Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1837: Family Meeting!

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"So... you’re really a Returnee or whatever. You came back with all the powers you gained in another world..." Laura said.

"Yeah, I’m surprised you remember the term," Maria replied with a giggle.

"In my loneliness I read all your dumb novels and comics," Laura said. "Just to understand what you found so cool about them... I learned a bunch of terms. I was surprised some even featured gates, dungeons, and hunters. Just like it is now... really crazy."

"It is, right?" Maria asked. "Fiction and fantasy feel more real than ever before. In fact, the more worlds I saw, the more I realized how the entire universe runs on fiction and fantasy. It’s somehow what feeds its existence."

"What?"

"Imagination and dreams... they can create worlds. No, entire universes," Maria explained. "It’s what fuels worlds and reality... perhaps even the origin of Mana and Ki. Maybe they too came from somewhere where imagination and dreams manifest reality."

"..."

Laura tilted her head, unable to follow what her mad sister was muttering about.

"Okay Fran, I don’t get it..."

"Ah... sorry, I was just talking nonsense. I sometimes... well, talk like this."

"So you’re actually older than me? How does that even work?"

"Time is accelerated inside the tower. The gods of each world can even decide how fast the world’s time flows."

"Woah... So that’s why the tower folks are always so strong and have such ancient history."

"Yeah, but more than that, there’s some people I brought here."

"People?"

"The family I built in the tower."

"Oh... wait, you brought them all here?!"

"Yeah, they’ve been watching over the sky for a while, but they didn’t want to disturb us."

"...Huh?"

Laura walked to the window and noticed the group of people floating above. They made themselves visible the moment she looked.

A little girl waved her hand at her; she looked like her sister in her transformed state.

"I-Is that girl your daughter?"

"Yes... her name’s Nyx. Her father is a dragon named Lucifer."

"Holy fuck..."

Laura ran to the bathroom, showered quickly, and changed into better clothes. She refused to look like a mess in front of her sister’s family.

"Okay, do I look better now?" she asked desperately.

"You look gorgeous, Laura, but what’s wrong?" Maria asked.

"What do you mean what’s wrong?!" Laura snapped. "You bring your whole family here and don’t even tell me beforehand?! Are they here yet?! Let me cook something at least to welcome them! Should we make our meat loaf?"

"Hahah, there’s no need—"

"It’s your husband and your daughter! My niece! You want me to welcome my cute little niece from another world with nothing but plain white bread?!"

"Okay, let me help at least."

"Yeah, you better help! Come on, let’s make something before they make their way here!"

In truth, they were already outside the door, peering through the walls as Maria and her sister frantically cooked dinner for them.

"Mama and auntie are cooking something yummy! Can’t we go see?" Nyx asked.

"Not yet," Lucifer said. "Your aunt seems very worried about appearances, so let’s wait until she believes she’s ready. Also, all of us must look great and prepared, so make sure to wear better clothes or wash yourselves."

Then he noticed Nyx snacking on a bag of potato chips Celes had bought.

"And no snacks before dinner, or you won’t have an appetite!" Lucifer snatched the bag and stored it away.

"What!" Nyx complained.

"My chips..." Celes looked ready to cry.

"Lucifer..." a voice echoed beside him.

"A-Ah, sorry... sorry..." Lucifer returned the chips after catching Nia’s intense, angry glare.

After a while, Maria watched her sister set three lasagnas on the table, three meatloaves, and finally a whole roasted chicken.

She added several salad bowls, Chinese fried rice, and baked potatoes topped with cheese and butter.

Lastly, Laura brought three bottles of wine, and Maria added some sodas.

"A-Alright! I think we’re good," Laura sighed in relief. "Are they on their way here?"

"Yeah, they’re right outside the door actually," Maria said.

"R-Right! They were just in the sky before, huh?!" Laura gasped. She dashed to the bathroom one last time to apply makeup. "O-Okay... I think it’s fine now. I don’t look too old, right?"

"You’re so beautiful, Laura. Stop it already," Maria sighed. "It’s all good."

I used to call her a gorilla back then because she was a brute, but... my sister had always been quite beautiful. I always considered her more beautiful than I could ever be.

"Ugh... okay," Laura rolled her eyes. "Bring it on!"

Maria opened the door, and the entire group stepped inside.

As Maria had warned, there were a lot of them!

Lucifer.

Nyx.

Jonathan.

Arthur.

Nia.

Celes.

Emeraldine.

Partner.

Alma.

Arachne.

Ferleen.

And Melianna.

Thirteen people in total!

Laura gasped. Their tiny apartment could barely hold them all.

Maria quickly pulled out more chairs while welcoming her family.

"Welcome everyone. This is my humble house from Earth. It’s small and all, but this is where I was raised," Maria said with a humble smile.

"Wow, it’s really tiny!" Nyx nodded. "Ahh, auntieeee!"

Nyx ran toward Laura and hugged her tightly, startling Laura, who froze from sheer nervousness.

"Hi! I’m Nyx! I’m your niece!" Nyx said, her cute tail wagging. "Are you my auntie Laura?"

"...Yes, I believe... so," Laura’s voice trembled. "Y-You’re so cute... It’s nice to meet you, Nyx."

Laura patted Nyx’s head and noticed her horns, tail, wings, and scales—realizing she truly came from another world.

"Greetings," Lucifer said. "I am Maria’s husband. My name is Lucifer. I am a... a fallen dragon king from Yggdrasil."

"Oh wow..." Laura stared at the handsome figure before her, nearly drooling. "F-Fran...! Why is he calling you Maria—Ah sorry! Hi! You’re so hot—I mean, you’re so handsome—What am I saying? Excuse me..."

Laura dragged Maria away.

"Why are they calling you Maria?!" she whispered urgently. "Is this your other name or what?"

"Yeah," Maria nodded. "They know me as Maria. That’s the name given by my parents in Yggdrasil. As I told you, Laura, I lived a whole other life there."

"Fuck..." Laura said, stunned. "Okay... uh, is it fine if I keep calling you Fran?"

"Of course it is! Don’t mind them," Maria said. "Also I’m glad you find him hot; he’s really nice-looking, isn’t he? You wouldn’t believe that the first time I found him he was a corpse! Haha."

"What?!" Laura was shocked.

"Ah, long story short, Lucifer was dead..." Maria explained. "He was a skeleton dragon, died thousands of years ago. I found him inside a dungeon and made him into an undead friend. We kind of fell in love through that time, and then he evolved and eventually even regained his life back."

Laura’s eyebrows twitched. "Fran, you keep talking about these bizarre things like they’re just a normal day for you..."

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