Duke Gregori was certainly facing quite the challenge now, as he morosely watched Petula sip at the berry wine, eyes lighting up in delight. "It tastes so fruity and smooth! And you said that this is still incomplete even?"

  "This particular bottle was only made this year, which means it definitely hasn't aged enough," Noel commented, tapping the glass. "Unfortunately, I just don't have any temporal spells to accelerate or speed up the process. Means that there's nothing to it but to to let time pass naturally."

  "Temporal spells?" His daughter glanced at him, giving an inquisitive look. "I don't think I've ever heard of those?"

  "Nor I. Perhaps my sister would know, having spent more time in the south than I," the vampire mentioned while sipping at his plain water. It was quite cool and refreshing, something he had long since learned how to take subtle delight in. But it was hard to restrain himself actively from at least sampling the apparent spirit selection the puppet had.

  Especially when it looked like the adventurer Mordred was probably going to drink the entire barrel of beer, and perhaps call it a light nightcap.

  But his savior's orders were firm. No alcohol in the system whatsoever. Thankfully, they judged that the apparent worst of it was likely over, so he was free to at least have a more solid and varied diet. They did warn that they only had simple offerings, which apparently translated into the best bread he'd ever eaten alongside a rarity in Gabion: fish.

  The duchy was landlocked due to their neighbors combined with the landscape and had no natural rivers or lakes. So that meant fish had to be caught elsewhere and transported to their home, which was a challenge given how quickly it could spoil. So it was something that was quite costly and only saved for the rare holiday or celebration; the duke supposed that being alive could count as one when he took a bite.

  Smoky, yet delicate. Paired with just the bread, it was like Noel had mentioned, a simple meal. But one more flavorful than most he'd eaten in his long life.

  "Ah, don't worry about it. It's just wishful thinking," their host commented with a shake of the head. "Temporal magic anyhow was quite niche and rare, requiring so many specific conditions. Not many in my day could claim mastery of it too. I'm happy it tastes good for you regardless."

  "It does- huh?" The vampire woman blinked and looked curiously at the cup in her hands. "Have you never tasted it before? In fact, you haven't had a single bite to eat."

  "Oh, it's because I'm a puppet." Noel tapped their cheekbone, producing a soft clinking sound like two pots shifting about together. "I don't need food, and I can't even taste it if I wanted. I can eat and swallow, but all of it just gets burned and converted into energy immediately."

  "So you can at least drink if you wanted?"

  "I can."

  "Good, that means you can at least offer imperial hospitality then," Gregori noted with a nod. "You seem unaware of it, but it is a traditional custom between families of sufficient wealth and means in the empire. Especially if one is to be the honored guest of another."

  "Ah, you'll have to tell me all about it later. For now, there's something else I want to talk about." Noel collected themselves and stilled in their chair, looking between the two nobles. Then they shifted over to the feasting adventurer, who too was curiously putting down her drink to pay attention. "I think it's only fair I tell you too, Mordred. You likely want to know how I was able to craft your arms and armor."

  "Not particularly, but I am a little curious." She shifted, then sighed. "And I guess my mother would've cuffed me over the head if I didn't at least pay attention after all you've given me."

  Gregori was still a little in the dark about the relationship between the adventurer and her apparent patron. But Petula had described her as being a terrifying fighter, the best she'd ever seen. She apparently easily took down the wildlife that plagued them on their way here, and was likely the one who slew those giant spiders that the adventurers brought back. He hadn't borne witness, on account of his vision and consciousness blurring from the pain, but he trusted his daughter's word.

  Noel nodded, then closed their eyes. When they opened, those glass eyes suddenly felt so...lonely. "I suppose I'll begin with when I woke up here, some time long after my...friends have apparently departed for the ocean of souls..."

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?

