Not (Just) A Mage Lord Isekai
Chapter 113 - Just Like Dancing

As we retreated to the back of the stage, “I asked… so, I didn’t just propose to you, did I?”

“Not so much,” Tamrie admitted, reaching up to stroke the hairpin and badge, a smile tugging at her lips. Then Tamrie kindly explained the significance of what I'd done. Basically, I'd indicated that Tamrie and I were, at the very least, dating. But dating, at least as I was familiar with it back on Earth, was far too casual a description for it. Gifts with magecrests were generally a sign of official courtship, at least among Shapers. “Even that’s not the true depths of it. No, the true depths be the fact that no one knows what your own traditions be like, and now they’ll be assuming… look, not that I don't appreciate it," Tamrie said, reaching up to touch the hairpin for what must've been the tenth time since we took our place. "Nicest gift I've been given, for a certainty. I just…"

"You just?" I replied, straightening my robe, unable to not feel self-conscious about our now-linked arms.

"Well, you've pulled me from the stalls, you have," Tamrie said with a sort of half-smile, half-grimace. "Not a soul will want to risk your gaze, sure enough."

"Would it help if I explained it was a mistake?" I asked.

"Might," Tamrie said, her voice going a little soft at the end of the word. After several seconds, she asked, "Was it? A mistake?"

"I never meant to make you uncomfortable," I said. "It was supposed to be a gift for a friend and a great assistant. That part was no mistake."

"Well, perhaps we can pretend its more than that, at least for tonight," Tamrie said, leaning in to give me a peck on the cheek. “Easier than sorting them all out when they’re supposed to be celebrating.”

"If you're sure," I said as a wave of whispers shot through the crowd once more at the relatively innocent gesture. There was even a catcall from Egerta.

"I'm sure," Tamrie said, her smile gaining a sort of mischievousness I wasn't sure I was going to like. "Besides, there's no better way to ward off the scum than to be properly taken."

"Never had much problem with that," I replied honestly. Perth had enjoyed the attention and I… well, I'd been pretty much blind to it. With one notable exception, and that’d been… different.

The next few hours were surprisingly enjoyable. I'd thought that Tamrie and I being mistaken for a couple would've meant some sort of blowback. But other than a number of enthusiastic congratulations, nothing happened.

A concern did occur to me though.

The thought that people might think I'd only given her a position on the council because I'd been interested in her.

When I mentioned it to Tamrie, she simply laughed, patting my arm. "They were already gonna figure we were tumbling, right enough. No changing the net what’s already been cast."

"Oh," I said, blushing for some reason.

Then she leaned in and planted another kiss on my cheek. "You're sweet to be worried about it though."

"It is my fault," I grumbled.

"It is. Sure as anything. Which is why it's time for you to take me dancing," Tamrie said, pulling me towards the dance floor.

I nodded, and started calling on Perth's experience. It was… fun. A lot more fun than I'd been expecting. When I'd taught Myris and Tanis, it’d felt awkward and stiff. It wasn't anything like that with Tamrie. Maybe because I knew it was all pretend, or maybe cause I trusted her.

Maybe cause she wasn’t twice my size or triple my age.

Either way, we soon arrived at the portion of the evening I'd been originally dreading. I'd managed to forget after my mistake with Tamrie, but part of the dance had been reserved for people to dance with me.

The first person to approach was Tanis.

"Hey boss, wanted to thank you, but seemed like this was the only way to get a chance tonight," Tanis said. It was a relief when he held out his hand to me, expecting to lead using the wide frame.

"No problem," I replied as I allowed the giant man to lead me around the floor. There was a lot less laughter and gossip circling the two of us than when I'd been dancing with Tamrie.

"Just… uh, was wondering if maybe I could ask you for some advice. You seem to be managing well with miss Tamrie," Tanis said, his steps still a little stiff.

I laughed, then shook my head at his fallen expression. "That's… complicated. I've honestly been stumbling more than anything. It’s not…" I trailed off, unsure how to clarify things without making it awkward.

"Right. Guess you just make it look easy. Don't mean it is. Like dancing. It's super hard, but the Alvie and Ceria think I'm a natural," Tanis said, glancing in the direction of a pair of women I recognized. The two Tethered he'd kissed who'd gone scouting out the Eternal Furnace with us.

