Kyrion wouldn’t call out that most fled when she almost accidentally killed the last suitor who thought stealing from an alchemist was a good idea. One guy was all for a long-distance marriage, while the other died in his late third century. His sister’s laundry was not his to air.

“Jin, what would Dwen think if she heard you attempt to ask out her sister?” Kyrion said before scowling. How are you speaking this language?”

“Multiversal translators, most who jump worlds through the proper channels, are given translation abilities to survive,” Thalia stated before the last words caught up.

“Did you find Dwen?” Thalia looked like she’d jump the pilot if he didn’t answer.

“Find? She’s somewhere on the planet I’d imagine.”

“What do you mean?”

“Where we’re headed. Sheesh, now strap in.” Kyrion closed the cockpit, and Caladbolg gained altitude as its wings built power.

“Why would us courting be an issue?”

“Because Dwen has already laid claim.” Kyrion mouthed behind a hand.

“She’s what, four years older?”

“A year younger actually. I am technically now an older brother.”

“Not how math works Kyr, at best you’re seventeen so you’d be the same age despite displacement.”

“How do you know his age? Also aren’t you a little ol–” Kyrion reviewed an elbow to the gut.

“At best I’m twenty one, and he can pilot the golem. That speaks of high intellect.”

“I can’t.” Kyrion ruptured his eardrums and relaxed as mouths moved before his regeneration kicked in.

“So I’ll need you to go faster.” Kyrion stated.

“We’re past mach one.”

“And I haven’t seen Lin yet.”

“Little Nelin?” Thalia asked.

“Did everyone else remember her?”

“She was awakened in my batch, so of course. We used to be friends.”

“Ugh… I’ll get some air. Remember to speed up.” Kyrion fazed through the wall as he sat and wrapped his hand around Caladbolg’s shoulder.

It took fifteen minutes to catch up; by then, the Mech had to slow to conserve energy, much to Kyrion’s irritation.

“Faster! Faster!” Kyrion poured mana into Caladbolg with much to no reaction from the machine.

“So you managed to catch up?” Lin turned to see the sizeable flying golem, and her eyes nearly popped from their sockets.

“Like my new ride? Well it’s not really mine, but I did manage to arrive just in time.”

“Kyrion. Is that Cecil’s secret weapon? Has it even been registered?”

“Hmmm? Oh, don’t worry, this is just a deterrent. Just in case this serial kidnapping and murder thing is a sign of things to come.”

“Why would you need a weapon like that as a deterrent?”

“It’s for the Experts. According to Cecil, it works like a giant wand.”

“So powerful magic, are you the power source?”

“Meh. Partly. I am no longer necessary to make it move. If that’s what you want to know.”

“Right. It has occurred to me that flying a dragon into an elven city will likely get me shot down.” Lin stood atop her dragon as it slowed before jumping onto the Mech. Luckily, Kyrion’s wind manipulation allowed her to land safely while moving at a dangerous speed.

“That was dangerous. Do you know that?”

“I’d have been fine. I’m not as dainty as you seem to think I am.” Lin stated.

“I’d ask you to get in but this spot has a better view. Also there isn’t any room inside. I have a stowaway.”

“A stowaway? Who would?”

“Thalia. Do you recall that sister of mine?”

“No…Yes? Not sure actually, is that the oldest one?”

“She’s around three years older than you.”

“Uhh… I’m sorry to say but most of that time is a bit blurry to me.”

“Fair enough.”

“I can’t believe I was forgotten.” Thalia stated.

Kyrion resisted the urge to say, “Nothing unusual there.”

The Mech’s left shoulder panel buckled nearly, causing Kyrion to fall off as he climbed atop its head.

“You ok up there?” Thalia asked a bit too quickly.

“Can you read my mind or something?” Kyrion asked bluntly.

“You aren’t hard to read. Little brother.”

Kyrion was hard to read most of the time, but he had rolled his one good eye. The other refused to listen.

Within the next hour, the group arrived outside the significant tree capital and disembarked, with Jin going back into Kyrion’s domain along with the Mech.”

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

“Now then, you know I’m currently in disguise. I go by Rion.”

“Gotcha. Why do I sense three family members here? Dad, Mom, and Dwen?” Thalia seemed concerned.

“Mother is here?” Kyrion looked into the middle distance before looking outside the village. He could

“Yes. She isn’t near Dad. Or my sister, somewhere underground east of here,” Thalia said.

“East would be… She’s at the restaurant. I sense the headmaster and someone else there as well. Lok maybe.” Kyrion let his senses reach out before feeling the backlash.

A man with black hair and sunglasses appeared with a raised eyebrow.

“You could have informed me that you were leaving the grounds.”

“Well I intended to have some alone time with Lin. Given all the eyes on me in the city I chose somewhere much more discrete to have our discussion. Somehow we ended up with a tag along.”

