I turned seven.
My two sisters,
They'd wet themselves and cry, poop themselves and cry, cry when they were hungry, cry when something didn't suit them, and cry even when nothing was wrong.
Night crying was a given. Morning crying too. During the day, they were even louder, wailing at the top of their lungs.
She handled the two of them with practiced efficiency.
For the record, I was already used to dealing with a baby brother's nighttime crying, so it didn't bother me much.
I'm not bragging, but I had experience taking care of a sibling as a baby.
I'd change diapers efficiently, help with laundry and cleaning.
Seeing me like that, Paul wore an expression of pure defeat.
This man was like a pre-war Japanese boy—completely hopeless when it came to housework.
His swordsmanship was certainly solid, and the villagers trusted him almost to a fault, but as a father, he was barely half the man he should have been.
With three kids now... honestly.
--- Yeah.
Alright, this seems like a good time to restore Paul's honor by talking about what makes him awesome.
I acknowledge this deeply flawed, by all accounts worthless excuse for a man that is Paul.
Why?
Because he's strong.
First, Paul's swordsmanship rank: Sword God Style: Advanced Water God Style: Advanced North God Style: Advanced All three at Advanced.
"Advanced" is said to take a talented person about ten years of dedicated training in a single school.
In kendo terms, Advanced is roughly equivalent to fourth or fifth dan.
For reference, Intermediate is around first to third dan, which is the standard for a regular knight—holding Intermediate rank means you're considered a fully competent swordsman.
Saint class requires sixth dan or higher, but let's put that aside.
In other words, Paul possessed the equivalent of a fourth-dan black belt in kendo, judo, and karate respectively.
And he'd dropped out of training in all three midway through.
I wouldn't call him a proper adult, but when it comes to raw strength, his credentials are beyond question.
And this was still his mid-twenties, with a terrifying amount of real combat experience.
Words born from experience were supremely cunning and practical.
They were so intuitive that I could barely understand half of what he said.
But I could tell he was speaking the truth.
I'd been learning swordsmanship from Paul for two years, and I still hadn't progressed beyond Beginner.
Give it a few more years when my stamina caught up, and maybe things would change.
But in the current state of things, no matter how much I visualized in my head, I couldn't see any scenario where I beat Paul.
Even using every magic trick and dirty strategy I could think of, I had zero confidence.
At least in close combat.
I'd seen Paul fight monsters once.
Or more accurately, I'd been shown.
When word came that monsters had appeared, Paul dragged me along, saying "watching a fight is educational too," and had me observe from a distance.
Let me be blunt.
It was badass beyond belief.
The monsters were four in total.
Three were dog-like creatures that moved with the precision of trained Dobermans.
One was a boar-like monster that walked on two legs and had four arms.
They emerged from the forest depths like the boar was leading the dogs.
Paul dispatched them effortlessly, lopping off heads with a single stroke.
I'll say it again: it was badass beyond belief.
There was something almost elegant about his fighting style.
Thrilling, heart-pounding— it had this inexplicable rhythm that was genuinely satisfying to watch.
Words can't quite capture it.
If I had to pick one word, it'd be charisma.
Paul's fighting style had charisma.
No wonder the men trusted him so completely.
No wonder Zenith fell for him and Lilia gave herself to him.
And then there was Eto's wife.
He was the number-one man in the village that everyone wanted to sleep with.
Well, forget the "sleep with" part for now.
And I'm grateful for his existence.
Having someone stronger than you close by—that's a blessing.
If Paul hadn't existed, I probably would've gotten a massive ego in this world.
Thinking my magic was pretty good, I might have challenged a monster and gotten myself killed.
Maybe I couldn't handle an assault dog and got torn to shreds.
Or maybe it wouldn't be monsters at all, but people.
Getting cocky and picking a fight with someone I couldn't beat.
A totally predictable outcome.
Thinking I'd punish some scumbag only to get beaten senseless in return.
This world's swordsmen were absurdly strong.
At full speed, they could run at roughly fifty kilometers per hour, and their dynamic vision and reflexes were nothing short of extraordinary.
And thanks to healing magic, they didn't die easily, so they went straight for the kill.
In a world where monsters existed, humans had to be this strong—almost unimaginably so.
And even Paul was still only Advanced.
Within the framework of swordsmanship alone, there were still plenty above him.
