It was only a couple of hours later after Cloud and Val showed up to fix the situation Zacharia put the visitors in. They were released from prison in handcuffs, like dirty criminals, and taken to the Mystio household and put under house arrest.

It was already decided that the town will be informed of potential issues regarding the trust between the lords and the military force. While Zeke wasn’t sure how that would work out, it was clear Zacharia was driving a wedge between one side to the other to prove a point.

Last time he remembered, Cloud told him about some citizens having an issue with him as a lord. While none of them showed during the proclamation of his status, there were those who had an issue with Zeke being a lord. While the number wasn’t big, it was enough to make a voice. Zacharia was using this as a chance to make that voice louder, bringing in more numbers to that opposition.

Thankfully, the barrier was still in place. Even Zacharia wasn’t willing to put away such a useful buff for mana regeneration, and that only made Zeke more frustrated.

As for Cloud and Val, Zeke worried that they would be painted as villains, like one of those corrupt politicians back in their old world. That only made him angry as the two did nothing but truly try to help them. They didn’t use Zeke’s power or Mikella’s to further their goals. They only used them to help others, even pleading with them.

Thankfully, Clara and Ana were back with them after Adam personally took them. He was somehow told of what happened, though only snippets of it. Of course, Adam was already for Zeke and Mikella even without Zeke helping him with the forge.

“That jarhead has always been a pain in the ass to deal with, but ta’ think he’d do such a thing,” Adam shook his head. “Knowing you two, I knew you would’ve helped. But even I’m a little worried about going to war with Bastion. Guess it’s high time I put your miracle work to good use.”

Adam fared them good night as he left for his shop. He had been working non-stop since the forge was fixed, and even now he had a lot of orders to do. Zeke was glad he got back to work, but now he wondered whether Adam was taking it too far.

Once Adam left, Clara and Ana immediately asked them many questions. It was evening right now, and the fall was closing in. The nights were getting chilly, but the warmth inside the Mystio household let them be with casual clothes. Though their mood was anything but snuggly.

“Some folks are saying that you two are bad guys. But you’re not bad guys, right?” Ana asked.

“Of course not!” Clara declared proudly. “They’re good guys! That giant meanie is the bad guy!”

Zeke could at least find humor in Clara calling Zacharia a giant meanie, though to say that he was a bad guy was putting it lightly.

What Zacharia did was cruel beyond measure. Not just treating them like they were criminals, but to put through Piker like that just to find out their secret. He read up on what breaking an oath would do to someone, and the results weren’t pretty.

At the least, they would end up losing anything valuable. They have a temporary debuff that has their stats lowered for a certain amount of time. Depending on the severity of the oath, that debuff could last for a few days to a few months. A terrifying debuff to have if you rely on your stats for everyday life, especially as a soldier in the military.

Mikella hugged Clara, her chin resting on top of Clara’s head as she fumed at the idea of them being evil. Ana sat next to Zeke, who was just contemplating what had just occurred.

Zacharia meant for them to be used like tools for the potential invasion for Bastion. But thankfully he’s not gonna suddenly put them into war on the first day. First, his retinue needed to arrive in the next few days. With them on hand, he planned on studying and surveilling Bastion for a chance at a counterattack. That’s where their abilities would come into play.

It pissed him off to no end. Even though he liked the idea of being useful for everyone, being used like this was something he hated. It felt so similar to when his mother would demand of him to do something, regardless of how he felt.

But he did it anyway, and despite being the one to tell him, she would always be disappointed in him. No matter what he did, he could never leave a good impression.

Even though this time he could do it better, he hated having to do what anyone else says, especially by someone that just treated his own adopted son’s life like it was nothing compared to his duty.

Piker’s face flashed in his mind again. He looked like he'd been through hell, put by his own foster father. How could anyone do such a thing to their child, regardless of blood relations?

He looked over to Clara, now calm and relaxed within her sister’s embrace. How could anyone even think of harming a family member for some duty? Was his work that more important?

“Do you think…” Mikella suddenly said, the silence breaking from her hesitation. “Do you think I said something awful to Piker?”

