None of this is making any sense...! Whilst making our way to Whitehood, we somehow managed to find mom and dad in Haggles for some reason. After that, they met Cene and Cecily got mad about their nonchalant attitude towards us. Really, that's the thing that's bugging me a ton as well, but it really is nothing when we compare it to our next point - All this time, they thought I never left the national border of my home country. At first I just assumed they thought I wasn't competent enough to do so, but after a bit more digging both Cecily and I realized the truth behind their thought process. Mom and dad, they just don't understand the scope of the world in general. They just separate the world in two. To them, the world is Trivis Numerica... and a whole other universe outside of it.
"Guys." I chuckled nervously, "I went farther than just Great Hiana, you know?"
"You did?" They seemed supportive at the very least, "Oh, well, if it was before the war, then I can definitely see why you would go to the Kingdom of Carmen."
"No, that's..."
"But it's good that you came back." Dad grunted, "The war really did a number on us. I still don't understand why in the world they would attack us of all people. We were always under Carmen rule, even if it's not exactly on paper..."
"The king had an agenda to fulfill." Cecily looked angry as well, "I'll forever be grateful to Meil for killing that bastard!"
"Ah, so you bought into that story, eh?" Dad snickered at us from across the table.
There's nothing to buy into about it, it's the objective truth that Meil was the one to deal the finishing blow. Granted I'm not one to vouch for him, seeing as I was dead at the time, but I trust in Cecily's and Ed's words. They wouldn't lie about it, and I'm sure Meil would tell me the same things they did.
"Seriously, they're glorifying the death of a royal. Where did all this nation's pride go?" Mom sighed, "Of course the royal family got assassinated, which resulted in the end of the war, but do they seriously expect us to believe some small rebel group managed to pull all that off?"
"Yeah, don't believe in that propaganda, kids." Dad advised, "I get you like those classic underdog stories of yours, but real life doesn't work like that."
"Real life does work like that." Cecily vehemently defended our claims, "We were both there when the war took place, dammit! We went to find Ed and Anna!"
"Ah, so you've met up with them." Mom smiled as if throwing away the war talk completely, "Where are they right now, anyways? Sigmund and Camilla just told us their son was getting married in Cardina, so they went there to celebrate and never came back..."
"They're all fine and dandy there." I replied, "But never mind them. Actually, during the war, Cecily and I were...!"
"Son." Dad shook his head in disapproval, "Enough talks about the war. The last thing I wanna hear is that my son was like all the other young fools that ran to enlist in the infantry."
Infantry? Bitch, I was a general! Grrr, these guys aren't letting me finish a single sentence! Man, now I'm starting to remember why I ran away from home! Ugh, no. Calm down, Lune, you're supposed to be mature here. Yeah, they just don't wanna sour the warm reunion moment with their son with all this talk of war. That's it, no need to get angry over it.
"Sigh..." I restarted from the beginning to hopefully get a better topic going, "Then, let's switch to a brighter topic. Cecily, got anything in mind?"
"Well, we haven't told them about Nelly yet." She shrugged after catching onto what I was doing.
"Nelly?" They listened in.
"Big sis!" Cene spoiled it as he happily chowed down on his fries, "Big sis is the best! She's suuuupew cool and awesome!"
"Heh, surpriiise~!" I chuckled lightly, "We actually have a daughter too. She's studying in Simpleton though, so we couldn't bring her with us."
"Simpleton?!" They gasped before gasping again, "N-No wait! Don't you gotta be a teen to enroll there?! J-Just when did you...?"
"S-She's ado-!" Cecily blushed a bit as she went to correct them, but quickly stopped herself from blurting it out in front of Cene and instead whispered over the table, "Adopted."
"Ahhh..." They heaved a sigh of relief, "But still, how old did you say she was again?"
"We didn't, and she's 14." I explained, "Cecily's brother Carter and I saved her from a burning building in Great Hiana when she was still just a baby, so we took it upon ourselves to make sure she grew up healthy."
"You stupid idiot." Dad reclined in his seat, "Playing firefighters can only get you killed. We raised you better than that, so I can only assume that guy was the one who suggested it."
"Carter died in that fire." Cecily frowned, making dad immediately regret saying such things about her brother, "And I'm surprised a 15 year old teenager had a more decent soul than two full grown adults to not have to think twice about saving our precious daughter. I suggest you take those words back."
"Honey!" Mom nudged him to apologize as soon as possible, "Look what you did! Don't just go saying stuff without thinking!"
"Well how could I know if they never said it?!" Dad made up an excuse instead of apologizing.
"I'm confused." I looked at them with disappointment, "The Saints said you were the one who shouted at the captain to bring them along with you to safety when the war began. Didn't you do the same thing he did back then, dad?"
"Hmph." Dad crossed his arms, "That ship had more than enough space, the captain was just being annoying when he didn't let them through. If the ship was actually packed, I obviously wouldn't have attempted the impossible."
