The townsfolk left a wide berth as the heavily armed figures stepped through the large central road of the town, making their way towards the markets. The figure who wore the turban around his head, and ears, was surrounded by children, who were in turn surrounded by Iyrmen. Some of the Iyrmen wore full plate, even during the noonval sun, while others wore their typical furs, but more importantly, carried weapons that hung far too comfortably for a town.

Shameless. Fearless.

These were the words which came to the townsfolk, who knew to stay away from the group, allowing them to walk through the town as though they owned it, though they prayed within their hearts for the guards.

“Tell me…” the fellow wearing the turban, and the purple breastplate, began. “What is it that you want? Daddy will buy you the world is he has to.”

“Food,” Jirot said, pointing to the stall to one side, the smell causing the girl to almost drool.

“How wise is my daughter? Why do you need the world when you have food?” Adam said, with all the seriousness he could muster, before placing down a gold coin for the cook. “One for each of us.”

“Alright,” the cook said, his eyes darting between the Iyrmen, praying they would move on quickly from his stall.

Adam bite into the meat, frowning slightly, before using his magic to flavour the meat. Another stick of meat filled the air, as Jirot waited expectantly.

“Please, daddy, please.”

Adam smiled, flavouring the meat with his magic, doing so for all his children at once, before doing the same for all the Iyrmen.

Gangak had eaten first, to check if the meat was properly cooked, and since she raised no complaints, the other Iyrmen allowed the children to eat. None of the children noticed just how much the Iyrmen were looking out for them, from checking the food, to noting the people who wore weapons, to the people who didn’t wear weapons but perhaps had them hidden, even to counting steps towards the nearest exits, and the quickest route back to the inn.

They also didn’t notice their father going still for moment at a time, while an owl flew up ahead, landing on nearby roofs every so often.

“Where should we go next?” Adam asked, wiping his children’s faces with his damp cloth, cleaning it with his trick.

“Mmmm…” Jirot thought. “Babo house?”

“We can’t go to babo’s house, that’s too far away?”

“Why?”

“We’re in Red Oak now, smelly girl, not the Iyr.”

“Nano house?”

“That’s also too far.”

Jirot blinked, furrowing her brows. She had never heard this reason to refuse before. “Far away?”

“Yes. Remember? We had to take the carriage all the way here. It’s going to take so many days to get back. Plus, why do you want to go back?”

“I see nano.”

“How about this? Why don’t we go buy nano a gift and then when we get back we’ll give it to her?”

“Daddy!” Jirot gasped.

“Yes?”

“You are so smart?”

“…” Adam blinked. ‘How much Health do I have left?’

Health: 91

‘Only 19?’ Adam thought.

Health: 91

‘I can’t believe she did that much damage to me with one sentence.’

Health: 91

‘Of course she did, since she’s my daughter,’ Adam thought proudly, feeling the ache within his heart.

Rajin held onto Mad Dog’s shoulder, feeling how hard the Iyrman was shaking, doing his absolute best not to burst out in laughter. He even felt the Mad Dog’s body tense up, feeling the flash of hot red rage to stop himself from laughing.

“You should not waste your anger like this,” Rajin whispered.

“Ha? Do you-,”

“Jarot,” Rajin said, his voice stern. “Do not forget.”

“…” Jarot slowly nodded his head, even the Mad Dog having to surrender when it came to this specific matter.

“Wow!” Jirot gasped, with little Jarot’s mouth also agape. “Look daddy! Look!”

“What am I looking at?”

“Wow! Look daddy, is yellow!” Jirot pointed towards the bundles of cloth. “Is red, and is blue, and is green, and look! Is purple! So many colours, daddy!”

“Yeah?” Adam smiled. “You know, mummy is from East Port, which has so many more colours!”

“Ooh!” the twins cooed, their eyes wide.

