After returning that night, Ken continued the Qi training. He pushed his body to the absolute limit and then used Qi Gathering. Every time he did it, he felt his strength rising, and he could feel the qi inside his body. He wished that he had the system right now so that he could ascertain what level of strength he was sitting at.

He kept at this till morning came, and then he cleaned himself up and waited for Luna. Today would be the day that he and Luna headed to town and tried to force his town into understanding what was going to happen. But first, he wanted to meet with his family and discuss it with them.

A few minutes later, Luna arrived, lively as ever. Ken stared at her face for longer than usual, as if trying to find something that was not there.

She blushed when she saw how long he looked at her, hiding her face shyly. Ken noticed that he was staring too much. He looked away and spoke, "Good morning, Luna."

"Good morning," she responded with a smile and then rushed up to him. She grabbed his hands. "So, are we going to your town?" she asked.

"Yeah, I’m done here, so let’s go."

This time, she did not hide her ears at all. She walked with him through the forest and to the edge of the town, then she stopped, looking at the human settlement ahead. She would be entering this place for the first time without any covering.

Ken looked at her, noticing how tense she was. He leaned his head down and looked her in the eyes. "If they refuse to be nice to you, I’ll allow their town to burn. You don’t have to worry."

She heard that and knew right to her core that he was serious. She could fully understand how the scale of importance worked in his head, but right now she had just learned she was more important than his hometown.

Ken walked in, and she followed behind. He headed for their house since it was closer to the edge of the town, but that didn’t stop a few people from seeing her. They spotted the ears and immediately started running into town, probably to tell the people that an elf had shown up.

Ken ignored that and walked to his house. He knocked twice on the door. It swung open, and his mother threw herself out of the door, arms stretched out. She wrapped herself tightly around her son.

"Ken," she cried as she buried his head into her shoulder.

"I came to see you yesterday, and you were nowhere. I was so worried. Your brothers said you would be fine. They seemed too sure, but I was still worried."

’Of course they were, tch,’ Ken thought and detached himself from his mother. He stepped back and then pointed at Luna. "Mum, this is my close friend, Luna."

Luna immediately looked down, worried about what was to come next. His mother stared at her for a solid second. Luna was already panicking that his mother would not accept her.

"You are an elf," she said calmly.

Luna knew it was over. There was no way his mother would approve of this.

"Your ears are so long and beautiful," she suddenly said, taking Luna and even Ken by surprise. She stepped forward and grabbed Luna by the hand.

"Ken has been telling me that he had a friend in the forest. I thought he was saying it to make me feel less worried. I never knew it was true, and a beautiful one at that. Oh my," she said and then glanced at Ken.

Ken shook his head, and his mother frowned, as if refusing his decision. She pulled Luna in like a mother-in-law that loved her daughter-in-law.

Ken let out a sigh and followed them inside. Luna was still apprehensive. It didn’t make sense to her that his mother would be that easy to convince. His mother seemed to notice this about her.

"You are not worried about being an elf, right?" his mother asked. She stepped in front of Luna and looked at her the same way a mother would look at her child.

"Am I shocked to see you as an elf? Yes, it’s shocking, scary, and mostly exciting. This is the first time that I have come so close to one of you. I’ve always wondered what it would be like.

"That being said, you are still a normal girl, and whatever history elves have with humans does not matter here. After all, someone that my son chose to be his friend must be good, so I know you are good." After saying that, she left and walked into the kitchen. "I’m preparing dinner with your sister. You two have a seat. You have not eaten anything good in days."

"Your mum is nice," Luna finally managed to speak.

"Yeah, she and my sister are the one reason I care for the town," Ken said, looking at the kitchen in a way that someone who had faced loss before would.

They were about to go sit down when suddenly there was a loud sound against the house.

BAM!

"Hey, bring out the fucking elf!" the voice of a man sounded loudly.

Ken knew instantly that there was trouble. He frowned and headed for the door. Luna grabbed his hand and pulled him back.

"You can’t rush out and hurt your own people," she said, almost pleading.

Ken looked at her and then smiled. "An ant just slammed against my home and yelled for me to hand you over. I find that disrespectful. Punishment must be delivered."

BAM!

"Bring out the vermin that you have inside there, or we will tear the door down!"

By this time, his mother and even his brothers had rushed downstairs in a panic. Ken looked at all of them and then smiled. "I’ll handle this. No one panic."

"Ken, please don’t hurt anyone," his mother asked.

"I’ll see what I can do, Mum."