Momentarily stunned by the beauty of the woman before her and then by the information that she was Lan’s mother, it took Lily a moment for her words to sink in.

When they did, Lily blinked. A red glow filled her face slowly, starting at the points of her ears.

‘I!’ Lily cried before stopping herself from saying anything else. Daughter-in-law? Did that mean his mother wanted her to marry Lan!

What should she say? What could she say? Would his mother take her saying no as an offence? Did she want to say no? Lily thought as she glanced at him. Even during their first meeting, she found him sweet, but then he came back looking like the most striking man she had ever seen.

Lan was different from most men she had known. Not only did she not feel like he was looking for anything else from her outside of her magic, which he was paying guild prices for, if anything, making her the one taking advantage of him.

He hadn’t tried to make her do anything, and although her life as a noble of a house with a bad reputation and her time at the academy being spent between books with one unpleasant encounter had left her with little to no experience with men, she felt safe with him and knew she could trust him.

Also, the children liked him, Lily thought before wondering why she was thinking about how good he was with children at this moment.

She could see all the reasons to love him… so many reasons, but it was too soon, wasn’t it?. She didn’t love him, right? Lily thought, her mind racing before realising she wasn’t saying anything.

Panicking, Lily could already hear herself saying something stupid and then making it worse as she tried to explain, but Lan came to her rescue before she could say anything.

‘Stop teasing her, Mom,’ Lan said, ‘this is Lily, a friend of mine and my healer, so don’t scare her off by making her think you are being serious about all that in-laws stuff.’ He laughed as his mother looked between both of them before pinning Lily with a look that said, “he might not know, but I do.”

‘If you say so, my Sweet.’ His mother said, pulling him into a hug. ‘Come on in. Any… friend of Lan’s is always welcome in our home.’ She said with an almost imperceptible pause before friend that only Lily’s burning ears seemed to catch.

‘Thank you,’ Lily blushed, making Lan’s mother smile a little more smugly.

When she thought about Lan, Lily would occasionally wonder what his family was like. Looking at the three of them greeting each other, Lily decided her wildest imagination had been tame as she looked at the scene that would make artists worldwide weep for being unable to capture.

Even if his appearance made perfect sense now, it didn’t make what she saw fair. Despite being in their late forties, both could easily pass for their very early thirties, and that wasn’t the half of it.

Lan’s father looked the perfect image of a seasoned adventurer, being the spitting image of Lan, only half a head taller, with shoulders just as wide. And where Lan looked like… Lan. Those same features came off as ruggedly handsome for his father, and with his cool personality, the man might as well have been pulled from a tale.

Then there was his mother. Not only was she a stunning beauty, but she also had a smile that seemed to set the tone of any room she was in, as Lily could not help but smile back when she saw it.

Amongst the nobility, dark hair for women was seen as less desirable, but the fool who had come up with that trend had clearly not seen Enri Cross when they did, as hazel hair seemed to have been made solely for her.

Each would be the centre of attention anywhere they went, but seeing the three of them together like they were, chatting and laughing, they just made sense. Two unbelievable people and the result of the harmony of their love.

Lily was taken aback as she watched them, but Lan’s mother and father acted like newlyweds even after more than twenty years, which led her to wonder if that was what marrying Lan would be like. Sure, he had no doubt lived with his former master for some time. But she was sure that the warm way the two seemed to gravitate around each other, sharing smiles and stealing looks when the others weren’t looking, would have left an impression on Lan.

Feeling her cheeks colour at the thought of sharing such a moment with Lan, Lily cleared her head as Lan started to talk about his last job.

‘That’s nice, my Sweet.’ Lan’s mother said after he told them about the All Guilds Campaign, pulling him into a hug.

‘R-really?’ Lan asked. ‘Uh hey… Mom, how long are you going to hug me for?’ Lan added when she didn’t let go of him.

‘Oh, about four or so weeks, just until the Campaign is over.’ she said in a calm yet dangerous tone.

‘Mom…’ Lan said flatly, not even trying to break from her hold.

‘I know.’ She sighed as his father placed his hand on her shoulder. ‘We already talked about this and knew this might happen, and we prepared ourselves for that moment. Just promise us that you will come back.’ She asked in a fragile voice.

Lan knew this request was coming, although he thought he could not promise it. Knowing what he was up against and seeing the love in his mother's and father’s eyes made none of that matter.

‘I will.’ Lan said, finding that he meant it. No Matter what he was up against, even if he had to go it alone, somehow he would come back alive and with the world safe.

[New Personal Quest: Keep your word.]

Seeing the fire in his eyes, both his mother and father smiled.

