Chapter 8

Months passed.I spent more time with Zenith as she ballooned up, heavy with her second child. It was nice. Turns out, yeah, I had been neglecting her. I didn't realize just how touchy-feely and physically needy she was until I started spending more time with her. I didn't mind, but it was a reminder of my own failure that the moment I started actually spending time with her she latched on like she was afraid I'd run away the moment she turned her back. Thankfully, she never got too clingy and always encouraged me to go out and spend time with Sylphie or keep up my practice.Lilia actually started being nice to me. Like, going out of her way to do things and occasionally getting physically affectionate—even if she was still pretty stoic. We wound up spending some time talking. Most of that was about her past, and how she met Paul. Got to say, knowing my dad in this world is a rapist by the standards of my old world is kind of a low blow. Even by the standards of this world, what he did was… morally ambiguous? No, it was still pretty fucked up.You can't just go slipping into a lady's room at night and dick her down without asking first, even if she doesn't kick you out of bed.The way I understood it was: Lilia was born to a certain Water God sword school's master as his only child. Lilia herself was never really that great a student, but she was beloved by all the other students and that changed a bit as she matured from a girl into a young woman. Paul showed up, already skilled in Sword God school, and picked up their techniques faster than pretty much anyone else—he was a natural prodigy. Lilia's father, who had been holding off on deciding who to offer her hand to, was leaning towards Paul—according to Lilia, she wouldn't have been against the idea.The other students resented the young master coming along, showing them up, and then having no real interest in the beauty of their school. The other students treated Paul like shit and made his time there hell. Paul got tired of it and one night, he snuck into Lilia's room and stole her innocence as one last 'fuck you' to the school, before lighting out the next morning before they figured out what he'd done. Lilia was less upset about the… aggressive encounter than she was about him pulling the 'love her and leave her' routine.It's why Lilia sought him out for a job in the first place, after her injury while working as a bodyguard—she had intended to blackmail him into letting her work for him in exchange for her silence.And yet, she chose to seduce him this time and was having his child. Yeah, the entire situation was all kinds of fucked up here. Paul was a piece of shit for what he had done—even if she wanted to be pushed down and taken by force (which she did), the intent behind the act was what mattered, and what I gathered was that it was to tarnish the school through Lilia. Lilia was… damaged goods, I'll say. Probably always had been, even before what Paul did. I knew the type. The kind that always made excuses for the horrible things people in their lives did to them—who tended to become the sort who couldn't see why anyone would treat them decently, because they held no value in themselves.Well, I thought that, then she told me about all the other people who had raped her and how, by comparison, what Paul did wasn't so bad. So it was entirely possible that she was just that pragmatic of a person. Nope, still broken.It also explained a lot about why Lilia didn't really trust me. And that's what it was.I was an adult and I looked at her with an adult's eyes. I saw her as a man sees a woman, and she knew it. Had a finely honed sense for it, in fact. I could pretend, but I couldn't pull off the 'innocent young boy' act for long and to be honest, I never really bothered unless it was to my benefit. There was probably some subconscious worry there that I'd turn out like my dad, or those men. Which explained why she left me and Roxy to our own devices—if I was 'playing' with Roxy, I wasn't sneaking into her room at night or something stupid. Why she openly admitted she was relieved when she found me and Roxy fooling around.Was it a dumb fear? Yes. Especially of a child, from her perspective. Most especially from one who had not only done her no harm, but gone out of his way to be kind to her until her own lack of effort finally convinced him to just stop trying most of the time.But it was understandable, so I cut her all the slack. I didn't exactly enjoy being shunned for something I didn't do and couldn't control, but at least now she was working on fixing it.Not my problem to fix after all, it turns out. Thanks, Paul. You dick.Sylphie came by when she could, just to fawn over both Zenith and Lilia, wonder in her eyes as she did the usual "Can I feel it?!" thing most women and girls do. Lilia wasn't too sure about it, but eventually surrendered to the moe—Sylphie was learning how to actually push for what she wanted, and it was hard to say no to that face anyway. Zenith, on the other hand, absolutely loved the attention