“Are you ready, Kan.”

“Yes.”

“On the count of 3 the battle will begin.”

Claire began the countdown and Kan was extremely nervous. He had never seen Claire go all out before. Every time they sparred she would always hold back, and from what Kan heard from his father, Claire was extremely strong.

“If your mother and I were to battle from a distance, I would only have a 10% chance of winning. Even if it was in close combat I would only have a 60% chance of defeating her. So no matter what, never get Mommy angry, ok.”

While Kan was reminiscing over Clive’s evaluation of Claire, the countdown had already reached 3. Kan decided to make the first move and close the distance between them. But Claire was faster than him and already shot a blast of ice towards him.

As soon as it was half way from where Kan was at, the chunk of ice split off into multiple smaller chucks. Seeing so many ice projectiles coming towards him, Kan decided to use fire to melt the ice. He made a wall of fire and it made contact with most of the ice projectiles. The moment there was contact, a large amount of mist was created.

‘Shoot, I can’t see anymore.’ Kan jumped back and was ready to send out wind blades to clear out the mist, but his back touched a wall. Kan was shocked, there shouldn’t have been a wall there. Suddenly, he realized that it was a wall made out of wind mana. But it wasn’t just one, he sensed 5 of them. He was surrounded by them and was now trapped within a box made of wind.

Knowing how strong his mother was, he wouldn’t be able to break out of the entrapment. ‘The only way out is down.’ He prepared to control the earth beneath him but he couldn’t. Instead the earth became mud and rapidly rose up and covered everything except his head.

Kan could barely move. In the next instance the wind surrounding him spun the mud around and harden it. The mist was also blown away and Kan could finally see Claire again. She hadn’t moved at all. The next thing he saw was 2 tiny seals flying towards. They were made up of complex symbols and he didn’t know what they did, but he knew that if he didn’t dodge it, then he would lose.

Kan unlock his body and was ready to break through the earth trap, but he was to slow. The first seal made impact with his head and the second seal made impact with the earth trap. Kan didn’t feel any different so he struggled to get out, but he couldn’t. It felt like the more he struggled, the harder it became.

“It’s my win, Kan. The seal that touched you and the trap made it so the more strength you used, the stronger the earth would become.”

Kan was sad at the outcome of the battle. They had just started the battle and he had already lost. He didn’t even have the chance to struggle. He was sad but he truly knew how strong Claire was now.

Claire could see that Kan felt dejected at his lost, but she could also see a determination to grow stronger within him. Just like Clive, she was happy that her son wanted to become stronger. Since their battle was over, Claire released all of her magic and even undid the seal on Kan.

Looking at Kan, Claire realized that he was all dirty now. When they were battling she hadn’t taken into account how dirty Kan would be after she trapped him in earth.

“Why don’t we go take a bath Kan.”

“Ok.”

Kan and Claire both went inside their house and went to the room with the bath. It was empty and didn’t have any water in it. Kan watched as Claire filled the tub up with water, and she placed a seal on the tub. The seal was a simple one, and all it did was heat up the water in the tub.

“Mommy, can you teach me how to make that seal.”

“Sure. It’s a relatively easy one so you should be able to learn it.”

Claire began to explain what each symbol meant and how they all worked together. The symbols drew mana from the user and activated the heating component. It didn’t take long for Kan to understand the concept behind it.

“The hard part about this seal is adjusting the heat. If you aren’t careful the water might become boiling hot or not hot at all.”

Kan was successful in making his own seal, but he couldn’t control the temperature perfectly. ‘This is harder than I thought.’ The seal was sucking away his mana, and the seal wasn’t making the water hot enough. The next second his seal came undone.

“Ok, that was a good attempt. I’m surprised that you were even able to form a seal after such little instructions. Ok, let’s wash you off before going into the bathtub.”

They both cleaned their bodies before getting into the tub. Claire had reset her own seal, so now the water was at a perfect temperature. Kan was feeling all the stress washed away as his body was submerged in warm water. He took this moment to calm himself down before asking Claire questions.

“Mommy, do you know anything about being called a fox.”

“A fox? What do you mean, Kan?”

“Well, the other day I overheard someone being called a fox and I wanted to know what that means.”

“Hmm, I’m not sure what that means, but there many legends surrounding animals and monsters. Many races have there own legends regarding monsters. For example, us humans see dragons as evil powerful beings who rules and take whatever they want. On the other hand lizardmen, who are said to be descendants of dragons, view them as their Gods. I’m sure if you do some research on foxes, you’ll be able to find legends on them.”

“Ok, Mommy, but our village doesn’t have a library where I can find information. The only place with a lot of books is Aunty Jane’s place.”

“Hmm, you are correct. If you ever visit the capital then you can look for a book on legends there. They have a large library that contains a vast amount of knowledge.”

