The Divine Wolf... or?

With a gentle smile and tears in his eyes, the first thing he did after walking over was to embrace Ephine in a hug. Atar didn\'t want to be left out, so he swiftly hugged Ark\'s waist from the side. The others could only look on from the side, keeping quiet so as to not disturb them.

"I knew you would make it out alive," Ephine said weakly, with tears running down her face.

"Papa, never leave us behind again..." Atar added, with some snot running from his nose.

"Thank you for coming for me," Ark said with great emotion.

"We would never abandon you," Ephine answered with a sweet smile on her face.

Ark could feel his heart being gripped by great emotions. Was this sweet feeling in his heart love? He wasn\'t sure, it wasn\'t something he had truly experienced before. But if it wasn\'t love, then what could it be? It had to be love! Although he had liked Ephine before, and he viewed both her and Atar as family, this was different from before.

Ark pulled back a little from the hug and gazed deeply into Ephine\'s crystal clear eyes. Ephine met his gaze, and as they gazed into each other\'s eyes, they both seemed to understand each other\'s feelings. Ark felt the impulse to kiss her right there and then, and he did. Without caring about any onlookers, Ark simply planted a kiss on Ephine\'s lips and closed his eyes.

This short moment felt like it lasted for an eternity, and although Ark would\'ve wanted it to last forever, he eventually pulled away. He instinctively looked into Ephine\'s eyes, looking for a reaction. Seeing her expression, Ark felt a wave of happiness and relief, and he calmed down a little.

He was glad that she seemed to accept his feelings, and although he wanted to talk about it with her, now wasn\'t really the time.

Seeing Ark pull away, Thufrat took the opportunity to give his best friend a true bear hug, and if it was a normal human, they might\'ve been squeezed to death under Thufrat\'s aggressive hugs. Ark didn\'t mind, and he returned the hug in full.

"We finally found you, rascal." Thufrat scolded.

Ark simply laughed at his antics, and eventually cast his gaze towards the human and elf that he had never seen before. Both the wood elf and Adam felt flustered as Ark looked over, as they had seen his great power earlier. As a result, their introductions were a little humour and awkward, but Ark didn\'t mind. Instead, he fervently thanked them for their help.

Since they had completed their mission and gotten their payment, the wood elf and Adam soon left. Normally, they would\'ve escorted them back to the city first, but it was pretty clear that Ark didn\'t need their protection, and since he wanted some privacy, he had told them directly that they didn\'t need any escorts. Since that was the case, they both left after saying goodbye.

Ark didn\'t really care whether his tone was appropriate or if he came off as rude, he wanted to spend time with his family. He was very distrusting of strangers, and this inherent distrust had only grown stronger by several degrees after this little "episode" he had just been through. Even though he had ended up evolving because of the whole ordeal, Ark didn\'t exactly appreciate the process.

Now that everything was settled, they could travel back to their home back in Moonhill, and so they did. The travel was slow, as they all talked with each other about all kinds of different topics. As for whether these topics were interesting or not didn\'t really matter. They just wanted to talk and enjoy each other\'s company.

Ark felt satisfied just hearing their voices, so he really appreciated these talks they were having.

Just feeling the wind caress his face, the light shining on his skin, and the earth touching his feet was enough to fill him with bliss right now. Compared to an enclosed dark basement, a walk through the woods was much nicer.

The trip back to Moonhill would normally take them less than an hour if they travelled at full speed, but since they were enjoying themselves, the walk back took more than five hours to complete.

Just seeing the majestic walls of the city was enough for Ark to feel emotional, despite his rather short absence. For now, this place was his home, and he had dearly missed it as he was enduring great torture. If not for his great longing to see his family again, he would\'ve probably just given up and passed away due to the pain and torment.

Back in town, they decided to visit a restaurant to eat, as Ark was the only one that could actually cook; there was no way they would let him do that when he had just returned. Ark naturally didn\'t mind, as he hadn\'t eaten since he was kidnapped. The cosy meal lasted for a long time as they talked while they ate and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Ark ate enough food for ten people, for once even eating more than the voracious Atar. The jovial atmosphere at their table attracted plenty of attention as it was a pretty classy restaurant. A few young men were even enamoured by Ephine\'s beauty, but as they walked over to introduce themselves, Ark silently gazed in their direction.

This gaze was enough to pressure the young men to the point of fainting, and they had to be carried out of the restaurant. Normally, doing something like that would attract trouble, and they would be thrown out of the establishment at the very least. But Ark\'s tyrannical strength was out there for everyone to see. This young man was able to make someone faint by just looking in their direction.

It would be a different story if he had used his mana to do this, but Ark had merely looked at them, he didn\'t use any mana at all. If someone strong enough was present, they would be able to figure out that Ark had subconsciously pressured them with the power of his soul, and that was the reason they fainted.

But there was basically no one with such a level of strength in all of Moonhill, and even if there was, what were the odds that they would show up in this restaurant to witness Ark using his strength?

Ark didn\'t think much of the small interaction, and neither did Ephine, Atar and Thufrat. Even if Ark had actually killed the young men, they would barely care. Thufrat would probably be a little taken aback and question him, but Ephine and Atar would probably not even bat an eyelid. They were not exactly humans after all.