The news came to me not via a missive nor somebody informing me, but instead when I heard a familiar name echoing through the halls as I was reading one of the local fantasy novels.
"PAAAAAAAAUL!!!" Sauros' voice raged through the walls, and a few minutes later a maid came to my room.
Soon after I was led to his office, and the old man immediately began ranting at me about how much of an honorless, worthless scoundrel who had no place anywhere in his domain Paul was.
I had merely calmly agreed with him in everything he said until he'd finally calmed down enough to tell me what exactly Paul had done to piss him off.
Apparently, he'd abandoned his post.
His knightly post that had been given to him by his feudal liege lord.
The one he'd gotten after already having been disowned from the family, and that he'd only been given as a token of pity via literally begging his uncle for it when he came home with a pregnant wife.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I almost started laughing.
Apparently, Paul really was useless with anything but a sword.
Finally, Sauros had properly calmed down, asking if I'd be interested in the post, seeing as I seemed to actually have my head on my shoulders, and that he wanted Paul to know that a literal child could do a better job than him if he still paid a modicum of attention to the village he'd left behind.
I admit, the offer was tempting. Get paid to sit around back home and defend the town from a few monsters every now and then?
I didn't really decline. I said if he couldn't find anyone before Mom was unable to travel due to her pregnancy, then I'd take the job, but that I'd rather stick around and finish my teaching contract then do my time at the magic academy, after which point I was more comfortable settling down.
Apparently, an arrangement could be made for such a thing, so we'll have to see how things go.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A week later, Sylphie joined me in the lab as I applied today's bodily shift to one of many cats, watching as the spiky, malformed looking feline with two extra limbs suddenly changed into a truly alien creation covered in feathers.
Choosing a vibrant purple for that additional feeling of wealth and power, I brought the feathered feline's face to my own as I scanned it, ensuring it was not in pain or unhealthy from the final change to its coat.
"You're always so much more careful when you're morphing a dog or cat Master, why is that?"
I hummed at that, pulling away as I thought of when I'll start forming the beak.
"I just can't stand seeing a companion animal suffering, it's weird I kno- wait."
I stopped inspecting the prize cat and turned to stare incredulously at Sylphie.
"What did you just say?"
She looked away in an innocent manner, which just proved to me that something was up.
"Is 'Master' not what a pupil should call their teacher?" She asked, making me just blink in shock.
She began to wilt under my stare.
"I also might have noticed you're always happier when Lilia calls you that?" She muttered, fiddling with her fingers, and I scratched my head awkwardly at that.
"Sylphie…" I said, floundering at the fact she was taking such initiative.
Hell, I'd never even planned to make her call me such.
"Uh, you can call me that if you want." I said, looking away with a blush.
We awkwardly got back to work, Amelia standing in the background pretending to not have noticed the exchange as she finished feeding the animals.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
It had been a good month since I started conditioning Eris.
She could now sound out simple written words, though of course there was only so fast one could progress even if they've got a grasp on language, she's not going to be reading novels any time soon.
She was also becoming more responsive when I told her to do something, hesitating but ultimately doing what I asked of her, and would obey half the time if I straight up told her to do something.
Eris had stopped trying to run from our lessons at this point, though to help burn her energy and reinforce my authority I thought it best to "reward" her with a spar at the end of each session, which seemed to serve well to make her stop dragging her feet during lessons.
Onto my magic, my wood experiments are already starting to show progress.
I can easily enough create new dead wood cells, though I had a hard time doing it quickly without accidentally losing cohesion between them, forming a sort of wooden dust cloud.
That's not to say I hadn't figured it out, as a collection of wooden shapes in my lab could attest, I just needed to work on speed.
With Mom's pregnancy beginning to properly show, I felt it was about time I devoted my time to some proper medical spells now anyway.
In this case, a variety of small spells for various complications, and one that'll probably be the most appreciated no matter how the birth goes.
It was a sort of… stretching spell, designed to make her flesh temporarily more capable of stretching.
Honestly I was having good progress with the spell, the issue was actually less making it work and more making it temporary.
Once I changed the birth canal to easily allow the passage of a baby (in this case with my test animals, early testing had been rather grotey) it would end up not easily retracting back.
I mean, sure it'd make childbirth super easy, but I find it hard to imagine sex ever being satisfying afterwards, and I'd rather not effectively curse mom with "easy births but bad sex" forever.
Still, once I've got the kinks worked out I think this'll be a high ticket item once I start selling my abilities.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Walking through the market yet again, I hummed thoughtfully as I glanced over them during our pass by, noting only a bookstore in the distance.
Finding my way to Yuria's plot again, I saw she wasn't actually there, but in a new one very nearby.
