“So we can finally check out some new places eh?” John said, seeming excited.

William hadn’t explained things perfectly, but was able to convey the purpose of the trip ahead of the group.

Jane didn’t immediately respond, appearing to be deep in thought.

“Worried about how mum will be if we both go?” William asked, taking a guess at what was on his sister’s mind.

His suspicion was correct as Jane nodded in response as she looked back towards one of the huts. William realized then that the hut was where his mother had been training the other archers before.

“She’s gone back to practice, hasn’t she?” William added, after a scan of the people still nearby and not finding his mother.

Another nod. Jane seemed like she wanted to say something but was stuck.

Jane managed to find her words after a pregnant moment as she spoke up, “I’m worried she won’t cope alone. Dad’s been gone for less than a day, so even if we wait to set off for a couple more days, it still feels too soon.”

William considered Janes words, thinking back to what Wallace said about his mother earlier on. William couldn’t be sure if it was grief or determination that found his mother training minutes after his father’s funeral. He suspected it was a combination of both. The only way to be sure would be to ask his mother how she feels about the plan.

William had picked the settlement known as Everglade about fifty miles south of Greenwell as it was the shortest distance that Devlin had mentioned for another Settlement to be. The trip should take a couple days at the pace of his party so potentially a week away for a round trip. That didn’t seem like much time in the grand scheme of things but he hadn’t been away from Greenwell for more than a day. He also didn’t know about reactions to his statement when Nass had recorded his fight and the ending proclamation William had declared. Another idea formed then and it might even help with some bonding and family time.

“Jane, let’s ask mum to come with us. We can hopefully power level her a bit along the way then and have a ‘family trip’ or whatever.”

His sister’s eyes widened slightly at the plan. She seemed to approve of it with a soft smile. William got the feeling that Jane needed to be around their mother for a little while. He guessed it to be Jane’s way of grieving.

Stacey walked up to William and leaned into him, William’s arm going around her shoulder, holding her close as she said, “I’m with you, William. Whether we stay or go, I’m here,” William smiled thinking of a specific song, mentally singing, “Should I stay or should I go?”

He immediately curbed his mental tangent however, feeling somewhat bad for his mind going to that first from her kind words. He was too easily distracted it seemed. He had so much appreciation for the girl in his arms. The girl who was always in his corner even during his dark deeds.

William kissed Stacey on her forehead, prompting the girl to sigh warmly, leaning in closer.

“Okay lovebirds, why don’t we help set the fire up for tonight. Everyone else is putting in work so we should too,” John said, smiling softly at Jane who looked back at him with the same type of smile as John added, “If you wanna talk about anything, I’m happy to listen Jane.”

William saw the color on his sister’s face deepen slightly redder, but he couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment, or interest in his friend. He hoped for John’s sake it was the latter, then again, if it was the former then William could make all the friend zone jokes he wanted. William like win-win scenarios.

William and his party made simple small talk to pass the time as they helped build the large fire for that night. About an hour later, the fire had been lit and food was on skewers roasting away. William and his group, sat together with Wallace and his mother joining them. William expected that going forward, Wallace wouldn’t be going on adventures with him and the others, seeming to excel more at the leadership role. “More power to him.” William thought.

The night passed peacefully with William and Stacey retiring early, wanting to have some private time together. Laying in bed curled up together, the two lay there in blissful comfort, enjoying each other’s company.

Stacey broke the silence as she kissed him and smiled, speaking up, “I’m glad you saved us. My knight.”

William held her close, a warmth filling him slightly, fighting the cold of many kills that clawed at his core. It dimmed slightly as thoughts of his father surfaced.

“I couldn’t save all of us though. I’m not the knight in the stories of the dead,” William said with a long sigh at the end.

“What matters is that you tried, William. You’ve risked your life for us many times before and today you did it multiple times. In one fucking day. You’re amazing.”

“I need to get stronger though, then if there’s a next time I can shake the land itself. That would scare anyone off who tried anything bad. That’s a long way off yet though. Me and Wallace both knew that, and knew that some of us would die today. I’m honestly astonished it was a small handful. I know that’s still really sad, but I tallied up literally ten times as many by myself, let alone what the rest of you managed. Objectively speaking, today was a resounding success. The losses though…” William struggled to find more to say about it.

