Chapter 29. Far North

“Ken! We will be leaving in an hour! Get ready, pack what you need to bring and let’s go grab some breakfast!” Emma shouted as she waited and chatted with Lovetta, Genesis and Indra.

As always, the girls didn’t have to wait long before Ken showed up and greeted the girls as the group walked down to the common room together and headed to the dining hall for their final day as first year students.

Since every girl complained about Genesis getting to spend the whole break with Ken and Ken’s interest in traveling and exploring the world. They decided that Ken would spend the first ten days of the break with Lovetta and be teleported home after ten days to be with his family along with Genesis and Emma.

With his need for double teleporting, he ended up having to pay the staff 100 academy points to have his necklace set up properly. With the cost being a whole month's worth of allowance, Ken was more than happy to let Lovetta pay for the spell since she was quite wealthy with all the points she won from the tournaments.

After getting some free breakfast, Ken and the girls sat around chatting amongst each other and with the other first year commoners who would show up now and then to greet them and say their farewells.

“I can’t believe Lovetta gets to celebrate Ken’s birthday with him alone!” Genesis complained.

“Who cares. It’s not like any birthday except the 15th matters, once the selection is done, none of the birthdays even matter.” Ken replied casually.

“I for one am extremely glad that you will be with me for my birthday!” Genesis said happily.

As the time to leave ticked closer, Ken wished Indra a great break and the merman girl returned the well wishes. After been friends for almost a whole semester, while Ken had not developed any deeper feelings for Indra mostly due to her reserved nature and their lack of deeper connection, just by been around Ken and all the girls who won’t stop talking about him, Indra’s feelings towards Ken were slowly developing unbeknownst even to herself.

After talking with Indra, Ken turned his attention to Emma and Genesis. Giving half of the gold from Alice to Emma so she could take it home and share the wealth with the family and the villagers, Ken gave the half elf and Genesis a nice big hug and told them to take care and he would see them in ten days.

Soon after saying their goodbyes, the artifacts activated all at the same time, with their necklaces glowing, the group disappeared from the dining hall.

“LOVETTA! Where in the hell did you just bring me to!” Ken screamed as the bone chilling cold penetrated his clothes almost instantly as the pair stood in the middle of nowhere with only gigantic trees as far as one could see covered in thick layers of snow and ice.

“Hurry Ken! I told you it’s cold here but once we get up the trees, it will be much warmer.” Lovetta replied while grabbing Ken’s hand as the two rushed towards a particular tree.

Too cold to question why they are running towards a random tree, when the two eventually reached the tree and sneaked into the tree trunk, less than a minute had passed but the pair was already covered in a thick layer of snow and ice and Ken was ready to call it a trip and go back to the academy and enjoy the tropical weather.

As the pair climbed up the tree, Ken could feel it getting slightly warmer and when the pair eventually reached a platform that looked no different than any other, Lovetta led Ken and the pair walked out of the hollowed-out tree.

“Careful Ken, the bridges are probably slippery.” Lovetta warned as she held Ken close and her bushy tail wagging.

Following Lovetta through so many paths that Ken lost count and could no longer remember how many different bridges to the left, right, center they walked over, the pair eventually arrived at Lovetta’s settlement hidden inside the giant trees and only reachable through a complex maze.

As the pair approached the entrance, the two guards on duty greeted Lovetta while they watched Ken with suspicion and caution.

“Please remain here while we wait for permission of entry from the chieftain.” one of the guards advised in a serious tone.

With snow covering both from above and below, while it’s still cold and Ken needed every ounce of warmth from snuggling close to Lovetta and using her tail as a hand warmer, the insulation made the temperature here much more bearable compared to the frozen woodland below.

Not too long after, a third guard approached and when he saw the two cuddled together so intimately while Ken was shivering from the cold, he burst into laughter.

“Lovetta! Why does your man look so fragile from a little cold?”

“Shut up Zeev! Ken isn’t used to the cold like we are.” Lovetta snapped defensive at her older brother who happened to be on guard duty today.

“The chieftain has authorized his entry, you two can follow me to go greet him. If I were you, I would stop clinging to my sister and start walking with your chest out like a real man. My father is not fond of weak men.” Zeev advised as the pair followed him to greet the chieftain of the tribe.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s just jealous he is already 18 and still doesn’t have a wife yet.” Lovetta replied while holding onto Ken even tighter.

“For your information Lovetta, since you left, I got engaged to this beautiful and wonderful girl named Ruth and we will be getting married soon! In fact, the reason we aren’t married yet, is because we were waiting to have the ceremony when you had returned from the academy.” Zeev answered proudly.

Suddenly finding out that her brother is getting married, Ken saw a side of Lovetta he didn’t know existed as the wolf girl chatted happily and excitedly with her brother asking him a ton of questions about the girl while the trio approached her home.

When Ken reached Lovetta’s house, it was not what he expected the house of a chieftain would look like. Not any different from any of the other houses they walked by, without prior knowledge that Ken was here to greet the chieftain, he would have never guessed the person with the most power in this tribe lived in this unassuming simplistic house.

Before the three walked inside of the house, Zeev forced Lovetta to get off Ken while ignoring her protest. The inside of the house was as simplistic as the outside, wooden table, chairs, shelves carved into the tree with little to no decoration and everything in sight was essential for survival.

“Hi mom, dad, Tina. How have you all been? This is Ken, he will be staying here with us for the next ten days, I hope you all will get along.” Lovetta said casually.

Before Ken could greet the family, Boris Wulric stood up and stood in front of the pair, towering over them. While Ken is not short by any means and over the past year built up quite a bit of mass, Boris at 6’6 with bulging ripped muscles made the young man look tiny in comparison. Unfazed by the intimidating beastman, Ken smiled naturally and started speaking.

“Hello. Thank you for having me over! Lovetta has been my rock for the past year, and I am glad I got to meet her family and her home. I didn’t know what to expect but this bitter cold is making me question if I can last the whole ten days.” Ken said calmly.

“What type of relationship do you have with my daughter and what do you hope to achieve?” Without wasting any time, Boris got straight to the point with his questions.

“I am in love with your daughter and wish to be with her for the rest of my life. As far as what I hope to achieve, honestly, I don’t really know myself. When I first got accepted by the academy, I just want to eventually get a good enough job to live a comfortable life, but I guess the longer I have interacted with individuals with such high ambitions such as becoming the greatest hero, I feel like my own goals and wants are growing but I just don’t know what’s realistic and what’s a dream.” Ken answered honestly.

“Your relationship with the human girl next to you during the tournament and the elf from Yelwraek?”

“Love them and want to be with them for the rest of my life.” Ken replied without hesitation.

“Dad! Can you stop interrogating Ken? Tina, go grab Ken a blanket before he catches a cold!” Lovetta demanded.

While the younger sister ran to grab Ken a blanket, Lovetta grabbed Ken as the two sat down on the wooden bench in the living room snuggled closely together to the dismay of her father.

“Hello Ken, I just want to know how do you think my daughter feels knowing that the man she is deeply in love is also interested in other girls.” Lovetta’s mom Anita asked in a soothing voice.

“I know I am being selfish, but I just can’t pick one and leave the other girls. It’s something I wasn’t thinking about at first, but I have also realized it’s not fair so it’s something we have discussed, and Lovetta decided on her own that she rather be with me knowing she would most likely have to share my affection rather than be with someone else and I am glad that she decided to choice me.” Ken answered sincerely.

As the younger sister returned with a heavy fur blanket for Ken, the family sat around and chatted with the young man trying to get to know him more while Ken was also eager to get to learn and know more about the tribe that lived on top of the giant trees in the great forest far north.