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“Ghislaine doesn’t need to come!”
“Eris, my duty is to protect you…..”
Eris turned her head and looked at me.
Even if you look at me with those expectant eyes…..
Sigh…
I let out a breath and spoke.
“Ghislaine, things have been a bit unsettled around Great Uncle Sauros lately.
You should be protecting him right now — preferably as a personal bodyguard.
Eris is already an Advanced-rank Swordsman.
She doesn’t need that much looking after anymore.”
Seeing that I agreed, Ghislaine had no choice but to nod.
“Rudeus, protect Eris well.”
“Rest assured!
Rudeus can definitely protect me!”
Eris crossed her arms over her chest and said it herself.
So why are you the one answering…
Just as we’d agreed that night, I brought Eris along and headed home for a visit.
Paul would probably be shocked when he saw us…..
three years away, and I come back with a girl.
No…..
he knows who Eris is.
He probably won’t be surprised at all.
During the carriage ride, Eris was anything but still.
“Rudeus!
Look at that!”
“I’m inside.
I can’t see it.”
“Then just come up here too!”
Eris had climbed onto the roof of the carriage and was looking around in every direction.
This was probably the farthest she’d ever been from home.
She was excited.
“It’s dangerous.
Come back down, Eris.”
“Tsk!
Fine!”
Eris obediently dropped back inside.
That was easy.
Can’t say I’m surprised, Advanced-rank Swordsman, after all.
……
The closer the carriage got to home, the more nervous I became.
What do you even say after this long…?
Would my sisters still remember me…..?
Would Sylphie know I was coming back…?
I was still turning that over in my head when the carriage stopped.
We stepped down.
In front of us stood a two-story wooden house.
My home in this world…
I walked up to the door and knocked gently.
Light, quick footsteps.
The door swung open.
A little girl stood in the doorway.
She wore a small maid outfit similar to Lilia’s, and she had the same wine-red hair…..
This is…..
“May I ask who you are?”
“Huh?”
No way.
Aisha forgot me…
No, that’s completely normal.
She was only one year old when I left.
It would be strange if she remembered me.
She must be around four by now.
She’s really grown….
I crouched down and reached out, patting her on the head without thinking.
“I’m your big brother.
Rudeus Greyrat.”
Aisha blinked.
Then a smile spread across her face, showing the cutest little fangs, and she spun around and bolted inside.
“Mom!
Big brother’s back!”
I gave Eris a wry smile.
“Anyway — shall we go in?”
….
And so, I was finally reunited with all of them.
Zenith froze for a long moment before she pulled me into a hug.
“Rudy…
you’ve grown up.”
“Mother, you’re still as young and beautiful as ever.”
“Where did you pick up lines like that?
Are you using that smooth talk on girls every day?”
Zenith rapped me on the head with her knuckles.
Apparently she was worried I’d turn out like Paul, a scoundrel with a wandering eye.
Not a chance.
“How could I?
I only say things like that to you, Mother.”
“Ara~ maa!
Our Rudy is still as sweet as ever!”
Zenith squeezed me tighter, to the point where breathing became a challenge.
Paul wasn’t home.
He was out on patrol at this hour.
“Au….
Auntie, hello!
I…
I am….
Eris Boreas Greyrat…..”
Eris was so nervous she stumbled over her own words, bowing deeply and practically shouting at Zenith.
Zenith looked her over, then glanced back at me.
“So you’re Eris?
How adorable~”
“Th…
Thank you!
Nor…
normally Rudeus has always looked after me!
So…
So!
I…
I prepared a gift!”
She reached into her things and pulled it out.
Plain and simple, a jewelry box.
The corner of Zenith’s mouth twitched, but she accepted it with both hands.
“Thank you for your thoughtfulness, Eris.”
“Y…
You’re welcome!”
With that out of the way, Eris visibly relaxed.
Lilia, who had been standing quietly to the side, spoke up.
“Young Master Rudeus, welcome home.”
“Lilia…..
you don’t have to call me Young Master.
And…..
why is Aisha in a maid outfit?”
I looked at Aisha, who was standing in a neat, respectful posture beside her.
“Because she will be serving Young Master Rudeus in the future.
I want to raise her from a young age to be a proper maid.”
My little sister.
As my maid.
This felt like a plot straight out of a light novel from my previous life.
The kind where the sister turns out to be a cousin and they end up together.
Completely cliché.
A little-sister maid was not something I could accept.
“No….
I won’t allow it.”
I walked straight over to Aisha and picked her up.
