DD 204 Ch 8

I spent the next two days in Italy with the elves, becoming nearly addicted to the soft love the three of us repeatedly indulged in during our time. We barely took breaks for coffee and meals.

Of course, the two of them loaded up the skills they wanted most. Elysara had to keep [Absorb], but added [Portal] to her repertoire, Fayeth doing the same. 

Crimson and Neldra gave flimsy excuses as to why they hadn't finished yet, but truthfully, none of the three of us cared. The easy excuse to put off returning to the elven world were more than welcome.

But it was only a matter of time before the day came that our fun had to end and we had to go back into the real world. We said goodbye to Italy, but the memories were going to be some of my favorites, replayed often.

Ready to progress forward, I stepped out of Crimson's portal into the elven world, taking in my surroundings.

I remembered the balcony of the emperor's palace from the time Elysara was almost forced to be married. Thankfully, I had intercepted that, and it had turned into my wedding instead. The move had partially been a political maneuver, but in the end, I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to cement myself with the lovely elf.

After I stepped through, Fayeth and Ely came out behind me. In front of us was a small army of royal censors, and Elysara's father. He closed the distance in a heartbeat, wrapping Elysara up in a tight embrace.

More than a few flashes went off in the distance. The return of their princess was going to be the top news story for the week if not the year.

"Welcome home my daughter." His voice was weak before he cleared his throat. "I am so happy you have returned to us."

"Of course, Father," she bowed politely, her princess mask of polite neutrality back on her face. "I was never in any danger with Ken and Crimson by my side." She gave me far too much credit, but when it came to impressing the emperor, I was happy for her to play it up. 

"In that case, I cannot thank you enough for keeping the most important person, personally and politically, alive. This event has been tragic for the elves.” Her fathers face turned somber.

“Is everything alright?" I felt like not asking would be a crime. 

He gave a dismissive wave. "Our people are managing. I assume it's much the same for yours. This event has scattered our people and collecting them has been difficult." The Emperor glanced around at our group. "Miriam and Tish wouldn't happen to be with you?" 

Ely and I glanced at each other before shaking our heads. "No. Truthfully, Father, we had hoped they had returned without us. They had been in a safe zone, checking for threats, while I was with Neldra." 

The Emperor closed his eyes and nodded, seeming to age a decade before my eyes. "I see," he said simply, but there was plenty of meaning within those words. 

"No matter," he pulled himself up, not allowing himself to dwell on any unpleasant thoughts. "Elysara, I'm sorry, but our people..." He started, only for Ely to hold her hand up to stop him. 

"I knew before I arrived here, Father, that I would be saying goodbye to Ken for a time. There are many things I wish to tell you about what we've learned from this event. However, that does nothing to change the fact that I'm sure our people need to see me, and know that the Royal Family's full efforts are backing them as they continue to struggle through whatever ramifications the Dungeon Shuffle has brought into their lives." Elysara stated.

The Emperor smiled, one part fatherly pride, one part imperial satisfaction. “Of course, daughter. I should have known better than to think I would need to explain the situation to you."

"Trust me when I say, I don't like it either, Father. And I do believe that once you learn what we've found deep in the dungeon, that I will need to journey back into the dungeon once the needs of our people are met. We've met several new races, of which even the Naga act like docile little chickens before them." 

Those words caught her father's attention. The Emperor raised a manicured eyebrow. "Then I will have to hear this story in full detail. So Ken, would you stay for dinner?" He offered. 

However, I felt the offer wasn't real, and I shook my head. "No, thank you. I've been spending the last couple days with Ely knowing that I would have to say goodbye to her. I think if you drag this out anymore, I'm going to try and steal her back from you." I politely declined. 

The Emperor simply nodded. "Thank you for returning my daughter. I would ask, if there are any more elves you find, to please send them back home. Their loved ones miss them dearly."

"Of course. Any we've found so far have been brought out to earth until we were able to establish a path back. I suspect you will be hearing from the Nagato clan and the UG very shortly now that we've re-established the route between our two worlds. Those people, I'm sure, will find a way home. Nothing's been organized yet, but I will happily make portals myself to bring them home."

"Thank you." The Emperor nodded, and I could tell that he wanted us to leave.

I gave Ely a parting kiss, filled with as much affection as I could muster, before doing the same to Fayeth, who’s mother looked like she was about to rip her away if I lingered any longer.

As our lips broke, her mother rushed forward, crying and snatching my Fayeth away from me.

I shook my head at that thought and realized it was time for me to go. Blowing both of them another kiss, I left before I could follow up on my promise to the Emperor and steal them both away.

Stepping back through Crimson's portal, the leather-clad adventurer put a hand on my shoulder.

