Chapter 12

"That's it?"I couldn't muster the strength to glare at the muscle-bound cat woman from where I lay panting in the grass. She had spent most of the afternoon after I was finished with Eris's tutoring (which Ghislaine sat in on as a second student) putting me through my paces to see where I stood. No, that's putting it mildly.The tall bitch ran me ragged.We had agreed to put off my assessment and training until after dealing with Eris, and this was the result. A long session of going through every form in both Sword and Water God schools, then hours of sparring with just those skills so she could get a handle on where I stood, and how much I could take before I collapsed."Yeah," I got out between breaths."I see," Ghislaine nodded, sitting down beside me as she dropped her practice sword and covered her right eye again. "I would rate it as Intermediate-level in both Water and Sword God schools."I turned my head enough to shoot her an incredulous look and panted out, "Paul said Elementary.""Paul lied," the woman shrugged, doing amazing things for her massive, barely contained assets. Too bad I was in no state to appreciate it at the moment. "Probably to make you try harder.""Dick."Ghislaine chuckled. "Yes, he can be. Your form is excellent, as is your awareness of your body and your surroundings. Your endurance is abnormal.""Healing magic.""Ah," Ghislaine nodded. "In those areas, you're probably better than Eris. The problem is your lack of power and speed."My breathing had finally settled back to something resembling normal, so I sat up and conjured some water to drink. After a few sips, I offered the sphere to Ghislaine, who shrugged and leaned forward to take a drink for herself. Flicking the rest of the sphere away, I asked, "What am I doing wrong?""Your touki. You're shrouding yourself with it properly, but the flow looks off. It seems strong, but sluggish."I blinked. "My what?"The woman considered me for a moment, one hand idly scratching at her stomach. And good lord, that six pack. I'd never really had a thing for muscle girls, but damn. "Paul didn't explain that?" I shook my head and she grunted. "There's a long, complicated explanation that I never really listened to. Sorry. Short of it is, touki is just mana, used differently. My teacher called it fighting spirit and it's always been good enough for me. It's one of those things you just feel. Get pissed, get strong. Get more pissed, get stronger. You just stop thinking about it and do it."So it's ki? It sounded like something straight out of Ranma ½ or any one of a dozen fighting shonen manga to come out in the 90s or so. At least, the effects and use. Except, there was just one problem…"I'm already using mana," I explained while I thought it over. "So what the hell am I doing wrong?""You cast by feel, right?" I nodded in answer. "Yeah, makes sense you'd use it how you normally use mana first. You've just got to keep trying. Until then, I'll teach you what I can. Everything up to the Advanced rank is just the basics.""Thanks, Ghislaine." Laughing quietly, I shook my head. "One session and I'm already closer to figuring it out than Paul ever got.""Tomorrow, we'll spar with magic first, then work on your sword practice. I'll use my demon eye to see if we can correct the flow," she decided. I nodded my agreement and she hauled herself to her feet before offering me a hand. Taking the offered paw, my own hand was swallowed up and she hauled me up effortlessly. "I'm going inside."Dusting off the bottom of my pants, I considered my options. "I think I'll work on my magic a bit."Ghislaine departed quickly, tail swinging behind her in a way that caught the eye as she walked away. Pulling my eyes off the tail and the muscular, feminine ass it was attached to, I conjured a stone sword and set to working through an abbreviated version of my usual routine on auto-pilot. I wouldn't have the sort of time to spare for the full thing any more, so I'd be cutting out all the non-magical stuff.As I worked, I thought.So, as it stands, my TODO list is:-Find a dictionary or thesaurus for human language and make a book on English for Roxy. May just break down what I have into two or three books. Math, English, and Science. Redo everything for Science in English, that way we're the only ones who can read it.-Make copies for Sylphie.-Make spellbooks for Norn and Aisha, maybe also English books so I can encode the spellbooks in English.-Send Roxy a letter, let her know where I am now.-Make out lessons for Sylphie for next month, mail those off. Not lessons on making out, making out lessons. Those can come later.-Letter for Zenith, Paul, and Lilia. Insinuate things about Ghislaine. Wish I could see his face.-When the materials come in, build a hot water tank, toilets, and showers for the castle. Getting paid for this one if they like it.-Pester Sauros until he pays me my money.-Go into town, hunt down materials for various projects. Need: copper and brass ingots, aluminum if I can find some, rubber if they have it or leather if not but I'll save that for last in that particular project since it'll have to be custom fitted if all I can find is leather.-Pick up a bag and odds and ends for making a bugout bag/emergency kit. And a pocket watch.-Make MREs.-Spell development and practice. I haven't practiced it much, but maybe I could supplement the metal I'm going to be forced to buy with scavenging and pulling metals from the ground. What if I'm kidnapped again, or taken prisoner, or shipwrecked and lose access to all my resources and need metal for whatever reason? The biggest problem with that was actually discerning what's what, so I should start there. Either a spell to specifically detect and identify metals, or learning the feel of various metals. …Probably need the second for the first, to be honest. Also, let's not forget the medical project. Maybe collect a few rats and see what I can work out there. I can make simple pressure traps and set them out around town. …Do they actually have the spring mousetrap? If not, I could make and sell those for money. Make a few, find a guy willing to sell them. Good for spending money, since I'm trying to reinvest or save everything else.