Zeke recalled the words she spat out at him. At the time, it felt natural. The betrayal was palpable even to Zeke. Still, realizing that Piker was forced to betray them, now it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“No, I don’t think so,” Zeke solemnly said. “Sure, it was outside of his control, but you and I had every right to be angry.”

“Still…” Mikella clutched Clara into her arms, embracing her tighter. Clara only responded in kind. “I feel like I should apologize…”

Zeke was sometimes taken aback whenever Mikella would go off rails like that. The lightning strike that occurred in the jail cell would’ve burnt them to cinders if it weren't for the cell draining their resources by the gallons.

But he was once again humbled to see Mikella regretting her actions. She had every right to be angry, but once she saw the error of her ways, she wanted to restore her honor, so to speak. Piker really went through the worst of it, though it was all mostly Zacharia’s fault.

Hesitating for a moment, Zeke responded.

“Do you think Piker would accept it?” Zeke eventually said. “He’s a pretty prideful guy. Most likely he’ll still think he betrayed us.”

He couldn’t read Piker’s mind, but his face showed everything back then. His pale face, along with his weakening stats due to the oath’s punishment, made his facial expressions easier to read. It was cruel, and Zeke felt nauseated at the idea of being used like that.

Mikella nodded her head. “I guess…”

“Mmh, no more!”

The two adults and Clara watched as Ana suddenly spoke out, landing on the floor with a thump from the sofa.

“I don’t wanna hear more sad talk! I’m gonna make something to eat for all of us all by myself! So just cheer up!”

Ana said proudly as she ran towards the kitchen, actually readying to prepare something to eat. Since the hosts were out at the moment, it was time for Zeke and Mikella to cook instead.

Zeke grimaced as he quickly stood up. “I’ll, uhh… I’ll keep a look out for her.”

Mikella giggled. “Thanks.”

He didn’t know how, but Ana made the entire mood suddenly disappear. Though Zeke panicked when Ana picked up a knife to cut things, the two of them managed to make some sandwiches riddled with jam.

Though the bread was cut off at random portions from her trying to cut the crusts off much to Zeke’s dismay, and the jam to bread ratio was completely off in some places… It was delicious.

It was just a simple jam sandwich, but the adults relished the taste as it helped calm them, watching the children chide at each other for Ana’s cooking skills and how Clara would make it better if she was charged with it.

In the end, the two looked back at each other, a silent agreement made in place.

They would jump back from this, and they would be stronger for it. They’ll always look out for each other no matter what–for themselves, and for Clara’s sake.

…..

That night, Zeke took the time to think about what happened. It was such a hectic day compared to the past few weeks, so it took a while for him to sleep again like before.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He thought about Piker, Zacharia, Bastion, the possible retinue coming in, as well as the potential war that they will bring. He thought about the lives that could be snuffed out, and the potential violence that may occur. Once Zacharia found out about their potential, Zeke feared what he would try to make him do with his barriers, or with Mikella’s powerful lightning attunement.

Would he force them to take on Acquired Skills that would be dangerous for them? Skills that would be useful for slaughter and slaying the innocent?

Somehow, that felt… wrong. Zeke pondered why it felt wrong despite how Zacharia did everything today, and before he could go any further, his sleep took hold of his consciousness.

When morning rose a few hours later, his eyes fluttering from the sunlight peering through the window pane, he grumbled. Apparently the studded star acted like the sun where it directly showed its light right at his eyes to wake him up.

Just as he was about to curse the star just like he always did with the sun in his old world, his brows scrunched up. He saw he had a blinking icon for notifications.

Curious, he pulled them up, seeing a surprising notification.

> Level Up! You are now Level 37. You gain 4 free points (4 FP total).

>

> You have gained +6 DEX from your class.

> You have gained +6 INT from your class.

> You have gained +6 SPI from your class

The next minute, Zeke ran out of his room and sprinted straight to Mikella’s door. He knocked gently, realizing that Mikella was also getting up as she opened the door quickly.

Her eyes were just as wide as Zeke, as though the two had the very same message. Zeke only had one thing to say:

“Did you go out hunting at night?” Zeke accused, his brows furrowing.

