Heavenly Zenith - Chapter 39 Home Again Home Again 2

“Dad, I’m home!” Seran shouted casually from Leo’s back as they entered the city hall like it was their house. The three Chimera siblings looked around curiously, oblivious to the looks they were receiving from the city hall employees.

Etienne came out of the city lord’s office with a smile, “Welcome home, kiddo. How’re your adventures going?” Walking over to ruffle his son’s hair, the former Greenwood Village chief, now city lord of Greenwood Town, was always proud of his little genius.

“Egh, dad, not the hair,” grumbled Seran as he was given a hair ruffle. With a half-pouting look, the young demigod said, “I’m taking a short break from my adventures now, I’ve got a month before my last quest expires and I get fined, but its a simple quest so no hurry. Oh, dad, let me introduce these three.” He gestured to Leo, “This is Leo,” to Ophiuchus, “Ophiuchus,” and to Draco, “and Draco. They’re my contracted partners. Leo is a Sun Lion, Ophiuchus is a Quake Python and Draco is a Lesser Thunder Dragon. Together, they can combine into their original form, an S-rank Alpha Chimera.”

“Another S-rank to add to our list of protectors, right?” Etienne gave him a wry smile, making Seran blush a little. “Alright, I’ll get right to it. We’ll announce it to the people later. Everyone here is familiar with our guardian spirit, Lady Khloe, and our famous Golden Crows. Adding three more won’t be a problem at all.” He turned to look at all 3 of the magical beasts, “I’m sure Seran has mentioned it before, but I have to say it anyway. Besides my family and I, you need to listen to the other town elders, Lady Khloe, and Storm. Other than that, there may be times where the Guard Commander, Shaun, needs your help with dealing with problems. As long as you help the town and don’t cause mischief… much, you’ll always be welcome here.”

The three Chimera siblings nodded in unison, “Okay, sir.”

Seran giggled, “Call him dad, since I’m your big brother.” He really viewed them as his little siblings, despite them being older chronologically. Mentally, they were younger, around Fenmore’s age.

The trio looked at Etienne curiously, who shrugged and said it was fine. Therefore, with a chorus of “Dad!”, a fuzzy boy and two scaly boys pounced to give the city lord hugs, catching him by surprise but making him very happy. He already had a demigod genius for a son, along with little Fenmore. Adding three more interesting kids to the family didn’t faze him in the slightest. He did, however, manage to pull Seran down into the group hug, making the white-haired boy squeak. The city hall employees were all smiles as well, seeing the odd but heartwarming scene of a family group hug.

“Dad, just a heads up, but in the next day or two, I’ll be doing something crazy again. I’ll tell you once I complete it, so you are already prepared for it.” Seran wanted to make several ridiculous ideas possible, and he certainly will, but he’d also have to add the processes for creating, maintaining and disposing of these ideas part of the specialized career educations.

“Ridiculous, huh? Well, don’t blow up any buildings and you’ll be fine. I’ll call a town meeting in a few minutes to announce these three to the town, so no worries. For now, go and have fun. I’m sure the townsfolk would love to meet their legendary king.” Etienne gave his son another hair ruffle, making Seran huff.

“Okay, dad. I’ll have these three meet Storm, then.” After a few more words, Seran left city hall with the Chimera siblings in tow. Once outside, he took a leaf off of a tree and blew into it, making a crisp sound that echoed over the town, bright and clear.

Soon, the sound of powerful wings came through the air as a giant Golden Crow fluttered down to land atop the sturdy railing beside the demigod. “Oh, it’s you, kid. Been a while since I’ve seen you. Causing trouble again?” The eldest Golden Crow was just as straightforward as ever, with his usual mischievous personality mixed in. The only difference between his old self and now was that he had a newfound sense of pride in his race.

“… Maybe. Have you been doing any more pranking, then?” Seran gave Storm a look that said that he knew the bird was just as guilty as he was. Sure enough, the big bird looked away like he saw something interesting. Chuckling, Seran said, “Storm, I want to introduce these three to you. Just like you, they are a S-rank magic beasts, just not Divine Beasts.”

“I’m Leo, the Sun Lion,” said the golden feline in a rather adorable attempt to be proud.

“I’m Ophiuchus, the Quake Python,” introduced the dark brown serpent, bowing his head in respect.

“And I’m Draco, the Lesser Thunder Dragon,” proclaimed the electric blue dragon, trying to make himself look important… and failing.

“Originally, they were one creature, an Alpha Chimera, but after they contracted with me, I gave them separate bodies. All three of them are, according to both age and contracting time, your younger brothers, so I wanted you to meet them.”

The big crow looked the three Chimera siblings over like an inspector, making observations of each one in turn, “Leo, you’re Fire-type, like me. We’re hot-blooded, yes, but you must remember to maintain a clear head. Ophiuchus, you’re Earth-type, very grounded, heh, and calm. For us Fire-types, Earth-types and Water-types keep us in line. Too much fire isn’t good. As for you, Draco, you’re a Lightning-type, an energetic bundle of power, and emotions. The most important thing for you to remember is that lightning can even hurt you, if you’re not careful.” After reaching his new status, Storm had taken to teaching his avian brethren like an instructor would, and sometimes would even give advice to people in the town. This gave him a variety of nicknames, the most common being Master Crow and the most amusing being Brain-Storm. He embraced his new titles, mostly, and was always happy to give out advice to anyone. “As you’ve introduced yourselves, I should do the same. I am Storm, the first of the new generation of Golden Crows, and the current leader of the protector beasts of Greenwood Town. We’ll have a long time to get to know each other, but for now, just remember the laws of Greenwood Town and you’ll have no issues here. Even King Brat here isn’t free of those laws.”

“You wanna go, Yellow Chicken?” Seran started rolling up his sleeves like he wanted to fight, even though it was a joke.

Storm puffed up his feathers and lightly spread his wings, “Bring it on, squirt!” A long staring competition between a bird and a boy went on until, unsurprisingly, the both burst into laughter. Shaking his feathers back to their natural state, Storm said, “You three can make your dens anywhere you want around the town, but I recommend it be on the Spring Hill. Lady Khloe will love having new additions to her family of magical creatures.” The three nodded eagerly, taking their big brother’s words to heart. “Now then, I’m off to patrol around the city from above. I’ll see you guys later.” With his parting words, the big bird flapped his wings, buffeting the quartet as he quickly took off over the city.

Still laughing a little, Seran gave each of them a scratch and a hug, “Alright, now that you’ve met your big brother, you can meet your big sister Khloe. We’re going up the hill behind the city hall. At the top is where she lives, at the spirit spring. She’s been around since the beginning, always protecting us. Everyone gives her respect, as she’s spent 300 years as our guardian spirit. Even Storm listens to her words, so you should know how important she is to us. As dad said, Khloe is someone you have to listen to.” Seran led them around the city hall and up the walking trail to the spirit spring, atop the lightly wooded hill where Khloe lived.