and encouraged it. I began to suspect she had a pregnancy fetish when I explained to her that 'Roxy' had told me that it was safe to have sex while pregnant, up until the last weeks of term, so long as she avoided missionary after the fourth month. Sorry Roxy, I guess I'm raising your estimation in their eyes again for something you didn't do.Apparently, Paul was either forgiven or Zenith just decided she had a use for him and an itch to scratch, because the nightly sessions resumed. More amusingly, Lilia joined those nightly sessions shortly thereafter. Probably because Zenith bullied her into it.Actually, no. I'm certain that was it, because I heard part of that particular conversation.It was after I went to bed one night, I heard Zenith get particularly loud from downstairs. "You had a hand in breaking my vows, so take responsibility! Besides, there's no point to sleeping downstairs and making my husband go back and forth every night, when it would be easier to just push the beds together. I, I don't like seeing it but what's done is done."Like any man with two dick cells to rub together—notice I didn't say brain cells—I'm pretty sure Paul just nodded his head and went along with whatever was said at that point. I couldn't blame him for that, given that the idea of getting both Zenith and Lilia into bed was a pretty damn appealing one.Luckily for me, around that time, we finished up the addition to the house and I was able to move my things out of the study and into my new, much expanded room. The book shelf, work desk, chair, and Roxy's bed came with me while the crib and my old bed stayed behind. Roxy's bed for practical reasons, not sentimental. She hadn't slept on the mattress as long as I had mine, so it wasn't as compressed and was softer.The new expansion had a mostly wood interior over the bricks and wood paneling that made up the walls. I had made a fireplace since it only connected to the main house by one door and the heat from the hearth didn't exactly keep it warm. Since I was concerned about potentially burning the place down even with a screen over the fireplace, I made sure the floor for a good yard around it was brick. I separated off a third of the space into a semi-private bathroom so I wouldn't have to compete with everyone else for the upstairs bathroom. However, since there were already four people in the house with two more on the way, I planned in some future proofing and separated my actual living space from the bathroom, so someone could enter the expansion into a hall and either go left for the restroom, right for my room, or straight to go outside.We put in glass windows like the rest of the house, made from glass I'd pulled from the lightning craters that had been cleaned up and fitted in place with earth magic. Those had wooden shutters over them that closed from the outside, in case of storms. The roof was tarred wood with adobe shingles over the top of it, and after we finished covering the outside to make it match the rest of the house, it was the only thing that didn't match as the rest of the roofing was thatch. Adobe shingles didn't have to be replaced as often as thatch and, when I explained that, Paul decided it might be best to do the whole roof over in the same style later on.For all that I enjoyed the new room, I didn't actually spend much time there. No, most of that time was spent either training by myself, with Paul, or with Sylphie when I wasn't with Zenith or Lilia.Then there were the pregnancy cravings. I'd taken some of the money I made in the village and bought some ingredients and spices to try a few different things. And that was how we got things like,"Ruuuudyyyy~" Zenith whined, sending me a pitiful look. "I want iiiice creeeeeaaaam~""And pickles," Lilia added.I made the mistake of asking, "Together?"And thus, bore witness to the ungodly abomination that was pickles dipped in ice cream.Swear to God, Roxy had better not ask for shit like that after I knock her up.Despite having several breakthroughs in my own spellwork and in developing an anti-Paul fighting style, I had hit a wall where pure Sword God and Water God sword styles were concerned. I couldn't touch him even while boosting myself with mana reinforcement. The occasional dirty trick, such as summoning up an ice or earth sword and using that in an off hand for a strike he might not expect were always parried, blocked, or countered, even when I resorted to testing out experimental created swords—like the one earth/ice combination that was as thin and strong an edge as I could manage and which cut through trees and rocks like butter.Yeah, no, he just shrugged it off with his wooden practice sword like it was just more wood then demanded I go back to using either Sword God or Water God style. I was left to conclude that whatever he was doing, it was very similar to my own mana reinforcement, but much stronger or more concentrated—essentially creating a shield around his weapon and body. And for all the practice we had, he remained a shitty teacher, whose best advice