Meanwhile, in Roa, following the young lady’s kidnapping case.
The morning after Rudy and the others returned.
A smiling man was in the drawing room, chatting with Rudeus while toying with a glass sculpture in his hand.
This was a man with the dark brown hair of the Greyrat Family.
He looked very cunning, and his constant smiling made it easy to associate the term ‘Smiling tiger’ with him.
He was the mayor of the fortress city of Roa, Eris’s father, Paul’s close friend and cousin, Philip Boreas Greyrat.
“Thank you for what happened with Eris.”
“Ah, don’t mention it.
It was all thanks to my sister.”
“Haha, Rudeus, you’re as humble as ever.
But you know what to say about this matter, right?”
“Yes, I understand.
This matter was resolved with the help of the guards of Lord Truman, the mayor of Zeta Town.
Sword King Ghislaine escorted us back to Roa together.”
The so-called Mayor Truman of Zeta Town was the mayor of the town where Rudy and Luna had met that day.
“Very good.
You’re very smart.
I don’t dislike smart people.
After all, you and your sister are too young; no one would believe it even if you told them, and it might even bring trouble.”
Regarding this kidnapping, Philip intended to give the credit and honor of Rudy and Luna to Truman and Ghislaine.
This wasn’t out of jealousy, but to protect the two children.
After all, for two seven-year-olds to defeat two North God Style swordsmen—one of whom was even an Advanced Swordsman—would be too shocking and would draw unnecessary attention, which wouldn’t be good for Rudeus and the others’ safety.
Rudeus could also understand Philip’s well-meaning intentions; moreover, Rudeus wasn’t the type who liked to show off.
While Philip spoke with Rudeus, his hand never left that exquisite glass sculpture.
To this day, he didn’t know how Paul had gotten hold of these exquisite little trinkets.
According to Paul, he had bought these trinkets from a trade caravan at a high price, but Philip immediately saw through Paul’s clumsy lie.
How could a trade caravan sell him such precious things?
Because of their new children, Paul’s family’s finances had temporarily fallen into such difficulty that they needed to sell magic-enchanted items.
Yet, a few days after failing to sell those, he brought out these exquisite glass sculptures to sell instead.
Each was quoted at only ten asura gold coins.
One must know that such exquisite and rare glass craftsmanship would cost at least fifty asura gold coins each, and they weren’t even necessarily available for sale.
If sold in Ars, the capital of the Asura Kingdom, each piece could likely fetch a high price of one hundred gold coins.
Yet Paul had brought out six pieces all at once.
Philip thought Paul might have stolen them from somewhere, but then felt that Paul wasn’t the kind of man who would do such a thing.
Thus, the only person who could possibly know the truth was the child before him, Paul’s son, Rudeus Greyrat.
A child who was the complete opposite of Paul—humble, cultured, and refined in speech.
It even made Philip seriously doubt whether this was truly Paul’s son.
“Rudeus, I heard your father bought this from a merchant?”
“I’m not too sure about that.
Our house is on the border, after all, and trade caravans do come by occasionally.”
Rudeus Greyrat scratched his head and smiled, pretending to know nothing.
Having lived two lives, he naturally understood the value of glassware in this world with its lagging productivity.
If the Lord found out that he and Luna knew how to make such things, they would likely be detained by him specifically to produce these glass products.
“Oh, is that so?”
Philip opened his squinted eyes, revealing a sharp gaze.
Perhaps Rudeus’s acting could fool others, but it couldn’t fool his eyes.
This kid definitely knew the secret of glass, but given he was the son of a good friend, it was awkward to press too hard.
“Philip!!!”
Just as Philip was still thinking about how to coax the truth out of Rudeus, a deafening, terrifying voice came from outside the room.
It was his father, the Lord of the Fithea Territory, Sauros Boreas Greyrat.
Known for his notorious temper and loud voice, he was the one who had spoiled Eris.
Sometimes Philip even wondered if his father was in league with his elder brother, James—deliberately spoiling Eris like this so that he wouldn’t be able to find anyone for a political marriage in the future.
The thick oak door was pushed open by a robust old man, hitting the wall with a loud ‘Bang!’
This was a door that had been replaced countless times already.
Rudeus politely greeted the old man, using the noble etiquette he had recently learned.
“Hmph!
So you’re Paul’s son?
You’re quite different from him.”
“Er, people say that often.”
“Anyway, thank you for your hard work regarding Eris.”
“Not at all, it was all thanks to Lord Truman and Ghislaine.”
“Hmm?
Are you lying to me?!”
The old man instantly emitted a terrifying aura, making Rudeus’s face turn pale with fright.
“It was Mr.
Philip who told me to say that.” Overwhelming fear caused Rudeus to lose his filter, and he told Sauros everything Philip had said to him.
“Philip!”
Philip obediently went over and took an iron fist of fatherly love, rolling several times across the floor before standing up elegantly.
He was already used to being hit by his father and had long since mastered handling it with a calm demeanor every time.
“Ah!!”
However, today Philip lost his usual composure.
He had forgotten to set aside the glass sculpture in his arms just now.
After taking a punch from his old father, the glass sculpture in his arms shattered into a pile of glass shards on the floor.
Philip’s excessive loss of composure caught the attention of both Sauros and Rudeus.
