Part 14

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And yet, Eris clearly lacks discretion.

Having a sword in her hand, even if it was a training sword, gave her a lot of confidence. Although, Paul is not as confident without a sword as he is with one. She stands up in a fighting stance, readying her weapon for attack, the girl's mane standing up again.

- Here we go. - Gillen gives the signal.

- OAAAAH!

And with a battle roar, Eris rushes into action.

The first impulse was to just turn the ground into a mud bog, but, that's not it. Eris is a stubborn, spoilt, and capricious little brat. If I beat her that way, there's no way she'll even admit defeat. And if she doesn't want to learn, it'll be torture for both of us. But I can use her traits to my advantage. I just need to impress her enough with magic to make her want to learn it.

And so, as she approaches, I step back sharply, creating a gust of wind.

- ARGH..." The girl shields herself from the airflow with her hand.

I, on the other hand, push myself into the air, creating a small stone platform under my feet, which launched me forwards. And then, leaping over the girl, I create another stream of air to slow my fall and land softly on the ground.

My hands are covered in lightning and clots of fire ignite in my palms.

Carbon armour covers my body again....

I make a deliberately slow thrust with first one palm, then the other, launching the fireballs into flight. And the girl shows that she has at least a little bit of brains, trying not to get hit by the spells. The clots just smash into the ground, creating not particularly dangerous but impressive explosions with lots of smoke and flames. Enough smoke to make Eris lose sight of me.

- I'm here. - Warning her.

She wouldn't have been able to react otherwise.

She blocked my blow with her sword just in time. Now I was holding an ominous black blade, heavy enough that with the force of my lunge, Eris recoiled and almost let go of her weapon.

- Oh... from where? - Her eyes bulged out.

And, now I showed where I got the sword from. I just touched the ground with my hand and pulled out a new blade and hilt, which turned black right before my eyes. And now I had two swords in my hands with flames running through them.

- Magic can do anything, Eris.

That look...

Yes, I definitely chose the right tactic. If I just defeated her, the girl would hardly change her mind. But now her eyes were filled with interest. Like a kid who saw some cool move and really wanted to learn the same thing.

- How about this?

I slam my swords against each other, sending out fiery sparks that shoot forward into a bird of fire.

- Ouch..." Eris rushed to the side, frightened.

The phoenix, however, just flew past and exploded with streams of flame.

And now, the girl is running at me again, readying her sword to strike.

And I just swung my swords, creating a powerful gust of wind that threw the girl back. The smoke had already cleared and the ground was once again perfectly visible. Eris stubbornly rises to her feet, and I let go of my black swords, which immediately dissipated into dust, with my hands spreading out to the sides. After that, I make a dash towards the girl without any weapons.

- Get ready.

- Y-yes!

She watched in surprise as the flames enveloped my fists as I approached. But not close. When I was close, she lunged, and I took a step back, avoiding the blow. Only then do I make one last lunge, getting close to the girl. She tries to strike again with her sword, but we're too close and I easily intercept her arm, twisting and twisting, forcing Eris to turn around. And she just as reflexively unclenches her fingers, releasing her sword.

- That's it, sister. I have to admit, you have some talent in fighting skills, but you still have a lot to learn.

Better yet, give her a little praise.

- Did I lose?

- Losses teach us more than victories. Losing now can make you much stronger in the future. And, is magic not impressing you at all? If you really still don't want to learn it, I won't teach you.

- The girl blinked in surprise as he let go of her and stepped back.

- I've said something like that before, haven't I? Instead of teaching someone who doesn't even want to learn, I'd rather study magic further. I'm a mage of the holy rank and I can make a living. I only came here because I wanted to take a look at my little sister.

Although, that wasn't entirely true. I also thought, albeit a little later, that the Greyrat family's influence might help me get my hands on some special magic books that I couldn't just buy in a shop.

For now, Eris stepped back.

Sighed. Looked around at the adults. Then looked at me again.

- Good. - That's a girl.

- Hmm?

- I... I'll let you teach me! Got it!?

- So you're interested?

- Just magic! I don't want that stupid scribbling and I don't want reading! I want magic!

Well, at least something.

