[BL] Challenge: 100 Baby in Fantasy World-Chapter 253: Dimensional Home Situation

While the three young men cleared the side yard, Gara and Wina worked together to plant the Autumn Apple seeds in clay pots.

These seedlings would stay with him for a while before being transplanted to the yard, since the weather inside the Dimensional Home was already autumn, not ideal for sprouts.

Once they finished planting the three seeds Professor Aura had given them, it was already dinnertime and the meal was ready.

It had been nearly a month since everyone last sat down together. Between Gara’s constant busyness and Madha and Fian’s training schedules, full-house dinners were rare these days.

"The greenhouse you mentioned earlier, Gara, so we’re not building it today?" Wina asked as she passed a bowl across the table.

Gara glanced out the window. The sky outside was already dark. He nodded. "Not today. But I’ll give Ares some instructions first."

Hearing his name, Ares looked up immediately. The dragon young man’s exhaustion was written all over his face. Today’s chores had clearly drained him.

"You’ll just be preparing the materials," Gara clarified quickly, suppressing a grin. "I won’t make you build it alone. If we have some free time, we’ll help."

After the warm dinner, everyone returned to their own rooms. Before Ares could leave, Gara patted his shoulder.

"If you’re tired, get some rest. Don’t compare yourself to Fian or Madha. They’re used to this kind of work," Gara said kindly.

Ares nodded awkwardly. Even though he’d once been royalty, in this house he was just a worker and everyone else his superior.

He headed toward his room. After the Dimensional Home expanded, Wina had moved into a larger room beside Gara’s, leaving her old one —closest to the entrance door— for Ares.

Meanwhile, Fian and Madha still shared a room, though lately they barely slept there because of their academy schedules.

Inside his room, Ares sat at the edge of the bed. His whole body ached, but as an extrovert, he actually enjoyed the noise and liveliness of the house.

Honestly, with the triplets, Rea, and her little ones around, the place was always lively. But after repeating the same routine for nearly two months, even that had started to feel dull.

Without realizing it, he’d begun waiting for the moments when Gara would show up with something new to do.

The next day, the greenhouse project officially began with Ares preparing all the necessary materials.

At the same time, Gara, Madha, and Fian resumed their usual routine as academy students. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

In the offense class, Gara spent most of his time experimenting with Mona’s ability. Months had passed, yet the class still followed the same pattern, duel after duel.

However, ever since both Madha and Gara had defeated him, Maul no longer imposed any rules on the Class S students.

If they wanted to duel, they could. If they wanted to train, fine. Maul simply stayed out of their way.

After another round of testing with Mona, Gara handed the short girl a cup of Niskara Tea.

"Drink this first," he said.

Just then, Yuvika approached with a bright smile she couldn’t quite hide.

"It’s this week, right, Gara?" she asked, eyes sparkling.

Gara nodded, smiling faintly. "Wanna go see it together?"

Yuvika nodded quickly. She was about to head back to Orman —she didn’t want to interrupt Gara’s training session with Mona— but then something felt off.

"Wait... where’s Andine?" Her gaze swept across the field.

Madha and Fian were both around, training with different sparring partners, but the mermaid girl was nowhere to be seen.

Gara instinctively looked around too. Only then did he realize Andine wasn’t there. Normally, that mermaid girl would tag along wherever they went without being asked.

No wonder things felt a little quieter today.

"I don’t know," Gara said with a small shrug.

"She went out with her mermaid friends," Mona piped up from the side.

"Oh, right. She hasn’t spent much time with them since joining Class S," Gara said thoughtfully. "Maybe she’s practicing her trait again."

The thought made him pause for a moment. He’d promised to help Andine study more about her kind and train her ability but somehow, he’d never actually followed through.

Instead, right now, he was training with Mona.

Yuvika didn’t ask further. She turned to head back toward Orman, who was currently sulking.

Apparently annoyed that Madha had been spending less time with him since training Kevio and constantly sparring with Revan.

Gara, meanwhile, continued training with Mona, whose stamina had fully recovered.

Once he got into training mode, time always slipped away. Before he realized it, the offense class was over, and they were moving on to the next one.

"Andine’s still not here?" Gara glanced left and right as they walked.

"Haven’t seen her since morning," Madha replied, while Fian shook his head in agreement.

"She’ll show up eventually," Gara murmured, brushing it off.

—

By the time they reached the front gate of Gyakarta Academy, two horse-drawn carriages were already waiting. Gara climbed into one, followed by Madha, Fian, and finally Andine.

