6 years ago
"Miss Wiz! Miss Wiz! You came!"
"Of course I did, sweetie!" the archwizard said, crouching down to ruffle her self proclaimed protege's hair. "And I've got a present for you too! But later, go play with your friends for now!"
The little future wizard nodded uncertainly, giving her a hug before trotting back inside to Arue and the just arrived Megumin across the February snow of the front garden.
"Welcome! Allow me to remove your burden!" Hiropon said, striding over to her next, taking her coat and the small package from her hands as she entered the chief's mansion. "My thanks for coming out, it means the world to her," he went on under the sound of the children playing a game Megumin made up on the spot that seemed to involve how fast they could eat a slice of cake.
"Of course. How's she been doing?" Wiz asked equally softly, glancing over and then back at him as they stood across the small parlor set up for the party. Where they could watch over things without being in the way.
"Better. Better. She doesn't cry as much anymore. Reminders of Joanna sometimes set her off, but not always. I delayed installing the shrine and mounting her portrait, but I might try it soon. Maybe it will give her something to focus her grief on."
Wiz nodded understandingly. No stranger to loss herself, like most Belzergers, though she was fortunate it hadn't touched her nearly so young. "Maybe I'll take her out for tea while I'm here then, hopefully that'll brighten her day a little. And you?"
He gave a wan smile and repeated. "Better. Better. I won't deny part of why I delayed was for my sake too. I still haven't cleaned out the sitting room she liked. Just haven't had the heart for it."
"I still miss her too. I caught myself the other day thinking there was a magic stone I was sure she could turn into a bracelet…" Wiz trailed off, then shook her head. "It is what it is."
"It may be, but it will be better when I plant Seresdina for good and properly," Hiropon growled, eyes glowing. "But as you say. What has passed not even the goddesses can unmake." He sighed, letting out an angry breath, and the glow faded. "I'm being a poor host. Let me get you some cake, and perhaps something stronger than punch?"
Wiz chuckled. "Please. And…" she looked over at the girls playing, then firmed her expression as he gestured a golem to fill her a plate and cup. "And come find me later. If I'm going to be involved with your daughter then there are things you should know."
"A curse?" Hiropon said, perking up and thus proving himself a true chief of his clan full of crazy. "Perhaps this is why you retired? A malign influence that damages your abilities, forcing you to lay down your wand and take up a ledger?"
Wiz paled, further, for a second. Reminding herself that crazy was not at all the same as stupid, she simply shook her head and said, "Later," then looked again to the kids and gasped.
"Yunyun, if you can spare a minute there from…oh dear how did you get so much frosting on your face from once slice?! And you, Megumin! You're even worse!"
Soon after a hasty cleanup of the frosted children, Funifura showed up, at least for a slice of cake and to deliver her present. Apparently she was the only other child expected, since with that it was time for presents.
Megumin claimed that the victory Yunyun won in their just concluded contest was the finest present she could offer. Which was sadly probably true given her much patched, though clean, dress and jacket and her general skinniness visible even after weeks of 'sharing' Yunyun's food off and on. Arue had brought one of the new fountain pens that were becoming popular in the capital, knowing that Yunyun had started going through quills at a rate few 7 year olds could match. And of course the birthday girl had insisted on wearing Wiz's present immediately, a brass and glass hair ornament with a short red ribbon draping down on either side. Hopefully able to withstand being attached to an active 7 year old.
With that, the party began wrapping up, Arue heading back to her parent's store to help out while Yunyun made a beeline for the archives to try out her new pen, ornament bouncing in her hair as she went.
"Um…" Megumin said, uncharacteristically quiet and embarrassed as she stood by the small table at the back door to the kitchens, now open to move the furniture and settings. "C-could I take a piece of cake home with me? For Komekko?"
"Of course! Just a minute," Hiropon said, slicing off a piece too large for any toddler to handle and wrapping it in a napkin. "Here you are. And if you have a little on your way home I'm sure she won't mind." he said conspiratorially, then sent her on her way. He watched her go with a shake of his head, then took the plate in.
A daughter that talented had no business coming from those parents.
With the furniture put away by some strategic, convenient, and probably wasteful uses of wind magic and golems, Hiropon went to find Wiz.
She hadn't gone far, of course. Still inside where it was warm enough for people who weren't tiny child shaped furnaces who laughed at any cold short of Arctic.
