As night fell across the fort, the queerness of the Twilight Month taking hold across the nd, Jurot sipped at his peach wine. Adam half y within his chair, feeling the sweet embrace of slumber call to him.

  “You and I will marry soon,” Jurot said.

  “Huh?” Adam replied, blinking wildly. “We ’t do that, Jurot, we’re brothers.”

  “…”

  “Yeah.” Adam smiled, stretg out his neck from side to side.

  “We will no longer be men. You are already a father, but you will bee a husband, and I will bee both husband and father.”

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, feeling a tihin his chest. ‘Yeah.’

  Jurot crossed his arms, falling into thought for a long moment. “How does one bee a good father and husband?”

  “You just o treat your children a

  Jirot isn't my favourite, but I love her so mubsp;

  nd wife well, that’s all.”

  “Pam is no Iyrman. She has agreed to the Iyr’s rules, but they are not easy.”

  “You just o trust her.”

  Jurot slowly bowed his head, though remained with his arms crossed. “I must do my best.”

  “You will. In our own ways, we’ll do good. I’m sure there will be times where I am better suited, and other times when you are better suited. Even now we both have our own strengths, what with me and my adoration, and you and your sensibleness, outside of your o kill everything.”

  “I do not wish to kill everything, only that which will bring honour to my family,” Jurot corrected.

  “That’s almost everything.”

  “Almost,” Jurot agreed.

  “I only meant it as a joke, don’t agree that easy, Jurot,” Adam replied, his eyes meeting his brother’s for a moment. ‘Why do you have to be so damn scary all the time?’ “Anyway, you lean on me whenever you need, and I’ll lean on you whenever I need.”

  Jurot nodded, p his brother and himself a drink.

  Not far from the brothers, the pair of demons stared at the stars from the walls of the fort. They both shared a bottle of wiing the fried snacks from the wedding which were rapidly running out. The pair remained silent, staring at the stars, hearing the wind and the chatter.

  ‘I didn’t get to admire any hunks this year,’ Lucy thought, letting out a soft sigh. She reached up to her throat, trag an almost unseen mark. Though she travelled with a Priest of Life, she didn’t want to lose her life for a third time.

  Mara remained beside Lucy. She thought of her previous strength, still so far away from her current form. ‘A few decades and I will regain my strength…’

  As m fell across the fort, all gathered to eat, save for the pair of Iyrmen walking the walls. Adam held Larot on his p, feeding the boy the mushy fruit from the bowl. The onfolk he look of affe Adam had for a demon, and their eyes wao the pair of demons who remained within the fort, each eating their food quietly, lost withihoughts.

  “Daddy, soht peas,” Jirot called, holding up her hot potato.

  “Of course, my dear,” Adam said, taking the tiny wooden shaker, slowly sprinkling the salt onto the potato, doing the same for his son, who also held up his potato. “My adorable little babies!” Adam fawned over his children in the m, before allowing them to go py with the other children, including the new children who had joihe business.

  Adam watched the pair py, with Lanarot and Gurot joining them, while his triplets all zed around near him, exhausted from doing their busy work of nothing in particur. Jurot stood beside Adam, feeling his brother’s thoughts.

  “Jurot, will you e with me to the Front Iyr?”

  “Okay.”

  The pair made their way to the Front Iyr, trekking through the hills of the Iyr. Adam had yet to expin why he wao return to the Iyr, having said a quick goodbye to his children, and with some effort, Adam dragged himself away from his adorable children.

  As the cool wind of the evening fell upon the pair, Adam waved towards the Iyrmen who greeted him at the rge gates.

  “What a terrible smell,” the figure growled, wiping the back of their mouth as they leaned against the half empty barrel.

  “It’s always a pleasure to see you, Lord Stokmar,” Adam said, holding out a bottle of peach wine.

  “Why have you e to disrupt my pleasure?”

  “I wao formally invite you to our wedding,” Adam said.

  “Why would I waste my time there?”

  “I know that you are so great and mighty, Lord Stokmar. I wouldn’t have dared to invite you previously, but my children, Jirot and Jarot, they are huge fans of yours.”

  “Fans?”

  “They enjoy hearing about you and yreat strength. They really like you, and as their father, I should take their feelings into sideration. I hope you’ll e, it would make their day, and I’m certain they won’t fet.”

