Earth’s Doom Starts with… Me?

"Okay!" The three of them chirped in unison as they started to discuss among themselves, what game to play after hide-and-seek.

"Now wait here, okay? I shall go talk to Mom for a bit," Ioriell chuckled and lowered the giggling little boy down on the ground, "look after Nym for me, okay?"

"Alright, Prince Ioriell! Don't worry, we will watch after him diligently!"

"Good." Ioriell smiled and got up, straightened his robe, and went inside the building through the tattered door.

'Creaaaak.'

The sharp creaking sound of the front porch and the door made me flinch a bit, but fortunately, it wasn't my body, so it was just a metaphorical flinch at best. I had always hated those creaking sounds, because so many of my friends died just because they stepped on a creaky floorboard and got noticed by the enemy.

"Ah, Prince Ioriell, you're here?" A familiar voice came from the right side, along with a waft of delicious, peppery smell.

...Wait, wait. Familiar? I didn't know anyone here except for that insane elf king, so how?

"Harith. What are you cooking?" Ioriell greeted the young teenage elf with a small wave as he stepped inside the small, ventilation-lacking kitchen. So much for fire hazards.

But waaaait again. Harith? I felt like I had heard his name somewhere...

"I'm making the usual grilled tofu soup, alongside some sweet potatoes!" The young elf answered with a bright smile as he continued to stir the steaming pot, "here, try it!"

The elf called 'Harith' took a wooden spoon and scooped a little bit of the soup from the pot, and blew on it a few times before handing the spoon to us. Right when Ioriell took a sip from it, I could also hop along on the tasting train. It tasted... Bland.

"You're improving, Harith," Ioriell said as he patted Harith's back a few times while laughing, "it tastes better than before now!"

Better than before? So they usually had something worse than this? Ah, hearing that made me wanna give some fried chicken and beer to them... Wait, no. They looked underage. And I had no money...

"Hehe, thank you, Prince Ioriell!" Harith beamed with happiness, "wait until you see my archery skill! I've also improved significantly since the last time we sparred!"

"Oh? You're motivated, I see~ Then let's spar some time next week?" Ioriell tilted his head.

"Of course I'm motivated! I will enlist as a royal knight right when I'm of age! It's my dream to protect you, after all! Hahaha!" Harith explained with a light red tint on his cheeks while he scratched his head shyly.

"I'm honored to be served by you someday, but why are you so eager? Being a knight sure is honorable, but you won't gain much from it," Ioriell chuckled, "isn't it better to be a farmer or a shopkeeper? That way you can earn a lot of money."

"I'm not looking for money. I just want to be by my hero's side, which is you! Hahaha! I bet my little siblings will be proud if I can serve you, as well!" The young elf exclaimed in delight.

"I'm not a hero, Harith..." Ioriell sighed in defeat.

"But to us, you are one, Prince Ioriell. And way better than those mythological heroes they tell about in the puppet show along the streets."

Hero...?

...Oh god, I finally remembered.

He was the elf that I shot in the chest after general Zhang sent Ioriell flying!

To be exact, he was the one who told Ioriell to stop saving mana to protect them, and to just fight. Oh gosh, I was meeting my past victim. Not good. Not good at all.

"I see both of you are getting along."

A new voice? Yes, save me from this awkward situation, please and thank you!

My body shifted to get a better view of the speaker, and I was met with a middle-aged woman who had her shiny golden hair tied up in a bun. Although she already bore a few wrinkles on her tired face, the way she smiled made her look as if she was still a bright, young energetic woman.

After stepping into the kitchen, the said woman opened a drawer and took out a white apron. Actually, it was more like a yellow-white apron now because of the stains, and tied it behind her, on top of her simple black dress that was stitched with various fabrics here and there.

"Mom!" Harith exuberantly said, "Mom, Prince Ioriell is here again!"

"Yes, yes. Harith. I can see that," the woman called 'Mom' caressed Harith's cheek affectionately, before turning to look upon us, "good afternoon, Ioriell."

Oh? She didn't address him as 'Prince' Ioriell. Interesting.

"Good afternoon, Mom." Ioriell stepped closer and grinned wide.

"You look upset, what's wrong?" Mom said as she moved her hand to caress our cheek this time.

Ioriell responded by closing his eyes and took her hand into his own, while inhaling deeply, "just a little bit tired, Mom. Things have been confusing lately."

"What's confusing you, dear?" Mom asked with a sweet, sweet tone. I couldn't see her face right now, but I bet she was smiling.

"Everything." The words that escaped our lips sounded cold compared to the other words that he had been saying this whole day.

As our eyes slowly fluttered open, I finally got to see Mom's face, and bingo, she really was smiling as if there were no problems in this world.

"Ioriell, dear. When everything seemed to be overwhelming you, take a deep breath, and close your eyes." Her calming tone and content expression really contrasted our frowning one.

"I can't. I have so many things to do, I shouldn't slack around." Ioriell said with a small voice, as if he wasn't sure about what he was saying, either.

"Taking care of yourself is not slacking around, my dear Ioriell," Mom said with a light chuckle, "and not all problems need solutions."

