Dear
I've turned twenty, and my little sisters will soon be fourteen.
I continue to train while carrying out the tasks
Orsted knows everything there is to know, but he's not much of a teacher, it seems.
He's probably not the type who's good at explaining things to others.
On top of that, he never uses magic himself, so there are no practical demonstrations.
He'll teach me incantations and tips and such, but whether it's because he's a natural genius or what, I often have trouble understanding what he means.
I suppose I'm not exactly a star pupil either.
I don't have the kind of quick wit where hearing one thing lets me grasp ten.
Thanks to the knowledge I retained from my previous life, I can understand things up to a point, but once the ranks climb to Saint-tier and King-tier, even that prior knowledge isn't enough to keep up.
For example, the Saint-tier fire spell Flash Flame is a technique that spreads fire across an incredibly wide area in an instant.
It's supposed to be a spell that generates heat using light — something like Begi○ma, I think — but apparently it's not quite that.
I've managed to use chantless magic to approximate something similar, but Orsted just tilted his head at it.
Orsted doesn't only teach me magic — he also teaches me knowledge.
Knowledge about various fighting styles and how to battle mages.
"The Kenki Style uses a lot of these kinds of movements, so watch out for that first, and then do this."
"Mages who specialize in fire tend to use these kinds of combinations and hybrid spells, so use this spell to resist."
"When there's a swordsman and a mage together, this kind of coordination is common, so respond like this."
In other words, it's knowledge about fighting real opponents.
He told me that given my high offensive power, my variety of spells, and my Foresight Eye, I'm best suited for a style where I confuse the opponent, corner them to narrow their options, and then land a decisive finishing blow.
It doesn't sound that different from what I've been doing so far, but there's a world of difference between doing it consciously versus unconsciously.
To internalize this, I've been doing mock battles against Orsted and
Maybe it's thanks to this cycle, but I've now reached Saint-tier in fire and wind offensive magic, Saint-tier in healing magic and detoxification magic, and mid-tier in divine-strike magic.
For one year's progress, I'd call that a solid result.
It really drives home just how lazy I've been up until now.
Of course, I still can't draw magic circles properly, summoning magic is untouched, and there are plenty of other areas where I need work.
But I have a lot of tools at my disposal, so I plan to keep pushing forward without slacking.
Either way, I'm probably a little stronger than I was.
Whether it's the training paying off or not, my work for Orsted has been going smoothly.
That said, ever since the incident in the Kingdom of Asura, there haven't been many difficult jobs.
Mostly it's things like heading to some labyrinth to help lost adventurers, going to some forest to rescue a merchant about to be eaten by monsters, or visiting some trading company to buy a boy out of slavery and sell him off somewhere else.
Well, it's mostly errands and good deeds — people-helping work, really — and I throw myself into it wholeheartedly.
Apparently, the people we help in this way end up being useful to Orsted down the road.
For example, there was a female halfling thief named Tal Chee I rescued the other day.
She herself doesn't do anything special, but her son is supposed to become the head of the Assassin Guild someday.
And he ends up assassinating a certain person — a person whose death would be a loss for Orsted.
Of course, Orsted could just kill that person himself if he wanted to, since it's someone who'll eventually become a problem for him.
But by handling things in advance, Orsted can use that time for other things and conserve his mana as well.
Changing the past to save trouble in the future — that's the idea.
The key, apparently, is putting Orsted in the best possible condition for the "final battle."
Orsted has lived through enough loops to know what happens when someone who was supposed to "die young" survives.
By creating people who will trigger events that benefit him, he can operate efficiently across all eras.
It's a bit like adjusting random numbers or setting flags.
What I'm doing is essentially a form of building alliances.
That's also why Orsted basically doesn't help me directly.
He's in a different place, doing different things.
Carrying out important flag-setting that only he can do.
The
At least when I'm operating alone, there's been none at all.
Looking at the interference Orsted faces, his tasks must be the more critical events from the Man-God's perspective.
In fact, there have been a few times when I've moved alongside Orsted, and each time, one or two of the Man-God's apostles showed up.
Strangely, three have never appeared at once, so maybe someone is operating independently behind the scenes.
I have no way to confirm this for now, and the worry gnaws at me.
Is it really okay to just keep doing this?
Shouldn't I be going on the offensive against the Man-God more aggressively?
When I asked, Orsted shook his head lightly and said: "According to the diary, the future the Man-God is trying to change is still far off."
Be prepared by then.
