[1754] – Y07.254 – Nightval Will Come IV

As Adam returned a particular evening, he found the eyes of his children shifting from delight to worry, and as he smiled, he reached down to pinch their cheeks.

“Daddy…” Jirot sniffled. “If you look like this, how can I be so upset with you?”

“I suppose I’ll have to do this more often so my daughter isn’t upset?”

“I will be even more upset!” Jirot promised, but the two embraced one another so affectionately, the girl rubbing the back of her father’s head, feeling his hair between her thick fingers. “You are working so hard, daddy…”

“I suppose so, but haven’t mummy and aila worked hard too?”

“Daddy! You are trying to upset me!” Jirot accused, her blade like finger almost attacking her father, poking his nose gently as she glared up towards him.

“No, no, I’m not trying to do that, but we’re all working hard for the Iyr, since there is so much to do, and we must assist the Iyr where we can…” Adam stared down at his daughter, who continued to glare up towards him, even though he made sense, too much sense, and seeing her face, he could see she was riling herself up. “However, when Twilight Month comes, won’t I be able to play with you freely?”

“You said that before…”

“Indeed, but this time, you must speak with the Elder, and inform her that your father must play with you all Twilight long, right?”

“It seems you truly are mummy’s husband…” Jirot’s eyes narrowed. “Even babo is working hard too. Babo, he picks up a rivership on his back, and then he squats, like this!”

“Whoa!” Adam gasped as his daughter squatted. “So cool!”

“So cool!” the children confirmed, and with that, their eyes fell upon their greatfather, who was lightly drinking his tea before the other elder Iyrmen, as though pretending as though he wasn’t basking in their adoration.

“Kako Naqokan is teaching me so well,” Konarot said. “Daddy, you must gift her a nice sword. It must be a big sword.”

“Ah, I see? I hear she’s been training with babo Steel Strike, but she must be training you before she trains?”

“Mm!”

“I see…” Adam thought about how he had wished to train too, but with the Awakening, and how he was so sick after it, he only had two weeks of the month to train. His eyes darted to Uwajin, who was in the middle of snoozing away, for she had been training hard with her grandfather, Rajin, all the while Rajin sipped away at one of the wines he was brewing, for he fought her with a clear mind, and then spoke tales with a mind clouded by the joy of alcohol. ‘I need to train even harder then…’

Chosen let out a soft yawn, looking down towards Karot, who was running his own game of Warriors and Wanderers, the boy’s tail swaying from side to side, and whenever he was thinking, it would form almost a question mark. He had wanted to train the boy himself, since he was so sweet and affectionate, but since he couldn’t, he was being beaten by his father daily.

‘To think, just because you are a Master, you think you are able to defeat me?’

‘I will tell Karot you are being cringe,’ Chosen had warned.

‘Is it not a father’s right to be cringe to his own children?’ Mosen had replied, as though he were a particular half elf.

‘Never mind. I shall ask uncle Tona instead.’

‘You!’ Mosen had flown into a rage and had taught his son properly after that threat.

Tanagek stared down at the die.

4

He stared down at the die his nephew had rolled.

11

“It seems it is time for my character to greet Baktu.”

Karot frowned. “Papo, you can do it, because you are tough.”

“Indeed, I am your papo, Tanagek, but this is Bill, who is a farmer, and it is a wraith.”

“Papo, your sword is magical.”

“It is?”

“Ock!” Karot covered his mouth, his tail swaying from side to side. “It was a secret, papo!”

“Oh. I see. My sword, the Heart of the Silver Son, is magical indeed.”

“I mean Bill’s sword, papo! The farmer’s sword”

“Ah, I see.” Tanagek reached down and ruffled his nephew’s hair lightly.

‘Are you worried?’ his father had asked, the Iyrman whose limp was but a ghostly worry of another time, although he was still not quite as swift as he used to be.

‘Yes…’ Tanagek had replied.

