I passed along the halls of my school, an academy for young knights. Outside young men sparred in one of the fields, others studied on the grass in the summer sun. Now well into my second year of school I had today off, time to relax and kick back.

Months passed since our last encounter, but still my green-skinned enemies didn't make themselves known. Some things of minor note happened of course, but nothing so serious as it could have been. That was good, for my teachers were still none too pleased with me finding trouble when away from the school.

At one point there was a request from the local authorities that I consult with them on some firearm designs I'd provided. That was easy enough, and I quickly found the problems they were having. It was clear that they didn't have the right experts for the adjustments they were trying to make to my designs, but I was in fact just the sort of person they needed, even if I was a rank amateur by my own estimation. A few notes here and there about adjusting size, pressure, and general layout and they quickly had something they could use. I still tried to push for everything to be massively overbuilt, because if a gun had too thick of certain parts it would be heavy, but too thin and you could have a catastrophic failure.

Things were going well, in fact the only thing that was going wrong at all was the letter I'd received just this morning. My parents had written, and in a flowery explanation that really could have been two sentences had told me that they would not be coming to the city during the winter this year. Instead I was left to my own devices. Of course that meant that I also needed to take over management of the house and staff, though they did most of that on their own.

On a happy note though this meant that I could check on my younger half-sister with impunity. My father may have hid her existence, and basically everyone though I should have nothing to do with 'servants' other than purely professional things. Even the few who knew of my father's indiscretion with one of our maids wanted me to keep at arm's length, I had other ideas though. After all, it was a big brother's job to keep an eye out for his siblings, and one I wouldn't shirk.

“Oh, there you are,” said Lucas, approaching me at speed from the side.

I ducked under my best friend's arm and attempt at pulling me into a headlock. He was a good guy, but a bit of a fanatic about training.

“Good morning Lucas, how are things?”

“Excellent, the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, and it's time to train!”

“Don't you get enough from the Headmaster? He has me doing session after session now and I know you're on a similar schedule.”

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“Never enough my friend, never enough. So, you, me, arena.”

“Can't right now unfortunately, I've got business in the city,” I said as I passed him the note, earning a frown.

“Are they even letting you into the city on off days?” he inquired.

“Eh, it's been long enough since the last incident that they're loosening the restrictions, and it's not like I'll be alone.”

My reputation for chaos had spread, much to my chagrin. None of it was my fault of course, or at least most of it wasn't. The simple fact of the matter was that the city's goblin problem was still probably in full swing, even if they'd failed to find the little buggers. There weren't even any actual reports of them, so I could tell they weren't meeting with success in dislodging the green menace beneath the streets.

Honestly I didn't know if the local authorities could handle the goblins, and I couldn't do too much to help them. The fact was that their leader was a centuries old biomancing madman from my former world, led to some significant issues for anyone trying to dislodge them. Even if I could tell the local leaders, which I couldn't, and they did believe me, which they wouldn't, I'm not sure it would've helped much.

“However are you going to catch up to me then? You know I'm beating you more and more by the week.”

“Don't know that I will Lucas, and that's alright, you'll never be the shot or machine worker I am.”

He looked at me almost pained, but what was there to do? I liked the fencing matches we had, to be sure, but I wasn't obsessed like he was. He was well on his way to becoming a master of the art, while I fell behind constantly. Originally he and I had been evenly matched, but he was right, he was pulling ahead slowly but steadily.

“You could, you've got a gift for it.”

“No, I trained all through childhood. Heck, I'm still training far more than almost anyone except you now, but...” I wasn't having the same improvements, progress, sure, but not like he was having.

“Fine, but you'd better be putting your all into your weapons.”

I simply smiled. Perhaps I didn't have either his gift or drive for swordplay, but when it came to other things I was progressing nicely. Hidden amongst my papers and things were blueprints, and the beginning parts of some truly amazing weapons, ones that suited me far better than blades, and would work for others too. Soon, so very soon we'd have a new era in this world, one I'd be at the forefront of.

Splitting from him since I had things to do today I slipped into a carriage and soon found myself traveling in a familiar direction. Trees and fields gave way in short order to walls of stone and brick, the roads shrinking to fit between the rising buildings. Street by street we moved until a house I'd come and gone from for most of my life rose before me once more.

Departing from my conveyance I strolled up to the front door and opened it. Unlike the normal homecoming my family had once a year the staff weren't lined up and ready to greet me. In fact I was alone here in the entry, looking about with a light smile at the decorations. I never did get tired of some of the stylistic bits of art mother had put here.

While I was staring at one particularly lovely painting of a sunrise over a snowy mountain I heard a call from behind me.

“Excuse me sir, what exactly...” the maid who'd stumbled upon me began, clearly displeased someone had just waltzed right into the house without so much as knocking. When she saw my face she snapped back. “Apologies m'lord, I didn't know you were coming by today. Can I be of any assistance?”

Sadly I'd scared the poor girl. She'd thought I was some intruder to be chased off, and even begun to raise her voice, which was good. However with the distinctions in society and the strict discipline some people kept she might well expect to be punished for doing so to a member of the family she worked for. There were people like that, but not being a complete bastard I wasn't one of them.

“Ah my apologies for that, I didn't quite have time to send word ahead. Would you be so kind as to find Mrs. Rider and let her know I'd like a word?” I asked in a soft, relaxed tone.

“Of, of course, right away.” She turned on her heel and fled.

Was I really that intimidating? Honestly I tried my best to be a decent man to everyone I met, but then again I supposed the house staff didn't end up interacting with me all that much. Shaking my head I went back to my contemplation, this time on a cityscape painting of somewhere I'd never been before.9