Seven Years Old

(Time skip 1 year; Rudeus age 7)

(Rudeus POV)

The last year passed extremely slowly for me. Time seemed to crawl by and everyday it was agonizing. Aside from a few momentous occasions, my days were spent in extreme boredom.

Zenith had given birth to my younger sister during their period of time. Her name was Norn.

Lilia had also given birth to a baby. Her name was Aisha, and she too was my sister…

News of Zenith's pregnancy had sent our household into celebration, but when Lilia had announced her own pregnancy it was instead extremely tense and awkward. Because even the most clueless person could figure out that it was Paul who was the father without Lilia needing to say it out loud.

What followed after was not the epic and devastating fight between husband and wife one would have expected. It was instead sad, and heart breaking to see all three adults of the Greyrat household looking absolutely crushed by the circumstances.

Zenith had almost chased Lilia out of the house if I had not pushed Paul to intercede on her behalf by shouldering all the responsibility of his extramarital affair.

I didn't know what went on behind closed doors between Paul and Lilia. While Paul was a scummy man whose history with scandalous affairs spoke volumes of his character, I could not deny noticing how Lilia looked at Paul on occasion. Undeniably, there had been lust on both sides.

Yet, chasing Lilia out while she was pregnant in the dead of winter was almost assuredly a death sentence. It might not be fair for Paul to adopt the role of the villain and shoulder all the blame for the affair, but it was at the very least the right thing to do.

Thankfully, Zenith was able to see reason and showed compassion to Lilia, albeit only after pummelling Paul into a bloody mess while crying uncontrollably.

Paul, to his credit, took her fists without resisting, and without protecting himself with Mana Reinforcement either. And while he was being punched, he still begged Zenith to forgive Lilia, pleading for her to stay, not for his own desires, but as an act of mercy for the long time servant of the Greyrat household.

Paul had to sleep in the cold living room for several weeks after, and Zenith had forbidden me from healing his wounds as well. Lilia was able to rejoin our household, continuing her role as our maid, and to my knowledge never slept with Paul again. This incident was thusly settled.

The other person that could keep me entertained throughout this year was Sylphiette. Training her in magic and swordsmanship helped me solidify my fundamentals.

While the quarter-elf girl was actually quite talented in magic, the same could not be said for her swordsmanship.

She had been able to reach the Intermediate Water God stage, but remained at the Beginner rank for Sword God and North God styles. Mana Reinforcement was also another aspect that she had difficulty grasping.

Since Sylphiette did not share the same sensitivity for mana I had, she could not understand the concept of layering mana on one's body or infusing her muscles with mana.

She was still able to reach a level of physical ability that far surpassed what a child her age was capable of, but she could not display inhuman strength like how Paul and I could.

This was because she had only half comprehended Mana Reinforcement. If I was able to multiply my strength by 10x using Mana Reinforcement, Sylphiette could only achieve 1.5x – 2x at most. It was a lot more than what most children her age was capable of, but it was far too poor by my standards.

Her magic, on the other hand, saw remarkable growth. She was able to reach Intermediate rank in Wind, Water, Healing and Detoxification magic, whereas her Fire and Earth magic was still stuck at Beginner rank.

Similarly to myself, she was also able to cast all these spells without incantations as well.

As a result, Sylphiette was also rather proficient in Magic Sword style. She had yet to reach the speed at which I could cast spells silently, not to mention performing sword techniques simultaneously, but it was a commendable effort.

I had high hopes for the girl, and I thought highly of her potential. She might never be able to reach my standards, but she would still be the proud first disciple of the great me.

However, aside from these minor distractions, I was still tremendously bored. Why?

Because my swordsmanship had reached the peak of what I could achieve with Advanced rank techniques.

After my first monster hunting trip where I killed a bunch of Copper Lizards, I started challenging the various monster nests that were in the vicinity of Buena Village.

Following Laws' beasthide map, I challenged and subsequently conquered seven different monster nests throughout the last ten months.

Assault Dogs, Direwolves, Two Tailed Foxes, Giant Vipers, Giant Spiders, Terminate Boars, and a Direbear.

The easiest of the bunch were the Assault Dogs, who were just oversized dogs that were more ferocious than regular dogs. They were E-ranked monsters, meaning particularly heroic civilians with no training would be able to take one down by themselves.

Giant Vipers and Giant Spiders were a little dangerous because of their venom, so I had to make sure I was never bitten by any of them.

Terminate Boars were C-ranked monsters. Amongst the monster nests I attacked, theirs was the hardest. However, even that would be an exaggeration because aside from their brutish strength and thick hides, the only thing they knew how to do was charge in a straight line. Evading with a side step and counterattack their flank was simplicity itself.

The most challenging monster I fought however did not belong to a nest. It was the Direbear, which was oddly enough a B-ranked monster that was rare for anyone to come across on the Central Continent.

The Direbear was not a monster I had actively been seeking out. Instead, I accidentally stumbled across its lair when I was on a regular hunting trip. It was also the first time in this new life of mine that I felt like I might actually die.

A B-ranked Direbear required an entire party of B-rank adventurers to safely take on. At that point, I was already comfortably in the realm of an S-rank adventurer. However, I had fallen into dire straits because I had been caught off guard by the sudden appearance of a Direbear.

Its speed, strength and ferocity had surprised me, and its claws sliced past my chest, leaving three long vertical lines gushing blood.

I had to frantically cast Advanced rank Healing magic on myself while I panicked and tried to run away. It was only after I managed to completely close my wounds while at the same time clearing my head before I calmed down and counter attacked.

My combat prowess had simply risen to a level that nothing in the vicinity of Buena village could challenge me, since C-ranked monsters were the most dangerous creatures within walking distance of the village I lived in.

My combat prowess did not rise from the addition of any new techniques or spells. It was purely from my battle instincts and 'fight IQ' being sharpened from repeated fights that had contributed to me being able to use my strength and techniques more effectively.

It was only with the repeated life-and-battles that squeezed out my potential, forcing me to think or react in ways that literally kept my head intact during fights. Redundant movement was minimized, excessive strength was eliminated, needless flourishes were gotten rid of.

The best evidence of my heightened strength was when I defeated Paul four months ago. Although my body growing taller and stronger was partly responsible as well, but if I had to put it in words, I learned how to fight more effectively, efficiently and with greater lethality.

Paul had to admit defeat when my wooden sword was pointed at his throat while his own sword had been smacked out of his hands. Even though I fought with my Magic Sword style instead of pure swordsmanship, it was still vindication that justified the efforts I had put into challenging monster nests.

Although it was extremely satisfying to finally break through the ceiling of martial prowess that was Paul, at the same time I felt like an astronaut who left Earth hoping to encounter aliens only to realize that humanity was alone in the universe.

'What now?' was the question that plagued me after overcoming Paul.

My swordsmanship had once more stagnated. And I also had a feeling that no matter how many more life-and-battles I participated in, further increase to my combat ability would only be incremental and even see diminishing returns disproportionate to the amount of effort I put in.

So, it was with this bubbling frustration and stifling stuffiness in my chest that finally led me to finally confront Paul and Zenith this night.