Chapter 63. Face to Face

After returning to his room and taking a quick shower, Ken and Rena got in bed for one final night before it was time for the young man to return to Dragonspire and deal with the consequences of his action.

“Well Rena. I know you only got together with me because of my perceived potential and obviously I was only looking for a cute girl to keep me warm. But after the month together, I hope you have developed some deeper feelings for me as I definitely have for you. It would make me happy if you don’t sleep with any other man while I’m not with you.” Ken asked as the two snuggled together in bed.

“You will be going back to sleep with how many girls? Yet you want me to stay away from all men? Just how selfish can you be? If you don’t want me to sleep with anyone else, just put a protection spell over me like the one you removed.” Rena replied.

“I am just asking you. Obviously I’m not going to put a protection spell over you like I get to decide what you can and can’t do.”

“Lucky you I am not a horn dog like you and just put up with your daily needs because I want my eventual easy life. As long as you get strong enough over the next few years and get hired by a rich kingdom so you can provide me a lifetime of luxurious worry free life, I don’t have the desire to look for a backup anytime soon. Obviously, if you end up dead or can’t hold up your end of the bargain, don’t expect me to stick around.” Rena answered without any hesitation.

“Fair. I know Genesis said she is willing to be a beggar as long as she is with me but I can’t expect every girl to be like that. You might talk like you are all business but I know you are definitely falling for me! I will obviously do my best to provide that great life for my girls so I have to work hard with the training.” Ken replied as the pair made love late into the night.

“Well, I guess it’s goodbye. I know I shouldn’t be saying this since I am only after a comfortable life but you should refrain from getting hundreds or thousands of wives and concubines like some of those kings.” Rena whispered quietly as the pair laid in bed minutes before it’s time for Ken to be teleported back to Dragonspire.

“I guess it was a mistake doing the exchange solo. Should have brought Cecilla along like she wanted. Now I have an extra foxy to deal with and also have to answer questions when I get back.” Ken sighed as he got up and dressed and ready to go back to Dragonspire and face the consequences of his inability to resist cute girls.

“Anyways. Safe travel home Rena. If you go visit my siblings, make sure you bring them out and treat them to some good food. I will be in Miodod for at least a few weeks before school starts so it won’t be too long before I get to see you again.” Ken gave Rena some final farewell words and gave the fox beastman girl one final kiss and hug before his necklace activated and the young man disappeared from the capital city of Ostrium and back at the familiar common room where he was instantly surrounded by chattery girls ready to hear his exact activities in the month that they spent apart.

“Let me get it straight. You told me to not follow you because you don’t want any distraction and want to focus on getting stronger. But on the first freaking day, you ended up sleeping with this girl and did so for the entire month. Yeah… I am not listening to your bullshit anymore.” Cecilla said angrily as Ken told the girls about his encounter with Rena.

“Did you at least spend enough time training to get strong enough to beat Xandrian at the tournament? They are definitely going to match the two of you up to kick off the open tournament.” Clare added, equally unhappy with Ken’s behavior.

“I can’t help it that I am just that popular! At least Rena kept the other girls away so I was just with her alone the entire time.” Ken replied defensively as the girls continued their bombardment of questions.

“STOP! She’s cute, she tried to seduce me, I realized I would be alone there for a month so I couldn’t resist. It’s what it is. What’s done is done!” Ken protested as the girls won’t give him a break or let him off the hook.

After everyone eventually calmed down slightly, Ken suggested that they should have a light lunch, while catching up and do some training to test out his growth compared to them and eventually, the group headed into town to enjoy a nice welcome back dinner to celebrate Ken’s return.

“Time to get up and get ready Ken!” Seraphina said happily as she slapped Ken’s butt to wake the young man up.

In a blink of an eye, more than 3 weeks has passed since Ken returned to the academy and with the student portion of the tournament already over with, today is the day that Ken will step on the stage in the open tournament and if he could make it far enough, face off against one of the top 10 heroes.

“Emma. Can you grab me some gold from the safe please. Fernard will be here today for the open tournament and I need to pay him back. Hope he has good news for me as well.” Ken asked with a yawn as he got up and ready for the open tournament.

“I can’t believe I lost to Luke again!” Clare complained.

“Luke is definitely strong. Unfortunately Clare, you're not Cecilla so I don’t think you will be able to beat him until he hits a plateau that you can overcome.” Ken replied as the elf princess complained even more, not taking Ken’s statement well.

After the group got ready and arrived at the stadium, the girls wished Ken good luck as he headed to the backstage while they went up the stands to watch the show.

“Vincent! Fernard! Glad to see the two of you are on good terms!” Ken said happily as he arrived backstage and greeted his two friends who were chatting amongst themselves.

With his fast growth, during the last 3 weeks, Ken has been doing a lot of training with Vincent as he was one of the few top students who actually liked Ken and was able to keep up and provide a challenge for the fast improving young man while Ken also offered Vincent some good training.

“Tell me the good news Fernard.” Ken asked, after handing over the cash he owed the giant grizzly beastman.