-Find 'a guy' to sell shit for me who won't rip me off.Seeing as it was already late, there would be no going out into town to pick up supplies as all the businesses (except those specializing in night services) were closing their doors for the day. I'd probably have to wait until the weekend, which was in a couple of days, or try to go in the morning. Wouldn't work though. Ghislaine won't let me wander off into town by myself and I'd have to talk her into going, but her mornings are spent training Eris.So, what did I have to work with right now?Magic. There's a library here that I've been granted access to. I've got the steel I took from the kidnappers, along with their money—but the money will wait until I can get to town. No point letting it burn a hole in my pocket.Well, I had been wanting to develop a few new spells lately anyway. That assclown almost dodged my Water Lance. Ghislaine saw my Bolt from a mile off, almost literally. I want something stealthier. Something someone wouldn't even sense to dodge. And something more versatile than lightning. Versatile and invisible.I moved to swinging and throwing out magic while I used Air Running to maneuver as I thought it over. Closest thing I have to 'invisible' is wind magic. So… what is wind? Well, it's air. Specifically, atmosphere, as moved by various forces. Wind spells work by gathering and directing particles. Water spells are practically identical at their most basic level—just a difference of interacting with a liquid vs a gas. Couldn't you therefor say that they are essentially hydrokinesis and aerokinesis—which are themselves just very specific forms of telekinesis? And by that logic, earth manipulation is geokinesis.Parts of the basic spells for wind and water manipulation felt very similar. Especially the parts for gathering and moving. Why not skip the medium and use mana directly?Well, there was only one way to find out. Then, after my practice and experimentation, I would hit the library and ask the butler, Alphonse not Thomas, about finding the books I needed. After my bath (at least they had a proper tub, even if they didn't use it but weekly at best), I'd spend a while finishing my Roxy statue and see about making one of Sylphie.Maybe I can sell models for cash. I'm getting pretty good and extra money is always nice. Hell, I've got an entire mental library of fantasy themed anime characters I can model and sell. Too bad I don't have decent paint. Well, something to look into making. Could be a hobby for later. More pocket change to supplement my actual work.Actually, now that I think about it… Wasn't intricate detail work for pottery, sculpting, and things like that highly sought after in pretty much every time period? Maybe scale up to life-sized models to sell a few one-offs for lots of money if they catch the interest of some noble. Hell, some silver, a few pretty stones or jewels, and I could make pottery, vases, and so on marketed towards that audience for super cheap production cost—as in, the cost of a few silver coins to use them for plating, if I can't find any silver in the ground.And so my days went for a while.Waking up to run through my physical/magical exercise regimen. Trying to teach Eris math and literacy. Teaching Eris magic. Sparring with Eris at swordplay and barely breaking even in terms of wins to losses, only to turn around and try to teach her how to fight a mage. Sparring with Ghislaine with magic so I could get some practice against someone her level in, and because the big woman seemed to get some sort of kick out of it (seriously, swear to God, her nipples get hard every time we do the whole 'fighting a mage in three dimensions' routine). Training with Ghislaine to exhaustion. Then getting up when I could move again and heading inside to try, and so far mostly fail, to work out telekinesis (I felt like I grew closer by the day, I was just missing something). Working on lesson plans for Eris and Sylphie. Working on the books. And finally, practicing fine control by recreating anime characters as statuettes and making a few small jars with action scenes carved in them and a bit of silver around the rim.Until finally, the weekend came. Eris, Ghislaine, and I took a trip out into the town and had a look around. I took note of prices in my head as we browsed the wares, occasionally pulling out a pen and a piece of paper to make a note of a particular price and seller for something I wanted to pick up later so I could compare them. Noting down ideas where there was a lack of something I could make. For instance, while they had board-type games, even one similar to chess, they didn't have actual chess. Making a board and pieces out of metal and stone would take me maybe two days worth of magic practice, making the pieces instead of doing something else that required fine control. Have to introduce it to Phillip and Sauros and see how they like it.Towards the outer city, the prices dropped precipitously—something that would cost five gold in the 'rich' area cost one gold just one district over. Sure, there's some potential to get ripped off here, but on the other hand I'm a mage and the thing I most want to buy right now is raw materials—most of which are in the form of metals, which I can easily use magic to verify the quality and consistency of.Spying a bookstore, I hummed quietly to myself and stepped in, leaving Eris and Ghislaine to browse a few nearby stands. For the most part, it looked like they sold erotic books—which I found amusing that someone would go through all the trouble to hand-copy, or magically copy, smut en masse when these people didn't even have standardized text books for things like math and literature. Spotting a glass enclosed shelf, I moved closer and looked over the titles.Hey, it's the plant encyclopedia, I smiled as I spotted the book Zenith had gotten me for my fifth birthday. I gawked a little at the price, though. Jesus Christ, they spent that much on me? I'll have to do something nice for them. Or Zenith at least.I almost overlooked the tome as I went to move on, but paused as one of the words registered. Turning back, I reread the title. Sig's Summoning Magic went for ten gold coins. The weight of the pouch in my pocket had never been heavier. Almost half my funds, for a book on summoning… Ugh, I'm going to hate myself for this. Well, at least I have that other money coming in."Hey mister," I called to the proprietor."What is it?" he asked, his tone surly."I see you've got a book of summoning magic here, but isn't the price a little steep?"The old man snorted. "Buy it or get out.""Come on now, you and I both know you've got at least a twenty-five percent markup from what you actually paid for it, if not more. Probably closer to fifty, am I right?" The old man glared, but didn't refute the claim either. "I'll give you six gold for it, right now," I offered with a grin, reaching into my pocket and opening the string on my money pouch, before fishing up coins one by one, stopping at four."I'll take nine and not a copper less!"Fishing up a fifth coin, I stacked them in my palm, pulling up the bottom and letting them fall neatly with a series of clinks. "Think of a young man's magical education. Working here, selling these types of books, surely you remember your own youth? How am I supposed