Chapter 43. One year in Roa

After observing Sylphy for a moment, Eris turned and ran up to me with an excited expression. She said, "Seraphim! I learned how to cast Fireball silently! Look!"

Eris formed a face of concentration while extending her hand and letting out a 'mmm' sound, and a moment later a spark of fire appeared in front of her palm which then transformed into a small ball of fire.

Very nice.

While I was gone Eris really grasped Silent Magic! During a little more than a month, she managed to shorten her casting, then took another step and learned Silent Spellcasting.

While I lightly smiled in satisfaction, Sylphy next to me backed away from the fire.

"One day I'm going to make huge fireworks like Seraphim!" Eris said with pride, then looked at me with an expression as if awaiting praise.

After a moment's lag, I faintly smiled and said, "...Amazing! Good job. You worked hard."

"Hehehe." Eris adapted an expression of a happy cat while being praised. She then said, "Seraphim! Now teach me how to shoot it out! I burned my old room trying to do it!"

She admitted to putting her room on fire without a shred of guilt or shame. No, it even sounded like bragging.

I previously repeatedly warned her of the dangers of fire hazard, but it seems it went on deaf ears.

But at least she didn't burn her hair.

As for what she said, I replied, "I'm your magic tutor, so I'll teach you. But how are your other studies? Philip said that I can only teach you magic if you study hard in the other subjects."

"What?! Father didn't tell me that!!!" Eris frowned and glared at me.

Yes, he didn't, because he didn't actually tell me that either. It's something I made up to motivate Eris a bit more.

"He didn't? But that's what he told me! I'm forbidden from teaching you magic if you don't study hard in the language and mathematics."

Eris stomped her foot. "But I am studying hard! I didn't even miss any of the lessons yet! Uh, much..."

"...So you did avoid your lessons."

"Uh… Only a little bit. I was still working hard, okay?" She looked at me with pleading eyes as if about to cry.

I felt - she wanted her efforts to be appreciated, but I shot her down and this hurt her.

"Okay. If Miss Anastasia says that you worked hard, then I'll teach you more magic."

"...Hmph!" She pouted in a manner that was difficult to read. She then turned to me and said in a softer tone. "Anyway, Seraphim! Why do I need to learn all that boring stuff? It's super boring. You can already read and count, so if we go on an adventure, I don't need it!"

"So you expect that I'll always do everything for you if you can't do something?" I asked her. After a moment's pause, I continued, "Why? Why do you think I'll even take you if you can't do basic things like this?"

"...Ghislaine couldn't read and count, and she was still a great adventurer!" she said.

"But she still wants to learn now, right? Don't you want to be even more amazing than Ghislaine was?"

"More amazing than Ghislaine…" Eris muttered and then appeared to have spaced out. "Eh, right! To adventure with Seraphim, I need to be more amazing than Ghislaine! Hehehe."

Something seemed to have clicked in Eris's brain and she suddenly appeared to be incredibly motivated and in high spirits.

She looked at me and asked, "So if I learn how to read and count, I'll be more amazing than Ghislaine?"

"...Yes. Become a swordsman who's very strong and also smart. You'll be really amazing!"

Hearing this, her enthusiasm somewhat died down. "Smart… But I'm not very good at studying…"

I shook my head. "It doesn't matter. You only need to learn the basics. I heard that most swordsmen in the Sword Sanctum can't even read. If you can be a very strong swordsman and be educated, you'll be better than all of them."

"Better than all of them… Ha! Hahaha! And I'll be able to use silent magic too!" Eris started grinning silly. It seemed that the thought of being superior to the swordsmen in the Sword Sanctum made her quite happy.

Well, good. You can never have too much motivation.

Eris is simple, so if I can motivate her to try even harder, then it's only good. She'd have better results, waste less time and be happier in the process.

After grinning for a while, Eris spread out her legs again and thrust her finger at Sylphy. "You! What was your name again?"

