Amazon Apocalypse 7: Chapter 8

While Adrian enjoyed his youth, I worked harder than I ever had before. Before I was a father, I found governing Crownhill tedious and easily put off. I was happier tinkering in my barn or exploring distant worlds with Myrina and the others.

I'd heard it said that men don't truly grow up until they become a father, and I felt that now. When I promised Bridget I'd do whatever it took to make this shard safe for our son, I meant it. Any thoughts that this work was tedious, boring, or awkward could sit in the corner and wait while the dad in the room did what needed to be done.

It was hard work, but worth it every time I was able to pull Adrian away from his studies for another father-son adventure. Hunting for beetles was just one trip of many.

We tried our hand at fishing in the sea where Artemis and her group of survivors had been discovered nearly two integration stages ago. We pulled up three fish, each bigger than the last.

First, I hauled up something that looked like a swordfish, but stronger and with a much sharper blade for a nose. Another was this huge flounder. When I hauled it up, all we had was the head, which was as big as a dinner plate. The rest of it ended with a bite mark suggesting a predator as large as Sharky.

Third was the one Adrian hooked, and it was the most hideous bottom-dwelling thing I'd ever seen. It wasn't a fish so much as a half-crab, half-octopus thing. The hefty ovipositor it sported was enough to give me bad flashbacks, and we ended up cutting the line.

We took a few trips back to Mucaria for checkups Bridget had set up with specialists, and I borrowed the test-taking area with the fake summoned monsters for a little camping trip and survival lesson.

"Dad, can I take sword fighting lessons?" Adrian asked.

Adrian seldom asked for things, so when he made the request I made it happen. Truthfully, I'd known this was coming ever since he'd snuck into Myrina's room to play with her swords the moment we weren't looking, and it'd be better for him to learn under the supervision of an instructor than play with weapons on his own. When I found a class in Mucaria that accepted students as young as he was, I enrolled him.

I sat outside the whole time peering through the walls and soon came to the disappointing realization that the class was more a daycare than a class. Most of the kids were flailing about with a cork sword like they were trying to swat flies. Also, I was pretty sure the instructor was one of the guys I'd beaten up early on in the martial arts tournament I'd won. If his swordsmanship was anything like his other fighting abilities, Cyra or I could do better.

I taught him what I could, though Cyra was the one with a teacher job, so anything he learned from her would stick better. As long as it wasn't Myrina teaching him, I was alright.

"Damn it, Myrina! Just what are you teaching the kid?" I asked as she instructed Adrian from the courtyard. They were supposed to just be playing, but with Myrina it was hard to tell the difference between training and play.

All in all, Adrian was a good kid, but sneaking off for lessons with Myrina from time to time was perhaps his one rebellious streak.

"It's too late! Adrian has already mastered my legendary Spinning Cartwheel Double Flip Descending Sword of Annihilation attack!" Myrina cackled, hands on her hips.

As I watched, Adrian jumped and spun, sailing sideways before transitioning to a flip followed by a descending overhead slash from behind a target dummy's back.

While getting behind your enemy's defenses was usually a decent idea, doing so in such an over-the-top and showy way was nothing more than vanity. It was fighting for style points rather than victory.

"Dad, I did it! Did you see?" Adrian asked excitedly. The move he'd just executed would have been impossible for any adult with normal human limitations, let alone a child, but Adrian had kept the levels the System had given him as part of its attempt at reincarnating an ancient hero, so his abilities were far beyond the norm. In fact, I was pretty sure he was stronger than I was at his level, likely due to some inherited titles.

I couldn't help but smile at his pure, childlike joy. "It was pretty impressive. I'm glad you managed it, but you know your mother doesn't want you playing with swords."

"It's made of wood! I practiced with wooden swords when I was his age," Myrina protested.

"Here's your sword, per your mother's rules." I plucked the wooden sword out of his hands and replaced it with a floppy foam one. Adrian's expression sagged just like his weapon. He really did like swords. Someday I'd forge a real one for him on the same level as my dragonbone rapier. Just not until he was a little older.

I knelt down. "Adrian, Myrina's moves are flashier than they need to be. Cyra and I can give you a better foundation for swordsmanship."

"But I'm more fun!" Myrina winked from behind me.

"Okay, I'll practice with Mama Cyra," Adrian said before wandering off with his floppy foam sword.

Once he was out of earshot, I took Myrina aside.

"Myrina, I appreciate you teaching him, but I don't want him picking up bad habits. He's got an interest in swordsmanship, and I want to make sure he learns correctly. Your family told me that your fighting style only works because you've got a talent for fighting rarely seen even among Amazonian bloodlines as revered as the Samhains. Anyone else needs to fight the proper way."

