Not wanting to make things more awkward for her, I quickly turn my head and ask her. “Have you been able to finish your profession quest with the completion of this piece?”
Bryst also turned her head and quickly checked on the quest's progress. “Yes,” she is a bit shy from everything that has happened today. “Why don’t I start work on the Adventurer’s Guild?”
“That would be wonderful! Thank you again for the wonderful vest.” I quickly bow my head in gratitude before I take my leave, hurrying out of the tailoring building and heading off to the manor.
I am about to enter the bounds of the yard for the manor when Uxa stops me with a broad grin on his beak.
“So, I see you have accepted the gift from my sister. How does it feel?”
“It is great,” I can’t help but praise.
“Wonderful. Now you know about our customs, right?”
“No…” I slowly start to shake my head before my face starts to turn pale. “What custom? Should I be concerned? What have I done?” I quickly rush up to Uxa and grab his shoulders, seeing that he isn’t giving me much information. I can’t help but think I have accepted a marriage proposal.
“Hold on there, Drake.” He says with a chuckle. He slowly grabs my hands to push me a couple of steps from himself. “Our customs aren’t anything you are thinking, but there are some things you need to know. Typically, in our world with my people, there is usually a gift exchange since we are always on the run or trying to fight to start any romantic endeavor.”
My face gets more pale, considering I haven’t given her any gift, so why would she think I would be interested in her?
“Take a deep breath, Drake. I am not holding you accountable for what she has decided to do herself. She did come up to me and ask me about you, and I told her everything that has happened since I was first summoned here, including what you did to try and get me to be more… Let’s just say, levelheaded. When she heard about my little rampage and how you were going to try your best to help me get more people from my world to this one, she couldn’t help but think that this world, even with its dangers, is much better than the one that we were coming from. Also, it isn’t often that we get a situation where we can be safe for more than a couple of days at a time without having to fight or run, so to her, one of the best gifts was making sure that I was ok, and that she was summoned to this wonderful world, even if there are sentient undead also included in your settlement.”
“But that doesn’t mean that I want anything romantic! I haven’t ever had a girlfriend or anything of that nature. How would that even work between us?” I am still a bit frantic as she is attributing much of what this world has to offer onto my shoulders, making it seem like I am some sort of savior of worlds.
“Again, Drake, I need you to calm down. I felt this would happen and wanted to get as far ahead as possible. I wasn’t going to stop her from giving the give that she has, but I need you to know that you are our saviors for myself and my sister. You can provide those in my family a safe place even if you aren’t the one who is involved explicitly with bringing everyone into this world. You are the one that most people from my world look up to the most. Some are rough, but they don’t view you as a boon for us. While I can’t be sure about the other worlds, I can at least help to express our gratitude. Without this scenario, my entire tribe could have been wiped out.”
“You are welcome, but what does that have to do with the gifts and potential romantic endeavors? Will I have to go around like Muiress and hope Bryst does not jump on me? And I would have done what I could, no matter what, to help you and your family, but it still seems like a lot to me right now.”
“It’s fine, Drake, just keep doing what you are doing, and I know it is different for people from your world. Trust me, I asked your family about everything before this all happened. I don’t want you to get spooked and suddenly feel like someone is breathing down your neck as you try to figure things out for yourself.”
Taking a deep breath, I stand straight and then look at Uxa. “What should I do then? Should I try to make things work out or what?”
“That is up to you, my friend. As of right now, you have a couple of options, but with how volatile the situation is, just letting things sit would be for the best. You do not need to try to kindle anything romantic if you don’t want it but know I will not stop my sister from doing anything. If she feels you are a good match for her, just look out. My tribe has many things as part of our courtship rituals. And it doesn’t have to be the male taking the lead, either.” His grin gets more expansive, and he mentions the last sentence. “Oh, and since you accepted the gift, the other party can either start trying to court you or give up.”
“Thanks, I guess…Could you tell me some of these rituals so I know what to look for?” I asked, trying not to get panicky from hearing that there is more than just the gift-giving.
“I could or just wait to see if anything happens. Not that she will try to make it as loud as possible, but I can’t help but feel that things will get interesting for you for the next week or two.”
“Week or two? What do you mean by that?” I frantically ask, but as I am asking, he is already turning around and heading back to the blacksmith shop.
“Don’t worry, I can promise you; it isn’t anything like what Muiress is experiencing… Nothing like it at all.” He chuckles as he continues on his way.
I can’t help but curse as I hear this. This is the last thing I need to be happening right now as we are about to finish the Adventurer’s Guild. I will also summon the last five people to the settlement to reach the amount needed for the settlement to be tiered up. Trying to shake myself, I quickly enter the manor and go to the Lord’s Chest to get the summoning scrolls. Once in hand, I head back outside and summon the last needed population.
Walking outside once again, I spot Laxreal and Draemish coming up the path towards the manor. Checking the time, I noticed it was 3 pm. “How can I help you two?” I call out to them.
“Just the man I was hoping to see. It seems you have lit a fire under someone’s wing feathers. Bryst is bouncing all over the guild building, getting all the work she has to do done in record time.” Draemish proclaims.
