38 Chapter 34: [[Turning Point 1]]
Arthur: "Phew... I'm sorry for that Shisho. It seems using that technique here is overkill."
Arthur bowed his head in apology.
Ghislaine: "No, its the right decision. Cut down your enemy before getting cut. Such is the Sword God Style."
Rudeus listened closely and contemplating on what Ghislaine said. Eris stomped her feet.
Ghislaine: "By the way Arthur, just call me Ghislaine."
Arthur: "No, Shisho is shisho. As someone who is going to teach me is natural to call you my Shishou!"
Ghislaine: "...Do what you want."
Eris: "Ghislaine, I demand you teach me that technique!"
Ghislaine: "Your not ready for that Ojou-sama. Atleast you should reach Advanced rank before learning that."
Eris: "Then why can he do it?!!"
Ghislaine: "He's a genius of beating his father my camrade in my adventuring days, who is a Advanced rank in all 3 schools in Swordsmanship. And even if you have the talent, you still need to train for years to reach on his level."
Eris cannot think of a way to refute Ghislaine's words. Rudeus patted her shoulders.
Rudeus: "Nii-san is a Saint-Ranked in Sword God Style and Water God Style. Even his North God Style is Advanced rank and can defeat father blindfolded."
Rudeus then showed a goofy smile.
Rudeus: "Don't think of fighting that monster. We can become rivals and sweat together every afternoon."
Eris: "Hmph!"
*Bang!*
Irritated by his face, Rudeus recieved the famed Boreas punch and lunched him to the flying to the sky.
Arthur: 'Team Rocket is blasting off again!!! Damn Eris. Your Thunderbolt attack sure is strong!'
-*-*-
After going on with that. Its time for Eris and Rudeus's sparring.
Today she gave both Eris and Rudeus a sword and made them practice fighting while giving them guidance.
Ghislaine: "Remember your attack stance, watch your opponent closely."
Eris repelled Rudeus's wooden sword with a dull thunk.
Ghislaine: "If you can move faster than your opponent, then read their movements and aim your sword. If you're slower than they are, then shift your body to avoid the trajectory of their blade."
Rudeus recieved a smack from Eris.
Ghislaine: "Watch the tips of your opponent's toes and predict their movement!"
And he took another blow.
Ghislaine: "Rudeus! Stop using your head! Just focus on moving in before your opponent and swinging your sword!"
Arthur: 'Tsk tsk tsk. Hahahaha look at how lame he is. ahahahaha.'
Ghislaine: "Eris! Don't stop your attacks! Your opponent hasn't surrendered yet!"
Eris: "Yes!"
(Few minutes later.)
Rudeus is lying with his back on the ground after being defeated by Eris.
Eris: "Rudeus has a long way to go, huh?!"
Eris crossed her arms and looked down at him, collapsed on the ground. Ghislaine scolded her.
Ghislaine: "Don't get ahead of yourself, Eris. You have been holding a sword for longer than he has, and you're older. Look at Arthur, despite being very talented he remains humble."
Rudeus: 'No. In his mind he must be thinking of (How lame could you be Rudy.) Kind of face.'
While Rudeus is thinking that, Arthur's aura changed in a monk that attained enlightenment.
Arthur: "Amihtaba. This humble monk is grateful."
Rudeus: "#$%@*&"
-*-*-*-
(Arthur POV)
We had break time after our sword practice. This time Rudeus wanted to go to the Library.
Arthur: "Rudy, I'm going outside. Want me to buy you something?"
Rudeus: "Hmmm... Nothing that I can think of."
Arthur: "I see. Then I'll be coming back maybe later."
Rudeus: "Alright. Be careful on your way."
Arthur: "Yeah yeah."
I waved him off as I already walking.
Arthur: 'Now that I think about it. Maybe I'll find a job myself.'
I already sold of the monster materials to the Adventurer's Guild with Lord Sauros name. Though its lower than expected.
Paul and Zenith didn't took account of them having bonuses if they are the ones who will sell it since they are S-class adventurers.
Arthur: '1200 Asuran Gold coins for 4 years of night hunting huh. Well its not like I was hunting everynight.'
