— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —
With my newest daughter, the first princess of Asura, having been born, and Ariel taking some time off to rest in Sharia, it was the perfect time for Orsted to return to the northern territories as well.
And as a result… the beginning of our plan to defeat Laplace en route to the Man-God… which meant only one thing.
Training.
And I had a feeling this would be harder than any other training I had done thus far.
"Now… while it has been four months, I believe it is time for me to fulfill my end of the bargain," he said as we reached a clearing in the forest. "This… should be far enough."
That sounded quite ominous… did we really have to go so far from civilization?
"Now… before we begin, there is something I must do first," he said, walking up to me before placing his hand on my chest.
Watching the mana flow from his hand and into my body, my eyebrows narrowed in confusion.
"Uh, what exactly is- Argh!"
I instantly collapsed to my knees as I felt an unbearable weight press down on me.
No… it wasn't exactly a weight… nor was it simply pressing down on me, but rather… I just felt weak all over.
Even raising my hand was tough, and breathing took a noticeable amount of effort.
What… what was this?
"It should be relatively easy for you to acclimate to this," Orsted said. "Get up, Leon of Rakaz."
This bastard…
"I'm… Leon Anemoi… Greyrat, dammit," I spat through gritted teeth as I slowly rose to my feet, covering my body in touki to resist whatever this oppressive weakness was.
Luckily, it seemed to work, as I was able to get up quite quickly after coating myself.
"Good. It seems you've gotten better. Perhaps your fight against the former Water God made you more efficient," he commented, a slight hint of praise in his tone.
I took a few breaths to compose myself.
Just standing up took this much effort and energy? What the hell happened?
"What… what did you do to me?" I asked.
"I placed a seal on your body. One of the dragonfolk," he answered. "This will allow you to grow stronger without destroying the surrounding environment, and at the level you are currently at, only something like this will allow you to grow stronger… or rather, grow stronger fast enough to reach Laplace in your lifetime."
Ah… right.
Unlike this guy here, I had my human lifespan to worry about.
Even though I was hoping to deal with that after the Man-God… that wasn't exactly a priority at the moment.
"So… I'll be training under this seal, I take it?" I asked.
"Yes… and you will also be living under it as well," he said. "With your daily life, as well as your routine morning exercises, this seal should prove useful to enhancing your base strength, concentration, and use of touki."
Uhh… excuse me?
"You look surprised… did you think you were ready to face Laplace simply because you could defeat the Water God?" he said, shaking his head. "No… you need to be much stronger. Strong enough to carve mountains with your sword, like the strongest human of the past, Saint Millis. Only at that level will you be able to achieve your goal."
Carving mountains?
So the legend about Saint Millis was true… but aside from that, I guess I would need to get used to this fast if I had to be under this damn spell even at home.
Now… how would this affect my nighttime activities?
I'm sure Sylphy, Roxy, and Ariel would still be fine, but like this, wouldn't Eris end up overpowering me?
I was… sort of scared.
"You look like you're thinking about useless things," Orsted commented.
Shit. He noticed?
Shaking his head with a disappointed frown, Orsted observed me for a few moments, his golden eyes seemingly piercing my soul, before speaking again.
"No matter. If you're ready, then we can move onto sparring," he said, extending his hand as he coated it in his touki and mana. "From now on, focus only on using healing and barrier spells in terms of magic. Attack magic is useless in front of Laplace, so we'll need to adapt your fighting style to forget about using it."
I would have responded, but just keeping my stance firm and maintaining my touki defence was taking too much concentration, so I simply gave him a nod in return.
Without the hint of a signal, he then leaped forward, extending his hand towards my chest in a manner eerily similar to when he had nearly killed me.
But still, whether he was going easy on me, or I had just grown that much… he looked awfully slow.
And so, raising my sword to defend, I wrapped my blade in touki, ready to parry his blow, only to realize a moment later… I couldn't move.
Seriously? Just wrapping my blade in touki and setting my stance took everything out of me?
But even so, Orsted did not wait for me to get a hold of myself.
Ah… shit.
This was going to hurt.
It only took a moment later for me to be proven right, as the instant his hand struck my chest, I shot across the ground, skidding against the dirt before I crashed into the boulder behind me, my surroundings a blur the entire time of my tumble.
"Ugh…"
Fuck… that sucked… that seal really was no joke, huh?
"Get up," Orsted demanded, reforming his stance. "Against Laplace, this is nothing. If you truly wish to change the course of fate, you need to get stronger."
I… already knew that, you fucker.
Just give me a damn moment.
I couldn't even fucking move in this state.
"Think, Leon Greyrat," Orsted said, seemingly reading the thoughts on my face. "Your touki is too weak. Even when using my techniques of imbuing mana into touki, it still falls short. As you are not a Dragonfolk, this is only reasonable… but there is a way to overcome it. And in order to defeat Laplace, you need to do just that."
I wanted to ask him how, but I already knew from that annoying fucking frown of his that he wasn't going to give me an answer.
Combining mana and touki… I thought that just by getting good enough at that, I would have reached the same level as Orsted.
