"Good Afternoon Sir!"
The old man had short white hair. He had a huge scar on his left eye and lost that eye. He wore his eyepatch on a usual day but seemed to have forgotten about it when Kai arrived, showing his empty eye.
He rushed here and smirked with that scary face. "Welcome to my house, you brats. I hope you enjoy my reception."
Hearing his words, Kai instantly knew it was directed at him and raised his guards as he heard two footsteps coming toward him.
Michelle also realized what her grandfather meant and swiftly led the guests inside, ignoring her grandfather. Everyone was unsure except Tasha, who also knew the meaning. Seeing Tasha stepped forward, they decided to follow her, albeit glancing at Kai a few times before coming inside.
Kai took out his swords, swinging toward his back and left. Ayaka could see two figures trying to kick him.
She was shocked, opening her eyes wide before glancing at Michelle. "Ehm, he…"
"Don't worry. He is my grandfather, Nathan. Well, you can say it is his greeting to Kai and he even brought my two uncles with him." She sighed. "Anyway, if they are just fighting without magic, I doubt Kai would lose with his strength and hearing."
And it turned out she was right. Kai suddenly dropped his swords before grabbing their feet and throwing them away.
"Let's go." She dragged Ayaka away, leaving Kai alone.
Nathan only smirked as he saw this, saying, "Heh. You brat is still as powerful as ever. At least your strength and reaction speed."
"Good afternoon, two uncles." Kai greeted them first before answering, "This is still not enough."
The two uncles in his mouth were Michael's little brothers, the second and the third son of Nathan Graham.
"Fufu… It is good to have that desire since we don't know what will come our way in the future," The second son, Bryan, said.
"Indeed. You need to have a powerful strength to protect your family. And if I am not wrong, big brother has another kid now?" The other uncle, Albert, asked.
"Indeed. I have been informed about the new baby. Sadly, the baby is still too small, so we have not known its gender yet." Bryan nodded.
"Well, if it is a son, we should teach him not to have multiple wives as the family successor. Besides, Michelle would also be happy with that." Albert nodded.
"You two…" Nathan shook his head, looking at Kai. "Well, I have not certainly told you about our family tradition, right?"
He shook his head.
"Well, in our family, if you are the head, you can't have more than one wife, just like me, the previous head. I am blessed with three sons and a daughter though. But if you see all my brothers, you will see them usually have more than one wife.
"And now, after so long, I am the only one who is still alive. They have been sucked dry by their wives Hahaha…" The old man laughed before saying, "Just kidding."
"Well, just look at these two. Albert has two while Bryan has four. If you marry Michelle, then you will be the head of this family, but only seeing Tasha, I doubt you can maintain the tradition. That's why even though we are supporting your relationship, we are still urging that brat, Michael, to have another child.
"If you can't, then we will have your second or third uncle's child to be the family head… Albeit, this happy news comes at the perfect time.
"This way, you also don't need to follow the tradition and I can entrust Michelle to you completely." Nathan sighed.
"..." Kai never heard of this from Michelle. The tradition was important indeed, yet he was confused about why there was such a tradition in the first place.
Looking at his expression, Nathan explained, "I am sure you are confused with the tradition. The original purpose of this tradition is not to let the family fall into the lust path, especially in this kind of society.
"If the family head does not have this thought, no woman could try to charm him other than his wife. At the very least, he would not be manipulated by others. The second reason is if you have a family head that only focuses on his wives and each of them has their own intent or ambition, it will become chaotic the moment it crashes.
"It will be different if the one who has multiple wives is just a normal family member. No matter what they want to do, they would still need to bow down upon the big family. If they try to usurp the head, they would need to follow the tradition since no one would support them.
"All in all, the rule is there to ensure the family won't be ruined. This is why it is very good news to hear that brat finally got another kid. By the way, since family tradition does not bind you two anymore, I request a kid! As soon as possible." The old man said.
"Make it two!" Bryan nodded.
"Why are you asking a child like ordering food?" Kai interjected.
"Michelle's and Kai's child… call big brother's kid uncle with 'Uncle,' this… is really hilarious." Albert blinked as he just thought it was a great idea. "Well, if you don't want Michelle anymore, there are still Mia and Eva."
Kai just could not believe these three. He was wondering how the conversation became like this. Shaking his head, he replied, "No. No one can replace her."
"..." Hearing that, they just shrugged and smiled. The old man then walked toward him, patting his shoulder. "Anyway, let's come in."
Kai nodded before feeling a sense of danger coming from above. He instinctively received it with his sword.
"Bam!"
He was surprised by the weight of this attack as he took a glimpse of it.
It turned out to be the old man's hand with his glove, trying to hit his head. The two uncles also moved according to this, attacking Kai's once again.
"If you don't want to change the window today, then stop." Kai made a green magic circle as he threatened them.
Surprisingly, the threat worked as the two uncles stopped on their tracks. Bryan said, "Oh, come on. Why don't we continue a bit longer since I am a bit curious about the true power of a Zodiac."
"Brother, you do know he has yet to accept that power…" Albert glanced.
"I know… Still, it sucks because it's been a few years since the last time we met him in United Asia." Bryan sighed.
"Indeed… talking about United Asia… to think there is such an incident in there…"
"Yeah, even though they have been living together for a few hundred years in harmony."
"It is normal." Nathan broke his silence. "There are many patriotic people in United Asia, EU Base, or even in this place… The difference is their background and ambition.
"You can say this one has a good background, time, and enough ambition. Unlike their government, our government is focusing on magical beasts. This is to prevent any revolt or something like that and create a good government system.
"Of course, it can only be achieved with a powerful government. If our government is at the same level as them, our family might also try to take over the country… or at least, the most ambitious person in our family, my grandfather."
Hearing that, they quickly imagined one person. The conqueror of the east, Max Graham. He was known by his title because, in his time, he was able to conquer the entire eastern United States.
Because of his achievement and the power he held at that time, a desire to control the entire base crept inside his heart. Unfortunately, though he might be someone who could lay waste magical beasts or the entire base, he would never be someone who was capable of raising and nurturing one.
After many persuasion efforts, he finally let his desire go. He was awarded South Carolina and retired in exchange for his effort in conquering the Eastern United States.
"I really love his tale." Bryan closed his eyes, smiling.
"That's right. Nurturing is far harder than destroying." Albert sighed.
The old man nodded. "It is already hard to take care of everyone in the family, let alone the entire base. So, our Graham Family does not really see the president seat as a throne, but as a hard job.
"That's why we rather have enough power to protect our family from injustice, whether it is from the government or other families than fighting them directly."
Kai nodded. "Yeah… though can you put your hand away?"
He asked because Nathan's hand was still trying to pummel him.
"Haha… Are you tired already? If you are already tired with just something like this, then I need to prepare some medicine for you… in case you are too tired to do the deed." The old man continued with his joke, laughing. The scary face he had earlier was replaced by warm and gentle eyes. The scar still made him scary though.
"Enough with the joke…" Kai sighed. "I think everyone is waiting."
"Fine. We will have another sparring later." Nathan rolled his eyes away.
They then came, searching for the others who were waiting for them in the backyard for a long time.
There were almost a hundred people on there, making Kai realize how big this family was. After all, he was sure not everyone could attend the party.
After getting released by Nathan, Kai made his way toward Michelle and the others and enjoyed the small party.