Just past the other end of the kitchen there was a large dining room, though it was basically never used in his and Yunyun's generation. Passing by the dust cloth covered furniture and table, he made for the small sitting room off of it that they actually used. There Wiz had found a seat on a small couch, the skirts of her purple robe draped around her. He hadn't noticed it before, but it was a fairly thin one, not anything that might keep Winter Shogun at bay.
"Tea?" he asked as he entered, moving to the small table and lighting a firestone warmer.
"Please. Just plain, thank you."
That took only a minute, and he returned with a pair of cups steeping, placing the plain one in front of his guest and taking the spiced one for himself.
"I'd forgotten what it was like to be on the road in winter," Wiz said, shaking her head ruefully. "Nothing bothered me on the way, but I don't remember it being quite so taxing."
"Ah, the good old days. Sleeping in the weather, living from quest to quest, drinking all night and bragging about the gold adamantoise that got away." Hiropon laughed, warming his hands with the cup before taking a drink. "Gods these bones would never stand any of that now, youth is wasted on the young."
Wiz frowned at him "You're no older than I am, and that's hardly decrepit."
"I'm far from 'twenty'," he replied with a raised eyebrow, and Wiz sniffed at him in reply.
"If I still look that age I don't see why not to claim it!" But after a moment she shook her head. "That said, Yunyun looks more like a grown woman even after these few months. My mother used to always claim she wasn't getting older, she just had old children. I'm starting to understand what she meant."
The other archwizard nodded in agreement, draining his cup and reaching for a refill. "A wise woman, I'll stand to that. Gods above, she'll be getting her magic in a few years. I remember when I did. Before long I ran off to join a band of cutthroats because I couldn't stand the thought of staying in the Village one more minute." He chuckled again, gesturing with his now almost empty cup before pouring. "The best decision I ever made, mind you! Even if some of the questionable company I ended up keeping led me astray now and then."
Wiz looked away, cheeks darkening slightly. "That's not how I remember it. I seem to remember a hotshot wizard who barely had his magic, but was already unshakably convinced he could take on the world. Didn't have a thought in his head except for learning his next spell or proving he was better than his self proclaimed 'destined rival'. I wonder what happened to that poor fool?"
"The idiot probably met someone who wouldn't take his minotaur cakes and wasn't afraid to knock him on his ass until he learned better," Hiropon agreed, looking down at his cup for a moment before meeting her eyes again. "But the past should be left to lie, except occasionally. What grave tidings weigh upon your heart?"
"The past, as it happens. As you know, I retired when James died. The whole party did, or got married." She'd be shocked if he hadn't already heard, even if he hadn't been in her party by then. Top level adventurers were a small world.
"They told me, not that I was surprised. Even less so when I heard they were expecting. Anyone at all surviving a dullahan's curse was practically Eris sent, nevermind almost all of you…" His eyes narrowed as the wheels began to turn.
"Most of us survived. I didn't. Not really." Bracing herself, she took the plunge. "That was the price, I made a deal with a devil. He taught me how to become a lich, and I used my new powers to force Beldia to release his curse."
In many parts of Belzerg, that admission would have been an instant, one way ticket to a flaming stake. Not that this would trouble a being as powerful as a lich, but it was the thought that counted.
The Crimson Demon village was not one of those places.
Hiropon's excitedly glowing eyes proved him a true member of his clan even before he opened his mouth. "You sacrificed your life, connection to Eris' fortune, and sacred honor for the sake of your comrades?" he breathed softly. "In exchange for forbidden power to wreak vengeance upon your tormentor? Turning away from the light of mortal fellowship, you embraced the darkness of heresy for the sake of friendship?!"
Wiz sighed, then nodded at her absolutely thrilled host. She really shouldn't have worried, she realized too late.
"And now you walk in the shadows, to hunt shadows that those who walk in the goddess' light cannot touch?!" he went on in growing excitement.
"Ah…not quite. As you know I run a magic store," she broke in hoping to derail his escalating 'realizations'. Though it warmed her perpetually frozen heart that he immediately thought the best of her, rather than denouncing her as a heretic and monster. She thought that of herself, often enough.
"Of course, of course. A fitting cover. You can scout potential talent early and shepherd them on their journey with some well chosen items and sage experience," he waved off her objection. "It's a good plan, I like it."
