My name is Lloyd May, and I am 690 years old.
Strange way to introduce yourself, I know, but it's the truth. I grew up in an orphanage alongside Lyra Knight. Neither of us got adopted, and so we were forced to fend for ourselves once we reached sixteen. Thankfully, the Dorm Mothers were kind to us, allowing us to stay at the orphanage while we got on our feet.
In the end, Lyra and I decided to become Adventurers. It wasn't like we had any other path set out for us. As it turned out, we were good at it. Very good. Maybe it was because adventuring was all we did, but we ended up becoming 5-Star Adventurers by the age of 25.
And so, that became our life – Questing. Nothing else. No one else. All we had in the world was each other, and so we became each other's shelter… for better or for worse.
Before I knew it, age 25 turned into 30, then 40, then 50, then 58. Why stop at 58? Simple.
That's when the Demon Lord started making moves.
It was sudden. He started by killing every adventurer in Podros. Then, he converted every monsterkin in the Amelan Region to his army. Once he did that, he conquered the far more powerful Pushil Region – killing the Aspian Quartet and taking Eshil as his new base of operations.
Lyra and I did our best, but we weren't anywhere near strong enough to kill the Demon Lord. And so with the last of her power, Lyra used her Time Manipulation magic to send her and me back in time to our mid-20s, when we'd first become 5-Star Adventurers.
The first thing we did was try to warn everyone what was coming, but they very quickly assumed we were crazy and ignored us. When that didn't work, we decided to train even harder for the battle with the Demon Lord.
We failed again. Despite being ready, the Demon Lord was simply stronger. So, we traveled back once again. We trained, we prepared, we failed. Trained, prepared, failed. Trained, prepared, failed. You get the picture. We've done that eighteen times now. Trained with every master, learned everything there is to know about the Demon Lord and his invasion, yet… nothing.
No matter what we did, the truth was clear: Aspia would be conquered by the Demon Lord in 35 years, and there was nothing we could do about it.
Which leads us to now. After this most recent loss to the Demon Lord, Lyra sent us back to this Berserking Bulette mission she'd begged to go on because she found those rampaging beasts "cute" for some reason. I'd obliged, only because I'd begged to go on a mission to face a succubus a few weeks earlier. She'd attempted to warn me that actual succubi look like walking octopi with breasts, but I hadn't listened.
When we'd returned, we'd literally been in the middle of the fight. Neither of us had said a word. Lyra had killed the monster, using far more force than was necessary to slay the beasts, wordlessly retrieving the Bulette Hearts and gathering them into the bags the Guild had provided before walking with me back to Podros.
Lyra was angry. Angrier than normal. This was the closest we'd ever come to defeating the Demon Lord! We'd killed his Royal Scientist Syriphis, dismantled the House of the Unblinking Eye, and we'd even managed to keep Meredith the Life Warden alive long enough to deal significant damage to the Demon Lord. But, of course, once he was about to die, he let out a goddamn kamikaze burst that threatened to destroy the damn planet!
"Do you want to talk about it?" I'd asked. We were in our room at the local inn now, and I was sitting on a chair in front of the cobblestone wall.
Lyra, who'd been lying in one of the two beds, stared up at the ceiling, refusing to meet my eyes. "What is there to talk about? We've tried everything. We've done everything."
"I'm sure there are things we haven't tried," I tried, though I wasn't sure how much I believed it.
"I'll be blunt: if we can't figure anything out this run, I'm seriously going to consider Dark Magic. I feel like if I play my cards right, I can get Syriphis to 'awaken' me. Look at what she did to Isobel Greaves! She used to be a bog-standard illusionist, then she turned into the strongest goddamn Sorcerer in Aspia!"
"Then we'll end up with a new Demon Lord with Time Manipulation magic."
Lyra shot up from the bed. "Do you have any suggestions?!" Lyra shouted. She sighed, turning back up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired, and the Time Reversal Spell drained me. I just… I need a shower and a meal. We can talk about next steps later." She stood from the bed, a familiar look in her eye. I stood to meet her before allowing her to pull me into a hug.
"We'll take him down, Lyra."
"I know we will… Love you."
"Love you too."
She gave me a weak smile. "If you really love me, you'll take a shower. You smell like an adventurer."
I scoffed, pushing her off of me, which finally caused her to laugh. "So do you!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going in first. Unless you wanna join me?"
I winced. "That's basically incest."
"Aww, but I thought we did everything together?"
"Yeah, everything siblings do."
"Hey, my birth parents are from Ublar. Things get weird over–"
"Alright, time for you to take your shower. I'm gonna go pick up some food. See you in a bit."
"Bye, big brother~" She said in an uncomfortably sultry tone.
I left the room.
***
You all should be ashamed!" Isobel shouted, standing from the dining table to look upon her family. "What would Grandfather say if he heard any of this?!"
Her father sipped his midday tea, visibly indifferent to Isobel's plea. "It makes no difference. Father is dead, and the House is mine. We aren't ruled by his ghost."
"Have some respect for–"
"You have some respect!" Her father thundered, slamming his hands down on the table hard enough to cause Isobel to flinch. "House Greaves is one of no renown. Our time in the sun has come to an end. It costs more than we have to maintain it, we have no political strength, and none of our allies do business with us! You would have us lug the corpse of House Greaves along for the next century instead of cutting our losses and using the revenue of the House's sale to live comfortably now?"
Isobel trembled with rage and defeat. "If only you all had listened to me… Grandfather trained me to lead this House someday. He trusted it to me. I'd been advising you on ways to improve our standing in Amelan, and you continued to ignore me!"
"Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We're here now. What can we do?" Isobel's brother shrugged.
"Laurence, you bastard!"
"Our parents are married, I'll have you know."
"Enough!" Her father interrupted. "Laurence, don't provoke your sister. Isobel…" He started. The man sighed, suddenly unwilling to meet Isobel's eyes. "You are correct. You were a skilled Advisor. Unfortunately, your tenure began far too late for us to turn things around. I am sorry that we didn't trust you with the House's future sooner."
"But we still can change things, Father! We don't have to sell–"
"Proceedings have already begun."
Isobel's heart dropped. Even her brother, who'd been otherwise indifferent, looked stunned by the news.
"...What?" Isobel tried, her voice hollow.
"Your mother traveled with a few of our men to gauge interest in a private auction to any of the other Great Houses in Amelan, but none were interested. She's working with our previous Advisor to set up a true buyout of House Greaves for a million gold starting tomorrow. That should be enough for us to–"
"Where are they?!" Isobel shouted. "Father, where are they?! I can still talk to them! I–"
"Isobel…"
She didn't even try to listen to them. Isobel stood from her seat and ran, ignoring calls from her father to return to the table. As much as she wanted to retreat into herself, Isobel refused. What would her Grandfather say if she gave up on House Greaves that easily? No, Isobel had a different idea:
She'd do everything in her power to make sure House Greaves didn't fall, no matter what that was.