to impress ladies if I can't use amazing magic? Just look outside! You see that tall beast-kin woman and the fierce little redhead with her? You think they're going to be wowed by a few fireballs? Not a chance. Come on, sell it to me for seven, please?"The old man grumbled something uncharitable as he eyed up Ghislaine. Seemingly sensing his eyes on her, the six foot slab of curvy muscles turned and regarded us through the window before saying something to Eris. The pair entered the store a moment later. "Rudeus, what are you doing?" Eris demanded, planting her hands on her hips.Ghislaine frowned as she met the owner's wandering gaze. The man coughed, turning away from the imposing swordswoman. "Seven and a half.""Sold," I agreed, pulling the remaining coins out and handing them over. He quickly put them away and got me my change. Then he walked over, opened up the shelf, and handed me Sig's Summoning Magic."There you are. Please stop by again some time.""Sure will," I agreed, tucking the book under my arm and turning for the door. Sending Eris a grin, I answered her question. "It's called haggling."Eris eyed the book, humming quietly. "I see. You like books, don't you? What's that one?"We filed out onto the street and I started towards where I remembered a store that sold packs for adventurers to be. "I do. This one may just be the holy grail. Not sure yet. Suppose we'll see. It's a book on summoning magic."We made a few stops after that to pick up the things on my list before heading back to the castle. Not particularly interested in watching me read a book, Eris took off immediately. Ghislaine said a hurried goodbye and chased after Eris to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. In the meantime, I headed not for my room or the library, but for Phillip's office. Knocking on the door, I waited to be invited in. Eventually, the man answered and I slipped inside."Good afternoon, Rudeus. How was your trip into Roa?" he asked, not looking up from where he was going over some paperwork."Eris had fun. And it was productive for me," I grinned. "I have a bit of a request. Is there anywhere I can set up a private workshop? Somewhere I won't be disturbed and any projects I'm working on won't potentially be damaged? Preferably somewhere with a desk and a table."Phillip considered for a moment before nodding. Looking over to Alphonse, who had shown up silently only a moment behind me, he said, "Show Rudeus to the west study. I believe that room is unused and has a writing desk. Then, see about getting him a table. Was that all, Rudeus?""One more thing. I've got a few odds and ends I'm looking to sell. Some decorative curios, some functional. Statues, pens, maybe some mouse traps, other stuff. Would you know anyone who would be willing to resell them for a small cut of the profits—no more than twenty-five percent? And for things like the mouse traps, someone capable of making more and selling them. Things like that, I'd take a smaller cut off of than the one-offs."Phillip looped up from his work with a contemplative hum. "I know some people. Give Alphonse what you have and a list of suggested prices and I'll see it taken care of.""Thank you," I gave him a nod. "I'll probably come by in the next month or so with something I want you to look at. I think you'll like it. It's another project like the showers and toilets, but potentially for resale.""Oh?" Phillip asked, suddenly curious. "Not your 'curios?' Why don't you tell me about it?""Don't want to spoil it. It the first goes over well, I'll probably come to you with a second. Maybe more. But I think you'll like it.""I'll look forward to it, then."With that, I followed Alphonse out and he lead me over to the west study. The room wasn't quite perfect, but it was secluded and had a lock on the door. A bit of effort on our part removed all of the furniture save for the writing desk, a chair, and a sofa by the fireplace. Then, we moved in an older table that no one would mind if it got scratched up or otherwise damaged. Once that was done, Alphonse offered to bring me lunch and I accepted, before running up to my room to grab some things to work on and the proposed items for sale. I sat on my new sofa and ate a sandwich with a nice cup of tea, before heading over to the table and getting to work.Emptying out my new bag, I sorted everything into groups. Sig's went on the writing desk—I would take it up to my room to read later, at bed time. Brass, copper, and aluminum ingots that I had picked up from town were piled onto the table, along with the steel ingot I'd procured during our kidnapping. Paper and pens went onto the writing desk, along with a newly purchased journal.From the bag also came several jars of stone, labeled in English: sulfur, saltpeter, charcoal, coal, coal tar, and rubber.The last was an incredible find. It wasn't processed rubber, but natural rubber as one would get from a rubber tree. I knew vaguely that the vulkanization process involved sulfur, peroxide, and the leftovers from partially burning coal tar—the joys of the internet and TV. Things like How Stuff Works made for good background viewing material when grinding up levels while working from home back on Earth.Of the things required to make vulkanized rubber, one of them I had, one I could make since I had the ingredients, and the last was a maybe. What I didn't know was how to process it, beyond heating it… boiling it? I had time, magic, basic chemistry knowledge, and ingredients. Trial and error using magic to speed things up and brute-force it was the way to go here, then I would have the sort of rubber I actually needed. Hopefully.New spell development excuse, too. Can you make H2O2 from water and air magic? I want to find out. Because if I can… Oh Lord, if I can, it means I can split H2O into H2 and O on a large scale. Big bada boom. If I can get that kind of fine control over water and/or wind, then we're looking at getting into silly shit. Forget making someone breathe vacuum, we can just pull all the oxygen out of an area and let them suffocate while thinking they're sucking down normal air. Explosions at will with just a spark. Seas of fire. Fogs of acid. Poison gas. Nuclear fission or fusion…Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves.Taking one of the copper ingots in hand, I stripped off a section using magic and set the block down. Focusing on the smaller section, I pulled at it with earth magic, drawing it out, spaghettifying it into strands. First, a brushless motor to test. Then, I'll see if I can figure out the chemistry for the right kind of rubber. Aluminum for a frame. Need some leather for a seat, too. No need for gearing or pedals, but I definitely want brakes.Yeah, I was building an electric