"I'm glad you think so, because I'm not finished," she said instead, deciding to let him think what he wanted of her store. Her poor, struggling store. Hopefully the new stock she got would help turn that around. "While I assaulted the Demon King's castle and forced Beldia to submit, the Demon King himself intervened to prevent me ending him. Removing the curse on my party was the best compromise I could get. That, and in exchange for part of his treasury, I agreed to become one of his generals and help maintain the barrier."
She had dared hope for a moment he would have the same reaction to her becoming a cursed creature of the dark, but was sorely disappointed.
Apparently, heresy was acceptable, while treason was not.
"YOU…" Hiropon rose to his feet, his cup falling to the table with a soft thump buried under the explosion of his wrath."WHY?! HOW COULD YOU…" words apparently failing him.
"BECAUSE IT WAS THE ONLY WAY!" Wiz snapped back, stung far more than she expected by the rejection. Rising to her feet as well, though her cup stayed on its saucer. "IT WAS THIS, OR NOTHING! DIE WITH FINGERTIPS BRUSHING MY GOAL, OR SALVAGE SOMETHING! ANYTHING!" Eyes blazing just as strongly if not as literally as his, she pointed unerringly without looking towards the castle she helped defend at the other end of the mountain valley called Tarwin's Gap that the Village defended. "And because of me, people live who otherwise would find Eris' grace! My part of the barrier means HE stays his hand from those who don't take up arms against him! In return, I keep to Axel, deal with any monster too dangerous for new adventurers, and…and stay out of the way," she looked away from him, slumping. "I know it makes your job harder…but it was the best I could do. All I can do."
Hiropon glared daggers at her. He was governor of one of the kingdom's border domains, and the most important of them at that! Anything that made the eventual destruction of the primary threat to his kingdom, and his own domain, more difficult couldn't help but attract his anger like a lightning rod.
But.
Letting out an angry breath of his own, Hiropon stooped to pick up his fallen cup, pulling the few drops of liquid out of the rug with a gesture and snapping the blob out of the air with a flick of his handkerchief. Working even the trivial magic calmed him enough to think a little.
He had spoken to the other domain governors over the last few years. And it was true that raiding across the loosely defined no man's land that made up the border had dried up around the time she and her party 'retired'. The few that still happened were organized expeditions with a clearly military target in mind, such as the attacks on the Village, or the nigh constant skirmishing around the fortress at Briggs Gap. The organized pillaging expeditions that marked earlier parts of the war had ceased and, with the agreement of the other governors, he had respected the seeming truce in return by halting any punitive expeditions.
So far, the unspoken deal has held.
He'd even, sometimes, been grateful for the reprieve. For all that his villagers were more than capable of dealing with the odd raiding party unless caught badly off guard or outnumbered, the same wasn't necessarily true elsewhere. If she spoke the truth, there were probably whole towns that weren't wiped off the map thanks to the woman in front of him.
Sighing, he sat back down on his couch, gesturing at his…guest? Yes, she was still his guest he decided, so certain rules still applied.
Wiz had mellowed from her frigidly stone faced persona as the Ice Witch, just as he had his own hot blooded follies. But looking at his old comrade, try as he might, he couldn't see her as some kind of spy.
Could she storm in openly and do a better job flattening his village than an Outsider had any right to? Absolutely.
But subtly subverting his villagers, planting seeds of doubt, all the while ensnaring his child and turning her towards the enemy? Laughable.
Not to mention telling him her secret herself defeated the entire point of a cover story in the first place. Not that he would fail to ask around Axel, just in case.
"I shall not apologize for my anger," he began once she did so. "But…I admit if it were myself in that position, with Joanna or Yunyun held hostage to his power…I don't know if I have the strength to refuse that offer either. Pray gods I never learn."
Wiz relaxed as he spoke, coming down from her hair trigger readiness to respond to any attack. Not that even an instant Teleport would help her once word spread. But it was the only thing she could do that wouldn't be a betrayal, and so she had rolled the dice and hoped for the best.
Wiz nodded gravely. "Thank you," she said. "For not doubting me. And," she reached slowly into her cloak still hanging from the chair back and brought out a small, ornately carved bone box. A gentle, frosty mist rose from it as she placed it on the table between them. "One final proof. You know what this is. Should the worst happen…you know what needs to be done."
