Chapter 65. Rest

“Do you really have to leave today?” Indra asked softly as she woke Ken from his slumber on the final morning of his stay in the underwater kingdom.

In the two weeks of his stay, Ken was able to fully adjust and adapt to the underwater world thanks to his daily training and working with Indra while also getting private lessons from Calidon on top of sparring with the best students at the royal academy.

“I wish I could stay longer too. Your family has treated me with such kindness. The training here in this environment has helped me greatly with my boost and overall enhancement in such a short time! I wish I could stay longer than two weeks but I need to at least go spend some time with my own family and I have business to take care of at home as well.” Ken replied as the pair got out of bed and got dressed.

“So I don’t make the list at all?” Indra asked in a depressed tone.

“Come on Indra. I will see you in two weeks!”

“But it’s not like I can do anything once we are in school with girls like Genesis, Alice, Clare and Cecilla hawking over you at all hours.” Indra replied as Ken chuckled.

“Ken. Next time you visit. Bring a few cute men with you. It’s not fair Indra is the only one who’s got a lover.” Inaya pleaded.

“Come on Inaya. I barely have any guy friends to even have good training partners. Where do you want me to go find cute lovers for you?” Ken replied as he and Indra sat with her family for one final breakfast before the teleportation.

“I expected you to not have that many guy friends but for a womanizer, you are rather well behaved.”Ingrid added as the siblings teased Ken.

“Just so you know. I was able to resist the advances from countless cute girls in the past two weeks. You all should be proud of me instead of making fun of me.” Ken replied jokingly.

“I can understand the allures of beautiful girls especially for someone in your position. I went through similar ordeals in my youth until I found the love of my life. I know people will grow and change over time, especially someone your age but if you make my daughter sad, I don’t think I could let you off the hook.” Calidon added, turning the mood of the conversation.

“I might fall in love easily but once I do commit, you can be assured I will do everything in my power to keep my girls happy even if I end up having to do things that might put myself in danger.” Ken replied sincerely to the ruler of the city while Indra came to his defense telling her father to not put more pressure on Ken.

“Well everyone. Thank you so much for the hospitality. I appreciate everything you all have done for me and I look forward to visiting again one day.” Ken said in the language of the merman people as he waved goodbye while getting teleported back home.

“What happens if you forget to fill up this air artifact?” A voice asked curiously as Ken teleported to the front door of his century old wooden home in the quiet countryside.

“I would be forced to seal lips with a cute girl to get air from them until some air magic gets added to the artifact.” Ken replied with a smile as he greeted the fox beastman girl alongside the rest who were waiting for his return.

“Did you have fun? Please tell me you didn’t get yourself any new lovers like this fox girl here.” Genesis asked as she kept giving Rena dirty looks.

“Just so you know. At least a hundred, maybe even two hundred cute merman girls flirted with me in the two weeks and I was able to turn them all down.” Ken said proudly.

“You are telling me you stayed in your room at night like a good boy all by yourself for two weeks?” Genesis questioned as she gave him a doubtful look.

“I was a good boy and only had Indra in my room for the two weeks.” Ken replied with a smile.

“Good for Indra. She finally gathered the courage.” Emma commented as she greeted Ken.

“Seeing that Rena is here. I guess you all have gotten to know each other a little?” Ken asked.

“The annoying fox has nothing better to do and just hangs around here all day.” Genesis complained.

“I would be stupid to not be here and try to get to know the family of my future husband better when I have the chance. Don’t care much about this human girl though.” Rena rebutted as the pair looked at each other with malice.

“Come on you two, please get along. I don’t have the energy to deal with drama.” Ken pleaded.

“Then you shouldn’t sleep with so many of them.” Gwen commented as she gave her brother a welcome home hug.

“Gwen! You are supposed to be on my side especially after what I did for you!” Ken complained.

“And what exactly did you do for me?” Gwen questioned.

“Rena! You didn’t tell her?”

“Not my place to get in between your family business.” Rena replied.

“Well Gwen. It’s time for you to get ready. After visiting Ostrium, I realized you are just wasting your talents if you stay here in Miodod. I was able to get Fernard to talk to the school and you will be attending Ostrium academy from next semester onward. You will be riding with Rena to the academy and she can show you around. But with her attitude, you are probably better off depending on Fernard.” Ken said excitedly as the group got inside the house as Gwen tried to process the new information.

“Fernard the grizzly beastman we see at the tournaments?” Gwen asked.

“Yep! He is like the most popular guy ever in Ostrium. Every girl wants him, Rena here realized he was way too popular and she had no shot of courting him. But he is a great guy! Extremely strong yet humble. I told him to take care of you so once you get to the academy, go get in touch with him and if anyone ever tries to pick on you or anything, tell Fernard to beat the living crap out of them.” Ken replied as his younger siblings piled on asking what is going on and where Gwen is going to go.