“Yea… I don’t know what to tell you about that. Bryst gifted me this vest, and now there is some sort of courtship ritual I didn’t know about until Uxa came by to tell me. He is a pain.” I respond.
“It is a nice vest,” Laxreal states. “I am impressed with the work she could do in such a small space. It lives up to your affinities.” Seeing his eyes flickering with mirth, it is apparent that he is laughing at my expense.
“You were the one who told her about the different colors and affinities that I have, so is it a surprise that she was able to make something like this.”
“A surprise, no, she was a skilled tailor back in her home world, so this quality is just a bit above what I expected, which is why I am impressed that Bryst got what detail she could in the space she had. Moving onto a different topic, though, we have some people to summon and the final preparations before we tier the settlement up.”
Giving him a deadpan look, I can tell he is letting the topic drop to move us along and not drag things out. I do not want to give him the pleasure, but knowing that we have to move on, we will never get the settlement ready before the Boss monster brings its wave of monsters to attack us. “We can discuss that, but I am not letting this matter drop. Next time I see Rhenriqi, I will tell her you have been thinking of doing another experiment behind her back. Just remember the last time you went and did something behind her back. I don’t think she will let you out of her sight for quite a while.” Giving him a knowing look as I can see his back straighten at the mere mention of having Rhenriqi breathing down his neck.
“Fine, you win. I will help you with your little crush, but know Bryst is quite a strong woman, and it wouldn’t be bad if something good came out of all of this. I would recommend that we get the population settled as quickly as possible. Having just a couple of hours left in the day would be good for them to get a little acclimated to their situation; I will also have some people walk them through what has happened later tonight as we are all sleeping.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Sounds like a good idea. Should we get anyone else, or do you want it to be the three of us?”
“More people could make things worse or easier. We just need to get it over with since we need to get the people here as soon as possible. So I would just go for it; what is the harm now? There are several different worlds worth of people and many different races. I wouldn’t be too shocked if I got more of the same races, making it easier to acclimate to everything happening.”
Shrugging my shoulders at his response, I can only agree with him now. Until we can do more directed summonings, there isn’t a point in worrying about who we summon. Using the scrolls, all four portals appear in front of us. It doesn’t take long for those summoned to come out of the portal. One is from Thelatera, Usa'Nov, and Culhara, while two come from Troberia.
As Laxreal said, for the most part, they are from races we have already seen: one Dwarf, one Zombie, one Tengu, one Mermaid from what I can tell, and a human that smells of lupines. Immediately after arriving, the Tengu is on guard, surrounded by at least three undead. The Zombie kneels and respects Draemish, making me think it is another from her armies. The Dwarf seems ambivalent about the whole situation and looks deep in his cups; the Mermaid is just standing there looking at what is going on with a wistful look. And finally, the lupine-smelling human scratched the back of his head and then looked at me while giving me a cunning smile.
I don’t know how I can tell he is of the lupine bloodline through smell, but once I am done with getting these people settled, I will have to ask my father about it.
“What is going on here?” The Tengu shouts.
Sighing, Laxreal can only relent as he looks at me and whispers, “Shall I get Uxa, Muiress, and Nelaedeth?”
“Yes, please,” I answer, and he hurries to get everyone. I can only hope that I can give Uxa a solid punch in the arm now that he has to deal with whoever this Tengu is. So we aren’t all standing there awkwardly, I start with a basic introduction, “ Welcome everyone to Caelnova. This is a new settlement in a brand new world. Everyone within these walls is here to help you and get you settled. If you have any questions, there will be people here shortly who should be able to answer more of your questions.”
No one asks anything because everyone is still trying to figure out what is going on, and it takes a couple more minutes before Laxreal returns with the people he will get. The first one to do anything is Nelaedeth who goes running up to the other Dwarf and gives him a big hug. “Dad, I didn’t know you would be summoned so soon! I have so much to tell you about.”
He snaps from his thoughts and looks at the dwarf hugging him. “Daughter?” He asks with a tiny bit of hope in his eyes.
Upon seeing Muiress, the Mermaid looks straight at him and cannot help but cackle. “I knew you wouldn’t get far from me.” And starts to run after him. I can only say that I should have figured that Muiress wouldn’t have a good time of it if the shouts coming from the direction of the residential area were anything to go off of. If I wasn’t mistaken, I hear Vranjaya also joining in the chase for Muiress. Hopefully, he doesn’t wear himself out too much with all the running.
The Tengu is the last person to relax even a little bit finally. He turns to Uxa and nods in acknowledgment. “What tribe do you hail from?”
“Green-Crest, and your own?” is his response.
Once again, nodding, he relaxes further. “Good. I can only presume you have much to teach me, young one. And my tribe is the Red-Talon. It's a pleasure to meet you.” He bows down with a spread of his wings, one foot forward and his hands sweeping to one side.
“As do you,” Uxa returned the bow. When he returns to his upright posture, he gives me a wink and heads towards his hut.
“Ugh, I have so much to learn,” I muttered, thinking about why he would wink at me now before walking away. I can only hope that Bryst doesn’t do anything that would embarrass us both, but that is a hope for something in the future.
