Tamara Goodleaf woke up with a start. She had the weirdest dream. Lord Rauros had been in her dream, asking her to form an elite team against the demons. She groaned as she remembered the details of the dream.

It was always difficult communicating with Lord Rauros Shadowfang. She had met him twice during all the time she had spent adventuring. The first time was a few weeks back when he had paid her a visit and explained to her the role he had devised for her in the oncoming demon invasion. She was to be a champion of the adventurers. One of the champions of Una. She would be key with one more champion in defeating the demonic horde.

The second time was when she and the other champion had to go to Melancholia and Lord Rauros and Lady Leyda simply officiated them as their champions while Charles, the overall Director of NAIF gave them certain instructions.

Tamara wanted to refuse the role, but she had no choice. She had been adventuring for 100 years on Una. 100 years did not mean much to an elf, but for normal adventurers, it was a long time. Her last partner had retired about 20 years ago and she had no partner since then.

100 years of adventuring on Una was unheard of. The maximum an adventurer had spent time as an adventurer on Una before retiring was 52 years. This record had been broken by Tamara. However, she was still not keen on giving up adventuring and becoming a non-adventurer. She had been pressured by NAIF a lot to retire but she had not given in to their demands.

And that was why she was one of the champions of Una. Lord Rauros had basically given her two options, become his champion or he would forcefully retire her. She had no choice but to accept being the champion. She remembered why she had not given up adventuring even though it had become too easy for her.

After 100 years of adventuring, she had reached level 275, the maximum level an adventurer can obtain. It had taken a long time for her, about 74 years. She also had a hoard of wealth such that she could lead a comfortable life of a non-adventurer.

But she knew what awaited her after she retired. She did not want that fate and she was waiting for a miracle to help her.

Tamara got ready for the day and exited her room. She was currently in a remote village on the landmass Golimath. Dudaamalin was the name of the village. A long name for a small village populating only about 50 dwarves.

As she exited the only inn of the village, she equipped herself. Her armor shone in the sun. Her longsword and shield glittered. Legendary armor did have its advantages. Stealth was not one of them though. She was a warrior though. She did not require stealth. She was also confident that considering her maxed out stats, there was no enemy on Una that could defeat her.

As she walked through the village, she thought about her dream. It was still crystal clear to her. She had initially been dreaming about a boat on a lake and she was standing on the boat. Then Lord Rauros had appeared on the boat, asked her how she was doing and where she was. Then he told her to form an elite team against the demons. The team would not be more than ten adventurers, including Tamara and she got to choose whomever she wanted.

Lord Rauros had given her a month to get the team ready. Then he would send her further aid. Tamara wondered what this aid was. Lord Rauros had not talked about the other champion and that meant that Tamara would not be dealing much with him.

Tamara wondered about who she should select as part of her elite team. She had built many good relationships over the years, and she still nurtured new relationships whenever she enjoyed the company of a particular adventurer.

Tamara brought her Mechanical Biped out of her inventory and got on it. She started off towards the capital city. She knew someone there. She could ask him to be a part of her team. She grinned as she accelerated. This might be fun after all.

***

“Pour me another”, said Tanniv Kinner to the bartender.

The bartender replied, “I think you have had enough Tanniv. I can see that you are starting to get drunk.”

Tanniv snorted, his fur vibrating as he did and said, “I am trying to get drunk Keech. Pour me another before my alcohol tolerance takes over and I become sober.”

Keech, the bartender said, “No Tanniv. You need to be sober for today. Do you remember what day it is?”

“I am not going today, Keech”, said Tanniv. He looked annoyed, “Sanna is not coming today. Nor is Tuanna. Sanna has given me the ultimatum. I have one month to retire. Otherwise, she will not bring Tuanna to visit me.”

Keech said, “That’s rough.”

Tanniv laughed, “No it’s not rough. It is funny. Do you want to know what is funny, Keech?”

Keech shook his head and said, “No I do not. Now, if you want to drink your sorrows away, you need to go somewhere else. I am not letting you get drunk here. I care about you.”

Tanniv did not say anything. He paid the units for the drinks that he had, stood up and exited the establishment. Damn that Keech. Says that he cares about Tanniv. No one cares about Tanniv other than Tanniv.

Tanniv started to walk towards his inn deep in thought. He had been selected as one of the champions of Una against the demonic invasion. Lady Leyda was the one who had selected him as her champion. He wondered what he had seen in him other than his level, which was 152 and the number of years he had been an adventurer, which was 10 years.