Among the famous people and monsters of this world, there were countless opponents Paul couldn't beat even if they ganged up on him.
There's always someone better.
Paul taught me that fundamental truth, and I'm grateful for it.
Of course, no matter how many good qualities he had, at home he was just a hopeless dad.
Just like how an Olympic gold medalist is still a criminal if they break the law.
--- One day, I was training with Paul as usual.
I couldn't beat Paul today.
Probably wouldn't beat him tomorrow either.
Lately, I hadn't felt any real progress.
But if I didn't practice, progress would never come.
Even without the tangible feeling, it had to be sinking into my bones and muscles.
Probably.
Right?
It was, wasn't it?
As I was thinking this, Paul suddenly blurted out, as if the thought had just occurred to him.
"Hey, Rudi. You know, school is..."
He started, then stopped.
"...Nah, never mind. You don't need it. Forget it, let's resume."
Paul readied his wooden sword as if nothing had happened.
I wasn't going to let that slide.
"School? What about it?"
"School is an institution in the city of Roa in the Fittoa Domain.
They teach reading, writing, arithmetic, history, etiquette, and so on."
I already knew that.
"Normally, kids your age would be starting to attend...
But you don't need it, right? You can already read, write, and do math."
"Yeah, well..."
I'd been claiming
When two daughters were born and finances got tight, I'd helped Zenith with the household accounts, which really startled her.
She was about to make a fuss about me being a genius again, so I quickly dropped Roxy's name.
As a result, Roxy's reputation went up, so I figured that was fine.
"But I am interested in school.
There'd be kids my age there, right?
I might make some friends."
At that, Paul spat.
"It's not all that great, you know?
Etiquette lessons are stiff and stuffy and useless, knowing history doesn't do you any good, and besides, you'd absolutely get bullied.
The neighborhood nobles' rotten brats all congregate there, and they can't stand anyone who isn't the top dog.
If someone like you showed up, they'd gang up on you in no time.
'The son of a marquis like me shouldn't have to put up with a low-ranking nobody like you acting all cocky!' or something like that."
This sounded like personal experience.
Paul had run away from home because he was fed up with his strict father and the filth of noble society.
Those etiquette and history lessons must have been nauseating displays of Asuran noble vanity.
Even for me, who got along well with Paul, it would've been suffocating.
"I see. I thought there might be cute noble girls there."
"Forget it, forget it. Noble girls—they cake on makeup, stiffen their hair into some rigid style, reek of some sickly-sweet perfume, and when you finally get them in bed and strip them down, they've got the most flabby, unexercised bodies you've ever seen.
Sure, there are some who dabble in swordsmanship and actually have decent figures, but most of them are just masking it with corsets, so you can't tell until you get them undressed.
I've been fooled more than once myself..."
There was a strange credibility to Paul's distant-eyed words.
What he was saying was practically garbage.
But then again, if that kind of experience eventually led him to Zenith—a wonderful wife—maybe there was wisdom in it.
"Then I'll skip school."
There were still things I wanted to teach Sylph.
Besides, knowingly walking into a situation where you'd get bullied wasn't exactly sane.
I didn't spend nearly twenty years as a shut-in for nothing.
"Right. Rather than going to school, you'd be better off becoming an adventurer and exploring a labyrinth."
"An adventurer...?"
"That's right. Labyrinths are great. There are no women putting on makeup there, so you can tell at a glance who's actually beautiful.
Swordsmen, warriors, magicians—they all have toned, great bodies."
Setting aside his garbage commentary— According to books, a labyrinth was a type of monster in its own right.
What started as an ordinary cave would gradually mutate as mana accumulated, eventually transforming into a labyrinth.
At the deepest layer was a mana crystal that could be called the source of the labyrinth's power, and guarding it was a Guardian.
The mana crystal also served as bait, emitting a powerful attraction.
Monsters were drawn into the labyrinth, where they'd fall into traps, starve to death, or be killed by the Guardians protecting the mana crystal.
The labyrinth would absorb the mana from the dead monsters.
Of course, newly formed labyrinths could actually have their mana crystals consumed by monsters.
And immature labyrinths occasionally collapsed and caved in entirely.
Hearing about these clumsy aspects made them sound almost alive.
Now, it wasn't just monsters drawn to mana crystals.
Humans swarmed to them too.
