I'm a Immortal Tavernkeeper, But My S-Rank Daughter Doesn't Know That!

In the penumbra of the unexpected vacuum that enveloped Victor Shieldman, his mind seemed to detach itself from ordinary time and space.

The mist, subtle as an ethereal veil, slowly spread before his eyes in that completely dark world. The old hunter felt a shiver run down his spine as he contemplated this sight.

Robe’s voice and the sounds of the abandoned tavern disappeared at once, replaced by a deep, almost deafening silence.

At first, all Victor could see in this place, apart from the fog, were shadows, but gradually a silhouette stood out in the mist. It was a hooded figure, with the outline of a face hidden by a cloak. It was thin, very thin. Victor could tell just by looking at its silhouette. What’s more, the figure had an intense presence emanating from it, and Victor felt he was facing something beyond human comprehension.

Despite all this, Victor didn’t back down. "Who’s there? Who are you?" asked Victor, his voice reverberating through the void.

The figure remained motionless for a moment, covered in all that mist, until it finally acted. It raised its left hand, pointing in Victor’s direction. The mist partially dispersed almost instantly, and Victor was pulled close to the figure with great force. However, the face hidden by the hood couldn’t be seen, because distorted images took over Victor’s mind.

In what seemed like only an instant, Victor had a series of visions. He witnessed scenes of bloody battles and saw familiar and unfamiliar faces and places that seemed to belong to completely different eras and kingdoms. The images were quick and ephemeral, lasting less than an instant and he saw dozens of them.

In one of the visions, Victor saw a warrior in black steel armor accompanied by a woman in a long dress and an old man in long robes. They were all kneeling in front of a golden throne.

Each vision was brief but intense.

Again, the vision of a great battle, of unique proportions, with thousands and thousands of warriors, human and non-human, flooded his mind. In this battle, a great creature was cutting through the sky, flying over the battle. It was a dragon. Swords clashed, spells were cast, and mythical creatures roared. Victor felt the excitement and danger as if he were actually in the middle of the battle.

Seeing these visions was like witnessing the history of countless lives and battles that had unfolded over time.

The darkness in Victor’s mind continued to manifest itself in different ways, now revealing moments of joy, sadness, and despair. Victor saw vibrant celebrations, tears of farewell, and children’s smiles. These visions seemed to touch his soul, as if each emotion was shared with him in an intimate way.

Among the visions, a very familiar figure appeared. It was Wanda, his daughter. She appeared at different stages of her life, from childhood to adulthood. In some scenes, she was smiling radiantly, while in another, she was standing in the rain, her armor partially bloodied and a sad look on her face.

Then the darkness intensified even more, forming images that were harder to decipher. He tried to focus his mind, but the images became increasingly blurred.

Suddenly, he found himself back in that world of darkness and fog, but something had changed. This time, a large silhouette stood out not against the mist, but against the horizon, and its eyes shone like two stars. Then a voice that seemed to echo from all directions said:

"Victor Shieldman, the weakest hero, this is your destiny. You are special, and unique and will never perish, even if you try, because you are mine."

The voice was double. It had a more feminine and, at the same time, masculine tone.

Victor tried to speak, but his words were swallowed up by the darkness. He felt suspended between reality and a frightening nightmare. The mist around him began to dissipate rapidly, and gradually the darkness gave way to light.

When Victor opened his eyes, his vision was slightly obscured by a soft golden glow. As his eyes became accustomed to it, he realized that he was lying comfortably with his head resting on the lap of a blonde elf. Wanda’s eyes, large and blue, met theirs, and a gentle smile formed on her lips.

"You’re finally awake, Dad," said Wanda in a voice as quiet as a song. She gently stroked Victor’s face, her fingers touching the old hunter’s rough skin and brushing away a few gray hairs from in front of his eyes. "It looked like you were in a deep sleep, do you feel better?"

Victor blinked, trying to get his bearings, and stood up. "Wanda...? What..." He grabbed her shoulders and looked her over from head to toe. "Is it really you?"

Wanda was wearing a blue tunic with leather details so that she could wear metal armor over it. She looked a little different than when Victor had met her in Crooked Alley, but that was explainable because Wanda had been covered by a cloak and hood the whole time, only now he could see her clearly.

