CHAPTER 4, THE FOURTH BRIDE

I carried Tetsuya on my back as we walked to the castle, Himari-san and Asami-san were walking behind me. Tetsuya seemed so happy to be carried like this, it's like I've gotten a younger brother... or maybe a son... hahaha... I'm still young I'd better remove the idea of children for a bit. Just for a while... I bet Aria and the others would get worried if I told them about it. After we arrived at the castle, I set Tetsuya down and he immediately clung to my leg, he got attached. I picked him up and carried him as he held on to me, I brought him to the room close by to where me and the members of the guild stayed. "Nii-chan, this is where we will stay?" Tetsuya asked me as I put him down. The room is large, with two beds, a dresser and a large closet with a small table by the beds.

"Himari-san, do you have any idea why they'd go after Asami-san?" I asked Himari-san, as she and Asami-san arrived.

"They just seem to be stalkers." She answered. "Haru-kun, what shall we do about them?"

"I'll have members of Tsukikage patrol the area during our stay here, it may be best for us to leave with Tetsuya and Asami-san after the festival." I answered her. "I'll return when I'mready for my role."

"It's fine, come back when you reel that the time is right." She said with a smile.

After the two had brought the clothes they had saved from the fire I noticed that there are only a few, apparently some were burnt in the flames. I'll go and buy them some clothes, I was planning to buy souvenirs for everyone anyways. I left the castle for a bit and ran into Rose at the market place. "Haru, what brings you here?" She asked.

"Shopping, I want to get some clothes and such for a friend, and souvenirs for everyone else at the guild." I told her.

While I shopped for things I saw some things that's look good on my fiancees so I bought them. A scarf for Aria, a brooch for Yue and a bracelet for Ella. I bought clothes for Tetsuya and Asami-san as well, I hope the two will accept it. I actually bough some for Aria and the fiance group as well. After I had shopped I returned to the castle and found Ella and Asami-san talking happily. I called out to the two and asked them to call Aria and Yue to my room. After a bit the four arrived, I asked Asami-san to bring Tetsuya with him and she did. "Here, I bought somethings for all of you." I said and placed the bags down on the table, each with their name on it.

"Ett~o, Haru-san, this is too much, I can't possibly accept this." Asami-san said as she saw the clothes I bought for her and Tetsuya.

"Take them Asami-chan, he tends to spoil others a lot." Aria said as she sniffed the scarf I got her. "Besides, he dotes on his fiancees a lot."

"Ehh, fiancees?! Is Aria-chan, Yue-chan and Ella-chan his fiancees?" She asked, there is no light in her eyes.

"Asami-chan, basically you like Haru-san don't you?" Ella asked her.

"Y-yes... I'm sorry if I'm... I'm being a bother." She apologized.

"You don't have to, we already thought this might be the case. Therefore, we gladly welcome you to be the fourth bride." Yue said with a smile and open arms.

"Come again!?" Asami-san asked.

"I'm fine with it." I told her and went to Tetsuya who was being quite at his little corner. "Tetsuya, can nii-chan marry your one-chan?"

"Okay... I don't think onee-chan will ever find a guy as caring as nii-chan." He answered and hug me. "Nii-chan already has my approval."

"What about you, will you be my fourth bride?" I asked her and held out a hand. "I'll give you a heads up, if you take the fourth seat there will be only eleven left, I can only have twelve more bridges after all."

"I understand, if I'm not going to be a mistress or a lover then I'll be a wife." She said and took my outstretched hand. "Thank you for having me."

"Thank you for choosing me." I said and hugged her. "Now then, what do you want to do Tetsuya?"

"Play." He answered honestly.

I spent most of the day playing with Tetsuya, the girls were doing girl things while I played with him. He liked being picked up a lot, he seems to like climbing too. After playing I sat down on under the tree and saw Lily and Camilla talking to Neph and Jade. I haven't talked to those two that much yet, maybe tomorrow.

The next day, Lily and Camilla were at the training field with Neph and Storm. I joined them and it seemed some of the mages are underestimating me because I've just become a magician lately. "Haru, I've been meaning to ask, but your Familiars why do you use a key instead of a Medium?" Riku asked me.

"I originally did use Mediums, but after awakening my power and dealing with a desperate situation, I over wrote the original spell on the Familiars and created a new Medium." I told him. "That said, it's difficult for others to open the gate for my familiars now."

