The breakfast was quiet, but it was always that way.
There were only two people at the dining table, a husband and a wife.
They didn’t love each other, and the only thing keeping the marriage alive was their love for their son.
Victor wasn’t here right now, so Garron considered not doing this routine anymore. It was pointless.
“The milk the halfling child sells has healing properties. It was as good as a low-quality health potion, but I couldn’t detect any side effects from it.”
A scowl appeared on Garron’s face.
If his wife weren't around the same level as him, he would discipline her for speaking out of turn.
There were rules to a conversation; you couldn’t just say what you wanted to say immediately.
To annoy her, Garron didn’t answer until five minutes later.
“So, he leveled up again. Do you think he will be a threat?”
“No. His combat ability is still zero. Killing him would be a waste.”
There wasn’t any emotion that Garron could hear from her voice, and he hated it.
It was hard to figure out what she was thinking most of the time, and for all he knew, she was planning to kill him right now.
Garron had taken many precautions for when it would ultimately happen, but he knew that there was still a chance that she would succeed.
Aria was an [Assassin], and he would be a fool to underestimate her.
“Has he been useful to Victor?”
“From what I observed, most of his effort was focused on helping my son. Kidnapping him would be a risk, not to mention pointless.”
Garron was grinding his teeth. It took all of his effort not to get up and bash her head in.
My son?!
Not only was it annoying to have his intention read, it was much more infuriating that this fucking bitch wasn’t scared of him.
“Watch your tongue.”
No one said a word after that.
When the breakfast was finished, the [Servant] came in to clean up.
Garron ignored them and immediately went into the training yard.
For a warmup, he started to jog first.
He knew more than anyone else how useless his effort was.
No matter how much he trained, he was still nothing in front of a Demon Lord, let alone a Demon King.
However, growing his own personal strength was never useless.
As for the Demon King and the Demon Lords, he had Victor for them.
Witnessing the power of a single Demon Lord, he knew no matter how much he trained, he couldn’t possibly beat any of them. So, whenever one was spotted near him, he was the first one to run away.
Garron had already been a gold-rank adventurer when The Calamity happened, but he wouldn’t risk his life if he knew his efforts didn’t matter.
When it was all over, Garron knew he had to do something about it.
He was talented, but growing stronger felt pointless if he was facing a real monster.
Then he came up with a brilliant idea: creating the perfect child.
If he couldn’t do it, then he would make someone who could achieve what he couldn’t do.
It was the reason he married Aria; she was a gold-rank adventurer. That meant the child they would create would be strong.
She also shared his vision, while all of his ‘friends’ thought his idea was ‘dangerous.’
Those fools, achieving great things would always carry a risk. Only someone heartless and with no ambition would be content to always play it safe.
They were all dead now. Because they were afraid that he was turning into a demon. Which was ridiculous.
Only two people accused him, but he knew herd mentality. He knew the look they were giving him.
If they tried to stop him from saving the world, then they were better off dead.
Their first two children were a failure.
Both of them died before even reaching nine years old.
Garron didn’t even remember their faces or names. It was unproductive to think of your own failure.
His third child, Victor, was special.
Not only was he a smart child, Victor was also strong.
Ever since Victor was a child, he could take pills without permanently destroying his body in the process.
Learning from his past mistake, Garron prepared Victor first before he took any of the dangerous pills.
Like increasing his tolerance to poison and pain, making his body stronger, and even awakening his aura.
He had spent a lot of gold on Victor, but he didn’t regret it once.
Garron loved Victor. He was what Garron had been searching for, for a long time.
Something that could kill a Demon lord—maybe a Demon King.
Even though there was always a summoned [Hero] who could do the job, it was foolish to let them handle it.
This world wouldn’t last much longer if something didn’t change.
My name will forever be etched in every history book as the father and teacher of the first ever native who managed to kill the Demon King.
Garron couldn’t help but grin at the thought.
He stopped running, picked up a sword from the rack, and started his drills.
It wouldn’t be this iteration of the Demon King, but there were many ways to increase a person’s lifespan. So, even if Victor managed to kill a Demon King long after he was already dead, Garron would be satisfied.
