The Sword and The Shadow

Father-Daughter Conflict

Leguna and Innilis had a simple dinner when they got back to the inn. He unconsciously made his way to the entrance of Kudak's room. That was where he would mess around with Kurdak after dinner for a while before going to sleep. But now, he merely watched the empty room for a blank moment.

"Big Bro..." Innilis leaned into Leguna from the side. "Uncle and Sis have gone. You must be feeling quite down, right?"

"Feeling a little sad is natural, but I'm fine." Leguna stroked her head and continued, "But you won't have any excuse to want to sleep with me anymore tonight, got it? Boss, Sis Vera and Eibrons rooms are vacant now."

"I don't wanna! I'm afraid of sleeping alone!" Innie said with a pout. Before, she had slept with Vera most of the time. It was only recently that she slipped her way into Leguna's room during the night. He didn't expect that she would get hooked onto it though.

"Then how did you fall asleep when Sis Vera and I were gone?"

"I slept with Sis Annie, of course," the girl said with a wink.

"Oh? Is that so? Hehehehehe!" Leguna laughed malignantly. The thought of two young girls sleeping together must've been a nosebleed-inducing sight!

"Big Bro, what are you snickering about?"

"Nothing, it's nothing..."

"Hmph! You must be thinking about something bad! Big Bro is naughty!" she said puffily.

"What's wrong with just thinking about it?" Leguna said with a shrug, "Does that mean that you still want to sleep with me tonight?"

"Don't even think about it!" Alaine yelled as she burst through the door, "Hmph, a lecher is a lecher! My mistress even..."

"Alaine!" Annelotte called out from behind all of a sudden.

"Mistress!" Alaine said with an unwilling look.

"You promised to listen to me if you want to come along," Annelotte reminded.

"But..." The maidservant wanted to say something else, but she looked at her mistress's resolute expression and sighed in the end. "I really don't know what's so good about this lecher..."

"Big Bro Leguna, since when did you get a new nickname?" Innilis said as she tried to stifle her laughter.

"Sigh, what did I do to deserve that indeed... The more I think about it, the more depressed I feel." Leguna's face was filled with melancholy. He turned to Annelotte and said, "Why have you come, Annie?"

"Since I promised Boss to look after you, I think it's better for me to follow you around."

"Why does it look to me that you're here for payback or something?" Leguna felt sweat on his forehead forming.

"Am I not welcome? I guess I'll leave." She turned away immediately.

"Of course you are welcome! Definitely welcome!" Leguna ran to her and said, "Annie, you're always welcome here whenever!"

"And there I was worried that I was getting in the way of your fortuitous event..." Even though Annelotte entered, she still maintained her cold demeanor.

"Sis Annie..." Innilis blushed.

"Innie, I'm not blaming you. I know that you need someone beside you when you sleep." Annelotte stroked her little head and turned coldly to Leguna. "But this fellow won't do. You can't tell when he will turn into a man-eating wolf. You must always be cautious."

"I thought you were alright during the day... Why do you look like you've swallowed gunpowder all of a sudden?" Leguna asked a little troubledly.

"You're sleeping with me tonight," Annelotte said, ignoring Leguna completely.

"Okay..." Innilis now felt that sleeping with Leguna was quite the embarrassing thing to do. Why would she even think about doing it in the first place?

Leguna merely watched things play out speechlessly.

......

Morning the next day, Leguna delivered breakfast dutifully to the rooms of the three women, including Alaine. She was the maidservant of Annelotte, so she held a higher position than he did. It would be for the best to not antagonize her.

Leguna's actions also pleased Alaine quite a bit. She nodded with satisfaction and said, "You did well! This lady here is pleased."

"Then, milady, can you please tell me what happened with Annie yesterday?" Leguna was still hung up on her behavior the night before. Why did she seem mad again after all the effort he put in to mend relations?

"I promised her not to tell you about it." She shook her head resolutely.

"Why..." Leguna mused dispiritedly.