As I contemplate this, I hear a voice creep up behind me. It’s raspy and carries a stench of jerky. “Yes, you do, young dragon Taldrit.”
Turning about, I am face-to-face with the only other human who was a part of the group. “And who might you be since you seem to know more than the regular unawakened of our homeworld?”
“Oh, where are my manners? I am Lennix, and I deeply respect your father, but I wasn’t aware of another Dragon awakening under his surname.”
“That is a long story, and if you know my father so well, why don’t you tell me a bit about him then?” I asked, a bit assertive in my question.
“Oh, I would, but the old dragon has come to greet me himself.” He says while looking at the door to the manor.
“Lennix,” I hear from my father, though there is a deep growl in his voice, “I don’t know if I should be glad to see you or try to kill you myself.”
“Come now, Ilpheus. You know that I was only doing my job. I wouldn’t have done all those things if it wasn’t at the council's direction.”
I see Lennix holding his hands up in defense. “What happened? What is he talking about, father?” I asked, hoping to get some more information
“He was one of the people in charge of putting down those who failed to awaken their bloodlines but ran rampant in different villages throughout the world back home. Several times, he went off on his own without telling anyone. When we finally heard from him, he was already in a village decimating a group of feral awakened that the families were trying to keep protected but were unable to prevent word from leaking.”
“How did none of this get out to the other people of the world?”
“Easy kid, when the council puts their mind to it, they can prevent most information from spreading. Technology advanced quickly, but who do you think were the ones that implemented that change? Sometimes, having access to these things isn’t good since it just lets them learn faster. When a computer can figure out the last login times for a group of rural people and notice that they haven’t updated anything or even tried to connect to the internet after a specific amount of time, it sends a flag. And then I am sent out.” After this last sentence, he licks his lips like he enjoys the thrill of the hunt. “And yes, while I do go out now and again, it is because there was a backlog of tasks needing to be done, so on my vacation, I just so happened to be in the area and figured I would deal with a small issue.”
“No one authorized that vacation.” My father scolds.
Shrugging his shoulders, he retorts, “That’s not what the official records state in my file, but that doesn’t matter anymore. We are here now and looking at your son. I can only say that I am curious. How does one awaken their bloodline after years of being unable to and not going insane?”
He is approaching me like a hunter stalking his prey.
“I don’t know, I just did. Things in this world are different, so maybe I was lucky.”
“Lucky, right? I’ll be keeping an eye on you. Don’t want anyone to accidentally get hurt if you were to become feral after all.” He says all of this with a wide grin on his face.
Shuddering at the thought of this maniac hunting me down if I were to go feral, I can’t help but think of why this council would have someone like this under their employ.
“Don’t scare him, Lennix; you know that once someone has a successful awakening, they won’t go feral. At least not those of the dragon bloodline. I can’t say much for those on the lupine side, but who knows? Maybe you will be the first that will need to be hunted down in this world. Now, please leave him alone. I am sure you will be fine figuring things out on your own. You are a big bad wolf.” Father ushers me to his side so we can talk further, but seeing that there isn’t much needed and he is just trying to get me out of the line of fire, I can only be grateful.
“You lazy dragon, you haven’t done anything for the world for decades, and now that I tease one of your hatchlings, you get defensive. When was the last time you helped the council with anything other than that school of yours, huh?”
Growling at him, my father retorts, “It might not seem like a lot for you. That school has helped many bloodline users get accustomed to their new bodies. It has helped them re-acclimate to society and not be stuck to what their bloodlines are good at. You can see all sorts of people doing different work with their bloodlines only enhancing what they do.”
“Yeah, yeah, so you say,” he waves his hand flippantly. I know he will cause problems at some point in the future if he isn’t stymied early. I didn’t want to consider using the shadow guard that Ritotorous and Laxreal have set up so quickly, but I think I will need them to keep a close eye on Lennix.
Noticing that Laxreal hasn’t left yet, I gesture for him to come closer. “Can you get those shadow guards you told me about to keep an eye on that gentleman?”
“Of course, I will keep you posted on what he is doing, and if he is doing anything that might hinder the settlement, you will be immediately informed.”
“Thank you.”
“You are most welcome. Now, you should have some time with your family, as tomorrow will be a big day for you.”
“What’s going on tomorrow?” I asked.
“Don’t you remember that we will have the election for the ‘Head-Crafter’? Then, the grand opening of the Adventurer’s Guild is followed by you tiering the settlement to the next level. All of these things should be accomplished by tomorrow afternoon. Then we can fully discuss with the council what we will do about the first beast wave we will face.”
Smacking my head, I can’t believe I forgot about these things. There has been so much going on in many directions that these things slipped through the cracks. At least the election did. Finishing the Adventurer’s Guild was evident, and the settlement tier-up would come shortly after that since we now have the population to do so.
Heading inside after my father, I spent the rest of the night catching up with everyone about the entire day. They laughed at my expense with the whole situation with Bryst, but I could see a gleam in my mother’s eyes. She might be trying to plan something, but I don’t want to know at this moment, with so many things about to finally come to a head. The time flies, and it isn’t long before I decide that I am going to head to bed.
