-Grandpa Renack-

  My gut was just about the sharpest thing I had, but I think this might be the first time I willfully ignored it. From how Callen described the situation, he had no idea who this was or why she was attacking. At the same time, that meant there likely wasn’t a motive unless she was here to hunt people. Murderers seeking power is one of the most common motives, and even guards sometimes slip across that line.

  With my resolve set, I felt a shift that wasn’t as perceptible as before. The danger I felt wasn’t from staying; it was from running. My instincts weren’t screaming to run; they were screaming not to. I rolled the thought over again in my mind. The girl was content to sit and watch while my friends nervously held their ground. I needed to figure out what she wanted before someone rashly acted.

  Her response to the short comments Callen made were playful. She didn’t think of us as a danger, but she wasn’t proactively attacking. Which means she has some kind of rule to follow. I slowly lower my spear, ignoring the shock of my companions.

  “Hello, Miss Lexia, I’m Renack. I’m the grandfather of this boy, and I hope we can come to an understanding.” My voice was firm, and my eyes were sharp as I measured her response. There was a flash of disappointment, but also of respect. It seems she doesn’t intend to act until provoked. Maybe Callen made a mistake? It was hard to imagine him provoking some girl, but it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

  “Has my grandson done anything to provoke you?” The first step to fixing an accident is figuring out what went wrong. She didn’t seem particularly upset, so it's likely it wasn’t an egregious mistake.

  “Well, I was just on my way to Port Town. I heard rumors about a pair of twins who would be worth seeing, and when I met him, I might’ve been feeling a little playful.” Her response wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Still, this is much more promising than having offended her. Still, she had been inches from decapitating Callen before I intervened.

  “That was a bit too playful, wasn’t it?” The moment the words slip from my mouth, I’m regretting them. Don’t provoke the dangerous and “playful” girl. No time to carefully consider what's next; I need to elaborate!

  “The kiddos are a bit tired. They’ve been busy with this whole bandit issue. How about we all pack up and head back to town? Once they're back in top shape, you can play with them some more.” I see the anger in her eyes for just a moment before I sputter out the follow-up statement. Now she seems in deep thought. The others seem to have caught on to what I’m trying to do and gradually are backing away. Spears lower as she seems to come to a conclusion.

  “Deal! You take them back home. I’m going to clean up the bandits, and when I get to Port Town, I get to fight whomever I want!” Her statement was direct, and I almost feel bad for the bandits. As for her offer, I’m definitely not qualified to make a deal like this, but there is no way in hell I’m going to contradict the girl. Still now might be my last chance to add terms for the ‘fun.’

  “I’ll agree, but while you are in town, killing is off-limits unless it's a monster!” My only demand. A shield for the people of the territory. If she is interested enough, it shouldn’t be a problem. My gut is telling me that this girl places great importance on upholding rules and deals she makes. It honestly feels out of character from what I feel of her nature. It’s more like something that has been hammered in after she grew up. My guess is she was the toy project of some powerful noble that's gone rogue, or worse, she is here on their behalf. Her response comes after another delay of deliberation. It almost feels like she’s dragging this out to play with our nerves.

  “Hmm, how about this? I’ll listen to your town’s rules, but I get to punish anyone who steps out of line or in my way however I please!” Seems like the best deal I’m going to get. As long as the town spreads the word and we buy some time, the knights can be gathered to deal with her if necessary. I try to hold myself still as I reach out a hand.

  “That sounds like a fair deal.” She grabs my outstretched hand and firmly shakes it. I barely blink before the girl vanishes. I don’t know if it was speed or stealth, but the weight of the whole interaction hits me all at once. That exit alone was enough to tell me we would’ve been screwed if this came to blows.

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  I turned back to check on Callen and found no issue. I sling him onto my back and begin investigating the area. Without sufficient incentive to stay and fight without mana, Callen would’ve just used his contraptions to escape. Sure enough, it wasn’t long until we found the other girls all sat down at the base of a tree. They were beat up, but it was obvious they had received healing. More concerning was the body of a huge bandit with a ballista bolt in his head. Nearly every guard who had participated in the battle knew what the escaped knights looked like. Somehow my grandkid had taken the brute down.

