‘Huh, what did you say love.’ Lan’s mother asked, blinking at him.

‘You said “we faced,” What did you mean by that?’

‘Oh,’ his mother sighed, ‘Well, when I found out that your father had become an adventurer, I went after him to bring him home and found him in the middle of a fight with a rock bear, well after we killed it, it became clear that he wouldn’t come back willingly so I started going along with him.’ she finished with a tired shrug, while Lan just stared at her.

‘Wait, so you also have the hunter’s mark?’ Lan asked, pinching his eyes.

‘What? Of course not. I wouldn’t let some silly voice in my head tell me what to do.’ She waved.

‘That’s one way to put it…’ Lan said. Having his mother sum up the compulsion to fight as a “silly voice” not only left him a little speechless but with more questions. ‘But seeing monsters didn’t make you freeze? and does that mean you have a combat class, too?’

‘Well, about that, just like being able to see wisps, apparently, your mother is a bit of a special case in this, too.’ His father said before looking at Lan’s mother.

‘Oh, I was born with a title. Light of Strength. Which gives me a boost to any points I put into strength.’

‘A boost?’ Lan’s father raised an eyebrow. ‘For every point she puts into strength, she gains two.’

Lan’s head snapped over to his mother so fast he was sure he heard a pop while his father gave him an understanding smile.

‘That’s Insane. How much strength do you have?’

‘Oh, it’s not that much, only sixty.’ She said offhandedly.

‘Only sixty… you mean you can lift over one and half thousand lbs over your head?’ although she had only spent thirty points in it, the title made it so that she had hit the attributes milestones at twenty, forty and sixty. Each of these doubled how much an attribute point would boost one’s strength. From the ten lbs when below twenty points to the eighty lbs per point that she would get if she put any more points into it.

‘I don’t know what’s harder to believe, you fighting monsters or having so much strength.’

‘What’s wrong with being strong.’ She huffed. ‘I think any good mother needs a lot of strength. There is no aspect of being a mother that doesn’t require a lot of it, and that is when your child isn’t risking their lives daily.’ She said, getting an enthusiastic nod of agreement from Maya.

‘I always assumed that was more of a symbolic thing or at least… a focus on Mind?’ Lan reasoned.

‘Well, I can’t think of anything that gives you a stronger mind and will than the knowledge that you can tear metal with your hands if you need to.’ Lan’s mother said with no little amount of pride.

‘I… don’t doubt it.’ Lan said slowly. ‘Not freezing in front of monsters, being able to see wisps and a title that grants greater strength. And…’ Lan looked to his father. ‘An ability that seems to change depending on the user. There is so much going on. But at least I am not the only one going through it.’ Lan shrugged. ‘Although it would have been useful to gain that title.’

‘You are out of luck as it seems to have been passed on to another member of the family.’ Lan’s father said, and after getting a questioning look from Lan, went on. ‘Your sister Cara. She was born with the Title Light of the Mind. She gains two points for every one spent in mind, and her mana pool is already three times larger than it should be for her age, and that’s taking into account that she even has one.’

‘How is she anyway.’ Lan said, getting a smile from his mother and father

‘From the sounds of it, she is going to be running the Academy in no time.’ his mother smiled even though it was clear she wasn’t fully on board with her being too far away.

‘You mean grandmother will be.’ Lan said, and his mother’s smile seemed to grow more genuine.

‘Apparently, there are already three instructors she has chewed out for treating Cara as if she were already a student by trying to give her commands and another that is no longer allowed in the same areas of the Academy as them because the woman had thought she could separate Cara from them.’

Lan thought that sounded exactly like his grandmother, and then there was his sister. Forget repairing a bridge; Lan needed to build one when it came to her, and he would no matter what it took.

With that, Lan went back to what his father had said. Three times as much mana and double mind for every point and a new title.

It was clear that on both sides of his family, he had ancestors who were not done with them. But who were they whose embers still lived on within them? A being that had served the Lords of light and one favoured by a god of another world. Ones that could still affect them even when their abilities were hidden, and now his link to one of them had been rekindled, and he had been made one step closer to them. Light Marked.

