"Father is messaging me again. Does he have nothing else to do?!" Hesta sighed exasperatedly, but the corner of her lips twitched, hinting at a smile, "What a nuisance."
"He has been more active recently. The last year must have been nice for him," Evalynn commented while looking through a paper stash.
It had been one year since the Human Protection Service started, and it wasn’t exaggerated to say that it had been a wild mess. The protection start had been horrible because most human races had heard something about Hyumans and how they conquered weaker races to kidnap their prodigies. There had been many more rumors, but none of them was great, which made it increasingly more difficult to talk to the heads of the Lesser Human races.
Fortunately, after countless attempts to help and the first incidents requiring the help of the Human Protection Service members, the Lesser Humans warmed up to them. The problem was that the first attacks weren’t the last. The human races weren’t adored anymore, and it came as no surprise when the more powerful Awakened attacked them. The Lesser Humans would have loved to retaliate, but the members of the Human Protection Service advised them against taking revenge.
They shouldn’t go down on the same level as their enemies because that would instigate a downward spiral which would lead to death and destruction. The Human Protection Service was there to protect the human borders and repel their enemies. They made clear to announce their presence at every altercation and told the non-human lifeforms to retreat behind their borders if they did not wish to get attacked.
Defending was one of the most important roles of the Human Protection Service, but that was not all. They were supposed to be the role models of the Lesser Humans in the planetary system and were deployed to create a neutral ground for enemies to talk about the issues they had with each other. This didn’t work all the time, but being in the same room with someone several times stronger than everyone else in the planetary system ensured nobody would do anything stupid.
That was what the Human Protection Service made use of. They constructed a temporary peace treaty by force and showed how nice it would be to live next to each other. Of course, it would be even better if the enemies could change their stances and become neutral forces or allies, but the Human Protection Service didn’t force anything.
Important was only that everyone could see one thing; Now all Hyumans and Humans were bad. Not everyone deserved to be treated like shit only because the Supreme Human Alliance messed up.
"Still, father is doing too much. He is getting on my nerves. This week, he sent me like 20 messages when he didn’t even send half of that two years ago." Hesta grumbled, now also taking care of several pieces of paper. Mostly challenges of foreign beings wanting to fight some humans for whatever reason: it was either about territories in the Origin Expanse – some of these idiots landed in the same region or even ended up neighbors in the Origin Expanse – while others had some feud to take care of. Hesta didn’t care too much about their feuds and only paid more attention to them when it came to love triangles and issues of the same kind.
Those were the most interesting, after all!
"Apparently, he is doing very well taking care of three planets in the Unian Union. He is still training a lot, but the pressure weighing on him is no more. Maybe this was the right course of action for him," Evalynn smiled. She missed Peter but could also tell that her husband was doing fine. The messages between them showed that clearly.
Peter had never been the expressive kind of guy. He bottled up everything or unleashed his emotions while training, but that had changed. It was a slow process, but Peter revealed everything. How he felt when her father trained him up to everything he had done. Evalynn had known some of the things he told her, but she had never known it was this bad. Her father’s death had been hard on her, but it was only one year ago that Peter revealed the unspoken truth to her. He had killed her father.
Evalynn had been thinking about that and had already guessed it. That hadn’t been out of her expectations. It was only obvious that Peter was the one who had killed Paul Fang. Paul Fang had trained Peter to kill him, after all. He had trained the perfect man to take care of his little princess before he could finally leave this place forever.
Unfortunately, Peter broke apart. Paul’s expectations had been too much. The situation was much worse than expected, and everything escalated.
Evalynn was still sad about losing her father, but she understood that he wanted to be released from the burden. Paul Fang’s life had been strenuous, filled with pain and drama. He deserved to rest, knowing someone stronger than him protected his daughter. Peter Fang had been that man.
"He is liked among the people of the Unian Union," Hesta snorted, but Evalynn could only smile at that, "That makes sense. The Unian Humans like powerful Awakened. They’re like the Berserkers and the Warlock Centaurs of the Tritan Alliance."
Hesta looked at her mother, not quite sure what to think about her at this point.
"Did you know that we ended up in the Tritan Alliance because of your father? He always wanted to fight with the Berserkers and Warlock Centaurs. He respected them for their willpower and traditions. It doesn’t surprise me that your father is doing well in the Unian Union. I wish I could be with him."
"You know you can leave, right?" Hesta said lightly, but Evalynn shook her head. That was not surprising.
"You’ll have to learn to live without me at some point," Hesta pointed out the obvious, "I want to live with Evee, and we will probably adopt children as well. You can visit us often, but I want to live my life, too."
Evalynn’s expression worsened, but she nodded in agreement, "I know. Just…Just give me a little bit more time." Enjoy exclusive content from empire
"Once your father and I are better…Then we will leave you alone," Evalynn murmured, but the hesitation in her voice was easy to decipher.
"I hope Michael forgave us for being bad parents by then."
Hesta looked at her mother and patted her lightly. She didn’t dare to tell her mother the bitter truth. Reuniting with Michael was a nice dream, but it was just that. Hesta doubted Michael would accept his mother and father again. They weren’t there when they needed him, and they never truly apologised for their actions. More than half a century passed since that time, and Michael must have stopped thinking about them.
Or maybe she was wrong. Maybe, against all odds, Michael would meet his parents again.
Who knows?
Only the future could tell what awaited them. However, they could work toward that goal and hope their hard work and tireless efforts would be seen.