Shortly after dinner, Ur finished her meeting with the other guilds and returned to the hotel.
"Mom Ur, you're back!" Seeing Ur, Tike immediately jumped off his chair and ran to her side. "When are we setting off to save the people?"
Looking at Tike's excited demeanor, Ur smiled and said, "We set off first thing tomorrow morning for the Tower of Heaven."
"Great!" Tike waved his fist excitedly. "I want to go too! Mom Ur, you must take me with you!"
Lyon also leaned in: "You brought me here, so you must intend for me to go too, right?"
"Of course. You two are my proud disciples; how could I not bring you? However..." Ur's tone became serious, "Tike, although Lady Porlyusica said there's nothing seriously wrong with your body, you should still use that special magic as little as possible."
After the last incident, Ur understood that asking him not to use it was impossible, so she could only advise him this way.
"I know, I know!" Tike agreed readily, patting his chest in guarantee. "Don't worry, ultimate moves are definitely meant to be saved for the most critical moments!"
"You guy..." Lyon curled his lips aside, muttering softly, "Talking as if you're so amazing..."
"What, aren't you convinced?" Tike looked at Lyon provocatively.
"Hmph, who's afraid of whom!" Lyon glared back without showing weakness.
"Here we go again. You two, settle down." Ur raised her hand and tapped each of them lightly on the head. "Save your energy for the enemies tomorrow; don't waste your strength here."
Tike rubbed his head and suddenly remembered something, asking, "By the way, Mom Ur, why haven't I seen Gray all this time? Where did he go?"
"Gray? He went on another request with someone else. He won't make it back for this operation."
Before Ur could answer, Lyon jumped in to explain Gray's whereabouts.
Ur nodded, confirming Lyon was correct, then proposed, "It's still early. Do you two want to go take a bath with me? I heard the bathhouse in this hotel is very nice; we can relax properly."
Hearing Ur's proposal, Lyon scratched his head and stammered, "No need, Ur. I already washed, so I won't go."
Tike, on the other hand, was eager to try. He hadn't taken a bath with Mom Ur yet.
He excitedly followed Ur to the bathing area, only to be dumbfounded when he discovered it was a public bathhouse.
(So... so many people? It's impossible to send everyone away like in that other world and bathe alone with Mom, right?)
After all—
(This isn't owned by my family.)
So, Tike stood at the entrance, unable to advance or retreat, an obvious intention to withdraw appearing on his face.
Ur thought he didn't want to be separated from her, so she said, "Tike, you're still young. It doesn't matter if you come into the women's bathhouse with Mom."
Tike shook his head.
"Mom Ur, I'd better not go in. I don't like bathing with strangers; it feels weird."
"Since you don't like it, then forget it. Go back to the room and chat with Lyon."
"Mm."
Tike responded softly and returned to the room hugging Alice.
As soon as he entered the door, Tike saw Lyon resting on a chair, and the fighting spirit reignited in his eyes.
"Hey, Lyon, since we're idle anyway, want to have a small spar?"
"Sure! Just what I wanted!"
Lyon agreed readily. He had long wanted to test if Tike was really as powerful as Gray said. Now that the opportunity presented itself, how could he miss it?
The corner of Tike's mouth rose slightly. He immediately activated Water Mirror. The air in the room distorted, and he and Lyon vanished instantly from the spot.
About half an hour later, Ur finished her bath and returned to the room wrapped in a white bath towel.
She pushed open the door and immediately saw Lyon lying on the bed, seemingly asleep, and Tike sitting by the bed hugging Alice with a guilty look on his face.
"Is Lyon asleep?" Ur asked doubtfully. She looked around, feeling the atmosphere in the room was a bit strange.
"Ah... yeah, Lyon said he was a bit sleepy, so he went to sleep first," Tike explained hurriedly, his eyes darting around, daring not to look into Ur's eyes.
"Woo~ I guarantee on my cat honor, everything Tike said is true! Lyon is indeed asleep!" Alice also chimed in hurriedly, but her gaze was erratic, obviously somewhat guilty.
Ur narrowed her eyes slightly, her gaze sweeping back and forth between Tike and Alice.
She could tell that these two little guys had definitely fought secretly behind her back.
However, Ur didn't expose them. She just smiled faintly, pretending not to have noticed anything.
Kids, after all, were bound to be young and impetuous. Some competition and friction between them were normal, as long as they didn't cause too much trouble.
Ur walked to the bedside and gently patted Tike's shoulder, signaling him to get into bed and sleep.
"Since Lyon is asleep, you should rest early too."
"Okay~"
Tike climbed onto the bed obediently and nestled in Ur's arms, feeling the warmth and security coming from her.
But before closing his eyes to sleep, there was a very important matter Tike had to clarify here, or he wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully at all.
"Mom Ur, why did Big Sis Ultear run away from home?"
Ur was silent for a moment before speaking with a trace of bitterness: "Did Chill tell you?"
Tike nodded.
Even if Big Sis Ultear left home to look for him, there was no need to stay away forever, right?
She had wanted to return to her mother so badly back then, so craved maternal love. Did she not miss Mom Ur?
Ur sighed, deep guilt and self-blame appearing on her face.
"It's my fault. It's all because I failed to protect you and let you disappear for so long. That's why Ultear was so worried, why she went out to look for you regardless of everything, and why she refuses to come back even now..."
"It's not Mom Ur's fault!" Tike interrupted Ur hurriedly, saying seriously, "It was my mom acting on her own, not speaking human language, and not doing human things that caused all this! It has nothing to do with Mom Ur!"
Hearing Tike evaluate his biological mother like this, Ur couldn't help being somewhat surprised.
"Tike, why do you say that about her? Did she do something to you?"
"I don't want to say, is that okay?"
Tike lowered his head, biting his lip tightly. His body trembled slightly as he tried his best to suppress the emotions inside—it was anger, and also deep disappointment.
Ur looked at Tike's sad appearance with heartache and reached out to stroke his hair.
"It's okay. If you don't want to say it, you don't have to. You're a good child; you must have your own considerations. I believe in you."
"..."
Tike silently closed his eyes and buried his head deeply in Ur's embrace, reaffirming a belief once again.
(I must bring Big Sis back!)