[Name: Ken]

[Race: Human]

[Mana: 200/200]

[Qi: 500/500]

[EXP: 300/600]

[Level 6]

[Strength: 230]

[Speed: 260]

[Stamina: 280]

Ken stared at the screen as he approached his home under the light of morning. He got there and noticed that the town was quiet, people were probably still scared, worried that they had been exposed to the dangers of the world now.

He took a deep breath and then opened the door to his house. Instantly, something ran into him, his sister. She wrapped her hands around him and almost threw him to the ground. Ken froze. He looked down with shocked eyes, while she met his gaze with a shine in hers.

"Welcome back, big brother," she said with enthusiasm. His mother walked out of the kitchen, a soft smile on her face, but behind all that was an emotion she tried desperately to suppress. Ken noticed, but did not say a word.

"You’ve only been coming back when there is something to deal with," his mother said. "Can I hope this is different?" she asked. Over the last month and a few weeks, she had not seen her son as much as she used to, and though she knew he was safe, her heart ached whenever she saw what her soft little boy had turned into.

"I wish it was so," Ken replied. His sister finally let go, and he walked in. "But it isn’t, this time I might have to leave for far longer," he said while he kept walking. The smile on his mother’s face faltered. She took a sharp deep breath and then walked into the kitchen.

"Come and have breakfast, we can talk over food." Her voice quivered at the end. She tried to feign steadiness, but that made her shakiness stand out more.

’She is terrified at the thought that I would have to leave. I wish there was a way to make her feel safe about it, but I doubt one can feel safe over their last son leaving in a demon-infested world.’

He walked to the table and sat down, his sister sat beside him.

Not long after, his elder brothers came down. The moment that they saw him, their expressions changed, guilt and regret flooded their eyes and faces. They looked away, not wanting to meet his eyes. When the attack had happened, they had all run, too scared of the demonic humans to do anything. They had watched Ken take care of all of it. They were weak and stupid.

Ken didn’t care much for that, from what he knew already, the average human stood no chance against a demonic human. He could not hold such against them.

They both sat at the table, opposite Ken, yet their heads remained down.

Their mother walked in soon with the food and a bright smile, though her eyes were slightly red and Ken had heard sobs from the kitchen. He kept a stoic face regardless.

She placed everything down and then got to her seat as well, opposite the largest chair, which was their father’s.

"Mom, sit up here," Ken suddenly spoke. Everyone paused, they knew that was their father’s chair, so why would Ken say that?

"Ken, that chair belongs to your father," his mother said.

"Yeah, I know, but sit there."

"What the hell are you trying to—" his eldest brother was about to lash out, only for Ken to look him right in the eye, a glare that made him shut up.

"You have managed to keep things afloat when he wasn’t around, I believe you deserve to have the seat," Ken said.

His mother could not understand why he would want that, but only Ken knew that his father was most definitely dead. He looked at his younger sister, he knew that he could not say this to her, the elders would have to speak about it first.

He decided to leave that aside and started eating. Everyone stared at him in confusion, still not understanding what that whole thing was about.

"I’ll be heading to the capital of the kingdom soon, along with Luna. She is going to be the elf that leads the merge of humanity and the elves. Her mother asked that I follow and stay by her side, that was the way I managed to get the elves to fight for us and stop the demonic army that was headed our way." He explained all in a single breath.

"You are leaving to the capital?" she asked in shock, her eyes wide open, fear behind them. She looked at Ken as though he had said something terrible.

"Yes, the capital."

His mother wanted to speak, but her voice came out in cracks. She took a deep breath and then finally gathered herself enough to speak.

"The capital is not a good place, it’s filled with nobles who, if you look at them wrong, could get you killed. There are dangers everywhere, demons and more, you can’t go there," his mother said. She gripped the spoon in her hand tight as tears streamed down her face.

"A deal is a deal, and I was never going to stay here forever. I know this is abrupt, but the decision is made," Ken said.

His mother instantly looked up with a glare. She was about to yell something, but then her eyes landed on her daughter and she sucked it in.

"Darling, please can you go take a bath, you can come and help me in the kitchen," she said to her.

His sister knew that they were having a heated argument now. She wanted to know why, but she also knew that they could not speak with her there. She nodded and got up, walking up the stairs and leaving them there.

"Dad’s dead," Ken said the moment his sister left. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

His words were like a gunshot, it forced all of them to suddenly look at him with confusion and shock in their eyes. The air was so tense it could be cut with a knife.