"You're not saying goodbye." Crimson’s voice was softer than usual.

"No, I'm saying goodbye for now," I nodded. I always knew Elysara would have to put some focus on her people, given her position. "Hopefully there's enough free time for her that she doesn't fall too far behind me in levels. Because I'm going to take her back into the dungeon eventually," I said, refusing to let my spirit waver even an inch.

"Wonderfully said," Crimson patted me on the shoulder. "Then what's next on the docket?" Crimson asked.

"Have you heard from Haylon?" I turned around and asked her instead.

"The headmistress wants everyone to take essentially a late winter break of two weeks. She was fairly insistent when meeting all the teachers that everyone needs to take a break." Crimson answered.

"Even you?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are they actually going to hold me to it?" Crimson snorted. "No. The headmistress thinks that anyone that dives back in is going to burn themselves out. Personally," Crimson raised an eyebrow, "I am more worried about people not getting back on the horse and then having trouble after two weeks."

Both arguments were valid only time would tell. "Honestly, I'm itching to get back in," I told her, "I don't think you have to worry about me falling off the horse. What about you, what does the Headmistress want you working on?"

"Lesson plans for new zones," Crimson yawned as if it was a painfully boring subject. "It's important, don't get me wrong, but I think a lot of that comes with experience more than textbook. I'm probably going to take a few people down to the zones, to the floors around Star City. The Headmistress wants to see them. And so does Professor Sai. As if it's going to make a big difference in how they plan class." She shrugged.

I smiled. Crimson wasn't much of a planner. She tended to push forward and take new challenges as they came.

"Oh. Well, if you want to do that, I think Charlotte's dad is here to meet me about looking for one of Charlotte's sisters. After that though, I think I will push to join back into the dungeon. I'm not interested in sitting around for too long." I told Crimson.

She gave me a peck on the cheek. "Don't promise anyone too much. I can tell you that nearly everyone in that high-level UG meeting wants to pick your brain. If you let them, they'll pick it right out of your head."

As I reached where I was going to meet Marcus DuVell and Charlotte, I startled a little. 

In front of me was a more significant gathering than I had anticipated.

Des sat beside her mother and father, while others were accompanied by their parents. Des  and her group stood off to the side. Meanwhile, Marcus had his wife sitting at the table with Charlotte. Penny was even here with her father and what I assumed was her mother. A few more men stood off to the side waiting patiently, they must be the rest of their group.

It seemed that the ever hungry Felin was with Grandma Hemi and they were currently busy with a cream cheesecake. The Nekorian was as happy as a clam. 

I took a deep breath and then stepped into the room and closed the door behind me, drawing everyone's attention. I was going to have to get used to the amount of attention people gave me. It was something about being a higher level, or perhaps just the recent events that made people look at me more and more whenever I entered a room. 

"'Ken,” Marcus said, placing a hand on the table. 

"Please don't tell me you're about to show them your sword,” Crimson said, coming up behind me and leaning on my shoulder. 

"What? No. No weapons in the house, right?” Marcus said, nodding to the room as if this had been a lesson drilled into all of them before I arrived.

I did not need Crimson shattering everyone’s weapons.

The mischief maker herself just chuckled, slinking away from me, treating the place like his own home. 

I stood scratching the back of my head and wishing I had a bunch of monsters to kill instead. But accepting I had to wade into this group, I moved forward towards Marcus.

"What? We can't come see our favorite son-in-law?” Des’ mother said, curling away from her daughter like silk in the breeze. She came to my side and grabbed me by the chin, lifting my head to look at me before patting my cheek lovingly. “You are going to fit in perfectly with the family now.”

I grunted at that. “Thank you.” 

“Oh no, thank you,” she said, her red lips parting in a smile. “For keeping a good eye on our Desmonda, of course. We have come to the decision that there's simply no one better for our Des than you. Right, Arthur?”

Her father, who was significantly older than her mother, gave a smooth smile that I could tell held a hint of strain. “Of course, no one better for our daughter.” He held a hand out for me. “Welcome to the family.” 

Des’ eyes glinted at me from behind her parents. It was a promise and another expectation I couldn't quite comprehend.

Meanwhile, Penny's mother broke through the two of them, wrapping an arm around me and saving me from Des’ mother. 

“Our Penny, has a wonderful eye, doesn’t she?” she teased, giving me a once-over before turning back to her daughter, who blushed furiously under her mother's gaze. 

The frost knight’s blue hair was particularly prominent against the red of her blush. Her mother then gave a sharp nod and let go of me. 

“Well, it seems like you have a good head on your shoulders, and a good sense in the dungeon. I've heard several accounts, both from Penny and Helen, that you did a wonderful job beating everyone else once you got stuck down there. For that, you have my thanks and my best wishes.” Her mother offered me a hand. 

