Chapter 14. 5th Birthday, Lilia’s chapter

[Seraphim's POV.]

One day Zenith placed a blindfold over my eyes while I was training in my room and then brought me out.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

"I've got something I want to show you, Seraph. You can't take it off yet."

'Today I should be 5 years old. I wonder what it could be…' I thought inwardly while slightly smiling.

At one point, the cloth was removed from my eyes.

In front of me was the dining table packed with delicacies and extravagant meals.

"Seraph, congratulations on your 5th birthday!!!"

Zenith supported me from behind and Paul ruffled my head while grinning.

Meanwhile both Lilia and Roxy clapped.

"Congrats, Seraph!" Paul placed his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle.

"Congratulations, young master." Lilia bowed.

"Congratulations, Seraph." Roxy smiled.

"I'm so happy that you've grown so healthily to the age of five. Thank you for being born, my angel." Zenith bent down full of smiles and kissed me on the forehead.

Together with Paul, the two hugged me tightly full of smiles.

"Ah." I let out a breath.

My eyes flickered with tears. "Thank you, everyone."

Everyone was smiling brightly.

Paul suddenly lifted me up, flung me over his head, then placed on top of his shoulders.

"Aaah!" I desperately grabbed his hair, trying to not fall off.

"Haha, you're still so tiny!"

Zenith laughed, Roxy looked on with worry.

Lilia had a complicated expression.

After the cheers was time for the presents.

This country didn't have the custom of celebrating birthdays every year. However, the norm was that after you reach a certain age, your family members would give you some gifts.

Those certain age points are 5, 10 and 15 years old. In this world you become an adult when you turn 15 years old.

"Happy birthday. It's my present for you."

Paul gave me a sword.

At first glance, it was a real steel sword, concealed inside a scabbard.

I received it in my hands.

The sword was a bit too heavy for a 5 year old child to use, but it seemed as if it was designed to be smaller for a kid to use. 

It was not a full-sized sword, I could see it at a glance.

"Thank you!" Without further ado, I quickly pulled out the sword to check it out.

"Careful there, it's sharp!"

After pulling it out of its scabbard, I took a good look at the sword in front of me. 

It was a relatively short sword, forged and sharpened. The blade was slimmed down and the entire weapon including the hilt and crossguard were miniaturized.

For a normal person it might be a one-handed sword, but for me the hilt had enough space to use with two-hands.

It was amazing.

Paul should have made an order to make it custom made for me. I know that in this world most swords are custom forged to fit the user's preference.

I guess he thought I'm responsible enough to start practicing sword strikes with a real sword? Or did he notice my passion for the sword?

I hope so.

"Can I really use it?" I asked excitedly while looking up.

I always loved swords.

Because swords are cool.

"You can use it, but only when training with me. Do you understand?" Paul asked me with a stern look.

"Yeah."

"I'm serious. You can't use it unless I'm there." Paul kept staring at me. "Do you promise?"

"Uh…"

Paul looked at me intently.

"I promise," I eventually said.

Fine.

Since I promised, then I'll hold myself to it. I don't want to break these people's trust.

Just the fact that Paul allowed me to use a real sword at 5 years old was something to be glad about.

Paul cleared his throat. "Ahem. You might still be too young for that sword, but a man has to carry a sword inside his heart. You have to be prepared to protect people important to you."

"You'll have a wife and kids of your own someday. It will be your duty to protect them."

"Magic is bad at close combat and can't keep up with fast-paced battles. Swordsmanship has the advantage there."

"Become someone who can use both magic and the sword, like the first Water God, then you won't have weaknesses."

I smiled slightly while listening to his long speech.

"If you master-"

"Too long." Paul was very passionate about his speech, but he was cut off by Zenith as she hand-chopped his head.

Paul wryly smiled and finished with: "...Therefore, you need to put this away carefully, sharpen the blade in your heart and use it only in times of need."

Zenith pushed Paul away and then handed me a book. "Because Seraph seems to like books."

The book that was given to me is a plant encyclopedia, the same as in the original, so I was not very surprised by this.

However, as I received and skimmed through it, I couldn't resist letting out a "woah".

In this world, books are expensive. The encyclopedia is very thick, and there are also illustrations accompanied with it to make it easy to understand.

I can't tell how much was spent on this.

When I first read the novel I thought that purchasing something as useless as a plant encyclopedia instead of another book was rather wasted money, but my attitude here was different.

The medicine in this world was at an extremely low level and something like Alchemy was nearly non-existent, as most wounds and common illnesses could be solved with healing magic.

That's why this book with information about various plants, perhaps some of them magical plants with miraculous and unique effects, was so precious!

"How is it? I know exactly what you would like, right?" Zenith asked me with a bright smile.

