[1433] – Y06.333 – Troublesome Children VIII
“Looks like a bunch of folk have come to take our place,” John joked, elbowing Rick in his side, half cackling.
“Don’t say something like that,” Rick replied, glowering towards his friend, who couldn’t help his laughter.
“Is this what it feels like, to be the wife who sees her man with another woman?” John mused, and after waiting a short while for a response, he peeked to the side towards Rick’s peculiar look. “You, of all people, should understand the reference.”
Rick’s eyes returned back to the newcomers, but it wasn’t as though they had come to take his place, he was a Lead, and though Maharan was in training to become a Lead, or some such, it wasn’t as though the half elf had brought an entire group of people like them to train.
“I see you’ve grown a little sharper,” Adam said.
“I see you’ve grown a little darker,” Lucy replied.
“The sun works wonders on my skin.”
Lucy wasn’t referring to his tan, but rather, the air around him. However, she decided against mentioning it, since she would understand once she heard the tale from them. The businessfolk gathered together to listen to their tale, Rowan and Eliza listening intently, and as they listened to the tale…
Mara held Uli’s glare, the Black Lion keeping a keen eye upon the pair of demons. How could they dare to step forward onto this land? They should have been slaughtered, but what could he do? Dunes had warned him how close the half elf was to the demons, and how close his children were to them, so he couldn’t even speak with the Iyrmen to deal with the demons, since they were seemingly protecting them.
“Are they really expecting me to believe that?” Rowan asked.
Jeremy did not refute his words, instead he pat his cousin on the shoulder, glancing aside to Ted, who nodded. Ted, the lean man having gained some muscle in the last few years, took Rowan to the side to speak with him.
“My boy, Nobby, he fought in a tournament a few years ago, an’ he won,” Ted said, though Rowan already knew such, so he shrugged and moved along. “They say he’s stronger than an Expert, not a Master yet, but he’s strong. See that Iyrman there? He’s the Mad Dog’s grandson, you remember, me ma always scared me senseless speakin’ how the Mad Dog’ll get ya, he’ll cut off your limbs if you got up in the night and didn’t sleep properly.”
“I remember,” Rowan admitted.
“That fella, he’s a Master, and he’s been training my boy. Hadn’t been long since they took my boy, paid us in good coin, ten gold a month, every month, gave us a little more here and there, let us see our boy, and now, my boy’s got a magical axe, a magical shield.”
“Aye, aye, I remember us talkin’ about it last night, I didn’t get that drunk.”
“Rowan,” Ted said, clasping the fellow’s forearm. “Listen to me now, ya hear? Whatever Jeremy’s told you, whatever Remy’s told you, it’s all true.”
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“You’re tellin’ me, the Executive, he, the half elf, he killed a Grand Commander of an Order?”
“I saw him cut the Grand Commander’s neck clean,” Ted confirmed, holding Rowan’s gaze.
“The story, then, the one they just told us…”
“I believe it, we all do.”
Rowan blinked. “Are Jeremy and Remy really Experts now?”
“Aye.”
“You swear it?”
“That’s what the Executive told me, Ro. If you want, ask ‘em yourself, or ask either for a fight, you’ll see.”
‘By the Divine!’
Lucy let out a soft sigh, feeling the ache in her heart, for she couldn’t have caused a mess across the land with him. Even now, though she was a Master, she could feel how lacking she was, for she was a demon, and needed greater strength to survive. Though she posed no threat, they would point their blades towards her.
“Kako,” Jirot called, with the most impeccable timing. “Did you hear?”
“I heard.”
“Daddy is so strong,” the girl said, with a smirk across her lips.
“I’m strong too.”
Jirot reached up towards her shoulder, patting it gently, showing just a hint of pity. The girl then jolted slightly as she remembered, reaching into her tunic, revealing the dragonglass chess piece, the mage, to Lucy.
“Is that dragonglass?”
“Yes! Daddy boat it for me.” The girl’s lips twitched into a shy smirk, not wanting to show just how happy she was, but unable to contain it. “My kaka has silver pieces and I have dragonglass pieces.”
“That is so nice of your father,” Lucy said, holding the girl close to her chest.
“Mm! I like the silver, but kaka likes it more, she loves silver, and I like the dragonglass more! Look! It has so many colours,” the girl said, mesmerised by the way the light hit the piece, scattering into countless colours, though only she and her brother could admire such beauty.
