“No way,” Adam replied, simply.

“Why not?” Nirot asked.

“Have you forgotten?” Adam asked.

“Forgotten?”

“You’re an Iyrman.”

“Yes.” Nirot wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything.

“You guys are scary.”

“You will spar with Lord Morkarai, but you will not spar with me?” Nirot’s lips were pulled taut into a frown.

“Lord Morkarai isn’t an Iyrman.”

Nirot wasn’t sure if she could believe Adam’s words. They were utterly ridiculous. ‘He is more afraid of me than Lord Morkarai?’ The thought stewed within her mind for a short while.

“I’d rather come across Lord Morkarai than any of you,” Adam admitted. “I’ve fought enough Iyrmen for a lifetime.”

“You will not face us?” Naqokan asked.

Adam looked to the expectant eyes of the other teen Iyrmen. He sighed, melting under their gazes. “Perhaps in the future. I don’t feel like it right now.”

Konarot climbed atop her father, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. She looked back at the Iyrmen teens who were bullying her father and frowned at them, before returning back to her father.

“What’s that?” Adam asked. “You’ll grow up big and strong to protect daddy? You silly girl, you should stay small and cute forever.” Adam brushed her hair tenderly. ‘My kids are the cutest.’

Omen: 17, 18

‘Damn these Omens.’

Adam worked out lightly in the morning, playing with the children, before going off to bathe. He bathed with his triplets, who did not enjoy the warm water, so they sat in their own tubs of cool water, while their father relaxed in his warm water. He had almost used his Tricks trick to warm up the bath, but remembered what month it was, so used a stone which heated the water instead.

Adam changed them into the attire Sonarot had procured for them, the clothes indistinguishable to any other Iyrman child’s clothing. Seeing them adorned in their clothing, Adam couldn’t help but lift them up and hug them all. “Who gave you permission to be this cute? You silly little babbies!”

When Adam returned to the estate, he found a large figure looming over his twins, who were reaching up for his red beard.

“Lord Morkarai,” Adam called.

“Adam,” the Prince of the Fire Giants replied.

“Is Jirot bullying you?” Adam asked.

“She is having fun.”

“That’s good, because she’s only allowed to bully me,” Adam joked, before getting his tea pot, not the Persevian tea pot, but his metal pot, boiling some tea for the Fire Giant.

“How are you?” Lord Morkarai asked, sipping his tea when it was still piping hot.

“I’m alright, not too bad, thanks. You?”

“I am well. The Iyr has requested I take a break from smithing and enchanting.”

“Yeah, they won’t let me smith this month either,” Adam said, smirking up at the Fire Giant.

Morkarai bowed his head. “They are cautious of magic within this month.”

“Isn’t everyone?”

“Some are less cautious,” Morkarai admitted. “We continue to enchant within this month in the volcanoes, but that is because the volcanoes provide us with the magic to enchant.”

“Ah,” Adam said, slowly nodding his head, beginning to understand more about the Twilight Month. “So magics become chaotic, but when it’s not magic coming from a living being, it’s fine?”

“The volcanoes are living too, but it is the magics of we mortals which are affected,” Morkarai said. “Even the Wizards of Skool are cautious during this month. They lock themselves away in their floating citadel, protected by their magical traps and their golems.”

‘You what?’ Adam thought. “Wizards of Skool?”

“You have not heard of them?” Morkarai asked. “I thought your magic was the same? Are you not a Wizard as well?”

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“I suppose I am, but I don’t have any idea of who they are,” Adam said.

Morkarai wasn’t sure what he was hearing. “I have never heard of a Wizard who did not know of the Wizards of Skool.”

“Are they famous?”

“They may be more known than even the Iyr across the entire world.”

“Oh?”

“They are Wizards who have gained access to at least Fifth Gate spells, and they say that some have access to greater spells. They do not travel among these lands typically, but they sometimes do business with port cities. They have come across these lands to sell their magical wares, weapons and armours usually, those of the Basic and Greater varieties, and sometimes, Legendary.”

“Oh?” Adam asked, more intrigued. “Which enchantments do these magical weapons have?”

“Your typical enchantments, but sometimes they find ancient weapons of old heroes, and weapons with unique properties that are hard to come by. In the last century, they have sold the Sapphire Shield, a Legendary shield with the ability to hold a Fifth Gate spell.”

“Which Fifth Gate spell?”

“Any which one could cast into the weapon.” Morkarai sat Jirot on his lap, who was playing with a tiny wooden toy full of tiny scraps of wood, which made noise as she shook it.

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head. “Nice.” He lifted Jarot up, who was sucking on his thumb and relaxing, taking it easy from his busy day of doing almost nothing.

“It was sold for an undisclosed sum of money and favour to the previous Duke Eastsea when he was young.”

“A favour?”

“The Wizards of Skool have little need for coin, truly, but the favour of a noble family? They had gained a favour from the Eastsea family, not the Duke himself, so it is expected that the descendants will pay for the favour.”

