From the table at the back of the manor, Lan listened to the sounds of the children eating the tarts he brought mixed with the soft sound and the light of Lily’s healing magic while the young woman pouted through her glasses as if she could glare his wounds together.

After a moment, Lan cleared his throat. ‘So uh, I wasn’t sure what kind of sweets to bring, so I just got a bunch of tarts. They should be enough for a few days,’ Lan tried to break the ice. ‘maybe I should ask what to bring for the next time I come over.’

‘Oh, so it was a bribe then?’ Lily asked in a way that should have been dangerous but was more so endearing coming from her,

‘Only if it worked?’ Lan smiled as Lily’s pout became forced. ‘If not, then it is just an innocent gesture of guest hospitality that I hope makes you forgive me.’

Lily looked away. ‘You don’t play fair, Landrin Cross… but it made the children happy, so I guess I can forgive you this time. I know they will be happy to get to share sweets like this, seeing as they don’t get to do so often.’ Lily said, looking down.

That was right, Lan thought. As orphans, Lan was sure most of them wouldn’t even know their birthdays, let alone celebrate them, not to mention most of them wouldn’t have had many chances to have a favourite sweet to celebrate with.

From the tone of her voice, Lily wanted to change that, but looking at the newly repaired windows and smoke rising from the chimney on top of the better condition of the children’s clothes, Lan knew where her priorities were for the coming winter.

For a moment, Lan sat, allowing Lily to heal him without saying a word. There was the chance that this would be one of the last times he would get to see any of them, and he had more coin than he could spend even with Dell’s payments. But if this was to be one of the last times he saw them, he wanted to leave them with a good memory of him.

‘Why not throw a party for all of them?’ Lan asked, making Lily look at him.

‘It wouldn’t be fair to give them all the same birthday, Lan,’ she said, clearly having had the same thought before.

‘Not a birthday, a naming day. Sure, they already have first names but not a family name, right?’ Lan asked. Although Naming days weren’t a thing in Crownguard, Lan knew that some of the other kingdoms with lower childhood survival rates, like Leeto, still used them instead of birthdays.

‘I don’t know Lan.’ Lily said, even though Lan could see she liked the idea. ‘It’s going to cost a lot for all the children.’

‘I’ll take care of it.’ Lan cut in, but he must have been too enthusiastic as Lily frowned.

‘What’s going on Lan? You seem off today. You were also like this the first time you returned from a job.’ She frowned.

‘Yeah…’ Lan looked at her, ‘the All Guilds Campaign has been called.’ The moment Lan said the words, Lily’s eyes opened wide as she broke her spell.

‘and are you going…?’ she said in a small voice.

‘Yeah…’

‘So is this naming day party just a parting gift?’ Lily asked with fire igniting behind her welling tears.

‘Not a parting gift,’ Lan smiled, ‘I just happened to think about it just now.’ Which was partly true. Lan hadn’t thought about it before, but now that he had, he wanted to see it through.

‘Okay.’ Lily said, looking down.

‘Come on, it’s not like I am going alone. I probably won’t even see any fighting.’ Lan said, making Lily narrow her eyes.

‘That’s a lie, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, probably, but I will try my best to make sure it’s not.’ He laughed

‘Just come back, okay? I don’t want to lose the only adult friend I have.’ She ended with a weak smile.

Before Lan could answer, another voice broke in.

‘Why are you hurt?’ Milly, the little girl who had helped rob him, asked with berry tart filling from the pastry she was still eating on her cheek.

‘That’s because I am an adventurer.’ Lan says, picking up a rag to clean her cheek.

‘Oh… so are you a brigand then?’ Milly asked.

‘What?’ Lan started

‘I heard some of the women in the market say that adventurers were all brigands.’

‘No, Milly. Brigands are people that lie and steal…’ Seth cut in as he walked up to them.

‘Maybe you are a brigand then.’ Lily said so only Lan could hear.

‘Adventurers are more like… the Rogue!’ Seth said with a nod as Milly gasped.

‘No, we are not…’ Lan protested, ‘well, I am not anyway,’ he corrected after a moment’s reflection.

From what he had seen, calling some of the adventurers in the guild the Rogue would be high praise.

Everybody knew who the Rogue was. He was a character that appeared in the Tales of Araden the Great King, where the Rogue would often change from friend to foe depending on what outcome suited him best.

‘I would say that we are more like… Tallik Moon, the Hero.’ Lan said, thinking of a name he was sure they would have heard of. Despite being called a hero, Tallik was pretty much like an adventurer before they were called that.

Even still, it was enough to make the kid’s faces light up as even more joined them.

‘So you have stories of fighting monsters then?’ Milly cried as Lan felt someone pull his sleeve.

‘Well… yeah.’ Lan answered, looking down and finding the little blonde boy Kaya looking back up at him.

‘Oh, Tell us, Tell us.’ Milly started, but the other children quickly picked it up.

