Prelude to Crisis

"Look, I said I was sorry alright!" Veldanava pleaded with me.

"There's nothing to be sorry about!" I said pouting.

"He's totally mad at you, brother." Velzard amusedly pointed out to me.

"I'm not mad! I'm not mad at all!" I said loudly.

"Look Alaster, I'm sorry I took in another apprentice while you were out and about, but I had good reasons for it! He has as much potential as you did when you first showed up! I couldn't NOT train him!" Veldanava tried to plead with me.

"Oh sure~" I spat back in a tone that clearly indicated that I didn't believe his words. "So when I only got thrown at Velgrynd for training, HE gets your personal attention!"

"That's not true at all! You know how it was with you! Your power was a subset of Velgrynd's powers over heat and light! You'd learn more under her!" Veldanava said with a smile that screamed 'punchable'

"You say that like [Argonaut] wasn't the virtue skill that preceded [Metatron]. An Ultimate Skill YOU had at the time." I replied.

"Oh... you remembered that?" Veldanava said quietly to himself.

Velzard was trying really hard not to smile at the little skit me and Veldanava were having at the time. She was clearly amused at the situation but was trying to be supportive of her lover while also not losing points with her big brother. Unfortunately for Veldanava, Velzard had come out of her shell more and more the longer we stayed together, and now she could tease with the best of them.

"He's just hot behind the scales for his sister." Velzard teased.

"Obviously. That lazy master of mine would rather come up with excuses to laze about or play around than do actual work. He's probably the reason why Veldora can't learn his lesson! The only person who he could look up to as a role model is a worthless guy like him." I said dismissively of Veldanava.

"Oy! That hurts!" Veldanava called out from behind me but I ignored him and looked down at the field below us.

There, laying on the ground dead tired in the same small arena that I often dueled Twilight in, was a young boy, no older than 17. He had shaggy short blonde hair with crimson eyes. Crouching down next to him was his younger sister, looking about 16 years old. She was an absolutely gorgeous woman with long pink hair and bright blue eyes. Seeing the two of them at this time filled me with various emotions.

It was a young Rudra Nasca and his Sister Lucia.

I felt a number of emotions during this time period. On the one hand, I knew the events that these two's appearances would cause and how it would affect the timeline and the people close to me. On the other, I also knew that the two below me were actually the children of that King and Queen I had briefly tutored during my decade-long adventure around the world. They had actually set out to find me to train them but stumbled across Veldanava on the journey.

"Lilith didn't hold back at all against him did she?" Velzard asked me from my side.

"Nope. She only stopped herself from killing the boy and letting the girl heal him up. She really has come a long way." I said with a hint of pride.

My gaze left Rudra and Lucia and moved to the young woman in her early twenties that was standing there uninterestedly while looking at the two. Lilith had grown to be especially powerful while in our care these last few years. She was already at the level I was when I first became a Saint. Her EV was only a little over a million, but she made up for her lower energy value than me with her sheer skill and variety of magic.

"Well, I didn't call you here to have your daughter bat up my newest student." Veldanava broke my quiet contemplation and walked up next to me, standing to my side. From his tone of voice, his message seemed like it was of greater importance than our faux argument a moment ago.

"What's happening?" I asked him. Velzard also appeared to be rather interested, as it was rare for her brother to call for me.

"The last time you swung by here you mentioned having a good relationship with the princess of Soma correct?" He asked.

My eyes narrowed and I stood up straight, ready for whatever news he was going to throw at me. "Yes. She is one of my best friends and may have even been my wife if I didn't meet Velzard." I replied which caused Velzard to frown a bit and puff up her cheeks.

"Did you need to mention that last part?" She whispered to herself.

"Of course, if I didn't I wouldn't have been able to see your pouting face." I replied in a jovial manner before becoming serious again and facing Veldanava who waited for our mini-flirting session to finish before he continued.

"It seems like Soma has created a super weapon or something of the sort recently," Veldanava said while turning away and looking down at Rudra who seemed to have finally gotten up and challenged Lilith to another round.

"Oberon doesn't seem like the kind of guy to do something like that and Evelyn knows that Soma can call upon me to defend it if anything goes down. I won't let my best friend's country be destroyed without doing something about it." I replied.

"What do you know about Oberon? Especially recently?" He asked.

"I heard he came down with some kind of sickness last year and was bedridden for a while but seems to have recovered. Strangely I haven't heard anything from Soma since then. Even Eveyln's usual contacts have been silent. I was actually about to go and check things out myself until you called for me." I replied.

Veldanava smirked and was about to open his mouth when he was interrupted. "Well, at least you were going to check on it! The spirits say that recently the land around Soma has been contaminated! They can't even manifest inside the city anymore and the whole place is under some kind of lockdown!" Ramiris reported when she flew in.

"It's good to see you again Ramiris." I nodded to her before looking past her and to Velgrynd. "To you as well, Velgrynd."

"Alaster." She said in acknowledgment before turning to Velzard. "Sister!" She then ran up to Velzard and dragged her off to have a chat between them. Something about 'needing advice on something' but I didn't pay too much attention to it as I was too busy learning about the goings on in Soma to care too much.