motorcycle.What was I using for the power source? Until I could figure out mana storage, that would be me, doing it by hand. I had enough control over my own magic that it wouldn't be a problem… hopefully. I'd test first.And hey, know what else works with electric motors? Add a weight to one end of a small motor and you've got a rumble pack. Or a vibrator. …Question is, should I introduce that particular 'innovation?' Over-stimulation leads to needing more and more to get off, in the same way a drug addict needs more to reach the same high next time—just not quite so severe. No, I'll hold off on that for now. Knew entirely too many women who were too dependent on their sex toys. On the other hand, that market may not be as open as I think. Given the literary porn store and the fact that I saw aphrodisiacs in the market, odds are good they have sex-related magic tools already. …Well, even if I don't make a tool, I could make a spell for fun.Anything with an electric motor was not a project I was looking to turn around and sell, however. Not until I could figure out a way to store mana and write out spells. No, that was something a bit more complex than a few twists of copper and metal. I intended to make a human-language typewriter. If that went over well, I'd move on to a simple printing press—water powered for now, but that could easily be converted to electric later on. With magic, I could prototype things quickly and if it failed, strip it all down to its component parts and reuse it for something else. Theoretically, the development cycle was as fast as I could design and put it together. And I was cheating by using Earth-based designs.Then there was the elephant in the room.Sulfur. Saltpeter. Charcoal.Dare I uncork the genie? …Dare I not?Well, it wasn't going anywhere for the moment and my plate was sufficiently full of projects that I could put it off for a while."What has you so happy?"I looked up from where I was working on the English language primer before class started, finding Eris standing in the doorway with Ghislaine just behind her. "Hm? What do you mean?""You've been in a good mood since last night. Did something happen?" Eris asked, hands on her hips and sending me an accusatory look. "What did you do?"Using water magic to quickly dry the ink, I put away the paper and sent her a grin. "It's a surprise.""Hmph!" the girl turned her nose up before taking a seat."Actually, how about we have class outside today?" I suggested, standing and popping my back. Eris was a very energetic girl, so it'd probably be better if I started catering her lessons to that.The redhead in question immediately popped out of her seat and ran for the door. "Yes!" Pausing at the entry as an amused Ghislaine moved out of the way, she turned and pointed at me. "And you'd better take me with you to play the next time you go into Roa, too!"I sent the girl an amused look. Feeling like prodding her a bit, I asked, "Is that how you ask for something?""Nn." Her entire demeanor changed, her face going red and her fists and jaw clenching. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and gathered her hair into twin tails before putting on the angriest set of puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen. "Please take Eris with you next time you go out to play, nyan~" And then she winked.That never gets old. I carefully kept a straight face as I nodded. "If you're a good girl. And good girls…?""Do their lessons, nyan," came the much less enthusiastic answer. Letting go of her hair, she turned and tromped out of the room, shoulders drooping as though she'd been scolded."Good afternoon, Rudeus," Ghislaine greeted when I finished packing up and left the room we usually left for classes."Afternoon.""Why did I smell burning metal coming from your study yesterday?" she asked, and I faltered momentarily."You caught that, huh?""Mm."I sighed, before holding up a hand and channeling a sustained Arc spell. The woman watched as I held it up and let it dance between my fingers. "I needed to know how much a certain thickness of copper wire could take before it melted. I have no way to measure the power it's putting out right now, so I just have to go by feel." I let the spell dispel. "Didn't want to damage a finished product.""I also heard a small explosion and smelled something like rotten eggs."Cautiously, I eyed the big woman. "It's a few things that, when mixed in the proper proportions, explode when exposed to fire."A small batch couldn't hurt and it's not like I'm planning to make anything too dangerous with it.Seemingly satisfied, the woman was content to follow along as we trekked out to the garden. Using earth magic, I raised up a set of chairs and a table for us, carefully parting the grass and growing them upwards before solidifying them into stone. "Now, where were we?" I wondered, digging through my satchel and producing Eris' lesson plan. Reading it over, I nodded and set it to the side. From the table, numbers rose up. "We're working on subtraction today.""Why do I need to know this?" Eris huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Ghislaine, I saw, was paying diligent attention.I considered the tsundere action girl for a moment and what I knew of her. She only sees math in terms of numbers. Something she doesn't want to do. She'd rather swing her sword at a problem to make it go away. So, how do I turn numbers into a problem you can swing a sword at?Finally, I grinned. The numbers sank back into the table. In their place, rose an army of twenty goblins on one side and three figures on the opposite side—Eris, Ghislaine, and myself in miniature, though not quite to the detail of, say, my Roxy figurines (because of course if I was making one to sell, I'd be making one to keep for myself). Eris perked up and studied the table with rapt attention while Ghislaine nodded approvingly at the girl's sudden focus before sending me an amused smile."Okay Eris. Suppose we're in a fight. I throw out a fireball and it takes out five goblins." Five goblins clustered to the side directly across from my figurine fell to the ground, crumbling into pieces. "Ghislaine jumps in and swings her sword, taking out seven." Seven figures to the far side of the group crumbled, leaving a cluster in the middle. "How many are left for you to clean up?"I watched as her mouth began moving. Counting? Nope. I sank the figurines into the table surface."Hey!""Oh no, your torch has gone out and you can't see the enemy to count how many there are," I deadpanned. "Quickly Eris, how many are left?! We're all going to die if one of them gets away and follows us back to camp to slit our throats while we're sleeping!""Uh, um, …nnnng!" the girl grumbled in frustration. Finally, she sighed. "I need something