Hiropon nodded, a gust of wind magic removing it from the table for him to examine more closely. "To think I'd ever see one of these intact," he mused. "Why? There's a fortune on a general's head," he pressed. "Not to mention the duty I would need to turn a blind eye to. Why risk this?"
"Because Joanna was a dear friend, and her daughter needs me to do this. And, maybe I need to do this too. For not being strong enough when it mattered most."
'And Yunyun has been asking if Wiz is coming almost every day for the last two weeks. Not to mention I've never seen a child more devoted to magic ever since she asked Wiz to mentor her,' he admitted privately. Coming to a decision, he spoke softly, at odds with his usual bombast. "I choose to trust that you remain a loyal subject of Belzerg, in your own way. And to believe you mean no one here ill, least of all my daughter. For your part, know that if I am wrong about either of those decisions, no force under hell or heaven will save you."
"That's all I can ask," Wiz agreed soberly. "And thank you."
2 years ago
Springtime in Axel is the start of the working year for adventurers, rousing them from enforced hibernation in the guild hall or their rooms with the promise of new quests to clear and money to line their pockets. Money soon to find its way back to the guild in the form of payment for drinks and food in the great wheel of commerce that drove Axel's economy.
The overly ornate carriage bumped its way off the dirt road and onto the small apron of flagstone outside the gate. On stopping, the driver opened the doors to reveal a tall foreign man in blue painted plate armor, a golden circlet upon his brow. Trailed by his two scantily clad female companions, he strode proudly through the gates on a direct path to the guild.
"What's that one's name?" Hiropon asked his lunch companion, eying them critically as the trio went past.
"I…I'm not sure now that you mention it." Wiz said after thinking a moment. "He showed up a few months ago and made a big impression, but he didn't stay long before moving on. I don't remember those girls with him at all."
Her…well date wasn't quite right, Hiropon hadn't been seeking anyone since Joanna that she was aware of, grunted after looking away from them as they passed. "Stats are probably good enough, at least his. The Thief and other sword swinger are nothing special, but that's probably not why he keeps them around," he judged. "Bet you every Eris in his pouch he's never had to fight without that fancy frog sticker of his though."
"Not every Eris in your pouch?" Wiz replied, amused but not disagreeing. It matched her own opinion after all.
"I have better uses for it," Hiropon chuckled, signaling for another cider. "Though if you're in the mood for a wager, we could always do our old one…" he trailed off contemplatively.
"The fewest kills buys the round?" Wiz scoffed. "For shame, taking those monsters away from the poor adventurers desperate for coin after the winter?"
"Well, I suppose when you put it that way…" he sighed. "Perhaps it's best to leave them to the youngsters."
"Who said anything about that?" Wiz replied, "I AM only twenty after all. And I haven't forgotten how to have fun in this town." Drawing herself up, she looked down her nose at the chieftain and proclaimed "Behold, I am known as Wiz, the Ice Witch! Tremble before me!"
Hiropon clapped appreciatively. "Very nice! A little static, but your pitch and delivery are excellent! We'll make a clanswoman of you yet!"
Wiz blushed at that, along with the quizzical stares some of the nearby patrons gave them. "T-thank you."
"And I accept your challenge!" He raised his cider mug, and Wiz responded in kind, tapping them together to seal the bargain.
—
"Crimson Laser!" Was a call probably never heard by the wildlife of Axel, but a long process of natural selection had taught them that a raised human voice meant danger.
It didn't help the luckless kobold that caught the beam of concentrated overkill before it could take more than a step, but its instincts were right on the money.
"Icicle Lance!" Came a cry from a small distance off, followed by the crashing of brush and crackle of snap frozen lumber bursting from sap being turned to ice in an instant. Then, ominous silence.
Another furtive motion caught Hiropon's attention, one of the tribe trying to make a break for it. The remains of its pack mates lay behind the force of magical destruction that strode into the midst of their nest without the slightest hint of fear and began laying about him with magic they'd never seen before. Even the bravest of them that tried to encircle him and take the fight to their executioner had lasted only moments longer.
"Kamehameha!" He barked, making a motion with his cupped hands thrust before him as though pushing the discharge from between them to streak towards, and through, his target.