Anyway, the plan worked. The girl was impressed with magic and decided to learn it. And as for everything else. I'll have to think about how I can get her interested in other subjects. For now, I can only breathe a sigh of relief.

- Rudeus, can you teach me magic too? - Gilen asked.

- Of course.

- Even Gilen?! - Eris was surprised.

- Magic can be very useful. - Nodded the cat. - I want to learn how to use it too.

In the meantime...

Eris is a girl overflowing with energy.

And she didn't want to wait, so she demanded to start magic lessons right away. It was important to get her in the right frame of mind. Because if she didn't turn out to have enough talent, she might quickly become disillusioned with magic itself, despite her early impression. And just as long as she's enthusiastic, it's a good time to start.

I also took into account the fact that she seemed to be particularly fond of fire magic.

So, as soon as the servants showed me the room where I would be staying, and as soon as I left my things there, I started my first lesson. Albeit without much preparation, as yet. But, I already have some experience teaching girls the art of magic, after all.

- Although, it's usually necessary to understand the theory first, but let's try it with practice. Can you feel the flow of mana in your body? Memorise the words of the spell....

And, Eris was dumber than I thought.

In particular, she couldn't even get the spell right the first time. Or the second or third time. She stammered half a word, couldn't repeat the whole sentence.

- Well, if you could read, you could just recite the spell. - I shook my head.

But Gilen, although she wasn't very good at magic, but at least she repeated the spell correctly the third time.

- Ah... aha... - The flame in her palm instantly dissipated.

- You couldn't hold the mana in the right form. Well, I guess that's a good start. Were you able to feel it?

- I guess.

- Eris, just try repeating after me. The blessing of the great flame...

This time, the girl just repeated it word for word.

- О!

And she managed to give off a tiny flame.

But, she couldn't hold it either.

However, on the second attempt.....

- A fireball!

Already more confident, the girl created a blob of flame in her hand. She didn't feel magic well enough to launch a ball of flame as a projectile yet, but this was a good start.

- Well done, little sister.

- Fireball... - And following her, Gilen repeated the spell and held it up.

That was the limit of the first lesson.

And then there was fencing class, where Gilen beat first Eris and then me with a wooden sword.

- You're not confident enough with your sword, Rudeus.

- You're probably right. I'm sorry.

- You don't trust this weapon. For a while... yes, fight Eris, no magic, just a sword in your hand.

- Yes! - The girl's eager for revenge.

- All right. - I agreed.

And I had to admit, I had underestimated her. She was at the elementary level and was already aiming for the intermediate level. At the same time, she was already at a basic level of combat aura. By giving up magic in this fight, I suddenly discovered that Eris and I were practically on equal footing! At least when it came to swordsmanship.

- Ah! Take that!

On top of that, the girl was eager to smack me around.

But, although not fully, I began to understand what Guilen was trying to tell me. Leaving magic behind, I must begin to rely more heavily on my sword. Because without it, even my skills in the various martial arts were no longer useful against a strong blow from a wooden stick. Eris was hitting me hard, not afraid to break bones and bruise me. And it hurt even more than it had when I'd fought with my father. Paul held back with me more than I thought he could.

What's more, the fact that she was a girl played into Eris' hands.

I just couldn't bring myself to hit her full force. She, on the other hand, didn't have that problem.

And yet, it gave me not even so much a new experience as a fresh perspective on an old problem.

And then there was the etiquette lesson.

- Not so, Mr Rudeus. You should only bow your head slightly.

Eris, on the other hand... calmly and obediently followed her teacher's instructions. I was surprised to realise that this girl was familiar with court etiquette. She just doesn't feel the need to use it normally.

After the etiquette lesson, I still tried to persuade Eris to read and write...

- No! I don't want to! Who needs those stupid books!? Books for fools!

After saying that, the girl threw herself out the window and ran away. Talking to Eris about the importance of reading is like playing chess with a pigeon. He'll scatter the pieces and shit on the board, then fly off to tell the other pigeons how he won at chess. It's a strange comparison, but it gave me an unexpected thought. I mean, I'll have to make chess sometime and teach someone how to play it.

In the meantime.

- You've done well, Rudeus. Eris seems to be interested in magic lessons. - Phillip nodded. - You will receive thirty silver a month for those lessons.