“Yep. It was approved by the school board so everything is all set.” Fernard replied happily as the pair caught up briefly and chatted happily with Vincent as the trio waited for the tournament to begin.

“As requested by many and agreed upon by both contestants, before we start the rest of the matches. We will start the open tournament with a special match between Xandrian Nafluica and Ken!” Lucia shouted happily to the crowd and those watching at home cheered as they had waited eagerly since Ken’s declaration from half a year ago to see this match unfold.

Xandrian Nafluica, two years Ken’s senior and a noble from the kingdom of Naflucia is an elf that’s been harassing Ken on and off since the day Clare decided to be part of his group almost 3 and a half years ago.

Brunette colored hair with golden eyes, Xandrian is your typical handsome noble and carried himself with an air of arrogance. For years, Ken had avoided escalating any trouble with Xandrian as he did with other nobles and royals to avoid unnecessary issues that would add extra stress to his school life.

“Well commoner, after I destroy you today, if you get on your knees and beg me for forgiveness in front of the entire world. I will think about asking the king of Yelwreak to go easy on you and let you keep your lowly life.” Xandrain offered as the pair walked onto the arena to the cheering crowd.

“No thanks. I would rather not embarrass myself in front of the world. Besides, who knows what you will do to Clare if I let you win.” Ken replied as he waved to the cheering crowd with a big smile.

“You don’t have to worry about her. She will enjoy a great life as one of my concubines but obviously I can’t make someone like that one of my wives anymore but I will let her bear my offspring since she does have high potential.” Xandrain replied with a laugh as he waved to the crowd.

“More reason for me to put you in your place and show the world I am superior in every way and more befitting of the princess.” Ken replied as he got in position for the fight, tired of engaging in this pointless conversation and just wanted to get it over with and move on with his life.

Typical of an elf, Xandrain favors elemental magic compared to physical enhancements. Similar to how Clare and Cecilla fights, his fight style is one of range where he tries to overwhelm his opponent with long range magic while defending with shields and protections while only using physical enhancements when needed to get out of a pitch.

As Ken dodged ice blasts sent at him from every direction, his attempt at closing the gap was expertly stopped by well placed ice walls and earth walls as Xandrain showed off his experience in keeping physical fighters at a distance.

After a few minutes of standstill where both were just testing each other while planning how they could bring this match to an end. Ken decided it was time to go all out and end this match now that he understands the type of fighter Xandrain is and how much superior he is in comparison to Xandrain.

“Fireball!” Ken shouted as he sent multiple gigantic fireballs at Xandrain as the elf noble easily blocked the fire damage but before Xandrain could realize what Ken was doing, ice spears flew into the fireballs and as the ice instantly melted from the intense heat, the steam cloud created in that instant was enough to allow Ken to disappear from Xandrain’s view.

“Boost.” Ken whispered as he boosted his already fully enhanced body to the highest level that he could handle without breaking.

Before Xandrain could even track Ken’s movement, the human got into the elf’s blindspot and closed the distance from behind.

“Explosion slash!” Ken screamed before Xandrain even knew where the human disappeared to.

With an explosion from behind, Ken instantly popped Xandrain’s shield with his combo boosted attack and was declared the winner to the cheering crowd.

“Sorry Xandrain, you are just not in the same league as me, especially with your fighting style. I destroy mages like you because I am simply better at everything.” Ken taunted after defeating the elf noble as he waved to the cheering crowd.

“Great job Ken! You are definitely even stronger than when you were in Ostrium! I wish I could grow at the insane level you are.” Fernard said happily as he patted Ken after the rather easy and anticlimactic victory over Xandrain.

“Just lucky that one versus one is the only thing that seems to matter now. I am just a good matchup against him. His elemental magic is definitely top tier at this age group and he might be extremely useful in a large-scale battle or in a group but when it’s one versus one, he just isn’t that big of a threat for me.” Ken replied as he chatted some more with Fernard and Vincent as the three discussed about strategies and ways to improve.

After a full day of matches, all three made it to the second day and even though he is only in his first ever open tournament at the young age of 18. Ken impressed and made it all the way to the top 4 in his bracket where he lost to a graduate from Dragonspire who is a regular at the open tournament and serving a large kingdom as their military commander.

Zishell once again won the finals and with Ken’s new understanding and abilities, he was able to boost up his senses during the final match and able to observe Zishell as he displayed a level of magic and physical ability that’s still far too great for Ken to understand.

For the first time in half a year, Lucia chatted with Ken but only briefly for the interview as she did so to please the crowd and those at home. Obviously still upset at him from what he did half a year ago, the interview was professional but lacked the usual playful banter as Lucia was eager to move on to someone else and wanted nothing to do with Ken.

“Guess Lucia is going to stay mad at me forever.” Ken chuckled after the succubus walked away.

“Good. You don’t need to be associated with her anymore anyways.” Clare replied as the group headed back to the suite to meet up with Alice and Cecilla so they could get ready for the banquet.

“Cecilla. You think your father will be willing to speak with me? I want to talk to him face to face at the banquet.” Ken asked as the group returned to the suit to see Alice and Cecilla getting dressed for the banquet.