"Idiot! If I can't tell you, can't you ask someone else? Where did she come from yesterday? Who was she with? Just ask around and you'll find out."

"Ooooh!" Leguna snapped out of it and thanked her. "I'm eternally grateful for your wisdom, Alaine!"

"Hmph! How can a lecher be that stupid?" she muttered as she closed her room door.

Leguna hurriedly finished breakfast and went to Galestorm Manor.

......

"You dare come here, brat?! Aren't you afraid that I'll cut you into two?!" Marolyt yelled the moment he saw Leguna.

"What's wrong with you, pops?" Leguna felt taken aback. When they parted, Marolyt was like his comrade in arms. Yet, his attitude towards him seemed to change overnight.

"Buzz off! If you remain in my sight for ten more seconds, I'll kill you!" The swordsaint raged and drew Azureflash. He didn't look to be joking around.

"What is going on here?" Though Leguna still had a question or two, he was dragged away by someone.

"Lisana?"

"It's better if you leave my master alone for now. Otherwise, it'll be dangerous for you," she said solemnly.

"Why? What in the world happened yesterday?" Leguna asked desperately. He recalled how cold Annelotte was to him and how angry Marolyt seemed. However, he didn't remember doing anything that would anger them. There was a limit to being blamed for no reason.

Seeing how confused Leguna was, LIsana sighed. "Miss Annie got into a fight with Master yesterday."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because of you," Lisana said as she looked into his eyes, "Well, it happened like this. Everything went on pretty normally yesterday night. Master was pretty happy as well. But after dinner when he was instructing me in the way of the sword, Miss Annie came over."

"What happened then?"

She said that since Mister Kurdak and the others aren't by your side anymore, she wants to move out of the manor and live with you."

"Is that all?"

"Living with you isn't the main point." Lisana shook her head and looked into the room where Marolyt was, before she whispered, "Miss Annie said that she was going to join the bureau with you!"

Leguna piped down. He felt a little complex about what he heard.

Seeing Leguna mulling over it quietly, Lisana continued, "Even though I'm not sure what happened between you all in the past, I can tell that Master holds quite a grudge against the bureau, or should I say, Moonshadow. He exploded when he heard her say that."

"Of course he would..." Leguna said with an awkward smile.

"And I'm sure you know Miss Annie better than me. Even though she didn't respond with rage, her cold and unmoving attitude only caused Master to flare up even more. In the end, he said that if she dares to leave the manor, she would not be welcome back."

"I'm willing to bet that she left without hesitation too." Leguna scratched his head in frustration. "Pops really is something... Looks like he doesn't know that Annie fears threats the least..."

"Well, that's basically it."

Leguna pondered in silence before he nodded. "Alright, I more or less got it. Thanks."

Seeing him leave, Lisana called out to stop him. "Wait!"

"What's wrong?"

She gave him a good look and said, "Are you going to go back and advise Miss Annie to make up with Master?"

"That's right." Even though he didn't do anything this time, the matter still sprung indirectly because of him. He felt it better to step out and solve it.

"I would advise against that," Lisana said as she shook her head, "This will make Miss Annie even angrier."

"She was willing to turn against Master for the sake of helping you. Telling her against doing so would appear unappreciative. You'd be asking her to apologize and make up to Master, which is akin to disagreeing with what she did. Do you think she'll take this calmly?" Lisana surmised.

"Well... Then what should I do?"

"While it would be a little inappropriate, I believe tackling the matter from Master's side would be better since he has better temper." Lisana gave it more thought and said, "Leave it to me."

"You're willing to help?" He beamed instantly. With Lisana's help, the matter could be settled much more quickly.

"When I was going to be punished, you were the one who stepped out to speak for me regardless of the consequences. Just think of it as me repaying the favor. Then again, you still have to do something from Miss Annie's side as well... I recall that Master gave her a crystal core of an ocean emperor whale, right? Best advise her to absorb it quickly. That might change her view on Master for the better."

Leguna nodded. "Got it. Thanks."

"Like I said, just repaying the favor," said Lisana with a smile.