‘Get a hold of yourself old man. Men do not cry. Come on, put on a smile….’

I did my best. But the smile in the mirror was fake, miserable and full of agony. It was so absurdly fake, that I laughed before breaking down into tears.

‘I am sorry Liana… Is just that…’

I miss you. I miss you a lot.

Without you, I don’t know what to do.

I’ve tried my best. It is just that… there is only so much a socially awkward father can do.

What will I do when our daughter finds out the truth. I am starting to run out of lies. Eris is not a child anymore. She will not be deceived much longer.

Will she resent me?

‘Oh God, please no. She is the only one I have,’

But why.

Why was it you the one that died.

If only you were here…..

……

……

I-

…..

I wish it was me the one who had died.

…..

“Papa. Hurry up! I really really must go! Ahhhhhhh!” Eris knocked on the door with increasing ferocity.

I did not respond. I could not respond. My voice had cracked. I attempted to regain my composure. But it was too late.

Eris started throwing incomprehensible grunts at me, as she stormed out.

“You are taking too long I am just going to pee outside!” She yelled very loudly.

“Darling, please-“

I wanted to say more, but I was suddenly struck by [The Hero’s curse] and blood poured out of my mouth.

[Having refused to slay the Demon Lord. This world no longer welcomes you, fallen Hero. All the mana that you borrowed through your adventure will be extracted from your body tenfold.]

By now, I already had gotten used to the physical effects of the curse. Thankfully I was only afflicted by bleeding once a day.

The other effects of the curse, like a fifty percent skill penalty made my day to day miserable. However, knowing that the Gods could not summon another Hero as long as I lived brought just enough pleasure to make the pain and misery tolerable.

When I stepped out of the restroom, my daughter’s red eyes were glowing with an intense fury.

She unleashed a violent stream of curses at me, as she rushed into the restroom and slammed the door shut.

“So much for peeing outside!” I said. Seeing Eris inherit the temperament of her mother, brought a genuine smile to my painfully sorrowful face.

I made myself to the kitchen as fast as the cramps on my back allowed. Back pain at thirty five, the gods truly wanted me dead.

I opened the makeshift fridge that me and Eris had invented. Inside, it was filled to the brink with beer. Yet, that was not the only purpose for the fridge. Carefully hidden behind food left overs from days gone by also laid the legendary holy sword Catharsis. Cold temperatures were good at hiding its mana signature.

‘Just in case.’

Today was a serious day. So I grabbed a vial of beer and was about to open the damn thing but stopped myself short.

‘No, stop. You lazy old man. You promised Eris….’

I sighed.

‘Fine, if Eris truly thinks that is pathetic for grown men use mana… I guess I can remove the cork like a normal person.’

But I truly do not understand where she picked that up from. She must’ve have inherited that from her mother too.

‘Crap, what do normal people use to remove corks? Ah, yes, a corkscrew. I remember buying one a few days ago when I went to the town.’

I checked the lower kitchen’s cabinets. The corkscrew ended up being on the cabinet to the right of our primitive stove.

After a great struggle, I was able to enjoy my beer in the comfort of my living room. Sadly there was no TV to watch. It has been decades since I last was able to watch football. But medieval worlds still have their own charm.

I had only taken a few sips, when suddenly a colossal mana aura made itself known. This was followed by a knock at the door.

That aura. An Aura like that. For the spell-caster to just casually mask its presence at will. It had been years. But there was only one person in the entire world that I knew to possess such a masterful technique.

I opened the door, and went down to business right away.

“Get the fuck out!” I told her.

Feira slapped me right away.

I slapped her back.

And she returned the favor by slapping me even harder.

“Seventeen years,” Feira said. “You bastard, you could’ve at least left a note. We all thought you were dead.”

The Stone-Hearted Witch held her tears better than I ever did, and yet, there she was crying like a little girl.

“The last time I saw you, you were a loli. It seems you have grown quite a lot.”

“And the last time I saw you, you were a pervert. But that hasn’t changed much.”

To think that my daughter is now older than the age Feira was back when we were adventuring together.

“Why are you here?” I asked.