- Uncle, you're ruthless, treating your own nephew like that. - I shook my head.

- Mmm, what are you talking about, Rudeus? - The man smiled politely.

- Thirty coins for a whole month of such hard work? I may have agreed to help because of my kinship, but considering how troubled my little sister is..." I shook my head disappointedly. - That kind of payment is an insult. At those rates, you should find another teacher.

- Ha ha... Rudeus, that's a pretty good price. Besides, you're still a child.

- Just because I'm a child doesn't mean I can be tricked, Uncle. I may not be very experienced, but I know how to make money. And I'm not going to bargain. My terms are, one gold a month. And that's for magic lessons. If I can get Eris to study books and make her learn to read and write, that's another gold. Maths lessons are also extra.

- Ahem...you....

- That's the minimum. I also gave you a discount, as a kindred spirit.

- Yeah, you're definitely not going to be missed... - Phillip shook his head. - Still, I wonder what you'll do if we refuse?

- I'll sell a few of my statuettes for starters, then I think I'll join an adventurer's guild. I know a water wizard of royal stature. I'll go travelling with her and I can refine my magic to an even higher rank on the way.

- Oh... I see...

- So what about my terms, Uncle?

- It's acceptable. Although, if it were someone else...

- Someone else will run away after Eris' first class.

- That's also true. - Philip agreed. - Alright, you'll get a gold piece a month for each subject you teach Eris.

- That's fine.

That's what we agreed.

And then I spent a couple of days looking at the girl, trying to get along with her and figure out what she liked and didn't like. In fact, she's not as bad as she might seem at first glance. But that very first impression was indeed terrible. Nevertheless, she recognised my strength and, within some boundaries, even obeyed. And that's a good thing. She doesn't trust the regular servants, except for the etiquette teacher and Gilen. The girl respects and admires the fighting cat. So I thought I'd take advantage of that.

- Gillen, tell me, don't you want to learn to read and write? I remember Paul's letter made you have trouble with that.

- Hmm... - Cat tilted her head thoughtfully. - It's a useful skill... when our team broke up, it was hard for me....

- Besides, if you start learning, Eris might follow suit. She respects you a lot.

- That's fine. How much will your lessons cost?

- Ohhh, Gilen... you're the one helping me, and you're still teaching me swordsmanship. You don't have to pay for those lessons.

- Understood. - The cat nodded.

Especially, Guylen, it's not Philip. The sly fox is begging to be skinned with that cheeky grin of his. And the swordswoman pussy, she's a pussycat, she's got paws and all...

- But if you want to repay me, you could help me learn the language of the beastmen.

- All right. - She agreed right away.

Well, I just thought it was a good opportunity. I already know human and demonic. Now I'm gonna learn animal.

Again.

- I'm not going to learn this nonsense! - Eris exclaimed.

She tried to hit me and run away. But...

This time, I rushed in pursuit. Even using her battle spirit, the girl didn't run far, and I used wind magic to catch up with her.

- No! Let go! Bastard! Bastard!

We had our first reading lesson in the courtyard. The girl was encased in stone and buried up to her neck in the ground. Here I created a stone board on which I laid out the books. Next to it, Gilen settled down. And we began the lesson.

- Why... Gilen is also learning? - Mad Bitch was surprised.

- Of course she is. - I nodded.

- Yeah. - Nodded the cat.

The girl watched it all incredulously, and even started to get into the lesson a little tentatively. I must say that teaching Sylphie was much easier. And, I still had to catch her every time the lesson started.

At the same time, in fencing lessons, Gilen noticed my problem.

- Why don't you give it your best shot? Eris can beat you like that.

- Sorry... my father taught me to protect girls, not beat them.....

- There are many women among adventurers. Some of them could become your enemies. If you keep thinking like that, they'll kill you.

- You're right...

And after all, Eris is the one who helped me deal with that disadvantage.

It's hard to keep your cool when you're being beaten with a stick all the time. At one point, I couldn't help myself, so I charged the girl with my training sword. But, she didn't even squeak and continued the fight as if nothing had happened. What's more, she was really talented at it. She quickly adapted to my fighting style. It was getting harder and harder to catch Eris. I had to rely more and more on my sword, which is what Gilen wanted.