“I was gonna ask the same thing!” Mikella said frustratingly, though she didn’t look offended by his accusation.

She didn't go out hunting at night before, as far as Zeke was concerned. But considering Mikella going crazy with leveling the last time she went out raising her Dragon Warrior levels, Zeke feared for the worst.

However, he saw that Clara was just getting up from the bed, yawning after noticing Mikella leaving so quickly.

“Mmh…?” Clara moaned in displeasure from waking up. “What’s going on…?”

“Clara,” Mikella said gently, smiling at her. “Morning. You remembered the two of us sleeping together for the whole night, right?”

At her questioning, Clara nodded with ease. Mikella looked back to Zeke, putting on a face that said ‘See? I told you so.’

Zeke didn’t think she was lying, but after seeing Clara’s confirmation, it had to be the truth. So the only thing that could’ve happened was…

“Did…” Mikella answered, reaching the same conclusion as he did. “Did the barrier around Eve Glade do this?”

It took a while for the adults to clean and freshen themselves up for the day, helping the kids get up and running. Ana was just zonked out at Mikella’s bed, proving what a heavy sleeper she was.

The two talked about the potential leveling, and the two made the conclusion. The barrier helping everyone with the 50% Mana regeneration was responsible for their leveling.

Normally, Zeke’s barrier provided little experience from his assistance during combat, the other fighters taking the larger amount. However, Zeke’s town barrier helped not just the fighters, but everyone in the town.

That included the crafters, the mages practicing their spells for skill leveling, the people trying to make a living. Perhaps the idea of the barrier constantly defending the town from potential monsters coming at them also helped a lot.

Four days passed since the barrier was put up. And now, it was rolling out the dividends like waves crashing to the shores. Perhaps someone finally made a breakthrough, and as breakthroughs kept coming through, it was enough to warrant them several levels at once. It was only a guess, but that made the most sense.

As they were connected, Mikella also gained levels despite the disparity between their two classes. As Zeke’s Runist Class required a hell of a lot of XP, the fact that they leveled twice from just sleeping was just too much.

“I think you just made up all the levels I picked up a while ago,” Mikella said, sounding dampened but her expression was anything but.

It took more XP to raise levels after Level 30 compared to after Level 10, so he felt his chest puffed up despite still being tired from just waking up.

Just as they were about to talk about the potential gains this could bring them, the door opened up from the living room. Cloud and Val returned, their eyes showing none of the usual morning glory like before. They looked tired, exhausted, and from Cloud, looking as though he lost at a poker table throughout the entire night.

“Mommy! Daddy!” Ana shouted with glee as she ran towards Val to hug her, Cloud showing a cranky expression which diverted their daughter.

Val groaned as she toughed it out and hugged her daughter right back. Ana quickly realized her mistake and looked up at her.

“I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, sweetie,” Val had the most radiant smile as she brushed Ana’s blond locks. “I’m just a little tired, but not tired enough to get a hug from you.”

“You need any help?” Zeke stood up immediately, realizing the issue.

Val still had issues regarding her channels, and looking the way she did, her channels reacted badly to it at that one moment and caused her some sore pain. Zeke had been making sure to keep on track with that, but Val shook her head.

“Please, it’s nothing. If anything, you are the ones that we need to tend to. I can’t believe that you two have been sentenced to prison like that.”

“All because of that damn general.”

Cloud spoke up, brushing his daughter’s hair with a smirk, but he quickly frowned as he mentioned the general. He walked over to the two, and with a look at the two of them, frowned deeper if possible.

“I want to apologize to the two of you. I know that yesterday was a shitshow, only made worse after he found out about our secret. I will gladly say that we snuffed out any potential issues at the moment, but…”

“We’ve become his lap dogs now,” Mikella said, heat in her voice. “We know.”

Cloud grimaced, but he nodded. “I wish I could say better news, but that’s the gist of it.”

“We understand, Cloud,” Zeke said, searching Cloud’s face as he asked. “Can you tell us how Piker is doing? After we found out what… Zacharia did, I’m curious–how bad is he?”