‘Alright, Son,’ Lan’s father smiled, resting his hand on his shoulder. ‘We will help in any way we can.’

‘Thanks,’ Lan smiled back before telling them about the Summoned Hero and the others.

‘We…’ His father started. ‘I guess that makes sense now.’ He nodded, seeming to take the news of their origin far better than he had. But as Lan saw his father look at his mother, he understood why.

‘Although I have to say, a Vampire Lord, necromancer and God’s Blooded all working together is something.’ Lan's father said, lost in his own thoughts as if fighting them in his head.

‘Vampire Lords are tricky.’ His father rubbed his chin.

‘You faced one?’ Lan asked as Lily started to heal him again.

Stolen story; please report.

‘Yeah.’ His father nodded. ‘your mother and I faced one a few years into our career.’ He turned to Lan’s mother.

‘Oh, I remember you flirting with her, yes.’ His mother said dangerously.

‘It would have been hard to flirt when I was trying to stab her in the heart before she could bite me.’ Lan's father sighed before both laughed.

‘Uh, so how did you kill the Vampire Lord?’ Lan asked.

‘Well, all vampires, even the lowest, are magic creatures. Vampire Lords are all high-ranking Mages, which they naturally use to enhance their body and powers; they can heal instantly, teleport and fly, amongst a list of other things, as long as they have mana. Mana, from which they can gather an endless source by drinking blood. Outside of sunlight and holy magic, the only way to kill a vampire is to do enough damage that they run out of mana healing themselves. Once they are out of mana, they go down pretty easy.’

‘Easier said.’ Lan trailed off. With how the Vampire Lord acted, he wondered if he could take her on a date out in the sunshine, or more realistically, maybe he could find a source of holy magic for his Spell Thief.

‘Now, a God’s Blooded on its own can rip a man apart with their hands, and I have never heard of one look the way you described it. But if it’s anything like the others of its kind, it shouldn’t be able to use magic.’

‘You have faced one, too?’ Lan asked, getting a nod from his father.

‘Yeah, one had tried taking over a village to start a new clan a year after I joined.’

‘How did you beat it.’ Lan asked, craving any kind of edge for the fight to come.

‘Stay out of its range,’ Lan's father smiled. ‘Even then, it took us an hour to bleed him to death.’

‘Did you ever face a necromancer?’ Lan asked, hoping they wouldn’t pick up on the anger behind his tone.

‘A few.’ His father nodded. ‘there are two kinds of necromancers in our experience, those that see raising the dead as a religious pursuit. Purifying the bones and whatnot, like the woman that passed through the village when you were little. The other kind is obsessed with death and allows themselves to become corrupted by the rot around them. From the sound of it, if this necromancer has not yet become a lich, they are still just a mortal.’

‘Well, more like a bag of goo.’ Lan’s mother added, getting a nod from his father.

‘Yeah, if you can get past their undead, they will go down easily enough.’

Lan nodded, keeping in mind that it would be easy for his seasoned adventurer parents, even if all the information was still priceless to him.

‘So what are your plans now.’ His father asked.

‘Well.’ Lan started before telling them about what Art had told him. ‘So I need to learn a lot of skills fast.

‘Hmm,’ His father rubbed his chin again. ‘I think I could help you out there, but you use a sword, and although I can show you a little sword work, as you know, I used a spear for most of my life.’

Smiling, Lan reached into the Other World Chest and retrieved his spear. ‘This was the first weapon I ever used. It’s what helped me remember who I was, so it has a lot of sentimental value,’ Lan looked at the spear with warmth for the memory that had become a good one.

‘Well, if you would like… I could teach you.’ Lan's father said with a mix of hope and a little embarrassment.

‘I would like that!’ Lan said, his eyes lighting at the thought of learning from his father again, something both of them did not realise how much they wanted until the offer was made.

‘Okay,’ his father breathed with a small laugh before frowning. ‘But I don’t think this spear will work,’ He added in a tone that Lan knew meant he was working something out. I created “Black Spearmenship” because of the black spear’s design. Instead of a regular spear blade, it had what was pretty much a short sword. So, to use it to its fullest, I incorporated glaive and polearm techniques to create Black Spearmenship.’ His father tapped a finger on his knee. ‘Could I see your sword for a moment.’

Nodding, Lan unbuckled his sword and handed it over. ‘What are you thinking.’ Lan added, knowing it would be the best way to get his father to talk when he was like this.

‘Your sword is a standard Mage Blade design. Although the point is curved like a single-edge blade, the blade is straight and sharp on both sides.’

At that, Lan wanted to ask why but bit his tongue.

‘I think it would work pretty well for Black Spearmanship, ’ Lan's father ended.

