Long, long ago, in ancient times, the world was divided and ruled by separate clans with each possessing their own uniqueness. The Phoenix Clan, the Dragon Clan, and various other clans. Just like them, there existed a clan known as the Water Clan, which consisted of water dwelling creatures and it was ruled by their Queen of the Seas, who was of the Leviathan race.

When the Phoenix Clan waged war on all clans and began its systematic take over of the world, the Water Clan was also involved in their conflict. After a severe fight, it was soon revealed that the Phoenix Titan and the Queen of the Seas were evenly matched. So, not wanting to shed more blood and lose precious lives, both sides agreed to a neutrality agreement that would ensure both sides would not come into conflict with one another.

That was the last time the Phoenix Clan would get involved with the Water Clan as they continued waging war against the rest of the world. The Phoenix Titan expected not to deal with the Queen of the Seas again as she was his matchup but he did not need to worry because news soon came in of the Water Clan’s destruction with not a single survivor left.

“The news was that the Dragon Clan had attacked and destroyed the Water Clan as both sides were located nearby and wanted to secure more land and the ocean to sustain themselves,” explained Lakshman honestly.

“No!” The person sitting opposite Lakshman exclaimed in disbelief. “I refuse to believe it!”

The speaker was the stranger that had recently attacked Lakshman before he was knocked out cold within seconds. This person was in fact the Leviathan that had also attacked the Phoenix Titan and caused disturbance to his family.

After being knocked out by his own hands, Lakshman used magic to carry the stranger’s limp body into the house and laid him to rest at the hall seating area. Then he went upstairs to check on his kids while also letting the family know of the uninvited guess he had brought into the house.

“Isn’t it dangerous to let such a man stay below?” Tetra asked cautiously.

“We should beat the heck out of him for hurting the kids!” Silvera said, cracking her fingers with a firm look on her face.

“He does deserve some punishment since the babies were disturbed by his attack regardless of his intentions,” said Ondine in a quiet voice.

“Hey now,” said Lakshman, trying to reason with them as it was apparent that they wanted the stranger punished for his crime of disturbing their babies. “I think there’s a huge misunderstanding on his part that caused him to attack me. He keeps going on that I and the Phoenix Clan were somehow involved in destroying the Water Clan.”

“The Water Clan?” Tetra asked, looking confused. “You mean the one lead by the… um… their queen?”

“The Queen of the Seas,” he stated since he noticed that none of them remembered who it was. “She was as strong as I was at that time, but not sharing my ambition and only wanting to protect her people, the Water Clan kept to themselves.”

“Right. I kind of vaguely remember it since you mentioned that name,” said Ondine in agreement.

“Weren’t they destroyed by the Dragon Clan?” Tetra asked curiously.

“Who cares what happened to then?” Silvera asked, looking annoyed. “I still don’t like the fact that guy attacked our husband and almost hurt our babies! It’s unforgivable!”

“True,” admitted Tetra with a slight nod of her head.

“So, what should we do about him?” Silvera asked them, turning to glance at each and every one of them. “I still consider punishing him for his stupid actions.”

“Well… I do feel where you’re coming from… and I can’t really disagree, but…” said Lakshman weakly, trying to put up an argument.

“I think we’re going about this the wrong way,” said Ondine suddenly, and they all turned to look at her.

“Ondine?” Silvera asked curiously.

“Lucky makes a valid point that we don’t know the circumstances of the stranger for attacking us, so we can’t punish him without finding out first about his reasons,” she explained with a small smile on her face.

There was a moment of silence before Emilia said, “I agree that we should find out his reasons for attacking us before we punish him.”

“Oh, not this innocent until proven guilty thing!” Silvera asked irritably. “He attacked us in broad daylight for all to see. Why should we even care about his reasons for attacking us when his actions alone warrant us to take action on him!”

“You’re right, Sil. You’re perfectly right,” agreed Emilia sadly, “but… I don’t want to be… like them.”