Mana crystals were used as catalysts for magic, so they fetched enormous prices.
Depending on size, even a small one was worth enough to live on for over a year.
For monsters, the only treasure was mana crystals.
But for humans, there was more.
Over time, a labyrinth would infuse mana into the equipment of dead monsters and adventurers it had consumed, spending years doing so.
This produced new treasures: magic-infused items.
Most magic-infused items that resulted had mediocre properties.
But occasionally, a few would bear cheat-level abilities that would make even
So, people dreaming of striking it rich would delve into labyrinths.
And then they'd exhaust themselves and collapse.
And the labyrinth would gain mana and grow deeper and longer.
Ancient labyrinths that had existed for ages harbored enormous quantities of treasure in their depths.
The oldest and deepest confirmed labyrinth was the Dragon God's Maw, located at the foot of Dragon Cry Peak in the Red Dragon Mountain Range of the Central Continent.
According to records, it had existed for ten thousand years. Its estimated lowest floor was the twenty-fifth hundredth.
The labyrinth was also connected to a hole at the peak of Dragon Cry Peak—supposedly, if you jumped from the peak into the hole, you could reach near the bottom floor in an instant, but no one who'd descended that way had ever returned.
For the record, the hole at the peak was not a volcanic crater.
It was what the Red Dragon had created to trap and devour dragons.
It was said to swallow anything passing above.
Whether this was true or not was uncertain, but for a creature that had lived ten thousand years, such a thing wasn't out of the question.
The labyrinths considered the most difficult were Hell, on the Heaven Continent, and the Demon God's Abyss, in the center of the Ring Sea.
Both were so remote that even reaching their entrances was a challenge, with no possibility of proper resupply.
Deep on top of that, with no way to settle in and explore methodically—they were the definition of maximum difficulty.
"I read about labyrinths in a book."
"'The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth'? If you could explore legendary labyrinths like that, you'd make a name for yourself in history. Why not give it a try?"
"The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth" was the story of three young genius swordsmen who would later become known as the Sword God, the Water God, and the North God. They met, and after a series of twists and turns, they challenged a massive labyrinth together, fighting and laughing and bonding and parting ways, ultimately conquering it.
The labyrinth they delved was at most the hundredth floor underground.
"Isn't that just a made-up story?"
"Not at all. Apparently, the swords passed down through each school were obtained in that labyrinth."
"Huh. But if even people who reached God Class struggled that much, there's only so much I could accomplish by trying hard."
"I managed to delve it. You can do it too, Rudi."
Paul then proceeded to tell me various stories.
About a young man of the Demon Race who entered a labyrinth that served as a den for sea-folk, fought alongside human swordsmen, and defeated the sea-folk despite losing comrades.
About a mage called a dropout who accidentally fell into a labyrinth, was picked up by a party that had just lost its own mage, and grew stronger as he awakened his latent potential.
He told these stories as if he'd been waiting for the chance.
Come to think of it, Paul had once said he wanted to make me a swordsman.
He'd probably been planning to tell me these stories, read aloud from "The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth," and kindle a fascination with labyrinths, adventurers, and swordsmen all along.
Labyrinths.
I was interested.
They seemed fun.
But also incredibly dangerous.
The characters in that book died suddenly.
"The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth" featured other characters besides the three swordsmen.
Everyone else got wiped out.
Hit by a fireball that came from the side mid-conversation, charred to a crisp.
Falling into a sudden pit trap and getting crushed.
Raising their heads for a split second and getting cut clean in half.
Characters who couldn't be scratched in battle against monsters— would let their guard down for an instant and get caught in a trap, resulting in a total party wipe.
The three swordsmen, being protagonists, navigated the traps with grace.
But I couldn't imagine dodging every trap, being the clumsy, oblivious type I was.
"Well? Adventuring sounds fun, right?"
"You've got to be kidding."
Why would I go out of my way to seek thrills through high-risk behavior?
Ideally, I'd live comfortably surrounded by girls, just like Paul.
"I'm more suited to chasing skirts, to be honest."
"Oh, that's my boy!"
"And ideally, I'd take in multiple women, just like you."
"Sure, sure. But you'd better stick to one skirt at a time."
I glanced back at where he was pointing and saw Sylph pouting.
Bad timing.
--- Lately, I'd been teaching Sylph in my room more and more.
