Chapter 11

"Are you ready Rudy? I let you get the better of me yesterday but it won't happen again!" Dad said with a smirk on his face. It wasn't obvious but he was just a little bit different compared to yesterday.

He didn't brag or hide the fact that he lost, instead he proudly admitted that I won and assured me it wouldn't happen again. He's still an idiot but he's an idiot that is improving slowly but surely. Soon he may stop giving Lilia inappropriate looks.

No, that'll never happen.

My dad may be getting better but he was still a skirt chasing playboy at heart. Maybe it'll change one day but for now, I'll have to keep an eye out for anything vulgar that may happen between the two.

I do feel bad for Lilia though. She was a human being with needs and my parents having fun every night certainly didn't make it any easier. The best future would be one where she could somehow enter the family without any issues but sadly reality isn't kind.

Mom was a staunch believer in the Milis religion and while I was never one to criticize religion this time it got in the way. The main problem currently is that the Milis religion is strictly monogamy with no room for anything else.

Combined with mom's devout nature it made it much more difficult to somehow get Lilia to enter the family register though that may not even exist in this world. Regardless this is only necessary because the horn dog that is my father can't keep his hands to himself.

Granted he hasn't touched her yet but it was an inevitability. I was planning for the inescapable day that he did something irreversible and planning countermeasures to ensure we take the least damage at the time or rather, to ensure that everything happens smoothly and without much resistance from mom.

"Mhm." I hummed in response, raising my sword in a different stance than yesterday. My dad may be endless trouble but he was undoubtedly talented and I was sure that he already knew ways to counterattack what I had done yesterday.

Luckily I had learned quite a few styles that will allow me to utilize the surprise factor until I can steal one of the three styles from him. It'll take a while but eventually, it'll get done.

However, I had a way of slowly bridging the gap between me and dad. Yesterday I learned healing magic and last night I fined tuned my usage of it to a level where it can be usable for my needs.

Muscles are strengthened by the process of destruction and then restoration. Destroying the muscles is fairly easy however restoration takes time, that is unless there's a way to expedite the process.

Conveniently I know healing magic which can do just that. It will take a fairly long time however my muscles will grow at a speed visible to the naked eye. I do have to be careful as having my muscles become overly large or bulky would be more of an inconvenience than anything else.

Luckily simply altering how my healing magic restores my muscles solves that problem and eventually, my body may simply adapt and form muscles that way naturally due to my young age but that is unlikely as well as useless.

"Are we just going to stand around or are we going to start within the hour?" Dad teased with a smirk on his face. He may have gotten marginally better as a human but he is still as insufferable as ever when it comes to things like these.

Though I couldn't blame him as it was a strategy above all else. People don't think clearly and act much more rashly when infuriated and he liked to play into that to ensure he wins the fight with minimal damage or simply to weaken his opponent.

Without giving a response I dashed toward him as fast as my tiny body could take me. I wasn't going to win this fight but I will try my hardest to push him to reveal as many 'hints' of the three styles as possible.

"That's more like it." My father said with a proud smirk on his face. Unlike yesterday I could tell that he wasn't treating it like an outing with his son, he was taking it as seriously as he could manage.

He was treating me properly but as I expected he didn't see me as a threat as his silver mana was still in his body, not amplifying any of his physical parameters. Then again I didn't expect to be classified as one anyway.

All I can do is try my best.

|SoA|

Helping Lilia with some of the chores around the house was a pass time of mine. It didn't interfere with my training as I could use the time to theorize for later practice perfectly fine and it allowed me to spend more time with my second mother.

It also allowed me to stop anything unscrupulous from happening between her and dad though I was more on the lookout for dad than her. She was a woman with needs but she also had the mind not to seduce my father while he wouldn't hesitate.

"You don't have to help me, young master." Lilia brought up suddenly. She reiterated that my help wasn't necessary nearly every day but her sky blue mana always became a shade lighter when I did.

"I'm helping you because I want to." I told her once again while folding up one of my dad's shirts that had been covered in monster blood during one of his patrols recently. Monsters seem to have been appearing more often recently if his shirts always end up covered in blood. Then again he could simply be hunting them down instead.

He had been training harder recently so it wasn't completely out of the equation. The speed of his silver mana's growth was extremely impressive. Speaking of his silver mana I believe it needs its own name.

It wasn't exactly like mana after all. While they were similar his silver mana seemed to grow based on his physical power rather than emptying your reserves like mana required. It also functioned differently so I believe a different name is needed until I figure out what it is actually called.

I think Aura would be a good name. It is also a common fantasy power source that fits many of the oddities of dad's silver aura. Either way, it didn't particularly matter as it was merely a placeholder until I discover its real name.

"Rudy! Can you come inside?" Mom's voice came from inside the house. Receiving a silent nod from Lilia I handed over the freshly dried and folded shirt and walked toward the house to speak to mom. I already knew what she wanted due to my heightened senses but it wasn't bad to spend time with her anyway.

Walking through the house I saw mom sitting on a chair in the living room. Smiling as soon as she saw me she gently pat her lap. Making my way over I sat on her lap with no hesitation and leaned into her warm, lightly hugging her.

"Rudy, we were thinking of getting you a magic teacher, what do you think?" Mom questioned me while running her hand through my hair. Such a small act of affection I would imagine to be annoying was incredibly pleasant.

"It's fine." I murmured, my body almost instinctively falling asleep under her touch. It was to be expected, I routinely stayed up late and constantly overexerted my body recently while relying on healing magic to keep my body at sufficient levels of health.

I was slightly worried at how much such a thing would cost but with dad being a low ranking knight we had some funds to spare though we'd need to start saving for whenever my siblings are born.

"Fufu. Okay, then Rudy. Why don't you a nap?" Mom muttered softly while hugging me close to her body, a gentle smile on her face. I had theories I wanted to test but a nap seems nice right now besides, I wasn't stressed for time.

"Mhm." I hummed, a slight yawn leaving my lips. Closing my eyes, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep in my mother's embrace.