Getting a smile from Lily. Lan let out a dramatic sigh before lifting Kaya onto his lap and dove into an age-appropriate retelling of his encounter with the Razerwolves with the guild and then his first solo job from the clearing to the goblin camp. His adventure was surprisingly more polarising than he would have thought.

Some of them had gone pale when he was describing the goblin camp, while others had a sparkle in their eyes from the same tales. It was the same reaction that real tales got, making Lan wonder if this was how they would have felt telling their tales for the first time. Even Seth looked his age until Lan looked at him, and he wiped the starry-eyed look off his face.

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‘How did you get out!’ a girl's voice squeaked.

Before he answered, Lan smiled and tore a tiny bit of fire silk.

‘I took the ball of fire silk I had and threw it at the Goblin King's tent, voosh!’ Lan cried, igniting the silk before throwing his arms into the air, getting a wave of excited “wows!” from the children, ‘In seconds, everything was on fire, and I made my escape in the confusion,’ Lan said in a victorious tone he didn’t feel. But watching as the kid's faces lit up, he knew the change was correct. Plus, it seemed like something the crafty Tallik Moon would have done.

‘This is the sword you used?’ A rather large boy for his age asked, picking up Lan’s sword, which Lily had taken off him and set off to the side while still in a huff.

‘Hey, don’t play with that!’ Lan said with too much urgency, making the boy drop the sword.

Before it could hit the ground, Tyr flew into it, pulling his sword into the Other World Chest, which went over a storm with the kids as he retrieved it from the air.

‘Sorry to scare you, but you could hurt yourself if you aren’t careful.’ Lan said, getting a nod from Lily.

‘Lan is right, and you know better, Martis.’ Lily added softly but with the natural concern that would make any child feel guiltier than a scolding.

Another boy jumped up as the first boy looked away and kicked the ground.

‘What is its name?’

‘Yeah, what’s its name!’ the others cheered.

‘Name?’ Lan blinked, knowing that he should have seen it coming after telling them his Tale. Everyone knew that all the best swords in the Tales had names, and for some reason, Lan didn’t think Odd Steel Short Sword would work. Even still, the idea of having a named sword was a little... complicated.’

‘Oh, well, it doesn’t have one yet.’ Lan laughed

‘Aww!’ The children cried.

‘But, you can’t be a Hero without a sword with a name…’ Milly pouted.

‘Well, I am not a hero,’ Lan smiled weakly, trying not to think too much about the word.’

‘Well, yeah, that’s because your sword doesn’t have a name.’ Someone said, and Kaya looked up at him.

‘I know, let’s pick a name for your sword, then you can be the hero and not the rogue.’ Milly nodded, and before Lan could stop them, all the children started shouting names at him.

Names like Silver Steel and Night Singer were met with a forced smile from Lan; not only were they a bit much as far as names went in his eyes, but they were already the names of legendary heroes’ swords.

‘Oh, what about Magic Eater,’ Milly cheered, ‘you said it can steal magic, right?’

This led to a round of names shouted at him in that vein.

‘Mana Taker!’

‘Oh! Hexdrinker!’ were mixed with others.

‘What about Spell Thief?’ Lan heard a red-faced Seth say, not making eye contact.

‘Spell Thief.’ Lan laughed softly. That name seemed to have jumped out of a Tale, even if it was from one he hadn’t heard, although it was a bit embarrassing to name his sword. But it wasn’t about him.

Turning his sword and holding it by the sheath, Lan smiled. ‘Spell Thief… I like it.’ Lan said, smiling as, once again, Seth looked like an average child, his face lighting up before he hid it.

‘Alright, that’s enough bothering Lan. he still needs healing.’ Lily laughed.

With sugar racing through their blood and charged by his stories, the children vanished into the city to cause mayhem before Lan or Lily could stop them.

‘Should we be worried?’ Lan asked, watching them go.

‘Yes,’ Lily sighed. ‘but the guards tend to watch over them when they are in the city. Plus, they blend in with all the other children running around.’

Lan nodded. That seemed about right. There were always groups of children playing in the city, so people always looked out for them.

Even though Lily insisted that he needed more healing, Lan was adamant about getting home and telling his mother and father before word about the All Guilds campaign reached them.

Ultimately, Lily would only let him go if she could go with him to finish healing him at home. So, after a change of clothes at the inn, they headed to his village.

Reaching his village, Lily couldn’t help but look at everything they passed on the road to his home.

‘So this is the place you grew up?’ she asked with wonder in her tone as they passed the tree he had fallen out of as a boy.

‘Well, some of it.’ Lan laughed, not feeling like going into his past.

‘Also… is everyone looking at us?’ She asked, moving closer to him.

‘Yeah, they’ll do that.’ Lan smiled. No doubt, word about what really happened to him had been spread by Miss Tolly. As such, although no one approached him, none looked at him with disgust anymore.

A voice cut through the relative quiet before Lan could answer Lily’s questioning look.