"How come?" Lily, who had white hair, pinkish eyes and white skin asked.

"The Familiars are now unbound, free and their original power have been released, the reason the Mediums have been turned into Keys is so that the summoner can get a better grasp of it." I explained. "The Key open the Gates, the Gates release the magical power of the Familiars, which the Summoner must learn to maintain and control, otherwise they could lose their minds from the power."

"So is that why you don't summon them often?" Camilla asked.

"No, I don't summon them often because most cases I can now use their magical power as if it's my own. And more importantly I try to keep my title hidden since you know, I'm still figuring things out for myself." I answered her. "I haven't even figured out who I am yet... I haven't found all the fragments of my memories and I'm not even sure if I want to find them."

"Okay stop." Neph said cutting in the conversation. "If Haru starts to feel bad again I'm not sure any of us can stop him from crying, only those three could."

Changing topics, there were quite a lot of knights and mages here today. The reason they were training so much was apparently due to the recent event, the dragon attack. Much to their knowledge a Tyrant Dragon had never appeared up here. It was apparently attracted to something but they are only ever interested in either meat, gold or magical energy, apparently the magical pipes that regulates the magical energy that keep the Isles up have stopped circulating it and releasing it into the air so the amount of magical energy that has become built up has dragged dragons to the area. While they are researching the cause they apparently want all the fighters to be ready and at their prime so they can take action at any moment.

As we all had practice matches throughout the day, I soon saw everyone from our guild had come and joined the training. I haven't seen everyone's skill yet, only those who I fought with. I wonder what kind of abilities the four have. As I looked around me a bit I saw the girls were being getting attention from the knights and magicians around us. Well they are cute but their engaged, and as the person they're engaged to I feel a bit possessive. Just then, one of the men was trying to get close to Asami-chan by talking to Tetsuya. But Tetsuya didn't take notice of them at all and he turned and saw me who had taken a break. "Haru-onii-chan, play with me." He said as I sat down on the bench, he was pulling my hand.

"Sorry Tetsuya, nii-chan needs a but of rest." I told him and tried to wipe away my sweat.

"Here." Yue came with a towel but instead of giving it to me she wiped my sweat for me which caught the attention of the other fiancees.

I was about to call out to the three when I heard a strange sound, a bird calling had never heard before. I turned my head and I saw the national flag waving up on the pole atop the castle, that's the family insignia. Well I guess since it is the nation ruled by the family the insignia would be around. "N~e, nii-chan read me this book." Tetsuya handed me a book and I happily did, I actually always wanted a little brother to spoil every now and then.

"Long, long ago, when the world was first created, five gods descended from the high heavens, at that time on the ground, two other gods had existed, the ancient dragon who had become a god but would only sleep and watch over the people." I began reading the story. "The second was a demon god, he created monsters and demonkins to kill humans and the races that the other gods created, the races, who were filled with fear sought help from the youngest god."

"Nii-chan what us the story about?" He asked me, I guess he can't understand it yet.

"I'll finish reading it then explain it okay?" I patted his head.

"Okay." He answered as he listened.

"The youngest god, gave them a blessing, the power to kill monsters, but even so only half of the people could recieve her blessings. So the youngest god turned to the other gods for help but they didn't offer her anything. Finally, she turned to the Dragon, the Dragon, who loved peace above all and was a caring one gave her a special power." I continued. "The power to summon a hero... the very first hero she summoned couldn't kill the demon god with his power so the youngest god bestowed upon her the greatest power she had, the power of the Familiars."

"Haru-nii?" Ah, I better continue reading first.

"With the help of the Familiars the demon god was killed and the world was given peace. The very first hero lived in this world and established a nation, there he started a family and generation after generation the Familiars were passed down." I continued reading. "And, it is said that ond day, a child would be born in the family who would carry the power of the very first hero and he would be the strongest inheritor of the power of the hero. He would either lead the world to piece or lead it to destruction..."

"Haru?" Aria touched my shoulder as I was deep in thought.

The power of the hero... the very first Hero... the Blessing of the yiungest god... the power of the Familiars... no matter how many times I hear this story I can barely wrap my head around it. After finishing the story I noticed Tetsuya was sleepy so I let him sleep under the tree while I sat there humming a gentle kullaby my mom used to sing.