Garron believed Victor could do it. Victor was his son, his creation, he already put so much effort in raising him that it was close to impossible that Victor would fail.
At eighteen years old, Victor was already as strong as a gold-rank adventurer.
Not to mention that in the last few weeks, Victor was getting stronger much faster than ever before.
It was because of that halfling boy, which irked him, but he wouldn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of his greatest project.
If Victor wouldn’t kill himself over that annoyance’s death, Garron would have killed the boy a long time ago.
I guess it’s true when they say that a parent’s love is endless.
Garron had only let Victor spend time with that child in the past few weeks because he was important for Victor’s growth.
At first, he hadn’t believed that boy could have made a contract with a spirit. Garron had even made sure to remind him every day of how pathetic he was.
Of course, Garron didn’t do it himself. He wouldn’t lower his dignity just to teach someone a lesson. Let alone a child.
However, he found out later that the brat was actually telling the truth. He didn’t want to believe it, but he was no fool.
He was wrong, but that was because he didn’t really put much thought into the matter.
If he had put even a little effort into trying to figure it out, he was sure he wouldn’t be wrong.
Even if that brat was useful now, Garron wouldn’t hesitate to kill him if it wouldn’t ruin his project.
That child was still a bad influence on Victor, always distracting him on what really mattered.
But it was alright, he could always remove any bad habit or mindset that Victor has with his ring.
It was a Ring of Emotion, but as long as he was using it for the greater good, Garron was sure he wouldn’t gain a Yellow Class.
He had found two of them in the corpse of an Archdemon. One he had given to Aria, a decision he came to regret.
But at the time, leaving one of the rings as mere decoration had seemed like a waste.
Garron wasn’t worried that his mind would be compromised. The ring also granted its wearer mental resistance, after all. He had discovered that effect when he tried to use the ring on her.
He was worried about Victor.
Garron believed that he was the only one who could use the Cursed Artifact responsibly.
Because even if he was using a Cursed Artifact, he didn’t have a single Yellow Class.
The system itself knew what he was doing was just.
Even if some people had to die because they found he possessed a Cursed Artifact, he wouldn’t gain a Yellow Class.
Because ultimately, only the results mattered.
He was already level 37 in his second Class,[Father Who Forged a Champion]. It was more than ten levels lower than his main Class, but he knew it was more powerful.
Because, after all, Classes were not equal.
It had been only a day since Norm got [Greatly Increased Intelligence], but he already came up with a genius plan to heal his dad faster.
When he got out of the room, he was surprised to find his dad sitting at the dining table.
“Dad! You could walk!”
Norm placed the healthy milk at the table, then immediately hugged his dad.
“Hehe, and it was all thanks to you, you little genius.”
His dad patted his head, but Norm didn’t mind.
“I’m taller than you.”
“Height is relative. That means from some perspective, I’m taller than you.”
It was not the first time Norm was confused by what his dad was saying, but with [Greatly Increased Intelligence] he suspected that his dad was just speaking nonsense.
“Height is not relative.”
“And that’s why you will always be shorter than me.”
Before he could argue further, he saw Victor coming out of the kitchen carrying a slab of meat, some rice, and a big bowl of soup. The smell alone made his mouth water.
“With how fast you are improving, you’ll be better than me in no time.”
“If I did, it would be because you’re such a good teacher, Mrs. Amelia.”
“No need to flatter me. I know most of it is because you’re talented.”
Victor placed the food on the table. When Norm tried to grab a piece of meat, he stopped—his mom was glaring at him.
“You haven’t even washed your hands yet, have you?”
Embarrassed, Norm went into the bathroom to wash his hands.
Breakfast was peaceful, but it wasn’t quiet.
When breakfast was over, Norm told them of his genius plan.
They were all surprised when he finished explaining it, which put a smile on his face.
“I thought you could only use the Skill once per day.”
“No? Since when did I say that?”
Norm looked at his mom, confused. That was not what he thought she was going to say.
“You haven’t been doing it all this time? Then what were you doing, coming back to the house several times a day?”
“Going to the bathroom?”
Victor was also saying something weird, and that was when Norm realized they weren’t surprised because they thought his plan was awesome.
“Good… job figuring it out, son.”