“Like who?”

“People who take immediate action to criticise someone or punish them without finding out the whole truth. That just means they, who should’ve done the right thing, caused an irreversible damage on the person they took action against. I don’t want to be like them. I… am different.”

She spoke those words with a sombre expression on her face, which made Lakshman understand what she was referring to. His wife was indirectly referencing to the many problems she faced as a slave and the amount of turmoil she had endured before being taken by him. It made him feel sad and guilty that he was unable to do anything about it.

As if sensing his feelings, Emilia turned to him and said, “Lucky, how many times have I told you?”

Her stern like expression made him chuckle and say, “I know. I know.” Then he looked at them and said, “Okay, let’s head downstairs and—!”

“Hold up,” said Silvera by raising her hand in the air. As she lowered it down, she asked, “As much as I don’t this idea, I seriously don’t think we’ll get anything out of him if Lucky is there with you? Don’t you think?”

“What?” Her husband asked, looking confused.

“Mmm! Good point,” agreed Ondine in agreement. “As far as we’ve seen, he’s shown his aggression only towards Lucky, so there’s the possibility that he wouldn’t show the same hostility towards us.”

“H-Hey…!” Lakshman said, looking alarmed and worried. “Don’t do that! I won’t let you meet that guy alone! No way!”

“Weren’t you previous stating that he’s actually not as bad as he made himself out to be?” Tetra asked with a slight grin.

“I… I did, but… that and letting you meet with him alone is… not the same!” He said, trying to sound firm but coming of as completely worried and anxious about their safety.

They knew where his concern was coming from, as it so happened that his wives, nine of them at that time, had secretly approached the Calamity Titan, Chandra, his brother. They had gone to him without letting their husband know, so as to try and convince their brother-in-law to turn his back on the demons and join them again. However, their plan failed and they had lost their lives to the Calamity Titan’s destructive attack just as their husband and Lagron arrived only to witness their deaths.

Having witnessed their deaths and already feeling guilty about the recent attack that he was not there for them had made Lakshman very overprotective. Even to him, where he strongly felt the need to protect them right from the beginning, it felt strange until his memories of the past revealed the reason for him being so overprotective of them. So, knowing why their husband was feeling that way made them appreciate him even more, but they knew it was not the thing to do at that time.

“Lucky,” began Emilia coolly, “unlike that time, you’re here with us. You’re here to protect us no matter what kind of danger that we may face in the future.”

“Yes, but… I…” began their husband weakly while hesitating.

Ondine stepped forward and placed a finger over his lips as she spoke with, “You can’t always keep conflict away from us. As the wives of the Phoenix Titan, we share as much of the responsibility to be strong and powerful against angry foes out to get us. So, stop shielding us and let us do our parts. Alright?”

“If anything goes wrong, you can just fly down and beat him up,” added Silvera, causing Lakshman to let out a light chuckle.

He briefly went into thought and heard his past-self say in his mind, “Let them go. Don’t keep them locked up like caged birds. They’re your wives. Let them do what they can.”

There was a moment of pause where he continued to think before he nodded in agreement and said, “Alright. Do what you got to do, but seriously, if he does anything remotely stupid—!”

“We know,” they said in unison, and he smiled weakly at them.

As Emilia, Ondine, and Tetra went downstairs, Mariana grabbed Silvera’s arm to stop her as she said, “You stay back here.”

“Huh? Why?” The silver haired lady asked, looing startled.

“Because you’ll cause more confusion and conflict than provide any sort of help,” said Mariana firmly.

“What?!” Silvera exclaimed, looking alarmed. “I’m not going to do any of those!”

Even so, Mariana shook her head and said, “Nope. I don’t trust you in the department of being positive. Just hang back and help me with the babies.”

At hearing such words, Silvera’s head sunk as she felt very sad about the lack of trust. Lakshman hid his smile from his face as he quietly agreed with Mariana’s judgement. Then he went out onto the veranda and tried listening to what happened downstairs in the hall.

