"Hey, stop acting all mysterious on me, Kid! What’s in Winterhold?"

  "Hmmm! Not gonna tell! Ouch!"

  I teased Hilda but got my back slapped.

  "Going to talk or you’ll make your old mother force it out of you!" Hilda was smiling and I felt she was enjoying the situation.

  "Sigh! Why ruin the surprise for you! You saw my company just now has an exploration group for digging out resources and all that. One day, I will make a grand expedition and you, my old mother, will be the first name on the list…… Ouch!"

  My back got slapped again.

  "Who are you calling old?" She said while grinning.

  Sigh! I now know where my unreasonableness came from.

  "Anyway! The town looks lovely! Can’t compare it to last year!"

  "Last year! You came here?"

  "Ah! I visited Nurina with a big keg of mead. Faralda kept whining from how much we drank that day!"

  "Ouch!"

  Why are you slapping my back?

  I led Nurina to the ’Sea Mist Manor’. Once we arrived, someone was waiting for me.

  "Boss! I am from the workshop! The Chief told me to tell you that he is done with the armor and wants to discuss some other things…… I forgot what it was called."

  "Oh! Tell the Chief that the Boss will be busy. He can join me here if he is done!"

  "Yes, Boss!" The young man said and left.

  "Boss? Chief?"

  "The Boss is me, the Chief is Wulfur." I said.

  "Aha! Heard about him, your sworn brother."

  "More like my actual brother, I know the guy since we were four."

  "Yeah, I heard. He is the one who has a thing with Bjorna. Sigh! Poor kid."

  "Eh! What happened to Bjorna?"

  Hilda looked at me and let out a long sigh.

  "She is a Firemane, you know!" She said then made a gesture with her hand. She was referring to the height.

  "Whoops! I completely forgot. She is around my age! Hilda, don’t tell me she is……"

  "Yes! She is this tall now."

  "…… Poor Wulf! He used to be the largest boy in the orphanage, now…… pffft!" I started laughing uncontrollably.

  "Good grief! You are horrible." Hilda looked tired. "The las has tried to look smaller many times but all of no use!"

  "Well! They will be about the same size. No problem there in my opinion."

  "I hope so!"

  "Anyway, let’s go inside before things get out of hand." I said while pushing the front gate.

  After we went into the house…… let’s just say it can get worse.

  Nurina and Faralda were arguing and drinking, Nefertiti and Jull were fighting over food, and Alina, who appeared to have followed Nurina here, was going through my books.

  Once they saw us coming in, everyone froze and looked at us.

  "Is it awkward here or is it just me?" Hilda asked

  "They were expecting some family drama to happen! Look how disappointed they are."

  The frozen atmosphere eased up a bit as everyone stopped the mess they were causing.

  Anyway, this was the first time Sea Mist Manor gets this lively.

  ***

  "Auntie, I demand an explanation!"

  Hmmm!

  This is interesting!

  The relationship between the Firemanes and the Moonblades seems to be very deep. I was listening to a long explanation about my identity from Hilda to Alina.

  According to Alina, the Firemanes should have kept me hidden until the age of sixteen then after that I would wait to fulfill some destiny. To her, me being in the outside world is something unthinkable.

  "Blah blah blah blah blah! Can you even shut up for a second? No one can keep me anywhere I don’t want to stay at. And that destiny nonsense is already something I can’t escape from, I checked that out myself."

  "You…… You…… do you even realize the danger you are in? If anyone from the enemy clans saw you they will definitely find out that you are a Firemane!"

  "I guess Firemanes can go anywhere in Skyrim, right Hilda?"

  Hilda looked at me as if she was saying ’Leave me out of this!’. Seems like she likes Alina a lot.

  "But you can’t just expose yourself to danger like that! Do you even realize how many people died in the fights between the clans fifteen years ago? Do you know that the most sacred place in Skyrim, High Hrothgar, interfered to put an end to that fight?"

  High Hrothgar did?

  Hmmm!

  "I admit that I have too little knowledge about such things compared to you Hidden Clans kids, but don’t you dare think of my own business as something a clan can decide. They didn’t keep me in their watch or even did they come into contact with me for so many years! If my guess is correct, the day I should know the truth about myself should have been this day. But they knew too damn well that I shouldn’t be stopped or be put under their control, as far as I know, this was the decision the Firemane Patriarch took and it was the wisest decision to take."

  "What? How is that even possible?"

  "For two reasons! My fate and the fate of those who are around me. You are a mystic like myself and we don’t need to argue about how fate works but the Firemane Patriarch realized that if I got associated with the clan, my fate will get hindered and I may put the clan in a grave danger. My fate is too troublesome to be associated with!"

  Alina looked at me and kept glaring but she had no more words to argue back.

  "Auntie, say something!"

  Hilda who was resting her arms on the table and holding her head sighed and looked at us.

  "What Jonhild said is true! Father’s reason was to keep him from worrying too much about his fate or causing the clan any harm. He said ’this will do until Jonhild figures out his own fate!’."

  "Already figured it out though!" I said while playing with Nefertiti.

  "Kyne help me! Do you think it is easy to figure out fate?" Alina rolled her eyes and spoke coldly to me.

  "Ask Jull! Hey Jull, yesterday before dawn!"

  "I can confirm that Jon is already very aware of his fate." Jull said in a calm tone.