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"So you would've just let them die?" I posed the question differently.
"I..." He grunted before getting up, "Look, if you just here to argue and push your damned morals on us, then you shouldn't have come in the first place!"
"Lock!" Mom called out to him as he walked up to the register, "Don't say that! Hey, where are you going?"
"To pay the bill, Ella!" He shot back, "To pay the bill, introduce them to Latham and have him clear up this whole mess he made and have them get the hell outta here."
Well, that didn't really go well, did it...?
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"Alright, get moving." Dad grunted at us, "You DO still remember the path to our home, boy?"
"Wait, we're going on foot?" I asked.
"Oh God... Yes, we're going on foot!" He growled, "Sorry to disappoint you, Mister Worldwide, but if you could travel the world so much, surely you can walk a small way down the hill to reach Whitehood!"
"Honey, please calm down." Mom tried to reason with him, "He didn't travel the world, he just..."
"Ella, it's time you realized as well, you know." He turned around to face her, "The kid went everywhere, can't you tell from the way they're talking? If the Saints are still in Cardina, that means he is too. Am I right?"
"Y-Yeah." I could only wonder why he was so ticked off, "I mean, we've been trying to tell you all this time but you..."
"See!? They spent all their money living on the edge and taking a tour of the world so now they think they know everything!" Dad whined to his wife about us, "He never once visited us all these years, even when Ed did, and SUDDENLY he gets the idea to come see his poor worried parents? My ass, they probably got so brainwashed by this rotten world that they don't even realize they wasted their lives!"
"...Don't swear in front of Cene." Cecily squeezed Cene tight into her embrace as she gave dad the nastiest glare, "Personally, I couldn't care less about what you think about me or my family, especially now that I see just what kind of people you are. I just want to find out for Lune's sake why you sent that letter back and go home."
"Cecily, dear, please!" Mom begged her to reconsider, "He's just a bit overwhelmed by everything that's happening suddenly! Please forgive my husband!"
"Mommy's gonna fight gwandpa aftew all..." Cene looked sad, which was the final gut punch that made dad finally cool his jets.
"Mn! Augh, no, that's..." He tried to find the proper words, "Dammit, Latham is so dead after this..."
This is the second time this Latham guy is being mentioned. Who is he? Y'know, apart from obviously the guy responsible for this whole mess. Just going off of intuition and a hint of logic, I can probably safely assume he was the one that sent that letter back to us, which would properly clear my parents' names, but it still begs the question - Why would he do that? I've never met anyone with that name in my life, but he's someone my parents seem to have a pretty strong connection with. Maybe he's someone from the war? Or an old business partner from my time as Sol? But no, I never revealed that Lune is the same person as Sol to the general public nor to my business associates, so that can't be right. Now I'm getting kind of scared. What if I recognize who he is, and it turns out the guy is super dangerous? Would I be able to apprehend him before he did anything to hurt my family? Dammit, this trip was supposed to be fun and wholesome...
"Let's just go..." Dad sighed.
"Hold on!" I saw a certain wagon across the street I just had to try calling out to, "Beth! Over here!"
"S-Son, keep your voice down!" Mom worried about me being rude, "We're in the middle of town, what if people stare?"
"Heh, she said she doesn't drive to villages." Cecily chuckled before joining me, "Beth! Do us a solid, just this once?!"
"Ack, fine, just stop shouting in the middle of the street, dammit!" Beth ignored her own words as she shouted at the top of her lungs, "Damn, now there's more of you? Alright, get in."
"S-Sorry, miss! We don't actually..." Dad couldn't even look her in the Eyes properly to apologize from the shame.
"Hey, sorry, but we really need someone to drive us to Whitehood." I tossed her two gold coins, "You said you don't take too much payment, but since we're bothering you, I hope this'll be enough to make up for it."
"Y-You!?" Mom and dad couldn't believe their Eyes, "W-Were those...?!"
"Hm, alrighty then!" Beth popped the doors open and ushered us all inside before revving up the engine, "Guess you folks are looking for a show, so why don't we go full throttle?"
"Much obliged!" Cecily and I gave her a hearty thumbs up each, with Cene adorably following suit after us, "Step on it, Beth!"
"W-Wait, we still didn't put our seatbelts on..." Dad reached behind him, "W-Wait! Oooh, what the hell is going on anymore...?"
Surprised to see the world treated your son well, are you? Dammit, I didn't wanna flaunt my success at them too hard, but after all they said about Cecily and me being failures, I just had to prove them wrong, even if it's just this. They lived their entire lives in this damned tiny village of theirs, and when they felt adventurous, they were content with going to another town in the same subcountry. Well, sorry to say it, guys, but your son would've died of boredom ages ago if he had to settle for the same! Man, I'll bet they've never made it home faster, haha!