"The spirits say that death is in the air in the capital of the Elves. I've already called for Slyvia to help. That new husband of hers has been keeping her away from the place for too long now." Ramiris explained.

"Oh? Isn't she supposed to be keeping an eye on the high elf population though?" I asked.

Ramiris looked annoyed at me before flicking my forehead. "Who's fault do you think that was! If the stories of your adventures weren't being spread like wildfire then people wouldn't want to join you in being an 'adventurer' or whatever!" Ramiris complained.

"Sorry, I guess?" I asked.

It was true. It seemed that tales of my fights with Guy and fighting monsters and saving innocents had inspired many other adventurers to take to the world seeking their own fame and fortune. I had effectively kickstarted the profession of adventuring probably decades before they would have started in 'canon'. Multiple guilds were already being established now, but those were each closer to MMORPG-type guilds or private military corporations rather than the proper and singular international adventurer guild with the Rank system and Quest Boards I'd so commonly seen in the anime of my previous life.

I actually planned to start it myself soon and be the first guild master if for no other reason than to pass the time. I'd have literal millennia until canon starts after all, so I'd need something to keep me occupied until then and this would also help me to outsource- I mean to expand the supply of warriors who protect humanity so I could spend more time with the wifey.

"Anyways. When Syliva and Sarion get here, you should go check out Soma. I'm unsure what kind of 'superweapon' they'd gotten their hands on, but if the amount of magicules I'm sensing from it is accurate, then it's enough to rival that of Veldora." Veldanava said.

"make sure to call for me when you get there! I've got to clean up that foul miasma while I'm there so the spirits will stop complai- I mean, so I can fulfill my duties as the Queen of the Spirits! Yeah, that's right!" Ramiris said, catching herself before she said 'complaining' but Veldanava and I just silently agreed we would pretend we didn't hear her slip up.

"Alright then. I'll do it. I wanted to talk to Evelyn about a business venture while I was there anyway. Hell, Lilith would probably want to go too, just to show off. If we run into any trouble then she can deal with it and if even she cant then I'll step in." I said.

"You just want to bring her so you can dote on her don't you?" Ramiris said to me with half-closed eyes.

"Wha- I-I would never! I just wanted to see my little girl all grown up and taking after her father by kicking but and taking names!" I replied with a small bit of red on my cheeks.

"Yeah right... You always love to show off Lilith whenever you come by here. It's all 'look how much stronger my Lilith has gotten!'" Veldanava started, mocking my voice.

"Oh and don't forget that time he started crying to us a few years back. 'Lilith said she didn't like how I smelled yesterday! Is she going through her rebellious phase already!?!'" Ramiris added.

Veldanava laughed as my face grew red in embarrassment. "Yeah right! Like that father-con would ever go through a rebellious phase!"

"Don't forget the famous 'Lilith said she wanted to marry daddy when she grows up!' brag he always loves to spout!" Velgrynd responded as she joined my impromptu roasting session out of nowhere.

I looked around and saw Velzard trying not to laugh at all of this and failing miserably. It was then that I decided to make a strategic retreat from this conversation by taking revenge on my waifu for not standing up to help her husband in this time of need.

"Velzard there being mean to me!" I said in an obvious fake complaint while I ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

Velzard's face went a bit red at the sudden display of affection but she quickly began to hug me back and stroke my back in a comical motherly way to 'comfort me', as the little skit we were involved in now demanded.

"There there... it's ok-AY!" Velzard yelped as I gave her bum a good squeeze before she kneed me in the gut.

Velzard's face was bright red as she let go of my back and let me double over onto the floor. I wasn't actually in any pain, but if I showed that it didn't hurt then Velzard would be even more upset. As I rolled onto the floor while the others laughed at our display, I only had one thought in my mind.

'Dad. I did as you always said. I married a girl with a fine ass!' I thought while sending a silent prayer to him.

.~.~.~.

Lore Bit: It's been roughly 20 years since the fight with Twilight at this point. Velzard usually goes around in her golden-eyed voluptuous form nowadays due to the fact she knows Alaster like it, though she often reverses to her more petite form when traveling or when they are snuggling as it allows her to enjoy being close to him more as her smaller size means he can hold her closer.

Lore Bit 2: Did you know that Dark Elves didn't exist until the Chaos Dragon attacked Soma? They are a result of normal elves being corrupted by its miasma.

Lore Bit 3: Velgrynd isn't in love with Rudra at this point but is interested in him as a curiosity. She asked Velzard what being a companion to a human was like, as she was planning to follow Rudra after his training to see the human world more and to keep an eye on the person who she found interesting, not realizing it was the seeds of love being planted.

Lore Bit 4: Veldanava isn't in love with Lucia just yet but is interested in her and Rudra. He does find her attractive but isn't in love. He is also clueless about the fact she is totally in love with him (in a 'love-at-first-sight' type deal).

A/N: The 'He' from the last chapter wasn't Rudra, it was someone else.