  I gave a quick summary of my experiences so far ever since I woke up in the world. I didn't speak of all about my real old life, because that honestly didn't matter. Even if the world of Shin was just the setting of FLOW, it was real enough to be treated seriously. Talking about how everything was made artificial and fake would accomplish nothing, and only alienate me from the actual life I wanted to live. It was like the unspoken rule among all players- no bringing up real life affairs or troubles in a game where we wanted to get away and have fun.

  So I simply wouldn't. Though of course, whining and complaining about publishers ruining the servers had been fair game.

  Importantly, I also had an important question and reveal for the two guests (and one freeloading dragon who refuses to pay rent) under my roof. "Have you ever heard of Lighthouse? I was a member of it, and I want to learn of whatever happened with the Ten Lights."

  Both the vampires shared a confused look before the duke spoke up, shaking his head. "I'm afraid that the two simply don't share much according to what I know. Perhaps my sister would, but I can only recall the Ten Lights appearing closer to the end of that epic."

  "Epic? As in...a tale?"

  "That's right. Aunt Vio did do some story-time when Teodor and I were younger, and she often read out excerpts of it. Though it's been so long, I'm fairly certain I've forgotten most of it," Petula admitted with a cough. "But I remember being inspired, by the stories of an apparent era long before us. A time like when heroes and champions of true greatness walked the world, fighting against monsters too fantastical to be real."

  There it was. Confirmation of my theory.

  This was the world of Shin, but so many centuries, maybe even millennia, past. And the time of adventurer, of players, treated like some sort of far flung storybook tale that children would listen to.

  Hah. So I'm literally from something like a classical era of mythology, if I were to borrow a term from my old world.

  "What if I told you," I slowly began, "that I'm from that time? Puppets like me don't age see, we don't decay or breakdown."

  "If that were the truth," gruffly mentioned the duke, "Then where are the rest of your kind? Where are the puppets?"

  "A good question, one I'm honestly quite clueless about too!" I answered with a soft laugh. "I'd love to find out. Through Kuch, I've seen all other kinds of people that were around back in my day save them, which is quite odd. Puppets back then were a bit rarer, yes, but still present."

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Petula hesitated before raising a hand to draw my attention to her. "So when you've been saying your day, you mean...the era of the epics?"

  "I suppose so," I mentioned with a hum. "And back in my day, I...served a member of the Ten Lights and was very close to them all."

  I wasn't Mikel anymore. I was Noel.

  So if I saw my player character ever again, I'd be confident in referring to them as another person entirely. Because they for all intents and purposes were, having likely known only life in this world. Perhaps even nothing of my old world.

  The two nobles reacted to that with widening eyes and looks in-between. "Noel," the man warned in a low tone. "What you have just said, even were it the truth, would be troubling to many in this world. The Ten Lights are the unapproachable divines beyond all mortal reproach. To make the claim would likely invite many troubles from both believers and non-believers alike."

  "They'd either declare you a saint or heretic," Petula grimly added. "I understand it might be...awkward for you. But we're also thinking of your safety in addition to ours. Anybody who gets caught up could be put in danger too."

  Surprisingly wise words from the younger woman, but she was a member of House Cordis I guessed. If that line was really descendants of her, then well, the mistress of the house did always have a sharp intuition when it mattered. I shifted uncomfortably and let out a sigh. "They were my friends," I grumbled. "They don't deserve worship, each and every one of them. Just...remembered for who they were."

  The fidgeting intensified with them both understandably unsettled by my claim. I was actually quite thankful they seemed to believe my story, something I did mention. "Your story is so outlandish, it goes from the babbling of the insane into what could only be history," Gregori reasoned. "It has too many details aside, things that falsehoods would prefer to not mention to be conveniently revealed later. For example, your mention of having found our long lost iron mine matches up with our tidbits of knowledge about it."

  "To think though, that a dungeon caused the tides! I've heard of them and the troubles they bring, but never to the level suffered by our people," his daughter remarked with a frown. "Too bad about your claim that it could only bring suffering and had to be destroyed. I have heard sometimes of how a dungeon appearing in a territory can briefly enrich it before abruptly disappearing, something oft considered a blessing from the gods. Ah, I mean-"

  "Don't worry about it. I'll get used to it," I compromised with a shrug. "Just don't expect me to start worshiping them though. Unless you want me to tell embarrassing stories about how Isabella- ah, she'd be Belle for you- would messily devour ice cream."

