Baron Moonglow remained silent, while his guards and knights nearby glanced between one another, unsure of what to do. From the moment Adam opened his mouth, he had been speaking utter nonsense, and yet they couldn’t deny that he had been so open and candid. Either he was the world’s greatest scammer, or he was an existence that was borderline unexplainable.

“Pick a sword and I’ll enchant it for you,” Adam said. “Ah, I’ll need gems too.”

The Baron blinked, while Adam glanced to the side, his brows furrowed questioningly.

‘Hold on. Do I need gems? That’s only for the Iyr, isn’t it? Bell?’

[The price to pay is dependant on the shrine.]

“So how exactly do you use the shrine?”

“I do not know,” Baron Moonglow admitted, furrowing his brows. “The knowledge had been passed to my ancestors, but I am uncertain of the specifics. I hear magics and the moon are used.”

“The moon?”

“Yes.”

“Ah…”

Matteas thought for a moment. ‘Is the full moon not tomorrow?’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘Did the Sun Father send such a ridiculous figure to me for this purpose?’

“Then I don’t think I need gems?” Adam replied, unsure. ‘I thought enchanting required a cost?’

[Yes.]

‘…’

“Either way, aren’t you happy? You met me and didn’t annoy me enough to not help you, and now you’re going to get a magical weapon.” Adam grinned wide towards the noble.

Kitool remained still, thinking deeply on Adam’s erratic behaviour. ‘Is he cursed once more? Is it because he misses his children so much?’

“If you are truly an enchanter, then tomorrow’s sun will be the brightest,” the Baron said, wondering if he could truly place his faith in the crazy young man in front of him.

“I’ll help you out and the magical weapon I make you should allow you to keep a hold of the power once we’ve given it to you,” Adam said, before his eyes fell across the rest of the knights and guards. “Such power is intoxicating, and turns even brothers against one another.”

Matteas frowned. Adam had surely planted a seed within each of them, even mentioning that they could betray him would spur some thoughts. ‘Is he trying to make me a king, or is he trying to kill me with the blades I’ve raised?’

“Obviously, Jurot and I wouldn’t do something like that, but then again, no one’s quite as queer as us.”

“No one is quite as queer as you,” Jaygak confirmed, letting out a short sigh. Adam behaving like this put her at ease, since he had been far too serious for far too long.

“I’m just saying, if I was a king and Jurot wanted to be a king, I’d give it up for him.”

“I do not wish to be a king,” Jurot said.

“That’s why you’re my brother,” Adam replied, smiling slightly. “Anyhow, I believe there’s enchanting to be done?”

“It would be best to start tomorrow since the full moon will bless us,” Matteas stated, still not entirely certain he should trust the young man.

“Sure, sure,” Adam replied, smirking slightly still. “What kind of enchantment would you like on the sword?”

“…”Matteas narrowed his eyes slightly. “Something which can hold against the vile darkness.”

“Do you have anything less vague?”

“I do not entirely understand the question.”

“If you could receive a magical weapon, what would you like it to do?” Adam asked. “Something like Wolffang, where it glows and deals with certain creatures easily, or would you like something else?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Something simple which will assist us. If it can slay creatures of the night easier, that would be best.”

“What kind of creatures of the night?”

“There are many monstrosities. Vampires, lycanthropes, and the various monstrosities which are formed through negative emotions, the Neji. They are most numerous, but if one comes across a Neji, like the mandogs you slew, there is still hope. When one comes across a Vampire? A lycanthrope? A Night Lord?” The baron shook his head.

“Alright, then I’ll figure something out,” Adam thought, thinking about what he should enchant. He wanted to make something which would help them, but wouldn’t allow the Baron to try and act up.

‘Is he saying he can create a variety of enchantments?’ the Baron thought. ‘No, that is utterly ridiculous.’ He decided against thinking more about how crazy Adam was. “You said you were going to teach me to enchant?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that another time, once I’ve made you your weapon,” Adam said, eyeing up the baron. ‘No, should I do it before? I’ll be heavily injured if I do it and he chooses to betray me. Nah, I should keep acting cocky, make him the weapon and then become weak. Give him a chance to betray me, and then we can ransack the place.’

“I must thank you again, Sir Adam, for your assistance has been most gracious,” the baron said, bowing his head gently.

“Of course,” Adam replied, flashing him a smile. “As long as you don’t try to make a move on us, we’re more than happy to assist. Like I said, once we’re done making a name for ourselves and make enough money, we’ll head back and leave you in charge of everything.”