"Uh… It's Sylphiette," Sylphy replied meekly. Her voice was so quiet that even I barely heard the last syllable of her name.

"Sylphie! I heard you're good at magic! Can you do this?" Eris showed a focused expression and silently formed another fireball.

With the fireball pointed at her, Sylphy shrunk back. "…Not yet."

"What? You can't even do that! But Seraphim said you're good at magic!!!"

"Um…" Sylphy appeared intimidated like a puppy being shouted at by Eris.

I said, "Fire magic is Sylphy's weakness, but she's great in all other magic types. She can already silently cast Elementary rank Water magic, Wind magic, Earth magic and even Healing magic."

Sylphy is afraid of fire after burning her hand in the past, that's what makes her bad at Fire magic.

"Uh, really?... You can use all magic, but not Fire magic! So we'll make a good team!" Eris nodded, rapidly shifting moods from surprise to satisfaction. "So I'll be the swordsman! And Sylphie will be the magician! Or the healer! What about Seraphim? He can do everything!..."

Eris started talking about her imaginary future in excitement.

I said, "I'll be the leader. But don't worry about all that. Just focus on trying to become the best you can."

"...Got it! I'll try hard to become better than people in the Sword Sanctum and become more amazing than Ghislaine!" Eris nodded.

Good, that's a good clear goal to strive toward.

I applaud that.

Eris had already formed an idea in her head by herself that one day we'll definitely go on an amazing adventure together, but I don't feel like calling her out on this.

In truth, I did not want to miss out on an opportunity to gain a Demon Eye or two when I know the location and timing of how to find the starving Demon Empress Kishirika, so we might really set off on an adventure for the Demon Continent in the future.

This kind of trip wouldn't be bad to help me acquire combat and life experience either.

Putting this thought aside, I asked, "Eris, don't you have your lessons? Shouldn't you go eat?"

"It's fine! It's time for my strength training!"

"So are you going to slack off here or go train?"

"No! I'm going to train! I trained every day when Seraphim was gone!!!... Right! Seraphim, help me train! It's better with you!"

"..."

"Please train me?"

"..." I was silent.

I wouldn't decline if she genuinely asked me to help her, but when she asked, her true attitude was more of ordering me and expecting no other outcome. It seemed as if she had returned to her usual self.

"You're asking me that, but I can't feel your sincerity. You know I don't need to do everything you want. I'm not your servant."

"..." Reluctantly, Eris slowly grabbed her hair into twin-tails, but then, as if noticing that Sylphy was also there, stopped herself and pulled back her hands. Attempting to appear humble, she said, "Please, help me train..."

I slightly smiled. "...Okay! Eris is very nice, so I'll help you. Sylphy you come with us too."

I hoped that by observing Eris, Sylphy would become more motivated to train seriously as well.

I previously instructed Eris to do three different alternating full-body workouts every single day. Because the daily volume was rather low and she was taking the healing herbs, there should have been no problems in recovery.

I wonder how much she improved.

*** *** ***

Following that, a year slowly passed.

At one point, I turned 6 years old.

While hiring various tutors with Philip's help, I continued training and studying in Roa together with two cute girls that gradually grew closer.

My plan for the future was simple - increase my personal strength as much as possible while hoping I could avoid Hitogami's attention until I'm at least 10 years old.

I aimed to learn various things in the meantime, but I tried to limit my influence to the city of Roa. In other words, I tried to not call in tutors from the outside.

Throughout the year, I picked up and learned the Beast God Language thanks to Ghislaine, began practicing Water God Techniques under Gilbert, and started studying many other subjects like History, Politics and Etiquette.

I was also forced to realize that even though I practice the Sword God Style and Water God Style with a longsword, it's unlikely that I will often use a longsword in the future.

Most often, my combat style will probably include holding a self-designed magic gun in my left hand for the main means of ranged offense, while I would hold a one-handed sword in my main hand for defense and for versatile close-range combat.

In other words, dual-wielding.

