My night terrors came back.
I was no longer able to sleep, my dreams were now warping to include the screams that I heard from the “orcs” that were being cut open.
I found myself crying one night in my room at the fortress, unable to sleep, and cursing at the gods for sending me on this journey.
I couldn’t handle the stress anymore. The capture, the cage, the rescue, the treatment, the inability to communicate fully, and the growing unanswered questions were all too much.
I wanted to go home, back to the familiar snow-covered mountains and 144-elf tall trees. I missed my family, I missed my friends, and I missed the ones I sent out on this journey with.
My roommate tried to comfort me by holding me in his embrace, but he was unable to calm my nerves, and I was only able to sleep after collapsing from spending multiple days awake.
Thankfully, Zephoreas showed kindness to me, and gave me a dreamless slumber that night.
---
Arc
I watched with maddening glee as the chaos caused by a simple RSVP sent the Hopkins Estate into a collective hyperventilation. I could even see the Air Mana swirl around, as the forcibly controlled breathing emanating from Rabiria and Marcia caused even their untrained internal mana to activate.
Travis, the farm-grown peasant, clearly didn’t fully comprehend why it was such a big deal that someone from the royal family would attend his party. If anything, the constant darting of his eyes, the twitching in his hands demanding action, and the diluted remains of his earlier smile, gave me the impression that he was more confused than anything and wanted to know what to do.
The royal knight seemed to expect the Hopkins’ reaction, since he was scanning the room and giving a few subtle nods of affirmation. He eventually moved his gaze over to Travis, and after scanning him with his mana sight, spoke, “I take it you’re Travis?”
“Umm, yes. I’m Travis.” He moved to scratch his right ear; the action easily disguised within the constant motions his body was now doing. Sadly, I couldn’t [Message] him until the knight stopped the usage of his mana sight.
Ugh, we need to figure out an alternative way of communication. I should have known this would have happened.
Thankfully, the royal knight didn’t seem concerned with Travis’ lack of decorum, and extended a hand, “I’m Asher, Royal Knight of the United Human Kingdom, and personal bodyguard of Princess Seleyna.”
Travis reached for the hand, and was then able to introduce himself properly, now that he was prompted, “Apologies. I’m Travis, Initiate Elementalist Mage.”
“No worries, the one you need to show proper etiquette to won’t arrive until your party. Which is partly why I’m here.” He turned his head and raised his voice to grab the attention of Matriarch Rabiria, “The Queen is understanding of the difficulties she has placed on your family and has sent me to assist in preparation for the Princess’ arrival.”
Rabiria, now looking fortified from her steady breathing, regained her footing, and was able to recompose herself, “Her Majesty is most kind. If you’d like, I can prepare a guest room for you so that you can stay here at the estate.”
“If it’s not too much trouble.” Asher gave a quick bow, “I am here to assist Clan Hopkins, so feel free to consult me in any matter,” he raised himself back upright into a domineering posture, “but do be warned, I will have final say on whether or not it is safe for the Princess to attend.”
“Understandable,” Rabiria gave a quick return bow, then cast her eyes across the room, “is there anything that the entire estate needs to be aware of before her visit?”
The royal knight rubbed the reddish beard on his jaw that didn’t match the nearly black brown on top of his head, and made eye contact with Darius, “There will be a contingent of royal guards arriving on the morning of the party to help secure the estate.”
Asher then moved the focus of his gaze towards Rabiria, “The Princess has made it clear to me that this is to remain Travis’ celebration party, so if possible, try to plan out as if she wasn’t to be attendance. The princess declined the offer to host an event of her own, so she would not appreciate any blatant attempts to make the focus of the celebration turn to her.”
The royal knight stopped rubbing his beard, “It may be conjecture on my part, but I believe the Princess prefers smaller, more intimate, events. I recommend not sending out any additional invitations,” Asher paused a moment to chuckle, “I have a feeling that once word gets out, everyone who got one will for sure be attending now anyways.”
Asher then gave Travis a big smile, “You’re in-luck farm-boy, the princess enjoys not just waltzing, but Lakeland traditional dancing as well. So just pretend it’s another harvest festival, and you’ll be fine.”
I could almost physically see Travis’ heart plummet into his stomach as he finally felt the same amount of impending dread that the Hopkins were feeling.
---
The days started to slowly pass, the preparations taking up an increasing amount of time each day, and everyone was thankful for Asher’s assistance.
