Saint-ranked Teacher & Weird Feelings

"I'm Roxy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

And there she was, the home tutor hired to teach us everything from arithmetic to advanced magical theory, starting today.

She was clad in brown, wizardly robes, her blue hair styled into braids, her posture prim and proper. Her white skin looked untouched by the sun, and her eyes were somewhat sleepy.

Her expression didn't exactly radiate sociability, and despite her lack of glasses, she looked like the sort of girl who liked to hole up in a library with her nose in a book.

In one hand, she carried a bag, and in the other, she held a staff befitting a magician.

The family came to greet her together, with my brother in Paul's arms while I stood casually by Zenith's side, staring at her mesmerizing ocean-like locks of hair.

Her first impression was quite good; it must be because she seemed mature for her age.

Was she from the Mage's Guild?

A prodigious child of a famous magician?

I only watched the first episode, so I could be wrong. However, her aura somehow felt a little different from that of humans.

Was she of a different race? Perhaps.

Our family of four—only Greyrats—stared intensely at her for a moment. Paul and Zenith seemed shocked, their eyes also fixated on her hair. As expected, something was definitely weird about her, though not in a bad way.

"Oh, uh, are—are you the home tutor?" Zenith finally asked.

"Aren't you a little, uh..." Paul managed.

With that said, my stupid brother also let out his own opinion, "You're little."

"Hey, you're sure one to talk," Roxy snapped back. Her angry eyes glared at Rudues for a moment before calming down.

With everyone saying one or two words, it would look bad if I stayed quiet. So, bowing my head a little, "Forgive my brother, Roxy-sensei. From what I can see, you're not only pretty, but also someone worthy of respect..." came out of my mouth in a single breath.

Nailed it.

Although somewhat cheesy, it was alright.

Now, where are my praises?

Though they never came.

Focusing my eyes on her face, which now had a slight blush, I noticed Paul's smirk directed at me, Zenith's embarrassed expression with half-closed eyes, and Rudues's open mouth as if he had witnessed something unexpected.

Finally, I understood what I had just said.

Ughh, crap...

Why did I say that? I could have said, 'I'll be in your guidance,' or something like that.

I just spoke what came to my mind, but I usually don't do such rookie mistakes...

Why then...

Wait, don't tell me, I...

I was charmed by her?

Distracted for a moment, I calmed my mind and refocused my thoughts.

Problems that could be solved by money or an apology weren't the real issues. So, I decided to go with the second option in this situation and apologize quickly.

However, someone else beat me to it. "I appreciate your words, but you should save those sweet lines for your special someone," it was Roxy herself. She'd recovered from the sudden embarrassment and responded with an unusual smile. Yet, I could tell, being accustomed to it myself, that she was faking that smile.

I simply nodded in response, not wanting to disrespect her well-intended yet hollow words.

Well, she's cooking something, huh...

Afterwards, Roxy broke the silence again and asked, "So, where is this other student of mine? If I remembered correctly, I was supposed to teach two students, yet I've only seen one," while pointing her finger in my direction.

"Oh, that would be this boy right here," Zenith replied, patting Rudues slightly in Paul's arms.

Listening to Zenith's words and observing Rudues's cheeky smile, Roxy made a deadpan expression before sighing, "Ugh, this happens sometimes," she muttered under her breath. "Kid shows signs of growing up a little fast, and the damn parents get it into their heads that he's got a special talent."

Oh, that sounded a little... Rude?

"You say something?" Paul asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, nothing," she replied. "I'm just not sure that this little kid would be able to understand the principles of magic."

Well, she sure has a point... A normal kid about our age won't even understand human language, much less comprehending complex magic theories...

"Oh, don't you worry," Zenith said, brimming with motherly pride. "Our little Rudy here is a rare talent."

Hmm, If I've also cast an Intermediate rank spell like Rudues, I wonder how she would react... No, I did nothing wrong... If I had shown her my talent, my future nights would be even more annoying than they already are...

Yet again, Roxy sighed. "All right, then. I suppose I'll just have to do what I can." She sounded resigned, as if she had already decided it was futile.

...

"Okay, so this magic textbook here… Actually, before we get to that, how about we see how much magic can both of you use, alright?"