‘Somehow, I doubt that.’

‘Hmmm. I can’t just give him everything, though, I’ll need to make sure he has someone else that can help him, and that will keep him in check.’

Adam then reached for the utensils, beginning to eat, with his companions also doing the same. ‘I might as well trust him for now, otherwise he might feel like we’ve been bullying him too much. I really should try and control my stupid mouth more often, otherwise it will really get me into trouble.’

Somehow, the group weren’t poisoned, and were allowed to step out from the castle unmolested.

‘That’s a surprise,’ Adam thought. ‘I would have bet a lot of money he was going to betray us.’

Matteas let out a long sigh. ‘I’m glad they’re gone.’

“My lord, shall I-,” Sir Gerald began, before being interrupted by the baron.

“No, leave them be.” ‘I must be crazy to think he may actually be an enchanter, but…’

Adam made his way through the town, glancing around from side to side. He needed to find that. ‘I can’t just let the Baron have all the power in his hands, that’s going to end up being pretty bad the people. I can’t just give all the power to them either, it’s going to be too chaotic, and then everything’ll end up worse…’

“Why are you thinking so deeply?” Jaygak asked.

“If we’re going to rise the Baron up, we’ll need to take responsibility for it.”

“Must we? We will leave soon.”

“Jaygak, I can’t do that,” Adam replied, sighing.

“Why not?” Jaygak eyed the Half Elf up, noting the sadness in his eyes.

“Like the Iyr has a reputation for being a death cult, where I’m from, we’ve got a reputation too.”

“Tea?” Jaygak asked.

“More than that.”

“Beans on toast?” Jaygak asked, recalling how often Adam spoke of it. “Fish and chips?”

“Are you hungry?” Adam asked, raising her brow. “How is everything you know about me about food.”

“Are your people well known for adoring their children so much?”

“Not exactly…” Adam cleared his throat, flushing lightly. He was too embarrassed to admit how they treated children in comparison to the Iyr. “Anyway, I need to find a kid.”

“Don’t you have enough children.”

“There’s no such thing!” Adam huffed in response. “Anyway, it’s not like that. I want to find a kid so I can…” Adam was about to say he wanted to adopt them, but that wasn’t quite what he meant either. “I want to train a kid.”

“You want to train a kid?”

“It’ll be good practise for when I train Asorot, and when I teach and train my own kids.” His eyes glanced between the townsfolk who spotted the heavily armoured four making their way through town, leaving them a wide berth.

“What are you going to do with them?”

“Just… train them?” Adam replied, having not thought too deeply about it.

“There’s a boy whose been following us for a short while,” Jaygak said, motioning with her head back towards a boy who was about ten. He had short, dark hair, cut into a bob. He was mostly clean, still partly wet from having dipped himself in the river recently.

“Come here, boy,” Adam called, eyeing the boy up.

“Yessir,” the boy replied, his voice weak as he shuffled his way towards Adam.

“What’s your name?”

“They calls me Bobby.”

‘Of course it is.’ “What are you doing following us around?”

“I’m hungry.”

“That doesn’t quite answer my question, but why don’t we grab some food?” Adam asked, leading the boy to a nearby stall, placing down some copper coins for some bread, and some more for a bowl of fresh porridge. “Shouldn’t you be at home, or… work?”

“Ain’t got no home, ain’t got no work.”

“Where are your mother and father?”

“Never had no ma.” The boy slowly formed a small smile. “Pa died from the wolfman.”

“You’re happy about that?”

“They’re mean to be now, callin’ me a beast’s boy, but I don’t mind. Pa always hit me. It hurt.”

Adam frowned. “How old are you?”

“Twelve.”

“Is that why you’re so thin? You don’t have anyone to look after you?”

“Mm. Sometimes they give me food in the market at night. Sometimes they give me bread in the morning, from the temple, but I’m still hungry.”

Adam frowned. “Alright.” He glanced to the side. “Jurot, what do you think?”

“He is small. Weak.”

“Yeah. Think you can train him with your rage?”

“It will be difficult,” Jurot thought. They had less than half a year, and seeing how small the boy was. However, Jurot had to take into consideration his brother. “I can.”

‘What are you planning, Adam?’ Kitool thought.

“Hmmm.” Adam thought for a long moment. “No. Maybe he shouldn’t learn to rage.”