‘Crazy,’ Fred thought, staring at the young Iyrman. ‘Iyrmen are crazy!’

Nirot sipped the alcohol slowly, enjoying the attention she was receiving from all her companions, from the praise of the Iyrmen, to the shocked gazes of others. She could still feel the sting of the python’s fang. The bone and venom would have killed any other warrior, even the likes of Naqokan and Uwajin. Only she, a member of the Rot family, could have resisted the python as well as she had.

Still, she could feel the thought at the back of her head. Did she truly face the creature with her own strength? Certainly, she had no magical weapon or shield at her disposal. The creature was also focused on her because she engaged with it, even if she didn’t possess the magical items it wished for, she was a fine enough meal for its liking. However…

Nirot’s eyes peered across the area, trying to find her pair of cousins, the pair having disappeared from the party.

Laygak grilled the meat of the pythons, mostly the python Nirot slew, and offered the meat to each of the Iyrmen. He began with Nirot first, while Korin cooked for the others.

Naqokan was the first to cut a portion of her own meal for Nirot, but the other Iyrmen began to do the same. “When we return, the tale will delight our families.” She bit into the meat and chewed it slowly.

Uwajin was doing her best not to nap, silently chewing on her meat, but she gave a grunt and a nod.

“It is a great tale to bring back for your four brothers,” Faool said.

“Turot will need to become Elder Peace if he wishes to match it,” Laygak joked.

“Turot may do as he pleases,” Nirot said. “I will bring back the glory so he may live freely.”

“Don’t you believe in him?” Laygak asked.

Nirot growled quietly. “Are you picking a fight?”

“Why don’t you answer the question?”

“Turot and Asorot may do as they please, just like Gurot and Murot,” Nirot replied. “I will bring back enough glory so they will feel no pressure.”

Laygak chuckled, though what else could he say? It wasn’t as though he could do the same as Nirot, who had earned such a grand tale for herself. His eyes fell to Faool, who was also lost in his own thought. The young man had done so well, for a man of his age to freeze in place the pythons, such a thing had only been matched by Kitool, and yet he was younger than her by the time he had learnt the technique.

Naqokan sipped at her alcohol too. Her body only ached lightly, the young woman having been fortunate enough not to take a heavy blow, unlike Nirot and Uwajin. Her eyes fell to Uwajin, who had fallen asleep. The fang had torn away at her side and the venom had marked her skin, a mark she could bring back to the Iyr to confirm the tale.

‘…’ Naqokan glanced aside to try and find Adam, though he had disappeared with Jurot. It would be difficult to impress him if she didn’t take many blows. She barely had the chance to play with his children, either, since she was so busy during the first month. ‘I will need to work harder.’

“You did well,” Kitool said, placing a hand on Faool’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Faool replied, sipping his alcohol slowly, falling deeper into thought. His fist had swollen slightly from the effort of stunning the pythons using his great strength, the young man too eager. The throbbing was a good throbbing, though, a throbbing he could be proud of.

“Laygak,” Jaygak called, patting the ground beside her. “You did well.”

“I did not do much,” Laygak replied.

“What you did do, you did well.”

Laygak raised his brow, his eyes full of doubt. “Are your wounds healed?”

“What wounds?” Jaygak replied.

“There is no need for you to minimise your own contributions to make me appear greater than I was, cousin Jaygak.”

“Cousin Jaygak? You’re too old for that, Laygak.”

“You are too old to play around, but that does not stop you.”

“Since when were you old enough to speak like that to me?”

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“Since I was too old to refer to you as cousin Jaygak,” Laygak replied, biting into the python meat, which had been lightly spiced and salted. It tasted like a cousin to a chicken, but not quite like any other poultry.

“As the year passes, we will find our own glory,” Jaygak said.

“You have found yours,” Laygak replied. “You who had done so well in the fight.”

“Then we will find your glory,” Jaygak said. “You, who had become an Expert younger than even me.” Jaygak pat the young man’s back.

‘Right,’ Laygak thought. ‘I became an Expert when I was young too…’ He hadn’t realised he had already earned so much glory for his family already. “Jaygak?”

“Yes?”

“I will pave the way for Taygak,” Laygak said. “I won’t-,” Laygak grunted as Jaygak grabbed him, pulling him close to rub the top of his head with her knuckles.

“You! Don’t you dare say it! You should rise with Nirot, Naqokan, Faool, and Uwajin! Without you to temper them, what will they do?”

“Faool will temper them,” Laygak replied.

“Faool? When he can look up to Kitool? No, he is not as grounded as you or I. We are tigers among dragons. Sometimes the dragons must remember how to hunt without flying, or they may never be able to land among the tigers again.”

“Your attempt at sounding flowery leads you to becoming a weed.”

