Turning Point

Zenith POV

If someone were to ask what was on her mind most of the time these days, it would be her beloved son Rudeus who was now five years old as of today! It was finally his fifth year birthday!

He was just the cutest and most precious thing in the world and you can not convince her otherwise! Though he was still a momma's boy and liked to be spoiled a little too much, he would listen to almost all of her motherly advice and mostly abided by them, and was quite responsible with any given task which had served to quell any sort of worry she would have had otherwise had it been not so. Also she had secretly watched some of his interactions with his new friend Sylphiette and was surprised by how gentlemanly and caring he had acted towards the girl. His surreptitious gazes at her when the little elf girl was busy practicing magic revealed that he had developed feelings for her, which honestly didn't surprise Zenith that much as she was expecting something like this from her son who had made it very clear how his nature was. At least her lessons in how to treat a lady payed off quite well! She was sure that her little boy would grow up to become someone capable and reliable, despite being so much like his father in that 'aspect'.

By that, what she meant was of course his sexual desires. Her son was becoming increasingly hornier by the day which was beginning to worry her. Not just because of all the lustful gazes and underwear stealing which he still thinks she hadn't noticed yet, but also because of their 'sessions' which were slowly escalating as time went. Lately when she was jerking him off, his hands would sneakily wander around her body, instead of just sucking her tits, he would also lick all over her breasts and massage them which was a line he had never crossed before. The way he used his hands and his strong suction of her tits were simply too stimulating for her to keep from moaning as she was beginning to feel something other than motherly feelings lately during their sessions these days and had to repeatedly 'consult' her husband in order to 'scratch' her 'itch' even though it wasn't nighttime yet!

She had repeatedly tried to end things with her son but each time her attempts were thwarted by his biggest weapon and her weakness, those puppy dog eyes he had inherited from his father! Not to mention the same beauty mark his father also had right under his left eye which only served to enhance the effect it had on her! It was those eyes that had convinced her to sleep with his father back then in their adventuring days and not just his promise that he would only sleep with her if she'd agreed to as she knew he was just saying that to get in her pants. She just couldn't say no to them and it seemed her little boy knew it very well and used his charms cleverly…

Seeing that she could not convince her baby, she instead tried to make the most out of their 'sessions' by developing him sexually for his future soulmate which had also turned out to be quite fun in it's own way. Not only was it interesting to see how he improved by the day compared to before, but also seeing that her prodigy of a son who was this extremely gifted and powerful mage even at his age was completely at her mercy as she had his dick in her hands and tits in his mouth brought her a strange sense of dominance she couldn't quite explain with motherly love. Not to mention teasing him and denying his favorite mama's milk which would elicit cute protests and exaggerated expressions from her baby which was just too exhilarating to pass up! She couldn't be blamed, right? It was her own son's fault for being such a pervert and not listening to her! She had to discipline him to not commit any mistakes with the other girls, especially with that Laws's girl who was this purest little thing who deserved better.

Back to the present, it was midday and she was currently in the kitchen making her Rudy's favorite pudding while her maid Lilia was busy cooking chicken for the evening's birthday celebration while Roxy was busy placing decorations she had bought with her own pocket money just for this occasion.

"Madam, should we add the spices before boiling the chicken or after?" The maid asked with curtsy to which Zenith replied, "hmm, let's do it 'before' this time. Although Rudy said he liked it either way, I could see that he was just being polite the other day, and don't call me madam! Moo, you know we are way past that!" She finished with a light chiding, her hand holding the spatula making a zigzag motion…

Lilia nodded and revealed a restrained smile, "Ma-Zenith really understands young master Rudeus the most" she added with a happy tone as she went on to pour the mixture of spices in to the mix as Zenith replied with pride, "Well of course! My Rudy is like an open book to his mommy~ Even though he is always kind and considerate, there is a passionate young boy hidden inside as well~"

