Chapter 10

Laying on his bed with a blanket covering his lower half Paul couldn't help but think about what had happened this morning. Paul was confident that his son couldn't touch him no matter how easy he took it, he was Paul after all.

But that wasn't the case. He was shocked when Rudy could move so quickly, he was shocked at how good his swordsmanship was despite never using a sword before, and he was shocked at how his speed suddenly increased and that ended with him getting hit in the face.

Of course, he was barely trying but that didn't change anything, in fact, it made the loss even worse. Paul was confident but his time as an adventurer made sure he wasn't overconfident but it seems that peace can dull any blade.

"What's wrong?" Zenith asked from her position on his chest, the blankets barely covering her stunning figure. Paul was a womanizer but even he ended up stopping his skirt chasing for a piece of that.

"Do you think I'm overconfident?" Paul questioned after a moment of silence. It was a thought that wouldn't get out of his head since the morning. It had gotten so lodged up there that one of his coworkers, a half elf named Laws, took his shift.

"Paul, I love you but you've always been overconfident." Zenith replied with a painful amount of bluntness that made even somebody with skin as thick as Paul's flinch. If somebody as kind as Zenith was being so mean about it must have been pretty bad.

"That bad huh?" Paul murmured quietly. Paul liked to think of himself as somebody who could recognize their own flaws but it seems like even he could miss a few of the more subtle but obvious ones.

"Bad is an understatement. Luckily you've always had the ability to back it up. So what happened? It's not like you to be so serious?" Zenith questioned, idly drawing circles on his bare chest.

"Rudy was able to hit me this morning." Paul revealed to his ever so loving wife, a grimace on his face. He was proud that his son was talented but as a man and a fighter, he was disappointed in himself.

"Really?" Zenith questioned in shock, her eyes wide open. Paul was not a weak man. He may have slacked off in his training recently but he was still Advanced rank in all three sword styles with more room to grow.

"Mhm. I underestimated him and it let him hit me in the chin." Paul explained while rubbing his chin from the phantom sensation of the blow hitting him. It was a weak blow that couldn't even make him flinch but it gave him more mental pain than any other hit before it.

"Paul, you are one of the strongest people I know and I love you but have you improved at all since Rudy's been born?" Zenith questioned Paul seriously, her blue eyes staring at Paul's emerald irises that were full of hesitation.

"I-... No, I haven't." Paul said with a sigh. He would love to say he had, that he had grown physically stronger or better with the blade but that wasn't true. He had kept in shape but that was all he had been doing,

When he was an adventurer he could feel himself getting stronger after every fight that he was a part of but now he could confidently say that that version of him that should be weaker would kick his ass into next week.

"Paul, it's not a bad thing to rest but you haven't trained since before Rudy was even born. That's fine if you want to retire but you aren't the kind of person to accept staying the same for too long. Right?" Zenith questioned with a soft smile as she gently rubbed his cheek.

"I guess I should get back into training. That brat might underestimate me if I don't. Thanks, Zenith." Paul thanked her sincerely. His spar with his son and his wife's advice were invaluable to him.

"You're very welcome. Speaking of Rudy though, he might need a better teacher than me." Zenith said with a small frown on her face. Rudy was a genius, not only was he able to recreate her spell nearly instantaneously he was able to do so without a chant.

"What? It's only been a single lesson and I'm sure you're a great teacher!" Paul consoled her with a smile, holding himself back from bragging. He had just recognized his flaw, he'd rather not feed into it.

"The problem isn't with me, it's with Rudy." Zenith explained further, her frown deepening. She was happy her son was a genius but the feeling of being not good enough for her son was terrible.

"With Rudy? What's the matter, he was always a smart kid so it should be fine right?" Paul questioned unsurely. He himself was never very knowledgeable let alone with all that magic mumbo jumbo.

He could deal with a mage pretty easily but that didn't mean he understood a single word they said when they talked about Magic and its 'infinite depths' or whatever they liked to preach about.

"He's too smart. When I showed him the elementary healing spell he recreated it immediately! He didn't even need to chant!" Zenith complained but it was closer to bragging about her son than anything else. As sad as she was about her own ineptitude she was, at the end of the day, a mother that was proud of her child.

"He didn't chant? Haha! I can already imagine the look on people's faces when they fight him! It must be hell!" Paul laughed out loud at his son's future opponents. Mage's were manageable because it was possible to tell what they were doing and when a spell would activate.

But if all of that wasn't possible? Then it'd be a sinch to make surprise attacks and catch people off guard. Now that he thought about it, wasn't that what Rudy did against him? Using his surprise to his advantage to 'win' the fight?

"You know, I think our son is a monster in terms of battle." Paul said with a low chuckle. His father always pushed him to train when he was younger since he was so talented but now Paul could understand why a little bit better.

Of course, he wouldn't follow in his father's footsteps, he already saw the end of that road and it wasn't the one he wanted. Luckily it seems like Rudy inherited Zenith's mind and his talent so working hard was something Rudy would do even if he didn't ask.

"You think? Anyways I'll teach him everything I can but it'd be good to start looking for a magic teacher. You can teach him swordsmanship right?" Zenith questioned with a teasing smile making Paul chuckle.

"I think I'll manage." Paul said as humbly as he possibly could. He would love to brag, to say that it would be a piece of cake, but he learned his lesson this morning. Raising a child wasn't a cake walk and training somebody was difficult, he wouldn't underestimate it again.

"I know you will." Zenith said with a smile, lightly kissing his cheek. "Now go to sleep. You need to focus on teaching in the morning right?" Zenith said with a smile. This was why she loved Paul.

He was an idiot but he could be pretty smart when it came down to it. He may make mistakes all the time and he was an unfaithful idiot but she was his unfaithful idiot and that meant she'd need to put a tight rein around his neck.

Luckily, she had practice.