Lucy smiled, admiring not the vast number of colours of the dragonglass, but the glistening of amber, for this was how the girl should look. Lucy held the girl close to her chest, not wanting to let her go, and though she knew Adam was a fool, and she never once envied him, perhaps in this small way, she envied him greatly.
“They’re Managers too, so treat them with respect,” Ted said, tipping his hat slightly.
“Aren’t they…”
“Ro,” Ted warned, narrowing his eyes, shaking his head gently, letting the conversation end there, since there was nothing else to say.
“George, Elsie, how are you two?” Adam asked, smiling warmly towards the pair.
“Good,” came the jilted magical voice.
“Good,” came the soft response of the little girl, who smiled nervously.
Adam continued to beam towards the pair, revealing the wooden discs from his sleeves, handing it to the pair. “I brought this from Gold Port, where the King of Floria currently lives, you know, King Merryweather, he used to be the King of Aldland’s King’s Sword, right?”
“I know!” Elsie replied excitedly.
“I met the King a little after I bought them, so it seems like they gave me good luck?” Adam half joked, winking at the children, who accepted the tokens with delight, clutching at them as though they were made of gold. “They’re symbols of the Order of the Honeysuckle.”
“The Grand Commander of the Order is related to King Merryweather,” a voice informed, causing Adam to tense up.
“Oooh!” Elsie replied.
“Wow,” George thought, but the necklace spoke his thoughts aloud. He needed to concentrate in order to keep his thoughts away from the magical necklace.
“He is?” Adam asked.
“Yes.”
“Is that why their names are the same?”
Tanagek considered Adam’s words for a moment, since they were both so obviously wise, so obviously devoid of wisdom. “I do not know.”
“…”
“…”
“Papo Tana,” Konarot called, her tail swaying behind her, the girl’s silver eyes beaming so innocently towards her uncle.
“Kona,” Tanagek replied, ignoring the terrible gaze of the half elf beside him, the half elf threatening him with his glare.
“Babo is okay?”
“Babo?” Tana replied. “Babo Dogek?”
The girl nodded.
“Babo is well,” Tanagek assured, having met with him in the fortress in the front for a moment, though he was rather busy. “Do you miss him?”
“Yes…” The girl’s ears drooped slightly, her tail slumping, the girl holding his gaze.
“I will send word to him to return when he can, but babo is well known for his duteous nature, so he may remain away for some time.”
“Okay…”
Tanagek was certain the old man would return slightly swifter for the children, for he had changed so much, so different to the granduncle he had seen for years. He thought of their grandfather, a mythical figure whose shadow Dogek had grown under, and now Tanagek had grown under his shadow, the shadow of a shadow. It was an errant thought, but as he thought of the old man, he looked at the little girl, one of the reasons why the old man had changed.
“I will head to the fort and I will bring him back,” Tanagek said, pressing a hand atop her head, rubbing it gently.
The girl smiled shyly. “Thank you, papo.”
Tanagek smiled warmly at the girl, pulling his hand back, clenching a fist as he felt the warmth of the girl’s joy. He turned to face the half elf, who lifted the girl up and cried about how she had greeted her papo before her daddy. The pair had fought before, Tanagek and he, and he was so thoroughly defeated. Adam had made a joke of it, the Iyrman had bothered the half elf from adoring his wife, but Tanagek understood, it was no joke at all.
Adam finally managed to claim a chance to walk with his wife, leaving his children within the care of their family, Jurot and Kitool distracting them, while the Mad Dog distracted Virot, Xarot distracted by slumber.
“I’ll take a few days off, but I have so much work to do,” Adam admitted, rubbing the side of his neck. “The Amira ordered quite a few magical weapons.”
“I have completed many enchantments already,” Vonda admitted.
“You have?” Adam replied, having all but forgotten she could enchant. “Why are you working so hard? I should be the one to work hard since I’m a fool.”
“If I work, you will have more time to spend with us,” Vonda replied, holding the half elf’s hand, squeezing it gently.
Adam rubbed the side of his neck harder, the guilt straining his muscles. “I guess I’ll have to spend a few more days just relaxing then?”
“Does it pain you so?”
“I didn’t mean it like that…” Adam cleared his throat, squeezing her hand gently. ‘I probably shouldn’t enchant for a bit, though…’
“Virot loves to bully you, so you should remain for some time so she is able to bully you,” Vonda joked.
“Ah, since Virot wants to bully me, I should stay behind,” Adam said, his wife’s wisdom truly greater than the skies.
PATREON LINK
The nice thing about owing chapters is that I can post up double chapters all the way to Christmas.