“That is a truly awful question to ask, Philip” Feira said. Her voice cracked, and she struggled to keep herself from crying, “The last time I saw you…. I remember it vividly. You were one punch away from defeating The demon lord when suddenly the entire dungeon floor collapsed. After that, you were never seen again, and were soon presumed dead.”

“That does not answer my question,” I said.

“Listen, I know it is going to sound cliche but, what horrible person would abandon their friends? I searched for you. Your body, or whatever remained of you. Weeks went by, weeks lead to months, and months lead to years. Hundreds, thousands, every adventurer has gone to The Final Dungeon at least once in hopes of finding you or your legendary sword.”

I did not know how to feel. It is true that I am scum. But I had my reasons.

“It was easy to believe you were dead, that you somehow had sacrificed yourself to kill the demon lord and save your friends. After all, the demon lord was no more. However, I knew there was no way that you were dead.”

“And, why is that?”

“Because… if you were dead. Then who resurrected us?”

“Claire of course. Was she not the saint?” I asked.

“That, might be the official story. But when I woke up, Claire was crying on a fetal position, repeating over and over again; Not enough mana…. Not enough mana….. Not Enough mana.”

“Clearly she had no enough mana to revive me,” I said.

“No. I thought so too at the beginning. But then after your body was never found…”

“You asked her about it?” I asked.

“No. She wiped her own memories. But I calculated how much mana it would require to resurrect a high level party of five. Then I came to the conclusion, based on all the spells that she had casted that day. Claire just never had the mana needed to resurrect anybody that day. In fact, nobody, not even you, had enough mana that day to resurrect the entire party. So tell me. What or how did you do it?”

“What makes you think that it was I the one who resurrected you all?” I said.

“The fact that you are standing in front of me.”

“And what if I didn’t?” I asked.

“Then. I don’t know. How would that be possible. Other than the Hero. There is only one other person in the world that frankly would be absu-“

“Dad. Who is that old hag?” Eris asked.

‘Dad? She always calls me papa…’

“Old hag!? I am only thir-! Philip…. By the Gods. Why does that girl have twice as much mana as you-“

I immediately dragged Feira inside.

“Philip, what- What are u-“ She asked. But I did not respond and just pushed her against the living room’s coach.

“N-no… Philip, not in front of your daughter. You perv,” Feira said.

“Huh?”

Eris was staring at Feira with subtle murder intent.

“Father. This woman is contaminating our living space,” Eris said.

‘Did she just said, Father? Oh crap. I am fucked.’

“Darling. Is not like that. Look, she is just a friend of mine,” I said.

“Just… Just a friend!?” Feira said. “How dare you! We were more than that!”

“Old man. Would you like to explain?” Eris said. Her anger. It was reaching a breaking point.

“Yeah Philip. Tell her. Tell her how we were childhood friends and Party companions.”

“Oh, so Papa is a good man and never touched this woman after all,” Eris said.

“Yeah, be proud of Papa!” I said. I was literally dying inside.

“Hun, could you please leave your Papa and I have a few minutes of privacy?” Feira asked.

“Hmmph, fine. I will go buy groceries. If I come back and Papa is acting funny, I will find you,” Eris said.

She grabbed a basket, a couple of silver coins and then left Feira and I alone. At last.

“She doesn’t know. Does she?” Feira asked.

“Know what exactly?” I said.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Philip. At first I did not notice because I was in shock, but the spell did not fool me for long. What will you do when she finds out.”

“I am not planning in telling her,”

“By the heavens…. Philip. She already has twice as much mana as you did in your prime. That spell. It might not even work on her.”

“Shut up. Don’t say that,”

“No Philip, she probably already knows. At her age, I was already a titled archmage. I am more worried about what she will do if the spell ever dispels, when others see her true form.”

“That will not happen,” I said.

“Can you even maintain the spell? You seem weaker. What the hell happened to you.”

“I don’t want to talk about it Feira. It was nice to see you again, but please. I beg you. Leave and never come back. I have a peaceful life and I prefer if it stayed that way.”

“Philip. That is just not possible anymore. If I found you. It is only a matter of time before you are found. I did not just come here randomly. I sensed a very strong mana signature. My gut instinct told me that it was you. But it seems I was wrong. Your daughter. Is she even really yours?”

“Please get out.”

“Very well Philip. But you been warned. The next person will not come by knocking.”