-Callen-

  As we waited, I decided to do the one thing I could in the face of the disaster. I went into meditation. It was much harder than usual to quiet my mind, but eventually I managed to harmonize with Nightshade. I passed on the urgency of the situation to her as best I could, but all I could understand was a vague sense of displeasure. I tried to urge her to act, but while she seemed concerned with the situation, she felt she had already sufficiently addressed the problem. Eventually I felt a sense of satisfaction from the feelings of a warm and sunny day.

  My meditation is pushed to the limit by my irritation and anxiety, but in the subsequent moments, Nightshade shared her perspective from outbreak to resolution and her limited reach to interfere. Dad had won; he might’ve been fighting a swarm of sluggish, drunken, poisoned worms, but it was still a huge win. I thanked Nightshade for helping us, especially after I had failed to listen to her, being so caught up in the big festival that I hadn’t stopped for meditation until now. However, this communication confirmed one of my biggest worries.

  Nightshade was the guardian of our town, but now she had severe limits imposed on her capabilities. I needed to improve faster if I wanted to help Nightshade recover her strength. She hadn’t shared with me how many times she could act at full strength, but I didn’t need to know. It wasn’t a matter of trust to me but the risk of the information being stolen from me and some greedy humanoid intentionally using her weakened state to their advantage.

  I left my meditation and shared the news of Dad’s victory. Word quickly spread, and the moment Dad and the other knights crested the hill, everyone erupted into cheers. Dad was a bit bashful and quickly moved over to Mom's side to soak in the affection he preferred.

  The nobles, seeing the situation, left without a word. As a royally protected location, taking promising talents from our town would have to wait until after the crisis had passed. Grandmaster Slate seemed irritated by having to leave before he was able to have a good conversation with me, but a promise to send letters seemed to appease him. On a different note, I think Viscount Nox’s son left Callia and Reesia an item with his sigil on it and promised them if they ever visited the capital, they would be welcome as guests. From his blush when looking at Reesia, I think he might have a crush, but Callia got no such look; instead, a great deal of respect was apparent.

  The idea made me think about travelling. While it was unreasonably dangerous, I knew it was something Callia was set on doing someday. I myself occasionally would look out to the town walls, wondering what else was out there. Travel was something for the future, but for now we had to deal with the disintegration of our town.

  My fire starter wand was a huge hit. The mayor immediately requested a dozen more to make burning down the town dock and everything wooden within our walls more manageable. Small teams retrieved branches from the forest, and my master and I got to work making fire starters. After burning down the town, food had almost become an issue, but luckily one of our ships returned with a large haul. Soon nothing was left but a charred field with only one location exempted from the fires. Nightshade's tower was exempted; any worm bold enough to attack her would only find a swift end.

  The town's losses weren’t just material, though, and many families had lost people precious to them. The worst impacted were the carpenters, who had nearly been entirely wiped out. Somehow I ended up as the most skilled architect in the entire town. My first suggestion was building a memorial with the names of everyone who had passed carved into the wall under the waterfall. Something to declare their names for a long time to gradually fade as the water wears it away and let them rest in memory.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Our stone workers quarried stone, making a path leading down to the waterfall's base, and we used that stone to build a new foundation for the town. The first building was a large town hall that doubled as an emergency shelter. As that project was underway, Dad frequently joined the teams of lumbermen bringing in new wood. The town adopted a paranoid status for future inspections, and a number of perception-focused volunteers were encouraged to learn from the town's main inspector. Sister Callia and Nixie took up that opportunity.

  As for Crescent, she was in an awkward position. Madam Laina hadn’t been seen since the attack and was presumed deceased. She had, however, shown graduation-level skills for healing and was frequently requested by injured townsfolk over the other lesser-known healers who hadn’t participated in the festival. Even more shocking was that the mayor, who had lost his only heir, had turned to a magical lineage detection tool and discovered that Crescent was in fact his granddaughter. After some time and persistence, she eventually agreed to be brought into his family. Her time was split between treating the injured and working with me and the mayor to coordinate the reconstruction efforts.

  I’m not sure why, but the mayor seemed to try to take every opportunity to teach me about leadership or have me spend time with Crescent. I wouldn’t say it was unwelcome, though Crescent was definitely my closest friend in the whole town, and who knew how useful the skills I learned here could be later, whether for enchanting or in my travels? I would say the biggest change was the town's attitude toward my family. We weren’t just the family of a knight who had been crippled and recovered but refused to rejoin the town. We were a dedicated family of highly skilled and hardworking members who were a bit introverted, preferring long training sessions in isolation over town gossip.

  When Callia shared with people that it was Grandpa who trained us, it seemed nearly half the orphans and a large number of normal residents sought him out to be their master. During the family dinners he would laugh boisterously, bragging about how he was the most successful master and everyone was finally recognizing his greatness. That didn’t mean he moved on from training me and Callia; instead, it just meant instead of a guard by day, Grandpa opened a training dojo where he could pelt all his new students with rocks while yelling at them to dodge. The biggest change, however, was a couple months into the restoration. Crescent had reached a high enough level to restore my skin, clearing it of all the cancerous boils that had scarred me ever since I had been forced to heal myself.

  An Oath

  Callia waits in position, ready to begin her new plan. Callen hadn’t suffered a good prank in a long time, and Callia had sworn long ago that Callen would never know peace. The problem was he had gotten too skilled at identifying Nixie’s traps. Without sending Reesia to forcibly insert him into the trap, Nixie wasn’t sure how to catch him. So the plan had changed; instead of a trap while he’s conscious, they will set a trap around him while he’s asleep.

  Callen returned home, his Callia instinct tingling of potential danger, but he couldn’t find anything that put him at risk. Asking Callia wouldn't bring any results, so he tolerated the feeling with concern. It had been a long day, and he and Crescent had designed and put in motion the mercantile district running through the heart of the town. After hitting the bed, he drifted to sleep in mere moments.

  Callia and Nixie sprung into action. Strings were set all around Callen that would drench him and leave him suspended above his bed the moment he took a step out in the morning. The two giggled in anticipation of Callen's early shower and went to their rooms to get a good night's rest.

  Early morning everyone was awoken by a startled cry and the sound of water violently splashing. Callia and Nixie went straight to Callen's room to soak in the surprise induced by their trap. Callia could feel the sheer shock, confusion, and some embarrassment from Callen. Kicking open Callen’s door was a bit much, as it broke free from its hinges and fell over.

  Instead of a bound Callen, instead they got to see a blushing and tearing-up Crescent soaked, bound, and suspended right in front of Callen, who was working to free her from the bindings of the trap.

  “Dammit!” Callia cried in injustice as she and Nixie missed again. Whack! A powerful impact smacked Callia in the back of the head, and behind them was an unhappy pregnant mom wielding Callen's child correction stick menacingly. She was very upset to have been woken so early by Callia’s childishness, and a great deal of child correction was imminent.