After explaining to the younger ones that Gwen will be leaving and attending Ostrium academy in a few weeks of time, the general mood changed.

“Come on guys, you are all getting older now. Once you are old enough and if you don’t get selected to Dragonspire, I will also be sending you all to Ostrium since it’s only a few days of traveling from here. You have to understand that if you want to achieve anything notable in life, getting that education from one of the top academy is a must and now that I got this connection to Ostrium, we can’t let this opportunity go to waste.” Ken said gently to the upset children.

After explaining to his younger siblings the importance of education for their future, they eventually accepted the reality that Gwen will also be leaving soon to school for the good of her own future.

“Don’t get all sad guys. One day you too will get old enough when you need to get out of the nest and follow your own dreams. Let’s go hit town and have some fun and enjoy some great food. We got a princess with us! I’m sure she knows all the best restaurants in the city.” Ken said happily to cheer up his younger siblings.

“I guess I have to babysit your sister when we are in school?” Rena complained as the group got ready to head for the city.

“Rena. Gwen doesn’t need any babysitting. She is more than able to take care of herself. Obviously she is mixed and we all know how people treat mixed races. Just need you to be a friend so she doesn’t get bullied. But I doubt you need to do much, I’m sure Fernard will take good care of Gwen for me.” Ken replied while giving Gwen some tips and pointers.

After enjoying a nice day at the city with his family, Ken spent the remainder of his break mostly just relaxing with the family and girls while giving his body the much needed rest from non-stop training for almost half a year.

“Alright Gwen. After you reach Ostrium, go look for Fernard and tell him you are my sister and he will take care of the rest. I have already given him all the gold you would need for the tuition and boarding. Don’t ever let anyone bully you. If anyone tries anything, go to Fernard alright? Maybe Rena can be of help but I won’t put too much trust in her.” Ken rumbled on trying to make sure his little sister would be able to enjoy her school life while Rena jabbed him for not giving her any trust.

“Stop worrying about me! Worry about yourself and how you will reach holy level in only 3 more semesters!” Gwen countered as the family gathered to see her off.

“I got my next exchange all set up and it should be approved and ready for me when I get back. I will make it one way or another!” Ken replied confidently as Gwen got into the horse carriage with Rena following behind as the pair set off to Ostrium days before Ken and the rest would need to leave for Dragonspire due to the much slower travel time for not having a teleport artifact.

“Be safe you two! Gwen, if the fox gets herself another boyfriend, make sure you let me know alright?” Ken said jokingly as Rena gave him a glare.

“Well Julia, you are the oldest now, you have to help mom and take care of the rest while we are gone.” Ken said to the young girl as the family watched the horse drawn carriage sped off.

“I am almost 14. I can handle it, no problem!” Julia answered confidently as the family headed back to their rustic wooden house.

After a few more days of resting and spending time with the family. Ken, Genesis and Emma were once again ready to head back to Dragonspire to start the second semester of Ken’s fourth year.

“Alright everyone, we are off now. Make sure to help around the house and don’t make trouble for mom alright? Everyone needs to grow up a little now that Gwen is gone as well.” Ken said his final words to the younger siblings as they agreed in unison as the teleport artifact activated and Ken’s group disappeared from the quiet little village.

“KEN! I heard you are going to Sraederham for an exchange. Don’t tell me you are going to go meet up with that fake lizardman girl!” Alice complained before Ken could even greet all the girls.

“How did you know? Did Ava tell you I asked Rose during the banquet? But yep, I submitted a request to go to Sraederham, specifically to train with the 4th ranked hero Sylvester, so I asked Rose to talk to her dad for me and hopefully get that request approved.” Ken replied while greeting all of the girls.

“Weren’t you always complaining about how you hated the way Sylvester fought? Sounds more like an excuse to go meet up with your lover than wanting to get any training done.” Cecilla jumped in to add her thoughts.

“Believe what you want to believe but the only thing on my mind right now is to get to divine level sometime this semester and reach holy by the end of next year.” Ken replied as he headed for the staffing room to verify if the request had been approved.

“So you won’t sleep with that Rose girl if you do end up going to Sraederham?” Genesis questioned as the girls followed closely behind.

“Who knows. Normally I would definitely not turn down a girl as cute as Rose if she was interested but she’s got some special circumstances and her father is also someone I don’t want to mess with so we will see how things work out.” Ken replied while refusing to explain her circumstances and telling the girls to stop asking.

“Thanks professor!” Ken said happily after he was notified that the exchange request to Sraederham to train with Sylvester was accepted by the hero and his necklace was set to teleport him to the Sraederham academy in a month's time.

After getting his request all set up properly and going over his crammed school schedule due to all of the exchanges, Ken and the girls decided to spend the day relaxing at the beach before another semester of full out studying and training takes over their daily lives.