to date was, "You have to put more 'oomph' into it, Rudy! More like 'rrrgh!' Really lean into it!"He tried hard, though. Even if he had the patience of a four year old. …A four year old who wasn't me or Sylphie.Zenith's delivery was rough. Lilia couldn't help, so they had to bring in the midwife from the village. On top of that, it was a breech birth. No amount of turning on Zenith's part or trying to turn the baby by hand managed to flip it head side down, so the hard way it was.I got to participate in my first delivery. I had kind of hoped it would be for my own eventual kids, but nope. I stayed on hand to cast healing on Zenith and the child to make sure things didn't go sideways. It took nearly a full day of labor and a whole lot of healing spells, but eventually we were treated to the cries of a newborn baby girl.Just as everyone was relaxing and the midwife was getting ready to leave, Lilia's kid decided it was time to join in on the fun and the maid went into labor. She was rushed into the study and I went out and refilled and heated the hot water tank while Paul gathered supplies. Lilia's delivery was fast, uncomplicated, and relatively painless by comparison. A quick healing spell from me after it was all said and done and she and her daughter were sleeping peacefully.Paul was now the proud father of two baby girls: Zenith's daughter, Norn, and Lilia's daughter, Aisha.I turned seven.Remember when I said I wanted siblings? Yeah, so do I. And I have to resist the urge to bash my head against the nearest flat surface every time I do. Apparently, I forgot what that was like the first time around, in my original life.Norn and Aisha were typical babies. In other words: loud, smelly, and obnoxious. They cried constantly, over every little thing.Time to wake up? Time for crying.Wet or dirty diaper? Crying.Hungry? Crying.Bath time? More crying.Bed time? Screaming bloody murder.Middle of the night, they wake up and they're bored? I'll let you guess.I had never before been so glad for my forethought and the ability to use magic. Even as relatively isolated as I was from the madness at nights, as opposed to at ground zero, I still occasionally got woken up to the sounds of crying. It got so bad that Zenith occasionally fled the main house and joined me in bed when she wanted a night of uninterrupted sleep. Zenith is a very grabby sleeper, but very comfortable, so I didn't really mind sharing. Seriously, those titties were amazing. There was just one—no, two little problems…Namely, the occasional incident of waking up with a wet spot on my back, neck, or face depending on how we were laying.Know what sucks? Not being able to take advantage of fetish material on moral grounds. This made for the second time this woman had tormented me with those titties and I couldn't properly appreciate it.Where Paul and Zenith were ready to break, and my own patience was severely strained, Lilia was downright energetic. Apparently, this is what she was actually expecting when I was born and now it was her time to shine. I had been easy mode and pretty much raised myself by comparison to the girls.While I hated hearing them scream and sometimes seriously contemplated making a wind spell specifically to shut them up by cutting off sounds from their room (and then went and did it, even if I didn't use it for its original purpose, because creating an area of vacuum was easy and having a zone of silence spell would be handy) unlike Paul I had experience with dealing with this stage of child-rearing. No, I'd never had kids of my own in that previous life. Instead, I made the mistake of dating a single mother with a newborn—and she took complete advantage and used me to raise her kid, since the daddy was a worthless sack of shit who ran off.Lesson learned.So I helped change diapers, wipe asses (with magic), wash clothes (more magic), settle them down when they wanted to be held, and so on. I left the actual feeding to Lilia and Zenith though, since this world still lacked rubber nipples for bottles, they were too young to spoon feed, and I wasn't going to use the French method. My helping out didn't stop there, however. Tasks that Lilia had taken care of previously, I handled with magic in a fraction of the time.Dishes? Conjure water, heat it, throw in some soap, use it to scrub everything spotless, then use hot wind to dry them. Took maybe five minutes to clean up after a meal.Laundry? Pretty much the same process as dishes—I just made sure to be gentle with my scrubbing and air drying, since I didn't want to ruin our clothes. Half an hour, tops. I'd let Lilia handle folding and putting them away though, since that was time consuming and couldn't be cut down with magic (yet. I would find a way eventually, because no way was I being stuck with that chore and having it eat up time later on in life). Also, because she complained that I didn't fold the laundry right. Roll your clothes, woman! They take up less space that way.Sweeping, mopping, dusting, and otherwise keeping the house clean? More exercise