The stranger continued to sleep despite their attempts to wake him up for a few minutes. Seeing that he was not going to wake up any time soon, Emilia and Ondine both cast the magic spell known as Awakening, which was a Saint Ranked magic spell. This impressed Lakshman, especially from Ondine because he remembered that she had barely passed in graduating Astral Academy while Emilia came out on top.

“I guess she had time to practice in the span of two years,” he muttered to himself and formed a serene smiled.

He quietly listened as the stranger seemed to wake up with a start and start shouting, “What the heck is going on?! Where am I?! No! Wait! Where the hell is he?! What in the—!”

The man seemed to abruptly stop himself in mid-sentence as he seemed to have recognised that three women were present in the room with him. Due to this, his attitude suddenly took a dramatic change; from a raging storm into a quivering leaf that would get blown away by a storm.

“Um… Sorry about my yelling. I didn’t meant to cause you disturbance,” he said, and Lakshman tilted his head sideways in shock.

“What the heck?!” He exclaimed quietly to himself.

“That sure was a dramatic change of attitude,” commented Asura in his mind with a comical voice.

He continued to listen to the conversation down below as he heard the man ask, “Um… Who are you?”

At his questioning the identity of the ladies in front of him, Lakshman suddenly was worried as he muttered, “Oh no. If he finds out if they’re my wives, his attitude will flip.”

As if the same chain of thoughts were running through her mind, Emilia diverted the topic by asking the stranger, “That should be our question seeing as you’re the one lying on our seating space in our home.”

“Oh!” The man exclaimed, realising where he was and sounding apologetic. “Sorry about that. I had no idea.” Then he coughed and said, “Anyway, I’m the son of Xavia Stormdrake, Valerian Stormdrake.”

“That is an old-fashioned way of introducing oneself,” remarked Asura exasperatedly in his mind.

Lakshman was less concerned about his manner of introduction and was more concerned about the name of his parent. For some reason, the name ‘Xavia’ rang a bell in his memories. He felt as though he knew that name, but it was from so long ago that he could not clearly remember whose name it was.

“Um… Sorry but we don’t know who that is,” said Ondine apologetically as Emilia seemed to have gone silent.

“Oh. I guess it’s hard to know her by that name,” the stranger, now identified as Valerian, said with a hint of sadness in his voice. However, he seemingly quickly recovered and spoke proudly by declaring, “but I’m sure you heard this name, right? The Queen of the Seas!”

“T-The Queen of the Seas?” Ondine and Tetra asked simultaneously, sounding surprised.

“Then… that must mean…?” Emilia asked slowly.

“Yes! She’s my mother!” Valerian said brightly.

Upon this revelation, Lakshman heard his past-self sigh wearily and mutter, “Oh boy.”

“The Queen of the Seas… and he’s her son?” Lakshman asked himself in a mutter, looking quite surprised.

Sharing his feelings of puzzlement were also his wives who sat with the man, as seen by Emilia asking him, “By the Queen of the Seas… you’re telling us you’re her son? Does that mean… you’re a Leviathan?”

“Yes! I’m a proud member of the Water Clan!” Valerian said proudly. Then his voice changed to that of anger as he said, “Unfortunately, we were attacked and my clan was destroyed… by the Phoenix Clan!”

There was a moment of silence in which Lakshman focused his hearing on listening to what they were going to say next.

“Are you sure that is the truth?” Emilia asked curiously.

“It is!” Valerian said emphatically. “Our clan was suddenly attacked by many people claiming to be from the Phoenix Clan, and lead by the Phoenix Titan! I watched it happen and when I fought back, he tried to kill me but… but I… I don’t know what happened next.”

“You mean… you forgot?” Tetra asked.

“No! It’s just… a blur to me right now,” said Valerian with a pained voice. “It just hurts trying to… think about it.”

“Huh?” Tetra asked, sounding confused.