to write with."A bit of magic had a pen-shaped stone stick sprouting from the table and made the surface in front of her easier to scar. "Use the table," I instructed, and she nodded as she began scratching out the numbers."We started with twenty. You killed five, then Ghislaine got seven… so there are twenty-two left? How? Goblins don't multiply that fast, do they?!"Dirty old man brain answered before I could engage my brain-to-mouth filter. "We'll work on multiplication together later."Ghislaine sent me a raised eyebrow and an amused look, apparently having caught the double entendre. Maybe I shouldn't have been working with her on that skill… "You have two paths before you. You can subtract twice, five and then seven from twenty. Alternately, you can add once and subtract once—""Rudeus?" Ghislaine interrupted, quietly but insistently. Looking up at the woman, she tapped the surface of the table."Oh! Sorry Ghislaine," I apologized, before spawning another pen and altering the table again.Seeing Eris looking over at Ghislaine's scratching, I raised a barrier between them. "Oh no, an explosion has deafened you and you can't communicate with your party members. Quickly Eris, save us!"Eris looked like she wanted to throw the pen at me, but she diligently began working. "This doesn't seem fair. Like that would really happen.""It happened a lot," Ghislaine immediately denied. "Torches don't stay lit forever. Sometimes a mage forgets we're indoors and casts fireball without checking the size of the room and leaves everyone deaf or worse until the healer can fix it."Eris frowned, turning suddenly suspicious eyes on me. "Is that why you let them beat us, rather than just killing them all right from the start?"Well now, someone's not as dumb as she wants to be. That's good, it means there's hope. I can work with this, I mused, sending her another smile. "Well, let's see. Small, enclosed room. An unknown number of enemies. No backup. The asshole kicking us around was using the basics of North God style to do it—the whole 'aim for all the weak points' thing, so it was a safe assumption he was at least somewhat versed in the style, meaning it's safer to assume he could use touki and was at least an Advanced-level threat. What was the first rule I taught you?"Thinking back, the girl answered, "There is no such thing as a fair fight.""And why did I tell you that? I gave you the answer, remember?"Crossing her arms over her chest, Eris looked away. Quietly, she said, "Because I picked a fight with an unknown opponent who… was stronger than me," the last words came out barely as a whisper, but they did come out."Precisely. It's why I chose to escape and get you to safety, rather than engage them directly. I hadn't had time to properly assess their abilities yet."Ghislaine nodded. "It was a good call. Don't start a battle you aren't sure you can win."Sighing, Eris nodded, "Fine. Now this," she gestured to the table before demanding, "Well, Rudy is a mage! Why aren't you making any light?!"My figurine collapsed to the ground, whole but clearly unconscious. "I don't know Eris, why can't I make light for you?""Uh…""Out of mana," Ghislaine immediately guessed. "That happens a lot too. Sometimes, you have to carry the mage or the healer back to camp, or town."Eris huffed out in irritation, but this time she actually began working diligently. Ghislaine and Eris scratched away. Watching them work, I came to realize that Eris was actually kind of cute when she was studying diligently. Face screwed up in concentration, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, eyes narrowed into a glare as she tried to incinerate the table before her with the power of her tsun. Ghislaine, on the other hand, was absolutely adorable. I didn't realize that could even be said about the Amazonian sex goddess cat-woman pretending to be a swordswoman before now. She looks so earnest. And… is it the ears? I think it's the ears. There's something about it that makes me want to reach out and rub the top of her head when she makes that face."Eight! There are eight left!" Eris finally called, pulling me from my thoughts."Ghislaine?"The beast-kin woman nodded. "Eight left.""Good job, Eris, Ghislaine," I praised them. Not that Ghislaine needed it, but Eris really did. Positive reinforcement would work best here. "Let's move on to the next exercise."And that is how I introduced Dungeons and Dragons to the world—or at least a watered down version of it.Eyeing my goblin and 'adventurer' statuettes, I hummed quietly to myself as I thought, creating the next set piece for a new problem. I wonder… is there a market for this sort of thing? Smaller, tabletop game sized statues of monsters and adventurers to sell.Maybe actually write out a simplified set of rules for Eris and Ghislaine, to force her to do more math if she wants to 'play,' instead of just walking them through everything myself…How to Tame Your Pet Tsundere. Volume I.By Rudeus Greyrat.Tsundere. Noun, adjective. A portmanteau from the Japanese root words 'tsuntsun,' meaning aloof or irritable, and 'deredere', meaning lovestruck. Refers to a person who is outwardly violent, hostile, or otherwise antagonistic but who runs 'hot and cold' between sometimes violent aggression and affection or love. Harsh on the outside, but surprisingly vulnerable on the inside.Typically, a tsundere is female, but the rare male tsundere does occasionally arise.A tsundere can sometimes be identified by verbal, visual, or other behavioral cues. Such cues include but are not limited to:-Oddly specific denials, typically coupled with insults. Example: "It's not like I like you or anything, idiot!"-Physically violent behavior when shown affection."What am I reading?" Roxy Migurdia wondered, scratching at the side of her head as she read the second letter that had come with the package she had received from Rudeus. It was a painstaking process, because the letter was written in English and she had to constantly refer back to one of the three tomes Rudy had sent her to translate it word by word.Painstaking, but… fun, she had to admit, moving the rectangular magnifying glass/bookmark included with the books across the page to the word she wanted.Judging by the tone and description, this was an unofficial assignment from Rudeus to help her learn English, in the form of a journal entry—or more accurately, a guidebook—detailing his handling of his current student, Eris Boreas Greyrat. It was probably meant as satire…But this was Rudy she was talking about, so there was also a chance it really was meant to be taken completely seriously.She glanced over at the stack of books and had to suppress a sigh. Two had a plain brown leather cover, while the cover of the third was dyed a pleasing