Myrina's eyes sparkled. "I know, Carter. But I also know you're worried over nothing. I know what raw talent looks like, and Adrian has more of it than anyone I've ever met. Even if he taught himself in the woods with a stick, he'd still become a world-class swordsman."

"I think Mimiko's gotten into you. She's always gushing about some sort of innate talent."

Myrina grinned and jerked a thumb at herself. "He must have gotten that from me!"

I chuckled. It was no use trying to explain to Myrina that Adrian was Bridget's son. She hadn't been on Earth long enough to attend biology class when we were kids, and I was pretty sure she wouldn't care even if she had.

It had been tough on Bridget to accept the collectivization of her only child, but it certainly made finding babysitters easier on the two of us when Adrian had so many moms keeping after him. Our lives had changed after becoming parents, but not nearly as much as we thought.

After seeing Adrian taking a few proper lessons from Cyra, I was going to go back to my barn for some rare unwinding time. Putting a few more hours into the next iteration of Doomblade would be a welcome treat I'd been looking forward to for a while.

But then the last person I expected came knocking at my gates.

"Hello? Carter, are you there?" she asked.

The woman was unfamiliar, though something about the voice rung a bell. It was someone I knew, but I couldn't figure out who.

I turned to the nearest Governess mannequin, who activated a nearby screen to show me a camera feed from the gates. I stood there scratching my head for several long seconds as I tried to put name to face and voice.

"Carter! You found another lover while we weren't looking?" Myrina waggled her finger. "I'm going to tell Sakura on you unless you give me more time to play with Adrian!"

I rolled my eyes at her teasing. "She's not a new lover. She's..." I struggled to come up with a name, only for Myrina to gasp even louder.

"You philandering playboy! You don't even remember her name, do you?" Myrina held a hand to her heart.

"It's Lydwyn, Sage of Camlaan. I've been made official envoy," the woman at the gates said.

Lydwyn? I stared at the woman in the cameras and put the two faces atop one another. The shy, spectacled spellcaster was nowhere to be seen in the expression and mannerisms of the confident woman waiting for me to open my doors.

"Lydwyn! How... surprising to see you here." I blinked a few times as I approached the gates. I was at a complete loss as to why she was here and why she was dressed the way she was.

The formerly bookish, bespectacled sage wore a low-cut dress of fine make, revealing both shoulders and hips. From what I knew of the mostly medieval culture of Camlaan, it should have been scandalously revealing. She was dressed more like a seductress than a sage at the moment.

It looked good on her, though. I liked talking to Lydwyn about magic before, but I hadn't realized how well she'd clean up with a handful of tiny changes. She looked like an entirely different woman.

As I looked at her though, I realized the changes were more than just skin deep. She met my eyes while biting her lower lip. Her cheeks were dabbed blushing makeup, and her hips swayed from side to side as she stood.

"She really came from Camlaan?" I asked Governess.

"My mannequins spotted her in Crownhill this morning. After learning the location of your home, she turned around and came here," Governess explained from a speaker on the wall.

"Worried? What if she's a fake? A shapeshifter in disguise! Or maybe she's being controlled by a brain worm? You better have me check it out. We should get Sakura too. Her interrogation techniques for new harem members checks for shapeshifters, mind control, or brain worms," Myrina said.

"There's no need to get Sakura worked up over something like this. She's busy dealing with New Kyoto. Speaking of, shouldn't you be with the Black Knights?" I side-eyed her. She'd been spending a lot of time at home with me and Adrian lately.

"I'm letting Reluna have a turn. Don't worry, I told her not to do anything I wouldn't do." Myrina waved dismissively.

While Myrina spoke, I stared hard at Lydwyn with my own eyes instead of through a camera. My eyes were keen and saw far more than any B-Grade I'd ever met. Once I confirmed Lydwyn's identity and realized it really was her, along with what was going on, I let out a sigh.

Then, I turned to Myrina. "Alright, you know what? You're getting your Adrian time. Take him out the back door and bring him to the pocket realm. I'll let Bridget know he's with you when she returns. Just make sure you bring Cyra with you to supervise."

"Yay! Adrian, come to Mama Myrina! We're going to play with a truck tire!" Myrina went skipping off in Adrian's direction.

"Governess, forward an odd request to Bridget. I need her to borrow a baby around Adrian's actual age. He should look a bit younger than our son."

"I will forward the request to Bridget through my mannequins. One of them is with her now," Governess said.

