Chapter 13

After entering the living room, Mariane flopped onto the couch and pulled out several bottles of alcohol from her inventory. While she drank, Serilla looked out the windows before shutting the two doors leading into the living room. After making sure everything was clear, she leaned against the wall next to the fireplace and folded her arms.

Keith sat across from his Mom as she drank six bottles in one go. Just when he thought she was about to pull out another, she let out a repulsive belch before asking a question. “What do you know about the four families?”

“They’re the pillars holding up and protecting our civilization,” Keith responded matter-of-factly. “Hundreds of years ago, humans were split into different factions and fought countless internal wars. Only when four adventurers rose to power and subdued everyone did we unite into a single force. Under their lead, we developed our technology and conquered Rifts until humanity became the strongest force in the world. The four families refer to these four heroes and their descendants.”

While Keith explained what was common knowledge, Mariane downed another bottle. When he finished, she sneered. “Is that what they taught you at school?”

“Yeah,” Keith grew confused. “Is it wrong?”

“It’s mostly a lie,” Serilla answered from the side.

Hearing his Aunt, Keith looked to his Mom as she explained a hidden story known to few. “Hundreds of years ago, there was a person: Yara. Yara’s innate gift gave her control over karma.”

Keith responded uncertainly. “I didn’t know there were innate gifts based around such elusive concepts.”

“Strange, isn’t it?” Serilla seemed to know Keith’s thoughts. “Besides her, no one else in the world has innate gifts centered around a concept.”

Keith was shocked. “Is that true? Why? What makes her so special?”

The System governed all things, and to bless an individual with an innate gift in a different category from everyone else made Keith doubt the System’s fairness.

“No one knows.” Serilla shook her head.

“Anyway,” Mariane continued, “Yara’s ability isn’t so simple as cause and effect. I only know a bit. For one, she can peer into many possible futures and steer an individual or events towards any particular one. I also know she can look at a person and see everything related to them.”

“What? That’s scary.” Keith was utterly shocked. How could you face such an ability?

“It’s good you know.” Serilla looked out the window and spoke with an ice-cold voice. “Be wary around her. You never know if she’s subtly manipulating your actions.”

“You speak as if she’s still alive. Wasn’t this hundreds of years ago?” Keith voiced his doubts. Stats could increase your lifespan, but not to the extent of living for hundreds of years.

Serilla looked at Keith with a strange smile. “Yara is still alive and well.”

“Let me get back to the story,” Mariane interrupted. “Back then, during that wartorn era, Yara used her innate gift to find four children with immense potential. Under her guidance, they became known as the four heroes who you’re familiar with.”

Keith rubbed his forehead as he absorbed this information. After a minute, he had a terrifying thought. “So what you’re saying is Yara controls the four heroes, and thus their descendants are also loyal to them, making her the de facto ruler of humanity?”

“Clever,” Serilla was surprised. “I didn’t think you’d see the connection.”

Keith sighed, finding it somewhat sad that human civilization was under a single person's control, but at least they were morally good. Yara led humanity from that wartorn era to today, where technology advanced rapidly, and most people had homes.

After a few moments of silence, Keith asked, “So which family do we belong to?”

Mariane answered Keith’s question with a sigh. “Of the four original heroes, only Rickard’s alive and kicking. He is the father of your Aunt and me.”

“The greatest alchemist in the world?” Keith blinked several times, unsure how to feel. At the very least, he now understood the responsibilities his Aunt and Mom had. With demons and orcs constantly threatening humanity, he couldn’t even imagine the pressure they faced as the direct descendants of one of humanity’s leaders.

Mariane didn’t give time for Keith to relax as she revealed something else. “Your father is Markus, Yara’s son, which makes you her grandson.”

Processing this information, Keith didn’t know if he should be happy he was born into such a ridiculous family. After all, countless people looked up to the four families and wished they could enjoy their level of strength and status. However, with the conversation in the courtyard just a moment ago surfacing in his mind, Keith knew there was a good reason he never met his dad and grandparents.

Mariane observed her son and asked, “How do you feel?”

“I don’t know.” Keith smiled with a helpless shrug. “I guess it doesn’t feel like the news has set in yet?”

“Do you have any questions?” Mariane hoped Keith didn’t resent her for raising him without a father now that he knew the truth.

“Well, I’m still confused why it seems like something’s about to change,” Keith replied as he rubbed the side of his head.

“Uh.” Mariane opened her mouth, but she lacked the courage to answer at the critical moment. Shifting uncomfortably, she looked to her sister for help.

Sighing in annoyance, Serilla wondered if her sister’s change in temperament was for better or worse. In the past, no matter how big or small the problems Mariane faced, she boldly charged forward with her head held high, but she grew hesitant and indecisive ever since becoming a mother. At the same time, it was as if her very soul was brimming with life.

Under Mariane’s pleading, Serilla looked directly into Keith’s eyes and explained in her sister’s stead. “To uphold our status and maintain our strength, everyone who belongs to the four families undergoes strict training starting at the age of four. For example, I entered my first Rift at the age of five, killed my first monster at six, and my first human at seven.”

“What? That’s crazy!” Keith recoiled in shock as the pristine image of the four families in his mind immediately plummeted. He never would’ve thought the four families were so cruel as to force their children to kill monsters and humans at such a young age. Hell, not even the barbarian tribes or orcs treated their children like this.

“Hmph.” Serilla’s gaze grew sharp. “You can question the morality of it all you want. The reality is I was stronger than you at the age of eight.”

“Oh…”

Keith didn’t care too much about how strong he was, but to hear his Aunt could beat the current him up when she was eight still shook his ego.

“I admit the four family’s methods are extreme and produce soldiers with little to no emotions,” Serilla’s tone softened. “But it is due to them we can hold our own against figures like Vokoth, the demon ruler, Ugak, the orc chieftain, and Ava, the elven empress.”

Keith refrained from sharing his opinion as Serilla continued, “Before you were born, your mother stood at the pinnacle of the four families. She was a genius, ruthless, and a fighting maniac: a perfect soldier.”

“She still is a fighting maniac,” Keith muttered, his Mom coughing at the remark.

“Perhaps,” Serilla responded coolly, “but once you were born, she awakened emotions and feelings unbecoming of a member of the four families. Upon realizing you would go through what we did, she caused quite a ruckus.”

Keith snickered, “I can imagine that. What did she do?”

“After some verbal arguments with your grandfather, she went crazy and threatened your father,” Serilla answered with a smirk. “You need to understand that your father isn’t a part of the four families. He is the son of Yara, the Overseer, and possesses one of the world's strongest and most developed innate gifts. His strength is on another level, yet your mom still went and threatened to damage the foundation of his innate gift.”

“His foundation?” Keith nodded in understanding. Some innate gifts gained strength from external things, much like his own. If someone stole what he collected in his Grimoire, his power would drop. He just didn’t know what powered his father’s innate gift.

“In the end, Yara herself intervened,” Serilla’s eyes narrowed. “She allowed your mom to raise you as a normal person would, and three months after you awakened your innate gift, both of you would return to the family.”

Keith’s chest clenched in anxiety as he came to a sudden realization. “Doesn’t that mean I’ll have to go through hellish training in less than three months?”

Serilla shook her head. “I don’t know.”

At this time, Mariane finally spoke, “Your status is unique. You aren’t just a descendant of one of the four heroes. You are Yara’s grandson, so the four family’s rules don’t necessarily apply to you.”

“Whew.” Keith relaxed as he collapsed into his chair when he heard that.

After a moment of silence, Mariane’s hesitation disappeared as she spoke solemnly, “In three months, be wary of your grandmother. She might not be humanity’s ally!”