shade of blue that came close to matching her hair.Doesn't he understand how much these are worth? she wondered. A handwritten book of this quality and size would go for five gold, minimum.Yes, the handwriting clearly belonged to Rudy, with its hard, sharp lines and small, tight curves, but it was clearly legible and took up half the size of the print of most books—meaning that for their thickness, there was about double the content of a normal book, if one looked at it simply from a matter of smaller text. A result of using a pen similar to the ones he had sent her, no doubt. She had noticed that they produced much finer text than a dip pen or quill, with much better control over the ink and almost no smearing.It was all straight as it ran across the page, running in evenly spaced lines that made sure the text didn't look cramped or as though it would run across itself—as though he had used something to measure out an exact distance between each line of text and never deviated. This lent itself to allowing the pages to be even more tightly packed with information—so in all, this book was roughly a quarter of the size of what it should be if written as normal books were.And the ink itself— He had sent her a bottle and several 'refills' as he called them, glass tubes of ink meant to replace what was used from her pens if they ran out. It smelled of the sort of expensive perfume that was derived from plants native to Fittoa. That alone would add another five, if not ten gold to the value of the books.Of course, in the consideration of a book's value, one had to valuate the contents. A spellbook was worth vastly more than a romance novel, after all.In one book, mathematics from the most basic level up through things called algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, percentages, statistics, and more. It went far beyond what she had encountered the University of Ranoa. The right buyer would pay thousands of gold for it, then enshrine it for all time within their library, copy it out, and use it as the basis for improving their curriculum. Kingdoms had been founded on less.In the second, with the blue cover, was science, as she had come to know the word. It was mouth-wateringly tantalizing and only the fact that it was written entirely in English prevented her from diving in face first and not coming up for air until she understood. Just based on what Rudeus had taught her during her time teaching him and Sylphiette magic in Fittoa, there was no way to properly put a price on this. In the right hands, it could advance a kingdom hundreds of years in development. Or topple one. And that was from a purely non-magical standpoint, just going off of what he had told her about Earth. When magic was factored in… she was almost afraid to see what would happen.Part of her was ashamed to admit that the thought of having that sort of knowledge and power at her fingertips, given as a birthday gift by the boy who wanted her of all people, made her panties wet and her heart race almost uncomfortably in her breast.Then, there was the beast of a tome she was attempting to devour whole. A book with an entire alien language contained within its pages, translated as faithfully as possible into the human tongue. The key to unlocking the deeper aspects of the mathematics tome, hidden away in that language, and the entirety of the science tome.Most would likely overlook it as a novelty item—a primer for a made up language. They would have been fools. An entire language to speak in, with only a limited number of people capable of understanding its contents. Letters could be passed in English and without a key or guide of some sort, it would take months, if not years to decipher them—if at all, if any attempt whatsoever was made to further disguise the contents. And Rudy had been thorough, including not just a dictionary, but pronunciation guide, grammar, syntax, sentence structure, idioms, double meanings, and more.A tapping of feet from behind her drew her attention away from her books, just in time for a set of hands to wrap around her and cup her breasts through her cloak. "Ms. Roxy! It's time for my lesson~"Roxy's response was immediate and violent, perhaps more so than it had been in the past with this particular student. She lit his hair on fire with a flicker of mana and a thought, sending the young man flailing away. This was not the harmless, low temperature flames she had used before but an actual, full force fire that burned his hair off and left the stench cloying in the room. A silently cast Waterfall spell doused the flames and, after closing her book and standing, she moved over and leaned down to touch his face and heal him."Y-you can't do that! It's—"Roxy slapped him and the boy shut up. "Please refrain from attempting to molest me in the future, your highness. I am engaged and my fiance would not appreciate it."Because no matter what he called it, there was nothing the books Rudy had given her could be called but an engagement gift. One more fit for a princess, not a lowly mage such as herself, but… she couldn't find it in herself to send them back, either."So what?! I'm a prince! He can't do anything—"Roxy frowned. "Far down the line of succession. He became a Saint-level Water Mage at the age of five. By now, he's probably King-, if not Emperor-level. In terms of personal power, skill, and knowledge he is your superior in every way. If you wish to have even the smallest hope of catching up, perhaps you should focus more on your lessons and less on lewd acts."A few more years. I'll give it until the end of the contract then leave for Roa. It will give me time to study and save some money.Until then, Rudy had made a request, asking after a book on the demon tongue. Roxy felt that it was only fair that she return the thoughtfulness he had shown her in equal measure.In Buena Village, two different households received their own packages of books, to two very different reactions.Paul frowned as he eyed the two books and the letter in his wife's hands as she read it aloud. As usual, the letter contained updates on their son's progress with his training, but this time it also came with a demand."Repeat that last part," Paul grunted, crossing his arms over his chest."Hm?" Zenith hummed. "'Ghislaine works me tirelessly, until she's satisfied and not a moment before?'"Paul's eye twitched. "That little brat. He'd better not," the man grumbled as his mind started providing images to go along with that. There's no way she would though. I'll have to send her a letter… No, Rudy's probably reading all her letters for her at this point. Damn! Maybe Phillip, then."Better not what, dear?" Zenith asked, an edge to her voice.Phillip winced, remembering that his wife knew of his