‘Why are you worried, when you are unable to teach him?’

‘I am unable to teach him this time, but next time, I shall teach him.’

‘Hmm…’ Tonagek had replied, almost approvingly, and as the two clashed steel once more, Tonagek showed Tanagek why he was the young man’s father.

Tanagek brushed Karot’s cheek gently. He wondered how life would have been if his father had been able to adopt the children as his own. His heart throbbed, recalling his younger brother, and he leaned in, scratching the back of Karot’s head gently, the boy who, in one life, may have been his brother, and yet, would not have met Tonogek. Tanagek’s mind wandered. It wandered, to a life in which Tonogek would have been alive, and even if the half elf had claimed the children as his own, as he did in this life, what-

“Oh! The wraith missed you, papo!” Karot declared with delight.

“Ah!” Tanagek replied, glad to see it had missed him.

“Is it my turn?” Chosen asked.

“It is, papo! You must slay it well.”

“That is a… fourteen?”

“It is too low.”

“No, no, fourteen and… five? Is that nineteen?”

Karot checked his sheet, squinting his eyes. “Oh! Fourteen is a hit!”

“Then nineteen is a hit too!” Chosen declared.

Karot blinked. “Yes!”

“Then, is my sword magical?”

“Of coas!”

“Of coas!” came the reply, and even Tanagek repeated the words, with a lighter urgency.

“One dice then,” Chosen said.

“Mm, it is magical, so you will roll… with Advantage.”

“So I roll two six sided dice and take the higher?” Chosen asked.

“Yes! You must add the bonus.”

“What is the bonus?”

“One.”

“Oh! A Basic Enhanced sword? How wonderful!” Chosen smiled. “Thankfully I rolled with Advantage, that is a one and four, so four, plus three, plus one, is eight?”

“Ock!” Karot gasped. “The wraith only has ten and now it has…”

The two waited for the boy to complete his math, who concentrated on his fingers. “Two!”

“Ah!” Chosen replied, nodding his head.

“The wraith, because it is scared now, it will run away.”

“It seems I must always save your papo Tana,” Chosen teased, ignoring Tanagek’s glare.

Karot side eyed Chosen, the boy smirking playfully, and Chosen laughed.

Indeed, he did not need to worry, for he was his sister’s brother.

“I can attack because it did not do so carefully.”

“Papo, you are going to slay a retreating enemy?” Karot pouted.

“It is a wraith.”

“It is not an evil wraith…”

“It is not?”

“No.”

“Then I will let it go…” Tanagek reached out to brush the boy’s hair gently.

“Are you bullying my brother?” asked a particular girl, who swung by, her arms behind her back, her amber eyes full of an accusatory glare towards her papos, who were so troublesome.

“No.”

Jirot looked to Karot, who smiled, and Jirot hugged him, before sauntering off. She turned, glaring at the two once more. “It is because you are my troublesome papos that I am worried.”

“Jurot is troublesome too.”

“Papo Jurot is strong though, so I do not need to worry.”

“We are strong too.”

Jirot sighed, running her fingers through her hair. The girl groaned. “Baktu, please, bless my papos with your wisdom, and your strength, because they are so unwise, and so weak...”

“…”

Jirot remained silent, and felt the shadows form over her, and as she peeked open her eyes, she noted the two, who stared down at her. “You must forgive me because I am so cute.”

“Even if you are cute, we cannot.”

“You must forgive me because I love my papos so much.”

“Hmm…” Chosen narrowed his eyes. “It is true, so we must surrender.”

“Thank you, papo Chosen, for you are the wiser of the two, and… the stron-,” Jirot began, closing her eyes as Tanagek picked her up. The girl continued to hold her eyes closed, as though it would make him disappear.

‘She really has the best humour,’ Tanagek thought.

PATREON FOR 30+ CHAPTERS!

Jirot proving once more she is the funniest kid. I forgot how much she ragebaits people.