in fine magical control.And to me, that's all those things were. An excuse to get in more magical control exercises and find new and useful ways of using my magic. I hadn't minded doing housework in my previous life—I'd lived as a bachelor for most of it and I hated living in a mess, so it was just one of those things I did on a daily basis. With magic though, simple chores actually became fun. Because magic.We lost a maid, but we gained two members of the family. And I gained a… friend? Supporter? I wasn't quite sure what to call Lilia's relationship with me now.Paul, by comparison, was utterly useless. Sure, he could swing a sword and he was apparently pretty good at making them, but when it came time to actually deal with those babies, he was clueless. Housework? No, he'd find an excuse to leave as soon as the topic came up.But with a sword… The man was amazing. Advanced-level in Sword God, Water God, and North God styles. Unfortunately, I had yet to rise above Elementary in Sword or Water God, and he still wouldn't teach me North God style for whatever reason (and if he caught me watching him practice it, then trying it out myself, he'd get pissy). Our continued sparring only served to highlight the gap in our respective strengths.Ah well, I'd just have to content myself with advancements in magic instead. I had moved up to Saint-level magic in every combat magic field, even if that was unofficial and unrecognized. I had taken what I knew of the jump to Saint-level water magic and applied it to my other spells, so I had a variety of spells at that level, and had even theoretically reached King-level in that field in water magic, but as with lightning it was simply too destructive to use anywhere but well away from people so I didn't get to practice it.I had started practicing with combination spells for a bit more versatility. Fire and wind produced some nasty Saint-level fire tornadoes—about what I'd classify as an F1. Wind and Water got me a typhoon that made my first Saint-level water spell Cumulonimbus look tame by comparison and flooded the fields for a week. Wind and Earth didn't actually do great at Saint-level, but at Advanced-level produced a very nice sandblaster—I felt the Saint-level version might do better situationally, such as in an arid area or somewhere with more debris to pick up. I had an even better, more precise cutting/penetrating combination spell in water and fire that shot a pencil thin lance of boiling water at a target. That one, I bumped up to three variations at Saint-level: either a single huge stream, a multitude of medium sized lances, or a rain of lances of various size over an area.Earth and fire though… I modified the Earth Cannon spell and made something absolutely nasty, and that wasn't even Advanced-level. For a single target spell, it was absolutely devastating. The original Earth Cannon, I had already modified using my knowledge of Earth projectiles—giving it rifling and adjusting its shape and composition to emulate full metal jacket and hollow point rounds. The combination spell took that modified Earth Cannon spell and filled the inside with molten stone under high pressure, making it explosive. Then, I scaled it back in terms of power and size to Elementary-level and created Stone Bullet—an actual, bullet-sized projectile with the same options and modifications, for dealing with weaker targets that I didn't want to completely annihilate and for which good, old fashioned physical force would work best over other spells.Lightning remained my strongest, or perhaps most dangerous single magic combat field, but I was hesitant to even use anything but Elementary-level spells on humans unless I fully intended to kill them. Forget pulling out anything above Intermediate inside a town or village. Still, it was my trump card for dealing with Paul if it ever came to a serious throwdown. Lightning spells were simply too fast to dodge, and in a fight he who strikes first usually wins. My biggest worry was the obvious need to use healing on him after, if I did.Sylphie was progressing along nicely in her studies. I didn't have the resources to make her a wand, so I reluctantly gifted her the wand Roxy had given me when I felt she was ready. It helped, sure, but I didn't need it at the moment. The benefit it granted Sylphie was greater than its benefit to me, and I was sure Roxy would forgive me and see the practicality in my actions. At least, I hoped.On the Sylphie front, related to the magic front, I had a problem.One day, I wanted to go Ranoa University and study there to learn the things Roxy hadn't known. Things like summoning, higher level spells, and how to write out spell formula circles. Unfortunately, I couldn't really leave Sylphie behind when I went. That wouldn't be fair to her and she was wasted here in this little village, with just what I'd taught her. She had real talent and power, she just needed to hone it. Magical college was expensive however, and I was pretty sure that while my parents would be willing to pay for my