  “If I am to do this for you, what will you do for me?”

  “What I, a half elf brat, offer the great Lord Stokmar?”

  “Nothing,” Stokmar replied, narrowing their eyes.

  “I will prepare some wihough I’m not sure if it would suit your taste. I’ll ask my granduncle for some wine, he’s well known for his wine in the Iyr. Hopefully you’ll sider it passable.”

  Stokmar let out a soft sigh, w who this granduncle of his was. “I have heard your daughter’s wishes.”

  “Yes?” Adam replied, smiling ily.

  “Your daughter courts trouble like Iyrmen court death.”

  Jurot slowly nodded his head, letting out a soft snort of pride for him and his o be plimented by the Lord of Earth.

  “Of course she courts trouble, since she’s my daughter,” Adam replied.

  “Is that true?”

  “I don’t know where she got her smarts from, but her adorableness aroublesomeness, she surely ied those from me!” Adam stated, raising his voice slightly.

  “She will live a dangerous life.”

  “Since she’s a goblin and the daughter of an idiot,” Adam agreed.

  Lord Stokmar wasn’t used to someone speaking so openly about their own fws like that. “A Demon Lord is another matter. Many great beings will hunt her.”

  “Her family is strong.”

  “Even if the ey of your Rot family assist her, they will be uo help.”

  “The entirely of the Rot family is strong, but they’re not the only ones who will help her. She has plenty of aunts and uncles, a dependable older sister, the rest of her siblings, and a father who loves her more than the world.”

  “You? You may be impressive among the peoples of this nd, but the stro in this nd are but ants among those who rule the mountains far to the east.”

  “I’m sure, but I’ve only just hatched. Give me a few decades, a tury even, and we’ll see if I don’t beat that bas-,”

  Strength SaveD20 + 9 = 12 (3)Failure!Health: 91 -> 72

  The earth shifted beh Adam’s feet while Lord Stokmar held out their hand, flinging Adam back against the nearby wall, the half elf smming into it roughly, though his legs burned with the effort to keep him upright.

  “With a fliy finger, I could crush you,” Lord Stokmar said, noting the ck of the Iyrman’s response.

  “You know, Lord Stokmar, they say you’re unrivalled upon the earth,” Adam said, panting for air. “Unfortunately for you, the earth is uhe heavens.”

  “With a mouth like that, do you io make the entire world your enemy?” Lord Stokmar asked, thinking of who Adam eaking of when he eaking of the one he wao beat.

  Adam inhaled deeply, rubbing the back of his neck. “My children are my world.”

  Strength SaveD20 + 9 = 24 (15)Failure!Health: 72 -> 58

  The earth shifted under Adam’s feet once more, smming him against the wall once more, with the half elf dropping to the side.

  ‘ge,’ Lord Stokmar thought, recalling the word through its text. They uood what the word meant upoing Adam. “The thought of you defeating me is ughable.”

  “I wouldn’t dare to face you, Lord Stokmar, not unless it was that serious,” Adam said.

  “The Iyr would dare not to threaten me.”

  Adam’s lips began to widen into that kind of smile which would cause Lord Stokmar to attack him once more. “My brother speaks to you respectfully because he wishes to do so, not because he is pelled. Ain’t that right, Jurot?”

  “Yes,” Jurot replied, without skipping a beat. “Lord Stokmar. You have struck my brother twice.”

  “What of it, child of…” Lord Stokmar paused for a moment. “Rot.”

  “I wish to be struck too.”

  The silence of an Iyrman’s speech filled the air.

  It was the evening when the pair returned back to the fort, Adam dropping to his knees and wing as his children embraced him.

  “What adorable children I have! Did anyone bully you?” Adam asked as he peppered them with kisses.

  “No!” Jirot replied. “Anyone bully dadd?”

  “Hmm. A little?”

  “Oh dear!” Jirot gasped. “I help, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Who is it?” Jirot asked, standing up taller, her fists ched at her side as she readied herself.

  “Don’t worry, my dear,” Adam brushed the girl’s curly hair tenderly. “Daddy will deal with it.”

  Jirot squirmed slightly before taking her father’s hand when it was free, stroking the back of it. “You ah bully, you tell me. I tell babo and I deal with it, okay?”

  “What? Are you going to bully me by telling babo?”

  Jirot smirked. “Yes.”