"How did you end up dating both of them?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Uh… I kinda stumbled into it, boss. Or into them, I guess. Was practicing for tonight, and sorta tripped. They caught me before I fell off the net," Tanis said, releasing my hand to scratch at the back of his head. "And… uh, I'm not too sure how the rest of it happened. I just know I like them, and they seem to like me, and its important that all three of us are together, so…"

"Takes all sorts, Tanis," I said as the song came to an end. "Just put in the work."

"Right. Just like dancing, right?"

"Yeah, just like dancing. In fact, if you can manage to dance with both of them at the same time, that’d be a good start," I advised, borrowing from some advice Perth had read once about managing multiple relationships. Something he’d had a vested interest in, due to his father’s multiple wives. Perth had come away rather disappointed, since his father didn’t practice any of the ideas required for a successful relationship.

After Tanis, the rest of the next hour was filled with polite and not-so-polite inquires from women I was dancing with, both refugees and Tethered, about the exact nature of my relationship with Tamrie. If not for her warnings, I might've mistaken the questions as simple curiosity. But forewarned was forearmed, and the narrowed eyes reminded me that I was much more of a prize than Perth’d ever been back in his home.

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Never mind my own past.

Still, it felt wrong to use Tamrie as a shield just to spare me some discomfort. One particular lady had been not so subtly hinting that there was room for more than one partner for any powerful Magus. Which had prompted me to say something else I regretted. When I returned to Tamrie, I sat down beside her, sending a Restore Form through me to wipe away the fatigue and tingle of soreness I was starting to feel in my feet. "So, I hope you don't mind, but I may have told everyone that we're exclusive."

For some reason, Tamrie's face lit up in a giant smile at my words. While I was glad it made her happy, I was a little worried she was building it up to something I wouldn't be able to give her.

That was… I’d tried walking that road once before, and it hadn’t turned out well. And Perth’s ‘adventures’ felt even more hollow.

We returned to the dance floor, and once more, I managed to forget about my worries and simply enjoyed dancing with her. It helped that Restore Form meant I could keep us both in pristine shape, only needing to take breaks for water and a few nibbler based snacks.

Personally, I preferred mist-rex or wyvern meat, but it was, as promised, different. More stringy, less rich.

Tamrie and I eventually retreated, and I found my gaze shifting to the distant storm clouds. They'd held off for the festival, though they were closing in fast. We'd be doing cleanup in the rain.

"Thank you," Tamrie said, leaning her head on my shoulder.

"You're welcome?" I found myself asking. "Uh… for what?"

"For tonight. I know you're not one for going for a tumble, as it were, but tonight was… perfect," Tamrie said, her voice distant.

"I mean, I had fun. I hope we can do it again," I said, giving her arm a slight squeeze.

"Careful there, Magus Dominus Perth, a gal might think you're growing feelings," Tamrie said, patting my arm.

"I mean, I do care for you. Just like I care for all my friends," I said, squeezing her hand. "As for the rest… well, if I was ever to try the whole, having a girlfriend thing… if one day, we weren’t drowning in duty… if I had my own head on straight and… well, if that were to happen, I think I'd like it if it was you."

"That's a whole lot of ifs," Tamrie said, though she was smiling as she did. "But it's more than I thought I'd get, so I'll take it."

"Did you… want to continue telling people we're together? After tonight, I mean. I won't have time for this sort of thing often, and my feelings aren't really… I'm babbling, aren't I?"

"Wasn't gonna say nothing," Tamrie said, leaning her head against my shoulder again as she reached up to brush her hand over the hairpin. "And… ain't gonna gain a thing by tossing this back in the sea."

"Okay," I said, squeezing her softly.

"Oh. One thing," Tamrie said, her head still resting against me.

"Yeah?"

"If you ever do change your mind about us getting twixt up in each other's business…" Tamrie trailed off.

We sat there together silently for several seconds before she huffed out a sigh.

"No kids."

I softly chuckled back, reaching over and tussling her too neat hair. “No kids.”

…Mage Lord Isekai…

With the festival behind us, life returned to normal.

Well, mostly normal. Apparently, after Tamrie was declared my ‘official’ partner, Calbern had insisted she get a whole new wardrobe.

We'd informed him that I'd simply made a mistake. He'd nodded along, then explained that it didn't matter, and that Tamrie had best follow him.

And so she found herself with a full new wardrobe.

I was also told, in no uncertain terms, that I couldn't afford to keep putting off my personal residence. Not if I wanted to preserve even a shred of Tamrie’s dignity. She’d waved him off, but he’d been rather insistent on the point.

Since I actually felt like both Verdant Point and Tetherfall were somewhat secure for the first time in… well, possibly ever… it meant I wasn't inclined to argue with him. Sides, I kinda agreed. Having our own place would be nice.