“Eep?!”
The cutest sound came out of her.
“Aisha is my little sister.
Not a maid.
And you’re not a maid either….
Lilia, you’re family.”
Lilia opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
“See, Rudy says so too!
That’s exactly why I told you not to dress her like that!”
Zenith stepped in with that.
“Sorry, Rudy.
Aisha doesn’t normally dress this way.
Lilia has just always wanted her to…
well…..
serve you.
Today was just a test — to see how you’d react.
And the housework is something Lilia and I do together anyway!
Lilia is just the one who likes dressing that way herself.”
“I see…..
I misunderstood.”
“It’s Lilia’s fault, really.”
Zenith said it with just a hint of reproach in her voice.
I reached out and pinched Aisha’s little cheeks.
She closed her eyes and smiled, completely content to let me do whatever I wanted.
Almost four years old already…
growing up so fast.
And so cute.
“Where are Norn and Paul?”
“She insisted on following Paul on patrol today.
That child is completely attached to her father.”
“I see…..”
“Rudy, should I let Sylphie know you’re back?”
Zenith asked with a smile on her face.
But there wasn’t a trace of warmth in her eyes…..
That terrifying expression again.
“Mm…..
go ahead and tell her…..”
I carried Aisha out into the yard.
Behind me, Zenith had cornered Eris and was already firing off questions about me at a rapid pace.
My mom…..
is kind of a gossip.
“Big brother!”
“Hm?”
“I missed you so much!”
Wait, Aisha actually remembers me?
“You really remember me?”
“Of course I remember big brother!
It’s just that when I first saw you, I couldn’t quite place you.
But the more I look, the more familiar you seem!”
“Oh…..
Oh!
You’ve got quite a memory.”
“How long is big brother staying this time?”
Aisha smiled up at me, little fangs showing.
“Maybe a week or two?”
“Ehh~?
You’re not going to go be a young lady’s teacher for another three years, are you?”
“Probably…
no.
I’ll come back more often from now on.”
…
“Uu…”
“It’s your big brother…..”
“Uh…..
big brother…”
Just that one quiet murmur, and Norn turned and ran straight to her room.
Wh…
Why?!
“Sorry, Rudy.
Norn is a bit shy around strangers.”
Paul scratched his head.
“Father, is that all you have to say to me?”
“Uh…
sorry….”
Like I said before, the matter itself didn’t bother me that much.
What irritated me was that Paul hadn’t talked it over with me properly.
I let out a sigh.
“Fine.
I’ll let it go this once, Father.”
“Rudy…!”
Paul pulled me into a hug.
That’s when I noticed Sylphie standing behind him.
She was fidgeting, clearly too embarrassed to say anything first.
I pushed Paul aside, ignoring the baffled look on his face, and spoke to Sylphie.
“Sylphie….
sorry…
uh….
back then…
I really had no idea.”
“It’s okay…..
Be…
because….
it was me who never told Rudy…..”
“Uh…..”
Anyway.
It was awkward.
Now that I knew Sylphie was a girl, just looking at her, she was unbearably cute.
Uh…
I’d always thought of Sylphie as a good, dependable friend….
I never expected….
“Hello!
I am Eris Boreas Greyrat, Rudeus’s student!
What’s your name!”
Right as the silence was getting uncomfortable, Eris appeared out of nowhere.
Her voice was as loud as always, and she spoke to Sylphie with a slightly top-down air about her.
“Eris, that’s rude.”
“Hmph!”
“I…
It’s fine…..
I’m….
Sylphiette…
Rudy’s childhood friend…
and also Rudy’s student…..
nice to meet you, Miss Eris…”
Eris gave a satisfied nod.
“Mm…
Three students is perfectly normal for Rudeus.
He’s amazing, after all!”
Three?
So Eris was counting Ghislaine as my student too.
Sylphie paused for a moment, then seemed to find her footing with Eris, and asked carefully,
“Could you tell me about Rudy’s time in Roa…..?”
“Of course!
Rudeus is incredibly amazing…”
Something clicked between them, and just like that, the two of them were deep in cheerful conversation.
I slipped away from the very-much-a-girls’-chat atmosphere and had barely managed a breath of relief before a hand landed on my shoulder.
“Impressive.
Already got two girls talking about you?”
Paul.
He’d followed me over.
“Father, they’re not fighting.”
“They’re both talking about you, though.
So which one are you planning to marry?”
“What if I said both?”
“That’s the Greyrat blood talking!”
Paul was exactly the same as always.
