Ignus seemed less than enthused when I shared with him my interaction. It was at least nice that he'd made a hole in his busy schedule for me, but that was sort of expected, after all it wasn't like I spent a lot of time bothering him, and never did we meet for some needless thing. Once his people had relayed who was here he'd quickly made the time, and seemed satisfied that he had.

“It was good of you to try and convince them to surrender.”

“I'm assuming it would be accepted then?” I asked.

“There would be some concerns, and I'd need to talk with his Grace for any formal arrangements, but yes, it is always better to make enemies into allies than fight them.” I sighed in relief at his words. “Of course I would have preferred if you'd come to us first to confirm that before making offers...”

“Honestly I wasn't sure I'd have many more chances to do so. It's not like I can just go down and find them with ease.”

“No, honestly not, an our people have failed outright. Their words about elves coming after them concern me most though. Why would they do that? Why change their target? It makes no sense unless there's some other connection.”

“What if there is though?” I asked.

“Like what? It's not like Archmage Penumbra and this 'Father' have anything in common.”

They did though, and so did I. Both of them were old, powerful, and from Earth. How had the elves known that though? And if they did, why not come after me? I was certainly a much softer target than either a hundreds of years old archmage or an insane goblin magus and his army of mutant children. Heck, even with my family around and guards the attacks I'd seen against the former would have left me stone dead.

“Their mana,” I answered. “It's the same.”

Ignus popped his head up, staring at me.

“I'll admit I can't see it, but you shouldn't be able to either?” he questioned.

“I can't, but she confirmed it for me, and it's how 'Father' and his people found me.” At his raised eyebrow I continued. “Mine is also the same.”

“Shit,” he breathed, grabbing some files from his desk. “I'm not sure why it matters, but it could. You do have a knack for making friends too don't you lad?”

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“A skill I've long cultivated,” I assured him.

This conclusion raised so many questions though. How much did the elves know about people from Earth? Were they making the connection between us and the jumps in technology? If they were it might be understandable that they were a bit antagonistic. Elves were longer lived, but slower growing, with humans gaining power we could pose an existential threat, and the quick reproduction of goblins, according to stories, could be much the same.

The elven nations had their own hero though, one who was almost certainly another reincarnator. He was supposed to be dead, but what if... What if they'd gained another, or their old leader had left instructions or something. Anyone coming from our world to this one would certainly know the danger, and he could have either been insane, like Parkov, or just misunderstood after so long.

“The look in your eye tells me you perhaps know something you're not sharing,” Ignus said, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Nothing concrete, just suspicions is all.”

He gazed at me like he didn't believe that for a minute. “If you know something you need to tell me.”

“Nothing I can put into words, but I think there may be a connection between our mana and something else. We're all... strange, the kind of person who makes waves. What if there were others in the past like us, others who for some unknown reason caused them to react like this?”

“That seems improbable,” he grumbled.

I just shrugged. “There's nothing else I can do for now, unless you had something?”

“No, just be careful.”

I sighed that he wasn't prying too much more and left. Between this meeting and my previous one it was now getting quite late. Crossing the city this way and that wasn't instant what with the traffic from all the people arriving for the season. Dozens of noble families, wealthy individuals who wanted to emulate them, and a veritable army of servants were all coming into the city. It caused an absolute disaster of congestion for a week or two as things began to get prepared.

It was nearly dark as we pulled into the house's drive and I had to rub my head in exhaustion. Even if I'd done fairly little today, it was quite a bit of effort. Our cook Sinea would have prepped such a nice lunch too, all of my favorites. I'd have to apologize to her for my tardiness and missing that special meal. Something pleasant before my grandparents got here this evening.

That thought hit me as the driver opened the door. My mind spun, perhaps I could avoid their attentions if they weren't here yet. A quick look showed that there were no other vehicles present in the drive, where one might expect them to be had they arrived recently.

“Something wrong my lord?” the driver asked.

“Perhaps not just yet,” I said, hurriedly hopping down.

“Ah, very good sir, would you like anything else?”

“No, no, go take care of the horses, I'm sure they're tired.”

He chuckled just a bit. “Right you are sir.”

I hurried to the door, there wasn't a moment to waste. I needed to get ready, to tell the staff to prepare, grandpa would be here any moment. He wouldn't be a problem at all, but grandmother had rules like a chef had knives, many and sharp, and we couldn't disappoint her.

Passing the empty entry I hurried towards the central rooms. There would surely be someone here, and if there weren't Mrs. Rider's office was closest to the drawing room anyway. As I entered said drawing room I found them there, grandmother was about halfway through a sip of tea as I rushed through the door.

My mother's mother, slowly finished the drink she was taking, eyes narrowed over the cup. As she put it down I could see how her lips were thinned into a single line, displeasure written on her face. Beside her grandpa seemed moderately tired, but also a bit amused. He loved antics in a way I never did, though I surely ended up in more than he did.

“Good evening Percival, you're late.”

“Ah, grandmother. Yes, I got a bit delayed with some meetings. I was unaware you'd arrived yet, I didn't see your carriage at all.”

“A happy accident, our boat made better time than expected and we got here around noon. Hoping to see you we came right over.”

They'd been here for hours and hours... “Oh, I see. My apologies for not being here to meet you.”

“Nothing else to say?” she questioned.

I thought for a second. “Not as such no.” I then turned to my grandfather. “Grandpa, do you happen to have any books on elven history?”

Grandpa guffawed while his wife began to develop a twitch in her eye. You'd think after years of it they'd be used to me.