Aquan, after a gruelling month of properly disposing of all the orcs we kept in the Crystalline Slumber spell, paperwork, restoring the surrounding areas that were damaged and providing support to those that lost loved ones to the last hurrah the orcs gave, was finally beginning to flow like normal again. Sheesh, I couldn’t imagine how it would be if the battle wasn’t so horrendously one-sided. Compared to the hundreds of thousands of orcs that died, a measly seven hundred soldiers and a couple dozen mages dying was a big victory. Of course, we wouldn’t dare say that to the grieving families. With the number of corpses surrounding Aquan and other nearby towns and villages, it was actually better to use Crystalline Slumber to stop the dead from decomposing and bury them at our own pace than to simply throw the lot of them in big holes like authorities would have for smaller armies.

Ah, finally, things were shaping up, for most of us at least. After clearing out most of my work as the illustrious leader of the both the Order of Mages and Liana party, I was quite ready to resign. Don’t judge me, that job was freakin’ stressful, man.

I took a look at a list of things I wrote down, stuff I wanted to do or ask or investigate that I never got around to before. Not a big list, but man am I lazy to start it! Ugh!

“Speaking of things to do,” Donna came out of me and sat at the edge of my desk, “You, our lover, Pyro, and Volt are to be knighted around this time next month.”

“Ehhhh, don’t wanna!”

“You don’t have a choice, you lazy shit! Now hurry up with work and let’s go home!”

“Bah! Why you no help me then?” I glared at her.

“I’m not authorised to see the Ord–”

“That again? Ugh! You’re lazier than me now! How’s that even possible?”

We argued like usual, but it kept me up at least.

The next day, I began tackling my list, and the first few things were related to the Order of Mages, sadly.

I flipped through some spell tomes Elder had in his study and finally found what I was looking for, Retrace! It was that spell he used that teleported him back to a position where he once was. And according to the description, that’s exactly what it’s supposed to do. I had it copied along with some other interesting finds like his Reflect, which sent direct spells back from whence they came. It would be useful if I didn’t want a spell going through me; Magnet wasn’t always the best option.

After I had my fill of the other councilmen’s stuff, I decided to take a look at an absurd and old rule the Order enforced – the twenty-year wait to access the library. That was stupid and I took it up with the other councilmen to modify it without any resistance to my idea; I guess they found it archaic too. Now, instead of sacrificing twenty years for stuff that was clearly not worth the time, you instead only needed to become rank two to access it, whilst more dangerous spells that weren’t exactly forbidden would be available at the higher ranks.

Now that I finally made that change, it was time to pass the mantle of rank six to someone else. Despite my nature, this matter had to be handled professionally. Hence why I got all the rank five councilmen drunk at a little party after work and naturally brought up the fact that I was ready to resign as acting leader so a more permanent solution could take my place. “Who do you think should be leader?” I asked each of them when I got to talking a bit more privately. My plan was to have the alcohol let loose their prohibitions and get Donna to tell me whether or not they’re lying. Sneaky, I know, but it’s not like I wouldn’t actually do the official thing another day, I just wanted to know their more, reserved thoughts.

The next day, I’d conduct interviews, unbeknownst to them. “So, Aldis, about the leader position, wou–”

“This again? I already told you, I’m going to retire! The only reason I’m still here is because you three bastards left me here with all the council work to do and I had to spearhead this damn war thing with the police! As a matter of fact,” he literally took the Order’s robe off, and yes, he still had on appropriate clothing you dirty, dirty reader, “I’m now officially retired!” He stretched his arms whilst walking out, “About damn time!” he muttered, seeing himself out.

Di– did that just happen? Where’d they get this character from? Hydra’s ass, he can be a pain! I grunted, casting Levitate and finding the Garrans nearby. At this point I didn’t care to hide what the meeting was for. They both entered, despite knowing it was a one-on-one meeting. I don’t know why I expected anything else at that point. They were always together, which put some questions in my head but I didn’t dare ask.

“So, guys, about the leader posi–”

“S– sorry, Eric, but, we’re uh…”

“Resigning,” Keagan finished what his sister wanted to say. Man, I felt like they just delivered the coup de grâce.