“You’re back quite quickly. For a trip there. Thalia, your mother has just arrived, she’s drinking tea in a restaurant over here.”

“If by tea you mean booze, then sure.” Kyrion rolled his excellent eye and then scowled.

“I mean, it’s a fermented herbal concoction that uses alcohol instead of water as a base. No different than a highly effective potion.”

“Smells like spirits to me.” Kyrion sighed, forgetting Rion for a moment.

“Oh, right…is today that day?”

“If you mean your bir–”

“Mother’s Day,” Rion stated. It was an odd coincidence that Kyrion and his mother shared a birthday. Neither really liked celebrating it themselves and preferred to keep quiet about it. Kyrion, because his nature was more giving than taking, didn’t like receiving gifts as much as he enjoyed giving them.

“Oh right, she doesn’t like being called out on her age. I mean we’re only in our late–”

“Lalalala! Take this and go.” Kyrion withdrew a sealed bottle of wine with an eerily high mana concentration.

“Ah yes, grape tea.” The headmaster sighed.

“It’s called wine, we both know this, why are you being weird about it now. Mr. Baccus. If anything it’s just expired grape juice. Well…Take this one as well…But don’t tell anyone where you got it from. Capiche?” Kyrion seemed somewhat irritated.

“What? Is this?” The headmaster took the blue bottle and scowled.

“Mana infused Pomegranate wine.” Kyrion replied, trying to rush the old man away.

“When did you manage to age this? Feels like it’s at least a century old.”

“I have hobbies outside of my profession, it just so happens I’m better at this than alchemy.” Kyrion looked to the side.

“What’s going on?” Lin asked.

“I may have made some booze during my trip abroad in an attempt to make better healing vials.” Kyrion tried to direct the conversation.

“We’ll examine this for you. Make sure it won’t make anyone sick. Happy eighteenth, or was is sixteenth? Did you get those two years back yet?” The headmaster handed Lin a box with a ribbon, adjusted his sunglasses, and teleported.

“So… That wasn’t a space affinity.” Kyrion stated.

“You’re not getting off that easy.” Lin pulled Kyion’s ear.

“I don’t know what your talking about?” Kyrion resisted scratching his chin.

“Is that why you really wanted to go out today?”

“To be honest, I kind of forgot what day it was.” Kyrion looked away.

“Thiteenth day of winter

“We already knew that. I believe that was a reflection. Although the ability to take things with him is new.” Kyrion stated.

“If you can understand how it works you’ll figure out how he’s able to mimic others abilities.” Thalia stated helpful.

“He told me once, but I don’t think I understood it. Anyhow, we should get back.” Kyrion turned to the right to see a familiar white-haired boy sitting on a trashcan.

“I’m not mad. Just disappointed.” White Fox stated as he stared daggers at the two of them.

“What do you want?”

“Cake, don’t know why i’ve been craving it today. Also Bastion is too busy being annoying to play with.”

“So you had a spat?” Lin asked.

“N-no! Just a disarangment.”

“Disagreement?” Kyrion raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what I said.”

Lin looked like she’d say something, stopped, then scowled.

“This is some weird dissonance. It looks like I’ll be headed off for a while. Don’t cause trouble.”

Kyrion sighed. “Don’t you have a bedtime?”

“No. My school doesn’t enforce bedtimes.”

“What school?”

The boy looked at Kyrion, smiled, and said, with enough sincerity to make himself sick, “The Republic’s academy.”

“Don’t know its name?”

“Look. Do you think I pay that much attention to things like that? I have my priorities straight: my snacks, my family, myself, my undead minions, my friends, my toys, and finally, those teammates I was assigned. Everything else doesn’t stick, and I don’t recall the names of most of those people on my team. When this tournament is over, I’m likely to forget their names.”

“Snacks above all else? Where would you learn such a thing?” Kyrion asked.

“Good food is life and great snacks are forever.” White Fox said his creed, which left Kyrion dumbstruck.

“Now then, do you have any chips and cakes? Don’t lie to me. I know your gales.”

Kyrion sighed and pulled two bulk-sized bags of potato chips from his bag, tossing both to the kid. As they were in the air, Kyrion launched a personal slice of cake with excessive force.

Spectral hands rose from the ground and easily caught the bags and cake. “See? This is a sufficient bribe for now.” White Fox took the chips and ran.

“Why doesn’t he just tell me what he wants?”

“What were those bags?” Lin asked.

“Oh, a heavily addictive substance made from potatoes, and salt. You probably wouldn’t like them.” Kyrion deflected.

“Are you lying?”

“I did say they were addictive. Nobody can eat just one and they tend to do the body bad. I intend to corner the market, using potatoes, corn, and rice. With my connections to Tiffany I hope to create a trade caravan to pedal my wares.”

“I have never heard of any of those foods. Foods? Are you hiding your favorites from me?”

