After clearing out the crowd in the village, Glyn escorts Eliana to the manor. Tisha and Mila stare at her curiously as they approach the gates, unsure about what to think of the girl. She oddly keeps a strange distance from Glyn, but if he moves away from that distance, she rushes to his side, working her hardest to keep him away while also clinging to his side.
“This place is shabby.” The girl says staring at the manor.
“It’s a work in progress.” Glyn laughs.
She turns away. “I guess this is fitting for a Half-Elf like yourself.”
“Really now?”
She turns away from Glyn as the others watch her.
“What’s with this kid?” Tisha asks.
“Do all nobles act like this?” Mila asks.
“No idea.”
She looks around. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Who do you mean?”
“This is a war game, right? Then it can’t just be the three of you, so where is everyone?”
“Some are in the dungeon training. Others are relaxing. And even then, some are walking around the island.”
She stares at Glyn. “That’s too risky!”
“Huh?”
“The war started! You can be attacked at any moment! Shouldn’t you all be ready to fight at any given moment!?” She yells.
“We’re aware of the danger. That’s why we have to patrol. The island’s pretty big, so we might miss some spots, but if we don’t take chances to relax, then we’ll be too tired when the fight does come.”
She pauses for a moment. “Fine, I’ll accept that answer.”
“So, this is Glyn’s sister!” A voice says from above.
Tan flies down from above, landing on top of a tree over the group. Eliana stares up at her and hides behind Glyn as he pats her head. She nods and comes from under him, standing away from him and crossing her arms.
“I am Eliana Mattox! Heir to the house of Mattox! State your name and business here!” She proclaims.
“Oh, what a haughty girl we have here,” Faye says, appearing behind Eliana.
Eliana shrieks and rushes over to Glyn’s side as she stares at her.
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“What’s up with her?”
“You scared her, dummy.” Tan laughs from above as Faye glares up at her.
“Oh yeah, well come down here and I’ll give you something to be scared about!”
“No.”
Mila shakes her head. “Come on, don’t fight. We don’t want to scare her anymore.”
“You guys finished up fast,” Glyn says.
“Oh, boss, you left the office today. We were getting worried with how couped up you’ve been this past week.”
Glyn smirks. “I’ve had a lot to think about. Oh, I’ve been working on some ideas for a barrier so we can try to keep this place in one piece.”
“Nice. Repair work is a pain when you don’t have fingers.” Tan says, flying down.
“Glyn, it’s good to see you out and about.” Zanrit walks up to the group carrying a monster’s corpse.
“You went hunting?”
“Yes. I went with the hunting party. The monsters have been rather rare for the past week. But we’ve been able to mitigate the food supply with an uptake in fishing.”
“That’s odd. We’ll have to look into that later, but for now, I’m focused on something else.”
Zanrit stares down at Eliana, who shakes, terrified of the giant Orc. He sits down, hiding the dead monster away and putting on a calm smile and trying to calm the girl. Only for her to be terrified of the smiling blood blood-covered man.
“Oh, poor Zanny. She doesn’t know how much of a nice guy you are,” Tan says, flying to his side.
“What’s going on?” Rufus asks, running behind Zanrit. “Who’s the kid?”
Before long, all the Pawns return to the manor and gather around the courtyard. Glyn smirks as everyone stares at Eliana as he rubs her head.
“Let’s have some lunch!” He yells as everyone cheers.
Glyn and the others prepare a meal, with Eliana watching on from a distance curiously. As the meal comes together, everyone sits at a recent addition to the dining room, a large long table. Mila brought up the idea during the midst of repairs, and Glyn went along with it. Glyn sits in the middle of the table with Eliana at his side as she stares at the slab of meat in front of her. Glyn eats his, showing its safe to her, and she mimics him, finding the meat tasty and tender.
“So, I’ve been wondering how come that girl looks nothing like you,” Faye says.
“Faye!” Tan yells out.
“Come on, time and place,” Fiona says.
Miller folds his arms and looks at Glyn. “Ignore her. She can be insensitive at times.”
“It’s fine. It’s no secret. Eliana is biologically my half-sister, supposedly.” Glyn says.
Eliana pouts. “We are!” She yells.
Glyn smiles. “Yeah okay.”
Mila stares at the pair and then looks at Miller.
“Anyway, we have two separate mothers. My mother on paper is the mistress while Eli’s mother is the official wife.”
Eliana nods. “But Mama is nicer than Mother. Mama listened to me and brought me here to see you.”
“I figured she was the one who came along with you.”
“So, your mother is here!? Should we go find her?” Mila asks.
Glyn shakes his head. “There’s no need. Mom will show up whenever she wants to. If I know her, she left Eliana in the village alone on purpose to draw my attention while she went about doing something.”
“Right. Mama said to wait there, and you’d show up. I don’t know where she went after that, but she assured me it was safe.”
Miller tilts his head. “There was a strange woman I saw briefly who pointed me to your sister.”
“That was likely my mom.”
“Oh. Sorry for calling her strange.”
Glyn smirks. “It’s fine. Mom does whatever she wants with little to no thoughts of others. That’s how I came to be in the first place, so I’m used to it.”
“Wait speaking of Elvan women. Where is Tisha?” Sam asks.
“I think she ran off before Zanrit came. I’ll pack her away some food later.” Mila says.
Glyn sighs. “I just hope those two don’t fight.”
“Why do you say that?” Rufus asks.
“Mama hates Elves.” Eliana folds her arms. “And I hate them too.”
“Huh?” Everyone asks in unison.