19 Meeting a Sword King

"Papa, Mama. I would like to leave the village and become an adventurer."

"Absolutely not."

Zenith immediately shut me down without hesitation while looking at me with stern eyes.

Paul on the other hand chuckled at my request, "I knew this day was coming."

"Papa did?"

He laughed, "Of course. How could I not know? You look like you have been constipating for the entire year. Honestly, you took longer than I thought you would to ask this."

I smiled. It seemed that Paul had realized my feelings of frustration without me even noticing. Were my expressions that transparent?

"Then you understand? Why I need to leave." I asked with a hopeful look.

Paul nodded with a smile, but wiped away his grin right after receiving a nasty glare from Zenith, "Ahem, I understand where you are coming from, but the answer is still no."

I frowned, "Why not? You know that I am strong enough to protect myself-"

"Because you are just a child!" Zenith shot back.

"Such a reason…" I bit my bottom lip bitterly.

"I have to agree with your mother here." Paul added, "You're only 7 years old. Even though you're a smart kid, there are still many things you don't know. So what if you can beat me in a fight? You are still way too inexperienced. Outside Beuna Village, you might be cheated, robbed, scammed and tricked without even realizing."

Right. Of course that was the reason. They didn't understand that I wasn't just a child. Having spent 7 years acting like one already felt suffocating to me. My adult brain demanded stimulation. It needed something that broke the boredom and monotony of leaving in this village. My heart craved dearly to pursue swordsmanship. It had already become a physical necessity.

But how could they understand any of this? To them, I was truly just a child. One who was strong enough to defeat Paul, an S-ranked adventurer, sure, but from their perspectives I was still lacking in things like common sense, general knowledge and a healthy dose of cynicism.

They thought I was an idealistic kid who didn't know better – someone whose edge of their world only extended to the perimeter of Buena Village. A naïve boy that thought of the outside world as rainbows and roses.

Yet I wasn't able to explain myself either.

"But how am I supposed to get experience if I never leave the village? That's a contradictory statement!"

"Those are things you are supposed to slowly learn as you grow up. It's just that you grew up too fast, Rudy…"

"And isn't it enough for you to go out fighting monsters once in awhile?"

Eh? They knew? Even though I did it secretly?

They could see the look of surprise on my face.

"What, you think we didn't know? We closed an eye because you never come back hurt, except for that one time you returned with those cuts on your coat that was covered in blood. We already knew what you were doing, even though you claimed you 'accidentally scratched yourself against a particularly sharp bush'."

I blushed. Hearing it from their mouths, that really was a stupid excuse. How could I have thought that they actually bought it?

"I…" I muttered before taking a deep breath, "Frankly, it's not enough. It has been awhile since I felt myself improve. Mama, Papa, I have never hid my dream from you. To establish my Magic Sword style as the supreme sword style that surpasses the three main stream sword styles is my goal. But I can already feel my skills dulling, my growth stagnating. I can sense that my path lies outside Buena Village. My future does not belong here."

Zenith did not say anything, but I could see that she was holding back emotions from my words. It broke my heart to see what I said had brought about unshed tears from someone I now truly considered a mother.

Lilia had not said anything in this family meeting as well. She must have felt it was not her place to interfere in this private family matter even though none of us thought of her as a stranger.

"What about us, your family? Or your friends, Sylphiette and the others. You will be okay with leaving us and going out all on your own?" Zenith asked, her voice a little cracked from holding back her tears.

I shook my head ruefully, "Of course I'm not okay with it. I know that I will miss everyone terribly, but even then I still think it is something I have to do. Norn and Aisha will still be here when I leave, and it's not like I will never come back to visit. And as much as I want to stay to teach Sylphiette more, I am not willing to compromise my ambitions just for her."

Paul stared at me without speaking. I couldn't tell what he was thinking behind his stony façade. He had told me the story of how he left his home when he was 12, so I knew that he understood how I felt. But the difference is a long five years, between how old I am now and how old he was when he left. It is a considerable age gap no matter how you looked at it.

Paul looked down in thought for a moment, and only after a minute of silence enveloped the family dining room did he speak.

"So in the end, you just feel that staying here is only holding back your potential, is that right?"

I hesitated for a moment before nodding. It did not sound like words that should have come out from a 7 year old, but that truly was what I felt.

My desire to improve my swordsmanship had reached a point where it had become a necessity – something as essential to me as eating and breathing. It was to the point that I felt like if I was told I could never a swing a sword anymore, I would be as depressed as when I had lost my legs in my previous life.

My father nods. "I understand. I think I might have a solution to your problem. Give me some time to give you an answer. No promises though."

Zenith and Lilia looked at him in surprise, whereas I beamed brightly. I had already expected them to say no, and I had actually considered whether I should just sneak away in the middle of the night. But since he said this, I might not have to leave my family on bad terms.

----

It has been one month since I asked my family if I could leave Buena village to be an adventurer. Even though Paul keeps asking me to wait patiently for his answer, I am getting impatient as well. I thought that he might have been trying to trick me to stay indefinitely while using maintain that excuse but today someone arrived at our house.

A dark skinned woman wearing a revealing outfit with rippling muscles and a heavily scarred body knocked on our door. She had greyish silver hair, and as explosive as her body was, the most surprising part of her were the beast-like ears on her head and a cat tail sticking out from her behind.

Paul, who had opened the door, greets her with a smile, "Hey muscles, it's good to see you after so long."

The woman nods coldly, though she still had faint smile as well, "Paul."

"Ghislaine! It's been so long!" Zenith warmly greets her before moving to give the woman a hug.

Towards Zenith, this woman had a much more pleasant response, smiling with genuine affection in her tone as she replies, "Zenith. How have you been?"

Ghislaine? Mm, Paul and Zenith has mentioned that name before. They were in an adventuring party together, all being members of Fangs of the Black Wolf.

I stood behind my parents awkwardly, while secretly checking out this woman.

To be honest, Ghislaine really was my type. I had never been into girly girls who caked themselves with makeup and wore expensive dresses. All my previous relationships back on Earth were with other athletes, so I appreciated a woman's toned, athletic body very much.

My parents and Ghislaine exchanged a few polite courtesies for a couple minutes before the woman approached me.

The beast woman was tall, and had a large bust as well. Looking up at her from my short body, she looked like a bronzed skin amazon huntress with her chest almost blocking her face. Yes, step on me mommy- I mean, nice to meet you mommy.

"Is this Rudeus?" She asked, her one eye that was not covered by an eye patch was indifferently evaluating me.

"Hi, I'm Rudeus. Nice to meet you miss Ghislaine." I greeted.

"Mm, he's polite. That's good. Shall we begin his test now?" She turned to my parents who exchanged knowing looks.

"Test? What test?" I questioned, confused at the sudden turn in conversation.

Ghislaine looked a little surprised, "You have not told him?"

Paul laughed, "We wanted to surprise him. So that he won't time to prepare. As his parent, I have the responsibility to help him with his request. But that doesn't mean we will make it easy for him."

He then turned to me, "Rudeus, remember a month ago I told you I had a solution to your problem?"

"Yes?"

"Well. She is the solution. Let me introduce her properly. Her name is Ghislaine 'Muscle Brain' Dedoldia. She is a Sword King."