However, it was brought to my attention by Gilbert that a two-handed sword and a one-handed sword are used differently and the transfer of skills from two-handed sword use to a one-handed sword was limited.

To put it simply, if I planned to use a one-handed sword in the future, I would need to learn how to use a one-handed sword.

Gilbert said that there are Water God Style practitioners who use a one-handed sword often paired with a shield, but he personally only could teach me two-handed techniques.

Thus, I had Philip search for a tutor, but I was limited to the immediate surroundings of Roa, since not stirring up Hitogami was the top priority.

In the end, it was not a Water God Style user, but I still managed to find someone good.

Eventually, Philip's generous offer attracted an Adventurer who called himself Bladez, having a dual-wielding combat style and holding an Advanced-rank in North God Style.

This didn't mean that my training with a longsword was useless and I abandoned it.

The majority of swordsmen in this world use longswords, so ranking up with a longsword would certainly teach me how most swordsmen fight and how to counter them.

Furthermore, the [Longsword of Light] is fundamentally a two-handed technique and is much easier to perform with a two-handed sword. If I wanted to grasp it, I'd have to first learn how to do it with a longsword.

But what I still had to do is begin learning how to fight with a one-handed sword.

As a result, every day I would practice Sword God Style techniques under Ghislaine, Water God Style techniques under Gilbert and dual-wielding North God Style under Bladez.

My days were fully packed with hard training and exhausting studies from early morning until night-time.

It was a simple and hard yet satisfying time.

Magic was my primary strength, so I naturally continued praciticing my Magic every das as my priority. My Gravity Magic improved, my Space Bending became stronger, my Stone Cannon became faster, the intensity of my Explosion spell intensified, and there was an overall improvement in my magic. I also studied Magic Circles in my free time, but because of how busy I was, it became somewhat secondary. 

On the topic of swordsmanship, after coming to Roa, Sylphy also began to practice in the Sword God Style with me and Eris under Ghislaine.

One of those days.

"Sylphy still has a long way to go!" Eris confidently said after easily knocking away Sylphy's sword from her hands.

"Eris, don't be arrogant. You're two years older than her and trained for longer," said Ghislaine, not giving Eris any slack when it came to swordsmanship lessons.

Normally she would address Eris as Ojou-sama, but during lessons she called her by her name. She said it's a must.

Eris said, "I know! And she's better at magic too!"

Ghislaine turned to Sylphy. "Sylphy, I don't know what to do about your flinching. You have to overcome it yourself. You also have to learn to never let go of your sword."

"..." Sylphy was silent as she slowly lowered her gaze and walked over in defeat to pick up her practice sword.

I looked on from the side. I knew that Sylphy didn't dislike spending time with Eris and me on sword training, but she didn't especially like it either.

The reason was that she simply wasn't good at it. She was clumsy with a sword and was afraid of fighting.

"Hm! Every time you attack or you're attacked, you flinch. You have to stop it!" Eris told Sylphy.

Her tone was condescending, but I felt she was simply considerate and tried to help.

And indeed. Whether it was attacking others or being attacked, Sylphy would always cover and flinch in fear.

I was also similar at the start, but slowly improved thanks to being repeatedly pounded by Paul, Ghilsaine and Eris.

I tried using my tricks to help Sylphy improve, but the results were mediocre.

Ghislaine said, "But it's strange. She trained already for a year, but she still has a habit of flinching."

"...It's because fighting is scary," Sylphy replied.

"What? Why are you so pathetic! That's why people are bullying you!" Eris said and crossed her arms, glaring down at her.

"..." Being glared at so strongly by Eris, Sylphy's ears drooped down like a frightened rabbit's and tears slowly began to build up in her eyes.

"Aah… Aah! What to do, what to do…" Eris muttered in a panic, then turned to me. "Seraphim, do something!"

Right.

This is how things looked like.

Eris, despite being a bully-type, did not have the habit of kicking bunnies. She was not that kind of bully.

