"Liora, why do you smell a bit like garbage?" Laura asked, sniffing Liora after noticing the odor when she kissed her.
"Oh? Brother Kael put me inside a dumpster to hide earlier and told me not to make a sound," Liora answered with an innocent, cute expression as she looked at her mom.
"Kael!" Laura stepped forward and pulled Kael's ear, giving him an earful when she heard that her little princess had been wronged. "Why did you bully her like this?!"
"Ouch!" Kael was speechless and could only smile bitterly as he somewhat enjoyed this moment instead.
"Alright, stop it. He's already grown up, don't embarrass him like this." Julian said, coming to the rescue. "Besides, he must have had a good reason."
"Yeah, Mom. Brother Kael did that because he wanted to protect Liora while he was killing the bad monster outside," Liora added, nodding in agreement with her dad's words.
Hmmph!
Laura snorted and let Kael go before chatting with Liora, eager to hear what had happened while they were out.
As Liora chatted with Laura cheerfully and even told her about her brilliant ideas regarding Kael's undead subordinates, Kael went toward Uncle Owen and his family with Julian.
"It's thanks to your uncle and his son that we're safe and sound," Julian said, patting Kael's shoulder with a smile.
"Uncle Owen, Luca. Thank you for saving my parents." Kael bowed deeply, expressing his gratitude, as he was genuinely grateful to them.
"Don't say that," Uncle Owen replied, waving a hand and flashing a bitter smile as he glanced at Julian's torn sleeve. "We didn't do a great job protecting them, either."
He continued. "Besides, we're the ones that should be feeling thankful because you've saved us."
Uncle Owen put a hand on Luca's head, making him bow, and everyone else followed suit.
"Please don't do that; it's not that big of a deal anyway." Kael said, helping Uncle Owen straighten up, embarrassed by the gesture.
"Kael, how can you be so strong that you killed that kobold so easily, even though you're the same level as me?" Luca asked, looking helpless and a little depressed that Kael was only his level.
"Don't compare yourself to me, I'm the chosen one, after all." Kael chuckled and patted Luca's shoulder.
"Get lost!" Luca moved Kael's hand away and walked toward his cute little niece, as he couldn't be bothered with him anymore.
"Hey! It's not much, but it should help since you're still very weak." Kael called to Luca and tossed him a green scroll.
Luca was about to curse Kael when he turned and looked at him, but the moment he saw the thing Kael threw over, he was surprised and twitched his lips with complicated feelings before turning away. "Hmmph! At least you still remember your brother."
"I'll remember this and repay you many times over in the future," Luca didn't say thanks since he knew that he didn't need to say such silly things to Kael.
Luca then used the scroll right away because he was also curious about what skill he would get from it.
Kael shook his head with a smile, then looked at Uncle Owen. "How's the situation here? Any strong monsters around? And what about the government's response?"
Kael asked that out of courtesy even though he somewhat understood the overall situation.
After a brief chat with Uncle Owen and family, Kael asked, "Uncle, what's your plan from here?"
"Me? I honestly don't know because the situation is still chaotic. What about you? What are you going to do now that the world has turned into chaos?" Uncle Owen answered with a bitter smile.
"..."
Julian was speechless at the side, feeling ignored as Owen asked his son instead of him, even though he was the family head.
Sigh!
'I really missed my cute little princess.' Julian sighed and went toward Liora, listening to her story with the others.
"I'm heading to the Celestine Apartment in the central city," Kael replied, then added, "Why don't you all come with us?"
"The Celestine Apartment? That's one of the most luxurious places in the city. Why go there?" Owen asked, confused.
"It's simple. We're moving there, and you should come, too. Things are dangerously chaotic right now," Kael said with a chuckle, waving a hand. "Don't say no—I'll handle the housing. Just come along."
Owen thought for a while, then asked Kael with a serious expression, "Are you sure? Don't force yourself too much, I'm not that poor, you know."
"Don't worry, trust me," Kael replied with a smile.
As Kael smiled leisurely, his expression turned cold the moment he heard his little sister's loud declaration.
"Brother Luca, you heard that robotic voice say 'Immortality Lord,' right?" Liora chirped, pointing at Kael. "That's Brother Kael!"
She snorted as she continued, "Hmmph! What about the 1st Echelon Monster? It's only 1 rank away anyway."
Kael frowned and swept his gaze at everyone besides his family and Uncle Owen's, as he put his hand on the sword, thinking if he should silence them since he couldn't afford to let the news spread.
Naturally, he didn't blame his little sister because it was also his own fault for not reminding her not to mention this sensitive information. He had never thought of restricting Liora, as he didn't expect a situation like this with strangers.
Sigh!
'I'm still too careless.' Kael sighed softly and thought to himself that what's done is done.
Now he had to make a tough decision to prevent future trouble.
When Kael unsheathed his sword slightly and was about to make a move, Uncle Owen stopped him with a solemn expression as he realized the seriousness of Kael's situation and understood why he wanted to go that far.
"Wait! There's another way… right?" Uncle Owen spoke with a serious expression, glancing at more than a dozen strangers.
"Yeah, we're tight-lipped people. We wouldn't say anything about you." Someone said hurriedly.
Julian immediately went toward Kael with a complicated expression, feeling that his son had somewhat changed.
"Son, not everything is solved with violence. We can discuss it with a clear mind to find the solution because this problem is not an unsolvable one." Julian reminded Kael as he patted his shoulder.
Laura suddenly pinched Liora's cheek softly and asked something else instead. At the side, Luca smiled bitterly as he scratched his head with an apologetic expression.
Sigh!
Kael closed his eyes and exhaled deeply before speaking with a cold expression, "I don't need to remind you, but just let me say this: I hope you know the consequence of your action and wouldn't regret it in the future if you do something stupid."
"Dad, Uncle, watch them. Let's take everyone with us for now," Kael added, gaze serious. "This matter isn't as simple as it looks. Don't assume it's over."
He continued. "Anyway, we'll prepare for a few minutes, then head to the central city."
The others could only shake their heads helplessly with a bitter smile and remembered in their hearts to not mess with this young man.
Even though none of them had done anything, they understood that strength ruled, and they'd be helpless if Kael really meant to kill them.
Fortunately, Uncle Owen and Julian had calmed him; otherwise, they might not have lived to see the next sunrise.
However, now that they thought about it for a while, it was actually not a bad choice being "forced" to follow Kael, since their safety was in a much better situation now that there was an extremely strong person with them.