I hadn’t seen Felris since she graduated the academy.

  We had been exchanging letters over the past two years, staying in touch and telling each other about the goings-on in our lives, but with the travel distances and lack of telecommunications or video, I hadn’t been able to lay eyes on her. In retrospect, I should have sent one of the two-way communication mirrors with her back to Obdorn, but Somnial’s passing had been too fresh at the time and I hadn’t fully adapted to the idea of owning all his belongings then.

  I had wanted to visit her on the longer breaks from academy classes, but I had decided to keep visiting my family twice a year instead. Sending raab by courier was a great way to have the currency mysteriously vanish, and it was only in-person that I could convince them to take some money from me, so they could maintain what I considered a minimum level of quality of life. Even just two visits a year was barely enough to stay involved in my siblings’ lives so that I didn’t become a stranger to them, especially Tomas and Tomellia.

  By contrast, I knew Felris was waiting for me, as I was for her. Two years was both a long time and a short blip, and it hadn’t affected my own heart at all. Perhaps I had been a bit scared it would affect hers, though, which made it easier to keep things at a distance.

  That distance was closed, now. Felris had matured in the past two years, growing into a fine young woman of nineteen years. While Felton’s height eluded me, I had finally caught up to his sister, though even still I only barely had an inch over her. Rather than her academy robes or a lady’s dresses, she was dressed in comfortable travel clothes, the same sort one might wear for hiking, riding, or adventuring; fitted pants, tall boots, and a tucked-in blouse under a bodice-like vest.

  It was casual wear, but she looked absolutely stunning in it, and it took seconds before I could stop gaping at her and respond with words.

  “You’re here,” I breathed, then cleared my throat. “Why are you here?”

  “Pleasure to see you too, Tovar,” Felris said with a smirk.

  “No, I mean, I’m delighted, but—how?”

  “I couldn’t talk her out of it,” Felton sighed, exaggerating his displeasure. “She insisted on helping.”

  “As if I’m going to let my brother and my fiancé deal with a bunch of disgusting goblins without my help,” she said, eyes narrowing. I could practically feel her lightning crackling within.

  A mess of emotions hit me all at once: concern over her safety; happiness at her insistence on being here; a confused mess of fondness for being called her fiancé, even if it wasn’t truly formalized.

  Before I could respond, I saw a collection of important people heading over to see what the carriage had brought. Leading the pack was Torra, with Tomas and Tomellia between her and my trailing parents.

  “Oh, here comes my family,” I said, growing nervous about the impending culture clash. “Remember, they’re not used to high society, and—”

  “Hey!” Torra called out, getting close enough to interrupt. “We saw a new carriage go by. Who—”

  Felton and Felris turned towards my family, and it was Torra’s turn to be cut short, although in a very different way. It was Felton’s smile that caused Torra to stop, letting out a small squeak as a bright blush crept up her cheeks.

  I groaned, closing my eyes for a moment before re-centering myself to make introductions.

  “Felton, Felris, this is Torra, Tomas, Tomellia, Hildan, and Berrel, my family. Family, this is Felton, my best friend, and his sister Felris, uh…” I paused, unsure how to describe her.

  Felris didn’t let me decide. “Tovar’s future wife,” she said, giving my family a small bow as my mother made a small gasp of surprise and my siblings’ eyes bugged out. Hildan simply raised his eyebrows slightly, glancing at me then back to Felris.

  “That hasn’t been decided on yet,” I said, and Felris turned her head back to me, quirking an eyebrow and pursing her lips. “…But, uh, yeah. Once we’ve settled the new territory. Then… yeah,” I said, stammering.

  Felris turned back to my family as Felton spoke up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all; Tovar’s told us so much about you,” he said, smoothly, tilting his head slightly to Torra, who was quite plainly swooning. “We hope you don’t mind our intrusion.”

  “Not at all,” Torra said dreamily, before I cleared my throat and glared at her.

  “You won’t intrude on them, anyway,” I said. It wasn’t like my family home had anywhere to put them up. “We’ve got camp prepared, as you can see, and once we push into the forest we’ll likely have to rough it. It’s not going to be comfortable.” I shot a warning look at Felris, making sure she knew what she was in for.

  The incorrigible young woman simply turned to me and smiled. “I can handle rough,” she said at a lower volume, causing my cheeks to redden and match my sister’s.

  Which reminds me. Torra’s reaction to seeing my friend gave me cause for concern. I turned, kicking Felton’s boot, and he glanced down at it then up at me innocently. “What?”

  “No,” I said, inclining my head just barely to Torra, and dropping my voice. “Way too young.”

  “Tovar, you wound me,” he said, bringing a hand to his chest in mock outrage.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure.”

  “As it were, Felton’s happy to announce his new engagement,” Felris said, causing my own eyebrows to shoot up in surprise.

  “Who’s the lucky lady?”

  “Gustel,” Felris said, and I blinked at the name. My gaze flicked up Gus, still sitting at the front of the carriage, but that… didn’t seem right. Felris caught my gaze, snorted a small laugh, and continued. “Of Hyron.”

  It took me a moment to reshuffle my memories. “Gustar’s sister?”

  Felton nodded. “Count of Hyron’s second daughter. The wedding won’t be for a few years; she only just became a senior at the academy.”

  That made sense, since Obdorn and Hyron remained neighbors and would want a good relationship, even after things soured between Gustar and Felris. It wasn’t nearly as strong of a pairing for Obdorn, but it hopefully mended some fences.

  “Well, I hope she’s nicer than her brother.”

  “She’s actually a very sweet young lady,” Felris said.

  I glanced over at my family, who were standing there somewhat awkwardly, unable to join in on the conversation. “Well, we can gossip later. You two must be tired and hungry from the road. Let’s get you fed and settled in.”