‘You want to take it apart?’ Lan asked, unsure if he wanted that, but before he could decide, his father smiled.

‘Not take it apart,’ he said with a knowing smile as he drew the blade and, in one motion, reversed the sword and scabbard before putting the metal end caps together.

When Lan saw this, he knew and couldn’t keep a child-like grin from forming on his face. ‘You figured it out!’ he beamed, deepening his father’s smile. ‘How did you get the matter bond to work?’ Lan asked, almost jumping out of his chair.

As a boy, Lan had occasionally watched his father work on a project he called the Matter Bond. Based on manipulating what Lan’s father called the building blocks of all things.

Lan had never really gotten the whole picture but had felt like he had come close, and now he knew the reason that his father was the only one who had ever talked about Matter. It was through his ability that he was able to see it.

Matter bonding was the idea of convincing the Matter of two objects of the same material that they were one, and although they had come close, they had never been able to get it to hold for too long.

‘Well, it was Silas who gave me the suggestion that finally worked. Instead of trying to sustain the mana flow to the runes, the right timing can cause the two objects to weld, and then all you need is another trace of mana to break the bond.’

‘Ah! That makes sense.’ Lan laughed. ‘So it doesn't need a constant stream of mana like we thought.

‘It would with the old rune, but we need to find the right timing with this one.’ Lan's father laughed. ‘It seems your brother is far better at not overthinking things than we are.’

At that, Lan smiled, although he was a little sad about not being there when they finally worked it out. Knowing Silas was the one to be there left him with a warm feeling.

‘So…’ Lan's father smiled. ‘how would we go about turning this into a spear shaft?’ his father asked, handing the scabbard to Lan.

Taking the scabbard and spinning it in his hand, Lan smiled back. His father did this every time they started a new project.

‘Hollow out and replace the core with a reinforced skeleton that can extend and fill the gaps it makes, along with dividing and capping each part of the scabbard with metal, allowing the Matter Bond.’ Lan answered immediately, knowing it was exactly what his father was thinking even before the grin and nod.

With that, Lan and his father dove head-first into the discussion. Seeing this, Enri patted Lily on the shoulder and nodded for her to follow into the kitchen. ‘They are going to be like this for a while.’

‘Would you mind helping me with lunch?’ Enri asked as she moved to start. After a moment, Lily joined her, and the two fell into a comfortable silence only broken by the occasional direction by Enri. Although Lily was clearly inexperienced in properly using a knife, she was at least sure of herself.

It was clear to anyone with eyes that she was a noble even if she didn’t dress like it, which made the fact she was even trying adorable. Enri decided she liked her and to not tease her too much, even if she had been right.

‘I want to say thank you for looking after Lan.’ Enri added after a moment.

‘What? I didn’t do much.’ Lily protested, almost dropping the cured meat she was holding. ‘I just do a little healing. I wouldn’t say that I am looking out for him…’ she added as she secured the ham.

‘Trust me, healing an Adventurer is the best thing you could do for them. Those with the mark tend to lose themselves in a fight, and it’s worse for Kurt. I have seen him charge a basilisk moments away from petrifying him so he could drop a boulder on its head. When I stopped throttling him long enough to ask him why he would do something like that, all he could say was, “It just seemed like the right thing to do.” Enri mimicked Kurt’s voice.

‘I didn’t speak to him for a week.’ Enri giggled. ‘No, healers are very important, and I think Lan will need a healer more than his father did… oh,’ she smiled, ‘and don’t think I overlooked your work. Your healing marks are the finest I have ever seen, so your skill is not in question.’

Lily blushed at the compliment. ‘Thank you… although I wish I didn’t only get to see him because he was hurt…’ Lily sighed before she realised what she had said, and her head snapped back. ‘That!... is not what I meant!’ she said quickly, only getting the same look that seemed to see right through her again.

‘Of course.’ Enri smiled. ‘knowing that Lan has a healer like you makes me feel better about the Campaign.’

‘I can’t imagine how it feels for you… I know I could barely breathe after hearing it. I mean an All Guilds Campaign…’ Lily said, making Enri smile warmer.

‘He will be back.’ Enri said without hesitation or worry, ‘My Lan is stronger than anyone I have ever known.’ She added as a shadow of pain flashed behind her eyes before it was cast out by another smile. ‘He’ll be back safe. I just need you to promise to make him sound when he returns.’

‘I promise.’ Lily nodded. Somehow, she could feel that there was more than just a promise. ‘although I don’t know how much I will be able to do when I can’t go on the Campaign.’

‘Oh, but you can.’ Enri said, making Lily look up.

‘Huh?’