Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 31. Return

"Ken. Time to get up, you will get teleported soon." Lovetta whispers sadly to the young man sleeping next to her peacefully.

Just like that, ten days had passed and at 9 this morning, Ken's necklace would activate, and he would be teleported back home for the remainder of the break.

"Can't you just stay here with me, and it will be just the two of us for the rest of our lives and we can grow old together and live happily ever after." Lovetta asked, staring at Ken as the young man slowly opened his eyes.

"If we have met under different circumstances, maybe that would have been an option, but I can imagine Clare gathering an army and come marching if we don't show up at the academy." Ken joked.

After the two got up and got ready, Ken greeted Lovetta's family in the living room and the group was able to enjoy some hearty breakfast. While Zeev would never admit that he was there to send Ken off, he and Ruth showed up bright and early as he and Ken had grown very friendly and Ken promised the next time he visited, the sparring would not end how it did this time.

Saying goodbye to the rest of the family wasn't easy as well. Like most children, Tina took a liking to Ken right away as he was a natural with kids since he grew up with so many siblings and young kids at the village. Lovetta's mom Anita was also very fond of Ken from early on as well since he was such a hard worker and good at doing all the chores and always helped out without ever needing to be asked. And of course, Boris ended up liking Ken so much that he even offered to remove the protection on his own daughter.

"Well, we are glad to have met you boy. As long as you treat my daughter right, you will always be welcomed here as family."

"I can promise that I would never do anything on purpose to harm Lovetta in any way. Thank you so much for having me over and staying with the family, letting me be part of Zeev's wedding ceremony and being so kind to me over the past ten days." Ken replied sincerely while Lovetta gave him one final hug before the necklace started glowing and Ken disappeared from the living room of the Wulric family and teleported away from the great forest of Chelmswell.

With Ken gone, Lovetta spent the rest of her break training with her brother and father on different techniques doing her best to keep herself busy, so she doesn't have time to think about Ken or how much she missed him.

Before Ken even opened his eyes after he got teleported, he was tackled by Genesis and Emma as the two girls were waiting impatiently for him to return home.

Greeting the pair with a smile and big hug, Ken and the girls entered the house and Ken was once again surrendered by his younger siblings and the group happily and excitedly chatted and asked Ken all about his adventures at the academy and what he did when he was staying with Lovetta.

For Ken, when he saw how much healthier all of his siblings looked compared to the last time he was home, he felt a sense of relief even when he knew he left them plenty of money so food should no longer be an issue.

With the family happily united, Ken spent the next 10 days at home teaching his younger siblings things he had learned from the academy, chatted with and visited all of the villagers and thanked them for the continued care and celebrated Genesis's birthday by taking the whole family to the capital so they could have a proper feast.

Not only was the dinner amazing, When Ken brought out the cake he ordered, his younger siblings went wild with how delicious the cake tasted and how they wished they could eat it every day just to be warned by Emma that cake is dangerous and should only be had on rare occasions.

Since newly selected starts academy life one week earlier than the rest, Emma signed up to get back to work early so she could make that extra overtime money and likewise, Ken decided to join her and return to academy one week early so he could help out with the entrance exam for some extra money but more importantly he wanted to see all the new students and relive the nostalgia day where he ended up getting a big fat zero.