“That’s a nice sword,” Adam said, holding the sword in hand. The hilt was dark, not quite black, but a dark grey. The blade itself was dark too, a similar colour, but shifted purple under the light. The hilt of the blade was slightly longer than usual, with a diamond shaped pommel that was smooth.

“Moonsteel,” Elder Zijin said. “It holds properties without magic, for it gently glows in the night, and it is easier to enchant.”

“Perfect,” Adam whispered, smiling. “I think I need to change what I originally wanted to enchant, but not by much.”

“What did you wish to enchant onto the blade?” Elder Zijin asked.

Adam smiled.

Adam enchanted every other day, no longer taking the weekend off. It was during the second week that snow began to fall onto the Iyr. It was a light snow, but more than enough for the triplets to lay against it with their bare bodies, almost melting into the snow as though it were a cloud. They were taken elsewhere by Sonarot so they could do so without influencing the other children.

‘These punks!’ Adam thought, staring down at his twins. ‘Who gave them permission to be so cute?’

Jirot and Jarot were both bundled up so they looked as though they had doubled in weight, with their nose tips red from the cold. They were playing in the snow, sometimes feeling the snow drops fall across their faces, causing them to twitch.

“Snow,” Lanarot said, pushing the snow together to pile it high, while the older children made snow castles and snowmen. The younger children were sitting around the snow, staring all around it, while also twitching when the snow fell against their cheeks.

Kavgak and Tavgak felt the snow drop onto their cheeks, twitching as it did. They looked up towards Adam, before their faces contorted, their tiny red lips trembling, they they finally shook and sobbed.

Adam lifted the pair up, bringing them to his chest, hiding them from the snow. “Oh dear, oh dear. Is it too cold for you? What silly snow. Do you want me to speak with Mother Nature and tell her off?”

“Do you wish to cause trouble with Nahtu?” Jurot asked, pouring hot milk into the cups for the children.

“Nahtu?”

“The Goddess of Nature,” Jurot explained, leaving it at that.

“…” Adam looked down at the pair of girls, who were only sniffling now. “For Kavgak and Tavgak? Of course.” He embraced the girls tighter, before slipping his scarf over them so they were protected from the wind.

During dinner, the Iyrmen melted cheese over the grilled meat, and chewed it slowly. The Gak family didn’t wait for their food to cool, but the other Iyrmen did not have such heat tolerances.

Adam kept some of the cheese to nibble against, but Lanarot pointed towards it. “Cheese, peas.”

“You want some of papa’s cheese?” Adam asked.

“Yes, papa. Peas, papa.”

“Hmmm, just this once, because you’re so cute,” Adam said, offering her a chunk of his cheese.

“Cheese!” Jirot demanded from beside her father, her brows furrowed, as though daring him to deny her.

“Fine, fine,” Adam said, offering her the rest of his cheese.

Jirot bit into the cheese and slowly chewed, before looking towards her brother, offering him the cheese. Jarot leaned in and ate it from her fingers, before Jirot offered it to her older siblings. Konarot pushed the girl’s hand back towards her sister’s mouth, letting Jirot eat the rest of the cheese. Konarot then looked up at her father expectantly.

‘You punks, you’re too cute!’ Adam thought, before reaching for more cheese, only to realise he had given it all away. “Uncle Jurot, will you share some of your cheese?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Konarot looked up towards her uncle, who sat nearby. She blinked towards the Iyrman, who blinked back towards her. He held out the cheese for her, and the girl leaned in to bite at it from his fingers. Jurot blinked again while the girl pulled back to chew the cheese slowly. He then offered the cheese to the two younger siblings, whose tail swayed happily as they ate from his fingers.

‘…’ Jurot felt a gentle warmth fill him. He reached over to pat the girl’s head, causing her to pull away from her uncle.

“Silly girl, that’s your uncle! What are you doing?” Adam brushed her hair gently.

Konarot shook her head, and hid her head beside her father’s leg, hiding away from her uncle.

“He’s my brother.”

“Is papa,” Lanarot said, still chewing her food. “Big. Stwong.”

“See?” Adam said, smiling lightly.

Konarot looked up towards the Iyrman, before slowly pulling away from her father. Her tails gently rubbed against the snowy floor as she sat, before she finally returned back to her meal.

