I performed the noble's greeting Philip had showed me. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Rudeus Greyrat."
Eris folded her arms across her chest and shouted "What?! You're younger than me!"
"You're right, but if you'd just give me a chance, I..."
"What!? Are you disagreeing with me!?", she interrupted, shouting again.
"No, I apologize if I've insulted you."
"Hmph", she snorted, "Fine, then get out of my sight!"
"My lady, I've traveled a long way to get here, could you please find it in your heart to spare just a moment to watch a short demonstration and then judge for..."
As I was speaking, she walked up to me and reached out to slap me.
I leaned back at the last moment to evade the slap. Eris had put a lot of force into the slap, so when she unexpectedly missed, her momentum carried her forward and she almost fell.
She looked up at me and growled, gritting her teeth. I could tell I was getting nowhere at this rate, so I fled back out of the room and sealed the door shut with earth magic.
I could hear Eris shouting and pounding at the door as I looked up sheepishly at Philip and Ghislaine.
"I hope you don't think you can keep my daughter locked up like that forever. I'm going to have to ask you to unseal that door", Philip demanded.
"You're right, I'm sorry about that. She just surprised me."
"I told you she was willful", Philip said as I disintegrated the earth seal I had placed on her door.
Immediately after unsealing the door, it burst open and Eris started charging at me, but I leaped backwards over the railing down to the courtyard below. I used wind magic to slow my descent before I landed.
Eris ran up to the guard rail and looked down at me. She looked like she wanted to jump down, but she was hesitant as she was up on the third floor.
I reached my hand up into the air and shot a fire spell high up into the air. Once it reached about 100 feet above the roof of the house, I had it explode into a ball of brilliant colors, like a firework.
I saw Eris stare up at it mouth agape, before looking back down at me and clicking her tongue.
Ghislaine patted Eris on her shoulder and said, "He may not look like it, but Rudeus is an excellent mage. In fact, I witnessed him defeat a retired S-Class adventurer with seemingly little effort."
Eris' eyes lit up at that comment, and looked back down at me.
"Fine, I permit you to teach me magic, but only if you teach me that spell. Hmph!", she snorted and turned around to walk back into her room.
I conjured an earth pillar to lift myself back up to Philip and Ghislaine, quickly dispersing it afterward.
Philip was smiling and clapping softly. "Very Impressive", he said. "It appears I underestimated you. Follow me back downstairs and we'll formalize your contract."
I now officially had the job of Eris and Ghislaine's home tutor. I was afforded two silver pieces a month for my wage, in addition that once I completed five years of service, I would have enrollment for myself and Sylphiette paid for. I know that unfortunately the second part of that contract won't come to fruition due to unforeseen circumstances, but life is about the journey anyway.
The next morning I was introduced to Philip's wife and his father, the lord of Fittoa, Lord Sauros Boreas Greyrat. Sauros was exceptionally prideful, and extremely loud. It seemed like he was shouting every time I heard him speak.
Eris always excitedly showed up for her magic lessons, but it was a real struggle to teach her math and reading. I asked for Ghislaine's help in convincing her to study. On top of that I implemented a rewards system giving extra days off whenever Eris would reach milestones in her reading or math.
Every time we would leave the manor I made sure to keep a close eye on Eris. I knew the butler was planning to have her kidnapped eventually.
One day when we were out at the market, Eris was inside a shop trying on clothes. Ghislaine was waiting outside the changing room when one of the employees approached her and started talking to her. I could tell Ghislaine didn't want to talk to her, but the employee seemed insistent; she was holding what looked like a price tag and seemed to be confusing Ghislaine about something.
I saw two male employees approaching the changing room stealthily while Ghislaine was being distracted. This couldn't be a more obvious abduction attempt. I decided to keep watch from a distance. I needed to catch them in the act so that I could use them to implicate Thomas the butler in the crime.
The employee pointed at an item on the other side of the store and guided Ghislaine over to it. Once Ghislaine was far enough away, one of the two male employees lightly knocked on the door to the changing room. Moments later, Eris walked out and followed the employee out the back exit.
I made my way around the side of the store and peeked around the corner. One of the male employees expertly knocked Eris out from behind and stuffed her into a carriage that had been waiting nearby.
I knocked out the other kidnapper with a stone cannon, causing the carriage driver to immediately take off with Eris and the second kidnapper. As soon as the carriage took off I shouted out to Ghislaine for help.
Ghislaine bolted out of the store in an instant. She took one glance at me with the unconscious man on the ground beside me, and then at the carriage speeding off in the distance.
She chased after the carriage at breakneck speed, catching up to it in no time. The moment she caught up she killed the carriage driver, kicked open the door and killed the second kidnapper.
Meanwhile, I bound the unconscious man's hands and feet with earth magic, so that we could bring him back to the manor and interrogate him.
Once we got back to the manor, the kidnapper confessed to everything and Thomas was charged with the attempted kidnapping as well. Ghislaine was praised for stopping the kidnapping attempt, and Philip thanked me personally as well, but told me that unfortunately I could not take credit publicly due to my having Greyrat blood.
I didn't mind as I have no interest in politics. I could have stopped that carriage easily enough on my own, but I didn't want Ghislaine to be punished for allowing the kidnapping to take place under her watch.
Eventually we managed to get into a steady routine. Ghislaine would train Eris and I in swordplay in the morning and I would teach them reading and math before lunch. After lunch, I'd give them magic lessons, and then from afternoon to nightfall I would continue my own personal magic training. I wanted to keep using as much mana every day as possible to continue building my reserves while I was still young.
I unfortunately couldn't go easy on Eris during swordplay; I was certain Ghislaine would realize I was holding back if I tried. Even without the eye of foresight, defeating Eris at her young age was fairly easy; she was only intermediate ranked in the Sword God style at the moment, after all.
I was worried that being defeated in swordplay by someone younger than her might demotivate Eris. Thankfully, she saw me as a powerful rival to overcome and it only seemed to make her train even harder.
Ghislaine still gave me tips for my swordplay, but she also praised me for my good form and battle intelligence. While Eris was older and physically stronger than me, I had many years of real life combat experience on my side. At the same time though, I knew that my inability to wield battle aura would prevent me from ever progressing to the Saint tier in any sword style.
I enjoyed my time in Roa, but before I knew it nearly three years had flown by and I was going to be turning ten years old soon. It was about time for me to put my plan into action to save as many as I can from the upcoming mana disaster.