“You guys, why do you hate me so?” I laid my head on the desk in front of me in lost hopes.

“Well, don’t worry too much. There are tons of good candidates for councilmen, and we know the perfect person to fill your shoes,” Meagan teased.

“Really now? Who?” I inquired, not even raising my head.

“Volt, of course! Who else?” Keagan elaborated and I instantly sat back upright, looking right at them, but lost in thought.

Volt? Leader? Volt? Volt… Wait, actually, that’s not a bad idea. He’s always freakin’ calm, although not as much as Kira. He does have an alright sense of what’s just and unjust. He’s been at the Order probably over a decade, which, when you look at the predecessors to this position is way too little time but still, things change. He’s got a fiancé who approved him having another woman, so he’s gotta be responsible as heck if he somehow managed to convince her. Plus, his persuasion skill is probably pretty damn good. He’s the exact opposite of Pyro, which is a good thing no matter how you look at it. For the love of Hydra, he’s the perfect person for the job and I didn’t even think about him!

I looked back up at the siblings, “You guys know I love you, right?”

Meagan smiled, “We know. I don’t know how you lived without us.”

There was some silence whilst I brainstormed something again. Keagan got a bit bored and conjured some water.

Going completely off-topic, I just had to pose a question, somewhat indirect to my true intentions, but insightful still. “Meagan, you’re a beautiful woman. Do you have a boyfriend?”

Keagan spat that water out immediately with a stupid grin on his face, “If you don’t tell him, I will,” he threatened her.

She grunted and clenched her fist in annoyance, “Dammit Keagan I hate you! Ugh!”

“I love you too, sis. So why don’t you spill it?” Keagan poked.

“I,” she looked away and fixed the brooch on her robe, “might’ve, started to like someone,” then scratched her head, “that’s a teensy bit younger.”

“So?” I shrugged.

“Well, maybe a lot younger, like, ten, years?” her voice went high but soft.

A quiet few seconds passed by and I laughed out obnoxiously, “Ten years she says! That’s so cute!” my cachinnation made her fume a little. “Donna, how much apart are we?” I asked and Donna popped out, the light fading from her as she formed.

“Twenty-five years, dear,” Donna said, then chuckled at Meagan, “so you got no excuse. Anyway, who’s the guy?”

She looked at her brother, then back to us, then at her brother again, “Fine! It’s Peter!”

Donna and I looked at each other a bit puzzled. “Is that someone we should know?”

“Oh god! I didn’t expect that from you, Donna! Peter is Pyro, remember?”

Our eyelids were so far away from each other that our eyes might’ve popped out.

“You better tell him soon,” Donna advised, “Like, within the next thirty days or so because after he gets knighted a lot of ladies will swoon over him. They kinda already do, so you better hurry!”

“What about you Keagan?” I shifted the attention to him.

“I’m already in a healthy relationship. Always was, I just didn’t talk about it,” he shrugged.

“You secretive bastard!” I rolled my eyes, standing up. “Anyway, can I trouble you guys to nominate other officers for council positions? It seems like there’ll be no one left over from before come half a year. I’d like to train them up as fast as possible.”

They agreed, already having some people in mind.

The next day, Dawn and I embarked on a swift ride to Endathal.

“So, we weren’t exactly, um, accommodating to you,” I scratched the back of my neck whilst she gave us a subtle pressure. She sighed afterwards.

“I felt pretty left out, but you did have some war to fight so…” she sighed again and gave a scratch or two to her eyebrow. The royal negotiator lifted my chin up and sealed a kiss, and dare I say it still felt like cheating even though Dawn allowed it. This one was quite passionate as well, seeing it was the first time she kissed me. Or at least that’s what I thought, but she then proceeded to take Dawn’s lips next and it could’ve just been my imagination, but even though they kissed before, this one was more licentious than the one she just had with me. Now it felt like she cheated on me with my own girlfriend.

“Interesting thought pattern I sense, here.”

Just for her cheeky comment, I forcefully summoned her outside, and Anjali, like a prowling lioness, took the opportunity to deal the queen a similar fate. I couldn’t keep the chortle in.