The future the Man-God is trying to change.
My guess is that the next full-scale confrontation will involve
In the diary, I let Cliff die, after all.
The Man-God's involvement might be behind that.
I can't say for certain yet.
Orsted also tends not to tell me the important things.
Anyway, the rhythm of my life goes like this: I work for about a month, return to the office to report in, spend two or three days seeing family and friends, then use a short five-to-ten-day break to train before heading out on the next job.
I've been repeating that cycle.
--- Oh, speaking of work.
I had a few things I'd been thinking about for a while, and I finally got them implemented regarding the office.
First, the office itself.
It used to be that little cottage on the outskirts of the magic city Sharia — the same place where I made the Magic Armor.
Since it would be inconvenient going forward as our base of operations, it's been renovated.
It's a single-story flat building, but now it has a nap room, a conference room, and an archive room, making it possible to stay overnight to some degree and hold strategy meetings.
Leaving records of meetings and operations… that did make me a bit anxious, but the information about who's doing what, who's going to survive, and what impact that will have on the future is far too vast for me to memorize. It can't be helped.
I also built a separate armory.
It's where I store the Magic Armor and other magical tools and mana-infused items I might use.
I've managed to miniaturize the Magic Armor to some extent, but… I'll spare the details on that.
The armory is stocked with a large number of tools that could be useful for jobs.
If someone stole them, they could live comfortably for the rest of their life.
For now, since I'm the only one who uses them, the door is sealed with earth magic, but I'm still nervous about theft.
Orsted probably doesn't need any of it, but proper management of company assets is important.
Ideally, I'd want someone to handle the admin.
And it's not just that.
The main feature of the office is the basement.
A massive underground space created with my earth magic — you could call it a labyrinth.
The underground is divided into twenty rooms, each equipped with a teleportation magic circle.
Stepping on one is supposed to teleport you to a major location somewhere in the world…
…in theory.
Only about five teleportation circles are active so far.
The Kingdom of Asura, the Millis Holy Land, the Great Forest, the Dragon Kingdom, and the southern
That's it.
The reason is that to create a teleportation circle, one also has to install a corresponding circle at the destination.
And Orsted rarely goes to places where no people are.
Where there are lots of people, it's hard to set up teleportation circles.
So the number is still low.
Of course, I plan to increase it going forward.
--- Now, Paul.
My talk about work must have been boring — you probably didn't want to hear any of it.
So here's what you've been waiting for.
Let me tell you about the children. Your grandchildren.
First, my eldest daughter.
She's growing up splendidly.
Lucy just turned three the other day. She's gotten good at walking and runs around the house like a whirlwind.
She's picked up quite a few words, and whether it's Eris's influence or what, she speaks in a loud voice, so the house is lively.
Also, it seems Sylphie has been teaching her human language and magic lately.
Early education starting at three, I suppose.
Is Sylphie going to turn into one of those education-obsessed moms…
If she starts wearing triangular glasses, our nighttime lessons are going to get intense.
Well, putting Sylphie aside — Lucy.
Maybe it's because I haven't been around her enough.
Sometimes when I come home, she looks at me with a bewildered expression.
The "who is this guy?" look.
It's really sad.
But when Sylphie says, "It's Papa, say hello," she does say, "Welcome home, Papa."
She's so cute I could eat her up, but right after that she makes a "wait, what was Papa again?" face and hides behind Sylphie.
It's truly heartbreaking.
At this rate, she'll probably never respect me as a father.
Even knowing I chose this path, it still hurts.
I took Lucy to see Orsted once, just that one time.
I wanted to test whether Orsted's curse affected Lucy.
Whether what the Man-God said was true.
That's why I brought her.
The conclusion: the curse had no effect on Lucy.
The first time Lucy met Orsted, her eyes lit up.
She reached out for his silver hair and screamed, "Papaaa! Papaaa!"
As if to say, "So you're the real father?!"
I nearly killed Orsted on the spot.
I'm kidding. Sorry.
I didn't feel that strong a murderous impulse.
But still… it wasn't very fun, no.
To Lucy, who was used to seeing Sylphie's white hair every day, Orsted's similarly-colored hair probably made him look like family.
When I told her his name, she picked it up right away: "Os-te! Os-te!"
With a perfect native pronunciation.
Orsted caught me making a bitter face out of the corner of his eye, then hoisted Lucy onto his shoulders.
She was grabbing his hair so hard I thought she'd tear it out.
