“Kekekekeke!” Jirot cackled. “Uncle Jurot, you are so silly!”

  “I am?”

  “How you lose when you are s?”

  Jurot remained silent, pig up the pouch. “It is because you are stronger.”

  “Damrot, do you see how strong your cousin is?” The old Jarot reag down to brush along the boy’s cheek. “It is no dishonour to lose against her.”

  The boy squirmed slightly, before letting out a whimper, until his mother lifted him up, bringing him to her bosom. Jarot almost spoke up against the young woman, but quickly shut his lips, since she was an Aldishwoman. The awkwardness remained for a moment, until an older Iyrman called out to Jarot to greet him and his family. Jarot grinned wide, eager to show off his grandson and his greatchildren.

  “Jirot, do you want to py with me too?” Lucy asked, while the girl gnced up her way.

  “I am too tired now.”

  “Okay…” Lucy sat down beside the girl, letting out a small sigh. ‘I’ve been so busy but si’s yrandfather…’ “Hmm?”

  “You are w hard?” Jirot asked, holding up a potato she had bit into.

  “I am.”

  “Good work,” Jirot said, holding up the potato. “You must eat so you work hard.”

  Lucy smiled, leaning down to take a bite, before the girl then took a bite. Little Jarot opened his mouth for another bite, and the girl brought it to his lips once more. Mara sat opposite, waiting for her turn, whily came once Lucy called the woman to Jirot’s attention.

  “You are w hard too?” Jirot asked, the potato to the Demon Maid.

  “I try to work my hardest,” Mara replied.

  “Do or do not, there is no try,” Jirot said, quoting her father.

  ‘…’

  “Is okay. I think trying is good,” Jirot whispered, reag out to pat the woman’s knee gently.

  “If I try, will I be as strong as you?” Mara joked.

  Jirot smiled, in the way that an older man might patronise a younger man who dreamt too high, patting the woman’s knee once more. “Oh dear, oh dear. You try.”

  Mara reached up to poke the girl’s nose, causing the girl to squirm away, before she retreated away to Lucy. Mara was still unsure of how much to py into the girl’s joke, especially sidering there was a high ce that Adam would allow her to bee a Demon Lord. Perhaps not in essence, but the title itself could certainly be gifted to the girl.

  “Lucy, Lucy, you have to protect me, okay?” Jirot said. “You are my stro General!”

  “I’m just a General?” Lucy asked, pouting slightly. “I thought I could be the Demon Lord too?”

  “How you be Demon Lord when I am Demon Lord?” Jirot asked, eyeing her up incredulously.

  “There be more than one Demon Lord.”

  “Huh?”

  “I be Demon Lord too?” Jarot blinked up towards the woman.

  “If you want to be the Demon Lord, you be the Demon Lord too,” Lucy assured.

  Jarot looked to Jirot, who bliowards him. “No. I am babo.”

  The older one armed Jarot’s ears twitched slightly, before he go the side. ‘Why would you bee like this crippled old man?’

  Rajin could see the thoughts upon the old man’s face clearly, the way his eyes gleamed with glee. He poured the crippled Iyrman a drink of his wine, before the pair raised their cups, and sipped the wine.

  Jarot made a face as the sourness ihrough him, before he let out a small sigh. “Do yret it?”

  Rajin poured them some more, having brewed such wine so that when he filled the small cups, there was enough of a kick to keep them awake, but not enough to make them spit the wi. Unless, of course, one was not a Rage Dancer. He remained silent for a long while at Jarot’s words, hearing the soft giggling and squealing of the twins pying with Lud Mara.

  Rajin ran his fihrough his hair, which fell down to his ears, and he narrowed his eyes to Jarot, who tried to pick a fight. His beard was braided within the tre, and within the rest of his beard, he wore various little tris and ors, from ties of various materials he had been gifted, and beads which had beeo his beard by the children in the m. Two ties had been gifted by a particur set of twins.

  “Speaking rets?” Rajin’s small voice floated towards the Iyrman. “You have grown old.”

  Jarot’s ughter echoed through the air, causing Jirot and Jarot to gnce his way, before the pair rushed up to their babo, ughing too. Lucy gave up the twins to the Mad Dog, partly because he was their greatfather, but mostly because she was still terrified of the old man.