I suppose she must have traveled off since I saw her last, but she tried to stay in one general area?
She spotted me before I reached her, an obvious benefit of her towering height, and she smiled with a raised arm towards me.
"Welcome back." She said casually, glancing over to the cart now full of five very unique animals, "Oooh, you've brought me quite the treat today!"
I grinned, nodding back as I used my magic to open the door of my avian feline's cage, and with a yowl it leaped out of the cage, using it's wings to extend the hop just enough to reach my shoulders, before it made itself comfortable wrapped around my head.
It had taken forever to train it to actually use those wings in any capacity, so I considered this an absolute win.
Yuria's eyes were practically sparkling.
"One very well trained Felix, a cat bird hybrid with the ability to fly in short spurts. She's not as prissy as most cats, with a mentality more similar to a dog in its loyalty and ability to obey instruction. Available in any standard cat color one wishes and is cute to boot."
Extending an arm, the Felix ran over it to Yuria who cooed lightly at the being, scratching it behind the ears.
"Marvelous, and I assume you have others too?"
I nodded, extending my gaze back to the cage.
It was filled with a variety of similarly odd or exotic animals, enough that I didn't bother internally listing off their traits except for a particularly swoll dog trained to hunt, or at least with abilities I assume to be good for hunting, having never done it with a dog before.
It appeared more like a husky than anything, my favored breed if I got the choice.
Taking in all the new creatures, Yuria turned her calculating gaze towards me.
"You've brought your creatures here piecemeal before, why the change?"
I leaned on the cart with a grin.
"You're perceptive as always, I was hoping to trade these for a horse."
Yuria's smile faded.
"A horse is a big investment Rudeus, are you sure you wish to cast away such a large catch?"
I raised a brow at her concern, to which she rolled her eyes.
"Please, I'm a trader, not some soulless loan shark." She said with a drawl, before resting a hand on her hip, "But as it were, very well. Any particulars you have in mind for the horse? Also, I'm still giving you a few gold for all of these"
I shook my head.
"All I need it for is to be male and relatively healthy, preferably cheap, the rest I can deal with."
Yuria nodded graciously.
"Of course, once you are done with it I'd like to see the fruits of your labor. Horses are something that'll catch attention, after all."
"Gladly, I love showing off."
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A day later, Yuria had procured a steed for me.
It was of the "I don't care" breed, with a splotchy coat of brown and white.
It was apparently a draft horse that didn't eat properly, so it never developed enough muscle to stop it from being replaced by a bigger, stronger horse.
Poor guy, got shafted for not being full of that chad energy.
I'll help with that.
When I came to the estate pulling along a horse, the guards just sighed and directed me towards a small stable.
Apparently it only held the personal mounts of Sauros and Phillip, as horses for other uses were usually kept at a large stable by the barracks.
Either way, I had work to do.
Hopefully I can figure out how to permanently change it's fur color and pattern later, for now I focused on my scans, carefully mapping out my latest project.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Standing twenty feet across the lawn and facing me, Sylphie looked at me with a determined expression.
I liked that. Increasingly she had stopped showcasing nerves, which helped a lot when Eris was trying to bully her.
She'd really been taking to the whole "Only her and my opinions matter" thing.
Anyway, Sylphie standing before me, in her hands she held a singular seed.
"Now Sylphie, you likely have an idea already, but for your Saint class graduation I wish you to take this single seed and create… something impressive."
Her ears bounced at my non-committal request, before she steeled herself again.
Heh, she gets the idea.
I've improved by leaps and bounds in my own magic, just in mana capacity alone. I've been starting to struggle to find ways I could safely dump my magic every day, but I had no idea where I could be ranked.
Maybe I'll have somebody test me to get that rank up, but despite all that I knew Sylphie was ready for her own graduation at this point.
Closing her eyes, Sylphie took in a deep breath, closing her hands over the seed.
Staying still for a moment longer, she snapped her eyes back open as she released her hands, stepping back from the rapidly squirming mass of roots exploding outwards.
Quickly burrowing into the dirt once it hit the ground, the plant found purchase for itself before a stem broke towards the heavens, leaves sprouting along it as it rose and rose and rose.
With every few feet in height, the straight trunk thickened, the dirt around its base becoming upturned as its root system grew ever larger to compensate.
At this point the main trunk began to split, and the now massive tree began splitting into branches and twigs in an ever expanding canopy network, leaves sprouting until they blocked out the sun, the undergrowth becoming harder and harder to see.
Forced to lift myself with an earthen pillar, I watched as the tree continued on, it's height surpassing the fortified manor and going beyond until the roofscape of the city was dominated by the enormous growth in its center.