tuition, they wouldn't be able to pay for Sylphie as well. Laws and his wife certainly couldn't afford it.Okay, so in truth, I brought up the subject of going to Ranoa University to her after Roxy sent me a letter letting me know she had settled down for now in the Shirone kingdom, taking on a job as magical instructor to their seventh prince Pax Shirone and a temporary position as a court mage. I hated the brat immediately when she described him as a peeping, panty thieving little shit who kept trying to cop a feel of my future wife and she'd had to set him on fire no less than twice to dissuade unwanted touching. At least there was good news—she had advanced to King-level water magic. She gave me some words of encouragement but suggested that if I hit a bottleneck, I should try knocking on Ranoa University's doors.I didn't feel like I was nearing any kind of bottleneck, but I really, really wanted to get my hands on more magic. The things I could do with permanent spell formations and mana storage alone… I already had half a dozen different designs tumbling around in my head. The first of which, I could theoretically prototype soon, even without those prerequisites. All it really needed was aluminum, copper, and either rubber or leather. And that wasn't even counting my chemical knowledge and combining that with magic.Magical gunpowder, mmm… My raifu is my laifu.I sent Roxy a care package in response.Dear Roxie,Things have been a bit exciting since you left. Hectic, really.I've missed you these past years.It'll probably be closer to three by the time you get this, given the distance involved.On the bright side, that means we're down to just five or so.I'm happy to hear you're doing well.Congratulations on making King-level! Now, hurry on to the next breakthrough.Also, I'm glad you managed to find a new tutoring job.The prince sounds like a real… charmer.I can't fault him for his good taste, but he needs to keep his hands to himself.The Roxy I remember is neither weak nor frail.She's a beautiful young lady with a slim, womanly figure, a kind disposition, and a brilliant mind.Don't talk bad about her or I'll get angry.Hearing you think fondly of me makes me happy.I hope those memories are especially fond at night?I bet you just blushed. Ah, I wish I could see it.On to local happenings… I've been keeping up with my studies.I've reached Saint-level in every combat magic.I reached your level with water magic and that field we discovered during my exam. (I was intentionally vague here, but left enough that I knew she'd figure it out. If someone other than Roxy read our letters, I didn't want to let the lightning genie out of the bottle.)Sword training is not progressing at the same pace. Not even remotely. I seem to be stuck at Elementary-level, there.I just can't figure out what it is Paul is doing and he's not you, so getting an explanation that makes sense is impossible.You know how he is.On the other hand, I've had what I feel is some success combining magic and swordsmanship in new and interesting ways. I'll show you, next time we see each other.Sylphie is doing well.She's advanced to Advanced-level on everything but fire magic and has taken well to some of the new spells I've been using. She recently graduated to Saint-level Water Mage.Beyond that, you know how she is. She's just happy to have someone to talk to, let alone a teacher.Thanks for the advice on Ranoa University. I'm going to see what I can do about getting there. Unfortunately, when I mentioned it to Sylphie, she kind of cried. A lot.I'm going to have to take her with me.Do they have any sort of scholarship program? Grants to gifted children? Patronage from wealthy backers? Some way to get someone in on a discounted tuition?She's too gifted to just let languish here. I think I see what you saw in me, now—when I first showed you what I could do.Please advise. If I come up with something myself, I'll let you know.Zenith got pregnant. The birth was complicated—breech birth—but she and the child made it. I have a little sister now. Norn. She looks like a miniature version of mom, so far. Very cranky, though.Coincidentally, around the same time, Lilia mysteriously got pregnant as well.Yeah, I'm sure you can guess that there's no mystery involved. It was Paul.I've got two little sisters, actually. Lilia's girl is named Aisha. She has her mother's red hair, but she's very playful.I'm working on a little project for you. I think you'll appreciate it. When I finish it, you can consider it a belated birthday present, for every one of yours I missed.I've enclosed some things in this care package for you. I hope you enjoy them.Thinking of you fondly.