Somehow, Sylphy had awakened Eris's protective instincts as an older sister.

Except that Eris was bad at communicating and bad at being an older sister.

Even so, I felt that the relationship between the two was good.

Eris was superior in swordsmanship, and Sylphy was better at Magic. Whether it was their abilities or personalities, they complimented each other well.

Unfortunately, when it came to my own swordsmanship, I slowly began to have some worries.

My progress remained slow. And perhaps if it was only that, I wouldn't think much of it.

However, while my progress was slow, over this one year Eris had a complete transformation and had already surpassed me in strength!

She continued growing stronger, whereas no matter what I tried, I could not catch up to her progress.

This made me feel slightly depressed.

I know that Zenith has no talent for the sword, but was my own talent also quite bad?

Either way, it was not as if I had no talent for Battle Aura at all, since I could still grow slightly superhuman. I did have some talent.

It is only that my talent was rather weak.

As I continued persevering, I only hoped that in the future all of my efforts will be worth it, and at the time when I enter puberty, bear fruit.

…

"Young Master Seraphim, Lord Philip wanted me to inform you that the thing you requested became available."

Alphonse visited me one day to tell me this.

He was the manor's head butler and these days he also served as my main History, Politics and Etiquette tutor.

"You mean a Dwarf slave?" I asked directly.

"Correct."

Hearing this, I became slightly excited.

Over this year I had put aside any money making plans.

The reason for this was because I did not need additional money at this point and any money plots could only cause a commotion.

That's because the most important aspect of my combat strength was my silent magic, and this was something that I could practice by myself while hiding in Roa just like Rudues.

Going back, even just visiting the Magicians' Guild in the first place was something that could have been avoided.

Because it allowed me to create magical sticks of destruction, I accepted it.

However, any more attention than that was unnecessary.

As long as I can reach ten years of age without being detected by Hitogami similar to Rudeus, the point when my Magic reserves stop growing, that was the most important aspect of my growth plan.

In my impatience, I have already created a bit too much noise here and there.

As for the Dwarven slaves, after I learned the Beast God language, I asked Philip to purchase me any promising female dwarf children that appeared on the Slave Market.

That was not to create a degenerate loli harem, but to take them on as my disciples and begin teaching them silent Earth magic!

Why did I ask for females and not males, you may ask?

Personal preference.

Well... Not quite.

It is said that male dwarves have rough and big hands. As for female dwarves, they are more similar to human children; they have slender hands and are known to be dexterous and good at handiwork like sewing and creating jewelry.

So while male dwarves made good blacksmiths and craftsmen, female dwarves are better at more delicate work, and seemed as if they would have more interest and a better sense of aesthetic for things like painting dolls.

In general, dwarves are seen as a branch of the Demon/Magic Race and their talent at Magic is much more frequent than in humans. They also have a natural affinity for Earth magic. A doll maker that Rudeus raised in the novel was a female dwarf as well, so I opted to imitate him.

As my own skill in magical combat increased over the years, I could use this time to raise a few skilled doll makers at the side. Putting aside the fact that I would probably allow these children to have a better life than whoever else would have purchased them otherwise, it felt like a very beneficial thing to do during my sheltered childhood.

Perhaps I could even make them my personal army of little dwarven gunners! An army of children with guns!

As for those doll makers, they were all screened out by Ghislaine using her Demon Eye to ensure that they have a degree of magic talent.

Ghislaine's Demon Eye had a use like that - screening for magical talents. I'm surprised no one picked up on this before.

It seemed that rather than searching to raise talents, magician families were more concerned about preserving their bloodline and keeping power in the family. According to Alphonse, that was one of many reasons why 'the Asura Kingdom is walking on the path of decline'.

Perhaps things like this happened in some of the foreign kingdoms, but I wasn't aware of it.

Either way, if I wanted to, starting from a young age, I could raise an army of chantless magicians loyal only to me.

That was certainly an idea for the future, at least.