“Goodnight, Lux,” she called out, giving me a small wave. As I left the room and closed the door behind me, I let out a long, hissing sigh. Elise had handled the news better than I had hoped, but despite her strong facade, I knew it hurt her more than she let on. My Detection scanned out through the building as I prepared to leave, and I caught a quick glimpse of her holding her head in her hands as she began to cry. I withdrew the mana from her office immediately and focused it specifically onto the road back home, feeling embarrassed to have witnessed the emotions she clearly wished to hide from me.
I met the edge of Lia’s Detection as I entered the forest, and I felt her perk up immediately. How did it go?
Better than I expected, given the news, I answered her. How about on your end?
Fine. My parents are just happy we’re safe, but Marin says she wants to see one of the monsters for herself.
I rolled my eyes for no one’s benefit but my own. She wouldn’t think that if she’d been there.
I tried to tell her that, but...you know how she is.
I do. The Corells’ house came into view ahead of me, and I slowed to a jog as I approached the front door. I knocked lightly on the door, then entered without waiting for a response, moving to the living room where my family was waiting.
“Lux!” Marten yelled as I came into view. “You’re still alive!”
Hana scowled as she prodded him in the ribs, but I laughed at the outburst. “I’m just as surprised as you are, Marten.”
“Tell me about it, Lux!” Marin begged, leaning forward excitedly. “Tell me about the monster!”
I resisted the urge to scowl at her. “Marin, this might just sound like adventuring tall tales to you, but it’s real. A lot of people died because of that thing; we’re not going to sit around telling stories about it.” The room fell uncomfortably silent, and I realized I may have been too harsh in my response. “Plus, you’ll learn more than enough about it when we start training again tomorrow.”
“Training?” Marin said, confused. “You just told me I was trained before you left!”
Lia and I shared a raucous laugh. “What, you thought you were just finished? For good?” I asked between laughs. “You’re never done training, Marin. Besides, you might be trained enough to deal with any regular thug, but that’s not the problem we’re dealing with anymore, is it?”
“We initially wanted to get you trained enough that you could help protect our family if Virram ever sent guards after us again,” Lia explained. “If the rumors are true, and that monster really did come from Kaldan, I think he might have some bigger problems. But, clearly, so do we.”
“Until they can put an end to those problems, we need to make sure we can keep everyone safe here. Which means a lot more training for you,” I added. I turned to Marten and gave him an apologetic smile. “I hope you don’t mind that we’ll be stealing your business partner away from you again.”
“Oh, I suppose that’s alright,” he answered, rubbing his chin. “I’ll have to dock her pay, of course…”
“What?!” Marin yelled, jumping to her feet. “You hardly pay me anything as it is!”
“When you consider your free room and board, you’ll see you get paid more than a fair wage!” he countered. “What do you think you need so much money for, all of a sudden?”
Hana shook her head as they continued to argue. “They do this all the time,” she said, her voice nearly drowned out from the shouting match. “I think it’s their way of showing affection for each other.”
Lia laughed. “As much as I’m sure we’d both love to stay and watch, we should be heading home now.” She turned and gave me a knowing smile. “We had a long day of traveling today.”
“Yeah, I’ll definitely sleep well tonight,” I agreed. Despite the fact that I had been resting all day, I was still exhausted all the same; the manner of our awakening coupled with my meeting with Elise had left me both mentally and physically worn out. “It’s nice to be home. We’ll have to have another dinner soon.”
“Anytime,” Hana smiled as we all stood up to say our goodbyes. “We still have plenty of bihorn from your last hunt.” She gave us each a quick hug as Marin and Marten continued to argue, having switched topics from payment to their division of labor.
Our movement caught Marin’s attention, and she immediately spun towards Lia with a beaming smile. “I’m glad you’re home,” she said cheerily, wrapping Lia in a tight hug. “You’ll be here tomorrow to pick me up for training, right?”
“Bright and early,” she answered, hugging her back. “You don’t get the mornings off anymore.”
“I’m ready!” she crowed, hopping backwards and pumping her fist. “Just you wait! I’m going to be beating you before you know it, Lux!” She stepped forward to hug me in turn, popping multiple joints in my back and shoulders.
“Oh, really?” I said, patting her on the back. “You seem awfully chipper for someone who was just complaining about more training.”
“I wasn’t complaining!” she exclaimed. “I was just...surprised! I want to get stronger like you two, and I know that means more training! I’m ready.”
“Okay then,” I nodded, stepping back in line with Lia. “Tomorrow morning it is.”
“Glad to see you both home safe,” Marten said to both of us. “Even if it means more work for me.”
“Oh, speaking of work, Marten—I’m having some more building materials delivered tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked for them to be delivered here.”
“I’ll have to start charging you delivery and storage fees, at this rate!” he grinned.
“I suppose that’s fair,” I chuckled. I put an arm over Lia’s shoulders and looked over the group one final time. “Alright, time to head out. Goodnight, everyone.”
We were met with