Zenith went back to her pudding, thinking about what had transpired in the last few months. She had finally succeeded in casting the Saint ranked Detoxification magic but only thanks to Roxy's magical staff that she had borrowed! Even with that, due to her mid level mana reserves, she could barely cast it a single time before feeling exhausted, but it was something extremely valuable as now she could pretty much cure any poison save for a few nasty ones! The reason she had tried so hard to master the spell this past year was that in the book she had been obsessively studying, a specific passage mentioned a case similar to her maid. If she used Saint level Detox magic along with an easily made special ointment she had never heard of before, Zenith could easily cure her maid Lilia's stumping leg!

She had always felt regret not having the power to do anything to help her maid who had proven to be a valuable friend. When she had heard how the Royal Palace of Asura just dumped her even after she had saved the Princess from an assassination attempt, her anger had flared with righteous fury, but there was nothing she could do to help her maid. Of course, until the day that her dear Rudy found and brought her that incredible tome and her life had changed ever since!

Because in it were medical knowledge she was sure many in even Millis had never even dreamt of! Not just the spells, but also the many recipes and medicines inside such as how to treat common cold, rashes and pregnancy related nausea which were some of the most common that had been concocted by her during her empty hours in the clinic for the benefit of her patients which not only increased her already high standing in the village, but also added to the prosperity of the Buena village as merchants from nearby regions flocked to the village for her products, bringing in more commerce to the region. When the demand for her medicine got high enough, much to the protests of her son, she had opted to sell the methods of concoction to the some of the highest bidders as she didn't want to hog all the benefits to her own village.

So after she had successfully treated Lilia's leg, the maid was in tears as she was forever grateful for it as she could now once again run and practice with her sword after a very long time! They had developed a sisterly bond since then, talking about many things and sharing their stories. She began calling her Lilly, but the stubborn maid just couldn't for the life of her properly call her name! But nevertheless, life was looking good in the Greyrat household and nothing seemed to suggest anything could go wrong.

Sylphiette POV

"Take this!" Rudeus shouted as he sent a high powered water ball at her, which she easily deflected with her left hand using earth magic to create a barrier between them, while her right hand was already aimed at him, gathering enough mana for an intermediate level fire attack spell that suddenly failed just before activation.

"W-what?" The elven girl was shocked and frustrated at seeing her spell fail as in the last year her magic had never failed her even once! Even though she was a little bit afraid of fire thanks to that one time where she had accidentally burnt her own hand because of an owen, her training with Rudeus had given her enough confidence that that should not have been a problem! So then why?

"You didn't fail that spell" Rudy quickly added as he got closer to her. "I used Ran Ma, or Disturb Magic to disrupt your mana"

Her expression brightened as it was not that she had failed! "So you can do that as well… You are amazing Rudy~" she exclaimed, amazed at her friend's power once again.

Since meeting Rudeus, her confidence had gradually solidified as she now could do things she had only heard of in stories! Nobody in the village aside from him and his master Roxy could do the things that she too could do, and this gave her a sense of safety in knowing that even if Rudy was not at her side to protect her, she could still protect herself just fine! But she didn't forget to remind herself that she was forbidden from using intermediate magic without Rudy being there with her as well because such spells were dangerous and Rudy was adamant on restraint.

"You're even more amazing Sylphy! In just one year, you can not only silent cast all the elemental spells up to intermediate rank, but also meld them together as well! Not to mention you can even use chantless healing spells which I could not!" He delivered enthusiastically to which the elven girl blushed. Though she had found it hard to keep up with her new friend's complex form of speech most of the time, she had gotten used to it these days and now had roughly gotten the idea that she had improved fast enough to impress him and that made her happy, "only because of you, Rudy…" she mumbled, acting shy and avoiding eye contact. But then quickly gathered herself, curious to know, "how did you do that? I was just about to… Then bam! Slipped away! Rudy can you teach me?"