Adam sighed, glancing between everyone. “Thanks, Jurot.”

Jurot nodded, before returning back to his meal.

“The Divine have truly blessed me in this life,” Adam said, brushing his daughter’s hair. “What a wonderful life I get to live because of all of you. You, and everyone else, I mean.” Adam motioned his head to everyone around. “My children wouldn’t be growing so well without all of you.”

Sonarot smiled. “We will take care of them well.” She stared down at the girl, who bowed her head gently, and Sonarot reached over to rub it. “They are all my grandchildren.”

“I feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”

“You are not.”

“It doesn’t change how I feel,” Adam admitted. “I’m not even an Iyrman.”

“You are Jurot’s brother.”

“Is papa!” Lanarot confirmed.

Adam smiled, tearing bits of his bread before offering them to his sister. “How can you be so cute?”

“Coot,” Lanarot confirmed, eating the small bits of bread her brother had torn for her.

Adam smiled, before glancing towards Turot and Asorot. He wondered if Asorot felt the same way, though hoped he didn’t. Adam nodded towards the pair, before returning back to eat.

“How can there be so many cute kids here?” Adam grumbled. “There’s too many.” His eyes fell across the children, including Kavgak, who was staring shocked at Jaygak. Her older sister had stolen away her pepper, and she made to cry, before it was quickly stopped by Jaygak bringing her own pepper to her sister’s lips. “No, there’s no such thing…”

Something cold and dark crept within his heart. His eyes fell across the children, from the youngest to the oldest. ‘Will they all be okay?’ His eyes darted towards Inakan. ‘She can’t really do much, but what about the rest of them? They’re all fine, and they’re probably going to be corrupted. Once they turn, what is it, seventeen? Eighteen?’ Adam frowned, thinking about the Iyr’s protection ending on the children. ‘I’ll need to Level Up so I can cast those spells, then.’

He let out a low sigh, realising he still had at least fifteen or sixteen years before he had to think about it. Then his eyes fell towards the older children, Katool, then to the Gaks, the twins, and then he realised who has the most important in terms of how quickly he needed to progress.

Taygak brought a pepper to Tavgak’s lips, before she kissed the girl’s forehead. “Eating. Good.” Taygak took a bite of her own pepper, waiting for her baby sister to finish eating, before offering another pepper.

‘No,’ Adam thought, feeling the creeping darkness once more. ‘I’ve got less than eight.’

“Okay?” Jurot asked.

Adam let out a long, slow sigh, one that didn’t push away the darkness. “Which of the Gods do I have to blame for having such cute Cousins?”

Adam continued to enchant as the days passed by, but he also spent time with the babies during his breaks. He read to them as much as he could, but during the second week, the Shamans appeared to check their health, staring with the youngest babies, before moving on the to the slightly older children.

“Inakan’s ears are weak, but her eyes are much weaker,” a Shaman said, writing something down within his book, while his aides also wrote within their own. “The rest are blessed with health.” His eyes fell to the youngest set of babies, who seemed to be among some of the healthiest he had seen. He was acutely aware of the Half Elf nearby, who was waiting for the Shamans to be done with the children so he could read to them.

“It’s okay, Inakan,” Adam said, holding the girl to her chest once the Shamans had left. “It’s because the world needs to remain in balance. You can’t be perfect, you know?” Adam brushed her hair.

Adam also spent time with Filliam, walking with him every morning to make sure he was working on his health. Adam needed him in tip top shape, just in case he needed the young man for something.

“Filliam, how much would it cost for a watch?” Adam asked.

“They’re quite expensive,” Filliam said, thinking. “At least fifty gold each?”

“How about a hundred gold for each watch? I want them to be slightly nicer than a normal watch, and maybe with some custom work for each one?”

“That could be arranged.”

“I need quite a few.”

“How many?”

“At least twenty.”

“That’s… a lot of watches.”

“Will you be able to do it?”

“A hundred gold for each watch? I can, of course. It will take some time…” Filliam wondered if he could still experiment with each watch.

“I’ll just pay you three thousand gold, that should be enough for the watches. I don’t think I need thirty, but let’s just say I’ll hand you three thousand gold. Do you accept payment in gems?”

‘Three thousand gold?’ Filliam thought, blinking at Adam. Yet, somehow, this wasn’t that crazy for Adam. “Yes.”