After annihilating the bandit group that was terrorizing the road between Malm and the fishing town of Lerwick, Alexander had headed to Lerwick and rented a cart and a horse.
Then he headed back to the bandits' hideout and loaded all of the goods he could into his vehicle.
Naturally, he could have more easily carried everything in his dimensional cache, but that would have attracted attention in a bad way.
As far as Alexander knew, no one else in the kingdom possessed a similar magic tool. There would be no shortage of people willing to do anything to obtain the item from him.
Thankfully, using the cart had worked out better than expected. The town's mayor learned about the destruction of the outlaws that had been stifling trade between Malm and Lerwick.
Once some of the guards under the town's employ confirmed the deaths of the bandits, Alexander had been awarded with a generous bounty that had been set on the thieves' heads.
Along with that, he sold off most of the items he had obtained from the bandits' horde. Overall, he earned quite the sizeable sum. The pair of magic war hammers that the bandit's boss wielded fetching the most money at fourteen gold strips.
There had even been talk of throwing a festival in Alexander's honor, but he declined.
The bandits under the leadership of a competent boss had really caused problems for the area, which had led to the warm reception Alexander had received for taking them out.
Nevertheless, he was neither in the mood, nor had the time for festivities.
With a velvet bag filled with money, he was ready to confront his father.
"I've come a long way and faced things far scarier, so why am I so nervous?" Alexander mumbled.
He was standing a few hundred meters away from Malm's main gate and had come to a stop.
It felt like there was a rock that had suddenly appeared in his stomach, and a cold sweat was dripping down his brow.
As he thought about what was holding him back, he realized that it had nothing to do with his father. He was completely unafraid of what the man would say or do. What had him so anxious was how his mother and brother would react when they saw him.
There was a very obvious part of him that was missing. After leaving those that cared about him fraught with worry, he would return to prove that their fears were not unfounded.
"I also lost the pendant that mother gave me. Will she be angry, disappointed, or…"
Alexander could only imagine how she would react.
Still, he could not continue to stand in the middle of the road forever. A couple of people that had already passed by him had given him bewildered looks. If he stuck around without approaching the city for too long, he might cause a scene.
Steeling himself, he walked towards the gate.
Instead of joining the small line of people that were entering the city, Alexander walked past them and approached the guards directly.
All of them gave him cautious glances, until one of the guards left her post to approach Alexander.
The young woman was going to direct him to get into the line if he wanted to enter the city but stopped dead in her tracts when she got close enough to clearly make out his face.
While not all of the city's guards would recognize him on sight, she had seen Alexander being instructed by his uncle in the soldiers' main training grounds a couple of times.
"Sir Alexander!" She shouted as she ran up to him.
Naturally, his disappearance from the city had made its way to the city's guards. All of them had been ordered to report any information about his whereabouts. And if any of them encountered him, to immediately bring him to the viceroy's estate.
A bit of a commotion was caused by the first guard's outburst. Several more individuals that had been waiting in a guardhouse nearby came rushing out, and curious citizens that had been passing near that gate came to see what was going on.
It did not take long for most people to notice that the city lord's first son was missing the lower part of his left leg. Hiding the pegleg he was wearing would have been impractical, so Alexander had simply left it out in the open.
Whispers among the guards and citizens spread quickly. By the end of the day, most of the city would probably know of Alexander's unfortunate fate.
As the guards gathered around him, they looked conflicted on what to do. Some of them wanted to ignore their orders and bring their lord's son to a doctor first. Losing part of a limb could easily turn deadly if it was not treated properly.
"There is no need to worry about me. Go ahead and send word to my father. I'm heading back home." Alexander said, walking confidently though the crowd and heading directly towards the estate that sat at the center of Malm.
Some of the guards panicked and tried to get him to wait while they arranged a carriage for him. Yet Alexander simply ignored them. He had left home on his own, and that was how he was going to return.
When he finally reached the main residency of the city's viceroy, the gates were promptly opened for him.
However, before Alexander could take a single step forward onto the estate's grounds, a single person came rushing out towards him.
With only a single look, he was able to recognize his mother. She usually looked quite young, with long brown hair and silver eyes. Except in this moment, the stress of not knowing if her second child was still alive seemed to have added several years to her appearance.
"Alex, your finally back." She shouted, tears welling up in her eyes.
Despite her position as a viceroy's wife, she did not slow down until she reached her son and pulled him into a hug.
"You had me so worried. You've been gone for more than two weeks. When you left, you said you wouldn't be gone for long. Where have you been all this time?"
"I'm sorry to have caused you so much distress, mother. But let's head inside first. I'm sure that Nico, uncle… and my father are waiting for me as well."