  "Ice cream?"

  "Ah, right. I'll need to acquire dairy soon perhaps."

  "Just buy a whole cow," Mordred finally spoke lazily, chewing on some wolf jerky. "Milk it till it's dry, then give it to me to eat. I'll enjoy it."

  "Well, ideally you would have both types of cows. One for milking, and one for eating," Kuch mentioned from behind, to which she frowned.

  "Why, what's the point?"

  "What if I told you it'll taste better?"

  "...I'll be the judge of that," she muttered, slightly excited at my doll's claim. The adventurer then noticed the awed looks both vampires were giving her way and lightly coughed. "Um, hi. I'm Bedra's daughter. Dragon actually, I'm just in this human form until I avenge my mother. Maybe a bit longer depending on how much I like it. That's about it. Oh, do please call me Mordred moving on."

  "Have no fear, your secret remains with us as it always has." Gregori gave his daughter a cool look, to which stiffly nodded in affirmative. "Late as it may be, I wish to say I'm sorry for your loss. Bedra's death is a tragedy that Gabion will sorely feel. I can only wish you luck in your quest of vengeance."

  She nodded and the duke turned back to me, brow furrowing. "However, it would also be remiss of me to not also thank you for your service to the duchy. If your claim of having stopped the tide is indeed the truth, then you have done House Cordis a great service in finally bringing an end to our eternal duty."

  "Don't sweat it," I casually mentioned with a wave of the hand. "It was bothering me too. But I'm happy to have helped."

  Still, he and his daughter bowed their heads to me and I pressed my lips together thinly. No, I don't think I like that. It's one thing to receive casual thanks or offhanded rewards- another for it to apparently be so formally and stiffly recognized. Greatly desiring a change in topic, I loudly coughed and moved onto something I was wondering about. "So if Gabion doesn't have to fend against monster attacks anymore, how about you expand my way and bring some civilization over?"

  The two froze, then looked at each other with wide eyes which led me to blink slowly. Had they really not considered it? "I mean, it's not like I'm going to claim the entire area outside the walls as my territory," I slowly spelled out. "I already feel like I've got a bit too much wasted space with my outer walls. I'm quite happy with my little woodland manor and don't really have a desire to just be my own country."

  "Are you sure?" Gregori asked, hands slightly trembling. "What you are offering is perhaps the greatest gift to Gabion ever since the emperor restored our line. We have been constrained for so long, being just a frontier fortress that we've gotten quite used to it. But to finally expand our borders westward-!"

  "You could be your own duchy!" Petula pointed out, a little heatedly. "If your claims of being known to the Ten are anywhere true, you could even be your own power, a king! Are you sure you would be willing to just...give up on all that?"

  That was all true and I supposed their disbelief was well-warranted. I'm glad though that least there wasn't any dark suspicion or plotting deceit in their eyes, that they genuinely would accept whatever answer I gave. The same response as when Mikel had suggested his vampire retainer care for the flowerbed she adored.

  In that moment, I knew for sure they were her descendants without a doubt, no matter how thinly the blood was.

  "Yeah. I'm sure of it," I told with a heartfelt smile. "I just want to make and build things, not rule over them. I'll leave that up for you. How's that sound for a deal between us?"

  The duke collapsed back into his chair and I wondered if perhaps I had gone too far, maybe even triggering a very unfortunate relapse. But to his daughter's clear astonishment, the sound that left his lips was laughter, the likes of which sounded like so many years pent-up and trapped and now free. "There...is much of this informal arrangement that needs to be detailed. Specifics aught to be elaborated upon.

  "But so long as you are willing, and in good spirit, then House Cordis would welcome your business and partnership for as long as our line endures."

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