"Please take a seat, Mr. Floyd."The old general pointed indulgingly to the largest sofa."Sure."I plopped myself down without further prompting.My snap judgment had been entirely correct: this sofa was incredibly comfortable.The general sat down in the armchair across from me, then removed his spectacles and placed them down on the coffee table along with the paper.He flashed me a gracious smile. "My name is Magnus Alden, Mr. Floyd. I am the grandfather of the little girl you saved yesterday. I haven't unduly disturbed your personal life by inviting you here, I hope?""Unduly" disturbed my personal life… What a great choice of words.It had certainly affected my fiancée's family, but I was unsure if I wanted to argue what "unduly" exactly meant.Best not to step on a potential tiger's toes."No, general." I shook my head decisively. "No disturbance whatsoever.""Good, good." Magnus nodded with satisfaction. "I

"Supreme sorcerers? That's the strongest a sorcerer can become, then, right?" I inquired as a good student should."There should be differences of strength even among supreme sorcerers," said Nestor. "Alas, I know nothing of them. They are, quite literally, a world away from us.""Got it." I nodded. "Thank you very much for the detailed lecture, Mr. Lanford. I've learned a great deal about sorcerers and sorcery from you.""Not at all, Master Floyd." Nestor waved a hand politely. "You are a spirit medium; I am merely a cursemaster. Among sorcerers, skill dictates seniority, which means you are my senior. There is no need to be so courteous.""I couldn't possibly be your senior, Mr. Lanford!" I shook my head in a hurry. "That's way too much for me to bear."Nestor Lanford was an old man in his seventies, which made him over five decades older than me. How could I claim seniority over someone like that?"Actually, Master Floyd, I did have a small request t

Soon after I let Iris know that I was all right, another call from Eirwen came in."Are you okay, William? I heard some soldiers took you away." Her anxious voice sounded through the speaker."You didn't hear the whole story? The soldiers wanted to thank me for saving the little girl from yesterday. They even paid me a hefty sum as thanks.""They paid you? You asked for the million dollars from her dad, didn't you?"Eirwen was bewildered at what I had said. She did not sound convinced at all."Ten million, actually. I'm not sure if I asked for it, but I guess so.""Yeah, right." My fiancée remained sarcastically unconvinced. "You might have gotten lucky this time, but that's not always going to happen. Have you ever thought about the consequences of failing?""Uh, no.""No?" Eirwen snapped, irritated by my response. "Well, you have plenty of time to do that now. Remember the guns the soldiers had?""Mm…"Her reminder ma

I chatted with Anya a while longer and learned a bit more about her situation and family. As it was getting late, we traded contacts and said our goodbyes.Soon after she left, my mother came home from work.Thankfully, she made no comment whatsoever about any smell of blood. It had wafted away in the interim.Her exhaustion made my heart hurt. "You just got better recently, mom. You should take it easy instead of putting so many hours in. If fatigue gets you down again, none of this will have been worth anything.""I'm fine, honey." My mother shook her head with a smile. "I know myself better than you do. If I feel anything bad at all, I'll make sure to rest.""You really don't need to work this hard, mom. I can make money now, too. We'll be able to pay our debts off in no time."I was a little worried about telling my mother about my new savings straight away.After all, I had been unemployed until recently. There was no way she would be able to

"Why are those two here?"I was flabbergasted by the mother-daughter duo's presence.Just as I was about to duck aside and evade them, I heard Clara's arrogant, domineering voice."Mr. Silver, I'm Leila Bell's mother. We've already arrived in the front hall. Could you come show us in?""Yes, the Leila Bell that you personally called yesterday evening. You're coming right away? We'll be waiting then."Clara hung up the phone with a triumphant snort."You hear that, Leila? Their HR manager is coming himself to guide you in. I was absolutely right! They've definitely taken an interest in your talent. If you went to any of their rivals, I'm sure your services elsewhere would eventually result in their bankruptcy!"The astounding ignorance of her words made me want to shove my head into a pile of sand.If I had known that Clara and her daughter were like this, I would never have made that phone call to Cory Alden yesterday.Leila seemed to agr