put it back on."
She nodded then took a look at his eyes. Her eyes widened in shock. After a while, she put it back on. Lucian could feel her body trembling while he held her. He could feel her gaze burning into him, so he asked, "Is something on daddy's face?"
Then she smiled before holding his cheeks in her small hands and saying, "No, not really. I just noticed I missed daddy so much."
Lucian could feel the others' weird gazes on him. Even through all this, he had no expression on his face. He could hear Lirielle muttering, "Isn't this the part he smiles?"
He simply sharpened his gaze at her, and her body trembled before she looked away. He snorted before asking the little girl, "So if I'm daddy, I don't see mommy. Where is she?"
She replied, "Well, mommy was the one who asked me to come here and wait for daddy. I don't remember anything after that."
Then Lucian heard a "grrrlll" sound. He followed the sound to Julia's stomach, whose face was already red from embarrassment. Then Damian cleared his throat before saying, "Ahem, let's get going. The inn is just a 10-minute walk from here."
Then Lucian moved forward while holding the little girl in his hands before saying, "Aurora."
She was staring at him the whole time. When she heard him say it, she giggled, then asked, "Then does it mean daddy forgot my name because mom doesn't call me that?"
Lucian simply shrugged his shoulders before saying, "Well, I forgot your old one, so I simply gave you a new name. Or don't you want it?"
Then she gave him a light punch with her little hands before saying in a baby voice, "Hmph, what kind of father forgets his child's name?"
And he simply replied, "Well, I'm that kind of father."
She kept bickering until they got to the inn. Lucian couldn't tell how big it was, but the sound coming from inside told him it was surely crowded. They entered the inn with him still carrying Aurora in his arms.
It appeared this inn was so big that it had a bar where people came to drink on the right, while on the left there was a reception desk. As soon as they entered, everything got quiet down. No sound was made. Then someone approached them while laughing before saying, "Ahahaha, you guys sure spent hell in the forest! I know a fellow beast when I see one, hahaha!"
He got to Jake while patting him on the shoulder. They all had confused expressions on their faces. Seeing the confusion on their faces, he laughed before saying, "Kid, the mana surging around you all is intense! It's more like you all are magical beasts yourselves because it seems you've bathed in a lot of beast blood. So any strong awakener can tell, hahaha!"
With Lucian facing his head in his direction and feeling the rate of the ringing in his head, he could tell the man was a strong awakener, probably at Arcanist early or mid-stage, but he was sure that was his rank. He could feel other strong mana pressures from everyone around here, and surprisingly, there was no mortal in this inn. Everyone's scent gave the sense they were all awakeners.
The others noticed this. Jake laughed before saying, "Hahaha, well, our teacher wants us to grow stronger, haha!"
The man laughed but didn't say anything more. Everyone continued what they were doing.
Since he was already in this world, Lucian wanted to do something. While the others went to get rooms for them, he walked all the way to where the scent of strong alcoholic smell was coming from. He looked for a spot he felt was empty, then placed Aurora on the table beside him before turning to look at the bartender and asking, "Do you guys sell rankless food?"
He could hear the sound of hooves from in front of him before a feminine voice said, "Oh, what do we have here? A mortal?" Then she said, "Sorry, kid, we don't attend to mortals here."
From the mana surging around her and the ringing in his head, Lucian could tell she was an awakener and an Arcanist at mid-stage at that.
Then Aurora said with an innocent expression on her face, "So daddy won't get any food, big sister?"
Sarah looked at the kid on the table, the child with the face that screamed cute. Then she replied, "No, little girl. I don't know if your 'dad' here can eat the food here, and they're all for awakeners. We don't have rankless food here. The least rankless food here is mana sprout beast meat that is at 3rd stage."
She made sure the word "dad" was heard properly because she didn't believe this kid was a father. Apart from the hair color being both red, with his being darker than hers, she couldn't find any resemblance.
"Bring it," he just replied.
She looked at him as if looking at an idiot. She checked again, seeing no mana surging around him or the little girl. She could tell they were both mortals.