Even with the passing of time, they still had a hand on the scales of his fate, but would he be able to live up to it, and what kind of mark would he leave. The Tear of Creation, the Shadow and The Messengers. How he handled all of them would decide if he even got to leave one.

‘Lan?’ his father asked.

‘Sorry, I was just lost in thought,’ Lan smiled.

‘We noticed. You still do that thing with your nose when you are thinking too hard.’ his father smiled.

‘Huh, what thing?’ Lan asked, fighting the urge to cover his face.

‘No, don’t tell him.’ Lan’s mother swatted his father's hand. ‘It’s how you can tell when he is trying to come up with a lie, too, and it’s still as cute as it was when he was little.’ She teased.

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‘What?’ Lan asked; he didn’t have a tell, did he? Something like that would have just worsened his life when he lived with Dell and when he was made to deal with other merchants.

But seeing his mother's delighted smile, he guessed being home was allowing him to remember parts of himself that he had forgotten, and that wasn’t a bad thing.

‘Oh, Dad. I didn’t get to ask this before, but was there anyone else in the family line who had our ability?’

‘No, it was almost a legend passed down in our family. With all sorts of stories about what it meant. Everything from a symbol of the lordship over some land and castle to the ability to turn lead into gold. We only know that someone has told this story for at least ten generations before I regained it.’

Lan nodded, that didn’t seem like much, but it was something to go on with. Now, all he needed was to find a record of all the people summoned, and he may be able to rule out or find out if someone in his bloodline had been summoned.

So he just needed to find somewhere with something like that and, more importantly, that would give him access. Piece of cake.

‘I still can’t believe that you were both adventuers.’ Lan shook his head.

‘Well, I never joined. I just went along with your father.’ His mother explained. ‘No, you only have one adventurer for a parent, and that one is Black Iron Kurt.’ She sang, making his father wince.

‘Black Iron Kurt?’ Lan laughed.

‘I found a black steel spear around about the time I started.’ His father sighed. ‘that paired with my hair and eyes. The name didn’t take long to stick.’ He added before looking at Lan’s mother with a playful vengeance in his eyes, ‘but at least I had Enri of the crimson mace watching my back.’

‘Kurt!’ she snapped, slapping him on the arm, ‘That’s not the same thing.’ She ended with a pout.

‘Let me guess… a blood-amber mace?’ Lan tried, making his father smile.

‘Hardly. Your mother got that name because everything she hit with her mace would turn to a red mist.

‘Kurt! That’s not true, my sweet. Maces are just messy weapons.’ His mother said as she slapped his father again, who just smiled in the way he did when holding back a laugh.

‘I still can’t believe it. Mom fighting monsters.’ Lan breathed.

‘Believe it. In fact, that day I came looking for you, the only reason she wasn't with me was because she was carrying your little sister.’

After a few minutes of his mother raining down blows that couldn’t have been even a percent of her strength and his father blocking, the table returned to some level of order.

‘There goes my image of being the perfect mother.’ His mother sighed.

‘I wouldn’t be so sure.’ Lan’s father laughed. ‘don’t forget your husband was an adventurer, and your son is one now. I am sure that Lan would agree that you couldn’t be more perfect.’ Lan's father said with a downright charming smile, and if that wasn’t surprising enough, Lan watched as his mother turned away and her face flushed.

‘Well, I guess that I will forgive you then.’ She said back with a final, much softer slap on the arm.

Before Lan could wonder if he had to worry about a new sibling, his mother cleared her throat and looked at him.

‘Speaking of Adventuring, do you know what you are going to do now?’ Lan’s mother asked as worry seeped into her voice.

‘One thing, yes.’ Lan nodded. At the moment, he only had a few leads. He knew where the Tear of Creation wasn’t, and he knew the direction that the Darkness had come from, and Tyr had been able to sense the Tear of Creation. Maybe if they could get close enough, they might be able to pick it up again. Not to mention, the Darkness couldn’t just be spreading without going unnoticed. So it had to be coming from somewhere, which meant they could find it, but before that.