Then just as quickly as it had grown, the leaves suddenly compressed in on themselves, turning into millions of tiny balls of water which then exploded, a great mass of fog suddenly spreading over the city, bringing the darkness under the canopy to the rest of the city.
Lowering myself back to the ground clearing the fog in my direct vicinity, I spotted what was happening with the rest of the tree.
Its branches were losing the color of wood, fading into a stony texture before they inevitably cracked. The call of gravity came to them, and so formed a torrent of jagged rocks over the tree's domain.
The entire tree continued like this, turning to stone until it reached the primary trunk, where the rest suddenly collapsed as it was converted to mud, washing over the pristinely maintained lawn before sinking beneath the earth alongside the rock debris, never to be seen again.
Finally, with a great burst of wind the fog sinking into the city lifted and dispersed outwards, lifting just high enough that it began to act as a cloud, allowing some rain to fall over the immediate outside of the city.
Her arms spread wide, eyes closed, Sylphie struck the perfect image of the elven sorceress, what remained of the water droplets in the air casting some minor rainbow effects here and there.
Then she fell to her knees, groaning.
"I overdid it." She muttered, and I was there in an instant, holding her up gently.
"It's okay Sylphie, just some mana exhaustion." I said, pressing a hand to her head and pushing back her hair out of her eyes, it was getting long now, "You pass, you're now officially a water and biomancy saint, and I'd say you're pretty much confirmed for earth and wind too."
As she nodded tiredly, I turned to the gathered Greyrat family, grinning.
"Told you she'd be able to not make a mess."
Sauros whooped.
"An excellent show Sylphie, why now I want to see what Rudeus can do!" He shouted, making me wince.
Eugh, best not.
At least, not in the city, we were cutting it close enough as it was.
Philip meanwhile pressed a hand to his forehead.
"Rudeus, I thought when you said 'not make a mess' that you meant 'discreet'" He said, and I could only tilt my head at that, "Everybody in the country will know about this now. Though ignoring that I'd say that seemed closer to a kingly rank than saintly."
Scratching my cheek, I shrugged. I guess I'd accidentally instilled in Sylphie my tendency to show off, who'd of thought eh?
Still, I think she's just a fully realized saint class rather than kingly, though I could be wrong.
I wonder where that put me though...
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Yet again, I was moving off to the Market to dump off my current batch of exotic creatures, the task having become a regular weekly occurrence.
This time, Eris and Ghislaine had attached themselves to the trip.
Okay, more like Eris latched on and Ghislaine followed 'cause that's her job, but still.
Walking towards where Yuria usually kept her setup, talking with Ghislaine casually about what she knew of the geography of the world disguised as asking about her adventures, I found myself enjoying the company.
I only got a hint of danger when Ghislaine had already moved.
On either side of me, half an arrow fell to the ground, Ghislaine standing before me.
"Take cover." She growled, before dashing into the crowd and parrying yet another arrow meant for her this time.
After another second of shock, my brain kicked into gear and I swiftly raised an earth fortress around me and Eris, before sinking it beneath the ground.
Remembering how easily Paul had broken through my hardened stone fortress, I decided that stealth was the better part of valor here, pushing the shell of hardened stone we were sitting in to the side till I was sure we were clear of the road above.
After letting the chamber settle, I swiftly reinforced the walls and ceiling before calling it a day and turning to my student.
"Are you hurt?" I asked, lifting a miniscule ball of fire over a finger to give us something to see with.
Eris gave a wide eyed nod, and I turned my attention to my flame spell with a frown.
Creating a hollow sphere of thick glass without air inside on the floor of my structure, I conjured an iron wire inside before replacing the flame with heating that, so that I didn't have to constantly worry about air quality.
Once I checked on the air purity, I began to cast my scanning spell out into the rock, getting a vague sense of what had happened from the street from before I was thrown off by the detection of several rapidly cooling bodies.
Corpses. People had died, really died.
I bit a lip, worried enough that the light dimmed.
"Fuck." I muttered, turning away from the carnage above and looking back at Eris again.
Hm.
Extending my scanning spell as far as it could go, it lost more and more detail the further I went.
Still, I was able to get a feel for the path we had taken here.
"I've got an idea, here Eris, if you want to be able to see while I do this you'll need to hold this." I said, handing her my light ball.
Eris opened her mouth to protest, before she slumped her shoulders and nodded.
Distractedly giving her some feel goods for that, I turned to focusing on the earth around us.
Extending the chamber outwards as a tunnel took shape, I made sure to also conjure air as I began walking back in the direction of the manor, focusing on just that and occasionally reheating the iron in my impromptu lightbulb so that I didn't accidentally cause a cave in.