I waited a minute or two for Myrina, Cyra, and Adrian to take off. The back door was really the teleportation array, which took them straight to the heart of Crownhill. Once there, the house suddenly got rather quiet, and I went to the gate to let Lydwyn in.

"Lydwyn, I must say I'm surprised to see you here," I said as I opened the gates.

"Your name has spread far and wide in our territory, and the minor nobles sing your praises. How could the Sages not come around?" Lydwyn asked.

I chuckled. "You think too much of me. All I did was give food to the starving, clothes and blankets to the cold, medicine for the sick, and put up walls to keep the monsters out. I've seen a few of them flying my banner next to their family crests, but it's not something I asked of any of them."

"You may not be wearing a crown, but when you told them you were an emperor, they decided they would be part of your empire, even if it meant offending us Sages of Camlaan." Lydwyn laughed, touching my arm as she did so.

The two of us chatted for a while. I showed her around a few parts of the family compound, like the experience farm and certain parts of my barn to talk about magic, though she was far less interested in talking shop than I remembered. Perhaps that was just because I hadn't shown her any of my real projects. The successor to my Doomblade power armor was far too large to fit in my barn.

"Enough wandering around my house, let's get you a place in Crownhill. Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't go there first. That's where all the action is on the empire-building front."

We left my barn just in time to run into Bridget, who was returning with an unfamiliar baby in her arms. The chubby cheeks and blank, fixed stare of the baby reminded me that not all kids grew up as fast as Adrian had. We'd hardly even gone through a fraction of our diaper stockpile before Adrian declared himself potty trained.

"Hey there, kiddo," I rubbed the unfamiliar kid's head like he was my own, and planted a kiss on Bridget's cheek. "We were just leaving for Crownhill. See you tonight."

"You don't want your guest to stay for dinner?" she asked, eyes darting between me and Lydwyn.

I shook my head. "I want to show her around Crownhill."

Lydwyn stared hard at the baby and forced a smile in his direction, which was met with normal baby crying. Bridget used the excuse to step inside. I could tell from her parting glance that she was a little confused at what was happening, but she trusted me to fill her in later.

***

We left for Crownhill, and spoke as we walked through the city. I asked Lydwyn a few questions about her new envoy position. It was an even back-and-forth as we picked one another's brains.

"Oh, I'm supposed to establish some connections here and learn the local political environment. See who's loyal and trustworthy and who's not," Lydwyn explained.

I nodded along thoughtfully. "Then you'll want to get to know the council. Most are decent folk, but the one you'll want to keep away from is Councilman Morris. I think he's got some delusions about taking over himself, despite his low level. He's got just enough political influence to make him dangerous."

"If you've already decided you don't like someone, why don't you just kill them? You're an Emperor, aren't you?" Lydwyn asked.

I sighed. "It's this whole democracy thing my people invented before the integration. The will of the people must be respected, and we've gotten a lot of new people Councilman Peter Morris has been able to win over with words. I'll just have to suffer through it until he's voted out of office."

"How is your military faring? Are you prepared for the next stage of the integration?" Lydwyn spoke the question casually, as though talking about the weather.

I let out another long sigh. "Between you and me, not even I know. You see, the forces of Crownhill are rather compartmentalized, and none of them are under my direct control. The guard of Crownhill answers to the council, the Amazonian warriors answer to my wife Cyra. The adventurers all have their own guilds they're loyal to. San Antonio and the other major cities have their own local guard forces. Despite being an emperor, my power lies largely in rallying these different groups under one banner."

"That's unfortunate, and a real gap in your power base here. Do you think losing the loyalty of one or more of those groups is your biggest vulnerability?" Lydwyn asked.

I nodded. "Yes. In fact, my wife's Amazonian forces rotate out regularly with her lands on Themyscira, and Frank's adventurers are spread out all throughout the shard. Cyra's troops rotate out Tuesday afternoon, sometime after lunch. That's the day I'm really worried about."

Lydwyn did a good job concealing a smile crawling up her face. "Fascinating. Thank you for sharing, Carter. Do you think you could point out this Councilman Morris fellow? Just so I know to avoid him in the future?"

"Since I know I can trust you, sure. Let me give you the full tour of the city." I linked arms with her and showed her around the city.

<Note>

Oh no, Carter has completely fallen for the trap! How will he survive this!?

I also thought it might be funny to have the kid Bridget brought be obviously of a different race and for Carter to pretend he didn't notice while 'Lydwyn' looks at him and Bridget strangely, but that joke takes a bit too much context and people skipping through an audiobook might not get it and get mad.