- You still have a lot to learn. - She said arrogantly.

- Eris, come here. - Just ignoring her arrogance.

- Huh? What's this... - The girl was furious, but she came over.

I raised my hand, which was emitting a green light. And the girl's bruises immediately began to disappear.

- О!

- Healing magic.

- I want to learn this magic! - Sister said.

Yes, it's good to be able to heal yourself from wounds.

I also fought Gilen myself sometimes, but with magic. Using normal spells against her was useless. She just chopped them up with her sword. Fireball, ice projectiles, or even stone blocks. It's pretty much the same with magical defences. And, the way she does it gave me some interesting thoughts. The cat's combat aura somehow destroys spells on contact, wreaks havoc on the orderly mana structure. It's similar to the effects of an anti-magic barrier, and it's something to think about.

At the same time, these techniques don't fully work against complex natural spells like lightning. To be more precise, there are two types of lightning, it is purely magical, which can also be destroyed by a swordsman's blow, and natural, when magic copies natural processes to create real lightning. And this is something that can't be stopped by the battle aura. It turns out that lightning magic is most effective in battle, especially against swordsmen.

So, fighting with Gilen, I was not so much growing as a swordsman, as I was developing my combat skills in general, and mainly the magic component.

Also, a little later I learnt something else interesting.

- Gilen, Gilen! Can you defeat a dragon?

- Guillen, have you hunted bandits?

- Gilen, how many dungeons have you travelled with your team?

Eris often asked the cat about the adventurers' activities. I decided to use that too.

So, during another writing lesson, I decided to reveal my trump card.

- Ehhh, I'll have to prepare more, learn the language of the beast god and improve my magic before going on an adventure. - I stretched out, as if voicing my thoughts aloud.

- What adventure? - Eris instantly perked up her ears.

- Oh, didn't I say? I want to become an adventurer later and go on an adventure with my teacher. That's why I learnt writing. You know, without it, it would be extremely difficult to become a good adventurer.

- What? Why? Guillen! That's not true!

- It is. - The cat nodded. - When I was in Black Claw's team, I relied on my mates for a lot of things. But after we split up, I got cheated a lot, I couldn't... calculate revenue properly, and I had a hard time making contracts....

- Ooooh... then I just need to get someone like Rudeus on my team who can read! - Says Eris.

Well, she's got some smarts.

- Um, why would I want someone so inept on my team? - I gave her a look of disdain. - I'll take my teacher and maybe my student Sylphie.

- Sylphie!? WHO IS THAT? - Eris' eyes bulged.

- Oh, she's my friend from Bueno, two years younger than you. I taught her magic too, as well as reading and writing. Although, she clearly doesn't have much talent in swordsmanship.

- Grrr... shut up, just get on with your lesson! - The girl muttered.

I, on the other hand, checked her reputation once again. I've been checking it a lot lately, as well as the girl's mood through scanning to get a better idea of her mood.

Eris Borei Greyrat - recognised your power, and thinks you are very handsome

Mood - tired, irritable, hoarding rage.

A true tsundere.

But, this tiredness was beginning to bother me. This note in the girl's mood appears quite often. In fact, I do notice in some lessons that she starts to peck her nose and almost fall asleep during class.

And then she hid and did not come to the writing lesson.

I could hardly find her in the stables, buried in a haystack. The girl had just passed out there and was sleeping sweetly. And she's not what you'd call lazy. Maybe I was too hard on her myself. If you look at it that way, the girl's got her whole day planned out, all week long, without a break. It's no wonder she's pissed off and beaten up previous teachers. Gillen, on the other hand, had never been able to beat up. On top of that, the girl really liked her lessons.

When I asked about the weekend.

- Weekend? What's that? I don't understand you, Rudeus. - Guillen was puzzled.

Philippe didn't know the term either.

I had to explain.

- Eris has been tired a lot lately. It's bad for her cognitive abilities and it's building up stress...

- What?

- The mind is tired too, learning in that state is like trying to train with a sword when you're hungry and exhausted from overexertion.

- Yeah... - Gilen nodded understandingly.