Silence ruled the gap in the trees, not even a clearing really. But no further motions or noises attracted his attention after a long minute of listening and scanning the trees. Satisfied, the avatar of destruction strode off towards where he'd heard the sounds of battle not long before.
He found the other archwizard sitting primly on the fallen remains of a century old oak tree, toppled from having the middle several meters blasted out to cut it in two. Around her was exactly the kind of mass destruction you'd expect from taking an endgame character into the tutorial zone.
"I count 23," Wiz said as he approached, picking his way past fallen lumber and slicks of ice.
Hiropon shook his head, slumping in defeat "21 for me. Your victory, and yours are the spoils," he admitted. Either number would give a full party of new adventurers a run for their money, and involve likely a close call or two. But, not for nothing were they once considered two of the finest combat wizards in the world, and thus neither had more than a hair out of place as they fell in step to make their way back to Axel.
"I feel like a fried toad leg tonight. It's been a long time since I've had it," Wiz mused. Or could afford them, she carefully didn't say.
"I don't recall agreeing to dinner as well as the next round," Hiropon mock grumbled. "Though I can be generous, since you'll be paying me back after my inevitable future victory."
Wiz sniffed skeptically. "Promises. Though I suppose I could spare you a few legs against our next contest. Since I know you'll be replacing them after my victory," she grinned, slyly needling him.
"Well bargained and done!" Hiropon proclaimed. "Now then, if you'd be so kind?" At that, Wiz took his hand and teleported them to the marker outside her shop.
They hadn't formally taken a quest at the guild before embarking on their campaign of destruction, but that didn't stop the pair toasting their victory over a shared plate of fried toad fritters there anyway.
Several rounds later, the first adventurers began trickling in from their quests, and with them the noise level and general rowdiness. Taking that as their cue, the pair made their way out.
"Thank you, that might be the most relaxing day I've had in ages," Wiz said as they approached her shop.
"Think nothing of it. I get fewer chances to really stretch my magic every year it seems like. And the ale was just like I remembered it."
"Watered down?" Wiz replied impishly, turning to face him at the door. After a moment, she asked softly, "Would you like to come in? I've never showed you the shop."
Hiropon nodded, and followed her inside. With the curtains closed it was dark, though both his and her night vision let them make their way past the shelves without bumping anything. Fortunately, since his finely tuned mystic senses could detect the crackling hum of many powerful artifacts in the store. Adventurers must be richer than in his day to afford items of such power so early in their careers, he decided.
They came to the back counter, a strange tension growing between them as they went. "Here, just a moment," the owner said, and conjured a candle alight. The puddle of light illuminated the counter and a little beyond it, not that either particularly needed the light as she set the candle holder down beside him, but didn't move away. "I should open the curtains too, but I would be closing soon anyway, so…" she trailed off, realizing she was rambling. "It's not much, but it's mine."
"You must have spent a fortune to acquire so many powerful artifacts," Hiropon said equally softly. "I can guess where the money came from."
"Most of it, especially at first," she agreed. "I hope they find people who can use them to their full potential one day. A few have."
"Then it was money well spent," he agreed, unconsciously drifting closer to her.
"I hope so," she agreed, doing the same, her face turning upwards to maintain eye contact with his own softly glowing ones.
Though both would always claim it was the other who made the first move, in truth both were drawn into the kiss.
It had been a long, long time for both wizards, years in fact. In his case from being unable to move past memories, in hers the knowledge that any man would quickly find something was amiss when she was perpetually at room temperature.
But if there was a bit more fumbling for the right head tilt, firmness, and avoiding each other's teeth than for most couples well into their thirties, they made up for it with enthusiasm for the job.
After a moment who's length he couldn't hope to guess at, Hiropon broke away to catch his breath. Wiz didn't strictly need to, but pulled back slightly as well, if regretfully.
After another long moment stretched between them, they leaned back in after a silent exchange, Wiz tilting her head at the last moment.
"There's more upstairs," she breathed in his ear, and taking his hand led the way to the stairs.
Hiropon awoke that evening to find the other side of the bed empty. Padding over to the washbasin in the corner, he saw signs of recent use but of course no Wiz. Process of elimination led him to pull on his pants and head downstairs, where he indeed found her wearing a shift and heating water on a small burner. Stepping quietly over, he sidled up behind to wrap his arms around her waist and bury his nose in her still mussed hair.