With this kind of money you could have already start a living by yourelf. Be it a shop or a restaurant it should be enough for a decent capital.
Arthur: 'Should I work in a restaurant and cook? Nah... Don't have the time... Or maybe an adventurer? No, Quests will take days and even if I finished in in hours I don't have the time.'
Walking to the adventurers district full of decent looking men and women. It looks like only F-rank until B-rank at most can be find here. Adventurer's Guild in Roa city have many adventurers than most cities in the Asura Kingdom.
Looking across the Adventurer's Guild I found a weapon's shop. I entered maybe I'll find something good here.
???: "Hey there young man! Oh? Are you a noble of some sort? Excuse me Young Master take your time looking around."
I looked at the man who called out to me. He is bald with a buffed up body with a nicely trimmed beard. Looking like Uncle Erhard from the series 'The Rising if the Shield Hero.'
It seems he called me Young Master since I'm wearing noblelike clothes.
Arthur: "Ah, good morning. Then I'll help myself."
The shop is big and inside are some young adventurers looking for equipment or buying things for maintance of their equipment.
Arthur: "Oohhhh... Swords huh. Looks like they are in various quality."
Secretly I touched a sword that looks decent. I held it with both hands.
Arthur: '[Trace On]'
'Judging the concept of creation'
...
Arthur: 'Slightly inferior on my sword huh.'
After that I used [Trace On] on every decent quality weapons I can find. Swords, short swords, daggers, shields, and even some Armors.
Looking around for more I was very focused on what I am doing. I was behind on some shelves for knives used for peeling monster materials.
???: "...Onichan"
Arthur: "Hmm? Ah!"
I turned around to the cute voice of a girl. She looks around 4-5 years old. She had maroon colored hair and her face have dirt on them that looks like she's playing on the streets. Her clothes is also covered in dirt but it can be seen that it look like she worked at something. But the most recognizable is the eyepatch on her right eye.
Girl: "Onichan... Anone anone~ I smithed a sword! Will you buy it for me? If you buy it for me Papa will teach me."
Arthur: 'C-cute...'
Arthur: "I-I see. Can you let me see it?"
???: "Yes!"
She picked up a weaponlike object covered in ragged cloth to sheath it. As I peeled it I saw a funny looking sword that looks out of place on some areas. Sharp edges to some parts are not equal.
Arthur: '[Trace On]'
...
Arthur: 'Very poorly made, but... It contains the spirit of a blacksmith. Although it is weak, it did exist. This weapon was made with utmost care. Even though I say its poorly made, it just can't compare to a professional's work. But its several times better than normal beginners and apprentices.'
Arthur: "I'll buy it."
With a big brother smile I said to this little girl.
???: "Really?"
She looked at me with her eyes sparkling.
Arthur: 'C-cute. Ahhhh!! I miss Norn-chan and Aisha-chan. Uhuhu I want to go home.'
Arthur: "Yes. What's your name?"
Hefa: "Hefaestus! My name is Hefaestus."
I reached to my coin pouch. Inside is 200 Asuran Gold Coins. I picked up 1 Gold Coin to her.
Arthur: "I see Hefa-chan huh. Here is your money."
Hefa: "Thank You Oniichan. With this Papa will teach me!"
Papa?
Arthur: "May I know who's your papa?"
Hefa: "Papa is there. Papa!"
She pointed in the front of the shop where the Bald Buffed Middle Aged man is welcoming customers. He turned his face to us while Hefa is waving his hands to him.
(Papa): "Oohh. Hefaestus what is it?"
His face went to dad mode as she saw Hefa to him.
Hefa: "That onichan bought my sword! You will teach me right papa?"
???: "Hahaha okay! A promise is a promise. Papa will teach you."
Hefa: "Yay!"
As he patted her head she's gleaming with joy that makes your heart melt. Then she ran to me
Hefa: "Onichan! Papa will teach me on making swords! Thank You for buying my sword!"
Arthur: "Hahahahaha. Is that so? As long as your happy."
The middle aged man who is the girl's father walked towards us.