Three years, and he hadn’t grown up one bit.
Both of them…
right…..
If I actually went through with that, Zenith would tear me apart.
Actually, if I married Eris and then married Sylphie, some night I’d end up strangled to death by an Advanced-rank Swordsman.
Better not go there….
“Big brother, Dad!”
“Oh!
Aisha!”
Paul scooped Aisha up.
He and Aisha clearly had a good relationship.
No favoritism between his daughters.
Good.
“Big brother!
I want to learn magic!”
Aisha said it from Paul’s arms, looking straight at me.
Magic…..
she’s only three and a half.
Then again, I started learning at three.
Should be fine.
“All right.
Big brother will teach you.”
“Yay!
Dad and the moms and Sylphie-nee all say you’re an amazing magician!”
“I suppose I could be called that.”
“Ooh~!”
And so Eris and Sylphie spent the whole afternoon talking, while I taught Aisha magic in the yard.
After dinner, I offered to walk Sylphie home.
Eris stayed at our house without any fuss.
Once we were outside, Sylphie clasped her hands together behind her back and walked in silence, a few steps ahead of me the whole way.
So cute.
A different kind of cute from Eris.
How did I ever think she was a boy?
It was night.
The old Sylphie would have been scared, clinging to me from behind rather than walking ahead.
She’d grown a lot too….
We walked in silence until we reached her front door.
Sylphie spoke first.
“Rudy…?”
“I’m here.”
“Rudy…..
will you still teach me magic?”
“What’s this?
You think I’m not qualified to teach you anymore?”
“No, no!
You’re already Eris’s teacher…
I…”
“Eris isn’t my only student.
I taught Ghislaine when I was in Roa too.”
“Ghislaine…..?
Who’s that?”
“Mm…
you probably haven’t met her.
But like I said — they’re my students.
And so are you.”
Sylphie went quiet for a moment.
Then she took a breath, like she was steadying herself before a decision.
“Ru…
Rudy….!
Th…
Then can you promise me….
no matter what happens…
you’ll always keep teaching me…
is that okay….?”
“Of course.”
“You promise….?”
“I promise.”
“Th…
Then tomorrow!
Under that big tree….
will you teach me magic again….?”
“Of course.”
“Mm!
Th…
Then see you tomorrow!”
“See you tomorrow.”
Sylphie smiled and waved.
……
When I got home, everyone was already asleep.
I stepped into my room and took a slow breath, feeling the air of the place settle around me.
They’d been keeping it clean all this time.
Even with my sudden return, there wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere.
Mm…..
I’d told Eris she could stay for a week and have fun, but I wasn’t sure what there was to actually do in this village.
My whole childhood here had been magic practice and sword training…
and honestly, my swordsmanship was half-rusted by now.
“Deal with tomorrow’s problems tomorrow.”
I said it out loud and dropped onto the bed face-first.
Then someone knocked at my door.
“Come in.”
It was Eris.
“What’s wrong?
Can’t sleep in a new place?”
“Right!
So I’m sleeping in your room!”
Eris had a completely self-assured look on her face, standing on her tiptoes to look around my room.
“Fine.
I’ll go get another set of bedding.”
She didn’t wait for anything else, she launched herself happily onto my bed the moment I said it.
I shook my head, smiling, and walked out into the hallway.
The moment I opened the door, I nearly stepped on someone.
Aisha…..
“Aisha?
Why aren’t you in bed?”
“Mm…
Mm…..
I want…..
I want to sleep with big brother…”
Aisha said it in a small voice, fidgeting, her whole body swaying just slightly side to side.
There was probably no one alive who could say no to that.
I nodded.
“Alright.
You go into my room first.
I’ll get the bedding.”
“Mm!”
Aisha gave a bright nod and darted inside.
By the time I came back with the bedding, Aisha and Eris had somehow already bonded completely.
The two of them were lying side by side on my bed.
Aisha raised her hand the moment she saw me.
“Big brother!
Eris-nee told me so many things about you!”
“Nothing bad, I hope?”
“No!
Eris-nee said you’re really amazing!
And really handsome!”
“Well, well.
So you say things like that about me when I’m not around, Eris~”
Eris’s cheeks went faintly pink.
She let out a “Hmph.”
“I was just stating facts!”
I laughed and spread the floor bedding out.
“Aisha can sleep with Eris tonight.
I’ll take the floor.”
“Mm!”
Aisha nodded happily, apparently already having forgotten she’d said she wanted to sleep with her big brother.