"Took you long enough," she chuckled, leaning back into him. "If you stayed asleep much longer they'd be sending a hunter/killer party for you."
"They'd better not. I left Haruharu strict instructions not to trouble me unless the First Demon King Nobunaga himself returned," Hiropon grumbled. "That said, perhaps you're right." He pulled back from her to hold her at arm's length to let her turn around to face him.
"Do you know, I warned Joanna about you around the time you two started seeing each other?" Wiz said, looking up at him with a little smirk on her lips he rarely saw from her but instantly adored. "Do you know what she said?"
He laughed. "I can guess! 'Good! I love a challenge!'"
Wiz laughed along, having repeated the words in stereo with him. "I knew then that you two would be fine."
Hiropon looked away a moment, even now a hint of melancholy came at the reminder of his loss. But… Not enough. Or rather, it had been long enough.
"We were. Those were good years, though we had our rough patches. Yunyun's name being…well." He grimaced at the memory. "I still don't agree with her, but she meant it in love and I can't fault her for that." Looking back at Wiz, he went on "But it's past now. Are you…"
Wiz cut him off. "Yes, silly. I wouldn't have gone upstairs with you if I wasn't," she snorted, slapping his chest. Sobering, she leaned in for a quick kiss. "I can't promise you forever, but what time we do have, will be together."
"That's all I can ask," he agreed, feeling a bit like a teenager finding out a girl liked him back and not a grizzled veteran wizard. With a quick breath, he blew out the hotplate, then scooped her up and headed for the stairs.
"That was good tea you're wasting," Wiz giggled. "You'd better make it worth my while!"
6 months ago
A swirling streamer of light descended from the heavens, depositing a creature of the deepest, darkest abyss outside the walls of Arcanretia. She opened brown eyes and hurriedly surveyed her surroundings. Finding nothing amiss, she quickly made for the road, emerging just as one of the frequent caravans were passing by and joining it as though she'd always been there, but for the lack of travel dust on her homespun cream colored blouse, long purple skirt, and small canvas travel bag.
Not long afterwards the gates themselves came into view, a wide flagstone square outside already packed with other caravan wagons, traders, and others who planned to make a stop at the city without entering it for long.
Weaving through the crowd, the darkest of dark creatures makes her way to the gate and passes within after paying the fee. Once inside, she breathed in deeply through her nose, letting the smell of warm water and soap fill her lungs as she closed her eyes and let the stress of business management slide off of her.
With that, she smiled brightly and stepped lightly as a woman even younger than her claimed age, almost skipping her way to her meeting.
A seething mass of the raw energy of the cosmos erupted from skies screaming in tortured agony, bearing a being of near unfathomable power forth to trod upon the ground outside the walls of the hapless city that contained his goal!
One booted footfall resounds before another, only the utmost exertion of the will sealing all but a trickle of his limitless mystic power preventing his footsteps erupting in the infinite colors of magical destruction in his wake!
At length he reaches the flagstone square crowded and noisy with the sounds of commerce and travel. To reveal himself now would go against his greater purpose, so he makes his way across the square and within the gates without ceremony, even paying the paltry fee.
Once inside, the great mage shrugs shoulders clad in a nondescript red linen shirt and dark brown trousers, settling his sole luggage of a darker brown leather backpack. A far cry from his usual raiment, but again standing out would far from serve his interests here.
Nodding sharply after he quickly oriented himself, he made his way to his meeting with quick, sure strides.
In no way was his step hastened by excitement or anticipation of his arrival.
One powerful magic user can usually sense another unless they take deliberate steps to hide themselves.
So Wiz, formerly the legendary Ice Witch, secretly a general of the Demon King, and currently holder of a cup of tea with lemon, noticed the approach of her appointment before he turned the corner and homed in on her table outside a small cafe in the same way.
"Wiz!" the current chief of the Crimson Demon Clan, father of its future chief, and possessor of a serious appetite after a Teleport spell greeted her with a raised hand.
"Hiropon!" Wiz waved welcome, beckoning him over to the empty seat. "Good timing, I haven't ordered yet." Nor would she have until he showed up, even if he'd been much further behind her.
"A wizard is neither late, nor early," Hiropon grinned back, slinging his bag at his feet as he quoted ancient wisdom handed down within the clan. "They arrive precisely as intended. But this one could use a drink at the least," he agreed, giving his order of a matching tea and a pastry selection to the waiter who had been keeping an eye on the table for a while now. "So, how's Axel?"