Even his dad's praise sounded a little hollow.
Norm was frankly confused about their reactions. He thought he was a genius for coming up with the idea, but apparently not.
They were surprised that he didn’t figure it out sooner?
His plan was to make his dad drink [Bless Milk] more than once a day.
He didn’t have to feed his dad healthy milk, even ordinary cow's milk with [Bless Milk] cast on it could help heal his dad.
It was a stroke of genius.
So, why aren’t they impressed?
“I think I know what’s going on. I thought it was just one of those exaggerated things people made up about elves, but I’m starting to think the story was true.”
All of them focused their attention on Victor, each one with a different expression.
“There was a story about an adventurer team full of elves who visited a human kingdom by taking a long way around. The shorter road couldn’t be used because a miasma-filled region had appeared right across it. Five years later, every monster in that region was wiped out, and the shorter road was open again. But even thirty years after that, the elves still took the same long way. When a goblin asked them why they kept going around even though a shorter road existed, can you guess what they said?”
“Ehh, because of the view?”
That was the first thing Norm thought of. Elves liked nature and stuff, right?
“Maybe they were afraid?”
His mother said with uncertainty.
“I would guess there was something along the long route that they had to visit.”
His dad took the longest to answer, but Norm felt like it was the correct one.
“Nope. All of them said that the thought didn’t even cross their mind. They even praised the goblin for his genius idea.”
”What?”
All three of them said at the same time, shock plastered on their faces.
“In some versions of the story, the elves were all [Spirit Contractor]. I would guess that version of the story was the correct one.”
Understanding appeared on his parents' faces, and they looked at Norm.
“I think being a [Spirit Contractor] made you less likely to even think about breaking your usual routine.”
“Didn’t I have [Mental Immunity]?”
Thinking back on it, wasn’t [Mental Immunity] supposed to prevent his sexual desires from being taken away? But from what he could tell, that didn’t seem to be the case.
“Doesn’t matter. If you could still change the regular way, then I would guess whatever happens when you make a contract with a spirit doesn’t count as a mental attack. My theory is that it had something to do with the soul, but don’t take my words for it.”
“Wait, you have [Mental Immunity]?”
“Shit.”
Victor cursed, but none of them paid attention to his slip-up.
Both of his parents were focused on asking why Norm had the Skill.
However, after Norm said that telling them would mean breaking a promise, his parents thankfully stopped asking.
That didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to figure it out, though; they just wouldn’t get the information out of their son.
A promise was important.
If they forced their own son to break it, then they wouldn’t have the face to call themselves his parents.
Norm was bored.
Playing with Victor and Jeb wasn’t fun.
Both of them were just too strong compared to him, so any games they played were just them entertaining him.
It was fun at first, but after Norm realized it, he couldn't enjoy it anymore.
He wasn’t a kid.
I wonder what my other friends are doing.
Norm wasn’t talking about the cows, but his human friends.
He hadn’t seen them for over a month, and he kinda missed them.
However, Victor told him that if they didn’t approach him first and apologized, then they were a bad friend.
Even though Norm agreed with him, it didn’t mean he liked it.
Norm wanted to play volleyball with someone who couldn't kill him on the spot if they weren’t careful hitting the ball.
It pained him to even consider it, but he needed more things to do.
Most of his time was spent doing nothing, and while he liked his free time, there was such a thing as too much free time.
So, Norm got up from lying on the grass and called someone who he could always count on.
“Hey, Vic! I needed your help.”
In less than a second, Victor appeared in front of him.
Thankfully, he managed to not spray him with dirt this time.
Norm couldn’t even sense the wind changing when Victor arrived. It was as if he had teleported there.
“When you hunt in the forest, could you get me animals that produced milk? Like cows, goats, camels, horses, and ehhh, any other animals that produce milk.”
“Sure, I could do that. Did you need anything else?”
“No. Thanks Vic.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
Just as Norm didn’t think much about giving Victor [Bless Milk] for free, Victor didn’t think much about giving Norm the equivalent of hundreds of gold coins.
If the other person needed something, they would give it.
Ever since they became friends again, the concept of favors became lost on them.
Neither of them doubted for a second that the other would give them everything if they asked.