642. The Promise I

642. The Promise I

“That’s right!” Adam looked over to the twins who were eating up the meat from their nana’s fork. Adam snatched Jirot up and kissed her cheek all over. “Is that why you’re ignoring me? Is it because daddy only came in third place? Did you expect better from me? I’m so sorry, Jibaby! I’ll do much better next time.”

Jirot huffed quietly and squirmed, trying to get out of his grasp, until she finally gave up, relenting to her father’s affections as he kissed her all over and hugged her tight. Jarot puffed up his cheeks, pouting up at his father, looking to his grandmother for support.

“What are you doing?” an Iyrman child asked.

“I’m kissing my children.”

“Why?”

“Because I love them so much,” Adam said, picking up Jarot to kiss his face all over too, causing the boy to shyly look away and squirm.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why? I’m a father, that’s why.”

The children narrowed their eyes at Adam. “Does mother love me?”

“Of course your mother loves you.”

The child blinked, before looking to an Iyrman nearby with a curious look. The woman motioned for the child to come, and the pair embraced.

“You see?” Adam said. “Why do you think your parents are so strong? It’s because they love you so much.”

The children looked to their family, trying to understand what Adam was saying. The adult Iyrmen sighed, annoyed by Adam’s words, since they were...

The adult Iyrmen glanced between one another.

He was... right?

“Daddy, stwong,” Konarot said, patting his knee gently.

“That’s right. I’m strong because I love you all so much.” Adam lifted Konarot up, kissing her forehead, before doing the same with the rest of his triplets too. “Don’t you worry! Daddy is going to protect you all! Daddy’s going to become the strongest!”

“I will protect you too,” Jurot said, reaching down to ruffle Jirot’s hair.

“That’s right, uncle Jurot will protect you too, so you have to be nice to him,” Adam stated.

Jirot cackled up at Jurot and hugged his arm, giggling wildly as she trapped his arm to her.

“Not that nice,” Adam whispered, ruffling her hair.

“Jarot,” Jurot called, causing the boy to look his way. Jarot nibbled on some meat, but stopped nibbling as he stared up at his uncle, frozen. “You must grow up well.” Jurot rubbed the boy’s hair, causing him to turn away, hiding himself from his uncle.

“No, he needs to stay small and cute forever,” Adam retorted.

“His name is Jarot, so he must grow well,” Jurot stated.

“He’s too young to grow up well,” Adam replied. “He’s the youngest, so he should stay small and cute forever.”

“So Konarot will grow up big and strong?” Jurot asked.

“No, Konarot is too young, so she should stay small and cute forever.”

“I am not as strong as grandfather,” Jurot stated. “Even with one arm, grandfather can beat me.”

“Yeah, that old man is pretty damn strong,” Adam whispered. “He should be, since he was the first one to beat me.”

Jurot nodded. “Did you hear, Jarot? Your greatfather is strong.”

Jarot looked up to Jurot, before waddling over to his grandmother, hugging her leg. The boy hid his head against her leg, before looking back to see Jurot still looking at him, before he hid himself once more. Sonarot rubbed his head gently, smiling down at him.

It was only thanks to Jarot leaving to fight that Sonarot was able to be so close to them, otherwise her father would have monopolised the twins for himself. The chaos which would have ensued if Adam returned back to find the old man closer to the twins than himself...

Sonarot closed her eyes, and almost wished she could have seen it.

“Kekekekeke,” Jirot cackled, looking back towards her grandmother as she grabbed some more meat to chew.

“Jirot, you cannot eat it all,” Sonarot said, picking up the girl and placing the tiny twin on her lap. She had come to check on the children to make sure they were behaving well, especially Jirot. The little girl continued to nibble on the meat, before offering some to her twin brothers.

Adam poured the wine into a cup and sipped it slowly. He winced. ‘Caught me slipping.’ He coughed and shook his head. “I think I’ll give this to Jaygak.”

“It is good wine,” Jurot said, his face contorted as he sipped the sour wine.

Konarot looked up at the gourd, but Adam rubbed her head. “This is not for you, my daughter.” Adam rubbed her head gently. “Jurot.”

“Yes?”

“My daughter,” Adam stated, smirking slightly.

“Yes?”

“My daughter...” Adam kept rubbing her head. “My daughter.” He sat up straighter, his chest out with pride. His entire body tingled as he realised what that meant, and his heart lightened slightly, realising why he left to fight so much.

Konarot smiled up at her father, before resting her head against his leg, half hugging him. She allowed him to feed her some of the fried meat, with Adam almost falling to the wayside as the others excitedly heard the tale from Jurot and Kitool.

Meanwhile, Umbra was relaxing on a rooftop, sipping some wine. She could feel the gaze of several Iyrmen upon her, as well as figures from the shadows.

“You are not Lord Storm, so we cannot allow you to move freely while Elder Story is not here,” Iromin had stated to her.

Umbra recalled her father, and how much joy he had speaking of his friends, especially the one known as Elder Story. Since she was his friend, she decided against causing trouble in the Iyr, especially recalling the warnings she had received from Adam.

Adam, who would dare to fight the world, but not the Iyr.

Umbra decided to wait for Elder Story to return. ‘She’s off to keep my boy in check?’ Umbra thought about whether she should return to the Upper Realms, but with her arrival, chaos would ensue, and she would be engulfed in a civil war, one she wasn’t particularly interested in.

‘I could request the Iyr’s assistance...’ She winced, thinking about ruling the soon to crumble empire. ‘Uncle Shama has gone too? Is he going to help keep it stable for a few years?’ Umbra thought back to the old man who used to fight with her father. Even back then, that old man was considered one of the strongest across the Upper Realm, and her father’s name would cause the world to shake. The pair had once made a mess in the Lower Realms, but it was thanks to a great number of individuals, including Elder Story, that the mess was cleaned up well enough.

‘He didn’t kill Asa?’ Umbra frowned. There were things she had been told, and things she thought she knew. Shama had certainly killed his father to take his throne, but that old man was alive? The Asa? The same Asa that was a legend before Jaeryael was even a babe? That Asa? Who was now fighting to defend South Aldland?

She wondered if the arrival of these impossible figures, including herself, were thanks to the machinations of other figures. Her thoughts then fell to Crowseer, who had decided to trap himself within the Iyr. ‘Are those bastard Stars to blame?’

Finally, her thoughts fell back to the fool of a father she had met. ‘...’

This upcoming arc is very, very slow. Some important things may or may not happen. It may or may not set up important things in the near (next 100 chapters) or far (500+ chapters) future. It may or may not be wholesome. It may or may not be tragic. It is, however, very, very slow.

The next arc after that? Fufufu. Fufufufu. Fufufufufu.

I'm posting up twice because I'm pretty sure I still owed a double chapter from before when I accidentally skipped a day.