Dire Wolf

Chapter 17

"Madness, huh? Definitely, someone, I wouldn't want to make angry," I said plainly, which to everyone agrees, "So, you say that demigods are not rare in the Ogawara Province, Surt?"

My boyfriend nodded and grinned as he stretched his thick legs over mine comfortably like he always does, "Yep. I will let you in on a little secret, Keenan. More than half of the students in our specialization school are demigods."

"What?! No way!" I exclaimed loudly that made him laugh out loud.

"They are actually here with us on this island. I will introduce them to you once we get back from our field study, Keenan. I am sure they will be shocked to see you out and about here. But then again, they know you lasted more than a year under Ms. Peregrine, so you will be here regardless."

I just chuckled when he said that as I continued asking questions, "So your father knew that Lytta is a goddess the moment he met him?"

"Yeah, quite. You see, he was saved many times by our mother during his rebellious child and teen days when he often goes out on the wilds all alone with nothing but the clothes he is wearing back then. They met twice in the woods and got two kids in the process. Well, that's my story in the nutshell," he finished finally before looking at me expectantly, "How about yours, Keenan?"

He received a double slap from our president and vice president the moment he asked me about my family so hard, his face looks like blushing profusely.

"What a brutish behavior, Surt!" screamed the daughter of Demeter growled, "You don't ask such questions to the one who is still grieving."

"Shame on you, Surt. Shame, shame, shame! How dare you!" Sothea screamed in his ears as he looked at me pleadingly to make the two girls stop hounding him angrily.

I looked at the two girls and smiled a little, "It's alright. I can talk about it now. Especially when Surt has helped me recover from my depression."

"Wow, you did that?" Sita asked him curiously as if seeing him in a completely different light.

Surt nodded a little before glancing at me shyly, "I would like to think so, Sita."

"I don't care if this will sound offending, but when it comes to social interactions, I don't trust this furry beast to even breathe near someone who is emotionally weak," Rex said matter of factly that made Bliz and Sothea laugh despite themselves, "I mean after we introduced ourselves to each other, years ago, we are already brawling earnestly a few seconds after that."

Sita nodded and sighed at them, "They almost scrapped the idea of making an auxiliary class when we can't just get along well with Surt at all in the first week, but hey, we managed to muddle through."

"If you are really okay with it, then I will be very much interested to learn about your life. After all, we don't have any nobilities here in the island to share us the life beyond the limelight of a real heir," Sothea said expectantly at me, to which I just replied with a shy grin and shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly.

"Actually, I am the least of all the heirs or was. I am the head of my house now, technically. But yeah, as you already know, House Rosenbaum doesn't own any territory of our own. Though we can't receive any tax, we managed to live our life opulently, albeit secretly. My family is really well to do, even more so than other tsars or tsarinas, but they are kind, down to earth, and not showy of our wealth at all.  Though technically I am living alone in our manor, I am surrounded by kind house helps and loving relatives. Father is always gone on business trips and meetings or something, but he always talks to me twice daily using voice chats. Once after, I get up and another before I go to sleep. It has been like that since I remember."

Bliz inclined his head inquiringly at my direction, "You mean to say is you never meet him personally at all?"

"Oh, we did meet once a year during my birthdays, but aside from that, yeah, I never get to spend much time of my childhood with it. But I am fine about that anyways. I have my relatives to take care of me. My grandparents, my elder cousins, aunts, and uncles. They treated me like their most precious treasure, and I think I can understand why. I am the only child of my generation born and the center of everyone's attention, so all was well. Though busy with their own personal lives and works, they always have time to be with me whenever I needed them and play with me if they have spare time. They also made sure that I will always have at least one of them keeping an eye on me all the time, even when sleeping."

Sita nodded and smiled at me, "Basing on what you have told us so far, you lived a very sheltered life. I am guessing you are homeschooled as well, Keenan?"

"I was, Sita. Some of my relatives are qualified educators, so I have no problems with my education at all. Why I once have enough relatives licensed to teach me all the required subjects to graduate with a degree in business legally."

It was Rex who is brave enough to drop the question, "You were the only one left after that day. Who told you the news?"

"The Emperor himself went to our home, but..."

"You are nowhere to be found, not a single trace left except for a single document stating that you are seceding the controls of your house's finances to the House Faulken. And it wasn't even more than eight hours after the tragedy happened. How did you even do it?" Bliz asked inquiringly that made me massage my temple and sigh heavily.

"I didn't do it. My family prepared me for the eventuality that something might happen to them all, and I will be the only one left."

Sothea looked at me sadly and tried to stop the tears from falling, "What drove them to prepare for such a terrible future?"

"Well, House Rosenbaum were keepers of the last resort of the empire. Our lives are in jeopardy the moment we are born into our family. As the heir and only child of our house, my safety was their top priority, so they set up several backup plans and protocols to be executed by our household should the absolute worst happened," I replied calmly as I thank my relatives quietly for allowing me to choose something for myself and not just what they want me to do.

"And the worst has indeed happened..."

I closed my eyes before letting a single teardrop from my eye, "Yes, Surt. It indeed happened. I was given three choices by my family as their last gift to me. One is to continue what the House Rosenbaum has been doing for countless centuries on my own. Two is to enter into a conservatorship under the House Faulken to administer my family's finances until I reached the legal age and ready to handle it all. The third and last is to transfer all the controls of everything we are safeguarding since our inception to House Faulken and live my life the way I wanted it to be, using the trust fund they set up for me to finance my life until the day I die."

"And you chose the third," Bliz said plainly, which I nodded in agreement.