When I told her, "Don't pull his hair," Orsted replied with an amusing answer: "No matter. My Dragon God Fighting Spirit won't so much as flinch from this."
It seemed like he wasn't entirely displeased having my daughter warm up to him.
Of course — she's adorable.
But this also strengthened the credibility of the Man-God's words.
My descendants joining forces with Orsted to defeat the Man-God…
When I brought this up with Orsted: "Don't trust a word the Man-God says."
He gave me a scary glare.
Of course I'm not trusting him outright.
But I can't shake the feeling that not everything he says is a lie.
It might just be wishful thinking, though.
Still, I've gotten better at reading Orsted's mood lately, and when he was playing with Lucy, his mood was through the roof.
He probably finds it endearing when someone clings to him.
On top of that, after going through similar loops for so long, he must be happy to have encountered something new.
When you consider how many loops he's been through, I can only imagine how he feels.
As his subordinate, I want to bring Orsted enjoyable days.
Oh, I've gotten sidetracked.
As the word "children" implies,
It happened on a day of heavy snow.
Before the office was finished.
I'd wrapped up my mission and returned, and Orsted was there to greet me.
Having the boss personally welcome you home isn't all that unusual, really.
The cottage at the time only had one room, and my missions always included a report to Orsted anyway.
Orsted, whenever he finished his own work and had time before the next job, would often wait for me.
That day was no different — I was about to start my report when he spoke.
"Shouldn't it be any day now?"
That was his opening line.
Any day now — any day for what?
There was no need to think.
I'd been restless on the job myself, after all.
I never expected Orsted to be the one to bring it up, though…
But I'm only human.
When he said, "You can report later," I said, "Yes, sir," left the office, plowed through the snow like a Russell carriage, and headed home.
When I got there, Roxy was in her final month.
Right on the verge of giving birth.
If I'd been two days later, I wouldn't have been there for the delivery.
"Oh,
When I arrived, Roxy was panicking so badly it was almost pitiful.
Pale-faced, she kept saying "I'll be okay, right? I don't think I can do this" over and over, and she wouldn't let go of my hand.
Was Zenis — my mother — like that when she gave birth to me?
At the time, I only thought, "Roxy, you worry too much."
But Roxy's fears turned out to be justified.
The delivery was difficult.
The baby's shoulder got stuck.
Shoulder dystocia, I believe it's called.
I don't know the cause.
It might have been due to Roxy's small stature.
By Migurd years she was well within childbearing age, but with a half-blood child, the baby would be larger — and considering the size ratio, you could argue it was essentially a premature birth.
There's a high chance it was because of my human seed.
Roxy was in danger — mother and child both…
…except they weren't.
Aisha had experience as a midwife during Lucy's birth, so she was remarkably calm.
Everything went smoothly. No one made a single mistake.
And just like that, Roxy gave birth.
Safely.
Without needing a cesarean section. Without either mother or child dying.
She gave birth safely.
It was a girl.
Slightly larger compared to Lucy, perhaps.
She wasn't exactly chubby, but she had a bit of a stubborn look to her face.
I wonder who she takes after…
"Her eyes are just like Roxy's, and her mouth is just like Rudeus's," Sylphie said.
That stubborn face seemed to be a blend of Roxy and me.
Well, since she's our child, anything else would be a problem.
"If it's a girl, then
She was named Lara.
Lara Greyrat.
Something that became apparent shortly after she was born — she had the same hair color as Roxy.
A beautiful blue.
The defining trait of the Migurd tribe.
When Roxy and Sylphie saw it, they both made complicated expressions.
At first I didn't understand why they looked like that.
Roxy's hair color was beautiful, and Lara was a girl.
I had no doubt she'd grow up to be a lovely child.
But Sylphie explained.
You can get bullied just for having a different hair color.
This magic city has many non-human residents, but humans are still the majority.
And when you look significantly different from humans, you can become a target.
Whether Roxy's inherited hair color would be a misfortune for Lara… whether she'd be bullied…
I don't know yet.
But I want to make sure our family supports her properly.
As a side note, around the same time as Roxy,
And she did it with the practiced ease of a veteran — just like that, baby in arms.
I'd heard from Cliff that "it should be any day now," and the next time I saw them, Elinalise was back to her slender self, holding a child.
She truly is a seasoned professional when it comes to childbirth.
She's been through it over ten times by now.
The Grimolt family's first child was a boy.
Named Clive.
Clive Grimolt.
Elinalise was overjoyed. "I've given birth to an heir!"
