"All that happened started like this. We three were crossing for Laurel Village when one day, we had to stop and become cautious upon arriving in an area where blood was on the ground, and a horrible stench assaulted our noses." "Trying to find if dangerous monsters lingered and remove the thoughts of getting ambushed at night, we delved deeper inside. It was until we heard people screaming that we became wary and didn't know if we should risk our lives to see what was going on." "However... curiosity took over me, and I lead the two following me into grave danger. It was then that Tula noticed us and shouted for help..." Vincent looked at Tula with concern and continued, "Tula got hit and flew out of our sights. I sent Ester to check on her condition, and she tried her best to tend Tula's wounds with what we had on our hands at the time. But only after the Demonic Beast died did Tula as she is now, approach us." Upon hearing Demonic Beast, Yula, Lenn, and Renn revealed a pale face. They knew of the devastation a Demonic Beast leaves behind. Koss and Kass were strong, but anything could happen against a strong foe. "Kass did his best, but he overused his unique class ability and used most of his remaining life to fight. Lupa and I tried our best to help, but Kass became greatly weakened and injured. In the end, he passed away, leaving us three to fight against an injured Demonic Beast." Vincent said. "You are only talking about our uncle. Where was our father?" Lenn asked. "Don't tell me our father was already dead!" Renn exclaimed in a hurry. "No, but..." Vincent looked at their expectant gazes and continued, "Follow me." [What are you going to do?] Kazumi had a hunch, but she didn't think Vincent was going to do what she thought. It might make the people watching them from afar notice Vincent's unique powers. -I'm going to show them what we fought against. Visual confirmation is the shortest method of communication and understanding.- [Hah... just try not to summon many things then. We don't want to grab the attention of any disguised soldiers. They are probably watching us from somewhere. We are on probation after all.] Vincent had similar thoughts. He walked over to the glass sliding door and slid it open. He walked to the yard and said, "Come here. Let me show you what we fought against." Bright green light suddenly lit the yard. Mesmerizing particles of information collected in one place until a large corpse and a large egg materialized out of thin air. As the light settled, Yula, Lenn, and Renn were frozen in place because of the mysterious storage ability and the sudden appearance of the large Demonic Beast corpse. [1x Nok Ape Corpse (Earth Demonic Beast) (Rare Quality) summoned. x0 remaining.] [1x Soldier Ant Egg (Uncommon Quality) summoned. x7 remaining.] "W...WHAT!" Lenn shouted, surprised out of his wits. "I-impossible! How can an Earth Demonic Beast die if a mage or a high skilled Blood Tempered fighter like our father was present?" Renn questioned in disbilieve. "Hey! Are you saying uncle was weak?" Lenn angrily responded. "No. But he couldn't use CQC Arts. Uncle was mostly good for defense." Renn rebutted. "Defence is better than offense! " Lenn exclaimed. It felt like the twins were about to hit each other to prove their point. Lenn seemed to prefer his uncle while Renn, his father. "Boys... please. Don't do this now..." Yula was at wit's end because of her loss and what lay in her yard. Hearing her children bicker was too much to bear. Yula managed to hold from crying her heart out because of Tula. Tula stayed with her mother, embraced her mother, and even helped her mother walk outside. Yula also noticed how Ester, with a little sleeping blue fox between her arms, helped Tula doing all this like an older sister caring for her little sister. "We're sorry, mother." Lenn and Renn both apologized. "Unfortunately, we met with your father much later. However, I believe both of you are wrong. Why choose defense or offense when you can have both? That is what your uncle did. He fought with two shields and wore them like iron gloves. I believe the stronger the defense is, the stronger the offense becomes. One can't survive with the other missing." Vincent said to the twins. Lenn and Renn looked at each other and nodded as if they knew each other's thoughts. Then both said, "Please, tell us how the fight went. We want to know the final moments of our uncle." Vincent turned his gaze on Yula and asked, "Will it be fine, madam?" Yula nodded. Then she held Tula's hands for emotional support. Her hands trembled while hearing what happened in the fight against the Demonic Beast. About how Tula suddenly appeared next to the three survivors. About how Vincent had to be treated by a Minor Healing Scroll as the fight was too difficult. Lastly, about how Kass and his fiancee got respectfully buried together. "I... I knew uncle was strong. But to take on a stage ten Earth Demonic Beast with two shields and raw strength is. Is. Is legendary!" Lenn's respect for his uncle grew exponentially. "I