The children’s noisiness filled the inn, sitting in the corner with their siblings, and several of the business members. They jabbed away at Fred, Nobby, and Jonn, excitedly touching the magical items they possessed, from the two blades to the shield.

“S’only a shield,” a child said.

“Magical shields are rarer than magical swords,” Fred said, his eyes falling to Nobby, who was currently being poked and prodded by the children’s tiny fingers like little daggers against his iron skin.

“Who wants’ah magical shield?” another child added dismissively.

“Magical shields are more important than magical weapons,” Fred said. “Magical shields can make it so that magical swords can’t hit you, then how good can a magical sword be if it can’t hit you?”

The child narrowed their eyes, before slowly nodding their head, understanding the logic of the statement. “Can shields go on fire?”

“I haven’t seen a fire shield, but I have seen a thunder shield.”

“A thunder shield? Like the storm?”

“Yes.”

“Ooooh!” the child’s eyes beamed up at Fred.

“Executive Jurot has a thunder shield, it’s called Mighty Roar.”

“Oooh!” the children all replied.

“Does your sword have a name?” a child asked.

“It’s called Lifeblade.”

“Why’s it called that?”

“It can heal me, like a priest can, but I don’t need a priest.”

“Ooooh,” the child replied.

“Do you like to get hit?”

“No.”

“So why do you need to heal?”

“It’s because sometimes I get hit through my armour and it hurts so I need my sword to heal me.”

“If you hadda magical shield then you wouldn’t need ta heal.”

Fred smiled. “That’s right.”

Brittany watched the children swarm the trio of men, though Nobby was struggling to reply, only responding in one word answers. The children eventually instead grabbed at his arms and neck instead, kept at bay by their elder siblings.

One of the inn’s workers stepped up towards the group in the corner, only to find Adam stepping up to meet them, the young man smiling towards them.

“The other patrons are finding it difficult to enjoy themselves while there is so much noise coming from the corner,” the worker informed, smiling politely in that sort of way. They would have been a little more aggressive, if it wasn’t for the fact they were quite heavily armed.

“Oh yeah?” Adam replied, tilting his head slightly as his neck pulsed. “Well, why don’t you tell them-,”

Dunes silenced Adam by placing a hand on his shoulder, noting how tense Adam was, the entire situation weighing heavily upon him no doubt. “We apologise for the noise. The children have had quite a rough time recently, and we’re trying to rid their worries. I understand it’s quite noisy, but if you’d inform the other patrons that their food and drink shall be compensated for by the United Kindom, our business, I hope they’ll be more understanding of our predicament.”

“To compensate for all the patrons, it will cost quite the coin,” the worker said.

Adam exhaled lightly. “How much gold would it cost?”

“I will go speak with the keep,” the worker said, gently bowing their head, before quickly scampering away.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The inn keep, a woman who wore her wrinkles as well as she wore her robes, and her silver pixie cut, approached the group. “I heard you wanted to pay for the other patrons?”

“Their meals and drinks,” Adam confirmed. “How much gold would that cost?”

The woman eyed up the young man, noting the scarf around his head. Her eyes then fell across the rest of the group, seeing the Iyrman, the Sister, and the Aswadians. “It will cost ten gold, and you will need to buy a bottle of our perry.”

“Okay.”

“Twenty gold.”

“Take thirty for the inconvenience,” Adam replied, back letting out a soft sigh of relief. Dealing with things using gold was so easy, and he was more than happy to spend a few gold pieces to smooth things over. ‘Hopefully they don’t bother us while we’re here, otherwise I’ll really give it to them.’

Adam felt a tug at his side, before noting Nobby beside him, and then he glanced down to see Alex staring up at him expectantly. “Yes?”

“I want to talk to you, alone, mister.”

“Alone?”

Alex nodded.

“Alright,” Adam said, waiting for the boy to move, only to realise he was the adult. Adam motioned a hand to Nobby, before he guided the boy up to one of the rooms they had rented. “What is it?”

“Those knights… they came for me,” the boy said.

Adam bowed his head lightly, waiting for the boy to continue.

“They’re… they’re really strong. They’re not gonna to stop. They’re gonna come for me. If they come, then they might hurt everyone. I don’t want them to hurt no one, so I should go with them.”