Luckily, I was able to convince Bevel and Keria to keep me company as I worked. Which was when another wrinkle was introduced.

"But he promised I could live with him," Bevel complained to her sister as I carved out the main halls. Bevel seemed a little awkward, having to sit on a stone bench instead of hanging from a net and she was constantly shifting.

"That was before I came back. And it's not like I can move in with him. He's not Magus Balthum," Keria said with a long sigh.

"Mr. Tanis is dating both of Myris's nieces! I saw them dancing together."

"And he's not living with either of them," Keria said, shaking her head.

"I mean… I can build you guys your own wing," I said, deciding it was time to interject. "Then you can come and go as you like."

"See, we can get our own wing!" Bevel said, pointing at me, her arm shaking as she did so, causing her to slap it down.

"You don't even know what that means," Keria said.

"Sure I do. It means we get to fly while we're sleeping," Bevel replied, crossing her arms and glaring at her sister.

"That's… actually, what does it mean?" Keria asked, turning towards me.

"It means you'd have your own set of rooms and a hallway, and it'd link into the main hallway near the entrance, so you wouldn't have to come into the rest of the-" I cut off as I felt the edge of the enchantment that ran through the side of the mountain. "One second," I said while feeling out the enchantment. I wanted to be able to have windows, but that meant copying the rock uses in the existing openings. And that… was tricky, for multiple reasons.

"Bevel, come here, I want you to look at this," I said, kneeling down as I continued waving my fingers to slowly push away the unenchanted stone.

She crawled over the floor until she was next to me, apparently not trusting her legs to support her.

"Huh, they're all twisty-curvy," Bevel said, squinting.

"Mhm. And I have to change the rock without disrupting them. Do you remember how to do that?"

Bevel scrunched up her face, tilting her head to the side. Then she gasped. "You need to make them more twisty-curvy!"

"Right. And how do I do that?" I asked. There were actually a dozen different ways I could think of, though most were similar.

"You… hmm. Could you make a gate on this side and then another on this side?" Bevel asked, pointing at two matching runes on either side of the wall.

"I… hmm," I said as I considered her response. It wasn't how I'd typically do it. The safest way to do it was to create a copy of the edges of the existing enchantments to serve as a bridge. One that ran in multiple directions at once. It would let me remove the mana long enough to transmute the material around the runes without damaging them. Technically, Bevel's idea would work too, though pulling it off would be much trickier. "I probably could, yeah. But I haven't practiced it, so I don't want to do that here. What I'm thinking is…"

As I explained to Bevel, she nodded seriously. Then she went to grab a section of stone I'd carved for the purpose earlier, bringing it over. I got her to copy over the runes, then I checked them, asking her what she thought each one did, though this time I let her know I didn't know the answer either.

She was getting more familiar with that part of the process.

We managed to bridge the enchantment and I transmuted a giant one-way window that looked to the east. Figuring out how to make the transparent stone out of the nearby material would’ve been much more challenging if I hadn’t found notes in Balthum’s journal that had described him completing the process himself. Turned out he’d put all those one way windows into the mountain in the first place. As Bevel was leaning against the window staring out over the valley, Keria stepped up beside me. "She… really is your apprentice, isn't she?"

I turned to stare at the stone features of Keria for a second. "I've told you that."

She gave a small shrug. "Thought maybe you were humoring her."

"Not anymore?"

"No… you really are teaching her. I…" Keria let out a long sigh. "I'm a little jealous, if I'm being honest. Bevel has magic, and is learning how to use it, and all I got was…" she curled her fingers into a fist.

"Yeah. That actually reminds me of something I told Bevel when we first met," I said, looking over to the little 'Wood Rat'.

"Oh? What was that?"

"Life isn't fair but…"

"But?"

"But sometimes, if you try, it can be fair enough."

Keria tilted her head to the side. Then she nodded and turned away. She took two steps before raising her voice. "Bevel, I have some things I need to take care of. Please stay here with the Magus Dominus."

"His name is Perry," Bevel replied, not bothering to turn around.

"Well, I leave her in your capable hands, Magus," Keria said, clenching her hand once again.

"Don't suppose you want to tell me what you're up to?"

"I… life won't ever be fair enough, if I don't try, isn't that it?" she asked, stopping but not turning to look back.

"That's what I figure, yeah," I said, glancing towards where Bevel was spreading her sheets out even further.

"Well. I think it's about time I start trying."

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