Darius and the guards spent the entire day grinning after an initial security sweep of the estate showed no impending issues. Their neighbors however, well, let’s just say there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of a higher up boss chewing out a fellow employee for ignoring the safety violations that you kept warning them about.
The caterer almost refused to serve the requested dinner of wild rice soup, battered fish fillets served with Lakeland regional fruits and vegetables, eight-layer hotdish, and caramel ice cream; claiming it was unfit for a royal princess. The royal knight however was able to defend Travis’ menu choice, reminding the caterer that it was Travis’ party, and that it was quite arrogant to claim knowledge of the princess’ food preferences. Asher, grinning after the exchange, gave Travis a wink after the caterer left, whispering that the Princess always enjoyed hotdish as a child.
The number of attendees was going to exceed expectations as predicted, which meant there was only room in the Main Hall for those who replied before word got out of the princess’ attendance. The rest would have to be seated outside in tents. Asher was again able to come to the rescue by requisitioning a few additional Packer style tents from the army and even convinced a drill instructor to have a group of trainees provide additional manpower for the set up.
The only person he wasn’t able to help was Travis, who was growing more nervous and agitated as the impending day approached.
“Ok, let’s switch out for a moment.” Marcia suggested as she took Caldia’s place during another one of Travis’ dance lessons.
Travis whispered an apology as Caldia hid the pain on her face from the multiple times he stepped on her and went to go sit with Tristan’s wife Varia and Percy’s fiancée Lucia.
“A Lakelander that can’t dance,” Lucia shook her head in disbelief, “that boy is nothing but walking impossibilities.”
Caldia sat down and tucked her legs underneath the table to hide the fact that she was massaging the likely to form bruises on her feet, “I know Lancel warned us, but I thought he was just exaggerating.”
Lucia sighed in acknowledgment, then winced at the sight of Travis jerking Marcia’s arm after his foot slid, “Is there any way that we can keep Travis off the dance floor?”
Varia lamented at the situation while she was going over the seating arrangements, “We’ll have to consult with Asher, but I highly doubt that a stepped-on foot is warrant enough to deem Travis a threat to the princess.”
Hmm, is there something I can do to help? I think the stress is making Travis even worse than usual.
“Can you excuse yourself for a bit? I’d like to chat with you.”
Travis miss-stepped yet again during my [Message], then let go of Marcia and backed away, “Sorry, but I need a few moments to refresh myself.”
Marcia didn’t object, and Travis quickly made his way to the restroom so he could talk to me in private.
“Ok, what did you want to talk about?”
“Well, you for starters… I know that you hate dancing, but you’ve never been a hazard on the dance floor before. Is the stress of having to dance with a princess getting to you? Or is something else sending your anxiety into rapids?”
Travis leaned his back against the wall and let out a long exhale, “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“The having to dance with a princess? I think you’re just an unlucky pawn who happened to create the correct circumstances for the princess to have a casual outing.”
“No, that part I get, it’s the dancing… it should be simple, just move your feet in time with the beat, but you’re supposed to ‘flow’ from position to position, and you’re also supposed to…” Travis’ rant ran out of steam, and the poor kid began to sink to the floor. “I’m a leafless sapling aren’t I?”
I was tempted to reassure him, that he’ll be fine, but I know Travis didn’t want an empty platitude, “Yes, there is no way that you can avoid making a fool of yourself on the dance floor.” Travis looked up with a shocked expression, “So, what’s the plan? You can’t dance yourself out of this situation, and the princess will be disappointed if she doesn’t get to have fun doing so.”
Travis sat there on the tiled stone floor, thumb rubbing the gap between his eyebrows, “What I need is someone who…” his eyes lit up with an idea, “I got a plan!”
---
I watched Asher enter the armory, looking around to ensure that he was alone, then approached Travis’ locker.
He activated his mana sight, then started looking over Travis’ things, starting with… the poleaxe…
Seriously? Travis already showed it to you, what do you hope to find out?
He looked over it for a while, but reluctantly hung it back up, disdain showing on his face for not finding what he was looking for. He searched through Travis’ other belongings, then finally picked me up to inspect, even drawing my blade so he could get a proper look.
That’s right, inspect the real weapon, that poleaxe will just melt if it stabs a dragon.
Asher brought my pommel close to his eyes, but sheathed me shortly after, and gave out a loud sigh, “Nothing… who the rot are you?”
He placed me back, then returned outside to help with more planning.