Victor thought for a second that he was still dreaming, but when he looked around, he noticed that he was still inside that abandoned tavern. Now, soft lamps were scattered around the place and illuminated the environment that had previously been plunged into darkness. Even the decayed furniture seemed to have regained some vitality under the yellowish light.

"How can you ask if I’m me?" asked Wanda, laughing briefly and putting a hand to her mouth. "Of course I’m me! We haven’t seen each other for a while, but I’m an elf, only my hair has grown!" She continued to laugh.

"I’m just a bit dazed, I’m sorry!" replied Victor, smiling.

Despite everything, Victor lied to Wanda at that moment. He wasn’t well, he still felt a slight pain in his chest. To him, this seemed like a clear sign that, for some reason, he couldn’t share anything about these disturbing events, neither with his daughter nor with anyone else. Victor felt that if he tried to talk about his return from the dead again, he would be reprimanded even more vigorously.

"But, Dad, how did you know I was here in Kozáni? I didn’t even know you were in town." Wanda asked, pulling up a chair to sit next to him.

Victor raised his head and realized that Robe was standing behind the bar counter, looking at them. The short-haired boy noticed that he would be a nuisance in this moment of conversation between father and daughter, so he straightened his posture and said:

"Ah, I’m glad you’re feeling better then, Mr. White Bear. I gotta see a man about a horse. I’ll see you later, when we have to leave this dump." said the young thief and left through the front door.

Wanda smiled briefly, nodded and then looked at Victor. "Dad, you haven’t changed a bit since the last time I saw you. Do you have fewer gray hairs or is it just me?" she said, leaning over to see better.

This made Victor laugh, even if only for a few moments. "And you look a lot smarter, you’re even trying to flatter the old man here."

"Flatter?" Wanda turned away and, with a slight blush on her face, looked away. "I don’t need to flatter!"

The conversation went on after that and in the course of it Victor explained in detail to Wanda why he was in Kozáni. He told her about the official messenger who came to Serenity Village, but lied about how he got the information such as where she was hiding and also how he learned that a professional assassin would try to kill her.

"Kyrillos knew about all this?" she muttered, almost to herself. "I should have talked to him, but I didn’t want to drag him into my problems. Anyway, it’s a good thing you got here in time, otherwise who knows what that woman might have done to Robe before I got back."

Victor looked at Wanda with a mixture of pride and concern. She had grown so much since the last time he had seen her, becoming a brave and determined woman. However, the situation they were involved in was dangerous, and he feared for the uncertain future that awaited them.

"Wanda, my child, this is all very dangerous and I’ll be there to help you put an end to it, we’re on this journey together, and we’ll overcome any obstacles that come our way. However, as Robe said, we need to get out of here, it’s too dangerous."

Victor rose from his chair with effort, leaning on the table as he felt a sudden imbalance. Wanda promptly stood up too, worried, holding her father’s arm to support him.

"Are you really all right? If you want, we can wait a little longer until we go."

"No, I’m fine. I just think I used too much Den in too short a time. The assassin had a paralyzing poison, so you can imagine it wasn’t easy to make my body deal with it." Victor explained as he accepted the support.

Wanda smiled. "At least you’re good with Modification Den, if it were me it would be more complicated and time-consuming to deal with poisons."

Together, they started walking towards the door of the tavern, with Victor struggling to maintain a calm expression, even under the persistent pain in his chest. When they pushed open the door, they were greeted by the cool evening breeze. However, the tone of serenity was instantly interrupted, because in front of the entrance door to that shed, there was a horde of knights. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Victor stopped abruptly, causing Wanda to brake beside him. The overhead lanterns illuminated the tense faces of the guards in white armor, and to make matters worse, Robe was among them, with his hands thrown back and cuffed.

The one who seemed to be the leader of the guards stepped forward and said:

"Under official orders from Duke Olyno, I declare that you, Hunter Victor Shieldman, are under arrest for the murder of Miriam, a respectable servant of the duke! And you, Hunter Wanda Stillwind, are being detained as an accomplice to this heinous act!" announced the leader in a firm, authoritative voice.