I guess I let my emotions show.

"Thanks, mom. It's amazing!"

And I got hugged tightly after saying that.

Next I received a wand from Roxy.

A rod around 30 cm long with a small ruby-colored stone at the tip.

Roxy said, "I created this a few days ago. I forgot about it because Seraphim knew how to use magic from the very beginning. Usually, the teacher will make the wand personally to allow students to use elementary rank magic. I'm terribly sorry about it."

I slightly smiled. "Thank you. I didn't really need a wand before, so it's okay."

The truth is that for someone like me a wand or a staff is not terribly useful.

I remember from the novel and anime how it was mentioned that a staff with a magic stone amplifies magic, with Rudeus's staff amplifying Water magic by 5 times in particular.

But the fact is that it's far less useful than it seems.

All that 'amplifying magic' amounts to is only making the magician require less mana to cast the same spells.

Practically, a staff or a wand only reduces mana consumption. It doesn't increase the power of spells or the speed of spell-casting.

For a normal magician with limited mana reserves, a staff is a must. It allows them to cast more and stronger magic.

For me, using a wand at this time would only make it harder to exhaust all of my mana.

After Roxy, Lilia approached me as well, her professional visage tinted with affection.

In both her hands she held a book.

"It isn't much, but I feel Young Master might find it useful."

I received the book with a puzzled and curious look.

The book was medium-sized, a little smaller than a normal book, and the cover was made from hard leather.

By the look of things, it was never used.

As I opened it, the book's pages were empty.

Lilia said, "It's a diary. Young master has many bright ideas. I felt that keeping a diary will help him sort his thoughts."

Ah, so it's a diary.

To think of it, I had many notebooks, sketchbooks, workout and magic training logs, but I didn't have a diary.

What a thoughtful gift, Lilia!

If it was just another notebook or sketchbook, while I would find it useful, it would probably not have as much meaning to me.

Perhaps keeping a diary might really help me to stay on track in general.

"Thank you, Lilia!"

I didn't hold back and hugged Lilia in thanks.

...........................

[Lilia's POV.]

(If you're already familiar with this chapter, the section that's mostly copied from the original is separated by long string of dots, so you can skip or skim.)

I used to be a guards-maid for Asura Royal family's concubines.

A guards-maid is a maid who is also a guard. I would usually do a maid's job, but if anything happened, I had to take up a sword to protect my master.

Unfortunately, due to the fighting and the schemes of the royal palace, I ended up being a scapegoat and suffered a debilitating injury that crippled my ability to run and fight with a sword.

The kingdom then sacked me without hesitation.

It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, so I had to accept this fate. Having lost my abilities, it was a given that I'd lose my position.

Even though I wasn't given compensation money, I could consider it fortunate that I wasn't secretly silenced because I served in the inner palace.

I then left the capital.

I always wondered why I, who had no significant background, had been accepted in the inner palace. It was now that I finally understood; they simply wanted to hire maids who could be used and discarded.

No matter the reason however, I had to leave the capital as quickly as possible, for my own safety, since the mastermind behind the assassination was not found.

Even though the kingdom treated her as bait, she had no obligation to stay, as she was not ordered to in any way.

And I had no sense of duty to fulfill.

I discreetly switched stagecoaches while traveling, and arrived at the Fitao region, which had extensive agricultural lands and was located at the border.

It was a relaxing place of vast wheat fields, with the exception of the fortress city Roa, where the ruler lived.

I intended to find work there.

But, as my leg was injured, I was unable to find a job that required physical strength.

I could resort to teaching swordsmanship as a low-rank tutor, but it was best for me to be hired as a maid, because the salary was higher.

At this border, there were many who could wield a sword, and many who could teach swordsmanship, but a maid thoroughly versed in domestic affairs was relatively rare.

Since the supply of properly trained maids was so little, the salary would be bigger.

However, it would be dangerous for me to be hired by the ruler of Fitao, or any high class nobility of similar status…

Such people would surely have relations with the king.

If they knew I was a maid who once worked for the concubines palace, there was the possibility that I would be treated as a political tool.

And for that reason, I stayed far away.

I didn't want to experience a near-death situation again.

Even though it was a little unfair to the princess, Lilia hoped to stay far away from the royals' contention for power.

But, if my salary was too low, then there wouldn't be enough money to send to my family.

Trying to find a safe job and a guaranteed salary sure wasn't easy.

After running around everywhere for nearly a month, I came across a recruitment note.

A lower class knight from Buena village, located in the Fitao region, was looking to hire a maid.

On top of that, the note said he would give special priority to someone with experience in taking care of children or who had knowledge of midwifery.

Bueana was a tiny village on the edge of Fitoa.

