Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

136. Just call him Dad

"I don't know. In Personal Rankings I never registered competitively, but the top fifty were people that I expressly avoided. Compared to the war guilds and their elite the deists aren't nearly as fearsome. But dealing with them is more technical than face stomping someone who walks up to my door with a letter of challenge." Cal admitted.

"What will happen if they do show up?" Selene asked as she looked over the data Cal had sent her.

"They already have... The demons of the south are being led by a Great One. Everything I've learned about them matches the patterns of the best war guild strategies. That's why they are so effective. They have a New Game+ army in a game set to very easy mode. They will wash over everyone who doesn't know the counters for War Guild tactics." Cal sighed.

"I didn't understand half of that, but it sounds really bad. But I assume you are proficient in anti-war guild tactics." Wendy said.

"You're looking at the guy who wrote half the book on it. The war guilds may fall to them, but the raid guilds won't."

"Why are you so confident in that?" Selene asked.

"The Age of Raids wasn't named because the War Guilds fought each other. It was because while the War Guilds fought, they fell from Glory as the Raid guilds basically robbed them blind. They know that the Pearly City has an enormous horde of their stuff which is why they WILL come for it. But They probably expect the difficulty to be nerfed to a medium instead of very hard, but I am in the process of cranking it up to Nightmare Mode." Cal explained. He couldn't help but slip back into gamer terminology. He knew they wouldn't understand all the references, but they were pretty good about getting the main points.

*

Cal dismissed them at the earliest convenience, but when the door opened Ophelia slipped in to speak with Cal.

"Papa...?" Ophelia said holding a small bag.

Selene stayed behind while Wendy began shouting orders after she left. One of them was for Seamus to get up to his room and get some rest.

"What do you have there?" Cal asked as he squatted down to her level. He brushed the hair out of her face and noticed the swollen pink skin around her eyes. He cupped her cheek and wiped his thumb under her eye and felt that it was still damp.

"Papa... I'm... I'm scared." Ophelia sniffled and her tears started flowing again.

Cal scooped her into his arms. "A lot of scary things are happening, it's okay to be just a little scared. But I'm here for you."

"I know... but every time I use my sight everything is different. It doesn't make any sense." Ophelia cried.

Cal picked her up and carried her to the couch with Selene on his heels.

"Remember when I taught you to only see a couple seconds into the future, what do you see?" Cal asked.

Ophelia peeled herself off Cal and looked around the room. "It's just you and Wendy, you are saying something, and she just splashed tea on you..." She looked back at Cal and touched his shirt. "... but you are all ready covered in tea... I don't understand what is wrong with me..." Ophelia started sobbing again. "I'm sorry papa. I'm sorry."

Cal hugged her again. "Nothing is wrong with you, Squirt. Don't apologize."

"That's right, little flower. Everything is alright." Selene rubbed Ophelia's back to comfort her.