  * * *

  “Here, Gus,” I said, passing the older man a bowl of stew. Some of the maids at our camp were keeping a pot going through the day to feed all the people working, replenishing it as needed. “How’s Odel?”

  “She’s well,” Gus said. “Wanted to come with and dote on the young lord and lady, as she does, but the road’s a bit too hard on her these days.”

  I nodded. “We’ll take care of them. Are you going to be sticking around, or headed back?”

  Felton and Felris had decided that they were sticking with me until the dungeon was cleared and the new domain established, which was an unknown timeline. Realistically, if it wasn’t done before winter, they would have to go back by then; I couldn’t have the two eldest of a baron’s children camping through the winter cold. Even the summer conditions weren’t up to their standard, not by a long shot.

  “I’ll have to head back. Don’t want to impose on you when I can’t do much, anyway.”

  “It’s no imposition, but I understand. I’ll make sure to send a letter out to Obdorn when we’ve made any progress, try and let you know in advance when Felton and Felris will be ready to return.”

  “Hmm. Road’s a bit twisty,” Gus said. “Take a while for a letter to travel. Once you’ve got your new territory sorted, you might want to think about cutting a more direct road. Especially if the young lady’s going to be settling down with you.”

  “I’ll… keep that in mind,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s not been decided on yet, though.”

  “Tell that to the young lady,” Gus snorted. “It’s all she’s been talking about.”

  After excusing myself, I made my way over to where I had left the Obdorn siblings with some food, who were finishing up. “Allow me to show you to your lodgings,” I said, motioning for the pair to follow me. “Of course, we’ve reserved only our finest suite for the young lord and lady.”

  “I’m sure,” Felton said sarcastically. “Floors inlaid with gold and silken tents?”

  “I can offer the most evenly raked dirt floor and the canvas which leaks the least.”

  “That’ll have to do,” Felton said with a grin.

  The tent I brought them to was supposed to be mine, but I sent people to clear it out as soon as the siblings arrived. It was large enough for two, and it was the nicest, although that distinction could only barely be made. It was supposed to be temporary, anyway; once the longhouse was built, we would have better sleeping arrangements, and even that was only until we cleared the dungeon and moved out to the new land.

  “Here you go,” I said, turning to the pair. “Oh—you’re okay to share, right?”

  Felris made a face. “Felton snores.”

  “I absolutely do not. You snore.”

  “I—no I don’t! Tovar, I don’t snore,” Felris said, turning to me.

  I shrugged. “Some people snore. It’s no big deal. If you don’t want to bunk together, I guess Felris can stay here and Felton and I can share a tent elsewhere.”

  “Felton can stay here, and Tovar and I can share—”

  “No,” Felton and I said in stereo. Felris pouted.

  I would have been lying if I said my heart hadn’t leapt a bit at the idea, but I intended to maintain decorum and propriety, even if Felris seemed determined to make that difficult. Most especially with her brother right there, even if he was in favor of a marriage in our future.

  “It’s just for a little while. I think we can have the longhouse closed in soon, and then we’ll all be sharing a roof,” I said. “Besides, we’ll all be sleeping quite heavily after the long days of working our way through the forest. We’ve got lots of land to scout and goblins to kill.”

  That sobered Felton and Felris, who grew a bit more serious as a result of my words. As nice as it was to joke with my friends, what we were going to be doing was dangerous, and would be a lot of hard work. Growing lax was a good way to get injured. I had [Minor Healing], but that would only treat simple wounds.

  “Well then,” Felris said, clearing her throat. “This tent should be fine. Though, Felton, if you could…” she motioned towards the ground.

  The sandy-haired boy gave her a smug look, then closed his eyes and began to chant a spell. It was immediately familiar, as it was one I had cast a number of times since returning to the village.

  Instead of tilling the ground, Felton’s [Control Earth] spell activated and compressed it, packing the loose dirt within the tent into a much more solid floor. I tapped at it with my boot, and it made a dull sound; hard, though not as hard as stone would be. It would take some serious effort to break it up, though, and render it back to loose dirt.

  “Uh, Felton,” I said, coming to a realization. “Please don’t ever, ever, let my sister see you cast that spell.”

  Torra’s crush seemed bad enough already, but if she learned Felton could magically till the fields, I wasn’t sure what the teenage girl would do.

  * * *

  There remained a few things to take care of after Felton and Felris’s arrival, including putting Gus up somewhere to sleep before seeing him back off in the morning.

  The next morning, after ensuring that all the valuables were as secure as possible, the siblings, Byron, and I all prepared ourselves for our initial incursion into the forest.

  We were all geared up in leathers, and had our weapons handy. Byron’s preferred sword was an elegant rapier, which I knew from experience he wielded expertly, and was an absolute terror with it. Felton had a sturdy, but expensive looking spear which he had commissioned after gaining the skill. I had my mandiblades, which I pulsed some mana through; after years of training with them, they were practically an extension of my body, and were almost indestructible while I extended my mana circuit into them. At least, they had yet to meet their magical match.

  Felris pulled out an elegant bow, and I raised my eyebrow.

  “I’ve been learning archery,” she said confidently. “Something to help with a little more quickly than spells. It also helps me gauge distance and practice establishing range, which helps me with my lightning.”

  “Have you gained a skill for it yet?” I asked, before I remembered that it was, technically, an inappropriate question. “Uh, sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

  Felris shrugged, the faintest hint of a blush appearing on her cheeks. “Not yet.”

  She would, I was pretty sure, once we encountered goblins. If she could land an arrow in the stress of the battle, that would likely push her into the skill. Maybe later I’d ask to borrow the bow and try my hand at it, as well. I hadn’t shot since I was a child.

  I cleared my throat, glancing around at the three members of my excursion party, then into the woods. “Well. Shall we depart?”