World Walker Park [Magical Amusement Park Base-Building]

Chapter 108: Illegal Move



In the end, the big family dinner with Eve and Franky's family, Luka and Annie's family, Princess Alex's family, and like a half dozen others, moved from the penthouse to the employee area with the firepit. Was it dangerous that a few reincarnated people were out of the tree? Sure. But the employee area was also locked away from prying eyes.

And the gods didn't stop them from exiting Ressen, so there was that… and some of the gods even joined the dinner, so there was that as well.

As long as the secret of reincarnation didn't get out, everything was fine. And the most likely one to spill the secret was Franky, so there was that as well.

Luka smiled softly and sipped a mug of hot jrum, his legs kicked back and a pillow under his head. He watched the dinner party converse, reincarnated family members meeting a princess was something special—but meeting a princess that was also the girlfriend of their son was even more special.

Then there was Vale.

"So what?" she demanded.

Eve's mom and dad blinked in quick succession. "I—we…"

"What my husband is trying to ask is you tried to destroy all life because you were upset with yourself?"

Eve, Franky, and Annie were all taking a sip of their respective drinks, and all started choking. Hacking coughs, however, did not dispel Vale's answer.

"Yeah. It was a dark time for me. But my friends helped me through it."

"And who were these friends? The gods surely?"

"Luka was first. Then Eve and Franky. Annie eventually came around too. But even still, she doesn't like being alone with me."

"You kidnapped my deceased soul!" Annie yelled.

"I did. And I apologized!" Vale stared incredulously.

Princess Alexandra, who did not know this tidbit of World Walker Park lore, leaned in intently. She was wrapped around Franky's muscular green arm but failed to care how ridiculous she looked. As a princess, she was supposed to be dignified and respectable. But here, out of the watchful gaze of her guard unit who were… elsewhere… she was a loving girlfriend first.

Until talk of humanity-ending void-creature-eldritch-things were brought up. That topic, for some reason, was enough to rekindle the responsibilities of her family name.

"I think I need to hear this whole story again," Alex asked.

Annie rolled her eyes and instead of repeating everything again, asked, "If you and Franky marry, are you taking his last name or is he taking yours? Yours is kinda more important. So." Annie thought for a moment. "Or does this world have the 'take a spouse's last name tradition'?"

"Franky's keeping our last name, surely," said Dugal, Eve and Franky's father.

"Oh, I was hoping for the alternative, actually," said Gara, their mother.

Dugal recoiled. "But you love our last name!"

Gara impishly shrugged. "I'm not indifferent to it. But Princess Alexandra—"

"'Alex,' please," said Alex. "We're family, right? And—importantly—not in court."

Gara's smile turned tender. "—But Alex's family name is special."

All eyes turned to Franky—who suddenly felt like departing the conversation and finding a snack. Everyone watching laughed as he entered the buffet line.

Speaking of the buffet line, Ren cooked up a wondrous ten-course meal utilizing his new divine blessing from the God of Food. He was cagey on what it did—a great chef never revealed his secrets apparently—but whatever the blessing did, the young orc was able to cook for a gathering of close to two dozen.

Luka got up from his very comfortable sitting arrangement to make sure the kid was alright. As he moved, he passed Blomfum and the Gilded Beasts. It appeared that Blomfum and Soul Singer Mira, the kirin, were two peas in a pod when it came to cracking jokes about Beast King Orris.

"This is why Father and Mother hate you!" Orris snapped at Mira after a particularly sarcastic quip.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The kirin feigned sorrow. "Oh, I didn't know. That explains so much, especially since we don't have the same parents!"

Orris recoiled. "But—"

"We're not actually siblings; you know that right? We just call ourselves siblings because we all hold the same rank and renown."

Orris gritted his teeth as the giant Blomfum cackled. Blomfum also swayed—it seemed he was a wee bit drunk. But that was what happened when the Goddess of Brews sponsored a family get-together.

Luka passed the goddess in question on the way to the buffet table. She and Vlad were discussing and plotting out the drink menu for their soon-to-open brewhouse.

"No, no, no. The sparkling lemonade needs to be honey fermented. Otherwise, it tastes like iron," said Vlad.

"Iron?" Bylow asked. "That's the point! Sparkling iron lemonade is the national drink of the dwarven country, Ironstonehomeplace! It's going to be a best seller!"

"'Ironstonehomeplace'" Vlad repeated, incredulously. "What are you even talking about!"