When explaining the detailed theory behind incantationless magic, it was faster to teach her basic math and science concepts first.
That said, I'd been a mediocre student in middle school.
And I'd dropped out of the easy university I'd barely gotten into.
So there was only so much I could teach.
It wasn't that school had all the answers, but I wished I'd studied more. It stung.
Sylph could now read and write simple text and do multiplication with two-digit numbers.
Teaching her the multiplication table had been a bit tricky, but she wasn't stupid.
She'd probably pick up division quickly too.
Alongside magic, I'd also teach her science.
"Why does water turn into water va...por when you heat it?"
"Well, air can dissolve water.
But it needs heat to do that.
So the warmer it gets, the easier it dissolves."
I was currently teaching her about evaporation, condensation, and sublimation.
"............?"
She had a confused look on her face.
But either because she was an honest kid or because she was quick to absorb information— "Well, just think of it as: everything melts when you heat it, and solidifies when you cool it."
I wasn't a teacher, so this was the best I could do.
Well, Sylph was smarter than me.
She'd experiment on her own and figure things out.
With magic, you never lacked for lab equipment.
"Stones melt too?"
"Only at extremely high temperatures."
"Can you melt them, Rudi?"
"Of course."
I said that, but I'd never actually tried.
Lately, I'd gotten to the point where I could roughly sort atmospheric components with some effort.
Using that, if I pumped in oxygen and hydrogen hard enough, I could probably melt stone. Maybe.
For the record, there was also a high-tier magic that produced lava.
It looked exactly like an earth-fire combined spell, but it was classified under high-tier fire magic.
Speaking of elemental systems—everything was interconnected.
To increase firepower, you just needed to pump in more mana.
But by utilizing combustible gases, you could achieve greater efficiency and higher temperatures.
I understood that much.
But that was where my knowledge ended.
My magic hadn't improved much compared to when I'd parted ways with Roxy.
Combining existing spells, finding new applications, using scientific knowledge to boost power at a basic level...
From the outside, it might look like I'd leveled up somewhat.
But I felt stuck.
Maybe with my current knowledge, I couldn't advance any further.
What had I done in my previous life when I hit a wall?
Oh right, I'd looked things up online.
This world didn't have such convenient tools.
Maybe I should learn from someone...
"A magic academy, huh..."
There seemed to be magic schools out there.
Roxy had said something about the prestige of the magic academy or whatever.
But could someone like me get in?
"Rudi, are you going to school?"
When I muttered that, Sylph was peering at me with an anxious expression.
She tilted her head slightly, and her green hair swayed softly.
Lately, Sylph had started growing her hair out a little.
My gentle nudges of "Don't you think your hair would look better if it grew out a little? (peek)" once a month had paid off.
It was currently at a short bob length, but her slightly wavy emerald-green hair swayed with even the slightest movement.
It looked good.
Just a little more until a ponytail.
"I'm not planning to go.
Dad said that even if I did, I'd just get bullied and wouldn't learn anything."
"But Rudi, you've been acting weird lately."
Huh?
Seriously?
I had no awareness of being weird.
Had I done something?
I thought I'd been carefully playing the part of the oblivious dense protagonist around Sylph.
"I've apparently been weird since I was born, you know."
I probed, asking that casually.
Sylph furrowed her brow and shook her head.
"That's not it. You just seem... down lately."
Oh, that's what she meant.
I panicked.
I thought I'd let something slip again.
So she'd been worried about me.
"Because I've been stuck lately. My magic and swordsmanship aren't improving at all."
"But... Rudi, you're amazing, you know?"
"For my age, maybe."
Sure, by this world's standards and for my age, maybe I was impressive.
But I still hadn't accomplished anything real.
Even my magic—I could use it slightly better than others only because of memories from my previous life and the fact that I'd been the first to realize incantationless magic.
But those memories only went so far, and I was stuck, unable to move forward.
I'd regretted not studying more a thousand times, but it was too late to go back now.
And the common sense of my previous world wasn't guaranteed to work here either.
This world might still have rules and principles I didn't know about.
I couldn't keep relying on memories from my past life forever.
Magic was this world's science.
If so, I needed to learn about this world.
"I've been thinking it's time to move on to the next step."
Sylph's magic was improving constantly, and she was getting smarter.
Watching her progress made me anxious.
It was pathetic that only I was standing still.