‘Damn you, Orin. The inn in the village is grand, but you said it was better than those in the city and the capital. After overselling it like that, I couldn’t enjoy the… quaint atmosphere.’ A voice that made Lan want to punch the owner said, dripping with mock comradery as if wanting everyone in the village to hear the Light-hearted banter meant to denigrate the village.

‘I know Lawrence… Sorry.’ A voice Lan knew belonged to Orin grovelled so hard that Lan could hear the self-deprecating smile.

A smile that was wiped away a moment later when the group of the last people he wanted to see walked out of the inn. Aaron, Orin, Dara, Mai, Charlotte and, of course, Eliza and Lawrence.

The sycophantic laughter died away when they saw him, replaced by worried looks to the ashen-faced Lawrence.

Lan would have kept walking, not giving them a second look, until he noticed Lawrence had reached for his sword, to which he stopped because Lily was with him.

Despite being at a disadvantage at the moment, Lan felt no reaction to seeing the man reach for his sword. In the short time that had passed, Lan had grown from wanting the man to try something so he could cut him down to completely dismissing the man as a threat.

As if to emphasize the point, Tyr floated over to hang above the group at just the right height to put Lan in position to kick the man’s teeth down his throat after a Wisp Walk if needed.

As Lan watched Lawrence’s knuckles go white around his hilt, he knew the man could read his thoughts by the look in his eyes.

Aside from Eliza, the others stared at Lan with the same dumbfounded looks as before.

Having no idea of the history between them, Lily looked between Lan and the group, but that was until she noticed the sword and, without thinking, took Lan’s arm protectively as if to hold him back.

Knowing that he had already lost the first move and needed to do something, Lawrence relaxed and looked at Lily.’

‘Lan, it seems that you have made a new friend.’ Lawrence smiled before seeming to really see Lily. Clothes and lack of title aside, there was no doubt that she had grown up a noble on top of her natural charm.

‘My lady,’ Lawrence bowed. ‘It seems like you have fallen in with an unsavoury person. Whatever he told you to get you to come along with him is a lie, but my friends and I will be willing to help you.’ Lawrence ended with a smile that Lan was sure was meant to be charming.

But once again, Lily had been raised as a noble and, despite her gentle disposition, wasn’t impressed, not even noticing him as she turned to look at Lan. ‘Do you know those people?’ she asked with concern.

Even though Lan was sure she hadn’t meant it as a slight, he couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly as Lawrence's face momentarily contorted into a mask of anger.

‘Oh, he knows who we are, don’t you, Lan?’ Lawrence laughed, ‘I bet you brought her out here to show off to us.’ Lawrence said, looking around for support, which he got, inflating his ego until he looked to Eliza for more, and his face fell.

Looking over, Lan found Eliza, her face expressionless and eyes wide, locked onto Lily's arms around Lan as if refusing to see what was before her.

‘Eliza?’ Lawrence asked, laughing weakly, but she could not hear him.

As Lawrence's face turned to one of defeat, Lan momentarily thought about rubbing salt into Lawrence's wounds, but one thing stopped him, one thought. What would spending a moment with them even gain him?

‘They are no one that matters.’ Lan said to Lily before starting to walk past.

As Lan and Lily passed the group, Eliza’s gaze did not change from where they had been, while the look of defeat that had grown over Lawrence's face changed to one of cold clarity of a mind made up as his eyes met Lan’s.

‘Lan…’ the young noble said in a voice filled with more hate than he had ever heard, but the moment he looked away from the group, Lan had already put them out of his mind.

‘What was that?’ Lily asked in a small voice, so Lan told her as they walked. Oddly enough, although he still hated all of them with a burning passion, Lan told the story as if it were someone else, and he guessed it was.

‘I… I am sorry that happened to you.’ Lily said, holding his arm tighter as tears welled in her eyes. Lan smiled, happy he hadn’t told her how he had grown up.

‘Don’t be sorry. If they hadn’t done what they did, I would not have met all the amazing people I have. I never would have met you.’ Lan smiled, bringing colour to Lily’s cheeks. ‘Seth, Molly, Kaya, and the rest of the children, or had any good stories to tell them. I never would have met me.’ he shrugged, feeling warmth in the words as much as in Lily's smile.

As they crested the hill, Lan saw a shape move from the kitchen, and before he could even knock, his mother threw open the door.

‘Wellcome home, my Sweet.’ Lan’s mother smiled the way that only she could. The smile that held more warmth than the largest hearth, the smile that told him that he really was home.

‘Hi, Mom.’ Lan smiled back.

Having been so happy to see Lan that the rest of the world had stopped existing, his mother blinked, her head slowly turning as she realized someone was with him.

With an inquisitive look, Lan’s mother looked at Lily, who looked back nervously. His mother's eyes slowly dropped to Lily’s arms, which were still wrapped around Lan's arm and forgotten after the encounter at the inn doors and the story.

‘Oh… a new potential daughter-in-law to evaluate so soon.' Lan's mother clapped and smiled sweetly.