and Ghislaine's activities and that she wouldn't tolerate anything that looked remotely like unfaithfulness after his indiscretion with Lilia. Even if it was just complaining about his boy making a move on his former lover. "Nothing."Well, at least it shows he's inherited some of our family's fondness for women with large chests. Better than Phillip's family and their thing for beast-kin women. Ghislaine is both though, so maybe Rudy just got a double dose and couldn't hold himself back. I can't say I blame him, Ghislaine is a good looking woman, but she's my woman!"Please continue," Lilia requested.Zenith nodded and finished reading the letter, concluding with, "'I've included a couple of books. Two each for both Norn and Aisha. One is a language primer that they'll need to learn in order to read the other. The second are grimoires which contain everything Roxy and I worked out about magic up to Saint-level with some suggestions for going to King-level and include…'" Zenith trailed off, her eyes going wide. At Lilia's gentle urging, she shook her head and continued, her voice growing excited, "'And include instructions on silent casting, mana pool expansion exercises, and spell personalization and development. Make sure you start teaching them as early as possible.'"More mages? Why can't I raise at least one of my kids as a sword user, with none of this magic stuff? I don't see why it has to be so complicated. Who needs fireballs when you swing a sword and things die? And if Sylphiette is anything to go by, Rudy doesn't teach people to be normal wizards. No, he teaches them to be little versions of himself. 'Wizards' in name only that don't stick to their roles.What's a swordsman to do when the wizard can make a sword from the ground that cuts through boulders like butter and can move just as fast? Would you even need to study anything beyond the basics of a sword school, when you can just throw spells with every swing of your sword? Just imagine if they learned shield spells like the ones Millishion is holding onto so tightly. You could have a mage as a front line fighter, shrugging off whatever is thrown at them and casting spells at their leisure. It's not fair. Gonna put us out of a job, Rudy."I don't like it—""'P.S., please make sure father doesn't do something stupid, like demanding my sisters not be taught magic until later. The earlier you start with learning anything, the better off they'll be.'"Lilia chuckled, picking up the books for Aisha and tucking the smaller of the two into one of the pockets of her apron. "I will be doing exactly that."Zenith's eyes held an unholy fervor Paul recognized and he realized there was no way he was going to win if he tried to argue against it now. Damnit, Rudy! I thought I said no contact!And Rudy had done it in such a way that there was no way his mother or Lilia would allow Paul to refuse. Rudy looked like the diligent older brother looking out for his younger sisters' magical education and their future employment prospects, while any argument Paul made against it now would just make him look like the guy trying to stunt their growth and restrict their options later on in life. This was why he hated arguing against Rudy. There was just no way to win. He was beginning to see that even if you thought you had won by taking away his ability to argue, the boy would find a way to get what he wanted regardless.It was something he kind of admired in his son, knowing that the boy was resourceful and stubborn enough to never stay beaten for long. His and Eris' kidnapping and the results of that were proof enough. It would surely spell trouble for any enemies the boy made in the future. On the other hand, that the boy was using it against him spoke volumes. He clearly saw his father as an obstacle to overcome, not as someone trying to guide him into becoming a better man. Rudy was smart, but Paul worried that if this kept going, the boy would get a big head or start trying to throw his weight around and come up against someone he couldn't beat and who wouldn't tolerate it.He reminds me too much of Geese.It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Rudy had handed him his ass, then taken the time to kick him while he was down, then pointed out that… he had tried to throw his weight around and come up against someone he couldn't beat and who wouldn't tolerate it. And it galled to realize that the lesson he wanted to teach his son was the very lesson his son had imparted on him—because it meant that Rudy was already aware of it, and either he ignored it… or he didn't see Paul as a credible threat anymore.I need to train more. A lot more. And I need someone to spar with.Considering that, and who exactly he would be training to beat so he could deliver a righteous spanking… Wouldn't it be ironic if I got Sylphie to teach me how to fight Rudy? Offer to train her in the sword, then give her someone to spar against with her magic, that way I learn how to defeat her way of fighting which should just be Rudy's way of fighting."Yes, that sounds like a great idea. I think the girls are about the age to start teaching them their letters, don't you? I'm sure if we asked, Sylphiette would be happy to bring over the notes and things Rudy and Roxy used for her lessons and help teach them magic…"Yeah, now that she's stopped making it rain over just our house. And yet, no one wanted to believe me when I said that it was probably the annoyed Saint-level Water Mage doing it. It's a conspiracy. My women are plotting against me with… well, she really is Rudy's girl at this point, isn't she? We were too late. Damn. And I can't just say no to this, if I want to get some payback on Rudy… but I don't want her rubbing off on Norn and Aisha. She'll fill their heads full of whatever Rudy crammed into hers, when they were spending so much time alone together.Paul sighed as he realized that no, he wasn't going to get to have an easy time of parenting his daughters. Some sacrifices would have to be made."Maybe I'll offer to teach her the sword in exchange for her help with the girls." Zenith and Lilia looked at him suspiciously for a moment. Giving a sheepish grin, the one he knew made their panties wet, he rubbed at the back of his head. "It would go a ways towards mending fences…"Zenith got that look in her eye. The one that said she was considering another child. Lilia, he noticed, had a similar look of her own.If they find out I used Sylphie to teach me how to beat Rudy, I'm not getting laid for a year.