Placing a piece of fruit into my mouth I leaned into Lilia's side, gently hugging her. For the first time in quite a while, our entire family decided to take a small break from life and have a picnic. Oddly enough it was dad that recommended it but I can imagine why.
"As nice as this is Paul, the man I married doesn't think with anything but his two swords. What's the matter?" Mom questioned dad with narrowed eyes. I'm surprised she managed to wait for so long before asking considering we've been here for nearly an hour.
"Well, I was summoned to Roa." Dad explained awkwardly. His plan was probably something along the lines of waiting for the correct mood to tell everybody but as a playboy, he should know better than that. Nothing comes by waiting for an opportune moment, you have to make one yourself.
Nevertheless, his being summoned to the capital of the Fitoa region is quite surprising, I was sure he would have been called by the capital of the kingdom itself. My mana outburst was intense and even a decade or more into the future the mana in the atmosphere will remain strong.
It's quite a negative situation I'm afraid. Not only does a higher concentration of mana result in attracting and breeding stronger monsters but it also means that my Mana Sense has become nearly unusable in this area.
Luckily my mana only covered Buena village and a few nearby villages to the point where I can't see anything with mana sense, anything beyond that is fair game though it is vaguer than it once was.
"For that mana outburst from yesterday?" Roxy questioned, her blue irises glaring holes in me from the corner of her eyes. She was extremely angry at me however I believed it was reasonable, I refused to tell her what happened after all.
Despite our relationship being more akin to fellow researchers, on paper we were Master and Disciple. For me to simply refuse to tell her anything about what happened is not only rude from the perspective of our respective roles but only strains the trust between us.
Well, it's not something to the degree that it's unfixable. While Roxy is stubborn she is also extremely kind and gentle, over time she'll get over it herself and on the minuscule chance she can't I'll gladly help her myself.
"Mhm. Apparently, the King himself is demanding answers from them so they called me and the lords of other nearby villages to give testimony." Dad said in an oddly sophisticated manner. I was surprised to find that he had been a noble a few years ago but now I can somewhat believe it.
Somewhat.
"Was it that big a deal?" Mom questioned dad and Roxy worriedly. While she was a fellow adventurer in the same party as dad she wasn't quite as strong as dad or adept in the arts of magic as Roxy so she didn't sense the full extent of what happened.
"It's a huge deal. With how much mana was released more monsters will be drawn to this land but also the land will be nourished with mana. As dangerous as it is nobles will start fighting over it." Roxy explained seriously, her glare never leaving the side of my head.
I expected nobles to want our land but I didn't expect it to be such a big deal. Most of the mana won't leave the atmosphere let alone enter the earth and all the mana that will is so dense that it'll actually make harvests marginally worse if left alone.
Of course, I plan to solve the issue since I caused it. Normally I wouldn't bother but since it's my dad's territory I don't want him to get a bad reputation somehow. Logically he shouldn't be blamed but rich people don't think purely off logic, they think mainly based on their desires just as I once had.
[You're emotions are awfully negative. Are you okay Rudeus?] Laplace questioned, his worry flooding over and lessening the effect of my negative thoughts. When our emotions are strong enough they may affect the other enough to completely flip what the other is feeling however both of us are fairly calm, I doubt it'll happen.
However, there is one exception. When we find whoever Laplace's target is. I can't completely predict his reaction and neither can he considering he can't even remember who we're looking for let alone why we are looking for them.
[I'm fine.] I replied sincerely. My mind did wander to a negative place however it was merely a series of passing thoughts. My previous life doesn't affect how I live my current life, it merely changes how I think and appreciate things.
"Anyways, I'm forced to go to Roa. Luckily I probably won't have to go to the capital since Philip will take care of it." Dad replied in a negligent manner. As much as I love my father and trust him as a fighter I do not trust him as a politician.
"Can I go with you?" I questioned while hugging Lilia's side. I was worried Mom would be jealous but she seems fine with me hugging her instead. Besides I'm doing this to protect Lilia while spending time with my second mother so there is no harm done.
"You don't trust me do you?" Dad asked me with a deadpan stare. That's a dumb question, why would I ever trust him? This is a delicate matter that can't be solved just by swinging a sword at it and I don't think he can solve it by himself.
"No, if you can prove you can you might be a little cooler." I bribed him without hesitation. He may have matured but he was still the same spotlight loving man that made up my dad when I was born. He's gotten better at not bragging constantly but he still likes to be the center of attention.
"Cooler? You don't think I'm cool Rudy?" Dad questioned me in a hurt tone of voice that was so obviously fake that it wasn't even funny. My dad can act when it comes to battle but other than that he can't wrap his head around it.
"Not at all." I revealed without hesitation. As a fighter, I can respect him but with how annoying he is in battle I can hardly find him 'cool'. Maybe if he didn't spend the entire battle taunting his opponent he would be cool but I can't fault him for using a strategy that works.
"Haa. Being a father is hard Zenith." Dad whined to mom, his hand sneaking around to her butt. He knows I can see him but he's still doing it. Does he know how old I am? If I wasn't reincarnated I would have thought that was normal and grown up to be a mini him. How terrifying would that be?
"Yes yes." Mom gently comforted him without caring for the hand on her. It seems that she was used to his perversion with all their fun every day. Looking at Lilia from the corner of my eye I could tell that she was jealous as well.
Looks like I'll need to find a solution quickly or else the problem might escalate. Logically it's a simple solution, simply get dad to marry Lilia as well. However, the problem is all the emotions involved.
Emotions can break any logic and this case is no different. I need a way to prove that dad marrying Lilia would be worth mom breaking the rules of the religion she holds so dear. That's mainly why I want to go with him to Roa since I doubt I'd find anything that interesting.
"Can you protect the village while we're gone, Roxy? I'll pay you of course." Dad requested seriously, essentially accepting my presence in his group. As previously mentioned the monsters would be growing in strength and number pretty soon and while it wouldn't be bad now it would soon be more than the current guards can handle without constant injury .
"I don't mind. I live here too you know?" Roxy agreed without hesitation. Normally it'd be dangerous for a mage to work essentially by herself even if they were as skilled as Roxy but for the time being, it'd generally just be the same thing that's been happening for years that the usual guard can take care of. Roxy's there just for those 'what if' situations.
"Perfect! We'll have to leave in a few days so it's best to get ready early." Dad gave some advice with a smile on his face. Maybe it was because it was the first time we were going to travel together but he seemed oddly excited.
Then again I was also excited to travel for the first time so I'm not very different am I?