Basically, the world was far more complicated than he was originally aware of, but that was no surprise. If even his seemingly ordinary family kept so many secrets, how could the nations of the world avoid them?
As his thoughts reached this point, he turned back towards his mother, and brought up the question he was originally going to avoid.
"Why would Patrick be targeted because of your family?" he asked, though he already knew some of the answers. Heck, if nothing else, just their access to Vaults and the recipe for Radix Augmentation were enough for them to be hunted from all over. He did not ask a more specific question, though, because he wasn’t sure how comfortable his mother was talking about this topic in front of Irene. Now, since she had mentioned it of her own accord, he didn’t mind asking her and leaving it up to her how much she wanted to share.
Marilyn let out an exasperated sigh.
"My family... the roots of my family appear to be pretty prestigious, and maybe that was the biggest reason behind my family’s downfall. The Soren family is actually one of the oldest families of this region, and has been here long before Kolar was founded as well. Some historical records from Emperor Iskunder’s original campaigns to unite the lands under one empire make mention of the Soren family too.
"Not only that, everyone in my family was, or at least appeared to be, extremely talented in climbing the aetherian ranks, though I suppose you can guess the secret behind that on your own. By all means, we should already have the qualifications to be an Ascendant family at least, after all these years, right?
"Unfortunately, the biggest undoing of my family wasn’t curses, or enemies, or conspiracies. It was ego. It was arrogance. What undid my family was living in a fantasy of the past, rather than in the reality of the present. My father... was an arrogant man, and so was my brother. Arrogance is fine, but arrogance beyond your strength..."
Marilyn looked at Nero, and the teenager almost blushed. He had a feeling that she was making a side comment on his behaviour lately! But that was different! If Nero acted arrogant, it was calculated, not true arrogance.
"Anyway, no matter what the state of our family now, for the Soren family to have existed for so many centuries, it is only inevitable that they accumulate many secrets and secret recipes. Just the secret of why our family has so many talented cultivators is worth investigating.
Nero was taken aback. His father? Was his dad some kind of super-secret badass? He already knew that his father was really strong, probably, but he had no idea of how strong he really was. But wait... that didn’t make sense. His father was only thirty-eight years old right now. How strong could he really be? Especially back then?
Noticing Nero’s odd expression, Marilyn chuckled, and elaborated.
"It’s not easy for me to state the shortcomings of my family like that, but that’s what the truth is. In fact, I was also like that when I was young - angry, arrogant, prideful. Fortunately, I met your father early, and he taught me how to be demure and docile, how to hide my strength and avoid attracting attention."
Nero nodded along, wearing a completely straight face. Yes, his mother, the well known special operations agent, whose old job entailed killing high value targets, and current job entailed facing and eliminating the corrupt officials of Kolar, was a demure and docile lady... and the sun rises from the west, and curses are actually misunderstood and they just want to be friends.
Nero and Irene shared a look, and it seemed like both of them were thinking the same thing. Fortunately, they had the common sense not to let their thoughts show on their faces.
Marilyn, who naturally noticed their shared look, misunderstood the situation.
"I know you’re doubting your father," she said with a sigh. "I know he seems to be a big deal now, going off mysteriously on missions all the time, using his contacts to save Patrick, but that wasn’t always the case. Heck, you know that most of the time he just continued to lazily do his pharmacy job.
"I think the reason why now he has suddenly started to become so active is because someone superior has ordered him to do so. Otherwise, he would be more than happy to just lazily spend his days at home, training you and hanging out with the neighbors. He is exceptionally talented at hiding his edge. That is perhaps his most admirable, and yet infuriating quality."
Irene suddenly chuckled.
"That’s kind of reminding me of Patrick," she said fondly. "You know, in front of everyone, he puts up such an act of being such an outstanding citizen, like he’s the most harmless guy out there - the literal, ideal citizen. But the moment we’re alone he’s like a completely different person. Do you know he taught me how to hotwire a car?"
Nero snapped his fingers.