Right now I was playing the condescending, dense protagonist.
But if I stopped growing, Sylph might look down on me.
"Are you going to leave?"
"Yeah. Dad told me I should become an adventurer and explore a labyrinth.
Maybe there's only so much I can do in this village...
Should I go to school, or become an adventurer? I'm thinking about which one."
I said it lightly.
She threw her arms around me.
Whoa.
What what what?
A love confession?
But no—Sylph was trembling.
"S-
"No... no... no!"
She hugged me with desperate, crushing strength.
I was confused.
Saying nothing, I tried to read what she was feeling...
"Don't... don't go... waaah, don't gooooo..."
She started crying.
I stroked her head and rubbed her back.
Almost instinctively, my hand drifted toward her bottom—no, no, no, I wasn't Paul.
Must. Resist. The. Butt.
I wrapped my arms around her back and let myself feel her body against mine.
She was warm and soft.
I buried my face in her hair. It smelled nice.
Ah, this is nice.
Really nice... I want this...
"Hic... don't go... please don't go anywhere..."
I snapped back to reality.
"Oh... ah..."
Right.
Of course.
Lately, Sylph had been coming to my house more and more from the morning.
She'd arrive in the morning, watch my sword training with a happy expression, practice magic together with me, study together.
That had been our daily life.
A person you spent the whole day with.
What would happen if one day, that person vanished?
Sylph would be alone again.
Even if she could drive off bullies with magic, she wouldn't make friends.
Thinking that, I felt a surge of overwhelming fondness.
I was the one she was attached to.
She was mine.
"Okay, okay. I'm not going anywhere."
Where the hell was I planning to go, leaving behind a kid like this?
Magic improvement?
Who cared—I could already use Saint and Advanced-level spells.
If it came to it, I could be a private tutor like Roxy.
I'd stay here with Sylph until she was old enough to stand on her own.
That was the plan.
We'd grow up together, and I'd gradually shape her into the kind of woman I liked.
The Hikaru Genji Plan.
Guh-heh-heh-heh.
...Snap!
No no no!
Calm down. Calm down.
I'd decided to be the dense protagonist.
What the hell was I getting all fired up for...
But still...
There was no rule that being dense meant you couldn't raise your childhood sweetheart into your ideal woman...
right?
Wait! What am I saying!
But... ughhh.
How long was I supposed to stay oblivious to this girl's feelings?
She was only six.
She was attached to me, sure. I could feel her affection.
But it couldn't be genuine romantic feelings yet.
O-obviously I had to wait.
But how long?
Until she was ten? Fifteen? Even later...?
And what if Sylph ended up hating me by then?
Right now her favorability was maxed out, but that wasn't guaranteed to last forever.
Could I handle it when the time came?
I... couldn't!
There were things humans could and couldn't do!
Because she was so soft, so warm, so fluffy, so pleasant-smelling.
When someone like that was desperately pouring their feelings at me, was I really going to pretend not to notice?!
That was insane.
If we were both aware of it, the next step was obvious.
I shouldn't be the only one holding back and standing still— we should be moving forward together!
Was I going to waste time making the wrong effort?
Was I going to knowingly refuse to fix a mistake?
I've made my decision!
I'm going to raise Sylph into the kind of woman I want!
I— I'm dropping the dense protagonist act! Sylph—!
"Hey, Rudi... you've got a letter."
Paul walked in, and I snapped back from my own little world.
I quickly let go of Sylph.
That was close.
I'd nearly become a pathetic final boss.
I owed Paul one.
But there were limits to suppressing your true feelings.
I'd held it together this time, but next time—could I...?
--- The letter was from Roxy.
*"Dear Rudeus, How are you doing?
Before I knew it, it's been two years since we parted ways.
I've finally settled down a bit, so I'm writing to you.
I'm currently staying in the royal capital of the Sharia Kingdom.
I was delving into labyrinths as an adventurer when, before I knew it, my reputation had grown, and I was hired as a tutor for the prince.
Teaching the prince reminds me of my days at the
The prince is very similar to Rudeus.
Not quite to the same extent, but his talent for magic is outstanding, and he's quite sharp.
He also has the same habits of peeking at me while I change and stealing my panties.
Unlike Rudeus, he's energetic and arrogant, but his behavior is remarkably similar.
Do heroes have a taste for women?
