Chapter 176 Family

'I'm glad I could come a day before the meeting. I haven't seen them in months.' Clay thought as he walked through the Gate and arrived in the capital.

As he was about to exit the military headquarters, something occurred to him ' I don't know where they are...'

He turned around and went back into the base in search of the person who would know this information or at least have the records of it.

'If I remember correctly, he was in charge of the relocation.' Clay thought as he looked at the nameplate on the office door in front of him.

The name engraved was 'Col. Graf'. Clay knocked on the door and heard someone say 'Enter' from within.

He entered and saw a man around 30 years old sitting being a desk on the far end of the room. He had short blonde hair and bushy eyebrows.

"Colonel Clay, or should I say 'the strategist'?" Graf asked with a friendly smile as he stood up and walked towards Clay.

"Please. Just Clay is fine. We're the same rank and there's nobody else here, honorifics are unnecessary." Clay replied.

"Then please call me by my first name, Ian."Graf said as he gestured to the couches to the side of his office.

"I appreciate the offer but I'm actually in a bit of a rush."

"I understand, what can I help you with?"

"I heard you were the one handled the relocation of the Infernum leaderships families to the capital, I need to know where they were all placed." Clay said.

"Oh, yes." Ian walked behind his desk and ruffled through his drawers, eventually pulling out a file. "Here you are."

He walked back to Clay and handed him the file with a smile on his face. It was only then that Clay noticed the bags under Ian's eyes and slightly pale colour of his skin.

"Are you alright? You don't seem to be in peak condition right now, are you I'll?"

"Hm? Oh, I'm just a little tired is all. There aren't many opportunities to rest in a time of war, as I'm sure you know." Ian replied with a chuckle.

"That I do. This is the first time I've had a day off in three months..." Clay said with a sigh. "Anyways, thank you for the help Ian."

"You're welcome. Let me know if you need anything else while you're here." Ian Replied.

"Will do." Clay said as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. 'He seemed strange...no I'm just imagining it, he's just overly friendly.'

With the information in hand, Clay set off to find his family. He was reading through the file on his way out the base when suddenly "Clay?"

He turned to his left to identify the voice and saw someone familiar walking towards him. "Connor, I had a feeling I might run into you."

"Aren't you supposed to be in Drom? What are you doing in the capital all of a sudden?" Connor asked.

"The Supreme Commander has been asking me to come in for a meeting for weeks now and I finally managed to find the time."

"Makes sense, everyone's been really busy lately. The cult is getting more aggressive with their attacks..."

"They have but I think it's actually a good sign. It could mean they're running out of people to fight for them and they're trying to end the war before they lose more people." Clay said.

"Maybe... Anyways, isn't the meeting only taking place tomorrow? Why did you come a day early?"

"I wanted to check up on our families. I haven't seen mine since I left for the academy and the same is true for most the Infernai.

Have you checked in with your family yet? You've been here a few days already so it shouldn't be too hard to spare some time here and there, right?" Clay asked.

"I don't have any family... My parents died from a sickness last year and I'm an only child. I was actually on the verge of starvation when I got my powers and was taken to the academy." Connor replied.

"Oh... Sorry, I had no idea."

"It's not like we've ever spoken about it, if anything I'm glad you didn't pry into my life through my files."  Connor shrugged.

There was a pause in conversation, causing a bit of awkwardness to fill the air for about ten seconds.

"So uh... Do you want to come with me? My mother would be really happy if I brought a friend over." Clay awkwardly asked.

"Sure, I have a few hours before my next training session so I don't see why not." Connor replied.

With Clay leading the way the two of them walked through the city while exchanging stories about things that had happened to them since they last met.

Connor mostly described his most impressive battles with cultists and Imperiums. Clay didn't have much to say since he focused on strategy and logistics, so he just listened for the most part.

"This is it." Clay said as he looked at a decent sized house. There was grass around the entire house, extending about ten meters from the building.

There was a beautiful pathway through the grass with small shrubs along it's edge that lead to the front door.

It was the best looking house on the street and it was the only one that didn't share a wall with other buildings.

~Whistle~ "I guess being a Colonel does have some nice perks." Connor said as he admired the home.

"Yeah, I guess so." Clay was a bit stunned. He shook his head to regain his focus and walked down the path, arriving at the front door.

~Knock~ ~Knock~ ~Knock~

"Just a moment!" A feminine voice shouted from inside. Light footsteps could be heard approaching the door before it was opened.

"How can I- AAHHH ITS CLAY!" A young girl shouted in excitement as she jumped and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders for a hug.

She was a young girl around 12 or 13 years old. She had curly hair that came down to her shoulders, red in colour, just like Clay.

"Hailey!" Clay shouted as he hugged her back. His shout was half as loud as Haileys but it didn't lack any enthusiasm.

"Did you say Clay was here?" A woman asked as she arrived at the door.

"Mom!" Clay said with just as much excitement as before. He put Hailey down and went up to his mother.

He knelt down and gave his mother hug while being careful not to squeeze too hard. While his sister Hailey was young and strong, his mother was slightly less young and strong and required a softer touch.

"My boy, you've gotten bigger." Clay's mother (Anna) said after the hug ended.

"It's true, you're almost as big as I am." A man said as he came into view.

"Dad." Rather than a hug, Clay and his father (Ray) shared a firm hand shake.

Anna was around 40 years old and had light brown hair that stopped at the small of her back. She was a slender woman that stood at a height of 1.65 meters tall.

Ray was a behemoth of a man that stood at 2.3 meters tall, making Clay feel short at his 'measly' 2 meters.

Not only was he tall, his muscles were like that of an Olympic bodybuilder. Adding these two things together, he was definitely one of the biggest people in the kingdom.

Just like Clay and Hailey, he also had red hair and was clearly the one who passed down that trait to his children.

"I don't anyone will ever be as big as you, including me." Clay said with a light chuckle.

"Who's the guy standing at the door?" Hailey asked, drawing everyone's attention to Connor.

Connor was standing awkwardly at the door. Everyone seemed very excited about Clay showing up and he didn't want to interrupt the moment.

"This is Connor, he's a Captain at Infernum and one of my friends. I hope it's alright that I brought him." Clay said.

"Hello, it's nice to meet all of you." Connor said with a smile.

"Oh my, a Captain? How did you become friends with a Captain?" Hailey said in a teasing manner while poking Clay in his side.

"Clay was the one that promoted me to Captain." Connor said, laughing awkwardly.

"What do you mean, how could Clay be the one who promoted you? Only a Colonel or higher could do that, right?" Ray said.

It was then that his family took a moment and actually looked at the clothes Clay was wearing. They looked him over and saw that he had the uniform of a Colonel on.

" How... What?" Ray said with his mouth hanging open. Anna and Hailey had similar expressions on their faces.

"Well it's not too long of a story, I'll tell you about it over dinner." Clay replied, slightly confused about his parents being unaware of his rank.