“So…” Adam said, gng between them all suspiciously. “Gifts?”

  The group, not wanting to tell Adam they hadn’t brought him any gifts, instead revealed a long strip of leather. It was snake skin, specifically Prince Forest Snake skin, which was a deep green, almost like an emerald.

  “The Prince Forest Snake?” Adam asked, gng between them all.

  Jurot nodded.

  “Isn’t that expensive?” Adam asked.

  Jurot nodded.

  “How expensive?”

  “This would be worth at least ten gold,” Jurot said.

  “Ten gold?” Adam said. ‘So about a grand or so?’ “That’s pretty expensive.”

  “It is for you,” Jurot said. “You could make a sheath out of it for a on.”

  “It’s at times like this, Jurot, that I wish I was as smart as you,” Adam said.

  Jurot, taking the pliment at face value, nodded. “You are plenty intelligent, Adam.”

  Adam accepted the snake skin. “I feel bad accepting su expensive gift. I mean, I didn’t evehe children something so expensive.”

  The group stared at him, their eyes accusatory.

  “What?”

  “You did,” Jurot said. “The White Wolf pelts.”

  Jaygak then tapped her Bloodseeker, the beautiful sword at her side.

  For a moment, Adam didn’t quite uand. “Oh,” he said, when he eventually uood their point. “Right.” He turomato red with embarrassment. ‘I ’t just dee it now.’ “Thanks.”

  “Sometimes I don’t know if you’re smart or stupid,” Jaygak said. “You should be like me, and reveal that you’re her, not until it’s the right time to strike.”

  Adam had a feeling that she was talking about her various pranks, not that he had seen any. “Right.”

  The group retired for the evening when it began to rain, with Nirot chatting away with Jurot about the people she had met on her adventures. She spoke in their own tongue, and Adam assumed that he should probably ignore whatever she was saying, since she didn’t know he spoke their nguage.

  Adam y on the floor, staring at the ceiling. Lanarot came crawling on top of him, pnting her head on his chest.

  “Abubaba?” she asked.

  “No,” Adam said. “I’m fine.”

  “Ooh.”

  He ed his arms around her legs and leaned down to kiss her forehead, causio smile and ugh, before she crawled over to kiss his forehead, her hands firmly pressed against his forehead and shoulder so she could stabilise herself.

  “Oi,” Adam said, feeling her half spit during the kiss. “What’s that about?”

  “Hehe,” Lanarot giggled before she squealed.

  Omen: 3, 3

  "Lanarot,” Adam called, reag down to pinch her cheek. “Are you going to watch me fight during the Duskval festival?”

  "Oah,” Lanarot replied, holding up her block at him, before she tossed it away.

  “Thank you,” Adam said, patting her head. “You better not look away, okay? I’ll definitely make you proud.”

  Lanarot crawled away from him to grab her block which had rudely disappeared from her hand when she had tossed it.

  “Why do you spend so much time with her?” Lucy asked, staring at the pair of siblings. Adam was a grown man, taller than her, and twice as wide, thick with muscle. Lanarot was just a tiny little thing, and she also didn’t do anything fun like fight. The Iyrmen had influenced her far too much, as they were the thoughts of most teens when it came to their younger siblings, including Jurot.

  “Every sed I spend with my adorable little sister is worth more than gold,” Adam said, reag over to pick the girl up in her arms, rubbing his cheek against hers. “You ’t get time back. Tomorrow, my little Lanababy might be able to stand. The month, she’ll be cruising along furniture. The month after that, she might walk for the first time. The time after that, she might start to dand sing.”

  Lanarot squirmed in his hands, before she was finally set free, sitting as she picked up another blod pced it on the first, dropping both of them.

  “The momeep out of the Iyr, there’s every ce we’ll never return,” Adam said. “I’m acutely aware of that fact. My friend and I were in school, just kig it. We had both brought our soles and were pying a game together, hunting dowch of a monster we were fag for the first time. It was like any other day, really.”

  Jurot, who had been whittling away at some wood, stopped to listen to the story.

  Adam looked past to aime. “His teacher came to take him away somewhere private. His dad had been involved in a car act, and just like that, he was gone. Forever. He might very well be in another world, sying monsters, or ying them if it’s that kind of story, but I’m not holding my breath.”

