Vesiphis, in Elrhain’s amused eyes, gave off the cool ‘butler-knight’ feeling straight down to his vampiric wings. The clumsiness itself gave the whole thing a depth like no other.

“Hewwo!” Agwyn waved her tiny hands. “I’m Agwyn. You guys can call me Gwyn!”

「Aha! The old cow makes her move, at last, aiming for the sweetest grass in the meadow! 」

「Stop it, you!」 The little girl threatened to step on his foot again before urging. 「Hurry up and introduce yourself. He looks uncomfortable kneeling like that.」

「Fine.」 Elrhain reluctantly agreed, a part of his mind still hoping to avoid direct verbal contact.

“I’m Rhain. Nice to make your acquaintance, I guess. You can stand up now.”

Vesiphis somehow managed to bow once more while kneeling, then stood up, dusting his evidently magical robes. The painted runes on them shined silver in the sunlight.

And with him as a start, the rest of the children also remembered that they, too, had forgotten the crucial greetings.

So one after another, with the enthusiasm of a school of dolphins, they declared their names, lineage, and everything else they could think of.

It was clear as day that the kids had practised this same routine before, probably unwillingly and forced by their parents. Perhaps that was precisely why they fumbled so much, even if their missteps made them all the cuter, leaving a deeper impression than just textbook courtesies.

Elrhain admitted that the cacophony of ‘Oofs’ and ‘Owies’ with each clumsy bow and bitten tongue was music to his ears.

‘Is this what grandpa meant when he said fun?’ Elrhain grinned. Certainly, this was entertainment that even money couldn’t buy.

He was even tempted to abuse his power as an heir, to order each kid to start over every time they flopped.

But after much deliberation, he decided against it.

Because unfortunately, Agwyn was there right beside him, clapping cheerfully, encouraging each child as they plodded through their klutzy introductions.

That, and perhaps Bromwyn was right. Forging a deeper bond with his house siblings was better than needlessly antagonizing them via bullying.

He would do that later, after he had hoodwinked these kids into an unbreakable loyalty.

‘Children. How hard can it be?’ He mused, purposely overlooking the fact that they had done his knees wobbly just a few minutes ago. That was definitely because he was caught off guard, he assured himself.

By then, the introductions had just about finished.

There was one Cati, a sunny little girl with three eyes. There was also a Cadough, who had a tail like a hound’s and paws like a bear-man. And Dyfed, with his sclera-less tiny black eyes and thorn-tipped vine hair.

There was a Howell who loved to fish for food and treasure in the Sagathan lakes, a Cled who could jump the highest with his satyr's legs, and a Jesta, whispering in a voice that would make even an oriole blush in envy.

Siani was the only one who had experience hunting a gheist alone, even though she was barely four cycles old. While Eudav and Arfon aimed to be shamans like their parents when they grew up, a rune-scriber and spirit-teller.

The youngest, even younger than Elrhain and Agwyn, was little Ysbail with her giant watery eyes, midnight-black skin and pearl-white tattoos going from her forehead till the tip of her tiny devil tail.

Olwina, the third eldest, could eat toxic gheist flesh raw without any side effects; her family masters in the ways of venom and poison. Ariana, the second eldest, was objectively the prettiest girl in the cohort. Even when she was fighting with Olwina after calling her eating habits gross, she managed to pull the poison girl’s hair out with grace.

Finally, the one who broke off their fight was Efa Maddocks Earthloch, a girl with a mean glare and meaner spider legs jutting out of her waist. She was the coolest too, and Agwyn, for some reason, wanted to give her a hug.

Each with their own strange features and skills, the kids were all apparently cousins of said drooling Agwyn, part of the same extended bloodline.

‘Evolution, what the flip did you do in this floating disc?’

Elrhain shook his head, then went over their names in his mind one more time. Because for the first time in his life, he was sure he could commit them to memory instead of immediately forgetting, unlike his past self.

One face to go with one unique appendage. They were like that language learning software back home, matching one word with one picture to memorize them more straightforwardly.

What helped more was the distinct lack of judgement in their eyes. Only curiosity. A far cry from the scions of the nobles he and Agwyn were forced to meet this past month.

‘Guess they are not so bad after all. Maybe I don’t even need to hoodwink them. I mean, why should I purposefully make enemies-’

“Hey, um, Lord Rhain? I heard your mammy and pappy were servants?”

‘You know what? I don’t wanna deal with this right now.’ He shoved his previous thoughts away and was about to bolt in the other direction when his sleeves were grabbed by Agwyn, stopping him in his tracks with an ugh.