“I’m glad to tell you that he hasn’t suffered much,” Cloud said, this time sounding a lot more positive than usual. “Despite how he did it, Zacharia only pulled out the information with a crystal that’s meant to pry the truth out of someone. It uses the mana to compel the user to speak the truth, and it’s only normally used to interrogate. The reason why nobody does this a lot is because those crystals are hilariously expensive, and I’m surprised Zacharia went so far as to use it on Piker. As the system knew first hand that it was forced, the oath didn’t punish him too bad.”

“Well, that’s good…”

Zeke let out a breath of relief. He wasn’t at all surprised that there was something like a truth-compelling crystal in this fantasy world, and he was even starting to get curious as to how exactly that worked. It had to do something with runes, or it could be entirely different than what he was used to. There are a plethora of ways to create items without having to resort to learning runes, after all.

“He’ll recover in a few days at most, according to my estimates,” Cloud shook his head. “Honestly, the audacity of that man… even if there were assurances, who would do such a thing to their own soldier? Even more so, to his own adopted son? That’s just…”

“Cloud,” Val spoke up, leaving Ana to face him. “It’s done. You said your piece, and trying to bring it up again won’t make it any better. If anything, it’ll make you feel worse.”

Cloud wanted to say something, but he had the look of a man who had served his piece before and paid adequately. Nodding, he accepted Val’s words.

“I know, I know… it just feels better to grumble,” Cloud admitted, showing a bit of a flush to his cheeks.

“Trust me, we all want to grumble,” Val smirked at him. “Let them do it for you. They deserve to after last night.”

Cloud conceded defeat as he let Val to the two. “I’m sure you two have a lot to ask for, so I’ll keep it brief. We talked to the general about this, and we decided on our plan of action. For now, we’ll focus on training with the new team coming over and figure out our strengths and weaknesses with each other. After that, we’ll decide on how to best counter Bastion.”

“But Val,” Mikella offered. “Even with all that… isn’t Bastion bigger than our own place? It’s a big city. It’s unfair to even call them a minor power at this point.”

Zeke nodded to that. Last time he checked the map, Bastion was a city bigger than Eve Glade by several miles long, and their population was nothing to sneeze at. The amount of weaponry and military assets they should have must have been obvious for a lot of people, yet the idea to counter attack them seems suicidal.

“Trust me, Cloud brought that up many times,” Val said, almost exasperatingly. Zeke imagined Val hearing the conversation between the two men as though hearing children griping. “But according to Zacharia, he has a plan to go after Bastion and hit them where it hurts the most–their Unity Core.”

“He said that before,” Zeke offered. “But how? He makes it sound like he has some sort of secret weapon.”

“Well, that’s the thing…” Val frowned. “You two are the secret weapons. He planned on teaching you skills and certain techniques to make the entire thing possible.”

Zeke stayed silent as Mikella steamed silently, Clara noticing her expression with a worried look on her face. It was bound to happen, thanks to their ability to learn skills faster than others thanks to the lack of stat requirements.

That’s what made it so horrifying.

“But I promise you, here and now–we have no intention of him turning you two into actual living weapons. It sounds horrific, I know, but Mikella–he aimed to help you learn valuable skills to go along with your high physical stats. And Zeke, he planned on adding you to the support group as before, with the intention of helping the team train better. Supposedly, he has a plan on how to better utilize your barriers.”

Mikella scoffed. “Next, he’ll order us to jump and expect us to ask ‘how high?’ like good dogs…”

“Mikella,” Val snapped. “If you keep saying things like that, you’ll stunt your growth. It’s always good to stand up for yourself, but being a whiner is a waste of time. That’s just how life goes. Deal with it.”

Mikella wanted to argue back, showing a scowl on her face, but she quickly diminished. Zeke didn’t know whether her fear of Val being truly angry struck her just then, or that Val’s words finally kicked in.

Val let out a deep breath. “Nothing I will say will make this situation any better. So the best I can do is promise to be by your side. Every one of us in Eve Glade you have helped will be by your side no matter what.”

Zeke clasped his hands together, staring at them deeply. It was a nice sentiment, it truly was.

But just like in their old world, there’s only so much sentiment to throw around. In the end, they’re on their own for now.