[985] – Y04.085 – Confrontation III

[985] – Y04.085 – Confrontation III

“Babo, you fight so much?” the little Jarot asked.

“Yes,” the old one armed Iyrman replied.

“Why?”

“I fought because I fought.”

“I will not fight.”

“You will not fight?”

“Why not?” Jirot asked, reaching out to her brother’s hand, holding it gently.

“I do not like it.”

“Hmm,” Jarot replied. He wanted to nip such a dislike in the bud, but even he could not defeat his greatson’s adorable innocence. “If you do not wish to fight, then you do not need to fight.”

Little Jarot smiled, leaning in to rest his cheek against his greatfather’s chest, feeling the way it shifted, like the way Lanarot did with Sky every so often. He sucked his thumb, his eyes closing half way, as his sister joined him, the pair smiling at one another.

Jarot held his greatchildren close to him, a hand wrapped around the girl, who he couldn’t dare to drop his guard around. “When you were still young, your babo had to fight in the war. It was not the same fighting. That time, I fought for you, my Jirot, my Jarot. You were still so small, and troublesome,” Jarot said, noting the way Jirot peeked up at him, smirking, before returning back to sucking her thumb.

‘Hehehe,’ the girl thought.

“I went to bring you glory.” The old man frowned, leaning his head back so his children would be unable to see his face. He closed his eyes, his knee throbbing.

“Babo beat up Aldishmen,” Jirot said.

“Yes, I did.” The old man smiled.

“Daddy tell me you fight and fight, and you are so strong.”

“Your father?”

“Yes, daddy always telling me you are so strong!” Jirot said.

The old Jarot glanced back down at the pair, a wide grin across his face. “Do you know that your father is my grandson.”

“I know! I know! Nano tell me!” Jirot said, sitting up taller. “Papo is your grandson too!” She cackled as though it was forbidden knowledge.

“Yes.” The old Iyrman smiled, kissing their foreheads. “I helped the Aldish against the Florians, but I fought the Aldish too.”

“You take arm,” Jirot said, holding up her hand. “You did not take my arm, because it is my arm.” The girl smirked.

“That is right. I took his arm, do you know why?”

“He is bad?”

“The brat from Black Moon, she was cheeky, so I took her arm!” Jarot laughed wildly. It wasn’t the first time he had spoken the tale, but they had been so young back then.

“Babo, I am cheeky too!” Jirot cackled.

“You are cheeky, but you are my greatdaughter, so you are allowed to be so cheeky!”

“Kekekeke!” The little girl squealed with delight and covered her mouth as she shook within her greatfather’s arm, while the little boy smiled.

“Not all the Vice Commanders were so cheeky,” the old man admitted. “There was the Vice Commander of the Order of the Thousand Hunts, Sir Kris Huntsmaster. He was not so bad.”

“He is good boy?”

Jarot thought of the girl’s words. He glanced down towards her. “Are you going to bully him?”

“Why are you being so shy?” Adam asked, right on cue, causing Lucy, Mara, Jane, and the Marshal to stare at him. “Jurot recently became a father, and I recently had my seventh child, so we’ve decided to win the nightval tournament.”

A silence fell across the air.

An avalanche of laughter erupted, tearing through the silence.

‘Eh?’ Adam thought. He had thought they were laughing at the group, but this was a different kind of laughter.

“So, you had children!” the Grand Commander almost shouted. “Congratulations!”

The North, whose entire numbers barely reached just the capital city’s numbers, held children in high regard too. Jurot wasn’t sure if he should have allowed Adam to uncover what he had sworn to hide for the season, but Adam, whose face was full of shock, glanced around like a deer in headlights, before smiling slightly.

Quest Complete: A Northern Welcome

XP Gained: +100

XP: 1 400 -> 1 500

“Isn’t it unfair?” Adam asked, sipping the drink, as the Northerners poured him cup after cup. “How can he do this? He’s already so strong, handsome, and smart. Having cute children was my thing, but he took that away from me too? My own brother betrayed me like this?”

‘He’s gone too far,’ Jaygak thought, but she ignored how cringe Adam was being since he had behaved for so long, and they were so close to North Amber now. They were but a day away, by next evening, they would be at North Amber, the second greatest city in all of the North.

Grand Commander Sebastian poured Jurot a drink, who raised his cup, sipping at the wine. The pair sat opposite one another, remaining silent for a long moment. The Grand Commander had already stated his congratulations, so there was nothing to talk about.

Except for that.

“You are as strong as your grandfather at his age,” Grand Commander Sebastian said. “Perhaps stronger?”

“Grandfather is stronger,” Jurot said.

“Even so, you have yet to cause as much as a mess as him, and for that, we should be thankful.”

Jurot didn’t want to mention the reason why he didn’t cause such a mess, but he allowed the reason to continue to complain and to rant and rave about his children to the rest of the Order. “I have come to win the tournament and leave. We will not stay long in the North.”

“Will you stay during the Twilight Month?”

“It is likely.”

“Allow me to warn you, for there has been some sightings of savagery across the land recently,” Grand Commander Sebastian informed.

“Okay,” Jurot replied. “Thank you.”

Jane and the Marshal remained silent, glancing between one another, while the half elf showed himself to be a fool. However, what could they say, when they had seen Jurot beat a rising star of the Order so swiftly, and yet, somehow, the fool was considered to be stronger?

The next afternoon, as the group made their way north, the soft rain of nightval bouncing off the stone road, the carriages stopped.

“What are those?” Adam asked, squinting his eyes.

“Ice trolls,” Jurot replied.

“We’ve come across bears, wolves, but ice trolls? So close to the Order?” Adam asked, as though he understood the significance of such a thing.

“They must have travelled through the mountains,” Jurot said, donning his shield. “They are dangerous.”

“How dangerous we talking?”

“There are five of them, so we may die if we do not kill them quickly,” Jurot said, holding up Phantom, swinging it several times to warm himself.

‘Why are they talking so casually when the ice trolls are charging at us?’ Marshal Black thought, grabbing his sword, which seemed to be made of stone.

‘These guys are fucking crazy,’ Jane realised, having drawn her blade midway, pausing as the thought crossed her mind.

The howling of the wolves filled the air, as the trio of awakened wolves eagerly awaited the impending death.



These Northerners, they ain't so bad.