"Do you go out of the academy often on weekends, Gara?" Andine asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

They’d run into her by coincidence in the dorm lobby earlier.

She’d originally planned to visit her mermaid friends but the moment she saw Gara, she’d quickly changed direction and followed him instead.

"Besides the alchemy lab, this is my first time going out," Gara admitted. "Looks like it’s your first time too?"

"Yeah! My sister’s on a mission in a border villages right now, so no one’s around to take me anywhere," Andine said, grinning from ear to ear. Her excitement was obvious.

Gara just nodded, but a few minutes later, motion sickness hit him hard. He went completely quiet.

Andine blinked, startled to see the always-composed Gara turn pale so fast.

It didn’t take long before they entered the bustling streets of the capital. The scenery here was a stark contrast to the academy’s forested surroundings— wide roads, tall buildings, colorful banners, and people everywhere.

Andine couldn’t help pressing her face to the window, her golden gills fluttering open and closed as she stared in wonder.

"Don’t tell me... you’ve never seen a city like this before?" Madha asked, massaging Gara’s hand absentmindedly as he spoke.

Andine laughed softly. "Not really. In my lake, we live in carved caves underground. There aren’t any buildings like this. The mermaids only gather when there’s a ritual or an important announcement."

Gara listened silently, genuinely intrigued by her story about life in Matara Lake. If it weren’t for his motion sickness, he would’ve bombarded her with questions.

The carriage eventually turned off the main road, entering a cleaner, quieter street lined with well-kept trees and pristine stone pavements.

"My sister once said that streets this neat usually belong to elite districts," Andine said, tilting her head. "So... why are we here?"

Honestly, she still had no idea where Gara was taking her. All she knew was that he’d promised to take her out for tea.

"It’s definitely a high-end district," Gara said, his head still spinning a little even while leaning against Madha’s shoulder.

"Woah~" Andine gasped in awe, her golden eyes darting from one elegant building to another.

Gara didn’t respond this time. He just closed his eyes, waiting for the ride to end—

until the carriage finally slowed to a stop in front of a grand, yellow-painted building that stood out boldly among its surroundings.

The double doors at the entrance were made entirely of glass, and even the walls beside them gleamed with transparent panels— modern, elegant, and luxurious in a way that felt out of place in the capital’s vintage streets.

A long line of people was already waiting outside, stretching along the polished pavement.

The ones inside looked like nobles flaunting their privilege, while those outside stared at them with a mix of envy and longing.

Even though Karina’s shop for mermaid products was considered huge, this store was on a whole different level of extravagance. Andine couldn’t even close her mouth in disbelief.

Her eyes caught the sign above the entrance, large golden letters gleaming against a silver backdrop. The words read: Alrova Shop.

"This is the Alrova Shop?" Andine covered her mouth, stunned. No wonder it was packed. So this was the famous store everyone talked about, the one selling products made by her own friend.

Turning to Gara, her face lit up with admiration. "No wonder everyone keeps talking about Alrova Shop. Its popularity really isn’t exaggerated at all!"

Gara only smiled faintly, saying nothing.

"But... I thought we were going to have tea?" Andine asked, remembering Gara’s earlier promise.

Instead of answering, Gara simply pointed upward.

Following his finger, Andine saw that above the golden signage, there was a second floor and right there, in elegant script, it read: Alrova Drink Shop.

"The second floor?" she murmured, earning a small nod from Gara.

"But there are so many people... it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get in," she said, her voice tinged with disappointment. Still, after glancing at the long line ahead of her, her determination quickly returned. "That’s okay— we can wait!"

Gara chuckled quietly at her optimism but didn’t say anything.

With renewed energy, Andine joined the end of the line, ready to wait as long as it took.

Just then, another carriage stopped behind theirs. Yuvika, Orman, and Kevio stepped out, all three looking slightly annoyed.

"I told you we took the wrong street," Yuvika said sharply.

"Hey, you’re the one who decided to follow my lead. And I’ve never even been here before," Orman replied, completely unfazed.

Yuvika glared at him, tempted to whack him over the head, but now wasn’t the time. Their priority was getting inside before they got swallowed by the crowd.

Her eyes immediately found Andine, already standing in line. Gara, Madha, and Fian were nearby, looking far too relaxed for people surrounded by chaos.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let’s go in," Yuvika said, striding straight past the line without hesitation.

"Eh? But we have to queue—" Andine started, startled.

"Come on," Kevio interrupted smoothly. "It wouldn’t make sense for the creators of the products to wait in line, would it?"

That’s when it finally hit Andine.

She’d come here with Gara.

...