“I’ll take you there one day,” Adam said, before realising what he said. ‘Damn it…’

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

The merchant frowned, annoyed the fellow mentioned the city’s name. It was an unspoken rule not to mention such a place right in front of them. ‘What? You think I’m a rich city boy?’

“Should we buy some cloth for nano?” Adam asked.

“Yes! I buy it!” Jirot said, throwing up her fist.

“How can you buy it when…” Adam paused. ‘Hold on, isn’t she even richer than me?’ “Yes, but all you want, since daddy will pay for it.”

‘Daddy?’ the merchant owner, a young Aldishman with slightly tan skin and a small hat, thought. ‘Does he have a horcish wife?’

“I buying it! I buy it for nano!” Jirot said.

“I buy for nano too,” little Jarot said.

“I can buy for mummy?” Karot asked, staring up at the half elf.

“Of course you can,” Adam said, reaching down to the boy’s long hair, rubbing it gently, before realising that sometimes the silver peeked through the illusion. ‘Oops.’

‘His hair is too long,’ Shagek thought, noting the silver.

“How much for each bundle?”

“Ten gold.”

“Alright, then let’s each buy one bundle, okay?” Adam said.

“Okay,” Jirot said.

“Are you also looking for clothing for your children?” the merchant asked. “My brother sells clothes on the other side.”

“Clothing?” Adam asked. “Well, they already have a lot of clothes, so…”

The merchant watched as Adam froze in place, noting the calculations the young man in puthral was making. It wasn’t a calculation for coin, but rather a calculation only a doting father could make.

“Where is your brother’s stall?” Adam asked, doing his best to contain himself.

“It is behind my own.” The merchant pointed backwards with his thumb. For a moment, Bloodblade’s eyes noted the silver rings the merchant wore, but seeing the lack of markings, he dismissed the thought.

“Then let’s…” Adam glanced down at his children, who were noting all the rolls, reaching out to grab the cloth with their hands, though the merchant remained silent, noting the number of Iyrmen about, and also the fact their weapons were not ordinary in the slightest.

“Blue is for nano,” Jirot said. “Purple is for nana, and daddy. Red for nano, and babo, and papo.”

“Green is for daddy,” little Jarot said.

“Yellow,” Karot said, holding up the bundle within his arms, his invisible tail brushing the dust on the floor.

“Wow, all my favourite colours,” Adam said, who had hated the colour green until the second year of this current life. “If you can, could you cut out sections of all the bundles my children touched, and then also price up all the bundles they’ve picked?”

‘Didn’t he say only one for each child?’ the merchant thought. “Of course! Where should I sent them to?”

“The Wiseman’s Oak,” Otkan said.

“Of course,” the merchant replied. ‘Wow, Wiseman’s Oak?’

After the bundles were sorted, and Adam placed down the gems, the merchant measuring them quickly under the watchful Iyr of the Iyrmen, they quickly circled around to the clothing merchant, who looked like an older version of the merchant, but with a faint scar across his eye.

“I heard you had the good stuff,” Adam said, standing with his arms crossed.

The merchant wasn’t sure who was more terrifying, the weirdo in the purple, or the savage Iyrmen who smelt of death. “I have clothing?”

“You know, today, I’ve got nothing but time, and gold in my pocket to burn.” Adam leaned in. “So show me all the styles that you have. I don’t know anything about clothing, but I want to see it all.”

“Yes, of course, I will find the designs and sizes and colours which match all the children.”

Tarukan glanced down, feeling the boy’s hand squeeze his hand tighter. He hadn’t ever seen the boy with such an expression before. Normally he was stone cold, or held disdain whenever his father behaved poorly, but this time… it was quite fear, but more like… he’d rather take a sword through the eye.

‘Kill me,’ Larot thought. ‘Kill me now, you bastard.’

Adam had finally understood his mother. Indeed, as a child he had cursed at his mother deep within his heart for what she had forced him to do. Except now, now he understood. Of course, his mother was a genius.