- She needs to rest for a while to regain her strength, and then she can start studying with full energy!

- I don't understand. - Gilen shook her head.

- But we can try. - Philip agreed.

- We need to talk to all the teachers.

Well all the teachers, that's me, Guilen and Eden, the elderly etiquette teacher.

As for the weekend theme, it really worked.

After getting the go-ahead for this experiment, I suggested that Eris spend the whole day without lessons. Just to relax. Or take a walk into town if she wanted to. The girl wanted to. After all, she's still a very active and energetic person.

- OH-OH! GYLEN! RUDEUS! LOOK! SOMETHING'S GOING ON OVER THERE! LET'S GO LOOK!

The energy was exploding. The girl screamed at the top of her voice and ran to see the street performers. Then we walked round the local market, looking at all sorts of things. There was a thought to ponudite a little about the importance of elementary maths and basic economics, but I decided not to fill the girl's head with studies today. Another time.

I also went to the local bookstore.

Honestly, I was a bit taken aback by the local prices. Books are cheaper in Ranoa, but here they're two or three times more expensive. And that led me to a really great idea. I walked around the local shops and shops and wrote down the prices of different items, while explaining it to Eris.

- My teacher used to buy books in Ranoa, and they are much cheaper there. Look, if you buy books there and bring them back here, you can make good money!

- Ooh.

And it wasn't small money. I need to work for a few years with my current salary to afford even one good magic book in Roa. Although, if I do decide to sell them, I shouldn't think it's that easy. Surely the shop probably has its own suppliers and they might just not want to mess with someone else.

So when we got back to the mansion....

- Ahh... Rudeus! How about we have a duel? Not as a lesson, just for fun!

- Hmm... okay... - I sighed.

I didn't get a chance to practice magic today either. For the last few days, I've only been able to play with the parameters of complex spells for a couple of hours in the evenings to drain my reserve. Although, with my current abilities, I was already struggling to get to the bottom of my reserve.

Nevertheless, this weekend, in the end, I also decided to rest and didn't even do magic seriously.

And then somehow I got into a rhythm.

Eris herself became more willing to study, the weekend had a good effect on her. I didn't have to work so hard to keep her nose to the book, either. I found it easier to keep up with my studies, and I had some time for my own magic classes. There was still less time for that than before, though. I'd taken a breakneck pace from the start, though, but it wasn't like I really needed to rush into anything. I still had a whole life ahead of me. And I think I even enjoyed teaching someone.

Remembering, however, that Eris was nine years old, I figured I might as well get her a tenth birthday present. Considering she's my student....

I think back to what Roxy told me about this... the tradition of a teacher giving a trick to a student. And, I already even know the best one for Eris. And Gillen, too, by the way. She's my magic student, too. Even though both girls are still at the elementary level. To be more precise, I would even say that their skills in magic are at a basic level, they just know a few entry level spells.

In the meantime, I also corresponded not only with Roxy, but also with Sylphie.

The sorceress wrote that she would be coming to Roa soon. And Sylphie was bragging about her magic skills.

I wondered if I was getting along too well with Eris. If I overdo it, she'll end up in the group. And I'm not sure I want that. Sylphie was easier, she was a lonely girl. But Eris... that's Eris. On the other hand, she's my second cousin. And she's actually not a bad girl, although she's mean as hell. Besides, I've seen a picture of her mother... I think it's worth a try... to make a good impression while she's still a child. And then, when she grows up, maybe she'll become another wife of mine! In that case, it'll be even better if she gets into the group. Yeah, I'm having some strange thoughts.

It's as if I've become so relaxed and started thinking about all sorts of nonsense.

I didn't even realise I was drowsy. I guess I was too tired from the last session with Gilen. So I decided to go to bed early this time.

Yeah.

I was surprised to wake up on the cold, damp floor of a basement.

My head ached, my body felt stiff. And I felt like my hands were tied and my mouth was gagged. But, somehow, I was able to pull myself up and look around. The first thing that caught my eye was Eris, also bound and lying next to me.

Mission accomplished!

Kidnapping

You have been sedated and kidnapped along with Eris. You must escape from captivity and bring the girl home!

Reward: Mad Bitch's gratitude.

Shit.