Father

Pacing around the spacious living room of their house, Elizabeth quickly found herself growing more anxious by the second. Her mind was filled with worry for her husband.

It is already 8 o'clock.. It's far too late for him to be out.

Normally, a trip to the capital of Caen, Ulm, would take several days. However, this was circumvented by Lord Mare's orders. He had sent a Wanderer to come pick her husband up.

Wanderers were a specific descendancy that had the ability to move at very high speeds. At the higher levels, they could teleport directly to their desired destination. This was a very useful tool for many people, but especially so for nobles who needed to travel frequently.

They were rarer than most descendancies, and it was not exactly known why. One theory Lua had was that whichever deity birthed this power simply had less children than his counterparts, but perhaps it wasn't that simple.

Bwomp! A sound that felt as if air itself was bending around a particular spot sounded, and Elizabeth immediately knew what had happened. After all, she had heard this sound before.

Sighing in relief, she hurried to the door to greet her husband and whichever Wanderer had brought him here.

Opening the door in anticipation, she saw two men talking to each other some distance away from the door. One of them had a green hood covering his face, clearly disinterested in revealing too much of his personal information. From what Elizabeth could see, he also had beige pants and leather boots to fit his adventurer theme.

The other man was much more open to his identity. He had fiery crimson hair that spiked as if it was a fire that was ablaze. He wore a blue linen shirt with black pants to go along with it. He was wearing a black trenchcoat. He could be considered fashionable for men.

Bwomp! The sound was heard again, and the air warped around the man with the green hood. He disappeared into nothingness shortly after.

The man with the crimson hair turned around, revealing his crimson eyes that were just as fiery as his hair was. He had a pair of golden goggles on his forehead, symbolizing his field of work.

This man was Daniel Moonsilver, Lua's father and Elizabeth's husband.

"You had me worried sick, Dan." Elizabeth spoke softly, pointing out her concerns.

Daniel simply chuckled and scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, sorry. The job was tougher than I expected, and Lord Mare simply woudn't let me go without finishing it.."

Elizabeth smiled, nodding understandingly. She gestured inside, indicating they would talk more inside.

Daniel entered after Elizabeth and took off his black leather shoes that had gotten slightly dusty. He placed his black trenchcoat on the coathanger, and went inside to greet the comfortable living room.

"Ah, I've missed this." He said, as if he had been missing for a year.

Elizabeth chuckled slightly at his over exaggeration, and responded,

"You haven't even been gone a full day."

Daniel sat on the couch, putting one leg over the other.

"Maybe for you, but for me, it was eternity."

Pat! Pat! Pat! Hurried footsteps sounded from downstairs as Lua rushed down the stairs to greet his father. Upon seeing him, Lua smiled wryly and made a snide remark,

"Took you long enough, old man."

Daniel laughed at him, and responded promptly.

"Sorry, I was too busy doing cool stuff unlike someone I know."

Lua pretended to be defeated in this conversation.

"No fair! I totally would have completed it much faster if I had been chosen."

Lua sat down on a couch opposite to Elizabeth and Daniel.

"Tell me, what happened?" he asked. He had been dying to know.

Daniel began to recount today's events, starting from how he had been transported there by a Wanderer.

"Upon arriving there, I instantly saw a huge castle. Maybe a hundred meters tall. It was absolutely colossal.

Lord Mare invited me in for a coffee and explained that his previous mechanic had disappeared for no reason one day, and he hadn't heard from him since. Out of options, he contacted me.

Apparently, the huge castle is filled to the brim with mechanical miracles! I was absolutely amazed at what I saw when I entered it. Of course, such a castle needed someone to maintain it, and without the previous mechanic, he got outside help.

What needed repairs was a brass glove that was.. how can I say this? Very out of the ordinary. It was as if it was forged in the depths of darkness, seeking to consume whomever tried to wield its full might.

I shuddered when I first saw it, but Lord Mare assured me it wasn't dangerous to humans, at least in its current state.

Lord Mare told me that a cogwheel had fallen out of place, and needed to be restored in its original spot. At first, I was rather confused at why something this trivial needed the help of a Tinkerer. After all, any old guy with hands could figure this out.

But apparently, the matter went deeper than that. The glove had its own soul bound to it that required extra care to be put into it. I didn't dare look into what the soul was or who it belonged to; I feared for my life in that glove.

So, maneuvering carefully, I inserted the cog back into place. Calming down the glove's soul to allow me to repair it took hours, and calming it down again after repairing it took even longer."

Out of breath after his lengthy explanation, Daniel took a sip of water to ease his sore throat.