  "Nefertiti was there too!"

  "Hooman knows a big dragon!" Nefertiti said, only I heard that of course.

  "I, myself, wouldn’t doubt the creditability of a cat and a troubled child at all." Faralda who was having a drink with Nurina on the other side of the room started mocking.

  "Said the only non-stingy Altmer I know of!" Nurina fired back.

  Alina put her hands under her veil and massaged her stiffened face. She finally got tired.

  Damn! It is midnight already.

  Well, at least I learned a lot about the Firemanes and the Moonblades from this conversation.

  I am not really in bad terms with Alina, our lives are leagues apart.

  She was raised as the princess of one of the most prestigious clans in Skyrim and was even considered a member of another prestigious clan. I, however, was raised as an orphan and lived in a city of criminals. The way we see the world is just different.

  Where she sees responsibility, I see freedom. I don’t think we may agree on many things but I think the way she does things is far better than me.

  If I see a bandit or a pirate, I wouldn’t acknowledge their humanity and put them down on the spot. But she will look for the remaining human within them and try to pull it back up. Not because she is an idiot or a naive person, it is only because she is strong that she can have the luxury to do so.

  Make no mistake! The girl in front of me is a monster from the same level as me. I defeated her once before on Mount Anthor, but she became much stronger since then.

  "Let’s talk about something fun, shall we?" I spoke directly to her.

  "Hm? What is it?"

  I put on a devilish smile. My blood starts to boil when I think about this.

  "I heard someone arranged a duel between us." I said.

  The atmosphere in the room froze. Even Nefertiti could read the mood and stopped acting silly.

  The air around Alina changed and I could feel a smile behind her face veil.

  "I was going to let this go, you know!" She said in a playful tone.

  "Hehehe! Come on! You and I both know that we are going to fight no matter what. There is no way out of this."

  "Tihehe! I knew you would think so too."

  "Say, when and where?"

  "Tomorrow, Hall of the Elements!"

  "STOOOOP!" Hilda stood up and slammed the table.

  The table…… phew! Thank heavens it was enchanted.

  "You two are not fighting! I don’t care what you are fighting over. This fight is not happening!"

  "Calm down, Hilda!" Nurina stood up and came. "These are my disciples and I am the one to decide."

  "These are children, Nurina! They might get carried away! I can’t afford to see any of them hurt!"

  The two of them were lightly drunk and they were exchanging a small bit of there Auras.

  "ENOUGH!" I stood up and used my Aura to suppress theirs. It was a pitiful try but they complied.

  "We youngsters want to fight! Hilda, if you are worried, you can be the judge of the duel. You can stop it anytime if you feel it became dangerous. Do you agree, Hilda?" I said.

  "…… Gaah! Fine, but don’t you two dare to put a single scratch on each other." Hilda said.

  "Okay!" "Fine!"

  "And Nurina! We have to solve this…… the two of us!" Hilda said.

  Eh? Solve what?

  "Fufufu! What was the score last time? If I remember correctly, I……" Nurina was amused.

  "It was a draw!" Hilda cut her words.

  Last time? Draw?

  What is going on here?

  "Guys! You are drunk! Don’t say scary stuff!" I tried to pacify the mood.

  "Mind your business, brat! This giant woman will get to see the new stuff I developed this time."

  "Huh? New stuff? Show me what you got." Hilda got excited.

  Oh boy!

  This is not good!

  "Jon Dare! No, Jonhild! These two drunkards have their own fight, we have ours!" Alina stood up too.

  I looked at her in the eye and saw how much she was itching for this. Honestly, I can’t ignore her crimson eyes anymore.

  "The fight will be at the afternoon tomorrow in the hall of elements! I will make the arrangements" She said.

  "Agreed! If I lose, you will be Nurina’s Legacy Disciple…… but that’s not fair in my opinion. If I lose, I am losing something I value but if you lose you are just losing a duel. Offer something of the same value!" I said.

  Everyone looked at me then looked at her.

  "…… if I lose to you Jonhild Firemane, I, Alina Moonblade, will be your wife."

  "Pffft!" (Me)

  "Huh?" (Nurina)

  "……" (Hilda)

  "Nords!" (Faralda)

  "Wait! What?" (Jull)

  "You Cat to be Kitten me!" (Nefertiti)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-

  Bonus-

  ▪ I quit!

  "I QUIT! I am leaving this novel! I am leaving that damn Author! I am leaving this place! Find someone else!" (Jon)

  "Wait, Jon! There got to be a solution!" (Nurina)

  "Solution! To what? The damn Author wants it, the damn Author gets it! I was told this novel is a novel where I can get lazy, have women around me, work only once a day! It was the best place to work! All the MCs out there were envious, even that virgin ’Leon Dhark’! But I never ever signed up for a marriage! Nohohoho sir! I, quit! You hear me, Author! I …… QUIT!" (Jon)

  "Jon! I will go talk to him! Just calm down!" (Nurina)

  "No no no, Nurina! You don’t understand! He was preparing for this from the very beginning! He was planning to make #Team_Jull and #Team_Alina from the start! I think he already made some merchandise to make money from!" (Jon)

  "But……" (Nurina)

  {Hahahaha} (Don)

  "Hear! He is laughing! He knows what he has done! I QUIIIIIIIIT!" (Jon)