“I’ll show you whose a weed!” Jaygak continued to rasp her knuckles against his head.

While Laygak sighed at his shortcomings, the farmers and porters, each of whom were roughly twice his age, shared their own drinks and meals.

“The common sense of the Iyrmen is so different,” Jeremy said, slowly chewing into the meat.

“The young man’s half our age and half as proud,” Rick replied, staring at his reflection within the murky soup. Hearing Laygak so dour over being as strong as them certainly put some things into perspective when it came to the Iyrmen.

Rick thought of all the Iyrmen he had met, and even the Iyrman John had met all those years ago, Vezar. She was old then, and now she must have been venerable. Apparently, she had beaten some kind of sea creature, a creature he hadn’t heard of.

All the tales of the Iyrmen, surely they must have been exaggerated, Rick had thought during their travels. He understood Adam was strange, the young half elf having already allowed them to meet a goddess, something he never would have expected in all his years.

Yet, what of the Iyrmen? They had claimed to have fought back countless dragons, and claim to have slain more than the entirety of the nearby surrounding lands combined, even those which hadn’t been known by many of the lands.

Then there was that.

There was a tale Adam had told them, something he hadn’t believed, but how could he not believe? Adam had mentioned a legendary figure, a Lord Strom, or as Adam let slip, Emperor Hadda. Apparently he was from another realm, a higher realm, but not like the realm of the gods, but another sort of realm. Rick wasn’t entirely sure how it worked, but he was sure there were myths about such realms, like that of the fae, those of the giants, dragons, so on.

It was only when they slipped between the realms, thanks to the gods, and when they had come across Lord Strom’s daughter, that the man truly began to believe all the nonsense Adam and the Iyr spoke of. Adam always spoke of so many ridiculous things truly, but Rick had personally seen even more ridiculous things alongside him now.

Adam had made mention of a being known as Emperor Shama, who was a contemporary of this Lord Strom, a friend, apparently. When the groups had parted ways, Adam and the others had come across this Emperor Shama. That same fellow had defeated a pair of Iyrmen, each considered a Grandmaster at least, easily as powerful as some of the strongest within an order, and then went on to defeat Adam and his companions after.

Rick couldn’t believe it. How could such an entity exist? An entity as powerful as the golden dragon which protected the capital? Even the golden dragon seemed like a fairy tale, though it showed itself once in a generation during the ceremony of a new ruler.

‘Should I really join the business when he comes across so many grand beings?’

Fred’s eyes turned to Bavin, who was drinking and eating in the corner of the Iyrmen, who had left him be. The pair met eyes for a moment, and as Fred raised his glass, he noted the look of unbridled pride within the young man’s eyes.

Adam and Jurot sipped their drinks from atop the wall, staring out onto the land while the evening sun began to fall to bring in the dusk.

“I can’t believe it,” Adam whispered. “I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to do as well as her. I mean… no magic axe, no magic shield, no magic?”

“It is a great tale,” Jurot confirmed. Nirot had claimed the battle as her own, a solo victory. Yes, they had handled the other pythons, but she had faced the python herself.

“Insane.”

“Adam?”

“Yes?”

Jurot remained silent for a long while, wondering if he should ask. He inhaled deeply, and as though ripping off a plaster, he turned to face Adam. “Did you help her?”

Adam narrowed his eyes slightly, frowning slightly. “Nirot became an Expert because she adventured with us.”

“Did you assist during the bout?”

“No.”

Jurot nodded, before looking out to the horizon. “Thank you.”

“She should be thanking you, you’re the one who let her fight it alone,” Adam stated, letting out a disapproving sigh.

“We could only do so because of you.”

“I could only do so because of you.”

Jirot remained silent, unsure of how he was able to do such a thing. “They did so well…”

“Yeah.”

“I can feel the pride inside me.”

Adam threw a look to his brother. “If you’re acting adorable, then it must be good.”

“I am not acting adorable,” Jurot replied.

Adam laughed in response.

Jurot thought deeply about the swirling emotions within him. To watch as his cousin, Nirot, defeat a python by herself… ‘Is this how it feels?’ He thought back to his mother, who listened intently to his tales with a smile. The way she beamed at him. It was the same kind of look she gave to her daughter whenever she did something well. The way all the parents did so for their children. Jurot had felt it slightly, when his sister had learned to crawl, when she had learned to walk, when she had learned to talk. ‘She speaks so well…’

He had never felt this level of pride in being an Iyrman before.

“The boys are going to be so happy,” Adam said, his thoughts on Turot and Asorot. “Gurot and Murot probably won’t understand it, but they’ll be happy too, I’m sure.”

“Nirot’s nieces and nephews will be happy too,” Jurot said.

Adam smiled. “Yeah. I’m sure they will be.”