Chapter 738: Emily’s Spirits, Cooking

"Hmph," Alice snorted after the kiss, although the way her tail moved from side to side made it obvious that she was not nearly as annoyed as she wanted to appear. Isaac and Selene exchanged amused smiles before the three of them returned to the hotel room, where they began packing enough food for everyone they expected to meet in the Sky City.

Selene borrowed the kitchen for a short while and prepared several dishes, making sure there would be enough food for everyone. Isaac stayed nearby and helped with the simpler tasks, although he quickly realized that his assistance was probably slowing her down more than helping. Having Isaac was the same as lacking two people. Once everything was ready, the three of them left the hotel and flew toward the Sky City where Emily was staying.

Celia did not come with them because she was busy moving around the city and collecting anything related to its cultural heritage. Isaac’s clone was following her as usual, helping keep an eye on her while she gathered songs, folklores, children’s stories, local legends, and anything else she thought might be useful for her idol work.

Celia had practically chased Isaac’s real body away when he tried to accompany her, claiming that she would not be able to focus on her work if he kept following her around. Isaac had eventually given up arguing with her and left the clone behind instead, figuring that it was better to let her work without getting in the way.

When Isaac, Selene, and Alice reached the Sky City, they landed near the outer section and immediately noticed how much cleaner the place looked. Emily’s spirits were moving through the streets and clearing away the remaining wreckage, while several familiar creatures had also settled into the city as though they had lived there for years.

The Crimson Sky Wyrm was lying lazily on one of the larger cathedral, while the Abyssal Shark was swimming through the sky and playing around without a care in the world. Nearby, the two rhinoceros-like monsters were wandering around together, one being a Catastrophe and the other a Boss Monster from the Great Dungeon, and Isaac could not help chuckling when he saw them moving around together.

"I suppose those two get along surprisingly well," Selene said as she followed his gaze.

"It certainly looks that way," Isaac replied, watching the two monsters for another moment. "I probably shouldn’t ask what they do when no one is watching, though, because I’m not sure I want to know."

Alice glanced at the monsters before continuing toward the center of the city. "As long as they don’t destroy anything, don’t disturb them."

The three of them soon reached the central palace, where they found Emily floating quietly in the air with her eyes closed. Waves of Spirit Element regularly rolled off her body as she continued training, and although there was nothing particularly dramatic about the scene, she looked almost like a princess who had been frozen in time.

While they waited for Emily to finish, Selene took a table from her spatial ring and began arranging the food they had brought. Alice decided to go outside for a short walk, while Isaac remained where he was and watched Emily continue her cultivation.

A few moments later, Isaac noticed several of Emily’s spirits suddenly fleeing in different directions after sensing Alice’s presence. He could not help smiling when he realized they were still afraid that Alice would somehow drag them into another training session.

Alice eventually returned, and Isaac immediately noticed that she was looking at him strangely. There was a certain look of disgust in her eyes, although he could not figure out what he had done to deserve it.

"Why did you go out?" Isaac asked, taking his eyes off Emily and looking at her. "You were only gone for a short while."

Alice stared at him for another moment before speaking. "Don’t ruin my sister, Isaac. I don’t want her to become a scum like you."

Isaac blinked in confusion and looked at her for answers. "What are you talking about?"

"I can smell you, Selene, and Catherine all over the Sky City," Alice explained, her expression becoming even more judgmental. "You really need to have some shame."

Isaac immediately fell silent and slowly turned his head away, pretending that he had not heard her. Alice clicked her tongue and walked over to the table where Selene was setting out the food, apparently deciding that continuing the conversation with Isaac would only make her more annoyed.

Selene had clearly heard everything, and her face was already bright red when Alice reached the table. After hesitating for a moment, she finally spoke in a quiet voice, looking down because she seemed far too embarrassed to meet Alice’s eyes.

"Don’t blame Isaac too much. I... I liked it too."

Alice immediately looked back at Isaac, and the expression in her eyes seemed to say that he had somehow managed to corrupt her sister. Isaac almost wanted to roll his eyes because Alice was acting like she was some kind of innocent saint.

When it came to these matters, Alice was hardly better than Isaac, and he knew perfectly well that she had done plenty of things with him that would make her current expression of disapproval rather hypocritical. He decided it was better not to point that out, however.

After a while, Emily finally opened her eyes and slowly floated down from the air. The moment she noticed Isaac, a bright smile appeared on her face, and she immediately flew toward him before wrapping her arms around him.

"Isaac, you’re here," Emily said happily, holding onto him for a moment longer before looking up at him. Isaac smiled and gently patted her head before asking how her training was progressing.

"How is the progress coming along?" he asked.

"It’s going really well," Emily replied with a smile. "The pointers Sword Empress gave me during the journey have been helping me a lot, so I think I’m making much better progress now."

Isaac nodded with satisfaction and continued patting her head. He also found himself thinking about the fact that Emily always called Eleanor Sword Empress, since Eleanor had never allowed her to call her master and had instead asked Emily to address her as her vassal.

Emily had refused to do that, and after some discussion, the two of them had eventually settled on Sword Empress. Strangely enough, Sword Empress also refused to let Emily call her aunt, which made Isaac suspect there was some history behind their relationship, although judging from how clueless Emily was, he doubted that history involved her directly.

More likely, whatever had happened was connected to Sword Empress and her brother, the reincarnation of the Sword God. Isaac decided not to ask about it, since there was no reason to pry into something that Eleanor did not want to share yet.

"Come on, let’s have some food," Isaac said after a moment, gesturing toward the table. Emily happily nodded and followed him over, and once everyone settled down, she naturally sat on Isaac’s lap and began feeding him while eating her own meal.

"It’s really good," Emily told Selene after taking another bite. "Your cooking is getting better and better, and I think I like it even more than the last time."

"Thank you," Selene replied with a smile, clearly happy to hear the compliment. She then gave Emily another portion while Isaac watched the exchange with a faint smile.

"If only someone else’s cooking could be half as good, we wouldn’t have to run away whenever he starts cooking," Catherine suddenly said from behind Isaac.

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before taking one of the empty seats at the table. She picked up a bite of food, tasted it, and nodded with satisfaction before continuing, "It’s really good, Selene. You definitely have a knack for cooking."

Selene smiled even more brightly after hearing the compliment, while Isaac sat there in complete disbelief. He could not believe that nobody seemed interested in defending his cooking.

Isaac grumbled inwardly as he watched them continue eating. Before he could complain, however, Emily gently patted his leg and looked at him with a reassuring smile.

"It’s fine," Emily said, speaking as though she were explaining something obvious. "What you can’t do, we will do for you, and what we can’t do, you can do for us, so there’s no need to worry about it."

She then picked up another spoonful of food and brought it toward his mouth, still smiling as she waited for him to accept it. "Now, say, ’aaah,’ and let me feed you."