The boy smiled as he nodded, "Of course!" then went on a long and intensive speech about how this particular magic spell was to be used only against other mages and not sword practitioners, and how she could use what she had learnt about melded magic in order to recreate the spell. She didn't understand most of what he had said but got the gist of it after asking a couple of questions of her own.

So basically she had to gather mana in one hand to form a spell and maintain it, then from the other hand, she had to send raw mana to it while trying not to feed said spell. It was incredibly hard the first few tries as her elementary fire spell just got bigger when she tried sending mana to it with her other hand. It was only after an hour of trying and failing where she had successfully managed to reduce the power of the fire spell. Another hour to fully cancel it. Then after a few tries she had finally managed to reliably cancel any elementary rank spell easily which brought her a great sense of accomplishment! But the best thing about it was, she had received Rudy's compliments and head pats which was what really made her happy.

"I think that is enough for today Sylphy, the sky is darkening so we should head back" Rudeus announced, taking her hand before going for the direction of the Laws's household but not long after that, Sylphy resisted, stopping them, "Rudy… Aunt Zenith invited me for dinner" She was in panic! She had forgotten that it was Rudeus's birthday today and lost the track of time! Aunt Zenith had told her to bring back Rudeus a little earlier today! She was in trouble!

"What do you mean Sylphy? It's already getting dark, your parents would be worried if I didn't bring you back?" Rudeus asked, sounding confused.

"I-It's alright!!! Just for today they allowed me to be late!!" Her voice was now coming off as a shriek, she couldn't think straight as she was afraid she had ruined the surprise! How stupid she was!

"Hmm, what's so special about today?" Asked Rudeus, tilting his head in confusion. Sylphy was simply horrified! She had began hyperventilating as her elven ears were bouncing with every heated breath! In her mind, only a single thought persisted: 'What do I do?' She was so distracted that she didn't even notice the impish grin on him as he finally took mercy on her, "Well, if your parents allowed for it, then who am I to say anything? Then let's go!" He took her sweaty hand in his and pulled her to follow him, this time to the Greyrat Household.

"I wonder what mom and Lilia cooked for dinner…" Rudeus thought out loud as a much too relieved Sylphy was all to happy to make small talk as they headed home.

Rudeus POV

Teasing my dear Sylphy was something I was addicted to at this point. Her innocent desperation reminded me of the many times I had conquered her in bed! Adding to the flavor was how her blushing elven ears that cutely ran in circles, twitching left and right, almost like a representation of what was currently happening inside her head which was just too precious! If I didn't have all the memories I had of loving her, I would have already made a move on her at this point as her ears were simply too irresistible! I had to fight myself just to keep my urges to lick her in check!

As for the birthday party, I was of course aware of it. Even without any prior knowledge from the first loop, my father canceling our sword training at the last minute in the morning and Roxy canceling our lessons for the afternoon was a dead giveaway. Not to mention my mother who was eager to send me away as soon as possible… Now I can imagine my mom doing a lot of things, but 'eager to send me away' doesn't even compute with her existence as she would have definitely tried to find a way to spend more time with me after seeing my schedule opened up, probably by taking me to clinic. So even if the first two signs didn't ring a bell, the last one certainly would have.

My birthday this time around was even livelier with the addition of Sylphy, not to mention my master Roxy who I now learnt was the one responsible for buying and arranging all the decorations! And from what I saw, these ornaments weren't the cheap kind… They certainly worked to create a wonderful ambience! And I am told that she had been working on arranging them by herself for hours! Oh, my Goddess you really are too good to me~

I was glad to say that our relationship as student and teacher was quite strong. If she had cared for me in the previous loop this time around, now she absolutely adored me as only together with me had she opened up to many possibilities in her thirst for knowledge. She viewed me more as a companion in her road to magic than her student if my impressions of our interactions were correct, though she still somehow viewed me as a precocious little kid and not a potential love interest for the time being which was still much better than the last loop! If I remembered right, she fantasizes about being saved in a dungeon by her knight in shining armor… Then all I have to do is arrange for the events to happen just like they did in the previous loop!

