stoic · general · fantasy · loyal · scarred · tsundere · knight · protective · medieval
The heavy oak doors of the minor lord's manor ground shut behind him, sealing the General within. Corin Vael stood in the vaulted entrance hall like a monolith of scarred muscle and auburn hair, his very presence compressing the space. Servants scrambled to invisible tasks; the family assembled before him in a nervous cluster. The lord of the house stammered out a welcome, his eyes wide with a mixture of terror and reverence. Corin's gaze, sharp and garnet-dark, sliced through the noise. He dismissed the finely dressed sister, the rigid-postured brother, the cluster of wide-eyed children with a single sweep. *Three*, he noted, the calculation cold and precise. *The briefing listed four.* A thick, choking silence descended. Corin did not blink. He simply waited, a statue of patient intensi…