  “Huh?” Adam called out as he stepped towards the group, who had gathered together at a particur estate within the Front Iyr. “Is that my little Kit’a and Jay’a?”

  The pair of dire wolves leapt towards Adam, though stopped at his feet, not wanting to tackle the half elf down. They gave up their heads, the half elf lightly rubbing along their heads, smiling wide. He cooed over the pair, embrag them close, before realising how dirty they must be.

  Trick: Tricks

  “Are the Iyr w you two too hard?” Adam asked after ing himself with his magic so Vonda wouldn’t catything from him.

  A pair of barks chimed back at the half elf. He was surprised the dire wolves were in the Front Iyr, but supposed it made se was for them to take the wolves around with them across the nd, save for the North, where they found almost no issues with the wolves. Thankfully, they were enjoying themselves within the Iyr, ahe borders towards the business where they could froli peace.

  "Are you looking for Jaygak and Kitool?" Adam asked, finding some meat for them, pg it down onto some ptes for them to chew, though they were already well fed thanks to the festival. "They're off doing their own things. How could they do this to you, even though you two are so well behaved!"

  Adam wondered what happeo their children. He had wanted his children to grow up with them, but the Iyr had been using the wolves for their own purposes. Since Sonarot allowed it, the half elf didn't bother to speak up against the Iyr.

  "I have my own wolf too!" Lanarot decred, grabbing onto the hem of her brother's shirt. "Her name is Sun!"

  "You have a wolf?"

  "She is so small, but she is my puppy. She is so cute, papa, I will show you her ter, when she is big, because she is too small, so we ot trouble the puppy, and the puppy is so cute, she is my puppy!" Lanarot smiled wide, having only just learned about the puppy that afternoon.

  ‘Is the Iyr fixing all my issues one by one? How dare you take away my joys from me. I suppose I’ll have tive you since you’re so scary.’ Adam picked up his sister and kissed her cheek, holding her head to his neck as they embraced, before letting her go to py.

  Konarot rushed up to her father, climbing onto his p, before cuddling up to his chest. Her tail swayed slightly beside him, while Kirot and Karot each y down around their mother and father.

  “Did you all eat too much?” Adam asked, though upon his daughter’s i smile, he decided against saying anything more. ‘Should I send word back to the business? I should probably check to see if Bael’s causing a mess, though Bil, granduncle, and Jonn should be able to deal with him together.’

  The gentle music rumbled through the Iyr, while a pair of figures watched on from a distahe beardless dwarf drank away at the casks of ale, feeling the sting of the sourness of the wihe Bearded Dragon had brewed. Beside her, the drakken woman, with her rge horns like scimitars and her blue scales, sipped away at her drinks lightly.

  “I will miss the Iyr’s drinks when I go,” Lord Stokmar admitted, before drinking down another cask.

  “It hasn’t been long since you’ve spent time in the Iyr,” Umbra said, staring out at the Front Iyr from the top of the peak.

  “I’ve already spent too long in the Iyr.”

  “It’s only been a few years.”

  “I wouldn’t mind staying for a decade, but a decade for the mortals is a geion.”

  “Two to three decades is closer to a geion for them,” Umbra said, thinking back to her adorable little mortals who she could no longer see. She hoped the ons and armours she had crafted for them would be enough to keep them safe.

  Lord Stokmar eyed up the young woman, who was only a few thousand years old, even with the years she had felt iher world. “If you feel beset by the Dragon Fever, you may call for me and I will kill you painlessly.”

  “Thank you,” Umbra replied, smiling slightly.

  “I’m not joking.”

  “I know, but I will trust my aunt with the task.”

  Lord Stokmar let out a small huff. “How seal.”

  “I should walk before it rains.” Umbra stood, stretg out her body, before she hopped off the wall. She casually walked along the nds of the Front Iyr, daring to act up whehe Lord of Earth could not. She could still feel the gaze upon her skin, the unseen Iyrmen who even she could barely sense. ‘You dowheir insanity, father.’

  When you remember all the sleeping giants in the Iyr have nothing to do...