never thought my uncle was this fearless. I don't think I hate shields that much now." Renn added with respect toward this uncle and his preferred choice of weapon. Hearing about a new type of defensive fighting made him think, 'Shields aren't that bad, but swords are still the best.' "We barely survived the encounter, but a worse situation surrounded us after meeting with Koss a couple of days. We encountered an ants nest... that egg over there is a Soldier Ant egg." Vincent pointed. Yula, Lenn, and Renn became afraid upon hearing this. They thought it was the egg of an animal and not the egg of a dangerous insect. "Don't worry, mommy. The eggie is not a baddie. But I don't like how chewy it is, though." Tula comforted her mother. "Can we take a look at the Demonic Beast and ant egg?" Both Lenn and Renn asked. Vincent didn't have anything to hide. He allowed the two to do as they wish. A couple of minutes later, both seemed satisfied by how courageous their uncle was. It was unfortunate for Kass that after using Upper Zerk Mode multiple times, he could not progress and even lost the ability to manipulate his blood for a CQC Art such as Force Shock. After that, Vincent deemed it was time to continue with Koss's part of the story. The more Vincent said, the more devastated Yula, Lenn, and Renn became. Also, Tula couldn't hold her tears anymore. The truth is always the most painful of words. As such, the four couldn't stop crying until Tula fell asleep, and the twins soon followed. The twins were tired after they spent a day training to become stronger and look for their family when the emergency city lockdown stopped. Crying ended up exhausting their strength. "We will help to take your children to their beds. I understand how a loss feels. I did the same when I lost my parents." Vincent tried to reassurance the devastated mother. Yula accepted. She knew walking became harder from the emotional stress she is suffering in the night. Ester and Lupa took Tula to her mother's bedroom while Vincent took the twins to their beds. [1x Nok Ape Corpse (Earth Demonic Beast) (Rare Quality) gained.] [1x Soldier Ant Egg (Uncommon Quality) gained.] Vincent stored the proof of what happened. The evidence of their victory and their triumph against death. The green light illuminated the yard enshrouded in darkness from the night. When the light faded, Yula approached and said, "I have heard from the two lovely ladies how you are their fiance. They also mentioned you three don't have a place to stay. You can sleep in our spare bedroom if you want since it's already night, and finding a room is currently difficult because of the emergency lockdown. I think Tula would love that." "Thank you, madam." Vincent respectfully bowed. "Please, call me Yula. You are my daughter's savior. Not many keep their promises, and even fewer people are this considerate. Please take it as my thanks to you three. Also, we have a sofa in the storage room to sleep on. Let me guide you." Yula appreciated Vincent's behavior and personality. He was a stranger, yet he felt like family. She could see her husband's kindness in him. Kazumi perked her hearing when Vincent was given the option to sleep alone or on a bed with Ester and Lupa. To her surprise, she heard. "No need mad... Yula. I will sleep on the bed with the girls. It's been a couple of weeks sleeping where our eyes could see the other. How can I say this... sleeping in the wilds made me a bit anxious sleeping alone or with someone, I don't know..." Vincent was interrupted while giving an excuse. However, he simply wanted to sleep on a bed and not for other reasons, but he was misunderstood. "You three are young." Yula interrupted. She nodded her head and continued while heading for the kitchen, "Try not to wake the kids up." "Wait! It's not what you think! I'm a gentleman and most of all..." Vincent tried to tell Yula that she had gotten the wrong idea, but she weakly moved into the kitchen and then went upstairs to sleep beside her returned daughter. "I'm tired. Heh... why do people like to get the wrong idea all the time? Can't a man sleep on a comfy bed? It's been a nightmare sleeping on the grass and the damn ants climbing on us all the time." Vincent asked himself out loud. The lifestyle he lived was like night and day compared to reading books, helping out in the library, watching an animation or a movie, and sleeping on a comfy bed to end the day. [Well, you know what time it is, right? Hehe.] "Yes." Vincent raised a grin and went upstairs to the spare bedroom. He was eager to sleep on the bed. The thought of a comfy mattress and a soft pillow enticed him to hurry. Vincent opened the door. In the room were one bed with a folded clean bedsheet and two pillows. Inside he found Lupa wagging her tail on and Ester cleaning the sleeping Plow with water. It somehow felt natural to Vincent. Lupa energetic as ever while Ester showing her caring side. "Do you need help?" Vincent asked Ester. "No need. " Ester placed the bowl of dirty water on a small desk and started drying little Plow.