Hmm… that was odd.
---
Travis
Tonight was the night. Either everything will turn out great or I’ll simply make a fool of myself.
I stood before the entrance to the Main Hall, wearing my formal arming jacket and Arc on my hip. Lancel stood nearby, wearing a formal evening robe and piece of cloth on his belt that displayed his lineage, and was looking almost as nervous as me.
Lancel tried to ease the tension, “Some of the carriages outside have been circling for an hour now…”
“Won’t they be seen as desperate if they arrive right at the start time?”
Lancel chuckled, “Too late, our guards and the assisting royal guards have already spotted their family crests, they’ll be gossiping about it tomorrow.”
“That’s assuming nothing more scandalous occurs tonight.” I muttered in reply, happy that the party would be starting soon.
It didn’t take long for the first guests to arrive, and Clan Hopkins got into formation to help greet the incoming people. Since I was the “host”, I had to give a quick greeting to everyone that stepped onto the estate. The guests would then have a longer greeting with one of the Hopkins before entering the Main Hall.
“Rebekah, Rufus! I’m glad you could make it.” I gave Arc a pat on his pommel, happy that our plan to have him state a person’s name every time I turned to them was already working.
Rebekah gave me a big grin, “Of course we were going to make it, and I would like to point out that we even sent our replies before word got out about one of your guests.”
I started to chortle, “I wish you could have seen everyone’s faces when the royal knight arrived.” I glanced down at the sight of the two holding hands and noticed a matching set of twine bracelets. “You two are getting married! Congratulations.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“Thank you,” Rufus proudly boomed, “it took a while for our families to come to an agreement, but I’ll be joining Rebekah’s family next year.”
Lancel raised an eyebrow, “What does your family get in return?”
“My dad gets to pick out two future wards from Rebekah’s family to keep as potential mage candidates. If they both make the cut, one of them can even return.”
I shook my head at the absurdity, “Can’t you nobles stick to something more sensible for a dowry? Like a team of horses or a pair of pregnant livestock?”
The Lakelander knights let out a big laugh, grew excited when I mentioned the music choices for the night, then left to go tell Tristan and Varia the good news.
“You do realize that you’re one of us nobles now right?” Lancel teased while giving my back a prod with his finger.
“Only on a provisional basis until I graduate.” I proudly stated, “By the way, those two brought up something I’ve been meaning to ask. Now that you’re a knight, aren’t you expected to get married to someone?”
“Oh, would you look at that, more guests. We’ll have to talk later.”
I gave Lancel a minor glare, then turned to greet a large number of guests before finally recognizing someone.
“Jakob! I’m glad you could find time to come.”
The black-haired and nearly ghostly pale Northman shook my outstretched hand and leaned in close to me, “Like it was an option for me, once word got out, my family interrogated me for hours when they noticed that our house received two invitations.”
I gave him my best sympathetic smile, “Sorry about that, the invitation was supposed to be a minor revenge for you not believing I wasn’t a noble.”
Jakob waved me off, “Tell you what, send my family a thank you for this gift and we’ll call it even.” He reached into the inside pocket of his formal arming jacket and pulled out a small leather case, “These writing tools developed by a Cloudy Rainforest family have been in high demand the last couple of years and are only now available to people outside of the royal palace.”
I looked down and opened up the case, inside was a small sheet of sandpaper and a dozen small painted sticks, except one was partly sanded and showed that the wood was wrapped around a tiny piece of charcoal.
“Tiny charcoal sticks?”
“More like highly compressed charcoal. I’m not exactly sure what the process to make it is, but the charcoal acts differently on paper when you write, since it doesn’t smudge or rub off enough to require a resin coating.”
“That sounds handy!” I looked up and gave him a thankful grin, “Thank you, this is a great gift. I’ll definitely send that thank you card.”
Jakob gave me a wide smile in return, “They wanted me to get you an enchanted blanket or fancy gaming set, but I figured you’d want something that you would actually use.”
I nodded in agreement, then noticed Barry signaling to me to wrap up my greeting, “Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to talk more until after I finish greeting everyone. Do keep the princess entertained while I finish up outside here.”
“Wait, what?” Jakob nearly tripped when he turned his head back towards me.
I laughed at his expression but had to return to my hosting duties.
A few more guests filtered through before the stream of people suddenly stopped. I looked over to Barry, who gave me a nod to confirm that she was here.