Wiz chuckled softly. "The usual. I tried to track down that beginner's bane I told you about last month, but I could almost think it knew I was coming. I found its nest twice and watched for it to come back, but it must have already left both times. At this rate I'm afraid it's going to kill someone again." She shook herself, throwing off the melancholy thoughts of her lack of success on what was supposed to be a happy occasion. "Besides that, the Adventurer's guild is still the same band of layabouts and misfits. I swear some of them sleep in the stables because they like it, the rooms in town aren't that expensive if you're willing to share. One of them just recently told me that his new 'lifehack' was that he figured out if he got arrested for debt, both his creditors couldn't get to him and he could spend more since he didn't have to pay for a haystack!"
Hiropon laughed, taking a drink of the tea that arrived while she was talking.
"Thanks be that I never fell that far! Though I do recall some lean times now and again, particularly that first winter after I arrived. More fool me for leaving home in fall instead of waiting until the next spring so I could build up my fortunes all year first!" He sighed, the joviality fading from his manner. "That said, in truth I think it was exactly what I needed to be a decent chief. Probably why my mother didn't make a fuss when I went. And I think Yunyun might need the same thing."
Wiz startled, staring at him in disbelief. "There's no way you think a dear like Yunyun is the same sort of prideful, hotblooded twits we used to be! If anything it's that Megumin girl she's always locking horns with that I'd worry about!"
Hiropon burst out laughing. 'Gods above! The thought!" he broke down chortling at the image of his shy little girl reenacting some of his more colorful moments. "No, no. The opposite." He took a breath to steady himself again. "She's the last person to remake my terrible decisions. But I fear she may make brand new ones of her own. She never uttered a word, but you would have to be stricken with blindness to miss that she has no use for our way of life. The theatrics irritate her, and the, honestly, less efficient traditions we have frustrate her. She does well enough in making the motions, but the teachers in the Red Prison all tell me her heart clearly isn't in it." He shook his head in sympathy. "I understand, I truly do. The Village felt too small for me too at her age. Cramped. But a leader must genuinely love their people, not just vaguely tolerate them. And I only discovered my affection for my clan once I was far, far away from them. I hope she can do the same."
Wiz began nodding about halfway through, following his logic. "You think she should come to Axel as an adventurer. It would be safe enough, there's very little in the area even a low level archwizard's Advanced Magic couldn't deal with as long as she stays even halfway careful." She paused for thought. "Well, monsters at least. I know you know this, but she's a very pretty girl and being from a small village…well Axel is hardly the capital but she's bound to have some trouble learning to handle attention," Wiz warned him.
"If she's going to be the chief she needs to find someone," Hiropon admitted uncomfortably. "And if she holds an interest in anyone in the Village, it hides deeper in her soul than I can plumb. But, I was hoping that's where you would come in."
"I could certainly teach her how to handle a pushy adventurer…" Wiz agreed, then trailed off from mentally dusting off her contact Lightning spells, giving him a pensive look. "Are you sure though? She…does she even know what I am?"
"She has confided nothing to me, but my daughter is nothing if not sharp as a razor," he said proudly. "If she hasn't already put most of the pieces together like one of those giant puzzles she likes, she's not far from it." He took her hand, feeling the coolness under his. "And she still loves you, always has. I don't see that changing."
Eyes dampening, Wiz turned away to wipe them with the napkin with her free hand. "Then that's what we'll do. I have a room above the shop I can clean out for her, at least at first. She can stay there as long as she wants, and if she decides to move out some day, well," she shrugged and gave him a half smile, "to quote a certain wizard I knew, 'We'll burn that bridge when we come to it!"
"I'll drink to that!" Hiropon raised his cup like he would have a flagon when they met. "And it doesn't matter if I burn my bridges, because I never retreat," he finished the other half of his old battle cry. "Though it is acceptable to advance in a different direction. Shall we?" he asked, laying some coins on the table to cover the fare.
"Gladly, I saw there's a new boat tour of the lake dams and waterways on the way here," Wiz agreed, rising and shouldering her bag as he did the same. "But first, I could use a soak." Casting a significant look at him over her shoulder, she strode off to their inn, Hiropon falling in step after taking a quick few extra strides to catch up.