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After Eris turned ten, something just clicked.
Not in her arithmetic, she didn’t suddenly become a math prodigy.
She just stopped skipping class.
Every lesson, she sat there and actually listened.
Sometimes she’d even raise her hand when she didn’t understand something.
If only her answers were correct more often…
Still.
A child’s growth really does happen in a single moment.
It catches you off guard.
In swordsmanship, though, her progress started to slow.
Before, whenever we sparred, she beat me every time, but I could always feel her improving, each session a little sharper than the last.
Then that stopped.
I was a little worried.
Ghislaine wasn’t concerned at all.
“A truly gifted swordsman will have a breakthrough all at once.
In a single moment.”
Sure…
she wasn’t worried about Eris stagnating, and she clearly had no expectations of me suddenly having one either.
And so, the three of us, Eris, Ghislaine, and I, spent two years moving through daily life like that.
…
I turned ten.
Those two years, I picked up the Battle God Language on top of the Demon God Language and Beast God Language I already knew.
The Battle God Language is basically a dialect, Human Language with a different rhythm, the way English sounds when you mix in some German.
It wasn’t hard.
Eris went from Intermediate to Advanced rank in those same two years.
I can’t serve as her sparring partner anymore, not really.
I’m still somewhat useful if she wants to practice countering magic specifically, but that’s about it.
“Ten years since I came to this world…”
I felt it.
A quiet kind of weight.
And I missed Paul and the others.
After this birthday, though, I could go home.
Eris would graduate too.
As my student, it was time.
Arithmetic, I’d given up on completely.
Magic, passable at best.
But I’d made sure she could read and write, and honestly, I was a little proud of that.
Even if I stayed on as her teacher, there wasn’t much left to teach.
Eris once said she wanted to reach my level in magic.
But I’ve watched her.
I know where her heart is.
Swordsmanship, pure passion.
Magic, a hobby, maybe.
An afterthought.
…
One month before my birthday, the mansion started buzzing.
Eris was at the center of it.
People hurrying through corridors, hushed conversations cutting off when I walked past.
Something was up.
An important visitor?
I decided to look into it.
I tailed Eris using every ounce of the stalking technique I’d quietly developed, Ghislaine was out of the question, she’d sense me before I got ten steps behind her, and tracked Eris to the kitchen, where I found her chatting happily with the maids.
“I really can’t wait to see Rudeus’s face when he’s shocked!
He might even cry from happiness!”
“Well…
knowing how Teacher Rudeus usually carries himself, even if he’s surprised on the inside, he might not show it on his face.”
“But he’ll be happy, right?”
“Of course.
Teacher Rudeus is from a branch family, he must have had it hard.”
I haven’t, actually.
If eating meals with the servants counts as suffering, then the nobles of this world are living extravagantly beyond reason.
But what were they actually doing…
“We have to get it ready before Rudeus’s birthday!”
“If you rush it, it won’t turn out well.”
“If it doesn’t turn out well, will he refuse to eat it…?”
Eris’s voice went soft.
“No.
I believe Lord Rudeus would eat it regardless.”
“Really?”
“Yes.
As long as Lady Eris is the one who made it.”
So that was it.
They were preparing for my birthday.
“If only Rudeus hadn’t been born into that kind of family…”
Eris, apparently, had some strong feelings about Paul.
I didn’t, really.
I just missed watching my little sisters grow up.
Three years was a long time.
And I missed Zenith, too.
I slipped away quietly.
They were putting together a surprise.
The last thing I should do was let them know I’d figured it out.
…..
The day of my birthday arrived.
I acted like I hadn’t noticed anything strange about the mansion all day.
The barely-suppressed energy humming through the hallways.
The way conversations stopped when I got close.
After the afternoon lesson ended and I had free time, Ghislaine came to my room.
She was tense.
Unusually so.
Her tail was standing straight up.
“I…
I had something to ask.
About magic.”
Her eyes kept drifting sideways.
It was kind of adorable, honestly.
Like a golden retriever who’d gotten into something they shouldn’t have.
“Oh?
What is it?”
I played along.
She was supposed to keep me busy.
I was curious what angle she’d use.
“Could you show me Saint-level magic?”
“I could, but it would damage the town.”
“Is there a type that isn’t destructive?”
That one actually stumped me.
I’ve studied healing magic alongside everything else.
Of course I have.
But for some reason my healing magic never climbed past Advanced.
Every other element, I can reach Saint-level without incantation, but healing magic sits stubbornly at Advanced, and even that requires chanting.
Drop the incantation, and I’m probably only at Intermediate.
King-level healing magic, I’ve heard, can reattach severed limbs.
Hmm.
“There is, but I can’t manage it.”