The old one armed Jarot had no idea Adam could dare to threaten someone like that before. Not only had Adam forced the merchant to dress the children in all the designs, his eyes falling to the little demon boy wearing a yellow frilly dress, but he had forced the merchant to let them try on all manner of colours. At least two hours had passed with Adam dressing his children in all the styles he could, each of the Iyrmen assisting the children from behind the curtains.

Once they were dressed, Adam would huff, tensing up.

“That’s right.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Absolutely.”

“Certainly.”

“How can it not be so?”

Eventually, Adam fell back to the tried and true, “okay,” while nodding.

Even now, the Iyrmen couldn’t tell him to hurry up, since he looked like he’d be willing to fight any of them at any moment. Indeed, how could they stop him, not when he was eating the most delicious dessert of all, that of his children being so adorable?

“Daddy, toilet,” Jirot finally said, daring to finally speak up. She had wanted to leave a while ago, but her father had given off the same aura as her grandmother, so she dared not to say anything.

“Okay,” Adam said, allowing Gangak to take the girl away to deal with her needs.

“Are you ready to order, dear client?”

“How much?” Adam asked, still standing tall, his arms crossed.

“Excuse me?”

“How much for the clothes,” Adam replied, his voice stern and low.

“How many do you wish to prefer.”

“Everything,” Adam said, his eyes slowly turning to meet the merchant’s gaze.

“Everything?” the merchant asked, feeling a chill down his spine.

“Everything they wore,” Adam said, his eyes still holding a vicious glare, as though daring the merchant to deny him. “I’ll just buy everything they wore, and everything that you own in their sizes.”

The merchant blinked. ‘What?’

“We will buy everything they wore,” Jarot said, placing a hand on Adam’s shoulder to try and stop him from going overboard.

“No,” Adam said, tensing up, leaning back slightly as he glared at the old man. “I’ll buy everything in their size.”

Jarot grinned wildly, the way he normally would. “The children are still growing.”

“No, they’ll stay small and cute forever.”

“There is no need to waste your gold today,” Jarot warned, daring his grandson to speak up. “There are many days for the outing.”

“Wasting gold?”

“Will you spend it all?”

“…” Adam continued to glare, tilting his head slightly. Except, the old man did have a point. If Adam spent this much coin today, that meant he wouldn’t be able to spoil them as much later. “At least for the twins.”

“They…” Jarot paused, realising that sometimes Adam could be as smart as he was dumb. “Okay.”

‘Are they crazy? The price would be in the hundreds of gold!’ The merchant’s eyes darted between their equipment, and even the puthral breastplate. ‘They’re rich, but even so!’

It was a short while later that the merchant stared down at the gems within his hands. He blinked in bewilderment. His clothing typically sold for a few silver to a few gold each, sometimes a noble would come by and procure several pieces, and they would generally spend a few tens of gold, with a few gold as a bonus. Yet, somehow, he had earned hundreds of gold in a single order, several weeks worth of great fortune in a span of a few hours.

‘Is he a child of Lord Musa?’

“Old man…” Adam glared at the Iyrman once they were back at the inn. “Do you know what I spent about half a thousand gold on?”

“Clothes?” Jarot replied. He wasn’t sure anyone in the world had spent as much on clothes in a single go for their children, save perhaps royalty.

“It is for the joy,” Gangak said, as though it were obvious.

“Grandaunt is right,” Adam said. “Do you know how much joy it brought me to bully my children like that? I got to force my children to wear such cute clothes, even my little Larot!”

Sonarot raised her brows slightly, her eyes beaming. ‘I should have gone with them.’

Adam caught her eyes, and he slowly nodded his head. ‘Don’t worry, we can bully them even more.’

It was that day when Sonarot realised she had never been happier protecting Adam from the Iyr. Of course, since he made the promise, she needed to return the favour.

“Adam, you should also accompany the other children,” Sonarot said, sipping her milk, not realising the storm which had begun.