"But they're called problems because they need solutions."

"The way I see it, my dear Ioriell, problems are relative," she explained, "see, some people might think our living condition is a problem."

Ioriell gave a slight nod.

"But, I'm happy just like this. I'm happy if I can provide happiness for all of you," she paused, "money, good food, and beautiful clothing will surely help, but we're already content with what we have. We can be happy in our own way."

"...Then the solution is to just accept it?"

"No, Ioriell dear. The solution, if you can even call it one, is to look inside yourself, and ask, what do you really want?" She stroked Ioriell's hair with her calloused finger that still had a few dried clots of blood which I assumed were caused by sewing needles from the size of the clots.

"I don't understand." Our shoulders slumped as Ioriell's voice got smaller and smaller.

"Of course you don't. I also don't really understand it myself, but at least I understood that the thing I desire most is seeing all of you happy and well," Mom smiled, "I don't worry too much about the 'how'. If I can't get baby Naila a cute dress, then I will sew for her. If I can't get some potatoes for tomorrow, then I shall beg on the streets."

"That's the hard part." Ioriell replied concisely.

"It's not. When you're focused on what your heart wants, you will always feel content. That's why I don't really see it as a solution. Rather, it was just like a state of being for me." Mom smiled, before taking her hands off of our hair, and turned around to check the pot.

"...What my heart wants?" Ioriell mumbled as he was trapped in a daze. Probably countless thoughts were running through his mind right now. Not that I would know, though.

"The soup tastes delicious, Harith! Well done," Mom gave the young aspiring royal knight a gentle tap on his back, "let's see how the sweet potatoes are doing, shall we?"

"Aw, thank you, Mom! I hope this amount is enough for us today, though," Harith chuckled, "the sweet potatoes are being roasted in the backyard, just outside of the kitchen door." He said as he pointed towards the small door on the back of the kitchen, right beside the trash can. Now that I carefully inspected this kitchen, it seemed like they didn't have an oven, hence why they needed to roast those potatoes outside.

"I'll go check it out," Mom said while walking towards the door, "Ioriell, dear, could you please help set up the table?"

"Sure, Mom." Ioriell nodded.

Without asking, my body moved by itself towards the furthest kitchen cabinet to the right, and opened it to take out a few rattan tablewares. It seemed that he was here pretty frequently, so much that he already remembered the placement of things without having to think much.

After we finished arranging everything on the small dining tables, yes, plural, because they didn't have a single big dining table that could fit every child. There were about 5 different-sized tables with different heights and colours, and we filled all of them with rattan tablewares.

"Harith, is baby Naila in the Dahlia room right now?" Ioriell questioned as he finished setting down the last glass on the smallest table of them all, which only had spots for 2 kids.

"Yeah, the older kids should be looking after her right now. Why?" Harith answered while he kept stirring the pot to avoid burning the soup.

"I brought some baby food that she might like. My sister made it out of some banana, broccoli, and stuff I don't really understand. But she said babies like this kind of food." Ioriell replied as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Ahaha, yes. Babies do love that kind of food. The Princess sure is knowledgeable about many things! As expected of our Princess!" Harith laughed.

"Nah, she just learned recently, since she said she was planning to marry a guy... And you know what comes next. Kids." Ioriell explained.

"Oh, you're going to be an uncle! Let me be the first to congratulate you on your new family, even if it might still take a long time from now. Haha!" The young elf said with a bright expression. Ah, too bright for a soon-to-be-dead person. This wasn't good for my mental health. Get me out of here, please!

"My new family?" Ioriell raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Yep! Ah, and if your sister is already getting married soon, doesn't that mean that you will also get married soon after?" Harith clapped his hands together excitedly.

"No, no. I have no plans for something like that yet..." Ioriell shook his head furiously.

"Hmm, that makes me think. One day, you will fall in love with a beautiful, kind-hearted woman, and you will have cute, intelligent Prince and Princess, and then..." Harith paused, his gaze went down as his smile went from a happy one to a sad one, "and then, you'll finally have a real family, and you won't need to visit us anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, no, my Prince. Don't get me wrong. I'm all for you finding your family, your happiness!" Harith flailed around, shaking his hands in front of him, "it's just..."

"It's just?" Ioriell inquired and waited for the young elf to continue his speech.

"Well, it's definitely going to be a bit lonely here... This place just isn't complete without you. Haha! Sometimes I forgot that you're a Prince, honestly. That's how much I feel like you belong here, like you're a part of us. But I understand that you're not meant to stay with us forever. You have a greater purpose."

Dang.

How could he say something so sad, with a smile so sweet?

Instead of looking gloomy or disappointed, I could see a gleam of determination in his eyes, as if he already chose his fate, and was willing to do anything for it. That being his Prince's happiness.

I felt our eyes enlarge for a fraction of a second after hearing that.

"Harith, let me tell you something..." A small sigh escaped our lips, as our hand extended forward to affectionately stroke Harith's long, beautiful braided hair.

"Yes, my prince?"

Seeing the innocent head-tilt of the young elf, Ioriell smiled and the tension on our shoulder eased.

"You guys are my family. Always and forever."