He glared at her, and she winked back, not letting go. She then gestured with her chin towards Siani, who had asked the previous question.

Elrhain grudgingly looked at the tiny huntress and saw no malice in her eyes, only the innocence of novelty.

‘Ah…’,

He blushed, reproaching himself. He had jumped to the conclusion that was both mistaken and unjust to the reptile tailed huntress. Elrhain had always thought he was better than that. But apparently, he wasn’t.

So he fidgeted, answering the eager girl’s inquiry with the intention to apologize.

“Yes, my mother was a herb tenderer. While My father was a simple hunter, I suppose. Before the clan let them make a homestead, granting them Reanakty.”

“I-Is his name Dofnald?”

The moment Elrhain nodded, Siani squealed like a pig on psychedelic mushrooms, grabbing his hands to her chest with glitters overflowing in her big round eyes.

“Can I meet him? Please? Pretty please! I’ll give you the Panena Rabbit’s foot I found the other day!”

Siani took one step forward, and Elrhain took two back.

‘This is worse than prejudice!’ He was speechless, but screamed internally. ‘I change my mind! I really don’t wanna deal with this now at all, for Collective’s sake!’

It wasn’t until Vesiphis again came to the rescue by head-locking the crazed girl that Elrhain let out a sigh of relief. He hid behind Agwyn the moment his hand was free, peering warily at Siani. While Agwyn, very uncharacteristically, glared at the little huntress with ten times more vitriol.

“Forgiveness, my lord, for this demented girl’s behaviour.” Vesiphis said, twisting Siani’s head in a fatal angle, “I will be sure to discipline her after this.”

Elrhain’s face paled.

“Okay, yes, I forgive her. I think you are killing her, though.”

“Haha, heir, I see you too have a sense of humour. An admirable quality, just as my lord father had praised before.” Vesiphis, let go of the girl, who dropped down on all fours, wheezing. Her lizard tail swinging left and right weakly. “But you need not worry about this crazy brute. She will live even if you twist all the bones in her body a few times around.”

The crazy brute coughed, glaring up with tears in her eyes.

“I’ll remember this, Busyfish!” Siani growled, the bit Vesiphis’ leg making the boy wince.

In response, Vesiphis just kicked her hard in the guts, “Silence, fool! How many times have I told you not to creep other people out! You give hunter’s a bad reputation.”

Agwyn, coming to some decision, finally decided to join in on the conversation. Elrhain saw none of the ferocity that was there on her face a few seconds ago.

“Wow, Siani. Are your bones that stwong?” She asked, squatting down before the prone hunter girl.

“*cough* Of course!” Pride laced Siani’s reply. She struggled to stand up while wiping the saliva from her mouth.

“That’s so cool. Can I twist them a few times?”

‘This vindictive old hag.’ Elrhain facepalmed, while Siani went pale.

“I-It still hurts, so perhaps no?”

“Pwetty pwease?”

Elrhain couldn’t watch anymore and pulled Agwyn away by her ear. The girl pouted hard while still boring Siani with her eyes.

Finally, she slapped her lips, asking, “By the way, why do you want to meet Ewwie’s Daddee?”

The mention of Dofnald injected newfound strength into the panicky huntress as her eyes once again shone with pink and red.

“I heard so much about him from me mammy. They were in the same hunter squad in the shire before mammy broke through oceanic, ya see. Comrades in arms.” Siani started squirming like a worm, “Why, I heard he has a face of a deep-sea pearl and the smile of a million rays of sunshine.”

“… Oh.” Agwyn gaped, while Elrhain finally figured it out. This crazy chick had a crush on his pops!

Siani continued, “My mammy was also a servant before pappy started courting her. She told me so many stories of when she use’ta hunt wild gheists for the house in the deep forests by the shire. How lord Dofnald jumped in front of a rabid pack of Racadgers to save a damsel in distress. How he gave up a chance to marry into the Sabhalan house, not even glancing at their dowry of oceanic elixirs, for he was loyal only to his love until the very end!”

“Ohhhhh!” Agwyn’s tiny face lit up as the hunter girl kept on spewing rainbows about his dad, and Elrhain’s face got darker and darker.

“Wike the stories?” Agwyn asked, her left hand dramatically covering her mouth.

Siani nodded, looking like she was about to faint. “Exactly like the stories of yore. To give up life and power fer his one eternal maiden, not caring the jeers and fingers. To transcend worldly desires in the true name of love. To take….”

