Adam sat on his seat awkwardly, glancing around to the other Vin family members. Bovin had forced him to stay for lunch, and had called for his family, from his wife to his extended family.

A pair of suspicious glares fell across the Half Elf, one from a strongly built Iyrman. She was tall, and slightly younger than Adam. She had short dark hair, and carried at her side an axe, the Vin family weapon. The Iyrman beside her looked similar, though was slightly thinner, and shorter, though only due to his hunched shoulders.

“Hello,” Adam said, nodding his head to the pair of them.

The woman ignored him, making her way to another table, dragging away the meek Iyrmen beside her.

“Do not mind them,” Bovin said. “They are still upset I had given up my place as Elder Wrath.”

“Is that something to be upset about?”

“To some, and to others, no.” Bovin shrugged his shoulders. “There are times you must listen to your heart and not your mind.”

“Yeah, I get that.” Adam smiled. He hadn’t expected Bovin to be so approachable.

“The business you mentioned previously…” Bovin began, staring down at his bottle of fruit wine. “Do you also intend to train Iyrmen?”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, simply. He decided against replying cheekily.

“Why does the Iyr need you to train our warriors?”

“Not something I’ve said, not something I will say,” Adam replied, sipping some of the fruit wine from his own bottle. “In the same way I don’t put words in your mouth, don’t put words in mine.”

Bovin smiled. “I did not mean it like that.” He sipped his fruit wine. “Your growth was alarming to the Great Elders. Your connection to the Rot family gave you your life, and your usefulness to the Iyr kept it.”

“Thanks?”

“You were able to also bring up so many beside you as Experts, and you have managed to assist even that boy, Nobby, into an Adept after only a few months.”

“An Adept?”

“Jurot became an Adept once he gained the ability to resist the elements with his rage.”

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head. ‘Level Three. Damn, Nobby really did Level Up quick.’

“Would you be willing to take my grandson, Bavin?” Bovin’s eyes met Adam’s.

“After you rejected me?” Adam smirked.

“My grandson is too meek. He was not born with a great body to fight the same way I fight, but he did not give up on our way. As Elder Wrath, I had to remain neutral. I could only meet my family once a month at most, and so could not look after his growth. I just want him to become an Expert. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Adam wonders if he should. It seemed like throwing dirt on the Iyr’s face if he was to do something like that, and he had so much on his plate too.

‘But,’ he thought, ‘what if I could train the weakest Iyrmen in the Iyr and make them into Experts quickly? Wouldn’t that be a way to gain some guards for my business, and to help the Iyr out? Most important, it would allow me to keep a good relationship with the Iyr.’

“Okay,” Adam finally said.

“What is the payment?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Usually, I look after the family, and then I lock in the one I train for at least five years for half the price of becoming a typical Expert until I recoup the cost that is used to train them. Though, since he’s an Iyrman…”

Bovin was a little confused at first, but understood Adam’s point by the time he was done. “I will speak with him.”

Adam sipped his fruit wine slowly, thinking about how his system worked. It appeared to be the case that as long as they were nearby, and even slightly helped, the XP would be divided among everyone. So if he, Jurot, another Expert, and two younglings went out to adventure, then they’d be able to Level Up quickly.

‘I’ve gained about fifty thousand, but an Expert only requires about a fifth of that. So that means I really only need to take them out for one year of adventuring if I’m being slow…’

“I will not allow it! I will not allow my twin brother to be taught by a stranger!” It was the young Iyrman who had glared at him.

“It is his choice to make,” Bovin admonished. “Adam is no stranger. He may be no Iyrman, but he is a Nephew of the Rot family.”

The young Iyrman looked to Adam, her eyes narrowed. “So you’re Unrivalled Under The Heavens?”

Adam winced. “I’m Adam Fateson, Nephew of the Rot family.”

“Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“You managed to defeat your Uncle and Aunt one by one?” Her eyes remained focused on him, piercing him with her glare.

Adam cleared his throat. “I was able to defeat three of them over the course of two days, yes.”

“Three in two days? They were each Experts at least?” She looked to her grandfather to confirm.

Bovin nodded his head. He had heard the matter, and it had given him reason to take away Phantom.

“I heard it was because you held such a great weapon.”

“A weapon I made,” Adam said, before quickly adding, “with the Iyr’s assistance.”

“You enchanted the weapon?”

“Yes.”

“A greater enhanced weapon?”

“Yes.”

“I am Lavin, daughter of Lovin,” the young Iyrman said.

Adam felt it. The tingle at the back of his neck.

“Adam Fateson,” Lavin said, glaring down at him, clenching her fists as she took a powerful stance above him. “Let us marry.”

Adam stared at the clay bottle in his hand. He could feel the looks of all the Vin family members. Before him was the previous Elder Wrath, who could apparently even beat Jarot, who was the only one to have beaten Adam in this life, as well as a large number of Iyrmen.

‘How can I get out of this with my life?’ Adam thought.

He could feel Bovin’s gaze across his skin. Normally, he would have refused, since otherwise a crazy old man would have probably killed him for getting too close to his granddaughter. However, was Bovin the kind that wanted Adam to join his family? Not long ago, Bovin had wanted him dead, there was no doubt about that, but now he had entrusted Adam his grandson, but did he also want to entrust his granddaughter.

Adam was strong, and Bovin was an Iyrman.

The young Half Elf swallowed. He was a piece of fish before a murder of hungry crows. “I appreciate the offer, but I must refuse,” Adam eventually dared to say. “I am currently married to my business.”

Lavin huffed. “Then you are a stranger and I will not allow you to train my brother!”

“Bavin?” Bovin asked. “Do you wish to train to become an Expert?”

The young Iyrman fell into thought for a long moment. “Yes,” he eventually said, his voice quiet. He stared down, avoiding his twin sister’s eyes. She had always looked after him, but this time, he needed to escape from her grasp to do what he needed to, alone.

“It is his choice to make,” Bovin said, watching as Lavin stood, storming off. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going to train!” Lavin dared to shout back at her grandfather. She, who had once looked up to him, betrayed not once, but twice, and even now by her own twin brother.

“Do not take it to heart,” Bovin said. “She is just hurt.”

‘Phew,’ Adam thought. “It’s fine. I would be hurt too if I rejected myself. What a handsome guy I am, after all.”

Bovin smirked wide. “It is your misfortune to have denied my granddaughter. You would have been welcomed into the Iyr with open arms if you had joined the previous Elder Wrath’s family.”

“I’ll be welcomed into the Iyr one day. Perhaps it will be when my brother becomes Diamond Rank, or when my Cousin becomes Elder Peace, or when my sister beats everyone up for bullying me.”

The Vin family understood why Bovin had been so suspicious of the young man.

Bovin, on the other hand, wondered if Adam was truly Jarot’s grandson.

Once they had eaten, grilled fish and skewers of roasted vegetables brushed with butter, Adam said his goodbyes.

“Take Bavin with you,” Bovin said. “He should introduce himself to your companions.”

“Alright,” Adam said, looking back to Bovin.

The Iyrman was still hunched over, avoiding Adam’s gaze. He wasn’t like most Iyrmen he had met. Even the children of the Iyr were utterly fearless, and to think that the previous Elder Wrath’s grandson avoided his gaze, it made Adam’s heart squirm.

As they trekked back to the shared family estate, Adam decided against making small talk with the young man. He supposed there was no need to put any pressure on him with that sort of nonsense.

‘He’ll probably feel more comfortable around other Iyrmen,’ he thought. As they continued to walk back, Adam couldn’t help but feel he knew Bavin from before, or at the least he had seen the Iyrman before.