Erhard: "Welcome Young Master. I'm sorry that my daughter has been troubling you. My name is Erhard and I am a humble blacksmith and an artisan, I am the owner of this weapon shop."
Arthur: "Ahhh... Don't worry about formalities Erhard-san. My name is Arthur Greyrat. I'm just here to browse on some items."
Erhard: "Greyrat... Is Young Master Arthur from the Greyrat house?"
Arthur: "Yes. But I'm only an employee hired by Lord Phillip so I can hardly be called a noble... You can just call me anything, Uncle(Ojisan)."
Erhard: "Ahaha is that so, then I'll call you Oni-san."
Arthur: 'Oni-san, Hahaha he really is like the uncle on Shield Hero.'
Arthur: "Uncle... Can I work as your apprentice?"
Erhard: "Oni-san, wants to learn smithing?"
Arthur: "Yes. I have always wanted to try making swords with my own hands myself. Is that okay Uncle?"
Hefa perked her ears hearing that. Being with this cool and kind oni-san learning smithing makes her happy.
Erhard: "Don't you have work Ani-san?"
Arthur: "Yes but I'm free every morning. But I might only come here few times a week if I'm busy. I'll be glad if you can atleast teach me the basic stuff. Is that okay?"
Erhard: "Hhaha no problem! I've already considered hiring some apprentices since I'm getting my hands full these most of the days. It will be nice if I have some helping hands from time to time. You can start coming tommorow!"
Arthur: "Then please take good care of me Shishou."
I lowered my head as I told him.
Erhard: "Shishou huh."
He was a bit surprised. Is that really surprising?
Hefa: "Onichan~!"
She jumped at me raising her hands.
Arthur: "Please take good care of me too Hefaestus-chan."
I patted her head gently and she smiled with her teeth shown brightly.
After saying my goodbyes to them I continued on walking around the city.
Arthur: "I wonder if Norn and Aisha is alright. I want to see them again. Play with them and read them stories again. Oh wait... I can just send them some good things from here, then post a quest in the adventurer's guild to deliver them."
-*-*-*-(Shopping Continues)-*-*-
Walking around to buy some things. I reached the Merchant District. It is filled with expensive High Quality shops. Lower to Mid class nobles can be frequently seen inside the shops and some are walking wirh their servants.
Arthur: 'Now let's see.'
Its still early in the afternoon as I have a lot of time browsing for items.
Arthur: "Ohhh... So many jewelries, as expected they are expensive"
One of the shops.
Arthur: "Ohhh... Dolls huh, good I will buy some for Norn and Aisha."
On the other side.
Arthur: "Ohhh... An Aphrodisiac... Wait what!? How perverted displayed for everyone to see! I'll buy it!!"
After an hour of buying I finished on selecting on what to buy them. I have a gift for every one of them. My list is like this and my expense.
Paul- Aphrodisiac= 10 Gold Coins
Zenith- A beautiful pendant famous by Milis believers= 12 Gold Coins
Lilia- Sexy Lingerie Underwear both bra and panty= 10 Gold Coins
Aisha and Norn- Custom made plushie dolls identical of the whole family(Paul,Zenith,Lilia, Aisha, Norn, Arthur and Rudeus)= 5 Gold Coins.
Total: 38 Gold Coins.
Arthur: 'If this is Japan I have already spent 380,000 Yen. Well money is supposed to be spent or it will just be a pile of shiny stones.'
After that each items I wrote a letter. Going to the Adventurer's Guild I request a quest for delivery.
For making a request on delivery they are classified as D-rank quests and it only costs 8 Silvers. 1 Gold Coin = 10 Silver Coins. You can also pay more so that the one sending them is higher ranked and more reliable.
I chose it to be a C-ranked it cost 3 Gold Coins. After that the receptionist gave me a receipt for delivery.
-*-*-*-
Arthur: "Haah... Its almost night time. Oh right I'll head to the bookstores for now."
Searching the Bookstores using Haki its easily found, just a few turns from here and there.
As I entered the bookstore the owner just humphed at me.
