“You really won’t tell me?” Adam asked, eyeing up Crowseer, who continued to refuse to answer clearly about his involvement.

“When it is time for you to know, you will know,” Crowseer replied.

“As long as I live that long?”

“Yes.”

Adam sighed. “Then I’m never going to know.”

“Would you really die when you have five adorable children waiting for you?”

“No… I guess not. Am I going to find some other guy who is depressed in life and is half dying who will want to join me?” Adam asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Perhaps. I was here due to sheer coincidence.”

“I’m sure,” Adam replied, chuckling.

Crowseer exchanged a look with the Ulaveil. “You are fortunate that it was the Guardian of the Scales to greet you. If another God had been here, perhaps you would have been dead already.”

“Why’s that?”

Crowseer bowed his head, though Maurice, the crow, leaned back so she wasn’t bowing her head. “I should be leaving. It was good to see you again, Adam, and it was a pleasure to see you too, Lady Ulaveil.”

“You as well, Crowseer,” Ulaveil replied, watching as he began to leave. She understood his threat, and wondered what he had to do with Adam, and how much he had to do with slipping between worlds.

“Speaking of depressed guys who needed me, where’s Jonn?”

“He must have returned to Dunes,” Jurot replied.

“He…” Adam furrowed his brows. “Yeah. Wasn’t he with Dunes’ group? What? How?” Adam furrowed his brows even deeper, wondering how Jonn had appeared into the world.

“He must have slipped through too.”

“Isn’t that a little out of the ordinary?”

“Yes,” Jurot replied, simply, before giving Adam a look. It was not a look, but the look.

“Good point.”

Once Crowseer was far enough away, he reached down to his heart, wincing. He had felt the phantom pain of a knife made of ice piercing through his heart long ago, and had almost let it slip.

“I beg your pardon, Mistress,” Crowseer said, chuckling through the pain.

He was far enough away that Ulaveil wasn’t paying attention to him, her attention to the entire group. She waved a hand, and light and warmth fell across those kneeling. “I will leave you with my blessing.”

“Thank you, Goddess!” came the chorus from those prostrating themselves before her. Shock and awe filled them as the radiance of her divinity passed through them. Every part of them was full of content, and as they opened their eyes, they noticed she had disappeared.

Mara remained tense for a moment, before pulling her hands away from her navel.

“Alright, since she’s gone, who don’t we…” Adam glanced around, noting the forest nearby, and the plains behind them. “You know what? Let’s make up camp, and I’ll send word to Dunes that we’ll make our way to him.”

“We should return to East Port,” Jurot said. “Though the hills are dangerous, there is less danger heading through Central Aldland.”

“Oh yeah?”

“It should take us no more than five weeks to get to West Fort.”

“Then we can get there by mid next month then…” Adam thought about what day it was. “So it’s what, the second week then? I don’t really remember…”

“It is the second week of the sixth month,” Jurot said.

“Do you know what day?”

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“The tenth or eleventh.”

“Alright, so we’ll get to West Fort by the, what, twentieth? That’s not bad…” Adam slowly nodded his head. “Their birthdays were what, the seventh of the ninth? Right?”

“Yes.”

“Hmmm. We’ll be missing the twin’s birthdays, and Churot’s birthday too…” Adam rubbed his chin. “Now that I think about it, I didn’t wish Asoyah a happy birthday either.”

“Let us camp,” Jurot said.

“Alright…”

Adam tried to cast his spell later in the day, only to realise he had no Mana. ‘That’s weird…’ Adam meditated to try and regain his Mana, finding that he could at least regain some of it.

Mana: 0 -> 3

“Mnnn…” Adam decided against sending a message, and instead began to summon his tower, so they could bathe in peace.

“You’ve met with the Divine?” Rick whispered over dinner.

“Yeah,” Adam replied, casually.

Rick remained silent for a long while, chewing not on his food, but his thoughts. “Okay.”

“Hey, everyone,” Adam called out, waving his hand to everyone. “Just letting you know, but you should probably keep all this a secret, for now at least. Best case scenario, a couple of people buy you drinks for the story. Worst case scenario, you’re impaled for blasphemy, or some such.”

“We met a Goddess,” Brittany replied, staring up at Adam.

“Yeah, so I kept my end of the promise, so keep up to yours,” Adam replied.