I worry about being pinned down during my employment.
What could possibly be attractive about this thin body of mine...?
Oops—if anyone finds me writing this, could it be considered lèse-majesté?
Well, if it comes to that, it comes to that. It wasn't meant as an insult, so I should be able to talk my way out of it.
It's only a temporary arrangement, but the royal palace intends to appoint me as a court magician.
I want to continue researching magic, so this suits me perfectly.
Oh yes—I've finally become able to use Water King Class magic!
There was a book about Water King Class magic in the Sharia Kingdom's archives.
When I first achieved Saint Class, I thought I'd never improve further, but with effort, it turns out you can.
Has Rudeus reached Water Emperor Class by now? Or perhaps you've achieved Saint Class in other elements?
Being the diligent person you are, you might have already ventured into healing magic or summoning magic.
Or perhaps you've begun walking the path of the sword.
That would be a shame in its own way, but knowing Rudeus, you'd excel at that too.
I aim to become a Water God Class magician.
As I've said before, if magic has you stuck, please knock on the doors of the
Without a letter of introduction, there's an entrance exam, but for Rudeus, it would be easy.
Until next time.
Roxy P.S. By the time this letter reaches you, I may no longer be at the palace, so no need to reply."* It was a letter that essentially nailed my situation to the wall.
Damn it.
I looked up the Sharia Kingdom on a map.
It was a small country at the eastern edge of the southern Central Continent.
The straight-line distance wasn't that great.
But the mountain ranges of the Central Continent were home to Red Dragons, making them impassable.
So you had to loop around the mountains from the south in a massive detour to reach it.
It was far.
And Ranoa, where the magic academy was, was in the north.
I'd have to make a huge detour northwest to get there.
"Hmm..."
Roxy had never taught me anything about magic above King Class...
Or had she just not known?
I replied with a perfectly bland, nothing-to-see-here letter.
I didn't want Roxy to know about my pathetic situation.
I didn't know what kind of impressive person she imagined I'd become by now, but I definitely didn't want to disappoint her.
Still, a magic academy...
Roxy had mentioned it before.
She'd said it was a wonderful place.
But it was far.
I couldn't leave Sylph behind.
What to do...
In any case, I added a postscript to my letter: "P.S. Sorry about stealing your panties."
--- The day after receiving the letter, when the whole family was together, I broached the topic.
"Dad. Can I ask you for one selfish favor?"
"No."
I got kicked.
But then Zenith, sitting next to him, smacked Paul on the head.
Lilia, on his other side, followed up with a hit of her own.
Since that whole pregnancy scare, Lilia had started sitting at the family table for meals.
Before that, she'd stayed in her maid role and served during dinner.
I didn't know the details, but it meant she'd been accepted as family.
Was polygamy acceptable in this country?
Whatever.
"Rudi. Say whatever you want. Dad will make it happen for you."
Zenith spoke in a gentle voice while Paul tried to keep his head pinned down.
"Young Master Rudeus has never been the type to make selfish requests before.
This is a moment that tests your dignity and capability as the head of the household."
Lilia backed me up too.
Paul sat back in his chair, crossed his arms, tilted his chin up slightly, and struck a dignified pose.
"If Rudi is going out of his way to preface a selfish request, it must be something truly beyond even my ability to handle."
He received a second two-hit combo and collapsed face-first onto the table.
Just the usual, harmless family banter.
Alright, time to get to it.
"Actually, I've hit a wall with my magic training lately.
Because of that, I'd like to enroll in the Ranoa Magic Academy..."
"...Oh?"
"When I hinted at it to Sylph, she cried because she didn't want me to leave."
"Oh my, what a ladies' man. Who did he get that from, huh? Eh?"
Paul received his third two-hit combo.
"Since we're at it, I'd like to attend with her, but her family isn't as well-off as ours.
So I'd like to ask you to cover both our tuition fees."
"Oh..."
Paul leaned an elbow on the table and fixed me with the sharp gaze of some battle commander.
That was the look he wore when holding a sword.
The only moment I truly respected Paul.
"No."
He spoke the same word as before.
This time, he was serious.
Both Zenith and Lilia were silent.
"There are three reasons.
First, your swordsmanship is incomplete. If you quit now, you'll be stuck at a level too advanced to be called a beginner but too half-baked to be called competent.