“I mean… Won’t I be spoiling you a bit too much if I give you anything else tonight?” Kyrion sighed.

“Ah, you’re right. Though we have yet to have dinner and your mother has taken over the restaurant for a celebration. I’m not tired yet, so lets talk a bit. A moonlit picnic sounds like it would be fun.”

“Fine, you win. But only if we send Sigfried to the restaurant. If he tries to give me something, I may lose it.”

“Mamon? Are you up? Yes. Alright I need you to bring Mr. Siegfried to that restaurant we always eat at.” Lin sighed.

Kyrion teleported them to the top of the waterfall and smoothed the ground before laying a blanket down. From his domain, he pulled out a few baskets worth of sandwiches, a large bag of chips, a tray of sweets, and two wine glasses filled with a light green beverage.

The two would eat under the stars before he walked her home. Sadly for him, his team had other plans, and within thirty minutes of settling down, a half-asleep Bastion tracked him down. Behind Bastion was an irritated Hel and angry Minah.

“While we were off planning, were you spending the night on a date with that girl?” Minah asked in the Asmodeus octave.

“I mean, of course, tomorrow is practically a day of rest if we’re fighting with Volain’s team.”

“What makes you so confident in Volain?”

“Volain, beat that sister of yours. Goldilocks wasn’t weak, also, No one on the opposition is worth worrying over save the charm user.”

Lin curiously took a chip from the big bag and lit it up before covering her mouth. “Sorry.”

Bastion, half asleep, threw himself over Kyrion’s lap. “So…Why are you two even up?”

“One it isn’t that late and two, Bastion started sleep walking, and since you left him unattended.”

“Right, those kids are my responsibility, I shouldn’t leave them alone while the headmaster goes off drinking.”

“You shouldn’t leave him alone at all if I’m being honest.” Hel sighed.

“So this is where you ran off to.” Brion arrived with Max; both were covered in dirt, twigs, scapes, and blood, among other things.

“And where were the two of you?”

“We were Training in that dungeon. We almost died quite a few times. What animal changes limbs depending on the time of day?” Brion asked, holding his head.

“It’s a riddle, throw logic out the window and use your brain to think out of the box.”

“I never was good at using that muscle.”

“We triggered nearly every trap as well.” Max sighed.

“So, why did you two decide to come here?”

“We want healing, wait, are those snacks?”

“Help yourself. So long as no one else…”

Cecil and Bella walked out of the forest holding hands. They stopped like deer in headlights when they saw the others sitting near the waterfall.

“Why are you all here?” Cecil asked.

“I must assume Tiffany is the only one getting sleep tonight. Along with Eden.” Kyrion squinted.

Unexpectedly, Tiffany materialized next to a tree with a tired Eden. “You aren’t getting out of things this easily. This is a milestone.”

“I see...” Kyrion was now suspicious.

“So what is all of this?” Eden pointed to the food arrayed on the blanket.

“It’s a picnic, I have chips, cookies, cup noodles, heat and eat dinners, coffee milk, metal snacks, sweets, bitter grapes, fruit, hummus, and more.” Kyrion waved a hand over the food he had arranged.

“Ah right. I also have Caladbolg in my back pocket along with someone who can show you how the new functions work.”

Cecil sighed. “I’m suspecting we’ve been funneled here. Anyhow, why is it that you happen to disappear from campus every time this day comes?”

“I don’t know what your talking about. Look, I have Booky.” Kyrion threw a blue box at Cecil.

“Did you raid a supermarket or something?”

According to my notes, “I raided quite a few bulk stores. To be honest, I don’t know exactly what I have stored.”

“Cup noodles? Which one is that?”

Cecil picked up one of the containers and showed it to Maximus. “Rion, can you add some boiled water?”

Kyrion waved a hand over the cup, added boiling water to the line, and sighed at Cecil. “You are getting too used to magic.”

“Isn’t that normal?” Cecil played dumb.

As time passed, any hope of privacy dwindled. So Kyrion left a bottle of the regenerating wine and left. He’d check back before the tournament… Kyrion left a few cups to be used with a carafe of water.

“So Lin, are you ready to walk home?”

“Jus port me in my bed.”

Kyrion placed a delayed regeneration spell on her, waking her up hydrated and without a hangover. He tried to, but he discovered she was probably tired from integrating a new spirit core. The spell failed to latch on to any damage.

Kyrion sent out his senses and found Mamon, and from there, he opened a portal connecting the place. Said portal was locked at the spirit masquerading as a human walked through and noticed him carrying its half-asleep master.

“Mamon right? Your friend needs to get some rest.”

“It’s Annoying, but I’m fine with it.” Mamon let out a sigh and moved out of the way.

Kyrion placed Lin on her bed, tucked her in, then made to leave when a hand latched onto his wrists and didn’t let go. Then, the snoring began.