“Clare should definitely go see him. I don’t think he will force her to return but I can’t make any promises.” Cecilla replied as the group got ready and headed for the banquet.

“We will face him together. It’s a public event so I doubt he would do anything too drastic.” Ken answered as he grabbed Clare’s hand to calm the nervous princess down after half a year of avoiding her father.

“Good luck Ken. We will be watching. We will come and rescue you if anything happens.” Lovetta offered.

“Lovetta. Don’t do anything please. Just grab me some good food for when we get this over with.”Ken replied to the wolf girl and told the rest to stop her from making any rash action.

“Hello, your highness.” Ken said politely while bowing as he approached the king of Yelwraek.

“Hello father.” Clare added quietly.

Turning towards the pair from his conversation, the king’s expression remained stoic, giving Ken no hints of what emotions the king has towards him, the one who stole one of the king’s most valuable chess pieces as well as declared to the public that the King’s actions are selfish.

“Hello Clare. I hope you have been doing well. What can I do for the two of you?” Cyril Yelwraek, the king of Yelwraek, replied calmly with a small smile.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Ken got down to business.

“I know this is our first formal meeting but we have definitely started out on the wrong foot from my actions from half a year ago. While I stand by what I have said, I also understand my actions have put the kingdom of Yelwraek in a negative light and I want to formally apologize for that.” Ken said sincerely as the king listened.

“I don’t need your apology. As the ruler of the most powerful kingdom in the entire world, results are the only thing that matters to me. Tell me why I should allow you to not only live but have two of my daughters.” Cyril asked as the conversations around softened as everyone in the elite section perked up to hear what the commoner young man had to say.

“I have thought about this since I made my declaration. I did my research and found out that Zishell and Julius both initially reached holy level after 6 years and they seemed to be the fastest in recorded history.

I will get to holy level by the end of my 5th year. I know reaching holy level doesn’t mean much in the grander spectrum of things but if I could do it faster than the current top 2 heroes, I hope that is enough to prove my worth of your two daughters and my eventual ascend to the top ten.” Ken answered confidently.

“Holy level in another year and half? If you can actually pull that off, then come to Yelwraek and I will personally let my two daughters be wedded to you. Even if you never reach the level of becoming a top ten, that talent alone will be worth investing in.” Cyril replied as Ken happily went over the finer details of the deal with the king before bidding his farewell.

After having at least another year and half of not having to worry about getting murdered, Ken breathed a sigh of relief and went and greeted Alice’s parents for the first time as well as finally getting to briefly chat with his childhood hero Ryder Ethelred the retired hero turned ambassador and announcer.

“Here Lovetta! Got some lobster from the fancy table!” Ken said happily as he returned to his girls on the second floor of the dining hall where they had been keeping a close eye on his every move.

“You seem happy. Did it go well?” Genesis asked as Ken started shoving food down his throat.

“YEP! Basically, if I reach holy level in another year and half. I can go to Yelwreak and get both Clare and Cecilla to be my wives. If I fail, then I need to just take all of you and go hide in the mountains in some remote continent so the assassins the king sends after my life don’t get a chance to find us.” Ken replied happily in between his large bites of food.

“I know you don’t think much of me but you could have at least said hi.”

“Rose! Just the person I am looking for! I knew you would swing by so I wasn’t looking for you when I was nervously talking to the king of Yelwraek!” Ken replied happily as he looked back to see Rose covered from head to toe in her typical black dress.

“Yeah. I don’t think you understand the definition of nervous. Even kings from most of the largest kingdoms would not have spoken to the king of Yelwraek as casually as you did.” Rose replied as she greeted everyone else and took a seat to be with the group.

Throughout the evening, Fernard and his dad, Vincent, Ava and even Yvette swung by their group to chat and eventually, Sylvester showed up to take Rose away.

“Bye Rose! I hope to hear good news!” Ken waved goodbye as Rose and her father disappeared from the view.

With his life no longer in immediate danger, Ken happily chatted with acquaintances and friends late into the night before finally returning to their room to turn in for the night.

Similarly, since the king promised to let Ken have both Clare and Cecilla if he could reach holy level, Clare was able to have a civil conversation with her father after Ken left and decided to return home with Cecilla so she could see her mother and sister.

“Indra! Make sure to keep all girls away from Ken. Now is your chance to get closer to him so don’t let some random get ahead of you.” Alice advised as she began to teleport home.

“Yep! Rather he sleeps with you than random girls.” Cecilla added as she and Clare waved goodbye and started their teleport.

With the trio gone, the rest spent the night chatting about what Ken needed to do now so he could reach holy level even faster then two of the strongest heroes in recorded history and why he is so nonchalant even when he is trying to accomplish something that was never done before.

“Stop worrying! So what if no one had ever reached holy level before the age of 21. I will make it happen and celebrate my 20th birthday afterwards in Yelwraek with Clare and Cecilla as my wives!” Ken replied confidently, ready to put all his efforts into getting stronger now that he has a concrete goal to strive towards.

author notes: Going on a 2 months long vacation in a month and half. Hopefully I can get part 1 done before my trip but will be close.