As your swordsmanship teacher, I can't abandon you here.
Second, money. We might manage if it were just you, but adding Sylph makes it impossible.
Magic academy tuition isn't cheap, and we don't have money to burn.
Third, your age. You're still seven years old. You're a smart kid, but there's still a lot you don't know. You lack experience in overwhelming measure.
I can't shirk my responsibility as a parent and throw you out there."
So it was no-go after all.
But I wasn't giving up.
Unlike before, Paul was actually using his head and giving real reasons.
Which meant if I cleared all three conditions, it was a deal.
No need to rush.
It wasn't like I needed to leave immediately.
"I understand, Dad.
Then let's keep the sword training going as before.
As for age, how long do I have to wait?"
"Let's see... fifteen—no, stay home until you're twelve."
Twelve.
I was pretty sure the age of majority in this country was fifteen.
"May I ask why twelve?"
"Because that's when I ran away from home."
"I see. Understood."
Twelve was clearly a line Paul wouldn't budge on.
To avoid pricking his male pride, I just nodded quietly.
"One last thing."
"What?"
"Please help me find work.
I can read, write, and do arithmetic, so tutoring or magical work is fine.
The higher the pay, the better."
"Work? Why?"
Paul asked with the same intense gaze, almost threatening.
"I'll earn Sylph's tuition myself."
"...That doesn't do anything for Sylph."
"No. But it does for me."
...
Silence fell.
An uncomfortable atmosphere settled over the room.
"I see... so that's how it is..."
Paul nodded as if he'd come to some understanding.
"Alright. If that's the case, I'll see what I can find."
Despite the worried looks on Zenith's and Lilia's faces, Paul wore the expression of someone you could trust, and said those words.
"Thank you."
I bowed my head, and dinner resumed.
--- Paul's Perspective --- I never imagined Rudeus would say something like that.
Our son was growing up fast.
That said, normally a kid wouldn't bring up something like that until they were at least fourteen or fifteen.
Even I hadn't started pushing myself until I turned eleven and hit Advanced in the Sword God Style.
The ones who don't push will never push.
"Don't rush through life, or you'll burn out early..." or something like that.
There was a warrior who once said that to me.
At the time, I'd scoffed at those words.
Everyone around me was living too slowly.
Human strength had a limited window, yet no one seemed willing to run.
Do everything you can while you can.
If someone complains, let the chips fall where they may.
Well, doing everything I could led to certain... consequences.
I retired from adventuring to stabilize my life, relied on connections from my noble days, and became a knight.
But that's beside the point.
Rudeus's way of living was far faster than mine.
It was enough to worry just watching him.
I was sure the people who'd watched me when I was young had felt the same way.
But unlike reckless, hit-or-miss me, Rudeus thought things through carefully and planned ahead.
That part must've come from Zenith's blood.
"Well, I suppose I'll keep him under his old man's thumb a bit longer."
Thinking that, I started writing a letter.
I'd consulted with Rawls the other day, and apparently Sylph was completely attached to Rudeus.
From Sylph's perspective, Rudeus was the prince on a white horse who'd saved her from a hellish childhood.
He taught her everything, so she adored him like a brother, and lately she'd begun to notice him as a boy, too.
Rawls had said something like, if Rudeus takes her as his wife in the future, that would be for the best.
At the time, I'd thought having such a cute girl as a daughter-in-law wouldn't be half bad.
But after hearing Rudeus's words today, I thought again.
The current situation was close to brainwashing.
If this continued, Sylph would grow into an adult incapable of anything without Rudeus.
I'd seen plenty of those types in my noble days.
Puppets who depended too much on their parents.
While the object of dependency was there, it was fine.
Even a puppet could be entertaining if someone pulled its strings.
As long as Rudeus loved Sylph, she'd be alright.
But Rudeus had inherited my blood heavily.
The blood of a womanizer.
There was a chance he'd stray to another woman on a whim.
No—he'd inherited my blood, so he'd definitely stray.
He might not choose Sylph in the end.
When that happened, Sylph wouldn't be able to recover.
A puppet with its strings cut could never stand again.
If that cute girl's life was ruined because of my son— That was unforgivable.
And it wouldn't be good for my son either.
I finished the letter.
Let's hope for a favorable reply.
But now— How was I going to convince that silver-tongued son of mine...
Maybe I should just use force.