A village among villages. An extremely rural village.

It was very inconvenient, but this was the place that I sought.

The employer being a lower class knight was also an unexpectedly fine find.

And most importantly, I recognized the prospective employer's name.

Paul Greyrat.

He was my protégé (younger apprentice brother).

A noble's profligate son who one day suddenly barged into my family's dojo where I've been learning swordsmanship.

According to him, he had left home after a quarrel with his father and had come to the dojo to learn swordsmanship.

Albeit a different style, he too did study swordsmanship at home, and soon after, surpassed me.

I was not amused by this fact, but I had since understood that I had no talent and gave up.

Paul, who was utterly brimming with talent, later escaped from the dojo after forcing himself into my bed and deflowering me.

He only left me a single sentence, "I'm becoming an adventurer."

It has been 7 years since we went our separate ways.

At this time, he had actually become a knight and gotten married…

Though I didn't know what sort of hurdles he had experienced in his life, Paul wasn't too bad as far as I could remember.

If she told him about her problems, she was sure that he would help her.

If that didn't work out, I planned to use a matter that happened between us in the past to get him to employ me.

Paul hired me without any fuss. It seemed he was really anxious as his wife Zenith was about to give birth.

I had been taught extensively in midwifery for the princess's birth. Moreover, I was someone that Paul was acquainted with and he knew my background.

I was received with a warm welcome.

My salary was also more than what I had expected, so my wish was achieved.

Eventually, the couple's child was born.

There weren't any labor issues or anything. It went just as I was trained for in the inner palace.

There were no problems at all. It was very successful.

However, the child didn't cry when he was born.

At that time, I broke into a cold sweat.

The baby looked at me silently without any emotion. His expressionless and listless face was reminiscent of a stillborn child.

It seemed dead...

My heart jumped at that moment.

I touched the baby, and it had a heartbeat. It was breathing too.

But he just wasn't crying.

I remembered the words of a senior guards-maid. That babies who don't cry at birth usually have complications.

The instant when I thought of this.

"Ah, ah." The baby looked over to her, and mumbled something in his grogginess.

I relaxed after hearing that.

Even though there was no evidence for it, I felt that there would be no problems.

...........................

The child's name was to be: Seraphim.

He was an uncanny child, rarely crying or fussing; he only cried when his diaper was full, but just this was not much compared to what I expected from a newborn baby.

At first, I assumed his body was slightly weaker at birth, hence he was that apathetic, and that taking care of him wouldn't require much effort.

But, such a notion only occurred at the beginning.

Before being around six months old, Seraphim used to sleep a lot.

After he learned how to crawl, he started to move everywhere in the house.

Everywhere: kitchen, back door, storage, cleaning equipment place, fireplace etc.

He even climbed onto the second story, though one couldn't imagine how he did so.

Either way, he was a very curious and cute child.

A blonde baby boy with bright blue eyes and the face of a little angel. His name was very fitting.

I could not help but want to take care of this baby.

Yet, apart from sometimes climbing a chair to look out the window, he rarely made you worried.

Even when occasionally walking outside the house or when entering the kitchen, he instinctively stayed away from things that could hurt him like fire or sharp tools.

He was a bright child eager to learn about the world.

In particular, the boy had shown a special interest in magic after Zenith had shown him some of her abilities.

From the age of one, he began learning how to read and write by Zenith's decision.

At first I thought it was a silly and pointless endeavor, but Seraphim's rate of learning was so rapid that it was startling to the eyes.

The boy was hard at work, and after a year, his ability to speak was pretty good and he could also read most things.

The majority of people in this world are unable to read, yet this child grasped it at 2 years old.

It was shocking.

But it wasn't the end of it.

After learning how to read, one day Seraphim relied on a Magic Guide Book and managed to cast magic without anyone ever teaching him.

At 2 years old.

By the virtue of his talent for magic, he was able to cast magic while omitting an incantation, a sign of a monstrous peerless talent.

On the same day, he even managed to cast an Intermediate-ranked magic spell just the same.

When this happened I became secretly a bit afraid of this baby. It did things that seemed unreal.

However, what balanced my feeling of fear was how little Seraphim handled the situation of his parents quarreling over whether he should practice with magic or the sword.

Apparently it was decided before birth that if it was a boy that was born, he would practice with the sword.

Without any fuss, Seraphim spoke up and resolved the conflict, proposing that he could do both.

At a glance, he did it all because he did not want to see his parents fight.

This child was simply too kind and adorable! I then recalled the so-called 'Blessed Children' called Miko, and I reasoned that Seraphim should have been simply one of those - being born with outstanding talent in magic and a brilliant mind.

From that moment onwards, Seraph was deeply dedicated to his practice of magic every day.