“They haven’t called for the favour yet?”

“There has been no need.”

“Wouldn’t the Wizard that sold the shield, I mean, aren’t they dead?”

“The Wizards of Skool work collectively rather than individually when dealing with our lands, due to our strict laws against those with greater magic,” Morkarai said. “It is the Wizards of Skool which have traded with the Duchy of Eastsea. It would be difficult for the family to try and stub the entire Wizards of Skool.”

“Ah,” Adam said, nodding his head slowly. “That makes sense.”

“There have been a few stories of those who tried to stub the Wizards of Skool,” Morkarai said. “Many forget how wealthy Wizards can become, especially those with greater magic. It is difficult to deal with an army bought by the gold of Wizards, and though there are few Priests willing to assist them, their own magic is enough to lay waste to small towns. Aldland may be resistant to such shocks from the Wizards of Skool, but those who are truly resistant are the Dwarves, under their mountains. The Duchy of Eastsea would not stub the Wizards of Skool, for their port city is far too wealthy to try to offend such a great force.”

“How powerful are the Wizards of Skool?” Adam asked.

“Their Order, if that is what we can call them, is secretive. However, we assume there are multiple Wizards with the ability to cast Seventh Gate spells. A single Wizard with access to Sixth Gate spells could bring great death to most towns and cities, and Seventh Gate spells allow a Wizard to do so without endangering themselves. Other than the capital city of Aldland, and the Iyr, it would be difficult for anyone to deal with even a single Wizard, not unless they sent a small army after a single individual.”

“Has there ever been conflict between Aldland and the Wizards of Skool?”

“I recall it has happened once within Aldland,” Morkarai admitted. “After the Demonic Devastation, the Wizards of Skool came to request a particular favour. I do not recall the exactly details, but the Wizards of Skool did not waste the opportunity to try to call for a certain demand, which was refused at the time. It wasn’t long before fifteen Wizards arrived, at least three of which could command the abilities of Sixth Gate spells, with a small army of capable soldiers, and took over a small portion of land just north of Eastsea.”

Adam was trying to recall when that would have happened in the time line he knew, which must have been within the last millennia. “So what happened?”

“A town was devastated and the army marched towards the second to deal with it. The Iyr, owing to its treaty, sent a hundred Iyrmen, who assisted in keeping the soldiers at bay with Aldland’s army, but the Wizards were too powerful.”

“Too powerful for the Iyrmen?”

“Too powerful for the one hundred Iyrmen who made up part of the Aldish army at the time,” Morkarai corrected. “The Iyr sent an envoy to meet with the Wizards, made up of their Chief, Elder Peace, and more Iyrmen. The Wizards did not negotiate, and so the Chief was killed, and the Iyr decided to war. A limited war, I think they call it?”

Adam nodded.

“The Wizard’s army did not last, and only a single Wizard managed to flee from the devastation the Iyrmen wrought. There was a second round of negotiations, through Sending spells, where the Iyr called for the Wizard to be brought to them for justice. It was refused, and so the Iyr placed a ban on the Wizards from appearing within the surrounding lands for five hundred years.”

Adam whistled. “Did they obey?”

“No. They returned fifty years later, assuming the Iyr would not enforce the bans, but quickly found that their Wizards were hunted by the Iyrmen who travelled across the land. The Wizards of Skool tried to demand for justice, but the Iyr did not forget. The Wizards of Skool had lost two dozen Wizards, some of them who could cast Seventh Gate spells, and they quickly found out why the Iyrmen were so feared even in distant lands.”

“Then what happened?”

“Peace was made,” Morkarai said. “The Wizards requested for their spellbooks to be returned, and it was denied. However, the Wizards realised the Iyrmen always kept to their word, and so promises were made between the two groups, and to this day, if a Wizard dies near an Iyrman, whether they be part of the Wizards of Skool or not, the spellbook would be confiscated by the Iyrmen, and if they were a member of the Wizards of Skool, the spellbook would be sent back to them. It is but one of many promises the Iyr made towards the Wizards of Skool.”

“That’s… weirdly nice.”

“You may meet them sooner or later,” Morkarai said.

“I will?”

“I would bet on it.”

“What would you bet on it?”

“A magical weapon.”

“Hmmm,” Adam replied, narrowing his eyes. “I’ll trust you this time. Anything I should consider?”

“Treat them like they are Aldish nobles, and not Giant nobles.”

“Is there a difference?”

“You said you would rather face me than a young Iyrman and I did not complain,” Morkarai said.

“Fair, but Iyrmen are scary.”

Morkarai thought about what he had seen in the Iyr so far, from the appearance of three Lords, and potentially a fourth with the white scaled Drakken. Then there was the story of the Iyrmen and the Wizards of Skool, who, whenever stubbed, would tear across the land until they were satisfied.

Yet, the Iyr was one of very few places which had managed to force them away to lick their wounds with zero hesitation, and had hunted them as though they were dogs.

“Yes,” Morkarai said. “They are.”