“…” Adam reached out with a hand, gently placing it on the boy’s shoulder. “You’re a very brave boy.”

The boy’s lip trembled lightly.

“I know the knights are strong, they wear such grand armour, and they carry such great weapons.”

Alex bowed his head. “You can’t tell the others, they’ll want to stop it.”

“Alex…” Adam smiled slightly. “Alex. Listen to me very carefully, okay?”

The boy nodded.

“The knights are strong, but we’re very strong too.”

“The knights, they’re with the Marquise, and she’s really powerful. She’s not strong, but she’s got lots of other kinds of powers. She can kill people easy, but not with a sword, but with other people’s swords. She’s going to send very strong people to get me, because she wants me.”

“I know,” Adam said. “I asked you to listen to carefully, right? Well, we’re very strong too. Even if they’re going to send a bunch of knights after us, it’s okay, we are stronger.”

“You can’t fight knights, they’re the law!”

“You know Sister Vonda, right? She’s a member of Life’s Rose. Have you heard of Life’s Rose?”

The boy stood up taller. “Of course I’ve heard of Life’s Rose. It’s the holy order, it’s really good.”

“That’s right. The Order of Life’s Rose, it’s very strong too, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Sister Vonda is from there, so that means they can’t attack us easily. Even if they do, they’ll be in lots of trouble. Plus, even though we’re new, we’ve got a lot of power too. I’m from a business called United Kindom, and we work for the Enchanter. You must have heard when I spoke to Moons, right?”

“Yes.”

“Right. Even if the Marquise is a noble, even she doesn’t want to offend someone who makes magical items.” Adam pat the boy’s shoulders. “So don’t worry, we’re definitely going to protect you all, and nothing’s going to happen.”

“You’re strong, but the knights are stronger.”

“I’ve fought lots of knights, and I’ve never lost to one,” Adam assured.

“Have you fought strong knights?”

Adam paused. “Have you heard of the King’s Sword?”

“Yes.”

“His daughter fought me in the tournament. Even though she won, she won through other power, not with her sword.” Adam’s smile was tainted by a tinge of annoyance. “But now, we work closely with the Duchess, so I don’t have to lose to the knights any more.”

“You work with the Duchess?”

“The Duchess does business with us,” Adam said, slowly nodding his head.

“Are you going to take me to her.”

Adam chuckled. “No, no. I’m going to make sure you stay with your brothers and sisters, so don’t worry, okay?”

“Cobra, Julia, and the others, they’re… they’re not… we don’t have the same parents, but they’re my brothers and sisters. I… I don’t want nothing bad happening to them.”

“You’re such a good brother, Alex.” Adam ruffled his hair. “Nothing bad is going to happen to them. Didn’t I tell you? You’re all VIPs, so I won’t let nothing bad happen to you.”

“If something bad happens…”

“If something bad happens, I’ll sort it out as best as I can,” Adam assured. “Plus, it’s not just the Order of Life’s Rose that’s helping us, we’ve also got another order helping us, so you don’t have to worry, okay?”

“Okay…”

Adam kept ruffling his hair. “Hey, Alex, what’s your dream?”

“My dream?”

“Yeah. When you grow up, what do you want to do?”

“I… I’m going to grow up and be a good man.”

“Yeah? What does that look like?”

“I want to… I want to have money to make sure I don’t grow hungry, and I don’t want my brothers or sisters to grow hungry, and I want to buy a house so we can all stay together, and I’ll use my magic to keep everyone safe, and I’m going to have all the milk for the porridge, because I don’t like water in my porridge.”

Adam chuckled lightly. “That’s right, I don’t like having water in my porridge either. Come on, let’s head back, and you can tell me all about your favourite foods.”

“Okay.”

While Adam returned with the child, he glanced around. “Where’s Manager Vonda?”

“She said she needed to pray,” Dunes replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“Do you need to go pray too?”

“I should.”

Adam chuckled.

While they were chatting, Vonda burned her incense, and placed an egg within the silver chalice. She chanted quietly, and over the course of several minutes, the silver chalice swallowed the egg whole, before the incense and silver egg began to burn rapidly, disappearing into nothingness.

“I beseech the wisdom of the Divine,” the young woman began. “Must blood be spilled to protect the children?”

The taste of iron filled Vonda’s mouth.