But regardless, the best thing about this loop was, my Roxy wasn't going anywhere any time soon! I was now helping her in her project of building magic-proof bricks as I might have left some hints on how to build them in her 'mysterious' book. The methods to make these special bricks are currently monopolized by the Magic Guild and are essential in building sturdy bases, castle walls, magical training grounds and my favorite, ritual grounds! Master Roxy hoped to create a ritual grounds for high caliber experiments that she had read from the 'mysterious' book.

Before my time leap, I had forced myself on to the Magic Guild and after some back and forth and lots of threatening on my part, I had managed to gain the secret knowledge on how to build them. They were too prideful for being mages, if only they had a King or even a few Saint ranked sword practitioners as guards, I wouldn't have overwhelmed them with my magic that easily.

And the secret was more complex than I had thought. I had to use a special incantation of elementary earth magic, which couldn't be cast silently, to first create a special hard clay which will then be molded in to the shape of a non-standard Asuran brick using earth manipulation which was no easy feat as it was an extremely hard material and the design of the end result was quite intricate and normally took more than two advanced ranked earth mages from the Magic Guild who had to work in tandem in order to construct it due to it's high mana requirements. Then came the part where multiple fire mages with intermediate level fire spells or a powerful fire magic circle was used to heat the mold for a few days, preferably in a closed off environment to gather more heat. After the brick glowed in white, it was ready to be soaked in pure water freshly created by a mage and be left there for a few days. Then the resulting bricks could only show their true properties if arranged in a hidden runic formation, so even if the bricks were to be obtained by anyone, without a formation master it wasn't worth anything. And due to it's nature, it was impractical for a random formation master to decipher it's secrets. That is why the Magic Guild could monopolize such a huge market for a long time.

My need for the bricks was for my rituals of course. I needed them in order to sustain the magic circles that required monstrous amount of mana as other surfaces easily cracked with only a single use, sometimes not even lasting that. Then why not hire the services of the Magic Guild instead of brute forcing my way? Well, the first reason was that Hitogami might have used some of them to alter the bricks to sabotage my rituals. The second reason was that I would be subjected to inquiries about my reasons for building such a structure with mana-proof bricks. The last but not least was that I was a declared enemy of the Millis, so doing business with me had consequences…

Back to the party, it was a warm family affair as my dad impressed us with his sword swallowing tricks, Master Roxy indulged in too much alcohol where she now struggled just to keep herself steady so multiple times I had to 'accidentally' grope her in order to keep her steady, truly I was a faithful believer~. Even Lilia was having the time of her life as she herself was a little drunk, having an amiable conversation with Sylphy, and from the looks they were sending my way, the topic of their conversation was most probably about me. Zenith who had a healthy alcoholic blush, was occasionally sending lustful glances at father's way who now was in the middle of telling one of his wild stories, and from the looks he was getting, he was certainly impressing someone and shall be rewarded in the bedroom when night comes.

As for the gifts, Master Roxy, the airhead that she was, had only now thought of giving me my own magic wand which is unfortunately completely useless to me, not because of it's poor quality or anything like that, but because of the soul ritual that I had conducted in the previous loop that forbade me from ever using magical enhancers. And so I shall just keep it as a memento. Ugh, with how potent my mana was, it shouldn't come as a shock that the Ritual had deemed that the most valuable sacrifice it could get out of me would be something that multiples my power by many factors… Especially considering what the ritual granted me, I would say it was a fair trade but damn it hurts! I'm not even sure my increase in mana capacity would negate the handicap of not using an Aqua Heartia or an MK…

Father had given me the same sword he had given in the previous loop and told me about how I should carry my sword in my heart to protect my wife and children in the future. 'Father I now respect you much more… Even though you are a scumbag, at least you had died protecting your family while I practically buried them… I wonder what that makes me? Especially the me after I lost it all…

What had surprised me was mother's gift. Thanks for the increased demand for her medicine and ointments, but most of all, her unfortunate decision on selling the concoction formulas of my future, I knew she now owned quite a decent sum of gold so she could afford to pay a small fortune to buy these books.