“Maybe all these long years of slumber caused your memories to get muddled or get forgotten over time?” Emilia pointed out.

“Maybe,” he admitted, but he was still resolutely fixed on one thing and that was, “but I know the Phoenix Titan attacked and destroyed my clan!”

Upon hearing that, Lakshman sighed and muttered, “Dang. It’s obvious that his memories were modified or changed so that he believed the culprit on his clan’s attack was me and my clan.”

“If so, then what was the Queen of the Seas doing? Do you remember the last moments of your mother?” Emilia asked, seeming to follow in the same line of thought as her husband.

“I… I don’t remember…!” He admitted in a shameful voice. “I just… can’t recall at all…!”

“I see,” said Emilia slowly, and Lakshman could visualise her nodding her head in understanding. “I understand what’s going on, and I think I can call on someone who knows the truth of what happened to you, your clan, and to your mother.”

“Someone… who knows the truth of… what happened?” Valerian asked, sounding quite surprised. “There’s… someone who knows…? That’s impossible! I know the truth!”

“There is a survivor from that time who can explain it more clearly to you than anyone else,” said Emilia clearly.

“A survivor?” He asked, sounding surprised. “Could it be… someone of the Water Clan?!”

Emilia did not say anything and instead it was Ondine who said in a serious voice, “However, you must promise that you will not flare up angrily or anything once you meet this person.”

“What?!” Valerian exclaimed, sounding startled. “I wouldn’t do that to them, especially if they’re the survivor from my clan!”

“Well, for your information, your recent attack disturbed my children and almost hurt them,” said Tetra critically.

“Oh…” said Valerian, his voice becoming lower and filled with sadness. “M-My deepest… apologies. I didn’t… intend to hurt… anyone else but… him.”

“That is why we’ll believe you if you promise and stick by your word to remain calm and listen to this person, whom we vouch for that knows the truth,” said Ondine in a firm voice.

There was a momentary pause before the man said firmly, “Yes! I understand, and on my mother’s name and title as the Queen of the Seas, I swear I will not cause any harm or trouble in this proceeding! So, please bring them.”

There was another moment of silence, in which Lakshman assumed his three wives were looking at one another and silently sending signals. Then he heard Ondine calling his name.

“Lucky. Are you there?”

“Yes,” he responded like they expected him to.

“Please come down. Our guest wants to see you.”

“Coming,” said Lakshman before moving from that spot.

He went down the stairs and arrived in the hall to see his wives seated on chairs in front of Valerian, who was sitting on the seating area. Upon seeing who it was, the human form of the Leviathan jumped up in shock and pointed a finger at him while exclaiming rudely.

“Him?! He’s the survivor?! The Phoenix Titan! My sworn enemy?!”

Ondine eyed him coolly and said, “You promised you won’t cause trouble, didn’t you?”

This made the man turn and glance at the three women with a helpless look on his face. Then he sat back down heavily and folded his arms with a disgruntled look on his face.

“Damn. What a mess…!” He muttered wearily.

“I quite agree,” admitted Lakshman with a small smile, “especially since you attacked me without even giving me a reason.”

“My enemies don’t deserve to know; they just have to face the wrath of my revenge!” Valerian declared firmly.

“Right,” said Lakshman with a light chuckle. “Now, will you finally listen to me seeing as I’ve pretty much understood your situation, Valerian?”

“Huh?” Valerian asked, looking at him in surprise. “How do you know my…? Oh…! You were eavesdropping!” He finished after realising quickly what had happened. “So low,” he muttered, turning to glance at the women with an unhappy expression on his face.

“We’re sorry if we tricked you, but you left us no choice,” said Emilia apologetically.

“Well, this is better than punishing you for hurting our kids,” added Tetra with a wink.

He stared at them for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning back to face Lakshman.

“Fine. I admit defeat. Now, do tell me what this truth is that I seemed to be missing,” he said in a resigned voice.

Lakshman smiled a little and said, “Gladly.”