After skimming through all the news, the girls finally came down to the hall, ready. Seeing them, Daniel smiled and stood up.
They got into the car and drove off to pick up the food. The destination wasn’t far, and after collecting it, they decided to head to a nearby park to eat.
Daniel, like them, had ordered fried chicken. Sitting beside them, the three started eating together.
"This is so delicious! The best food in the world," Alice said happily while biting into a piece of chicken leg.
Tiana, her mouth stuffed, could only nod in agreement. Daniel chuckled but stayed quiet. He finished his food faster than both of them, and after the two girls were done as well, they walked around the park a little.
No one spoke, the silence filling the atmosphere and creating a strange feeling between them. Still, all three of them were enjoying it.
"Anyway, brother, are you coming to my guild tomorrow?" Alice suddenly asked, as if she had just remembered something.
"Oh? Did something special happen?"
"Tomorrow there’s an internal competition among the new members to update the rankings. We can even bring spectators. Plus, my teacher wants to see you."
"Your teacher?" A glint flashed in Daniel’s eyes, and the image of a beautiful woman surfaced in his mind. He didn’t know why that woman wanted to see him.
Could it be because of the request she had made of him before? A few months ago, that woman had asked him to join the Fallen Sun guild, but Daniel hadn’t given her a definite answer and just said he would think about it.
Now that he thought about it, he realized he hadn’t seen her since then and had never given her a reply. Maybe that was the reason she wanted to meet him.
"No problem, I’ll come with you guys," he looked at the two girls staring at him expectantly and said with a smile.
"You’re the best brother in the world!" Alice said with joy, hugging her brother’s arm. She had already asked her mother before, but Liana told her she couldn’t come.
So, Alice decided to ask her brother as well, though she didn’t have much hope, especially since she knew her brother had planned to go into seclusion tomorrow.
But fortunately, he agreed. As for the request her teacher had made, in Alice’s eyes it wasn’t anything important anyway, and even her teacher had said it was only if he had time.
Daniel gently patted his sister’s head. After walking a little more, they headed back to the car and drove home.
Both girls greeted Liana and then went straight to their rooms. They were exhausted and needed proper rest to be ready for tomorrow.
"Where did you guys go?" Liana asked when she saw her son sit on the couch.
"They were hungry after training, so I took them out to eat," Daniel replied lazily.
"Ugh, how many times have I told you all to learn how to cook? But you never listen. You can’t even make something for yourselves," Liana mocked as she sat across from her son.
The atmosphere fell silent. Liana peeled fruit, occasionally giving Daniel a piece, but neither of them spoke.
Daniel actually wanted to bring up something important with his mother, but he didn’t know how to start. Looking at his mother, who seemed so carefree, made him hesitate even more.
In the end, he sighed. He didn’t want to delay this anymore.
"Mom, where’s Dad?"
Liana, who had been peeling fruit, dropped the knife when she heard her son’s sudden words. For a moment, it felt like lightning struck her.
She raised her head, eyes trembling, full of disbelief and questions, and asked in a shaky voice:
"Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
"Ever since I can remember, Father has never been with us. Every time I ask if he’s dead, you say no. If I ask if he abandoned us, you angrily say no. But you’ve never explained where he really is, only saying it’s dangerous to know. " Daniel sighed and continued.
"But now I’ve grown stronger. Really strong. I think I deserve to know where my father is and what really happened to him."
Hearing the serious and firm tone of her son, Liana sighed. He was right. He had the right to know where his father was.
But the problem was—should she really tell him the truth? She knew her son. A madman who dosen’t fear death and is willing to run headfirst into it if it meant reaching his goal.
Still, she didn’t want to keep hiding it anymore... maybe it was time to finally tell him the truth.
"If you don’t want to say anything, it’s fine. I’ll listen whenever you’re ready," Daniel said quickly, seeing his mother on the verge of tears.
"No... I think it’s time you hear the truth." Liana let out a long breath and steadied herself.
"Your father is a very special and powerful man. He was one of the strongest humans, a man who managed to reach the tenth floor of the Tower."
Daniel’s eyes widened at those words. A man who reached the tenth floor of the Tower? Wasn’t that basically a demigod? Did that mean his father was actually a demigod?
"We are not originally from this country. But before your father disappeared, he told me we needed to move here for safety. That’s why we don’t have any relatives in this country—because we’re not from here." Liana paused for a moment, then continued.
"I don’t know where your father is. No one does. One day, his loyal subordinates came and told me my husband had vanished, most likely dead. And even if he isn’t dead, then he must be trapped somewhere, barely clinging to life." Tears slowly slid down her cheeks.
"I knew he had a plan—a plan to conquer the tenth floor. But I never knew what it was. He never told me. All he said was that he might never return."
"And that’s exactly what happened. He left and never came back. What’s worse is that all records and traces of him were erased. It was as if someone deliberately tried to erase him from everyone’s memory... and in the end, he really was erased."
Memory erasure. That sounded terrifying. To erase memories about a demigod... only another demigod could do something like that.
Daniel frowned. Who exactly was his father? And where had he gone that he couldn’t return from? He was caught between shock, awe, and confusion.
His questions kept piling up.
"Still, I’m sure my husband is alive. Because the symbol of our love still shines." Liana stopped crying and looked at the ring on her finger as she spoke.