  I look off towards the bandit camp. I can’t see it from here, but following the tracks of Callen’s wagon wouldn’t be hard. I wanted to take the kids back with me, but saving the hostages was important. Looking over to my friends, I came to a decision.

  “Thanks for coming out this far with me. I’m going to go see what happened to the hostages. Can I entrust you lot to get these kids back to town?” The others seem to realize what I’m suggesting, and soon my idea is overruled. Instead of all of them heading back to town, we split into groups of six. The region was relatively safe for now, but escorting back an unknown number of hostages would’ve been tough.

  I can't help but feel a bit satisfied with these stubborn old geezers. I pat our tracker on the shoulder encouragingly as we begin working our way north, following the tracks of what must’ve been an exciting chase through the woods. Eventually we reached the camp. Going through the open gap where the gate would be, I immediately stop the group. My gut screamed danger as I slowly backed us up. Looking down, I feel a trickle of sweat run down my neck. I had nearly stepped into Nixie’s tripwire.

  The group diverted towards the wall. They were reasonably high for being built by amateurs and within a short time frame, but it wasn’t nearly enough to stop us without someone guarding it. We easily vaulted the wall and made our way into the camp. The others were carefully following me to avoid any near disasters like we had at the gate. Inside we found two caves; one was rigged with hastily strewn landmines, and the other was a massacre. Bodies ripped to shreds by what looked like claws.

  That was enough confirmation for me that the bandits likely wouldn’t interfere with our search. I carefully removed the landmines from one cave while a couple of the others went to search the main cave. I made it all the way back and found nothing. If I were Callen, how would I have tried to rescue these people? My eye is drawn subconsciously to a portion of the stone wall that was too smooth. Tunnels, of course, it's tunnels! I knock against the stone and listen. A dull thump echoes back to me. This wall had an opening on the other side!

  Stepping back, I take my spear and carefully jab the wall. Immediately the sound of a large number of terrified civilians begins to escape from the hole. It takes some time, but eventually I convince them that the bandits have been cleared out and it is relatively safe outside with the exception of some leftover traps. We gather in the clearing outside, and the others come up from the exploration of their tunnels. Not much of value, but there are several women in poor condition.

  I pull off the cloak from my gear and drape it over one of the women as we guide the civilians over to the wall. It’s almost entirely by accident someone trips and bumps into a piece of wall that falls free, having clearly been cut out as an alternative exit. Well, that made leaving this place much easier. Together we move out and carefully make our way south.

  Slowly we pass through the woods with our guard raised. The roads had been cleared, but the area would likely see new monsters moving in to fill the gap soon. Sadly though, I wish the whole exit had gone smoothly, but we did lose someone to an ambush. An invisible lizard snatched a man from the back of our group and was gone before the man could even begin to scream. Eventually the exhausting trek came to an end as we bunkered down in the riverside fort.

  Childcare

  8-year-old Callen sullenly washed dishes alongside his mom. Apparently dyeing Callia’s hair camouflage wasn’t permissible as a prank regardless of how much Callia liked it. He scrubbed away at the dishes while his mom began to knead dough. With how he and Callia had grown up, they had never needed much in the way of childcare. So with caution he brought up his interest to his mom. She had been a specialist taught to raise the baron’s children. What that entailed was a mystery to him.

  Turns out it wasn’t as strange as he had thought. Ela’s main task involved caring for the young master while strictly controlling herself and what he interacted with. She needed to steel her emotions to avoid giving the child an appearance-based skill like charm, and she had a variety of teaching skills that far outclassed typical educators. It was no accident that Callia and Callen had learned the local language with ease.

  Ela taught a wide variety of foundational knowledge while also moderating the amount to prevent skills like mathematics. In a way she filled the role of a common sense educator. The reason she was able to leave so easily was because the baron’s staff saw Callen and Callia’s growth as a failure. If she was skilled enough to teach the baron, why did she fail her own children? In truth, until Callen and Callia had revealed their statuses, Ela had thought she had failed them.

  As their respective tasks came to an end, Ela grabbed some caramelized honey toast bites. Quietly handing him one, she whispered, “You can have one now for listening, but don’t tell Callia where the jar is. Deal?” She winked at Callen as he nodded happily before running off to enjoy his treat. She smiled happily, having enjoyed spending time with her boy. In truth the punishment was just an excuse to keep him near for a bit before he ran off towards his next project.