Forty Years of This [Monster Hunter World]

Chapter 36

The Commander had foolishly thought that once his grandson was born, it would be easier to get back to work and not worry about his daughter so much. While he did not worry for his daughter quite as much, his mind was still split between his job and his grandson. Every chance he had he spent bragging about his precious little creature. It got to the point that even the Quartermaster grew tired of it.

"Commander," the man pulled his partner to the side. If the Commander had a clearer head, he would have realized that his partner calling him by his title in relative private heralded an uncomfortable conversation.

"Yes, Love?" He still wore that dopey grin he'd found stuck to his face since the day his grandson had been born.

"You have a job. A very important job. A job that if you slack on, people die. Our grandson is very cute and very precious, but you're not the Admiral. You're not some expendable goon who can run off into the wilds without everyone else suffering. The fleets look up to you, and it's your job to look after the fleets. Right now you're not doing that. You're cooing over an infant. If you can't take enough time away from that baby to do your job, then you need to step down."

The Quartermaster's gaze was cold, brutally so, and it seemed to pierce the Commander through the heart. He'd seen that look, The Look as the Quartermaster had once called it, turned on other Commissioners when they'd slacked, but in all their years he'd never felt it himself. He looked past the Quartermaster to the rest of the council-- the fleet masters and their officers. They were watching with interest and a mix of cold stares and sympathy. It had only been a few months since his grandson had been born, but it'd been nearly a year since his doting panic had begun. Their Commander had been at half capacity for far too long.

He straightened his back and met the Quartermaster's cold gaze with a fiery one. "I can always count on you to set me right." Refraining from slapping his partner on the shoulder, he returned to the table with a confident grin. "Alright, where were we?"

The last of the Third Fleet would arrive within the next five years with at least one more shipment of research hunters between then and the present. The Research Master wanted to get her ship in the air as quickly as possible so that those five years wouldn't be wasted on waiting around, and while there was plenty to study in the forest and the wastes, she wanted a bigger picture. The engineering team dedicated to the airship was ready to make whatever adjustments she needed, and it was decided that test flights out into the wastes and the forest could begin.

All the while, the Commander worked to keep a clear head. His mind regularly drifted back to his grandson, but the Quartermaster's cold gaze was burned into his mind. When he found his thoughts wandering when he needed to focus, he remembered his partner's words. By the end of the week, he was able to do his job without hiccup again. Of course, in the evening, he was back to his proud, doting self.

One unexpected winter morning, the Admiral reappeared. Winter in Astera was perhaps the most comfortable time for any of the commissioners, but it was also a time where foraging wild fruits was difficult. So came the Admiral's excuse that he returned only because he was hungry. The Commander sat with him at the canteen while the Admiral's old palico companion fried up some ridiculous steak or another and told him of the updates to the Third Fleet's airship.

"It really flies then?" He paused with an oversized bird leg held up to his face. "I need to stick around to see that." It was then that the Admiral paused, set down his food, and squinted at the Commander. "You shaved. I don't think I've seen you with stubble since... Since before I went home."

"More important things have happened in the past year." The Commander grinned. His teeth flashed in the daylight. "I'm a grandfather."

"You're a what?!" The Admiral stood suddenly, knocking his plate over. He roared with laughter. "You are? That's incredible! When were you going to tell me? Or were you just going to wait until I figured it out myself?! I'm a great uncle! Hey everybody!" The Admiral waved his arms at the people around him. "I'm a great uncle! So!" He faced the Commander again. "When do I get to meet my grand nephew? Stars, we're old."

"That depends. He's several months old now, but can you tone it down? I don't want you bellowing like a monster around him, and we have to get the ok from my daughter and her husband first."

The Admiral drew two fingers across his lips. "I can be as quiet and subdued as a church mouse."

When the Admiral was finally invited to see the kid, it was on ██'s terms. She had never been particularly fond of the man, so she arranged their meeting somewhere in the open where she could slip away with her kid if need be. She would not invite the Admiral into her home because it would be harder to tell him he needed to leave than for her to say she needed to take care of something (and take her baby with her).

But when he laid eyes on the baby, a sort of sorrow came over him. He reached out to touch the kid's cheek, but the babe grabbed his finger and clung to it. Soft tears began to well in his eyes, and without him needing to ask, ██ held her son out for him to hold. He rocked the infant gently in his arms, singing to him and crying. He was such a large man with such great bulk that the infant seemed to disappear in his massive arms, but he was gentle and tender.

Finally, he looked back to the Commander with glassy eyes and said, "You don't know how lucky you are, ████. To have your family here with you. My son hates me, and I don't blame him, but my partners and children are strangers to me now. I would have given the world to have this."

"███████..." The Commander placed his hand on the Admiral's arm. "Go home. When the next ship arrives, go home on it. Come back with the Fourth fleet. Your son doesn't hate you--"

"He thinks you don't love him." The Commander's daughter spoke up. "He left thinking you abandoned him. Maybe he realizes now that's not true, but you can still fix that. If you go home to him. You can still hold your own grandkids." She reached out to take her son back. She still wasn't fond of the Admiral, but she wasn't a cruel or spiteful person. A bit too frank, maybe, but not intentionally so.

The Admiral looked between her and the Commander then frowned. "Not with the nergigante on the loose. If the Third Fleet is about to take flight..."

"I'll sick the Huntsman on it. Update him on everything, then we can make a team to track it. The next ship won't be here for a while yet, so you have time to tie off the loose ends. But ███████, you're going home. That's an order. From your entire crew."

"That would be a hard order to ignore."

It would be half a year until the next ships arrived, and in that time, the Admiral made damned sure to prepare Astera for his parting.