Brittany fell silent. Just a few years ago she was a nobody in a tiny village near the Iyr. Yet, only a handful of seasons later, she was an Expert, meeting beings she thought were Gods, and a being who was actually a God. ‘…’

“Once the business is made, and once your family is safe within its walls, then you can start telling them this sort of thing. Until then, let’s keep everything a secret, so we don’t go about bringing unwanted attention.” Adam wasn’t sure he wanted this to go out just yet, especially since they had so much attention on them due to the business already.

“Are you threatening us?” Rick asked.

“Rick, when am I not threatening you?” Adam asked. “You’ve seen what I do, what madness I bring. If there’s a day I’m not threatening someone, it’s the day I’m dead.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t need to threaten you, or anyone here. Last I checked, my brother was an Executive, like me, and he’s not the model of the company, no matter how handsome he is. I mean, look at him. What a hunk.” Adam raised his brows to Lucy for support.

“Adam isn’t always right, but when he is, damn is he right,” Lucy replied, sighing as she nodded her head.

“See? Anyhow, I’m just saying it for your safety. I’m the one with the Iyrman for a brother, not any of you. I’ll try to help you, but if I get word from above I can’t, then…” Adam frowned. “Well, I’ll try anyhow, but the Enchanter won’t like it.”

“We will keep it in mind,” Rick replied.

“A few months later and the fort should be done,” Adam said. “Oh, wait, no… it’s next year for the fort, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Jurot replied.

“Damn.” Adam sighed. “It’s going to take a bit then… well, it’s about half way through the year, so…” Adam wondered if he could give them each some more money to keep them eager for the long journey ahead. “Are you all good with your money? Need any to send back home?”

“We’re fine,” Rick said.

Remy nodded. “We can pay you back too, boss.”

Adam waved his hand. “You’ve paid me back already, so don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so…”

“Anyway, I feel like I needed to do something in one of the towns in the south. Something about buying some fish.”

“Sam from River Hill, to buy scale mail,” Jurot confirmed.

“I feel like you told me this before.”

“I did.”

“Damn,” Adam rubbed his forehead gently. “How do you even remember that?”

“You said it.”

“I don’t like how you…” Adam paused. “Did I say this before too?”

“Yes. You said I was the best brother ever.”

“You are a good brother,” Adam confirmed.

Jaygak and Kitool noted the way Jurot’s ears twitched.

“Alright. Let’s set up the watches again. We’re no longer in the other world, so I can’t go around saving everyone from death for free again. Zeus and…” Adam looked around, realising the giant elk wasn’t about. “Damn.”

The group slept the night, and once morning came, Adam was able to regain all of his Mana, and he was able to pick between his spells once more.

“Dunes. Making our way. Jonn should be back to you. He’ll explain.”

“I hope everything is well. I wish you good fortune.”

‘Yeah, I’m going to need it.’

Once Adam was done with summoning his elk and owl, the group made their way back to Life River. With some bother about the wolves, they were allowed to enter, with assurances they would look after the wolves.

They managed to arrive at East Port without any trouble on the road, though at the gate, they had some bother once more due to the wolves. With the Duchess’ silver plaque, and Vonda’s word, they managed to enter the city, where they could rest in peace.

‘Should we take a break in the towns every so often?’ Adam thought while continuing on the road the next day.

Water Ford was the same, with them not allowing the group through due to the wolves, though with the plaque, Vonda’s sway, and Jurot and the teen Iyrmen offering to stay with the wolves, they managed to pass through.

Omen: 12, 17

“What do you think?” Adam asked. They were midway between Water Ford and River Hill when they came across a large group, fifty people at least, each heavily armed.

“They are a band due to the Beast Waves,” Jurot said, eyeing up the group’s weapons and armour.

“Oh yeah. That was meant to be happening this year, wasn’t it?” Adam couldn’t help but wonder if he was the reason why they hadn’t come across much. “Are they going to give us trouble?”

Jurot noted the colour of their cloaks, the patterns on their tabards, and whatever other identifiers the group held. “They could be trouble. They outnumber us three to one.”

Adam looked back to this group. Almost half of the group were Iyrmen, each at least Experts now. Another two had been trained by Iyrmen, and one was someone only the Iyrmen could handle. Then came the porters and the farmers, each near Experts too. Adam checked something, glancing aside, before remembering Bell was no longer a floating blue baby.

“A fair fight,” Adam said.

“Yes.” Jurot almost smiled.