Messmer returned three days later.
Alberich had come back half a day before him. The moment that fellow sensed the disturbance in the rot subside underground, he had fled back the way he came, vanishing without a trace before the Dragon Girl could react and press him into service.
Only Messmer had dutifully waited beside the Lake of Rot, confirming that everything was safe before bringing the utterly bewildered White King back to the surface.
"Uncle."
Messmer's voice suddenly came from the doorway.
Horace turned and saw his travel-worn nephew standing there.
Behind him stood the Onyx White King, with "Who am I? Where am I?" written all over his face.
"Huh? Oh, you're back?" Horace quietly suppressed his embarrassment at having forgotten about Messmer and the others and asked with a perfectly straight face:
"How are things underground?"
"The rot's activity has decreased." Messmer walked inside.
"The Nox of the Eternal City said it's at its lowest in nearly a century. They asked me to convey their thanks."
He paused and looked at the two little ones beside Horace.
"These two are..."
"Miquella and Malenia," Horace introduced them briefly.
"Children your mother... gave birth to by some means."
Messmer fell silent for a moment, then nodded without asking further.
He was long used to it. His mother was a god, after all. It was perfectly normal for a god's way of giving birth to be a little unusual, wasn't it?
From him and his younger sister Melina being sent to Caria, to the brothers Morgott and Mohg, and now these two, his uncle's place was full of his younger siblings.
Sometimes Messmer even had the illusion that this was actually his home, and that he had merely gone sightseeing in Leyndell before... wait, why hadn't Godwyn come home yet?