With some more practice, of course.
But… it seemed that wasn't the case.
Even though by using that technique, I had become stronger… but it still wasn't enough, evident from the fact I was still struggling to even get to my feet with this seal, as well as the imprint of my body on the rock behind me thanks to Orsted's single move.
Improving that seemingly perfect technique… how would I do that?
Well, there were only two ways, right? It was either my touki, or my mana… or perhaps a third possibility where I did something with both.
My senses tingling, I desperately leaped out of the way of another one of Orsted's strikes, his leg lashing out to clip my side, sending me sprawling into a tree, and leaving what was sure to be a nasty bruise on my hip.
Shit…
When using the combined touki and mana technique, I couldn't do anything else, lest I lose my focus on my defences… and that was pretty suboptimal for combat.
And from the fact that even with said defence, I was left injured from a single hit from the serious Orsted made it quite obvious I wouldn't be able to keep doing that.
Just as he had said, I needed to overcome this.
Dammit.
Weren't we supposed to be training for a while?
What was with the damn rush?
And not to mention, if he went a bit harder, even while focusing on defence, I would be left with some nasty injuries.
If only I could coat my body in healing magic while doing it, I could… I could…
Wait.
Coating my body in magic?
No… I was already doing that with mana, having it weaved into my touki and attuned to the barrier element to maintain stability, but… could I change that?
Did it… have to be barrier magic?
Couldn't it be something else, as long as it kept my touki together and filled in the gaps?
It would be more difficult in terms of mana control… but it wasn't impossible.
At least in theory.
I closed my eyes, focusing on the boundless energy that surrounded me, the overlapping coils and strings of touki weaving a fabric across my skin with my mana hardened over and within it.
My mana… my barrier mana… but now I needed to change that.
I then focused on an image.
Fire… lightning… at their base, they were the same thing.
Plasma.
Whether it be through heat or electricity, they were both forms of pure energy, just like light.
On a scientific level, past that was uncharted territory for what I knew, but considering my mastery over fire, and my recent control over lightning… it was enough in terms of knowledge.
So, implanting that image into my mana, I felt a wave of energy overwhelm me.
Opening my eyes, I slowly got to my feet and picked up my sword that had fallen to the side before noticing that my body was glowing, lighting up the dense forest around us.
And more importantly… I could move.
I turned my head just in time to see Orsted's hand racing towards my neck, and with a flick of my wrist, I parried his blow to the side.
Oh… oh yeah.
I smirked as I felt my confidence return.
This… this must be-
"Ouf!"
His leg then shot out, digging deep into my stomach as I was once again sent flying backward, hitting the nearby bush as my new energy-clad form dissipated into nothingness.
Ugh… fuck.
I was on the ground… again.
I-I see… while changing the element to pure energy made me stronger and faster, I lost some of the defensive properties and stability that came with using the barrier element… so perhaps I would need a mix of both.
But more importantly… that hurt.
A lot.
I slowly looked upward, my neck trembling from the effort, as Orsted came into view, thankfully having lowered his combat stance.
"W-Was that… what I was meant to do?" I asked, focusing on casting a healing spell on myself.
Shit… I think he broke my spine with that last hit.
Thank Millis I had remained conscious to heal it, or that might have been pretty bad.
"I'm not sure… I only know from the Technique God's books that Saint Millis was strong enough to face him in the past, so I figured there must be a way for a human to reach the level of the dragonfolk," he said, nodding his head approvingly as a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. "And it seems that you found it… although it does need some work."
You don't fucking say?
So he didn't even know the way and just beat me up to force me to improvise, all on the whim of the records of some legendary figure… I was a bit annoyed now.
I wanted to spend some time with Emilia, not lie in the dirt like this.
She was cute and affectionate, and most importantly, wouldn't beat the shit out of me.
Papa needed some hugs…
"Let's continue," Orsted said, destroying the last light of hope in my heart.
I… wanted to go home.
— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —
"Haa…"
"What's wrong, Papa?" Anna asked from my lap.
"Nothing, sweetie… it's just nice to rest like this," I said, leaning back into the couch.
"Okay…" she said before returning her attention to her doll.
Feeling my lips tug up into a smile, I then turned my gaze to the other couch, where Ariel was currently resting against Sylphy's side, with the newest member of the family, my little princess Emilia, resting on her chest.
They really were the cutest.
If only the rest of the family were here too… unfortunately Roxy still had her job at the university, and Eris had taken Aria to go play at the orphanage.
And as for Ars, he was happily resting in his room upstairs.
Or, at least, I assume happily… he really was quite the cheerful kid, after all.
"Was training with Orsted that hard, Leon?" Sylphy asked from the side, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
I stared blankly into her beautiful eyes as the scenes from earlier today played through my mind.
"Yes… you could call it that," I said. "It seems that he has high expectations for me… so I have to try my best to live up to them."
She frowned.
"Well, if you say so, then I won't stop you… but if it's too hard, you can always come back home. As long as I'm here, I'll do everything I can to help you relax," she said as she gave me a blindingly sweet smile.