Roxy had taken us into the yard for our first lesson. While Rudues sat on a chair, I stood properly next to our teacher, as Lilia had taught me over these years. Noble customs, was it? Quite interesting, I'd say.

That aside.

Until now, everything was progressing as I remembered from the anime. However, my past knowledge of the plot didn't matter either way, because once this lesson finished, the only thing awaiting me next would be the unknown.

Because I was lost in my thoughts, Roxy's sudden voice caught me off guard.

"First, I'll demonstrate. Let the vast and blessed waters converge where thou wilt and issue forth a single pure stream thereof—Waterball!" As Roxy chanted her incantation, an orb of water about the size of a basketball formed in her palm.

She then hurled it at high speed towards one of the trees in our yard. However, just before it could reach the tree, I flicked my finger slightly to control the wind around the launched Waterball, easily altering its trajectory. As a result, it flew past the tree and crashed outside our house.

"Ehhh," Roxy's eyes widened as she murmured, "Strange... Why it went outside, even though I aimed correctly?"

Rudues also looked a little surprised but, without any hesitation, started to clap as if Roxy was performing some circus show. "Amazing, Sensei!" he praised.

Geez... You can do that much too, can't you? Clapping aside, saying 'amazing' on top of that when she clearly missed her target sounds more like sarcasm to me...

However, unlike what I thought, Roxy didn't seem satisfied, so she tried to shoot the Waterball at the same tree once again.

"Sensei, that tree is one of Mom's favorites. I'm pretty sure she will be angry if you take it down," I finally decided to intervene. Although doing the same thing wouldn't be a problem, I was worried that a Mage as skilled as Roxy would probably see completely through my trick the second time.

"Ah," Roxy panicked upon hearing my words, cancelled her incantation, and put her wand down. "Whew! Safe," she breathed out in relief.

Once her mind settled down, she looked in our direction and instructed, "Alright, then. Both of you will demonstrate the same spell to me now." She touched her chin with one hand and added, while pointing in my direction, "Since you're the older brother, how about you go first?"

"..." Rudues's face reddened immediately when he heard this.

Seeing his embarrassed reaction, I wanted to laugh out loud but barely managed to suppress it. "Roxy-sensei, Rudues is the older twin, you know..." I cleared up the misunderstanding, deciding to give my brother some dignity this time. It would be bad if he lost his self-esteem because of me one day. Giving him some leeway in these situations wouldn't affect me anyway.

"Ah, is that so," she raised an eyebrow before looking at both of us deeply with her half-opened eyes. "Anyways, since he's the older one, I guess there is no problem if he goes first..." she said.

Listening to our conversation, Rudues straightened his head and ultimately winced in my direction. He showed a thumbs up from behind his back and smiled proudly. "Hehe, I guess I've no choice then..."

He stretched his right arm towards a large stone in the yard and started to chant the incantation. But after uttering a few words, "Let the vast and blessed waters…" he stopped and just shouted without holding back, "Waterball!" The next instant, a spell the same size as Roxy's manifested and charged at the targeted stone. As the Waterball, at its maximum velocity, crashed into the stone, a few small cracks appeared on its surface.

Hmm, forgot the incantation, huh?

Well, since he can do voiceless incantations, it's not that surprising...

For me, that is...

Rudues looked proud, but the same could not be said for Roxy. Her shocked eyes stared at Rudues without blinking. "You... cut your incantation off, didn't you?" she asked.

"Uh," Clearly, he was panicking for some reason. Perhaps he didn't want to attract unwanted attention like me? Although he did fire the chantless Waterball spell without a second thought, it wasn't like he completely cut the incantation.

He should be fine if he plays his cards right, I guess... Wait, doesn't this mean I have to do the same then? I already showed him I can do voiceless incantations as well last year, so if he tells her the truth, it would also implicate me... Ah...

"Yes..." Rudues answered.

"Do you usually cut your incantations short like that?" she further asked, her voice calm and collected.

"I usually, uh… don't use them at all."

"Not at all?!" Roxy's eyes were wide with shock and disbelief as she looked down at Rudues. She quickly regained her composure, however. "Ah, yes, now I get it. That makes sense. Are you feeling tired right now, then?"

"A little, but I'm all right."

"I see. Well, the size and force of your Waterball was just fine."