Lancel gave out a breath to calm himself, “Here comes the stampede …”
Asher escorted the Princess towards me, she certainly looked like one, light brown skin with a subtle glow, long flowing hair that was a mix of Packer blonde and Lakelander brown, large eyes and irises that spoke of an Ashman descendant, and blue-grey eyes with those strange eyelids that I noticed that some Northmen have.
I took a knee and lowered my head the way Asher coached me, and spoke my prepared greeting, “It is a great honor for you to join us this evening, I am Travis from the city of Aelder Creek, Initiate Elementalist Mage.”
The princess moved close enough for me to see her shadow, “Greetings Travis, I am Princess Seleyna of the United Human Kingdom. Please rise, so that I can be properly greeted.”
I slowly rose to my full height, posture as perfect as I could manage, and even did that scapular retraction and abdominal flex that Arc told me to do to make myself look larger.
The princess turned to Asher, “We’re good now right?”
Asher nodded, “If the Princess deems it so.”
“Good,” she then turned to me and extended a hand, “feel free to address me as Seleyna tonight, or simply Princess if it’s more comfortable for you. Also, allow me to apologize for putting you and Clan Hopkins into this stressful situation, I believe my mother sent me here due to not wanting to have a large party of my own.”
I cautiously reached for her hand and darted my eyes quickly to Asher to make sure it was ok before making contact, “Thank you for the apology… Seleyna… you are too kind.”
We stood there a moment after the handshake, I didn’t know what to say, and the princess wasn’t speaking either. Thankfully, Asher noticed my growing awkwardness, and suggested to the princess that I resume greeting the remaining guests.
Lancel got up from his kneeling posture, “Ok, that wasn’t as bad as meeting the Queen, I think I can handle this.”
“Sturdy, someone at the table will have to talk to her, and I’m not sure if I’m up for the job.”
“The princess just thanked Asher for saving her, she froze when she didn’t know what to talk to a peasant about.”
I patted Arc in thanks, and made note of his observation, I’ll have to initiate the conversation next time we speak.
The trickle of guests began to slow, making me worry for a short time, but eventually I saw at the end of the line, a familiar brown-haired Northman walking up with the same elderly man that was sitting by him at the previous party.
“Reidar, I was growing nervous, I’m happy that you could make it.”
“Apologies Travis, there was an unexpected complication in our preparations tonight, hence our delay.” The oddly nervous looking spartan spoke.
The old man beside Reidar gave out a quick bark of a laugh before correcting the younger spartan, “What he meant to say was that he panicked when he thought that he needed to bring a gift to congratulate you.” The old man started shaking his head at the now bug-eyed fellow teen, “Tried to tell him that it wasn’t needed, but he kept insisting.”
Reidar made eye contact with me and made a sad face, “I… couldn’t decide on anything… I’m sorry…”
I reached forward to give him a shield-brother hug, “It’s alright, you being here is more than enough.” I felt Reidar reciprocate the hug and let out a deep exhale.
I captured the attention of his eyes an gave a conniving grin, “I was hoping to take advantage of your skills as a spartan tonight, if you’re willing to do me a favor.”
—-
Reidar wasn’t exactly thrilled about my plan, but the old man, who I found out was his squad leader for life, reassured him by reminding him of his oaths as a Spartan of the Queen and that he had received training to complete such a task.
We made our way into the Main Hall, the interior unrecognizable from its earlier layout and decoration, and proceeded to the table that we’d be seated at.
The table was the smallest in the room, only having room for my two personal guests at each of my sides, Lancel to the right of Reidar, then the princess, then Asher, and finally Jakob to my left to complete the circle.
Jakob looked terrified, and seemed to be attempting to hide behind Asher, so I decided to break the ice, “Seleyna, how did your test for the academy go? I know the stress got so bad for me that I couldn’t even comprehend that I passed at first.”
Seleyna gave me a quick smile, and I even caught Asher crack a small grin before she spoke, “More frustrating than nerve-wracking. There was an incident at the Union Hall before I went down to take my practical, so Asher here decided to have me take it the next day.”
I kept calm but was panicking a bit internally. Was she describing what I think she was?
“Did you test on the first day?” Jakob, finding enough confidence to peer around Asher asked.
“Yes, were you present for it?”