“Ok, Mommy. Let’s all go there as a family.”

“Yeah, we’ll all go there as a family, Kan.”

Kan promised himself that he would go the capital with his family. He was going to save the village, he was going to save the villagers, he was going to save his family, and he was going to save the future where he would be able to spend time with his family. This is why he had gone through so much to prepare his plans. And now he needed to know what Claire had planned for the disaster.

“Mommy, when is our village going to be attacked.”

The atmosphere in the room changed. Claire and Clive had avoided speaking about this topic to Kan, and even believed he had forgotten about it. He didn’t need to worry about it, they would be the one to take care of it. But now that Kan brought it up himself, Claire didn’t know how to answer it.

“It’s ok, Kan. You don’t have to worry about that at all, Mommy, Daddy, and all the other adults will take care of it. All you have to do is be a kid. Oh, by the way, is there anyone you like, Kan. Let me guess, is it Mary or Jessica.”

Claire tried to change the topic, but Kan was adamant on figuring out what she had planned. He was resting on Caire’s chest, but when she tried to change the topic, he distance himself from her. He stood up and turned around to look at her. He could see that she didn’t want him to worry over the problem, but he was already determined to save the village.

“Stop treating me like a kid, Mommy!!! You’re trying to make the problem seem insignificant, but I already know that the village is in serious danger! I can’t help but worry that everyone I love and everything I care about will be destroyed!! I want to know what’s going to happen, and I want to help save Clear View!”

“Kan…”

She had never seen him so emotional over something. This was also the first time he had ever talked back to her. ‘He’s growing up.’ Kan was starting to have his own independent thoughts and feelings over things. He was no longer the ignorant child who would just follow her and Clive’s orders just because they were his parents. He was asserting his own independence.

Claire could only be happy that Kan was growing up, but she was also conflicted on whether to tell him or not. Should she burdened her own son with their family's past or should she just never tell him so he would never have to worry about it. She bit her bottom her lip as she considered her choices. She was conflicted on what to do, but she could also see that Kan wanted to know. ‘I...I...I should tell him. He’s no longer an ignorant child. I don’t know when I might disappear from his life, but he needs to know our family’s history.’

“Kan, come here. I’ll tell you everything you want to know, i’ll tell you everything about our family, and i’ll tell you all our plans for the future.”

Kan could see the sadness and weariness within Claire’s eyes. In that moment, Kan felt like his mother had aged drastically. He complied with what Claire wanted, and sat in between her legs again.

“Let me tell you this Kan, you don’t have to worry about the village being destroyed. The mayor, Clive, and I have been preparing for a long time. The last time I heard from Clive about the Dragon’s Den formation, it was already at 50%. It only needs another 2 years before it’s complete. Even if we were to be attack before the the formation was complete, I have made other plans to deal with that. I have already set up a large teleportation formation that will teleport all of the villages outside of the village. I’m still tinkering with the formation so I don’t know where exactly the villages will be teleported to. It takes about 30 minutes to activate, so I also made another plan to stall for time. I have made about 50 magic golems to hold the enemies back and if that isn’t enough, i’ve also set up trap formations that will only activate on anyone other than the villagers.”

Kan was shocked at how well prepared Claire was. With this amount of preparations, they should be able to defeat the opposing groups. In the eighth set of memories there were 3 groups attacking the village and each group had about 50 people. If Kan added all the able bodied men in the village and the magic golems together, it would total about 200. ‘But how strong are the magic golems.’

“Mommy, what are magic golems and how strong are they.”

“Regular golems are just made from dirt, but they could be made from other materials. I decided to make my golems out of boulders so they are sturdier. Each one is about 2 meters tall and they are also able to use magic, hence the name magic golem. 10 of them can use simple earth magic, another 10 can use simple fire magic, another 10 can use simple water magic, another 10 can use simple wind magic, and the last 10 are able to use all 4 elements. In terms of strength, a single magic golem would take up to 15-20 villagers to defeat it.”

Kan’s eyes glowed, the magic golems were stronger than he had even imagined. The chances of the village being destroyed were getting lower and lower. And if he convinced Nicole’s group to not attack, then the chances would become even smaller.

“Mommy, you’re amazing. Those people attacking the village won’t even see this coming.”

Claire could hear how happy and relieved he was knowing how well prepared they were. Claire knew this wouldn’t be enough to protect the village though. Her family held a secret that so many other kingdoms wanted. She didn’t know whether their preparations were even enough to deal with the attacks of so many kingdoms.

Claire sighed before she began to talk. Kan could tell that this was a sigh of sadness and grief. He was excited at how prepared they were, but after hearing Claire sigh, he readied himself. He knew that his mother held many secrets and divulge him on some of them.

“Let me tell you about my past, Kan. The past of the former princess, Claire Renner.”