Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

The first one to react was Ethan's father. He was a tall and well-built man who, like Ethan, had light brown hair and eyes. However, Ethan didn't inherit from him his amazing physique. Maybe because his father was a slacker when Ethan was born… Regardless, he wasn't anymore. After being a professional gym coach for fifteen years, he now had a body that would make most forty years old men jealous.

"Hey, who said that you can…" Ethan's father said and then stopped when he recognized his son. "Ethan?"

When Michael muttered that name, the others also looked toward the door. Evelyn, Ethan's mother, also soon recognized her son. Despite being the mother of two, she still looked as if she was in her prime, but her beautiful face soon broke into tears. The surprise had been so big that she began to cry right at the table. Hannah, Ethan's elder sister, just crossed her arms and showed a serious expression. Just like Ethan resembled his father a lot, with the exception of height, Hannah looked like a mirror image of her mother. Both of them were blond and had blue eyes. The sole difference was that his mother liked her hair short, and Hannah liked hers long.

Amidst that confusion, the stranger, who was dressed like a noble in some sort of play that was set in the Middle Ages, waves his hand toward Ethan. However, that didn't make his frown to disappear. He was really good-looking in Ethan's eyes, even though he had never seen a man with such red hair and ember eyes.

"Ethan!" Michael howled. "Where have you been? You bloody fool!"

As if he was a bull, Michael charged toward Ethan and then prepared his right hand to drop a chop on his son's head. However, Ethan moved faster and evaded the blow by jumping backward in a summersault. Somehow, Ethan managed to do that. Even though he had the same body he had one year ago. However, his legs were left trembling, and his current body was too weak for that.

"Oh?" Michael showed a grim that only made Ethan feel at home. "You dare to dodge the punishment from your old man? Even though you made us worry sick?"

"Sorry about that, Dad," Ethan forced a smile. "There is a reason for that, so… let's stop messing around."

"Don't give me excuses!" Michael shouted again. "Accept this light punishment like a man. Otherwise, I won't let you touch your games for the rest of the summer vacation."

That was something his father said many times to Ethan in the past. That also made him feel as if he truly was back to home, but it was lacking as a threat. Michal tried to hit Ethan's hand with a shop many times, but he failed in doing so. Since he was a man with great physical strength, he followed Ethan across the garden for several minutes. Everyone watched those three for quite a while, but after ten or so minutes, they couldn't help but frown.

Even Michael couldn't help but show a worried expression while watching Ethan running away, pale like a ghost and sweating like a waterfall. He was exhausted, but he refused to let his father hit him, and Michael had never hit him with real strength before, so there was no reason for him to act like that.

Despite the weirdness of the situation and the fact that they had a visit, Ethan recalled that his dad was really someone strange... after watching Bl3ach with him years ago, he concluded that Issh1n Kur0saki was the coolest dad in the world and began to copy him. A man in his forties impersonating an anime character...

"Dear, let's stop this," Evelyn said, showing a weak smile since her cry took a lot of energy from her. "Ethan is finally back, so let's enjoy this moment and think about such a thing later."

"Yes, you are right," Michael said while watching Ethan, who was covered in sweat. "It looks like I'm a bit late to say this, but… Welcome back, Ethan."

"I'm home, Dad," Ethan said, showing an exhausted smile.

Ethan was completely fine physically. After that conversation, he went to his room to take a shower and change his clothes. While he was doing so, Michael, Evelyn, and Hannah watched him through the breach of the bathroom door. It was beyond weird for them to peek at a fifteen years old boy taking a shower, but they had to confirm some things. First of all, there were no weird marks on his body. Not even scars were left. Even though he gained some while he was in the other world. Ethan noticed that, but he decided to act naturally.

While Ethan was taking a shower, the others reunited in the living room to talk about what they had just seen. The Ethan they knew was a pretty carefree boy who liked to spend most of his time playing games or sleeping. However, the Ethan they saw a few minutes ago was someone who had the willpower to dodge the 'attacks' of his father for several minutes straight despite being physically weaker.

"What do you think, Hannah?" Michael asked with his crossed arms.

"I can sense some mana in him," Hannah crossed her arms and then closed her eyes while she was analyzing Ethan's presence. "But it is extremely weak, not enough to strengthen his body and make him able to escape from dad's stupid antics."

"It wasn't stupid, and I was being serious," Michael frowned.

"So, his instincts were forcing him to move his body like that?" Evelyn asked. "It is one of those side effects? A trauma, perhaps?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Hannah shrugged. "We will know once Ethan does some tests. I'm not a doctor, and I'm just someone who also went to another world. That being said…"

That was something Ethan would learn later; his older sister also had become a hero of another world as well. However, she returned after just one week because time passed faster in the world she had been in. Not only that, thanks to her power, she managed to save the world much faster than Ethan.

"So, he will have to go to that place, huh," Evelyn sighed. "They must be on their way to his place."

"Yeah, the chances of them ignoring him are too low," Hannah sighed as well. "Given his current mental state, it is only natural."

Ethan couldn't hear anything since he had lost his powers and was taking a shower on the second floor, but he could imagine what they were talking about. Well, almost. Ethan had no idea how much the world had changed in a single year. However, he knew things wouldn't be the same way as before, thanks to his power and thanks to the fact that he also could sense an incredible amount of mana in his sister's body.

After a few minutes, Ethan showed himself in the living room wearing the sweatpants that he used every single day of his life before being summoned. He looked pretty relaxed, thanks to the bath and clothes. Enough to make his family relax around him as well, despite the conversation they are going to have. Although that wasn't the case, it looked like Ethan was going to be interrogated since he was sitting on one side of a table and his family was on the other. Meanwhile, the redhead was sitting on the couch, but then he suddenly got up.

"It looks like all of you will have a long conversation," The redhead said. "I will take my leave."

"You don't have to," Ethan said. "It looks like I will be your future brother-in-law, so you are not a stranger to them."

He only noticed when the man got up, but he was wearing a wedding ring. The same one his sister was wearing. Things began to make sense now… why the man felt so out of place and why his sister had so much mana.

"Well, if you are fine with it…" The redhead politely lowered his head and then put his right hand across his chest. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nuvian Gredithas."

"Ethan Hairron…" Ethan said while he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "So, you are the prince of some kingdom, or you already became the king?"