-Rudeus GreyratP.S. Thank you for the gift you left on my pillow.The other things included in the parcel were: a fancy brass ball point pen in the shape of her staff with several refillable glass inserts, a bottle of the perfumed ink I'd be using for her book, and the scope since I figured she might appreciate them.As for Sylphie… In my mind, it was implied that she would be coming with me and that's how I meant it when I mentioned going to Ranoa University. Sylphie didn't see it like that at all. She begged and pleaded for me not to abandon her and even days after she still occasionally teared up. I had thought she was doing good with standing up for herself, but apparently that and me potentially leaving were two entirely different things for her.So, I came to the obvious conclusion. If I went, it wouldn't be alone and that meant I needed to raise money for it myself. I had no idea how much tuition would cost, but I had a feeling the occasional gold coin off my pens and silver from doing work around the village weren't going to cut it. No, in all likelihood, it was going to take hundreds of gold. Enough that I'd spend years working to cover it when I could instead be developing magic. I wasn't against hard work, but I'd rather work smarter, not harder. While there was a chance I could make something using Earth knowledge that would be worth more than that, I'd first need startup capital, even if I could make most of the parts myself—a classic example of the old saw that you had to have money to make money. Instead of that, I decided on something that could see me making money and having enough free time to do what I loved.One night at dinner, I brought it up to the family. The family now included Lilia sitting at the table instead of serving from the side and taking her meals partway into ours, when she was sure we didn't need anything, or Zenith forced her to sit and eat with us. Even now, Zenith occasionally sent a pained look at Paul and Lilia, but I knew she was trying hard. Do your best, Zenith."So, I'd like to make a request.""No."And so proceeded the usual slapstick as Zenith, followed by Lilia, whacked Paul for his immediate denial. I waited for the inevitable and they didn't disappoint. Paul made the mistake of further inserting his foot in his mouth and got smacked a second time."I want to study at Ranoa University. I'm doing well enough on my own, but we don't really have the sort of materials I need to advance further in new ways. Namely, books and resources on summoning and magic circles, and whatever else I can get my hands on. But when I told Sylphie she got… really upset. So I can't go without her. Her family can't afford the tuition and I can't ask you to foot the bill. So instead, I'm asking if you can help me find a job, maybe as a home tutor like Roxy. It'd give me time to work on my own skills while making money and it's a better option than just making a bunch of stuff and trying to sell it in the village. We don't get enough traders coming through to make much off of that and I'm losing a lot of money that way because they aren't really paying what they should for things since we're so far out."Paul sighed, his serious mien dissolving as he relaxed in his chair and leaned forward onto his hands. "If you had asked straight out for the money, I would have said no. As it stands, I'm still going to say no to the college. For one: as your teacher, I can't let you give up on your sword techniques now. If you do, you'll never advance."I resisted the urge to comment that it was a poor teacher that blamed his student for his own inability to impart his lessons. At this point, I was bashing my head against the brick wall that was Paul's shitty teaching method and him not wanting me to go to Ranoa so he could keep me here and keep bashing my head against that wall sounded a whole lot like him being unable to admit that he had failed as a teacher."I just said I wasn't planning to drop training my sword skills," I pointed out. "Anyof my skills. Whatever I do has to give me enough time in the day that I can still improve myself. If I go to Ranoa, I'm not going to just stop practicing the sword.""You did, so at least you're thinking ahead," Paul nodded. "The world's too dangerous to go out into it without knowing how to handle yourself, Rudy. And that brings me to number two: you're only seven. You're a smart kid, but you don't have the kind of experience you need to go out into the world yet. We'd be throwing away our responsibilities as parents if we did. The earliest I'd even consider letting you out on your own is fifteen. …No, twelve. As for the job," he hummed thoughtfully.I was shocked. Paul? Thoughtful? He was in rare form today."I'll ask around. I may have an idea. Stick to your sword practice for now. I don't think paying Sylphie's fees is good for her, but I can already tell you're not going to budge on it and you'll just try to find a way to do it anyway if I say no.""You're right, I would. I already have some ideas for that, but they're dependent on a bigger market than the village. This was why I suggested a teaching job somewhere. In a city, I could earn the money myself by making curios and one-offs and selling them at a huge profit," I explained. Curious as to his stipulation on age, I asked, "Why twelve?"Paul grinned. "Because it's when I left home.""I see," I murmured. "Thank you. Let me know when you have something, please."