“No, but what happened has been some of the top gossip around campus. Unfortunately, I have no idea what’s true. Some of the rumors even state that Professor Quinsandoral personally signed up a student for classes,” Jakob looked around the table, “which for those of you who haven’t attended the academy, is a big deal, since the professor in question is notorious for being impossible to please and that distinction is usually only reserved for royalty.” Jakob then looked to Seleyna and started giggling at his unintentional choice of words.
I was positive that I was beginning to sweat. Was that really such a big deal? I know a lot of people were staring at me after I came back from registering for classes, but I assumed it was because of the paladins.
Seleyna started to giggle along with Jakob, “Someone should have told my examiner, the second I was done learning how to cast a [Fire Blast], they signed my paperwork and sent me off.”
Reidar tapped me on my shoulder and whispered, “Is everything all right? You look like you forgot to make your bed.”
“I’m fine.” I whispered back, then felt relief when the gong rang to signal the beginning of supper.
What’s the phrase Arc always uses? Right, thank the gods and God.
—-
During supper, Arc began to brief me on the various conversations happening in the estate.
A lot of it was of minor importance, though there were a few major rumors being discussed.
Most of them revolved around my origin. Quite a few people thought that I was the bastard child of some inner ring noble, others thought that Lancel illegally trained me as a ward, but there was one rumor that quieted the others.
One of the guests, who works in the palace as an accountant, shared that the Queen ordered a complete audit of all high mana checks done by the Jarls in the star fortresses. Apparently the Jarl at Lakewell Fortress (the one that watched over Travis’ village) was submitting false reports and placed a town in danger due to not removing an abnormally high mana individual.
“Incompetence is one thing, but laziness… well, at least it sounds like he won’t be doing that again. The Queen gave the order to have the Jarl executed.”
I gave Arc a pat in thanks and took note of the dinner’s progress. Everyone had let out a good laugh at the sight of Reidar’s plate and portions being triple the size of everyone else’s, seemed to enjoy the savory and hearty taste of the food, and I even caught Asher smiling at Seleyna when she tore through her hotdish.
Sadly, the table was finishing their meals, and the band had already switched to a song for waltzing. I decided to get it over with, then gathered all of the courage that I could muster, “Princess Seleyna, would you honor me tonight by being my first dance partner?”
The princess gave a subtle startle, but quickly went into a royal composure, “It would please me greatly.”
The two of us made our way to the dance floor, us being the first ones there, and I took a big breath as we got into position.
The music began to play, and I focused on Arc’s counting in my ear to help keep in step, but the smile on the princess was losing its luster since I was doing a poor job.
I managed not to step on her feet, but it was becoming clear from her stiffening posture and lack of conversation that she was not enjoying herself. Thankfully, Reidar walked onto the dance floor to start the first phase of my plan.
“Excuse my intrusion, but my oaths as a Spartan of the Queen require that I defend the crown from all danger and emotional distress.” Reidar paused to look for my affirmation, “That includes poorly performed dancing.” Reidar then extended a hand, “Please allow me to ensure your safety and comfort on the dance floor this evening.”
Seleyna looked to me, but I gave her a gentle nudge towards the spartan and mouthed a thanks to my rescuer.
The two paired off and began to dance, the smooth motions and assertive lead already causing the princess to smile.
Well, time for part two.
I walked over to the band, eyes straight ahead to ignore the looks from everyone, and requested the next song.
The conductor gave me a grin, then silently signaled the group of the change in the playlist, while I stood nearby and charged my Air Mana and listened to Arc key in my starting pitch.
I waited for the waltz to end, then began to sing one of the popular Lakeland polka songs, the band then joined, and my baritone voice started echoing through the Main Hall.
The princess upon hearing me sing, started to grin madly, then yanked on Reidar’s arm to pull him back into another dance. The two were soon joined by Rufus and Rebekah, then even more Lakelanders as my song continued.
After I finished, Seleyna giggled at the sight of Reidar glaring at me for not sharing my full plan, but quickly softened his expression when he was asked to continue dancing for the next song.
I thanked the conductor and was headed back to my table, but was stopped by an approaching Caldia, “Would you be willing to honor me with a dance?”
I looked around, then closed the distance so I could whisper, “Are you sure? I think I might have hurt your feet the other day.”
She gave me the Hopkins’ grin, and started pulling me to the dance floor, “I’ll survive one dance.”
The two of us got into position, the song now switching to a much slower and… ugh… romantic tune. Caldia made my stomach twist into a knot when she decided to switch to a Packer dance, pulling me closer and adjusting my forearm to rest on the small of her back. She mirrored my body positioning, and the two of us began to make small shuffles with our feet while our bodies swayed to the beat.