“Well, quite an interesting four-way relationship we got here. Geez, I better start working on a spell to keep me vigorous in bed beca– aaaaaah!” Donna shocked me. “You goddamn violent whore!”

“Narcissistic dickhead!”

“Shut up before I use my pretty-boy suave to seduce Gabrielle!” I threatened and she closed her eyes in confusion, then laughed.

“I don’t mind dying, Eric, but I’m sure you do!” she said and it took me a while to realise she meant she’d kill me if I tried anything with her daughter. Although I knew damn well she meant it in jest, Dawn and Anjali didn’t pick up on it and they tried parting a faux-fight.

We decided to spend the night, as it was already pretty late. I’ll let you guess what happened that night. Just know that I was enervated when we finished despite using Renew. These women were insatiable!

Morning after, we returned to Aquan with the princess, she promptly decided to take her vacation.

Yo, been thinkin’, I’m just fifteen and my life has been pretty damn crazy lately, huh? I posed to Donna and she immediately flew out of me and placed her hands on my shoulder with a surprised yet disappointed look on her face. My parents, along with Dawn and Anjali looked at her weird.

“We forgot your birthday!” her head sank.

“Oh shi–shih tzu…” mom said. Mom looked just as guilty. Suddenly, I looked at my so called other halves and both parents with a grin on the inside but a morose look in my eyes.

“How could you guys forget my birthday?” I put my arm over my eyes like a kid and pretended to cry and just like that they couldn’t take me serious anymore.

“Well, if we’re on that subject,” Dawn interjected, “you forgot mine too, Eric!”

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!

I smiled, then shrugged, “Please let me live…”

“Well, it will be pretty late, but let’s do something this weekend. Make sure Aug and that Pyro kid comes. Those guys are the life of the party!” Flynn concreted. This gave me motivation to finish all my pending work in the Order, at least the rushed stuff, and give myself a free weekend; I’d need it.

The invite list was so long that it had to be held at Dawn’s place. “I knew it!” her father scoffed when we told him about what happened to his brother, Dawn’s uncle. “Those damn mages!” he balled his fist, then suddenly calmed down. “Thank you, for bringing light to this. Thank you as well, Eric, for standing by her during this and helping to put them to trial. I feel like I can rest easy now.”

“Still hate my guts or we cool?” I put a fist out at him.

“We, cool…” he repeated awkwardly, fist-bumping me. That signalled the beginning of an at least non-hostile relationship between us, and the conception of the biggest birthday party Dawn and I ever had. I don’t remember much from that party, but I do remember waking up with Aug’s ass directly in my face on a hot afternoon in the warehouse of The Big Boar. Needless to say, we remained there for a couple hours before we decided to beg the owner to feed us.

“May’s gonna owe me a few for this,” the owner muttered under his breath.

~

Everyone’s most hated morning came into play, but I shuffled through somehow, interviewing a couple people for the spot of councilmen. Volt agreed to take my place, so whilst I worked, he stuck to me like glue.

That day, I tried finishing up as quickly as I could. Dawn, Volt, and Pyro’s secondary elements were long overdue. Thankfully, they were experienced enough in learning new spells to simply give them spell tomes and leave them to their vices. Pyro of course practised wind spells. His brother, Volt, upped his knowledge on water magic. Dawn was at a crossroad on which element to further. Because of her ability to decrease and increase both the density and temperature of her water, she was the most rounded even when just using one element. She rued having the same combination as Volt – water and lightning – but also knew there was no better substitute. In the end, she couldn’t choose.

Next on my agenda was the shittiest blacksmith in all the world, August.

“Wait, wait, what?” My jaw finally began working again after it malfunctioned upon hearing his update. I placed a finger on my chin, “But, that’s impossible!” I looked at him, “Isn’t it?!” asking just to be sure I missed something. Usually, three percent a month was the max he could progress his quint at. Okay, okay, calm down, this is good news! A deep breath brought my hype levels down a notch. “Okay, so, you’re at forty percent right now. You were at twenty-one when we went to get your mom back from Moken. How many months was that?”