An heir.
I personally don't think an heir has to be male.
Whether it's Lucy or Lara — if any of them wanted to follow in my footsteps and help Orsted, I wouldn't stop them.
The curse doesn't seem to affect them, either.
But one person was fired up by Elinalise's words.
Eris.
Up until then, she'd been working alongside me.
Think of her as a dispatched employee of the Orsted Corporation.
She'd stand by my side as my vanguard, my sword, cutting down every enemy that stood before us.
But after hearing Elinalise's declaration, it was as if she'd said "Next is my turn!" — and she started extracting herself from me without any regard for whether we were working or not.
It would have been strange if I hadn't been overwhelmed — and overwhelmed I was.
Every time, I was ravaged like a maiden in a — no, I'll spare you the details.
Anyway, whether it was bad luck or what, she had trouble conceiving.
Even the unflappable Eris seemed anxious about it.
After returning home, she was often seen consulting with Sylphie at night.
She didn't want me to know she was worried about it, so the details were kept from me, but I did overhear a terrifying remark like "Maybe we should do it more…"
If she goes any harder, she'll pull out every last hair and I'll run out of nosebleeds too.
But still.
It's a husband's duty to ease his wife's worries.
That's what I told myself, and I gave it my all.
I threw everything I had at it — starting with the Ogi○ method, watching our diet, dialing back my training…
All to ease her anxiety.
That was the official reason, anyway… it would be a lie to say I wasn't excited.
I heard that Zenis also struggled with infertility at one point.
Dad must have been just as fired up to ease her worries.
He was going at it every night back then, after all.
And the child born from all that was Norn, who's now attending school full of energy.
…But I digress.
Whether it was the effort paying off or not, Eris did successfully get pregnant.
It was the month after I eased up on her training.
It seems her daily hardcore training was the culprit.
Jumping, bouncing, punching, kicking — children are resilient, and they can be conceived even during vigorous activity, but Eris's intensity and frequency were off the charts.
It wouldn't be surprising if the freshly formed egg couldn't hold on and slipped away.
So Eris was taken off the dispatch roster.
She couldn't go out on jobs with me anymore, but she didn't seem to mind.
Rubbing her round little belly, she'd giggle happily.
Having known her since she was young, I'm filled with emotion.
The Eris I once knew has become a wonderful woman…
I'm sure the late
By the way, her pregnancy was discovered about a month ago from now.
She's currently four months along.
Thanks to morning sickness, she's been keeping quiet lately.
When I finish my next job and come back, she should be around five months.
I'm a little worried she'll start training hard again once she enters the stable period.
I sent a letter to
Ghislaine must be overwhelmed right now.
The King of Asura, who had been ill for a long time, has passed away.
The first prince, Gravel, is supposedly putting up a last stand, but it's nothing significant.
There's apparently no way Ariel can lose.
But the conflict seems like it'll drag on for another two or three years, so Ghislaine won't have any free time.
Once the baby is born, if I have any reason to head to the Kingdom of Asura, I plan to visit.
Incidentally, Eris only seems to be considering boy names for the baby.
So I've been secretly thinking of girl names on my own.
Whether it's a boy or a girl, as long as they're born healthy, that's all that matters to me.
That's the situation with my wives and children.
Between work, training, and family…
Even setting aside the fact that I'm not around my children as much as I'd like, I'd say I'm living a fulfilling daily life.
One last thing.
About Zenis's memories.
There's still no sign of them returning.
Her emotions, too, stopped changing at some point.
She hardly speaks at all.
I asked Orsted about it, but he says he doesn't know of any cure.
If even he doesn't know, I suppose I should accept that there may be none…
Then again, Zenis becoming an invalid during a loop is apparently a first for Orsted, so maybe there are mana-infused items for treatment that even he isn't aware of.
I want to keep searching without giving up.
But I also think all I can do is take it patiently, day by day.
Dad.
Once, in the Millis Holy Land, you scolded me.
You said I was neglecting my mother to worry about women.
I never intended that, but I ask your forgiveness for the reality that my mother has been pushed to the back burner.
I'll continue to do everything I can going forward.
With deepest respect, Rudeus --- I snapped the diary shut.
A diary written like a letter, addressed to no one.
But there are days when writing this kind of thing plants a seed of resolve inside me.
That resolve becomes powerful motivation and gets my body moving.
"All right, let's go."
Full of determination as always, I stood up.
My destination was the magic circle.
Time to get to work.