Arthur: 'Is that how your supposed to treat your customers? Whatever.'
I entered the bookstore and nothing caught my interests really. Browsing for a few minutes I found something Interesting.
{Sig's Summoning Magic} -> 10 Gold Coins.
Summoning magic huh, I'll buy it.
*Kaching!*
-*-*-*-
Its already 5 in the afternoon when I arrived at the manor. The guards wanted to opene the gate for me but I told them stop and I'll just jump over. With my physical strength its normal, Its just over 5 meters.
I entered the room where Rudeus is teaching both Ghislaine and Eris. The subject seems Arithmetic
Arthur: "Hey Rudy are they alright?"
Rudeus: "Oh. So you've come Nii-san. They are steadily learning."
I also started helping them as Eris is now almost getting used to subtraction.
-*-*-*-
3rd POV
(Several Days later as the package arrives.)
The Greyrat Family is in a sad mood. Paul the head of the house was ignored by his wife until now. Ever since Arthur and Rudeus moved away Zenith finally dropped her act on getting along with Paul and started to ignore him.
Right now Zenith is taking care of both Norn and Aisha. Now that they started crawling Zenith is training them how to crawl.
Though Arthur is the abnormality. Crawling after a couple of weeks of being born then walking after a month. They never knew and even Arthur that ever since he was still on his mother's womb, he is already wearing a thin layer of Touki.
Zenith: "Alright, come this way~ Just come to me Its easy~ You both are so good at crawling now~ But could you all make it into me~?"(DIO: Hou... Your approaching me?)
After a few seconds Aisha came first to Zenith.
Zenith: "Aaww!! Yay! You made it! Good job Aisha!"
Norn seeing them starts to cry.
Norn: "Waaaahhh!!"
Lilia: "Oh no! Norn..."
Zenith: "Don't worry Lilia I've got this."
Lilia is about to go and comfort Norn but Zenith intervened.
Zenith: "Norn, I'm still here waiting for you come to mama~"
Norn slowly crawled to Zenith and finally reached her.
Zenith: "Good you made it too yosh yosh~"
As she patted both of them her lovely smile can be seen taking care of them.
(Adventurer): "Delivery for the Greyrat Residence!"
Lilia: "Then madame I'll get it."
Lilia came back with a few packages. Paul signed them it so that it is already said it was delivered.
Paul: "Now from who would send us this?"
Each package has a Name for each of them even Norn and Aisha.
-*-*-*-
Paul opened his package but quickly hid it when he realized what is inside. He saw a letter with a seal.
[ To my perverted dear father,
Rudy and I are okay here so don't worry about us. Sure its tough in the early days but its going alright now. Don't worry I didn't send a letter to Sylphy.
...
...
...
PS: I know that you're getting ignored by mom so use my gift to reconcile with her. I'm sure she'll be head over hills with this 'love potion' I bought tehee~. Maybe you could even have Mom and Lilia-kaasan together at once, just ask mom's permission first Ahahaha.
Your beloved son,
Arthur Greyrat. ]
Paul: 'Seriously this kid.'
Paul really felt he's being made fun of by his own son. He can only laugh it off as he also knew he just wants to help him.
Paul: 'You should think on ways to handle the Boreas princess kid.'
-*-*-*-
Zenith opened her and saw a Milis Pendant made in high quality materials.
Zenith: 'Who could have given this to me?'
She saw inside also a sealed letter and gasp when she read that Arthur sent it.
[ To my beautiful and lovely mother Zenith,
Hi mom I really missed you. I hope when we came back you'll pat my head and tell me more of your adventuring stories with Dad, Ghislaine and with your party.
Is Norn and Aisha okay? Are they already walking now? If they are then as expected of my little sisters! Hahahaha
Mom this pendant I saw it shopping around and they said they are popular to Milis believers so I bought them for you. I hope they are alright for you.
Ghislaine shishou is also teaching me very well, dad just sucks. Rudy has been doing his best so don't worry about him.
There is also a gift for my little sisters. They are custom made by a merchant that is a good auntie.
...
...
...