With my caution and occasionally going a wrong direction, it took nearly an hour for us to finally reach the manor grounds.
Once we were under a courtyard, I popped open a tube just big enough for a single person to fit up into it, then shifted the floor until it was a set of stairs reaching to the surface.
As I stepped out of the tunnel, I found I was surrounded by the point of four swords, with more guards showing up even at that moment.
"Yo, you missing an Eris?" I mumbled awkwardly, thumbing back into the tunnel.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
As I discussed what happened with Phillip, the door to his office suddenly burst open, but thankfully I had good enough trigger discipline to not start blasting at the figure of Sauros running through the room.
He immediately picked up Eris with a tight hug and tears in his eyes.
"You're safe, my little Eris is safe!" He cried, before dropping her and turning to me.
Oh no.
Pulling me into a bearhug, the man squeezed and I sat there and endured as the man thanked me profusely.
Urg, air, I need air!
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
Hearing the floorboard just outside my bedroom creak as I was reading a book late into the night yet again, I narrowed my eyes and inconspicuously conjured up a ball of water, dowsing my light.
My door creaked open.
The last time this had happened Eris had tried to beat my while I slept.
Thankfully, while I'm a heavy sleeper she was not particularly sneaky.
Footsteps reached my bed, and once the figure had reached me I moved in a single motion, throwing my sheets aside and lifting my arm to bring down the water ball.
But Eris just stood there, no weapon in sight as she stared up at me.
"Just, shut up." She muttered, before turning around and crossing her arms.
I blinked in confusion, and when I didn't say a word she growled..
"Sit back down already!"
Ah, there we go.
Slowly settling back down, dissipating my water ball, I watched as she just continued to stand there, before finally she let out a harsh breath of air from her nose.
"Thanks." She said in a flash, quickly darting out of the room.
I made sure to send her some good feels while she did so, but they just added to the ones she was already feeling.
It would seem my efforts are taking hold.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
As the situation settled down and Phillip launched into an investigation to find out who had orchestrated the attack, life quickly returned to normal again.
That tunnel I made came in handy for covertly getting across town, with the Boreas family being both grateful for similar reasons and somewhat mullish due to the added security risk.
Still, it meant I could sneak into a back alley and appear into the market wherever I wished, I tried to use a different exit every time to keep my path unpredictable.
The months passed by, I got closer and closer to intermediate sword rank, and Eris had developed a new sense of respect for magic.
She hadn't said anything yet, but she watched with much more interest whenever I cast a spell, enough for me to start noticing her interest.
Maybe I should try and get her to learn.
Oh, and Mom's pregnancy was beginning to approach it's final term.
With her at the moment, I continued carefully digging my fingers into her back to help ease her muscles.
She groaned as I finished working on a hard knot, and she practically melted back into my fingers.
"Rudy, your wives are going to be very happy women." She muttered, and I chuckled a bit in response.
"I would hope so Mom," I said quietly, moving onto a muscle group closer to her spine, "There's really no point to marriage if I can't make my women as happy as they make me."
Mom got quiet, and when I moved back up to her shoulders I saw she was cradling her baby bump.
"I wonder what it'll be like for your brother or sister to not have a father, even one they hate?" Mom said quietly, and my fingers paused in their work.
That felt… achingly familiar.
I'd had a dad in my past life, but he left before I was even ten.
And living in the next city over, our visits were relatively rare, until they just stopped happening entirely.
I didn't entirely dislike him, though one of my brothers certainly did. Last I had heard of him he'd been homeless.
Tangent aside, I remembered what it was like to not have a father figure, as my other Mom's various boyfriends never lasted long enough for me to give a shit about what they had to say on anything.
I suppose the closest thing I had to a father figure had been my grandfather, as I'd lived with my grandparents for my teenage and later life for monetary reasons, but he died not long after I turned 18.
As I kept pulling into thinking of my old home life, Mom turned her head to look at me.
"Rudy, are you okay?" she said, her eyes concerned.
I just nodded, hugging her from behind.
"Yeah, I guess." I said, before patting her belly, "I guess I'll just have to fill the role then."
Yeah, the 'big brother who's basically my dad' role, I totally could do that.
Mom giggled, hugging my hands.
"That's adorable, I sure hope you can deliver~" She said, in a mockingly serious tone.
I laughed, before returning to her massage.
…I hope I can too.
O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N - Buah! Biggish time progression chapter is hard, don't likey.
Anyway, next time is the birth of Norn!
Why didn't I upload this one very quickly? Mostly got stuck in an EU4 rabbit hole again, got quite the Austrian Empire going on :PView This ThreadUnread Watched Threads
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