I felt my throat tighten, my body sweat, and my breathing growing more intense.
“It’s your decision, but I think now would be a good time to tell her.”
I removed my left arm from Caldia’s back to give Arc a pat, then readjusted our dancing form back to the Lakeland style so that the gap between us would allow me to better see her confused face.
“Caldia, I want you to know that I’ve enjoyed our time together and wish that I had the opportunity to get to know you even better, but…”
“You’re going to be spending every waking minute trying to keep up with your studies.” Caldia interrupted, then drooped her head a bit, “A few of my friends here warned me, but… I guess I didn’t want to believe.”
“I’m sorry.” I lowered my own head out of shame for upsetting her.
The current song finished, and the two of us silently parted ways. I looked around, and seeing that Reidar and Seleyna were still dancing, decided to move back to my table.
—-
The night moved by surprisingly quickly, after spotting that Jakob and Lancel were deep in conversation with Asher, I had Arc instead lead me around the hall so that I could make small talk and conveniently intervene a few times.
A family that was planning to try and lure me to join their older and more established family after my graduation, was silenced when I verbally thanked “Rabiria and Gramps” for helping me host the party and mentioned that I owed them greatly for supporting me after my arrival to the capital.
A small group of middle ring nobles were displeased for being seated outside in one of the tents, so I went outside to make a round of apologies, lying that the sudden influx of attendees forced us to organize the seating arrangement by the order of receipt.
My poleaxe that was on display in the training yard was gathering a small crowd, and despite Arc saying that I didn’t need to concern myself, decided to greet the merchants and pair of blacksmiths.
I ended up spending nearly an hour demonstrating my weapon, going over the creation, and answering questions from the genuinely impressed crowd. Arc tried to convince me to move along a few times, but his reasons for doing so were a bit flimsy, and I was starting to think that Arc might be growing jealous.
Eventually the party was drawing to a close, and the guests were beginning to leave.
Jakob thanked me for the invite, stating that he enjoyed himself, and offered to tutor me with my Water Mana studies if I ever needed help in the future.
The princess and Asher said their final goodbyes while surrounded by royal guards in front of the Main Hall, and I even received a kiss on the cheek from Seleyna after she thanked me for the wonderful night.
Asher shook his head at my reddening face, then shook hands with me and thanked me as well for creating a memorable evening for the princess.
I went back inside and gave the nearby spartan a sideways hug, “I owe you big time for your help!”
Lancel, who was by the door as well, gave out a grin, “Are you sure? Reidar seemed to be enjoying himself.” His tone then changed to a teasing one, “After all, not only did he spend most of the night dancing, but he was the envy of all the nobles since he was the only one the Princess chose to dance with.”
Reidar’s face flushed a bit, but he remained professional, “The Princess requested that I be the only one to dance with her tonight, stating that my dancing was pleasing, and that she didn’t want to create a disturbance by having people compete to dance with her. I agreed with her assessment and performed my duties as a Spartan to the Queen.”
I couldn’t help but jest at his wording, “You agreed that the dancing was pleasing? Lancel, I think our friend might have a crush!”
Lancel and I started laughing at Reidar’s sudden realization but stopped when he started to look panicked.
I put a hand on Reidar’s shoulder and gave him a quick pat to help calm him, “I’m sorry, that was mean of me, especially after I already threw you into the lake without a log.” I smiled at the sight of Reidar cheering up, and had a sudden idea, “Hey, are you on duty tomorrow?”
My spartan friend gave me a quizzical look, “No, part of the reason I was able to attend tonight is due to there being a strange delay in receiving my next assignment.”
Lancel already thinking what I was, decided to ask, “There are guest rooms available, would you like to spend the night here?”
Reidar’s confusion remained, and he shifted a bit from side to side, “I’d have to receive permission from my squad leader first…”
“No problem.” I stated, then looked around the room for Reidar’s “dad”.
“Southwest corner, talking to Darius.”
I patted Arc in thanks, then sent out a [Message] spell, “Hi there, it’s Travis, can Reidar stay the night?”
I watched as the elderly spartan bent over in laughter, startling Gramps and the other knights, but eventually was able to upright himself then give me a wave and thumbs up.
I placed my arms around Lancel and Reidar, “Your dad said it’s ok! Come on, let’s go have some fun!”