Already forgotten about me, huh….
I turned off the light and lay down.
Not long after, I heard the faint, steady rhythm of Aisha’s breathing.
Children fall asleep so easily…
“Rudeus…”
Eris called my name in a low voice.
“Hm?
What is it?”
“Mm…
Today….
that friend of yours…
Sylphie…..
uh…..
do you like her…?”
The way Eris said “like”, she meant it in a romantic sense.
Do I like Sylphie?
I didn’t think so.
Whatever else she was, Sylphie was a ten-year-old right now.
Between my previous life and this one, I was pushing thirty.
Developing feelings for a ten-year-old wasn’t something I should even be entertaining.
But Eris was still a child.
She only half-understood any of this.
I thought about it for a moment.
“Right now…
I’m honestly not sure.
But back then — I think I did like her quite a bit.
The kind of liking you have for a friend.”
“She told me, you know.
That you always thought she was a boy.”
“Yeah…..
back then her hair was short, and whenever I said I’d train her to toughen up, she never pushed back once.
So I just completely assumed.”
“That really doesn’t seem like Rudeus.”
“Mm-hmm~ What about you two?
What did you talk about?”
“Girls’ topics.
And a girls’ promise.”
“Sounds like a promise I’m not allowed to hear.”
“Definitely not.
Rudeus absolutely cannot know.”
I smiled and left it there.
Eris was quiet for a moment.
Then, softly:
“Rudeus….
what about me then….?
Uh…..
do you like me…?”
Her hands had found the edge of her blanket.
She was gripping it hard.
She’d needed courage to ask that.
But when I heard the question, something in my chest loosened.
Like a weight I’d been holding finally set itself down.
I’d told myself before that Eris’s confession was impulsive, she’d found out I was leaving, and she’d acted on a surge of feeling.
In my mind, it was dependence, not love.
Not something real.
Now I understood.
At her age, first feelings stirring, taking a liking to someone, that was completely natural….
So what about me?
What was I supposed to say?
I’d always looked at Eris as a child.
As a student.
I’d stood over her with an adult’s eyes this whole time.
Someone like me, could I actually be with her…?
That was a double standard, and I knew it.
Two seconds ago I’d told myself I had no business falling for a teenage girl.
And yet here I was, thinking about this seriously, because it was Eris.
But did I actually like her?
I’d always told myself it was a teacher’s care.
The kind you feel for a student.
Except, if Eris married some noble somewhere, I knew I wouldn’t be able to accept that…..
That was possessiveness.
There was no other word for it.
I felt possessive over Eris.
Admit it already…..
A grown man’s mind, inside this body, feeling possessive over a little girl….
“Mm…..
I…..
like Eris…”
Just admit it.
I’d never been in a relationship in my past life.
But I knew what this feeling was.
If some noble took Eris away from me, I would kill him…..
Even if it wasn’t love, I had to take responsibility for what I felt.
That much I owed her.
Right.
Responsibility.
I said it again in my head, half as a reminder, half as something to hold onto.
“Really!?”
Eris’s voice jumped loud enough to fill the room.
She caught herself, remembering Aisha, and dropped it back to a whisper.
“Really…..?”
“Yeah.”
Hearing that, Eris’s eyes went wide.
She sat up, both hands moving, words tumbling out in a rush.
“Th…
Then…..
let’s get married?
J…
Just like Mom and Dad, and then….
we can always, always be together!”
Before I could answer, she was already adding to it.
“No wait — we have to ask Auntie Zenith first!
Then…..
then Uncle Paul…
then…..
then…..”
Her face was completely red.
She was barely making sense.
“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Eris.”
“Is…
that so?”
“Mm.
Whatever happens, something like this has to wait until you’re an adult.”
“Th-th-then….
Rudeus can’t lie to me — when we’re grown up, we…..
we’re getting married….
I’ll explain everything to Auntie and Uncle myself!”
Eris, that’s usually the guy’s line…..
I smiled and kept my voice easy.
“There’s no rush.”
“Then Rudeus…
promise me.
And make a vow….”
“I promise I’ll marry Eris after you come of age.
Now go to sleep.”
“What about the vow?
There’s still a vow….”
“A promise and a vow are the same thing.”
“Are they really?”
“They are.”
“Then….
it’s settled!
I’m going to sleep, Rudeus!”
Eris lay back down with a grin, and just like that the room was quiet.
I lay in the dark for a long time after that, alone with my thoughts.
A vow, huh….
➤ Next: Some Daily Life