“Mom!” Penny was there, pulling her mother's hand away, only making the older woman laugh. 

“You have nothing to worry about, Penny. He’s too young for me.” But her words only made Penny's blush deepen all the way until it disappeared into her hairline.

I cleared my throat, looking at the people who were staring at me expectantly. These mother-in-laws were something.

Marcus seemed ready to extract me for his own conversation if this went on any longer.

I held up a hand before the large man stood up. I was ready to get into the details.

“Charlotte told me her oldest sister, Alice, hasn’t been seen since the dungeon shuffle. I'd like to hear more. Know this, Marcus, I intend to find her.” I told the man.

Des's mother had wrapped her daughter in a hug, rubbing her cheek against Desmonda's. "We didn't come to ask anything. I just wanted to see my daughter and her man, especially with the changes we had heard about," she purred. “How are you adapting to the changes? Taking on the task is fine, but I do want to make sure you and the rest of your party are ready to dive once again.”

By the expressions on the other parents, that seemed to be the crux of why they were all here.

“Thankfully, Felin over there has methods that don't rely on a CID, since mine seems to not work so well with my current state. She helped me check in on my levels and abilities.” I told Des’ mother. “As for the dungeon, I thought our adventure was fun. Harrowing, but coming out the other side only made me stronger and more resilient.”

Marcus nodded along, as did everyone else in the room. They seemed fairly unconcerned with my race change, which was a relief.

"Have you told the UG about the change in the CID?" Arthur asked. "They do have some data because of our family that might be helpful for regaining your use of your CID."

I opened my mouth, almost immediately thinking to argue, before snapping it closed. He was absolutely right. Des's CID still worked. Perhaps there just needed to be an adjustment for the change. I got a little excited at the prospect that we would be able to get it functional once again.

Crimson walked past and quickly snatched the CID off my wrist before twirling it around her finger. "I'll go make the Scaredy Cat fix it. If it works for the Renards, there's no way they can't get it to work for you." Crimson disappeared through a portal, leaving me with all of my in-laws as both Penny's mother and Des's dragged me over to the table.

"While we've got you here, we might as well get to know you a little better," Penny's mother said, all smiles.

However, in the corner of the room, I could see my grandfather with his shirt in his mouth, furiously chewing on it in frustration. I shot my grandfather a a smile that said, ‘See, Grandfather, perhaps if you stopped trying so hard, things would work out better for you.’

There was a sudden fire of challenge in my grandfather's eyes before he disappeared.

I wondered what he was about to get up to. It certainly couldn't be good.

"Oh, let me get the cheesecake," Grandma Hemi rushed off to the kitchen, only for Grandfather to reappear with his stack of lewd magazines.

"Ken, since you're going to head back, I wanted to make sure we clean out your room." He dropped the pile in front of me and between the two mothers.

"Oh my," Des' mother picked up a magazine.

Grandpa had a proud, confident smirk on his face as if I was already shoulder deep in his trap.

"This is one of my favorites," Des's mother said casually, causing Grandfather's face to fall into the pits of despair.

"What?" Grandpa stuttered.

"I quite like this one." Des's mother already had it open, flipping through it like it was a casual magazine. "Truthfully, CaoCao is a superb artist of culture." 

Grandpa's head twisted abnormally as he stared at me with unbridled jealousy.

"Not particularly my taste," Penny's mother picked up another one from the stack. "But I generally say it's good to be a healthy young man. After all, he has a number of women around him, and I'm sure they would be terribly disappointed if he wasn't quite up to the challenge of satisfying them all."

Marcus DuVell gave a deep hearty laugh and slapped his knees. "Boys will be boys. Now put those away so we can get on to serious topics."

Grandpa slumped in defeat, having failed to embarrass me, but before he could snatch any of them back, I stuffed them into Des’ CID.

"Of course, sorry, this probably should have been given to me more discreetly. Hold onto them until Crimson is back for me, Des." I shot Grandpa a look that could only say, ‘Just wait for my revenge.’

Any tension that was remaining in the room between the two of us was cut through like a knife when Grandma Hemi came back in with a large cheesecake platter with four different varieties.

Grandpa disappeared, reappearing next to his sweet wife, suddenly the picturesque definition of a dutiful husband as he casually tried to inquire where her newest hiding spot was for the treats.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Oh, Ken, by the way, I got a new sword in the instance," Marcus said, and went to reach for his CID.

Only for half the room to shout. "No weapons inside the house!" 

There was a faint crack of a potato chip somewhere in the far distance and Marcus suddenly shivered and stopped trying to show me his newest sword.

"We can see it outside later,” I told him, unable to hold back a smile.