“Is that so…
A shame.” She paused.
“What does Saint-level destructive magic actually look like?”
“If I’m talking about what I personally know, continuous storms and lightning that don’t stop, or magic that can freeze an entire city solid.”
“Can you do those?”
“Both of them.”
“That’s…” She went quiet for a moment.
“Astonishing.”
“Any other questions?”
Her tail shot straight up with a WHOOSH.
The usual Ghislaine was ice-calm.
Seeing her like this was genuinely rare.
Kind of fun, honestly.
Well.
I’d take the lead.
“Speaking of which, Ghislaine — how did you meet my father?”
“…He and I were in the same adventurer party.”
“Comrades-in-arms.
What was he like back then?”
“Hmm…
He was strong.
In the party, it was usually the two of us who handled the front line.”
“Not bad.”
“One day, he assaulted me.”
“…Huh?”
Wait.
How did this conversation go somewhere I didn’t see coming?
“Assaulted.
You mean…?”
“He mated with me.”
I had nothing.
Paul.
You went after Ghislaine.
Of all people, Ghislaine.
I’d always thought of her as someone fundamentally innocent, in her own stoic way.
And she was exactly that kind of person.
And you still went and did it.
“Uh…
shouldn’t it be about time for dinner?”
“Oh…
um…
probably still a little while…?”
Her tail was standing up nervously again.
And then, right on cue, a maid appeared in the doorway to announce the meal.
“Alright, Rudeus — time to eat.
Come on.”
Ghislaine was on her feet immediately, herding me toward the door.
…
I walked into the dining room.
Applause broke out.
Everyone from the mansion was there.
“Wh — what is this?”
I put on my best confused expression.
“Rudeus!
Happy birthday!”
Eris stood at the front in a bright red dress, arms full of flowers.
I kept the startled look on my face and accepted the bouquet.
“Ah…
that’s right.
I’m ten today…”
What kind of face was I supposed to make?
This many people came for my birthday.
Ten years in this world, and I’d collected this many people without quite realizing it.
“Yeah…
thank you…
I don’t know how to…
thank you.”
I didn’t cry.
But the words stopped working properly.
They just wouldn’t come out in the right order.
Even with advance warning, I was like this.
If they’d actually managed to surprise me, I probably would have cried.
Eris was quietly asking the butler in a fluster what she was supposed to do next.
Was a few halting words really that alarming?
I made myself smile.
“Thank you.
Eris.”
She hugged me.
“D-don’t mention it!
Rudeus is my teacher…
and my family!
So of course!
As, as a member of the Greyrat family, this is nothing!
Right?
Father!
Grandfather!”
She really had grown up.
Teacher.
And family.
…I’d said something like that to Roxy once, hadn’t I.
Now I could understand how she must have felt when she heard it.
That warmth.
That complicated warmth.
Sauros suddenly roared.
“W-WAR!
We’re going to war with Notos!
Kill that bastard Pilemon and put Rudeus on the seat of family head!
Philip!
Alphonse!
Ghislaine!
With me, now!
First we muster the army!”
“F-Father!
Restrain yourself!
Please, restrain yourself!”
“Philip!
You dare obstruct me?!
You know as well as I do that Rudeus would make a better family head than that worthless idiot!”
“I do think that — but please calm down!
Today is a day of celebration!
And war is out of the question — the Zephyrus and Euros families would both turn against us!”
“Fool!
I can beat them all by myself!
Let go of me!
Let GO of me!”
Philip dragged Sauros out of the dining room.
The roaring continued for a while even after they disappeared through the doors.
Everyone stood in silence.
“Ahem!”
Eris cleared her throat with great deliberateness.
“Setting aside Grandfather for now — we’ve prepared a gift that will genuinely shock Rudeus!”
Something that would genuinely shock me.
My first thought was a perfect score on one of Eris’s arithmetic tests.
That would, in fact, shock me.
“A gift that’ll shock me?”
“What do you think it is?”
Probably not a test paper.
Eris wasn’t that clever.
Then what could it be…
“Is my family here?”
The room went quiet.
Eris’s expression fell.
Wrong guess.
“Un-Uncle Paul…
said the monsters in the forest have gotten more active recently, so he couldn’t make it…
B-but he did say that even without him there, Rudeus would be fine…
Aunt Zenith, the little ones suddenly came down with a fever, so…”
My sisters were sick.
Nothing to worry about, Zenith would handle it.
It was fine.
I was going back in a few days anyway.
That had always been the plan.
“Uh…
um…
Rudeus…
it’s just…”
Eris started fidgeting.
I had to admit, she was pretty cute like this.
“Don’t worry.
I’m not sad, Eris.
Right now, I’m genuinely happy.”