"Thank you."

Ooh, look at this little... Does he really have to tell the truth for no reason? Now, I can no longer hide myself or else he'll surely know that something's weird about me hiding my talent... Ah, what a pain...

It wasn't that I was worried about Roxy discovering my talent, given her generally aloof demeanor. However, the real concern was my parents, especially my overly excited mother. I was damn sure that once she found out both her sons had a rare talent for magic, she would become relentless. Ah, just because of this stupid brother of mine, my already chaotic nights would be completely wrecked.

"Fu..." I sighed silently.

Oh well, it was bound to happen one day or another. No need to hold myself back anymore, I suppose.

"Alright, my turn!" I interrupted their little chat and successfully attracted their attention.

"Right!" Roxy said, her face clearly showing her intentions. Her eyes were focused intently on my hands, as if to say, (You too?)

Rudues, who had been grinning earlier, stopped and fixed his curious eyes on my hands.

Even though it would be my second time showing magic to someone else, I didn't waver. Normally, under such circumstances, I would merely launch a simple spell like Waterball since I did not intend to attract attention. However, this time, it was different. From the moment I saw this girl, I wasn't behaving like my normal self. Perhaps subconsciously I was really charmed by her hair, because now that I think about it, I even had a thing for blue hair in my past life. Not that I wanted her to spread her legs for me—no, it was nothing like that. This was simply a weird feeling that I'd never felt before.

Hahh...

Clearing my head of unnecessary thoughts and suppressing this new, unknown feeling, I focused all my concentration to summon the Waterball spell that I had cast only three times. The first was when I initially learned it, the second was when Rudues wanted to show off and I had no choice but to demonstrate every spell he did in a single try, and the third was a few months ago when I was experimenting and successfully created a new spell.

Lifting my right hand and pointing my index finger at the fleeting cloud, my white-colored magic power burst out like a tide and transformed into a massive Waterball almost the size of our house. Although it looked like an advanced rank spell, it was simply my Waterball spell by all means. I did feed it maximum input, so this much size was pretty obvious. Now onto the shape and speed. After setting the size, I compressed this massive Waterball floating above our house, and as I did, its form changed into a mountain eagle with wings twice my height. Lastly, as I gave it the speed of a fired bullet, the eagle made of compressed water flew into the sky. In a few seconds, it arrived next to the aimed cloud and completely blew it apart. Yet, even after that, my spell didn't stop and continued to charge upward until it entirely disappeared from my sight.

With that much force, all the water must have evaporated already. Hmm, although I haven't mastered the change in the nature of my magic power, doing this much isn't a big deal, after all. It's not like that eagle was alive... Hmm, perhaps it is actually possible for me to create lifeforms after mastering this nature change. Well, I'm looking forward to it...

Shifting my gaze toward the audience, I was finally satisfied after observing their reaction.

Both Rudues and Roxy had not looked away from the sky, as their heads were still tilted in the direction where my spell had gone.

The real satisfaction came from their widened eyes and completely open mouths.

Yes, that's what I wanted to see...

Hmm, it's not good for me to be the only one enjoying this...

"Roxy-sensei?" I spoke. "Was my little spell up to your standards?"

"..."

However, she didn't respond.

"Sensei?"

"A-ah, did you say something?" She finally replied, though her eyes still showed how incredulous she felt.

Hah, now that I think about it, I haven't even properly introduced myself yet...

Definitely her fault...

Damn, I have to get my shit together...

She looks like an early teenager; there is no way I'd fall for her...

Though her hair...

"Forgive me, Sensei, for introducing myself so late," I said, bowing my head slightly as I introduced myself properly like a perfect student. "This humble one is called Xenos Greyrat. I hope our time together as teacher and student will be a good one."

Roxy's intense eyes gazed at me for a moment before calming down. "Oh, Xenos, huh? I'm Roxy Migurdia, from Demon race, and also a Water Saint. And yes, I also hope our time together may be fruitful for each other... Though, I don't think it will be too long," her last words were almost a murmur, but I still heard her correctly.

Ooh, did she lose confidence because of us? Wait, that's not important. I won't let her go so easily, anyway. But, my guess was correct, huh. So she wasn't from the human race, after all.