The old man leaned on his cane and walked slowly to Philip, squatting down with some effort to pick up a relatively intact glass fragment.
He immediately understood what was going on.
Then came another ‘Bang!’ as he gave Philip another punch.
“Useless thing!
You have such a fine item and didn’t think to let this old man have a look!”
This time Philip rolled straight out of the room.
Fortunately, this punch snapped him back to his senses; despite his swollen face, he returned to his usual composed self.
“Reporting to Father, this was brought by Paul a few days ago.
At the time, Thomas was evaluating these glass products, and I hadn’t had the chance to present them to you yet.”
Philip’s words were seamless.
Whether Sauros believed him or not, the blame had been shifted.
“Hmph!
Would Paul have the eye and the wealth to buy such exquisite items?”
Whenever Paul was mentioned, Sauros always spoke with a tone of disappointment.
He truly hoped Paul would return to House Notos, kick aside his annoying younger brother Pilimon, and become the head of House Notos.
Suddenly, Sauros seemed to realize something, and a terrifying pressure descended upon Rudeus’s head.
“Rudeus, you must tell me honestly, did your father really buy these glass products?”
Rudeus sat kneeling on the ground, his whole body shaking uncontrollably under Sauros’s aura.
“Yes, Father bought them!”
Rudeus tried to struggle, hoping he could fool the old man before him, but his terrified expression had long since failed to deceive the elder.
“Fool!!!”
The massive sound wave nearly deafened Rudeus.
“Ah!
Ah!
I…
I’m not lying, Father bought them from Luna!”
Intense fear made Rudeus fail to hold his tongue, and the secret finally slipped out.
Who is Luna?
Seeing Sauros’s confused expression, Philip immediately explained to him.
“Luna is Rudeus’s younger sister and Paul’s daughter.
She was also among those who saved Eris.”
“Oh.”
If Rudeus had observed carefully, he would have noticed Philip’s ‘all according to plan’ expression.
As long as his father Sauros gave the word, that little girl named Luna would surely tell them everything she knew.
The secret of glass would then be in his control.
Using this to expand their wealth and regain control of House Boreas would no longer be a dream.
Lord Sauros sat back in his chair with a commanding posture, stroking his beard as if deep in thought.
Then he glanced sideways at Rudeus, who was sitting silently on the floor.
“Rudeus, I have a request.”
Afterward, Sauros called Eris over and tried everything he could to barely get Eris to plead with Rudeus to teach her magic.
“Grandpa, Rudeus’s sister also saved me last time.
Can we repay them?”
“No problem, Eris can have whatever she wants.”
Once Eris arrived, the previously hot-tempered Sauros immediately turned into a kind and gentle grandfather, stroking his granddaughter’s hair with extreme doting yet rough affection.
“Hmm, I want Luna to come here, is that okay?”
“Yes, yes, Grandpa will satisfy any request Eris has.”
“Great!”
Eris jumped up in joy, giving Philip standing behind them another headache.
As a daughter of the nobility, Eris didn’t act like a lady at all.
Rudeus, kneeling to the side, shed helpless tears.
“I’m sorry, Luna, I sold you out.”
— Luna’s Perspective —
“Go Norn, go Aisha!”
Today is a beautiful day with a gentle breeze and lush grass, the air filled with the fragrance of vegetation everywhere.
In the grass of the courtyard, two little ones who had just learned to crawl were racing toward Zenith.
However, Norn crawled nowhere near as fast as Aisha.
Aisha reached Zenith’s embrace in just a few movements.
Seeing this, Norn burst into tears.
All of us followed Zenith’s instructions and remained unmoved.
Once Norn had cried her fill, she continued crawling toward Zenith’s embrace, where her mother was still waiting.
Finally, bit by bit, she made it into Zenith’s arms.
“Mm, Norn is so good!
You didn’t give up until the end.
Mommy is very proud of you!”
Norn couldn’t understand what Zenith was saying yet, but she was very happy to have crawled back into her mother’s embrace.
After yesterday’s adventure, today returned to normal life—exercising, practicing swordsmanship, and looking after my younger sisters.
Life was peaceful and warm.
The weather was good today, so Paul was repairing the roof.
It wasn’t because the thatch had been damaged by wind or had reached the end of its lifespan; it was because Paul had been playing with the 3D Maneuver Gear at home yesterday and accidentally broke the roof.
This had made Zenith quite angry, and she hadn’t held back in complaining about him.
Afterward, Paul made up his mind not to play with it inside the house anymore and to go to the forest whenever he had free time.
His control proficiency was already very high now.
Perhaps that’s the reaction speed of an Advanced Swordsman.
When will I be able to advance to an Advanced Swordsman?
Although I’ve reached the Intermediate level in all three styles, the method of how to wrap oneself in Battle Aura is still unclear.
“Mr.
Paul, there’s a letter for your family.”
“Alright, Luna, help me take it.”
“Coming.”
Paul, working on the roof, couldn’t spare a hand for the moment, so I took the letter from the mailman’s hand.
The quality of the stationery was very high, with a red wax seal on it.
The wax seal also bore a mark that looked like some kind of crest.
After Paul came down and took the letter, he opened it without a second thought, and then his expression became very solemn.
I hope you’re enjoying the fanfiction so far!