…Worth it to give that cocky little brat some payback. Besides, I can just talk my way out of the dog house later. They can't stay mad forever.In a small home in the village of Buena, Laws eyed the three books that had been delivered to his house like they were a deadly animal. Or perhaps poison.His wife sat at the table across from him, reading the letter Rudeus had sent for them. Per his wishes, the boy hadn't included personal correspondence to Sylphiette. And yet, the boy still managed to subvert the purpose behind his and Paul's decision to forcibly break contact between Paul's son and his daughter. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter if he had disagreed, what with the fact that he was a commoner and Paul was the knight assigned by the lord of the Fittoa region to oversee their village.If it were something as simple as catching the boy sending their daughter a letter, they could have just burned it. Even a personal message hidden in the lesson plans he sent, which they read over thoroughly before giving to Sylphiette, could have been blotted out with a bit of ink.Three leather bound tomes, one of mathematics, one that taught a foreign language, and one written entirely in said foreign language that Laws had to use the human-tongue translation book in order to even begin to have a hint of what was inside of it. That last one was dyed a shade of green that matched their daughter's hair. They were clearly written by Rudeus himself and, just going off of what he saw, they had to be worth at a minimum a hundred Asuran gold coins. And yet, the boy made them himself, had them bound, and sent them to Sylphiette without so much as a thought to their potential value on the market. There was no polite way to refuse them, but accepting them was… like willingly drinking from a poisoned chalice. No, willingly giving Sylphiette a chalice he knew was poisoned.Then there was the matter of just who gave him the books. Rudeus Greyrat. Saint-level Water mage.Someone who had, rather infamously, gone out of town one day and, a few hours later, a lightning storm the likes of which the village had never seen before had been seen and felt for a good quarter hour before it stopped. Then the boy came back to town using Paul's horse to drag back a massive slab of glass. Laws himself had rode out to investigate later. What he saw frightened him—a huge stretch of plains burned and partially turned to glass. If it weren't for the fact that Rudy had never raised a hand against anyone in anger save for the boys attacking his own daughter, he would have forbidden Sylphiette from spending time with him right then and there.And wasn't that galling? That Rudeus and his teacher had done more to help his daughter than her own father had been able to—because he hadn't wanted to rock the boat and he felt she would make friends eventually. Rudeus sank the boat and dared anyone to complain. Then, they had taken her into their care and essentially taken over her education themselves. Word around the village was, when the bullying didn't entirely stop, Rudeus went around to every one of his clients whose children were bullying his daughter and threatened to raise his prices.Rudeus, who had, when Paul broached the subject of separating him from Sylphiette and Paul had decided to force the issue, beaten his father in a fight. Paul, who was—if Laws was being honest—a bit of a badass with a sword. And Laws had seen how that fight ended as they were walking up. With Rudeus putting down his father with contemptuous ease.If it came down to it, it was a question of who he was more willing to upset: the Advanced-level swordsman of all three schools who happened to be in charge of the town, the 'Saint-level' mage giving his daughter gifts who happened to be the first guy's son, or his own daughter—a Saint-level Water Mage in her own right, who had been changing too much for his tastes since Rudeus was forced to leave. Sylphiette who, instead of just accepting what they told her on the matter as she would have in the past, had made it rain over Paul's house—just Paul's house—for two weeks straight and who he suspected was responsible for every new 'gopher hole' or 'mud puddle' he'd stepped in between his home and his usual post and every freezing cold breeze (in the middle of summer) or shower from an empty sky that had plagued his watches.He supposed he should be grateful that her acting out was limited to petty revenge that didn't leave any permanent damage that she couldn't fix. No, she just did her best to make her displeasure known, by making them miserable.In the end, he had to trust his friend and stand by his decision. Paul was a good man, the sort of ally he wanted to have at his side when the situation went to shit. Paul was also a womanizer who broke his vows to his wife in order to knock up his maid, who word around the village said had history with him. If Paul said Rudeus was trouble for his daughter, then Laws had to take that seriously.This is how he plans to take my daughter, isn't it?"We can't just keep them from her."Laws was silent, glaring at the books."Laws.""It feels like he's trying to buy Sylphiette," the man finally put words to his feelings.Silvia sighed. "You've been spending too much time talking to Paul. You knowRudeus. Do you really think that was his intention here?""Paul knows his son best—" Laws tried to argue, only to be cut off."Why don't you ask Zenith? Or Lilia? Or do you think they don't know Rudeus? I'll go up to their home and invite them over later and we can talk about it. WithoutPaul."At that point, Laws realized there was no real way he was going to win. The boy had essentially sent his daughter an engagement gift and his wife refused to see his point of view. If anything, she encouraged it. The sad thing was, he normally would have as well—had done so himself in fact, at least at first. A powerful young mage had given his daughter a brighter future she would never have had access to otherwise. He treated her well and she seemed to adore him. He should be happy for Sylphiette.But the thought wouldn't leave his head—that if Paul didn't trust his own son, then Laws would be a fool to do so blindly. And now, he was second and third guessing Rudeus' every interaction with his Sylphiette. What did the boy teach her? What were they doing out there, all alone for hours under that tree? Paul told him about Rudeus seducing his old master, Roxy. Had something similar happened with Sylphiette?Yes, polygamy was accepted as normal in most places, but there was a difference between three adults deciding they wanted to try it and… and some little version of Paul Greyrat putting his hands on his daughter. Except Rudeus wasn't his father. No, the boy was bright, not a happy idiot whose only interests were a sharp sword, a full pint, and a woman with big titties. A clever Paul Greyrat. Interested in his daughter. The thought made him want to punch something.Paul was right. The boy is too clever. It's troublesome.