"Thank you, Sylphy… but it's okay. Even if it's tough, this is something I want," I returned.
After all, even though it had been one day, I had already learned something that could make me much stronger than before.
And only with that strength would I be able to confidently defend my family against anything the Man-God threw at me.
Although… hearing those sweet, comforting words… I did find my resolve a little shaken.
Especially since I was still under the effects of that seal, which made even breathing difficult if I didn't enhance myself with touki.
Still… maybe I would bask in her comfort more than a few times after my training.
"If you're sure… well, still, I'll be here for you," she said before looking down at Ariel with a smile. "But speaking of… she's been awfully clingy lately, no?"
Yeah… she had.
"That is true… she must be sad about needing to return to her position," I said.
It had already been two months, after all, and the people needed to see their newest princess so that unfortunate rumours didn't begin to spread, both about Ariel and Emilia.
"Yes… even if she's happy to have won the ascension, and still takes her work seriously, I'm sure she sometimes wishes she could live the simple life here with us all and forget about the kingdom," Sylphy said, brushing her hand through Ariel's hair as the woman fell onto her lap.
Yeah… politics were annoying, even when you were good at it.
"Well, she knows that she can-"
As I was about to reassure her, I heard a knock at the door, and using my demon eye, I instantly recognized who the visitor was.
"It's open, Rudy," I said, hearing the door open a moment later.
"Ah! Good afternoon, brother. Sylphy," Rudy said, peeking inside the living room as he took off his shoes. "Uhh… n-nice weather outside, no?"
Well… he wasn't wrong, as it was currently summer in the northern territories, where the weather was perfectly moderate.
But… why was he so nervous?
"Did something happen?" I asked.
"O-Oh? You could tell? Haha! Uh… yeah, you could say that," he said, his hands fidgeting with each other.
I glanced over to Sylphy, the two of us sharing a momentary confused look, before I returned my gaze to my brother.
"W-Well… you could say that the family will be getting a bit bigger?" he said, his lips curling up into a smile. "Yeah… you could say that."
My eyes sharpened. "Don't tell me you got another wife."
I wasn't really one to criticize him on that, considering my current family situation, but I still thought it prudent to ask.
"What? No! No, it's just… Linia's pregnant," he said, looking away as he scratched his cheek. "That's… what I meant."
Oh… I see.
Considering how they had been together for four months by now, something like this happening was only natural.
But still… they worked awfully fast, didn't they?
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Sylphy said, clapping her hands together and causing Ariel to stir from her lap.
She… was probably already awake at this point, but Ariel loved resting on Sylphy's thighs, so she remained laying down.
I would have done the exact same in her position.
"It is, and congratulations, but… why do you look so nervous?" I asked. "You've already gone through this once before, right?"
"Y-Yeah, but… well, I'm worried about keeping everything stable, you could say," he said, taking a seat in the nearby chair. "Sara and Linia have a good relationship now… but I don't know if having a kid will ruin it, you know? I'm… worried that it might."
"Hmm… I see…" I said, rubbing my chin. "You definitely have a reason to be worried…"
"Hey! I don't need that right now!" Rudy said, pointing at me.
I smiled.
Yes… for all the times you teased me about my 'womanizing' tendencies, now that we were in the same boat, I won't let you off so easily, oh brother of mine.
"Leon… that isn't very nice. And don't shout. These two are resting," Sylphy said, pouting as she patted Ariel and Emilia's heads. "And as for your problem, Rudeus… I would simply talk to Sara. Though, I think you should talk to Roxy about this first, since she was the first one among us to have a child. As for me, I can… somewhat understand what Sara might be going through, as when Eris had Ars… I was a bit worried that it would make me feel… less unique."
My eyes darted over to Sylphy.
"Hey, I-"
"I know," she said, silencing me with a smile. "I definitely know that you wouldn't, and didn't, stop loving me, but still… it's another thing entirely to truly accept that in your heart."
I remained frowning.
With Ariel having Emilia, would I need to reassure the other three some more?
Yes… I probably should.
Just because I was married to all four of them, and they all loved me, it didn't mean I could get complacent, even if things seemed fine.
"So talking to Sara… yes, I should do that," Rudy said, his words breaking me out of my thoughts. "And I'll talk to Roxy too. She's still in her class, right?"
"She should be," I said.
"Great, thanks!"
As Rudy went to leave, I looked down at the mess of brown hair as Anna continued to play on my lap.
"Did you not want to greet your uncle?" I asked.
"Mm? Not really," she said, continuing to play, completely unbothered.
Well… that was that then.
At least she seemed to be having fun.
"And do you want to play with me?" I asked.
"Hmm… no, not really," she said.
…Yes, she really loved playing alone, even if she ended up hurting her father's feelings while doing so.
Well… at least when she was like this, I could hug her close.
"Papa, hard to move. Let go," Anna said, wiggling her arms.
…Never mind.
And I would choose to ignore Sylphy's cute giggles at the expense of my suffering.