The others who died besides his father were not quite faceless, but they weren’t as important in his life as his father was. He saw everyone in Greenwell as his people now, but that extended to most like a high up commander compared to the lowest of grunts. It was always bad when they died, but as less died than the enemy, it was a great victory. His father, however, had died for his family, a hero true.

William felt the gentle caress of Stacey’s fingers on his chest, moving in circles. William tilted his head down slightly to take in the beautiful lady in his arms. The two locked gazes and warmly smiled at each other.

William had to admit that it wasn’t all bad coming to GAEA, in fact, the only bad things in his mind were; the obvious loss of his father, having to kill Armine, and the memories of his first few kills still haunting him. Overall, he had seen mostly good things in the new world.

“We have each other though William, I’m with you the whole way. You do what you have to to survive and keep what you like safe and I’ll be in your corner with you,” Stacey said, determination showing on her face.

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The pair were both natural loners, yet were somehow drawn together. Life was full of little ironies like that William supposed.

“You’re truly an amazing person. I don’t deserve you,” William said, admiring Stacey.

“A Goddess like me has indeed blessed you with my presence,” Stacey replied, shooting a wink at William.

“One with truly profound humility too. I’m not worthy.”

“We both know that.”

The two laughed warmly for a few sweet moments after the back and forth, eventually calming down again into a warm embrace. They lay there in silence for several minutes, enjoying each other’s presence.

Stacey broke the silence first as she said, “We should probably get an early night. Who knows what madness we’ll be dealing with tomorrow.”

William smirked at that as he replied, “Probably just my mum declining the invite, though if she did come along then I could protect her easier and get her some power levelling. It’s obviously her choice. On the other hand...we could get swarmed by more bandits or beasts and all die horrifically.”

Stacey snorted at that as she shook her head slightly before she said, “You know how to truly set the mood William. Maybe that’s more reason to go sleep now if we are to die a harrowing, excruciating demise.”

William pulled her into a kiss before he pulled back from it and with a mischievous grin, replied, “Or we can make the most of the time before our brutal end.”

“Well done, you passed the test,” She quipped, giving him an equally devious smile as she rolled on top of him.

The two awoke later than planned, not regretting it in the slightest. The sun was just past its zenith, they had woken past midday, a significant number of hours later than normal. William was pleased at the rest, yet felt some dissatisfaction at losing several hours of the day to sleep. It was time he could have spent training his current sword-forms or even working towards his third one. At least spending it with a pretty woman was a silver lining.

The pair found Wallace overseeing some repairs on the main gate. William was pleased to see that the bandits hadn’t completely fucked it beyond repair. Seeing the scores along the palisade on either side of the gate coupled with the scorch marks of passing spells painted an interesting image in William’s mind. He had made many corpses in the battle the day prior yet was pleased that his people had held for so long. They had a long way to go, but training and time would solve that issue.

“Will it take longer, or shorter to fix than you expected?” William asked, ignoring the pointed look the older man gave him.

Wallace looked towards the gate then back to William as he replied, “Shorter. Mainly reconnecting the gate doors to the frame. The biggest portion of that is making sure that stability of the frame is still good enough.”

That was good. Once the main entry is secured, wall repairs could begin in earnest. There were multiple stacks of lumber nearby. The excess had become a benefit as they could focus on repairs with the wood on hand. Having people doing logging work would be a mistake as they needed every able body on defense.

William was by no means a logistics expert, but he had played several resource management games in the past, some of which you had to pay attention to wood and stone resources. He was fine with the others in Greenwell figuring out the real world stuff in deeper detail. William didn’t really have much else he needed to say and went to find his mother as Stacey went off to chat with Jill. William didn’t know much about her other than she was Jane and Stacey’s friend. She had survived and made it this far so she either held her own well or was in the right places.