So this time instead of a single book about the plant life surrounding the Fittoa region, she had instead chosen to gift me a large chestful of books she had ordered from the capital. These were all the books that she had liked to read back in Millis. She must have remembered me saying years ago that I would have really liked to read what my mom loved to read back than… It was touching, so I gave her a tight hug, thanking her for everything… And trying not to think about the lost opportunities about cornering the medicine market…

And so night had come and the party was finally over. Seeing my mother thirsty for my father, I had volunteered to take Sylphy back home which was met with approval from father, giving me a thumbs up. I'm not sure if he is thanking me or wishing me good luck… Knowing him maybe both. Scum.

So after Sylphy thanked everyone, we left for her house. On the way, she had expressed her delight at having a wonderful day, and even revealed that her own birthday was only a few months away and that I too was welcome to join. Of course how could I refuse my beloved?

On my way back home after I had chaperoned Sylphy to her house, I was finally thinking about the elephant in the room which I had dreaded to even think about till now. As I was now five years old, half the age I was when that event happened, I felt like I needed to do something about it. Yes unfortunately I still haven't addressed the main issue, the teleportation incident, or some called it the Metastasis event… The incident that broke my family apart!

Sadly I didn't even know what to do! What scares me the most was that, with all the changes I had done in this world, chief among them being my family, I wonder if this will pull back the date of the incident… I mean, I wasn't completely irresponsible about it either. In order to reduce such risks I had refrained from ever casting weather changing spells like Saint or King rank spells even though Master Roxy encouraged me to do so and still couldn't understand why I refrained to this day.

From what I had gathered about the incident back in my previous loop, the World itself was trying hard to contain a foreign intervention, possibly of divine origin and as a foreign entity myself, my Saint class water spell Cumulonimbus was the final trigger to weaken the resistance of the world just enough for Nanahoshi to pass through the cracks so to speak and arrive to this world, resulting in a backlash that was the Metastasis Event.

Now this is only speculation, but I believe Nanahoshi is key to understanding who the one responsible for the Divine Intervention is so I should keep a close eye on her after she arrives.

Now, even though I had forgotten about most things about that world, one of the few things I had still clearly remembered was my last moments. I could clearly remember saving Nanahoshi and her potential boyfriends from being run over by that truck, so why was Nanahoshi here? Why with her own body? Then if she was here, then what about the other two boys? Why haven't they manifested with her as well… Was I missing something?

Hmm, maybe I am looking at this the wrong way… I need to remember what is possible and what is not in this world. The biggest example is me. Me who had gone back in time… Perhaps someone like me who could influence the past from the future was behind all this… Or perhaps someone from the past was influencing the future just like how I did with my 'three dimensional in time' magic circle array, borrowing mana from the future in my previous loop… Yes time might be the answer

In my youth in this world, I had many times thought that I was the protagonist of this world, that I was summoned to defeat evil… But maybe, just maybe I wasn't that special after all… Maybe Nanahoshi or the other two boys are the protagonists and I'm just an intruder, harming their cause… Maybe my existence was the cause for Nanahoshi to arrive much earlier to this world then what was intended… An accident for being in the wrong place at the wrong time…

As I was lost in thought, coming up with new ideas only to discard them moments later, it took me too late to notice the dark silhouette right in front of me. When I had finally gathered my wits and looked at it, my very core shook as now in front of me stands the reason for half my nightmares for many decades… For in front of me stands the Dragon God Orsted in all his glory! Holding the proverbial scythe against my neck, with my life in his hands…