Bylow shrugged. "I never said dwarves are good at naming things! They just drink a lot!"

Luka chuckled and carried on.

Finding Nicole, her parents and Ren's mom together, Luka sat down beside them. "Where's Ren?" he asked.

They all gestured over to the firepit, where a blurring Ren moved between the flames, buffet table, and a chopping board a few steps away. Ren moved with fierce speed, mixing, rotating, stirring, dishing out, and carving all sorts of meats, veggies, and dishes.

"The blessing is making him move that fast?" Luka asked.

"Oh yeah," said Nicole with a pout. "And he's kind of being annoying about it. Smug, even."

"Eh, he got a new toy. Give him a few days and he'll move on to 'refining his craft' like he always does."

Ren's mom, Thyna, eyed him suspiciously. "You seem to know my son quite well."

"Out of all the kids, yeah." Luka had a vague sense of Deja Vu. Hadn't they had this conversation before.

"You've done a lot for these kids."

"They've had a lot happen to them."

Thyna gave a pensive look at that. "Yeah, yeah they have."

From there, the conversation moved on to greener topics. It was overall a nice evening dinner.

***

"And I'm telling you," Alex shouted, three cards in hand, "that if you play the Titan, you'll lose."

Franky puffed a hit of prism puff. "I don't believe you!"

They stared at each other as the other players held their breath. Luka eyed his own cards suspiciously; he had no clue how this game actually worked. What the heck was a "Titan" and why was it important? He leaned over to take a glimpse at Annie's cards, but she moved them away with a glare.

It was then Franky played the Titan. Alex groaned, tossed down the Cube, then discarded three cards… even though she only had two remaining… how was that possible?

Luka raised an eyebrow. Was this game magical? That would explain so much.

Franky snorted and—

From out of nowhere, Vale tossed in an instant action Realm Hopper, and swapped hands with Franky. She then played the card Franky was about to play, instantly destroying Alex's Cube, discarding three cards herself, then played the topdeck, which resulted in a three-dye roll spree, ending in a culminated eighty-one points added to her total, she then moved her avatar up ten spaces and collected a community chest card. She proceeded to smirk at it. It must've been a good card.

"Uh," Luka said.

Everyone else groaned in frustration—apparently they all understood what had just happened. Luka took another drag of prism puff. It was going to be one of those nights.

Vlad played a card that just had the letter "H" on it. Which was strange because the letter "H" was an English character and English wasn't a spoken language on this world. Luka tilted his head. Maybe it wasn't an "H" but an "I," or maybe an "1?"

Eyes turned to him. "Your turn, Dad," Annie said.

Was it? He had no clue.

Luka looked at his cards, then the battlefield, then back to his cards. He blinked a few times, took another drag of prism puff, smacked his lips a few times, and finally took his turn. He played the Wizard card, making sure to place a coin on top of it. Why? He had no idea, just that he'd seen Alex do that in an earlier turn ten or so games ago.

Eve frowned. "You can't do that."

"Sure, I can," Luka said, not knowing why he was arguing.

"No. You don't have the Wizard's temporal companion. You can't place the Coin of Many Faces on it."

"No, I'm pretty sure I can." He took another hit.

Everyone leaned back, thought about it, then leaned forward to study the battlefield. Even Vale considered his words, and she was an intergalactic-eldritch-creature-thing and knew every rule of this game like how she knew, down to the second, when the sun would burn out.

"How?" Eve finally asked for everyone.

Luka blinked. He wasn't expecting to be questioned about this. He just expected them to tell him "no" like usual.

"Well," he began, "First, since Vale swapped hands with Franky using Realm Hopper, the currents of time and space are weakened. Then she did the rest of her turn, resulting in an even number—perfect for the Cube. Cubes have six sides, after all. Then, because the Titan was already in play and Vlad practically skipped his turn with the 'H,' the temp—"

Vale, who was nodding along, suddenly interjected, "Wait. What is the 'ache' card?"

Luka pointed at the "H."

"That's Bridge to Oblivion."

"Ah, my mistake," Luka said. "Anyway, Because Vlad practically skipped his turn with Bridge to Oblivion, the temporal waves of the universe never corrected. So, I'm allowed to play Coin of Many Faces on my Wizard."

Everyone frowned and turned to the queen of the game. Vale considered for a moment longer and said, "No, you can't do that."

Luka smiled and took another hit. It was good to be around friends.


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