Other than seniority he had nothing to offer against a demonic force. He had no leadership skills. He was not that great of an adventurer. His last partner left him five years ago and after that no one was willing to be his partner. He had a daughter, Tuanna, with her ex-girlfriend, Sanna but she did not like his career as an adventurer and kept his daughter away from him.

So, why was he selected as a champion? What did Lady Leyda expect? That he would wave his greatsword and the demons would simply run away from him.

Tanniv found that he had arrived at Sanna’s house. He had subconsciously walked over. He groaned. He needed to go somewhere else. He was going to move when the door opened.

Sanna’s sight still knocked all the air out of him. Her black matted fur, her piercing eyes and meticulous claws always felt like they pierced his heart. Even after all these years he was not over her.

There was a romanticized rumour amongst the Feliur that they mate for life. Tanniv had never believed this rumour till he had met Sanna. After meeting her he had wanted this rumour to be true, but Sanna had left him. Not before she had gotten pregnant with their child.

Tuanna exited the house after her mother. She had white skin, just like him with black stripes running down her skin at regular intervals. Tuanna was six today and Tanniv wanted to celebrate her birthday with her; a last one before he went to be Lady Leyda’s champion.

Sanna looked at Tanniv and frowned, “What are you doing here?”

Tuanna looked at Tanniv the same moment and shouted, “Daddy!”

Tanniv grinned and picked Tuanna up. He said, “Happy birthday love. It is good to see you.” Then he turned to Sanna and said, “I am sorry. I sort of subconsciously pawed my way here.”

Sanna shook her head but did not say anything. She let father and daughter have a moment.

After some time Sanna spoke, “We are going to The Kid’s Club to celebrate. I have invited Tuanna’s friends. I was going to call you and ask whether you wanted to join us. I hope you do.”

Tanniv said, “Of course I am coming. I have nothing planned today. It is my princess’ special day after all.”

“What about my gift daddy?” asked Tuanna, bouncing on her paws.

Tanniv laughed and took a pendant out of her inventory. It was a chain made out of mithril with a crescent moon in the center. It was enchanted to give the [Blessing of the Moon] to the wearer. It was an expensive gift. He remembered reading about the spell.

[Blessing of the Moon]

Gives 10 points of natural physical resistance to the caster. Under the light of the full moon, this benefit is doubled. This spell can be cast only on an object. Spell would be active as long as the caster wears the object. Mana cost of 100. Cooldown 1 month.

Tuanna said, “It is a beautiful necklace, daddy.”

“Always wear it, my sharp claws”, said Tanniv.

As the three of them took a Mechanical Quadruped to the venue, Tanniv was driving, Sanna whispered in his ear so that Tuanna would not hear them, “One of the representatives of NAIF visited me. He told me everything.”

As he heard Sanna, Tanniv remembered his dream from last night. Lady Leyda had asked him to form an elite team of 10 adventurers. In return, he had asked Lady Leyda to keep Sanna and Tuanna safe.

Tanniv said, “I am sorry about this Sanna.”

Sanna shook her head, “Do not be sorry. I am just glad to hear that you were ready to retire. I am sorry you got dragged into this demonic invasion business. However, if the demons are invading, I would rather have you as the champion. You would do well, even though I am sure you are having self-doubt.”

Tanniv did not know what to say to this. They reached The Kid’s Club. Sanna had reserved a room for them with an entertainer. Tuanna’s friends soon started to arrive one by one, and the entertainer kept them occupied with various activities.

Tanniv looked at Sanna. Even after all this time, she still knew him well.

Sanna said, “We are moving to Melancholia soon. Lady Leyda believes that we shall be safer there.”

Tanniv nodded and said, “That is well. I will try to visit from time to time. Otherwise, I will do a video call.”

“Tuanna would like that”, said Sanna.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Tanniv finally said goodbye to her daughter in the night as she went to her room to sleep.

As he was leaving Tanniv asked, “When are you leaving?”

Sanna said, “In a week.”

“I will come to say goodbye. I will clear my schedule till then. Spend some more time with Tuanna.”

Sanna nodded. Tanniv left. As he got his Mechanical Quadruped out of his inventory and started it, he heard Sanna say, “Kick the demon’s gorking arses Tanniv. I believe in you. So does Tuanna.”

Tanniv grinned. He accelerated through the streets of Opulential. He would fight the demons. For the sake of his daughter, if nothing else.