Chương 1540: [1449] – Y06.349 – The Future IV

It was a morning like any other, the twins storming into the estate, their amber eyes gleaming with mischief, while the Iyrmen around seemed to behave as though it was a typical day. Jirot's eyes darted around, noting the tension in the air, the girl scampering forward towards her mother and father. She stood before her father, as though daring him to say it.

"Jirot, Jarot, what are you doing?" Adam asked.

"You're late for breakfast, you silly girl and you silly boy." Jirot blinked. Her head darted to her mother, who smiled warmly, and reached down to brush their cheeks, though the touch was different, holding a hint of hesitation. Jirot's eyes then darted towards her grandmother, waiting to see how she would respond, until finally her eyes darted to her greatfather, who trembled at the effort. However, what could he do? For Adam had asked him.

"Patience is a virtue," Vonda whispered into her children's ears, for she could not allow them to suffer this much, holding the pair close to her chest. Her eyes fell to her husband, who was already struggling, but in order to create greatness, one must suffer appropriately.

Even if no one said anything, they still showered the twins in their affection, the triplets sharing their sliced apples and bananas, along with Lanarot, who had to be reminded by her mother to not break the tension, who offered the children her fluffiest bread.

"I've got to deal with an important announcement at the business, who wants to come along with me to do it?" Adam asked, though he was looking at a pair of his children in particular. Jirot huffed, her eyes falling towards her greatfather.

"I do not want to work today. It is not the day to work, but the day to rest."

"Ah, oh well, then I suppose I'll have to entrust it to my sensible Konarot, Kirot, and Karot, then." Adam stood, letting out an exaggerated groan, stretching his body, feeling the muscles in his back to crack, surprising him.

"My dears, let's go. You too, darling, I'll need your presents." Jirot held her mother's hand, little Jarot claiming the other, the girl glaring at her father, pouting, not even noticing the slip of her father's tongue.

"I thought you didn't want to come along?"

"I am not working, I am walking with mummy and holding her hand," Jirot replied, turning her head, looking away from her father. However, there was no way her father didn't know what day it was, since her father, so foolish he was, was a fool. The workers hadn't expected Adam that day, though some of them realised why he may have arrived. They had all gathered, from the workers, to those who were guests, all save for one figure, who watched from afar, for he did not want to be within the Black Lion's sight.

"Thank you for all gathering," Adam said, smiling warmly towards all the businessfolk who had gathered.

"I called you hear today to discuss something, for it's approaching the end of duskval, and with the snow soon to come, I wanted to remain transparent to ease any worries anyone might have." Adam's eyes fell across them once more, from the likes of the porters, who he had met before even Nobby, to Rick and the others, who had fought alongside him during a particularly harsh beast wave. Then there was Cobra, the children, and even Jasmine and her companion, the Aswadians, as well as those they had met this year too.

"We are the United Kindom," Adam began, pausing for a long moment.

"The name United Kindom means something very dear to me, and I hope it means something to you. I'm certain I don't have to prove anything to anyone here, well, other than the newcomers who haven't seen the insanity that is this fool of a father, but I want you all to know how heavy the name of the United Kindom is.

It is a name, that kind of name, a heavy burden which falls on my heart and shoulders, as it does for the shoulders of the other Executives, but it was I, this fool of a father, who pushed to form such a business, for my many reasons, partly because, well, in this business, couldn't someone with my talents thrive?" The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

The others could see the exhaustion on the half elf's face, the sorrow, his words partly empty, the meaning behind the name perhaps greater than he could reveal.

"I'm excited to say, I have gifts for many a great special people," Adam said, motioning a hand to the Executives and Managers, who revealed the daggers. Finely crafted, the crossguard simple, but the leaf shaped blade flowed out from a rose on either side.

"These daggers are for those who have joined the business, adults of the business, of course, fully fledged members who have been with us for some time," Adam said.

"They are made of a special material which puts them on the same level as a Basic sword, though not magical, consider them Masterworks, though not because they were so finely forged, but rather, because the material is like that, equivalent to something like Obsidicule, or Jeticule." The businessfolk clutched at the daggers even tighter, for if that was true, these daggers were worth well over a hundred gold!

"This business has done so much for me, and I'm sure it's done so much for many of you here, providing a stable income, and taking care of you, your family, and it looks after me, and my family… too." The words remained unspoken.

"I was the one to spearhead this business, in terms of its creation, in terms of dealings across the land, partly because I talk so much!" Adam laughed, his smile growing wide, a smile that was full of trouble.

"This business, I owe a lot to it. It's almost all I think about sometimes, you know?" A long moment passed, as the half elf calmed his heart, the ache within evident to those around him.

"I just wanted to say to everyone here, as an Executive, as a father, as a fool, thank you for trusting us in such a turbulent time, and you do not need to worry, because I checked how much gold we had in the bank, and I was off by… quite a large amount, so I stressed about how much we had spent in Aswadasad for no reason!" Rick couldn't help but think Adam had felt so embarrassed, he needed to make a joke so he could continue speaking.

"I suppose that's all that's important for today," Adam said, glancing around, towards his family too, before rubbing his chin. He could hear the huff of a particularly troublesome girl.

"Ah, right, I forgot! The business will also award an additional sum of two hundred silver at the end of the year for all the workers, one hundred to those who ended up joining us during this year, since we got to make a few deals with both the… ah, well, I probably can't say, but they were quite the nobles!"

"Mummy, I am going to beat daddy up," Jirot whispered, clenching her fists together, her head then snapping towards her greatfather, who would assist her.

"Ack!" Adam said, feeling his face turn red, since he knew this was going to be cringe, even for him. He reached into his sleeves, throwing down strands of red ribbons from his sleeves.

"What's this? I'm bleeding?" The half elf spoke through a tight chest, embarrassed he had decided to do this in front of everyone, but he should suffer this much for bullying his children. Jirot stopped clenching her fists, taking a step behind her mother, hiding her face into her mother's knee.

"So embarrassing…" The old one armed Jarot let out a soft sigh, for though it had been difficult to contain himself, he realised it had all been worth it for this. Adam slowly dropped to each knee, turning slightly towards his twins, Jirot who was covering her face, and little Jarot who furrowed his brows in bewilderment.

"You two! What are you doing? Your daddy is bleeding! You need to grab he red blood from my sleeves and pull it out!" Jirot looked up towards her mother, as though begging her for help, but seeing her mother smile, Jirot sighed, realising she needed to be the mature one, thus she sauntered up to her father.

'I am going to call papo Jurot my daddy from now on.' Jirot stared at the ribbon, her eyes slowly meeting her father's gaze, her own full of her characteristic incredulousness, but she sighed once more, on this day of all days, reaching up to pull the ribbon.

Little Jarot, as all of his Adam's sons, was so sweet, pulling the ribbons gently, until there was a slight resistance, and his father nodded his head and whispered for him to tug harder, and thus rained dozens of tiny red gems, followed by a stream of colourful gems.

"Oh dear, what's this? Gems? I wonder what are all these gems are for?"

"You are so lucky you are handsome, daddy," Jirot replied, covering her eyes once more.

'Is he going to allow his daughter to disrespect him like that?' Rowan thought.

'My greatniece is hilarious!' Lamagak thought, raising her brows towards Gangak and Jarot, who burst out into laughter.

"So handsome," little Jarot said, patting his father's knee gently, as if to say everything was going to be okay.