"Hey, he taught me that too," he said excitedly, suddenly reminded of something he had long forgotten. "He told me it was a part of dad’s super-survival training for urban environments."
Marilyn shook her head as she watched Nero and Irene talking about Patrick.
"This father and son are both addicted to pretending," she commented, though there was an obvious tone of affection in her voice. "Regardless, it was not just staying low that he taught me. He taught me proper survival. You kids learned how to survive in the wild, but he taught me how to survive in society. From the very first day, by aligning myself to special groups and departments, even within the army, I gained protection that wasn’t so easy to shake.
"Even now, my position in MIA seems like it would put me in harm’s way, but that’s exactly also why I have such a high clearance in the civil government, and I get so much leverage with the army. My operations are joint ventures between the government and the army, so I have the best of both worlds. Although it wasn’t your fathers idea, if I hadn’t adopted his style of thinking, I would have never seriously considered this position which seems all risk and no benefit. The truth is, I have made many enemies, but I have made even stronger allies.
"If my own family had been a little more humble, and would have been open to submitting to other powers, even temporarily, their situation would not have deteriorated so much over the years."
Nero nodded, seeming to understand what his mother was intending to say, but he had a feeling that there was more to the story than just that. He recalled that his father had told him that his mother wasn’t as familiar with her own family’s history as her brother. Could it be that within the family records, there was a mention of Soren Daelor, the one whose identity was mentioned back in the Vault?
If their family had secrets involving the Eldrim which weren’t common knowledge, it was easily understandable how that would make them more arrogant and filled with a sense of superiority. It was basic human psychology.
Unfortunately, this was not something he could bring up, since he was under restriction from mentioning what happened in the ruins unless given authorisation.
Marilyn shook her head, as if disappointed, but she didn’t seem too distraught. Instead, she turned her attention back to Nero.
"There are a couple more things we need to talk about," she continued. "There’s actually another reason why I brought Irene here, but I’ll get to that in a moment. Nero, now that we all know about Patrick, I think it’s time we reevaluate our situation. We don’t need to be so desperate in our actions, and we can be more coordinated in what we do from now on. After all, we’re not a group of individuals - we’re a family.
"I didn’t say this to you before because I knew you wouldn’t listen. But now, things are different. Although I couldn’t gain access to all your files, I can see that you’ve been putting yourself in far more danger than necessary. It’s good to be eager, son, but if you’re too eager, you’ll end up dead sooner or later. Now that the situation has changed, I want you to..."
"Mom!" Nero suddenly interrupted Marilyn, his voice firmer than it had ever been in front of her. "You can ask anything of me, and I’ll do it," he said, his tone even, his eyes filled with conviction. "Whatever you want, I’ll do it without hesitation. But don’t ask me to stay weak, mom. Don’t ask me to slow down my steps. This world doesn’t reward weakness, it punishes it. Yes, it’s great that Patrick is alive. It’s great that we’re all together - but are we really together?
"I am about to join KMA. It was always our dream, us two brothers, bringing glory to the Grant name, starting from KMA. I am days away from stepping in, but where is Patrick? I don’t even know. As I walk into the academy of both our dreams, I am alone. When I fought for the country with my life, I was alone. When I lost soldiers under my command, I was alone. When I heard about Nom..."
Nero suddenly paused his words, realising that he was saying too much, so instead, he only shook his head and sighed.
"Yes, it’s great that Patrick is alive. But Patrick was deprived of his dreams, and I was deprived of my brother who supported me my whole life when I needed him most. Yes, the situation has changed, and yes, we are a family so we can plan together. But mom, please... Please, don’t ask me to be weak. This world does not reward weakness."
As Marilyn and Nero stared at each other, with eyes locked, they did not see the hint of sorrow in Irene’s eyes when she looked at Nero. If Patrick had heard Nero’s words today, he would be proud, and he would be heartbroken.
But just as Nero said, the world does not reward weakness, so the weak can be heartbroken all they want, no one will come to fix their problems. That was something they had to do on their own.