The blacksmith shrugged, “About four,” he figured, without looking at his calendar. He quenched a burning blade and began pounding away at it, “Enchanting, man. It’s enchanting!”

Ohhh, that explains! “Man, but that’s impressive as hell. I should get started on my transmutation. That way you won’t have a lack of materials and stuff.”

“Yes, yes you should. Pops is complaining already!” he snickered and had a seat next to me. “All enchantments are passive effects. So far, I’ve learned there are three primary attributes to improving ourselves. Strength, self-explanatory. It mostly buffs continuous strength and not exactly explosive. Like, a strength enchantment would be pretty useful for lifting heavy stuff a long way, but an explosive thing like punching someone would see less of a benefit.

“Agility on the other hand, gives more power to explosive strength because its real purpose is in speed and dexterity of course. So, let’s say you’re punching a guy, the speed you do it at is gonna be amped up, hence why agility enchantments are just a better fit for me than strength enchantments.

“Intellect is the last one, it–”

“Makes you smarter?!”

“I wish it did, then you’d have at least a fighting chance at life. But no, it makes you process things quicker. For example, a puzzle, something that you have all the pieces to solve, will be solved much faster but if you don’t have all the needed things you’ll still be stuck, or make the wrong decision.”

“Damn, kind of a double-edged sword. You could end up making the wrong decision faster if you don’t have all the info you need.”

Aug nodded his head in agreement. “Why I progressed so fast was just an enchantment to help me increase quint usage. I can do other things but none are as useful as increasing those three attributes. I’d give you a couple rings with the added intellect but you’re an idiot who rolls on instinct. So, I’ll just give it to Donna or Dawn, maybe even Hydra.”

“I hate you, man. Anyway, I’m gonna be unreasonable and ask you to reach fifty in quint by the end of this month, which gives you like, three weeks. Good luck!” I tapped his shoulder with a smile and flew off.

My next target for the day was Aldis, he had a particular spell I had yet to learn because, as August said, I roll on instinct, or used to. Hawk Eye was in my sight. It allowed the user to see clearly even over a large distance but also resulted in limited field of view.

He answered the door in his sleepwear, his hair ruffled. “Aldis, I need a favour. Haw–”

He slammed the door in my face.

“Hah! Karma!”

“Just give me the damn Hawk Eye spell!” I shouted out, not a particular nice thing to do early in the morning. I knocked again, making sure to make it unbearably loud. A minute after, a piece of paper was slipped under the door for me.

It read, ‘Here’s the spell, now get lost!’

That’s, nice… “Thanks!” I flew to work finally. With Reflect, Retrace, Hawk Eye, and transmutation, I was set for a while. Hawk Eye was pretty basic, learned that in a couple hours. Retrace took a bit more finesse but by the end of the day my mind consumed it. I spent the night working up my transmutation. I tried to simply change the shape of pebbles before I altered their makeup. Not easy, but nowhere near as difficult as changing the makeup.

With that under my belt, Aug’s blacksmithing became a whole lot easier. We trained the pillars excepting for Alchemy, visited Shyla’s grave, had a couple drinks. Things were steady again. By the end of the week, I could change pebbles into fine sand or to things of a similar nature. August basically stopped quint training and focused all his time and energy into enchanting. At the beginning of the next week, he resumed quint training, with rings on each finger, bracelets, a ton of different clothes on, chains, and all other accessories he could think of to enchant and wear whilst he trained this quint.

To learn Reflect, I had a clone cast weak spells at me. It was a simple shield spell at heart, but still took a couple days to perfect. These spells weren’t hard to learn, but they were kept under wraps so others won’t learn them.

For the rest of our training regimen, transmutation and enchanting was everything. Aug was running on fumes at the end of each day, but he managed to hit fifty percent quintessential energy usage. As for me, I could basically transmute stuff to whatever I wanted thanks to his enchantments making the skill increase quickly, but I was limited to the size of the object. Stuff bigger than, let’s say a person’s head would begin to have diminishing chance of success.

~

“Can I say no?” I asked.

“What? No, you can’t say no. You’re already here and dressed. I’d force you anyway.” Donna’s clone said as we waited to walk up to king Farron Maxwell. It was time to be knighted.