‘First, I need to deal with Dell,’ as Lan said this, the mood grew dark in a heartbeat.

‘He is still coming after you.’ Lan’s father said with fire in his eyes, which, now that there was no longer a world contract at risk was a much more worrying prospect for Dell.

‘He is,’ Lan nodded. ‘I apparently damaged some goods before I was kicked out, and now Dell is trying to get me to pay it back and is seeking the help of the magistrates. An outsider looking in might think this is just a greedy man's last attempt to wring out as much coin as he could. But not Dell.’ Lan said, lost in his thoughts.

He will claim that I was a failure from the start and that you all allowed him to take me as an apprentice, knowing as much. He will use that to make a case for the fact that you should have to pay the debt off and no doubt will ask for the shop in the village for it.’ Lan looked up and found his father with a serious look before he nodded for Lan to go on.

‘What would he want with a craft shop.’ Lan's mother asked.

‘He would be taking our family legacy for a start, but the reason I know it’s what he is after is that if he can have a magistrate grant him the right to a building in the village, then Dell could challenge the rules against warehousing in the village itself and more importantly the banning of new warehouses. After that, all he has to do is find a way to make the other shop owners sell, and he could build his own shipping empire situated right outside of the city.’

Finishing, Lan looked up and found everyone staring blankly at him, and it took Lan a moment to realise that despite the dire news he had just shared, he had done so with cold calculation.

‘I take it you have a plan then?’ Lan's father asked.

‘Dell plans on bending the laws to suit him. I just plan on bending them back.’ Lan smiled before pausing. But I could use a little help with that.’ For the next few minutes, Lan talked to them about his plan and the part they played in it.

‘Are you sure about this, Lan.’ his father asked, as his mother looked like she wanted to protest.

‘I am sure. If he is coming for the family business, then this is the only way short of killing him to stop that. Which we can’t do, right?’ Lan added as it looked like his mother and father were considering it. ‘and knowing him, I would say Dell would find the idea that he had driven someone to the point of killing him as an achievement.’ Lan said.

‘Plus, killing him would be too easy a punishment. Aside from Liza, the only thing Dell cares about is his business and his self-image.’ Lan said, remembering the time a travelling merchant had managed to pull the wool over Dell’s eyes.

The man had dyed wolf pelts with red rock dust from another land, making it look, feel and smell like Firefox fur without any of the magic properties.

Once they found out, Lan had made the mistake of seeing Dell’s embarrassed, impotent rage and had become the scapegoat. That was the only time Dell had beat him with his own hands.

But even then, Lan had learned something he would make good use of.

‘Is everything alright, Enri?’ his father asked, making him look up to find his mother deep in thought.

‘Huh, oh, I am fine. I was just thinking that I might have an idea of something that might help.’

‘Really what?’ Lan asked.

‘You are not the only one that hates that ratling of a man.’ His mother said with a devilish smile. ‘just go about with your plan, and I’ll see what I can do.’

‘Uh, okay.’ Lan said before spotting the basket on the table. ‘oh right, I almost forgot about this.’ He stood and walked around the table to the basket.

‘On my way here, I spotted these and thought now was a good time to keep our promise.’ Lan said, placing the box in front of his mother.

With a questioning look at Lan, his mother looked down and undid the ribbon around the box and slid the top off it before her eyes grew wide.

Lan was just about to make a joke but found no words coming to mind as his mother's gold and blue eyes welled up with tears.

‘Wait, why are you crying now.’ Lan blurted up as he rushed to her side.

‘Now? I have been trying not to cry from the moment I walked in.’ His mother said as she wiped at her eyes. ‘That you not only remember those days but kept our promise just made me happy, is all.’ She smiled.

‘Of course, I wouldn’t forget something like that.’ Lan said as she stood and hugged him.

After a moment, Lan noticed his father smiling at them, a smile that flashed to panic as Lan grinned and winked at Maya before pushing the basket filled with sweet rolls over to his father.