“Uh…
ah…
Alphonse!
Bring out the thing!”
She’d clearly been holding that in for a while.
It came out in one burst.
She’d also tried to snap her fingers for dramatic effect, that part didn’t work.
Eris went scarlet.
Alphonse, unbothered, reached behind a statue at the edge of my sightline and produced a long staff.
A magic staff.
It was a wooden scepter, uneven and curved, with a large and clearly expensive magic stone set into the top.
I recognized its value immediately.
This staff is expensive.
I’ve made 2 magic wands myself.
I know the craftsmanship when I see it.
“You like it, don’t you!”
I was still appraising it when Eris nodded, deeply satisfied with herself.
“Alphonse, explain.”
Alphonse ran through its properties.
After the explanation, the value was even clearer.
A bonus to water magic on top of everything else.
This was genuinely impressive work.
“Young lady, please hand the staff to Teacher Rudeus personally.”
Eris held it out to me with both hands.
I was just reaching for it.
“Its name is the Prideful Water Dragon King!”
That name.
Actually pretty cool.
“Take it!
This is a gift from the Greyrat family!
Father and Grandfather had it custom-made!
You’re clearly a remarkable magician, the idea of you not having a proper staff was absurd!”
Her voice pulled me back.
I accepted the Prideful Water Dragon King.
Despite its size, it was light.
I gave it a few test swings.
Comfortable.
Remarkably so.
“Thank you.
Not just for the party, this is an expensive gift.
I mean it.”
“Don’t worry about the price!
Hurry up and join the line, the food will get cold!”
Eris grabbed my arm and towed me cheerfully toward the head table, where an enormous cake was waiting.
“I made one of the dishes myself!”
The first thing Eris had ever cooked looked deeply alarming.
The taste, though, was unexpectedly fine.
The maids had clearly helped.
After the party wound down, I came back to my room to find Eris sitting on my bed.
She should have been asleep an hour ago.
“Y-you’re back…!”
She was wearing a red one-piece nightgown.
She looked very cute.
No, maybe the right word was…
something else.
“Why are you here at this hour?”
She turned her face away, bright red.
“Be-because…
today is your birthday!
So…
as a special kindness, I’m sleeping with you tonight…!”
Philip.
Philip had said something to her.
There was no other explanation.
Eris wouldn’t sit on someone’s bed like this on her own, and she’d been perfectly normal at the party.
I let out a quiet breath.
“Eris.
Do you know what that would mean?”
“I, I know!
Like Mama and Papa!”
I shook my head.
“That’s not quite it, Eris.
You’re still young.
You can’t really understand what, ”
She stood up, grabbed me, and threw me onto the bed.
Advanced-rank swordsman.
The strength was not theoretical.
Face-to-face like this, I couldn’t do much.
“Rudeus!
You always do this!
You’re 2 years younger than me!
Why do you always treat me like a child!”
“Eris…
take a breath…”
“I don’t want to!
Papa just told me, you’re leaving in a few days!
You didn’t tell me!
You were going to leave without saying anything!”
Philip.
What was he thinking.
“Papa said…
if we…
if we’re together like Mama and Papa…
then Rudeus won’t leave!”
Philip, what exactly are you doing with your own daughter.
I didn’t know how to explain it to her properly.
Staying on as her teacher past this point didn’t make much sense, there wasn’t much left I could teach her, even if I stayed.
“Rudeus…
do you hate me…?”
Somewhere in this conversation, tears had collected at the corners of her eyes.
Did I hate Eris?
Maybe, at the very start, there’d been some friction.
But she wasn’t that girl anymore.
She was a good kid.
Stubborn, difficult to deal with, but a good kid.
“How could I.”
“Then why won’t you, ”
“Eris.
We’re too young for this.
That kind of thing has to wait until we’re adults, at least.”
“Then it’s a promise!
When we’re adults, we’ll be like Mama and Papa!
And until then, Rudeus doesn’t get to leave me!”
She definitely didn’t know what she was promising.
Well.
Fine.
“Eris, here’s a thought: come back with me in a few days.
I’ll keep being your teacher.
I just want to go home and see my family for a while.
How does that sound?”
“…Okay.
I…
I want to see Uncle Paul and Aunt Zenith too…”
Crisis managed.
We were both still on the bed.
Eris murmured quietly.
“Rudeus…
together.”
“Hm?”
“Tonight.
I want to sleep next to you.”
“…Really?
You know, ”
“I know!
I just want to sleep next to you.
That’s all.
Nothing else.”
“Okay.”
We didn’t do anything.
We fell asleep side by side on the same bed, just like that.
Adulthood, huh.
➤ Next: Going Home — What Was Lost