William pondered on other small things about the people of Greenwell while he walked to the hut where his mother had been training the others. He had a feeling that Wallace’s intuition was on point and she’d be up and practicing if not training others. A few more moments passed and William smiled as he saw what he expected. Mary had been in the middle of correcting someone’s form as she spotted William approach. William stopped a few meters away nodding for his mother to finish what she was doing first. He took the time to observe some of the others practicing, including John who was actually not shit at it.

His friend hadn’t noticed him and it gave William some time to consider ways to fuck with John. The one that stood out the most was to use [Flash Stride] to appear behind John and tap his arm as he went to loose the arrow.

William was brought out from his completely kind and helpful idea brewing as his mother walked into his periphery. He turned his attention to her and gave her a hug.

Pulling back after a pregnant moment he smiled and said, “Getting stuck in with the Archery stuff I see.”

She returned the smile, looking over at the trainees at work. William could see something akin to satisfaction in her eyes and he had a feeling that his mother found the training rewarding and fulfilling.

His mother took a couple more moments before she replied, “I do. It’s good to give something to others at no expense to yourself. It will no doubt help in them staying alive out there.”

William couldn’t argue with that. Ideally, he’d have it so all the combatants were at level twenty before he departed for another region. The logic was that if the region soft cap was twenty, then having the others at that level would protect them from whatever threat appeared, if one did. He wanted to talk more but needed to ask the question he was there for.

“We’re setting off for Everglade to the south in a couple days and wanted to know if you’d come along. We can kill any dangerous creatures along the way and boost your level a few times, then you can get stronger. Being good with a bow is awesome, but against an enemy with a high Dexterity stat or shield it isn’t gonna end well for you.”

His mother considered the option for a few long moments before she shook her head and replied, “I would, but I need to get these people into shape. There’s a lot of flaws in their archery still. I’ll be alright though. I know you and Jane are worried about me being alone, but this work is keeping me distracted. That’s something I very much need right now. Just be safe, please? I can’t lose you too. Keep Jane safe. Only you, and John at a push can protect her to my satisfaction.”

“So you do approve of his interest in Jane!” William said with genuine amusement.

She rolled her eyes and replied, “Honestly. Young people these days. Yes I do. He seems like a nice boy and even though his archery is...a work in progress, he’s good with spells it seems and is the second highest levelled here. I don’t really get the whole levelling thing completely, but I’m aware of the basics and that should be enough to keep Jane safer.”

“It’s not overly difficult. Wallace would know enough from partying up with me previously, so may be worth asking him. I think John’s a decent enough guy as well for what it’s worth and it’s also not my business...other to take the piss with him a bit.”

“That mouth of yours needs a block of soap to clean it, I swear.”

“I’m speaking in a special...sailor’s dialect. That’s basically a free pass.”

His mother honored him with another of her seemingly signature eye rolls as she sighed, but a small smile appeared on her face.

“You’re smiling, Mum. Clearly that block of soap isn’t needed after all.”

“Cheeky bastard.”

William laughed at that as he stretched his limbs a bit, loosening his posture as he said, “Nope. You and Dad were married when you had me. Unless...you weren’t…”

His mother’s smile faded to a saddened one. “Shit. My fucking mouth. Maybe it does need cleaning. Bleach would be more effective than soap though.” William thought, guilt creeping into him as he realized his fuck up.

“Mum...I’m sorry...I...ran my mouth too much. I didn’t think...I-” William tried to say, but paused as his mother pulled him into a hug.

William returned it, the guilt still present but not increasing.

His mother spoke softly as she said, “Don’t apologize, I’m so happy you can be as open as you are with me given everything over the years. It’s just going to be a sore thing when your father is mentioned, at least for a while. He...was mine and he’s gone. That’s something that will never truly heal as part of me died with him.”

William tightened his arms trying to be comforting, still being mindful not to use too much strength given the stat difference between the two. The pair just embraced for a few minutes, silence present but not awkward. His mother pulled away first and gave him a warm smile.

“I’ll let you get back to the archery stuff mum, I’m always happy to listen if you need to talk or vent.”

His mum smiled wider, some adoration in her eyes at his words. Nothing else needed to be said then and William left, intent on finding Devlin and getting some answers about Everglade.