  Lucy stared at Adam, watg as he picked up the girl and held her tight.

  “I’m sure if I die tomorrow, Lanarot won’t remember me. She’s too young. But that doesn’t stop me from hoping. Hoping that she remembers the warmth, and that I loved her very deeply.” Adam closed his eyes, resting his head against Lanarot’s, feeling her cheek against his.

  Lucy hadn’t expected anything deep by her question, but even she felt a little unfortable. ‘I shouldn’t have taken a day off.’

  “I would be more than happy to spend my entire days in the Iyr. Training, w, and looking after my adorable little Lanabunny. I know that’s impossible, though, so that’s remain in my dreams.”

  “Why is it impossible?” Lucy asked.

  "Because," he began, staring down at Lanarot's adorable face as she stared up at him, showing her oothless smile. "I'm the protagonist."

  Luarrowed her eyes, which were full of fusion. "What?"

  "You're the Demon Lord, right?" Adam asked, kissing Lanarot’s forehead, causing the girl to squirm again before smiling up at him

  Lucy puffed out her chest, fshing a smirk. “That’s right, and don’t you fet it.”

  "So there will e a day, iably, that someone will try to cut you down,” Adam said, brushing Lanarot’s thin hair. “Even if you spent your entire days farming, someone would e to try and cut you in half."

  “Right, they would try,” Lucy stated, though she uood his point behind it.

  "Just like you, I have something which draws someoo me. Chaos. Fate. We are all just pawns for the greater powers that be." Adam stared down at the adorable little baby. "But that’s okay. If it means I be a det brother in this life, then I don't mind being a pawn." He rubbed Lanarot's head. "As long as they don't try anything with my sister." Lucy smiled at his response. She was someone who went against the Gods too. “You aren’t so bad, Adam.”

  Adam chuckled. “Thanks.” Lucy, in the versation, had gained a small amount of self awareness. "So if she means so much to you, why are you leavio e with me? Shouldn’t you stay behind to look after her?”

  Adam chuckled again. “Aren’t we friends?” he asked.

  "Yes?”

  “You don’t sound very certain.”

  “We are, but what does that have to do with anything?”

  “That had everything to do with it,” Adam replied, firmly.

  "Is that your definition of friend?"

  "If I didn't help you in your most trying time, how could I possibly call myself your friend?" Adam chuckled, shaking his head. "Lanarot will be safe and sound in the Iyr, which is the most important thing. Even if I miss her taking her first steps, miss her when she says her first words, some of her most important milestones…”

  Adam picked the girl up, staring at her as she dropped her cubes, but looked down at Adam. She brought her knees up to her chest and kicked downwards, befhing at her pointy eared brother. “I may end up regretting not helping you sooner.”

  “We still have a few years,” Lucy said, awkwardly. She had been at his throat to try a him to take the matter seriously, and now she was trying to stop him.

  “What if something happens to the forest? Even with the Iyrmen’s prote, there are many things which could g. What happens if something happens to Mara before the ten years pass? What happens if you die before that?” Adam pced Lanarot dowing her py in peace.

  “That’s highly unlikely,” Lucy said. “I won’t let it happen.”

  “There’s no such thing as impossible,” Adam said. “Not any more. Not after I was killed and brought baot after I was killed and brought back a sed time.”

  “Do you think about everything like that?” Lucy asked, staring at the Half Elf, almost in despair at his thoughts.

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, casually.

  “Why?”

  Adam stared at Lanarot, trying to not look at her brother who was still not whittling his wood. “I don’t want as in this life.”

  "You'll always regret something." "Lana’s first steps and you reuniting with Mara, both of them will be great. I’m sure I’ll be happy seeiher. However, only one of those stops suffering. As much as I am a seal idiot, emphasis on the mental idiot, I know where my priorities should y.”

  “Now I feel guilty,” Lucy said, gng aside.

  "Good,” Adam said. “I want you to remember what I've done for you. My friends mean a lot to me, and I’ll gh hell with them if I o. I want you to know how important you are to me.”

  "Why are you going so far for me?” Lucy whispered, as though she didn’t want to ask. “You don’t really know me, and we haven’t spent that much time with each other."

  “Because,” Adam said. “That’s manly.”

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  Manly indeed.

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  Had another idea today for a cultivation series in the shower. Why am I trying to write other stuff?