If second-hand embarrassment could kill, Elrhain reckoned he’d be dead by now. Ten agonising minutes later, amidst the exclamations of all the kids, counting Agwyn, he, at last, stomped the ground heavily while yelling.

“Okay! I get it, geez. It’s so weird to say all that about other people’s fathers, you know!”

Agwyn, who was egging Siani on, glowered. But the rest of the kids nodded.

Siani snapped out of her reverie and slapped her own cheeks hard. But then she thought something deeply for a few more seconds before asking, “So, can I meet him?”

“Nope.”

“Whyyy?!”

“Father doesn’t like talking with girls other than mother.”

Thud.

Siani once again kneeled on all fours, sobbing violently.

“Wah wah wuuuu!”

But that was no longer Elrhain’s problem.

He let Agwyn comfort the girl while asking Vesiphis a question that had been bugging him for a while.

“Lord… Vesiphis?”

“Vesiphis is fine, and you are the lord here, my lord.” The winged boy beamed him a smile. “Father will have the skin on my back if he hears you calling me that.”

‘Damn, no child protection laws, then. Well, this guy did kick Siani without a hint of remorse.’ Elrhain’s gaze turned complex at the revelation. Well, honestly, he had been shocked at how smart the kids here seemed compared to the adorable crybabies back on Earth. Mentally, Siani was aged three or four.

But while the endless coddling and favourable social situation in the Collective let the kids grow up as naive, pampered, dumb, and lovably cute as they could, here, the tribal society forced them to mentally mature earlier.

Elrhain snorted at the thought, then pointed at a boy leaning on a pillar on the other side of the garden, moving back to the matter at hand.

“So, who is the kid over there with the… moving shadows?”

Elrhain had noticed the boy long ago, who could be the cover of an edgy goth magazine just by disposition alone, while the others were fumbling with their introductions. It was hard not to, when the boy in question threw Elrhain a frown and Agwyn a… something, before walking away.

He donned a black robe with a white sword hung to his back, a head of orchid-black hair over his ash-white skin, and black irises within a speckless white sclera. He was staring up at the sky with his back resting against a small pillar, his arms crossed with one leg kicking against the stone.

Sharp nose, symmetric slanted eyebrows. A gaze so melancholic it could pierce straight into a neighbourhood mother’s heart.

If not for one ruby-like horn on his head, and shadows that swayed like Lovecraftian tentacles, Elrhain would say this kid was the most human-like dhionne he had yet to meet.

Even the faded tattoos on his face could pass off as standard in the goth circles back on Earth.

‘I’m willing to bet my whole figurine collection that this is a dude with difficult issues. Neat.’

“Oh, him.” Vesiphis’s ever-present smile cracked, but just a little.

“He is uncle Morys’s son, Cadfael Morys Earthloch. He’s a quiet soul. Doesn’t talk with us much either, always training with that sword of his. The adults always tell the other kids to be more like him.”

Elrhain nodded again in approval. But not at Cadfael. At Vesiphis.

The winged boy would even come to the defence of someone clearly being intentionally rude, considering the noble customs of this clan as demonstrated by Vesiphis himself earlier.

Not that Elrhain minded. He simply appreciated how a seven cycle old could be more mature than some teenagers.

“Morys, is that the uncle with the giant axe?”

“Yes. Lord Morys, just like the lord chieftain, is at the cusp of breaking through to the sky. In my humble opinion, they both owe a lot, as do we, to you and the heiress for the fortuitous collapse. Alas, if not for uncle Morys’s past… No, I shan’t speak of that. It should be something cousin Cadfael or uncle Morys shares with you themselves.”

“Eh, come on!”

“No, it infringes on their privacy.”

“Tsk, what a bore. Wasn’t I the lord here?”

Vesiphis smiled uneasily but was steady in his position.

Elrhain clicked his tongue, but in reality, he respected the kid even more now. First impressions often lie, but no matter how mature Vesiphis acted, his actual mental maturity should be near a six or seven-year-old human’s. Yet, he could reign in his desire to tattle tale.

That was really something.

Elrhain was willing to put Vesiphis’s name on his ‘High credibility’ list. Give him the benefit of the doubt.

So he didn’t bother the uneasy kid anymore.

Elrhain was just about to go back to Agwyn and ask her why she was arm-wrestling with the others, when a cold mist voice called out to him from behind.

“Hey, you.”

Elrhain stopped mid-turn, his eyes meeting with two black voids.

Cadfael had somehow walked up to them without making a single sound, and now stood only a few paces away with his chin up high and a half-smile masking his stoic face.

The boy’s unblinking eyes narrowed, demanding,

“Why are you so weak?”