Ch 58: Families Welcome Home

Right outside the Zeerous Company offices Baldeur stopped for a moment. There was a chance his father was currently inside consulting on upcoming missions. There were several things he wanted to discuss with him but realized now wasn't the right time.

Not only would they be around a bunch of people, so they couldn't speak freely, but he would also have to avoid Arisha once again.

A while later he entered the front door of his family's townhouse.

"I'm Home!"

"Baldeur/Big Brother," a chorus of voices came as his younger siblings ran out of the dining room.

"Did you bring us anything?" The twins asked.

"There wasn't anything really unique in that world, so I just got you pastries," Baldeur replied.

He pulled a brown package out of his dimensional storage but before his younger brothers could get their hands on it, the package flew through the air to their mother's hand.

"You can have them after dinner," She told them.

"Aww but they're gifts from Big Brother." They complained.

"You still have an hour of math to complete." Their mother pointed back to the dining room.

His brothers retreated back into the dining room while his sisters gave him a quick hug before joining them.

Twice a week they went to a school that taught basic knowledge. The rest of the week was self study combined with tutoring from their Source teachers. Their mother was very strict about making sure they had a well rounded education.

"You look tired," she gave him a strong hug, "And you've grown."

She wasn't talking about physically. He had left on this mission as a second circle mage and returned a third circle mage.

"Should I be concerned?" There were issues that could arise when advancing, which is why most people did so in a safe place.

"I was perfectly safe when I advanced. It was a spur of the moment decision when we didn't have anything to do but travel." Baldeur replied.

His mother crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"I was with four very strong people, so there wasn't much for me to do even if we were attacked on the road." He continued.

"Let me see your scroll pouch." She said.

"First off, my advancement happened weeks before there was any danger," Baldeur summoned his dimensional storage and pulled a pouch. "Second off, I gave a few to my allies. Third and most important," He handed the pouch to his mother, "we are all still alive."

Levanya looked through the pouch. "I have copies of a few of the ones you used already. It shouldn't take me too long to write you up the rest. Or I can replace them with new spells if you think of some that might be of more help."

"Wait, you're not upset that I was in danger?" Baldeur said.

"Upset? Why would you… Oh come here my darling." She pulled her son into another hug.

"I gave you these because I wanted you to use them. I will never be upset if they keep you alive. Decades ago I had to come to terms with your father being in danger and now I just have to come to terms with you being in danger every time you go through a gate.

"I will worry about you, but I will never be upset. Just make sure you come back every time. Do you hear me?"

"Of course. I'll come back no matter what."

"Good." She broke their hug and stepped back a bit. He could see that she had tears forming in her eyes.

"Go rest for a bit. Once they're done with their school work, they'll want an age appropriate version of what you went through. Are you hungry? I can bring something up for you."

"No, I just had breakfast." Baldeur said before heading up the stairs to his room.

He had the thought of organizing what he had gained from the demon lord's treasure but decided to lay down for a moment. Once his head hit the pillow he was out. For the first time in weeks he felt safe and comfortable enough to sleep without having some warning sense up.

It was evening when Vivek knocked on his door.

"You need to thank your mother for keeping the others occupied so you could rest. But we can't keep them away any longer. Plus dinner is ready." He knew how tiring even a safe mission can be.

"There's a few things I need to talk to you about." Baldeur said as he stretched and got out of bed.

"That will have to wait until you can settle the gremlins' curiosity." His father said.

With a nod he joined his family in the dining room. Over the course of the next hour he told the toned down version of his mission. A group of bad people were trying to breed monsters to talk over the kingdom and lost control of them.

Baldeur's group was right in the middle of it and had to fight their way to the leader of the group. Once they defeated the leader, they were celebrated as heroes.

"That was a nice summation. I already read the official report, so we can go over the unofficial report after the kids and your mother go to sleep." Vivek whispered to him after dinner.

It was several more hours of playing with his siblings before the younger kids were put to bed and it was just Baldeur, his parents, and his oldest sister Ilanka in the front parlor.

Baldeur was a little surprised that their parents allowed his sister to sit with them while he went over the official version. But she was 16 and would be thinking about what career she wanted to go into. Levanya was hoping to give her a little scare to keep her on this side of any gate.

Baldeur could tell his mother was stressed from the different encounters his group had and by the end Ilanka was pale. He had tried to keep the most scary elements to himself but his mother would always know when he was keeping something back.

When it didn't delve into his secrets, he told the full truth of what happened when she pressed him. She backed off if he didn't elaborate even when pressed.

Once he was done his mother took his sister upstairs where she answered any questions Ilanka might have about the darker side of what her brother did but was too scared to ask him directly.

Vivek motioned for them to head downstairs and once they were in the basement training room, they activated a few wards to give them privacy. There Baldeur told his father everything, even the words of the first oracle.

"Journeying into the mists will be dangerous." Vivek said.

"People go in there all the time, don't they?" Baldeur asked.

"Yes but they have training and they have the permission of the Duke. There's no Source energy a few hundred yards from the edge of the mist. But once you enter, whatever energy you have inside of you starts to drain out. It's a slow process but if you aren't careful you'll experience a different type of Source degradation."

"Then I'll have to be careful. Take a few short excursions until I can figure out the rate in which I lose my energy."

"The thing is I never heard of a nursery or anything that might be even close to that."

"I'm sure there are a lot of things that the dukes and the city elders are keeping from people."

"There certainly are." Baldeur could tell there was something more to his fathers words but didn't press him.

His parents didn't talk about their past, anything before they came to their current district. Even though Vivek wanted to tell his son, he couldn't without agreement from his wife since they had made the decision to keep it a secret together. He felt guilty that his son opened up about his secrets while he kept things hidden.

"The bigger question is are we willing to risk our family? Whoever I was talking to wanted me to take control of the city. I doubt the monarchs and the city elders will let me." Baldeur said.

Vivek was silent for a long time. "No they won't. I… I can't tell you what to do. Just be careful. While the upper echelons of the city aren't perfect, they also aren't all evil monsters. Your mother and I will do everything we can to protect you and your siblings. Just give us a heads up when you plan to launch your coop." He finished with a smile.