What a hell of a year… I thought to myself; I could feel all my muscles relax… Ard, just as beautiful as it once was before.
Just over thirteen years ago my wife and I left Ard. She felt suffocated from her family's decision— they wanted her to become the head of house Gabri.
Every race there adored her, never did any race hate her; there was a major possibility they wanted to make her the head of every house. But… right now she was clinging to my arm as we neared our home town. I could see the nervous frown on her face. Nothing we can do, this is the only town we can be safe in.
Of course… We had to keep it as secret as we can. Shaun was just behind us, his head was still as low after we escaped the Frosted Peaks.
Vivienna's death still clung to the air around us— it was suffocating if I may be honest. But to recognize his loss, Verd, Sage, my wife and I agreed to lessen the physical affection.
Other than that… we were all okay at best. I still had to comfort Allisa at night— she clung to us so much ever since. Is it survivor's guilt?
It could be… Shen informed us that Allisa saw Vivienna's corpse. Meanwhile, Yukina? To us all it was obvious she's taking things rough.
When she's by herself she tries to occupy herself. There are heavy bags under her eyes, she is randomly staring into space. It felt like the world had grasped at her neck— it hates her… and it hates us.
Sage lost her arm and her hand. Shaun lost his world; Melinda is struggling to walk, I'm horrified that Allisa is experiencing something lifelong. Jin… he lost another person close to him, we're all he has left.
"Honey… it'll be okay…" Melinda whispered to me; her voice was higher than usual and shaky.
"I hope… I seriously hope it will."
"Mm… Dad… it'll be okay-"
My daughter tried to speak but a quick curse cut her off. Everyone, including me looked towards the source; Yukina was holding her head, and the glasses Shen had given to her was being held tight in her hands.
"Is everything alright?" I inquired, she looked to be in a lot of pain. In fact, every time she wore those… glasses she would swear in pain after a couple hours. Just what did Shen give her…?
Everyone here understood it'd help with her left eye; is it doing the opposite? That's what caught me— if it's helping her why does she sound like she is in a lot of pain?
"Yeah… yeah everything's okay…" Yukina responded, still rubbing her eye, she used her good eye to look down at the glasses. "Dad, um… can you hold onto this…"
"Uh… sure…"
Yukina handed me her glasses and went back to rubbing her eye.
"Can I see those?"
Allisa popped her little head in, her gaze was fixated on the black pair of glasses. Before I could respond, Yukina did answer on her own accord.
"Just don't break them, please." Yukina did respond in a disheartened tone. However, she continued whilst finally closing her blind eye. "Or do, that shit's painful."
My daughter held Yukina's glasses on and turned her head around. "Hm? They don't hurt! Are you messi-"
"Try having them on for a couple hours!" Yukina refuted whilst crossing her arms.
And thus… did mayhem start between Yukina and Allisa. Honestly these two.
Yes, yes. I know Yukina was a male before, but she's acting more like a sister, not a brother.
Just near the climax of their feud, I had to cover Allisa's mouth. We didn't need a fired up group of kids as we entered Ard. The gate was already in front of us, and two freshly faced guards were on each side. I don't recognize them..well It's been thirteen years.
Their armors shone in the morning sun, and it looks like they noticed us coming a while ago. Three out of four of them raised their polearms… most likely wary of our actions.
Is Ard threatened too? Setting aside my cloak that covered my head. In all the years I lived in this place, the guards never threatened me or travelers.
"Halt!" One guardsman stood forward and held his hand high. "State your business."
I stepped backwards, it isn't my place to speak now. My wife, the flawless and straight hair that flowed down her back bounced as she took a step forward.
It took one glance from them all, then a step back. Melinda… was well known, even if they had not seen her for over thirteen years.
"L-Lady Melinda?!"
"Yes, now let us in. We've been on the road for a while." Melinda ordered, her voice was the sternest it has ever been. Women are scary..
"O-On it!"
Without any hesitation or refuting, the guards quickly opened the gates. As always, it was a sight to behold; and it's been far too long since we last stepped into our actual home.
Ard, it's a beautiful kingdom. Despite the cold when it gets to winter, it is far, far more gorgeous than Untergrant. People were much more happy, and it wasn't a slopfest of taverns, shops and whatever. Besides, when it is winter, snow doesn't cover the streets fully, it's more of a breeze inside the city thanks to elves developing some magical barrier.
The main gates lead us to the home district; a slab of a path continued onwards; homes that were twice the size of Untergrant surrounded us. Slanted rooms, beautiful brown wood and lanterns hanging below lanterns were the most common.
Every race here thrived— humans and animalkins were mingling, alongside Lizardfolk; odd to be placed here but they enjoyed the cold climate despite being cold blooded.
Unlike every other humanoid race here, Elves and Dwarves are isolated— by their own choice of course; the dwarves were masterful, they made these gorgeous homes, when combined with the elves they made technology so advanced that it helped lizardfolk combat the climate.
"It's good to be back…" I mumbled under my breath; instantly, people's heads snapped towards us. Although… some more than others when they scanned our group.
I'm sure Yukina was already popular to stare at; she was rather unique compared to our group— black hair, tall for a fourteen nearly fifteen year old girl. Let's contribute that to the animalkin evolution stage for Melinda's sake.
"...Yeah… Honey, can you take everyone back to the house?"
"Hm?"
"My parents… they want to see me. Remember?"
I nodded my head, turned around and called for everyone to follow me. The only confused ones were my daughters. Allisa and her silly little mind still had Yukina's glasses on.
It'll be a mess… ugh. I'm not looking forward to the manor. I'm sure house Gabri left it by itself. Probably out of spite for Melinda leaving.
My wife left by herself; she was lining straight to the center of the main kingdom. It was obvious, a castle made of stone. There were multiple towers; three of them to be honest.
Every tower was the exact same; but if one was closer they could see different banners on each. The one closest to the gate we came through had a red banner. On it, two faces were detailed on, one facing west the other east. Features could be seen, one had animal ears, the other was a human.
This was house Gabri, they take care of social predicaments. Due to animalkins and humans being the most prominent of races, it was decided this house would take care of all social affairs. Be it elf, dwarf, lizardkin or any humanoid races.
Elves were the sole researchers hence their tower is west of house Gabri. That was the science district, then the dwarves in the market or the craftsmanship district.
Aside from that, everyone was eagerly following me. Melinda's manor was close to the tower, although closest to the elf's tower. Lady Lorraine did take a liking to her so it does make sense.
A warm shower sounded nice; however the only thing separating us from that heaven is a winding road of buildings. We had to stall for individuals or take a detour.
The people we did walk by stared and covered their noses. Obviously, it wasn't just the feeling it was us completely.
Our hair was messy, dirt stained the bare skin of our faces. Heck our clothes aside from the kids were stained with blood. Thankfully the manor has multiple bathrooms.
As we went through these streets, the homes started to become sparse. Alas, the manor was in view.
It was quite huge, and indescribable. Gorgeous, was my only thought when I passed by it back then. Melinda was always tending to the flowery field that was on each side of the walkway. Even now her flower pots sat on the porch. Just right of her front door was a hanging pot with a wilting flower.
The front never had windows, the few times I was in… the dwarven house crafted special lights just for her.
"Welcome to our home." I welcomed everyone with a small smile. And as expected, everyone had their mouths hanging. "Let's all get some rest."