It was not only this, but he also began imitating his father and started training his body. He did not want to disappoint his father's expectations either.

When he was still only two to three years old, he once told me: I have to work hard to make my parents proud!

My heart melted at the time I heard it and when I saw the resolution on little Seraph's face.

From that moment onwards I dedicated myself to whole-heartedily supporting him from behind.

I wanted him to grow up to be a splendid adult and a wonderful man.

Secretly, I slowly began to care for him in my heart as if he were my own child.

As a maid there was not much I could do, but I still would prepare him healthy and nutritious meals, a bath after his training, a change of clothes, words of support and advice, and other things I was able to do.

It was hard to say whether Zenith and Paul were good or bad parents, but their opposing personalities seemed to have made Seraphim adopt the best traits of both.

He was talented, similar to Paul, but wasn't conceited. A kind-hearted, honest, hard-working, ambitious and determined young boy. 

Despite that I was only a maid, he seemed to view me more like family. He never disrespected me and was always grateful for my work.

It made me feel appreciated and told me that all of my work was worth it.

At one point he even began to call my 'auntie', which I rejected at first, but was internally very happy about it.

One day he asked me about my story. He was interested in me as a person.

I hesitated initially, but then slowly revealed to him bits and pieces of my past.

How my father was an owner of a Water God Style dojo, how at one point I trained with his father Paul, and how I used to be a maid for an important noble.

Of course, I cut out the part in which Paul forced his way into my bedroom.

This child didn't need to know this.

So far, he should have viewed his father as a great and heroic man, and I didn't want to ruin this image.

As Paul was right now, he was not bad.

Especially after the degeneracy that I experienced in the Royal Palace, I no longer thought of Paul as a bad man.

After I revealed Seraphim my story, he reluctantly asked me to teach him swordsmanship.

I felt it might hurt Paul's dignity as a father, but Paul indeed was a bad swordsmanship teacher. He had the talent and the ability, but he wasn't good at teaching others.

I didn't think I would be an exceptional tutor myself, but since Seraphim asked me so nicely, I felt I shouldn't disappoint him.

With this I began to teach Seraphim the techniques and counters of the Water God Style when he was 4 years old.

I couldn't run, and because of this I couldn't fight properly, but Seraph was a very perceptive child and quickly grasped anything I tried to teach him.

Even if I did not spar with him myself, I would try to give the boy useful pointers whilst he trained with Paul.

Like this, months and years passed in bliss.

Seraphim was growing up well.

I felt like a real part of the family, and Seraphim was akin to my own child.

But it wasn't a time without any difficulties though.

Living together with Zenith and Paul, who were incredibly vigorous when it came to their nightly activities, was tough.

Listening to their heavy pants every single night, cleaning after their room that has the full scent of the night's aftermath, I accumulated sexual desire.

I just settled it myself.

Still, as I watch Paul train with the sword in the courtyard everyday, a fire in my body started becoming bigger.

Every time I saw Paul train, I thought of my first time.

I was much younger that time, and it was during the days in the dojo. The person was of course Paul, and it was a forced attack during the night.

Even though I didn't hate him, I didn't like him either. The first time wasn't very romantic, and I shed tears right then.

But right after that, the fat ministers were there.

Once I thought that Paul was better than them, I didn't mind that incident as much…

As I heard Paul was hiring maids, I was thinking of using that time as negotiation material.

The Paul that I have not seen since back then, was much manlier now.

The youthful boy has disappeared, and he has become an intense and rugged man. He still remained a hint of his carefree spirit, but he seemed to be a more reliable husband and father than I imagined.

At first, Paul didn't flirt with me.

But it wasn't long before he started his occasional sexual harassment. Things like 'accidently' touching my butt or saying slightly flirtatious comments.

It further lit up a fire under me.

Paul was, after all, a very attractive and masculine man that was hard to match.

However, I endured it.

I was determined to endure it for the sake of Seraphim.

I knew that if I allowed myself to be consumed by my desires, I might never be able to see this child again.

If this matter was revealed, I would be kicked out of the family and would leave behind a scar on Zenith and Paul's relationship, and on Seraphim's mind.

I loved this child too much to let this happen.

Furthermore, I wanted him to become a good man. Even better man than Paul. Because of this I of course had to give him a proper example with my own actions as well.

Even though I wished for a child of my own, I could not do it with Paul.

Betraying Zenith, betraying Seraphim, all if it was not acceptable.

Every year I am getting older. But even if I won't meet a good man with whom I could start my family like Zenith and Paul, I at least don't want to ruin what I have now.

Seeing that young master grows up well, looking after his family, that much is enough to make me happy.

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(AN: Chapters on Monday and Friday.)