"Yes. I couldn't care less about our duty to the state or something. None of it matters anymore now that my family is gone and I am left alone. My loyal house helps are tasked to smuggle me out safely and discreetly should I chose the third one, and so they did. I managed to leave the empire long before the emperor himself arrived at my doorsteps," I finished my story finally before grinning in my boyfriend's direction, "When I arrived at the Ogawara Province, I immediately bought a house for myself and enrolled at the specialized school nearby where I met Surt on my first day, and the rest is history."

Surt gave me a quick hug before talking, "Meeting you is the luckiest thing that happened in my life, Keenan. Everything just went everything my way. You are my lucky charm."

"So, what you are keeping me close because I bring you luck or something, Surt?" I asked playfully, which he quickly dismissed.

"I am keeping you close because you are handsome as heck and a great company as well. That, and I love you. Of course, you don't need me to say that out loud, right?"

I blushed profusely that made the rest of our classmates laugh out loud in glee, "You already did, you idiot."

"Sigh, I wish all people outside of the island are welcoming to same-s*x relationships..."

Surt and I looked at Sothea, who is looking at the two of us sadly, "Well, I live in the shadows for the rest of my life. I couldn't care less of what others think of me."

"What you said, my Keenan. In the wilds, there is no such thing as genders and such. Only to eat or be eaten. Though a little recognition wouldn't hurt. I mean, the Chief of the Alricer Province and the Tsar of the Tsardom of Yekaterin are already proving themselves to be something more than their genders by dragging the Plurinational Alliance Nations to greater financial heights," Surt said quietly that made Sita sigh sadly.

"The outside world is still stuck in the notion that you have to prove something first before they accept you as a respectable member of the society. Truly idiotic, personally speaking. What, is it like you two have to do something monumental like Tsar Lexei and Chief Gallion to not be looked down upon? Truly abhorrent."

Sothea nodded in agreement quickly, "Love is love. Why deny other people what makes them happy. What control does society have on who can or cannot be accepted? Makes me wish even more for the return of the immortals so they can fix things we mortals can't."

"Would it be just as easy as snapping their fingers and voila, everything is okay now, Sothea?" her boyfriend asked seriously that made us all look in his direction, "Say, they appeared tomorrow, will everything be the same way as they did in the last Golden Age we have learned so much about?"

Rex scratched the back of his head and shrugged his shoulders, "Welp, nobody knows, right? But what my father has investigated is that it will be a tad better than the one we are currently in."

"Well, to be fair with our world leaders right now, we've come a long way from what we used to be more than a decade ago and is already leaps and bounds better than what our parents have before. I couldn't possibly imagine what else the immortals will bring to our world that we don't already have," Bliz said matter-of-factly, and I am inclined to agree.

"Yes. I also studied from Ms. Peregrine's classes that the monsters are somewhat tied to the existence of the divines. So by opening the Gates of Olympus, will the monsters flood outward of the island as well and to our mainlands?" I asked innocently that made everyone around me gasped in surprise as if I said something dangerous and offending, "What? I am just asking a valid question."

Sita blinked at me as if I just said something she gave a thought before, "Now that you said it, Ms. Peregrin said something about them connected. If the gods and goddesses returned to our world, will the monsters return as well in full force?"

"Well, if that's the case, then I am now seriously having second thoughts of the divinities," Rex said pensively, "Don't get me wrong, I would want to meet my mother and hug her tight, but if it means unleashing a neverending tide of monsters in their wake then I guess, I'd rather not put other people's safety below my personal needs."

Bliz nodded in agreement as we heard a howl of a chimera far away from where we are right now, "We personally dealt with monsters, and they are hard enough to exterminate on our own when they are in small numbers. How much more if they appeared in large swarms after the deities returned to our world?"

"Well, while it is highly possible, no scratch that, it is with utmost surety that the monsters will return if the gods and goddesses return, we can also be sure that they will bring with them the Olympic Elemental Particles," Sita said optimistically that Surt quickly followed up with his own words.

"Yes! We can fully manipulate the elements easily, and it's not just us demigods who will be able to do so freely. Also, all the mortals will be able to use invocations at a whim. Even if the monsters indeed return in droves, we can successfully defend ourselves with no problem. I mean, the last two Golden Ages did it, I am sure we can as well," the son of Lytta said positively that made most of us content but not me and Bliz.

"Wouldn't there be a massive social and political upheaval if powerful beings suddenly appeared and began living with humans? What if the mortals cannot fathom how to use their newfound abilities? How will they react to the monsters they never even knew existed?" I asked, which made Bliz nod in agreement as we looked at each other knowingly.

The son of the goddess of snow glanced at her girlfriend and stretched his muscled arms as far as he can before speaking, "It will be a disaster of epic proportions: riots, rallies, mass hysteria, and chaos. Imagine, life as you know it was turned not just upside down but a complete three hundred and sixty degrees before bouncing down the streets. That's how big of a mess this will make, and I think I can safely say that I am not exaggerating one bit."

"Or the Immortal Knowledge will be unlocked as well..."

We all looked at Surt, who spoke quietly as he leaned on me lovingly, "What Immortal Knowledge, Surt?" I asked curiously that made him grin at me childishly.

"It is something that is not written in any textbooks we have studied so far nor a common knowledge in this island. But according to the oral traditions passed down from one chief of the Ogawara Province to the other, once the gods and goddesses have finally graced upon our world again, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, will impart the Immortal Knowledge to all mortals so that no one will descend into ignorance and arrogance when they arrived.