286. Shadow

286. Shadow

Omen: 2, 3

‘God damn it.’ Adam sighed, staring at the ceiling. He didn’t realise his luck was going to be so poor. It was especially annoying since it was the last day of Nightval, meaning he’d have to wait an entire month in order to continue enchanting the weapon if he wanted something great.

‘Who the hell made the thirteenth month so damn terrible? Baktu, was it you? I swear, I’ll come up there and show you what’s what, mate.’ Adam sat up, crossing his arms, trying to think about what he should do.

“Bad luck?” Sonarot whispered.

Adam sighed, nodding his head. ‘Hey, Bell, can I spend XP to reroll?’

[Yes.]

‘What’s the price?’

[The first reroll will cost 100 XP. It is doubled each time thereafter.]

‘God, damn. Is it permanently doubled each time, or just for the one roll?’

[Just for that roll.]

‘So it’s only a few hundred for two rerolls. That should be fine, I think?’

Adam worked out in the morning, letting the children join him. He assisted Nobby in training him too, lightly sparring with the boy, before he helped the children, letting them gently spar with one another, mostly as a game rather than actual sparring.

“Is he really sparring with our children?” Kaygak asked.

“They play so well, do they not?” Sonarot asked, making sure to stop any complaints which may come through from Kaygak.

Kaygak remained silent, continuing with assisting the others with making breakfast. The other adults wondered if they should play with their children too, but they had some work to do, so left Adam to his business.

“What is wrong?” Sonarot eventually asked, watching as Adam ate.

Adam threw a look to Dunes, before sighing. “I’ve just got something on my mind.” He still wasn’t sure what he should do with Dunes. He was fairly certain that Ashmir was his father, but at the same time, there was the smallest of chances that he wasn’t Ashmir’s son.

‘If Jurot was here, I bet he’d say something like their eyes were the same or something,’ Adam thought, recalling how Jurot somehow knew how people were related. ‘He even knew the two Porters weren’t twins, even though they look the same. No, they’re definitely twins, aren’t they? Well, there are plenty of celebrities who look the same too...’

“You are thinking a lot, Adam,” Sonarot said, staring down at him. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Adam said.

He finished eating breakfast, which was fresh bread and soup, having fed some of his bread to Lanarot. He lifted the girl up once they were done with breakfast and hugged her.

“How did you become such a little fatty?” Adam asked, kissing her cheek. “How cute are you? You’re such a chubby little thing, aren’t you? Are you trying to become as big as me?” Adam pinched her cheek and wiggled it.

Lanarot laughed and reached up to grab at his face, babbling up at him, before laughing at him again.

“Lanarot, what did I tell you about being racist?” Adam asked, poking her cheek. “You can’t say stuff like that. You silly girl.” He placed her down on the floor. “I’ve got to go enchant, so you be good for mama, okay?”

Lanarot clapped her hands, laughing at him menacingly.

“Even if you aren’t good, we’ll forgive you because you’re so cute,” Adam said, ruffling her hair, before heading out. He had recharged himself, though the shadow of Dunes’ parentage hung over him still.

‘I’ll figure it out in the evening.’

Mana: 18 -> 16

Enchanting Check

D20 + 7 = 10 (3)

“What’s wrong?” Dunes asked.

“Come with me,” Adam said, before looking to Uncle Shikan. “Actually, give me a second.”

Shikan stood, noting Adam’s look, before the pair stepped aside. “You are going to tell him?”

“No,” Adam said. “I am going to introduce them and let them figure it out. I can’t keep a secret like that from my friend, otherwise I’ll have cursed luck.”

“What happened?”

“Do you know how poorly I rolled today?” Adam asked. “I rolled like utter crap five times! Five times in a row! I can’t believe it! How the hell did I manage to do that? Not just that, but I had to spend so much of my XP!”

‘Eckspee?’ Shikan thought, wondering if it was slang for something. ‘Is that something to do with effort? Pressure?’

“I bet it’s because I’ve been a shit friend,” Adam said, sure it was that. “If I had told Dunes before, I wouldn’t be so guilty, and I would have rolled well. Mistress Fate was teaching me a lesson.”

Shikan could see that Adam was annoyed. “Where is the axe?”

“My axe? The one I enchanted? I gave it to Elder Zijin for him to auction it off.”

‘Oh,’ Shikan thought. ‘So that is the issue.’ Shikan sighed. “It is not our place to interfere, Adam.”

“I don’t care,” Adam said. “Dunes is my friend. If I can’t do this much for him, then I can’t call myself his friend.”

“Fine,” Shikan replied after a long moment of staring down at the Half Elf, whose face was still sour. “I will come with you.”

“Sure,” Adam said, turning to get Dunes. “Dunes, come on.”

“Where are we going?” Dunes asked.

“We’re going to...” Adam wondered how to make it sound cool and suave, but he couldn’t think of anything. “Just follow me, damn it.”

Dunes followed Adam, wondering what was wrong with him. ‘Is it because he’s a Half Elf and Twilight Month is soon upon us?’

They eventually arrived at the Mir family estate, some half an hour away. The food was almost finished, and the groups had gathered together. Adam was about to march in, but he looked to Shikan.

Shikan sighed, but stepped forward, going to find Shamir first, before exchanging a word with him. Shamir looked to Adam, before nodding to Shikan. Shikan then nodded to Adam.

Adam took Dunes with him to see Ashmir, who was currently reading a different book.

“Adam?” Ashmir called, closing the book and standing to shake the Half Elf’s forearm.

“Hey Ashmir,” Adam said, shaking his forearm. There was a moment of awkward silence as Adam tried to figure out how to introduce them to one another. “Look. This is Morn Dunes, the Morn meaning Morning. His mother’s name was Munya, and he was sent to a temple with a letter from his mother, who passed away after giving birth to him. He’s in his mid twenties or so.”

Dunes stared at Adam, wondering why he had given such an intimate description about his life to some stranger.

“This is Ashmir, he’s a guy who was sweet on a woman called Munya, who then got pregnant and took their unborn child to a temple, with the hope that she would call their child Morn, the word meaning Morning, roughly twenty something years ago.” Adam pat both of their shoulders. “I’ll leave you two to talk with one another and discuss the matters with one another. I’m hungry, tired, and annoyed, so I’ll be leaving you.”

Shikan stared at Adam as he marched away, leaving Dunes and Ashmir together, the pair of them an image of confusion as they watched the Half Elf leave.

‘Why did I let him introduce them to one another?’ Shikan thought.

Click banner for Patreon and come join my too!

Sorry, Shikan. It do be that way sometimes.