PS: If Dad and you are fighting I won't say to forgive him, he deserved it anyway. And if I'm selfish please help Lilia-okaasan to mom. Even if she's the 2nd wife, she also deserved to be love by the father of her child. I'm sorry for being selfish mom, I hope you won't hate me.
Your belove son,
Arthur Greyrat ]
Zenith: 'I missed you too Arthur. Take care of your brother for me.'
Zenith teared up a little as she missed her two little boys. Even if its just a month, she's already been longing to see her sons.
Zenith: '5 years... They will become 12 by then.'
-*-*-*-
Lilia opened hers and when he saw what's inside, her mind blacked out for a few seconds.
Lilia: 'Arthur-sama this...'
She couldn't believe what she just got inside.
Now that Arthur and Rudeus is not here. She's getting more and more insecure on her status as the 2nd wife. She even rurned back to her ways on treating them as 'young masters' again.
She found a letter and opened to read the contents.
[ To my dear mother Lilia,
Hello Lilia-kaasan. Is the household fine? I'm sure father had been ignored by mother nowadays haha how pitiful.
I missed your hand made tea specialized by you mom. The tea here might be more expensive and more tasty but they can't even compared yours! Even Rudy has missed them when we have our tea time together.
Is Aisha doing fine? I hope you won't treat her as someone lesser than Norn because she was the daughter of the 2nd wife. No matter what she's also my little sister so they are equal.
There is also a gift for my little sisters. They are custom made by a merchant that is a good auntie.
...
...
...
PS: My gift here is a tool to give you more confidence on your womanly charms. Discuss with mother how to share father on their nightly activities. Of course if mom will consent. Ahahaha
Your beloved son,
Arthur ]
Lilia: 'Arthur-sama... I can't.'
Seeing the letter she still felt guilty on seducing Paul that almost made the family fall apart. Even if Arthur and Rudeus had already forgave her, she still can't forgive herself.
-*-*-
Let's talk about Hefaestus.
When her mother was pregnent of her, she died when Hefaestus was born. Her father became sad but moved on and took care of her.
She also has difficulties that her right eye is in different color than normal. It can only be thpught of in this world as either she is a blessed child if it doesn't cause any harm, or a cursed child if something harm is done.
Their family business is of course blacksmithing and making magic tools and items.
When she askd her father about what kind of person is her mother. He will always say 'She's a talented Artisan'.
3 years old she started showing interests on swords, armors and magic tools. She declared to her father that she also want to learn blacksmithing and asks her father to teach her.
Her father of course rejected her saying she was too young. But she cried when her father said no and become persistent. Then her father said 'Then make something by your own hands and sell them.'.
Her father said this to make her gave up. Even is she made something, with zero techniques and experience she can't have make even something decent.
Hefaestus on the other hand took this as a motivation and prepared to make her first sword with her own small hands. If other people saw this they would scold the father for letting a child work on dangerous things.
She turned to work and surprisingly she made her first product. Albeit low quality, its something that can't be made when crafting it the first time.
Only Hefaestus knew what her ability is, but as a child she thinks its only normal and other people can do it too. Its all thanks to her right eye.
Her eye can see the mana flow of the materials like ores, and gave her high affinity on weapon smithing. When she sees people, she can discern who has high affinity to wield weapons.
For example, she's always hiding behind the curtains looking at every customers. Each person gave of different colors on their potential. Some gave off brighter light than the others. But all of them make her see as negligible light barely lighting. The strongestshe saw is from a veteran B-ranked adventurer swordsman giving of the same brightness as a torch.
But one day, as usual observing every customers she saw an oniisan blinding golden light entering their shop.
Hefa: 'Too bright. He's the one!'
She didn't know what 'the one' she said, but she instinctively know he's someone special.
Hefa: 'If I can sell this sword father will finally teach me.'
But when she looked at her creation, she was ashamed. How can she sell her trashy sword to someone who gave off this much brightness.
But she first had to try.
Hefa: "...Onichan."
Arthur: "Hmm? AH!"
This time,
and that's how their destiny entangled at each other,
That made the Human God(Htogami) afraid of the future...