Demon race... Interesting...

"Wait! Before anything, what was that spell you cast?" she quickly asked, and as she did, my previously stupefied brother's ears perked up. "That wasn't the Waterball spell, was it?"

"Ah, that... No, it was definitely the Waterball spell, Sensei," I replied, my hands already moving. "You see, after I cast the spell, I intentionally changed its form to that of a mountain eagle, and as for the speed, I just thought of maximum speed, and it turned out like that," I explained briefly while demonstrating by shaping the conjured water from utensils to myself and finally to Roxy.

"You can control your magic power to such a level?" she muttered, her eyes shining. "Impressive!"

Well, to say the least, even I felt a bit of terror at my own talent. Manipulating my magic power came naturally to me, like an intrinsic ability. Initially, this control was limited to managing the magic power within myself, but now I could even manipulate my conjured spells without any problem.

For instance, if I cast a Fireball spell, I could reshape and resize it as I desired, provided I had enough magic power, before finalizing it by setting the speed.

Once I demonstrated the entire process to Roxy, she had a hidden smirk plastered on her face, which didn't go unnoticed by me. "Fufu, it seems my luck is quite good after retiring. It's definitely worth training these kids..." she muttered to herself.

Sigh, we can clearly hear you...

While Roxy seemed in good spirits, Rudues had a look of boredom on his frustrated face, as if he couldn't stand this any longer.

Afterward, Roxy's excitement was evident as she said, "Alright, let's move on to the next spell!" She eagerly flipped through the pages of the magic book she had brought.

Though she said this, a voice quickly echoed from our house, causing us to look back at the source.

"Heyy!!" Standing next to the door was Paul, holding a glass full of beer and waving at us. "Come on! Hurry up!! Food is ready..."

Ah, right...

To celebrate Roxy's first day, Mother had decided to throw a little surprise celebration, which of course meant more food. However, I didn't mind, since the food cooked by Mother was absolutely top-class. Her culinary skills were unexpectedly even better than our maid, Lilia's.

I wonder where she learned it...

The moment Paul announced the food was ready, it wasn't me or Roxy who moved first, but Rudues. Without a second thought, he bolted straight to Paul, not even glancing back.

Seeing his childish reaction, I smirked. Since he had chosen to reveal his true talent, I didn't mind doing the same. Maybe this incident would push him to become more diligent and curb his previous perverted tendencies. Despite my dislike for people like him—mostly because he reminded me of my uncle—he was still my blood-related brother in this life. I wasn't planning on being lenient while training him from now on.

Gazing at Roxy, who seemed hesitant to step into her new life in an unfamiliar house with new people, I smiled slightly and extended my hand. "Shall we go?" I asked.

Her cheeks turned a little red as she felt embarrassed, but she ultimately accepted my hand. "T-thanks," she muttered before playfully smacking my head with her other hand the next moment. "Cheeky brat, didn't I tell you to save your sweet words for someone special?"

Her hands are soft... No!

"Ah, Sensei, but I was doing exactly what you said..." I responded, almost surprised at my own words.

Roxy seemed momentarily confused before she sighed and said, "Alright, let's leave it at that for now. We can resume our class early tomorrow morning."

I took a moment to calm myself down, realizing the problem was even bigger than I had initially thought. Old habits were indeed hard to break. Even though I wanted to live this life anew, I had deliberately ignored the fact that the real challenge lay within myself.

It'll be hard, but I have no choice but to change... After all, I wasn't anything praiseworthy on Earth... Being a womanizer...

To her response, I nodded and we quickly made our way to the house—my house, or rather, our house.

Let's hope that living with Roxy wouldn't disrupt my simple daily life. I thought, as my eyes and mind remained fixed on our hands and the soothing warmth her touch radiated.

"Stop that, will you? I can see where you're looking," Roxy said, blushing. She pulled her hand away, glanced at my face for a moment, and entered the house. Before she closed the door, she added, "About earlier, what you said... No, never mind. Let's go..."

Earlier?

O-oh, does she mean that...

So she was feigning ignorance, huh? Wait, does that mean I have a chance?

I tried to stop her, intending to ask her out, but she was already inside the house, seated with the other family members around the dining table.

Hmm, I guess I can wait... until we're both ready.