— Leon Greyrat —
Three months had passed since Rudy became a father, and in this time, my family had also been growing.
Not in that way, of course, but rather that things were developing as time passed, most notably with Sylphy and Aria.
Sylphy now had a visible baby bump, and as she got further along in her pregnancy, was now leaving all of her guarding duties to me as she became a stay-at-home mother, for the moment.
Of course, this also meant that she was no longer included in our late night activities, but I was more than satisfied with my Roxy, especially since Aria was now sleeping in her own room, giving us some much-appreciated privacy.
And that Aria… she could walk now, which meant that her curious and excitable personality had been given another avenue to explore. One that she used to her full advantage.
It was cute, that's for sure, watching her toddle around on her little legs… but even I couldn't help but lament when she interrupted Roxy and I's activities with her late-night explorations.
But still… I could never be mad at her.
After all, that goofy smile and those wide brown eyes lit up my life differently than my wives and family did, and never failed to make me happier.
Children truly were amazing.
Anyway, getting back to the present.
I had just finished my swordsmanship class, and after a quick lunch with Rudy and his friends, I was now making my way back home.
Julie had also joined us, as she usually stuck to Zanoba's side, and… I was happy to say that she was doing well.
She was now able to speak some basic sentences in the Human tongue, perform basic earth spells without a chant, and most importantly, had a wide smile on her face.
It seemed that Zanoba and Ginger, true to their word, were taking proper care of her, which was nice to see, and Rudy was also taking his tutoring pretty seriously, though of course little Lana was at the forefront of his mind.
So, with my belly full, and my heart racing in anticipation to see Sylphy and Aria, I opened the doors of the cafeteria, giving me a clear view of the courtyard.
Usually, this sight had multiple students going about their days, walking across the ground, which was either blanketed in snow or covered in green grass, as they either went to their next classes or made their way home.
There was still grass, and there were still a few students, so that was normal.
But what was not normal, was the sight of a giant demon with six extremely muscular arms and dark purple skin, his middle set of arms crossed over his chest with his face set in a grin.
"You there! Are you Leon Greyrat?" he asked, his voice resounding across the courtyard.
"Uhh… yeah," I said. "Did you… need me?"
What… what was this guy?
I could tell he was strong, and the instant I saw him, I focused more mana into my Demon eye, only to see… nothing.
There was absolutely no mana in his body, and no touki surrounding him… but I knew that was wrong.
After all, while I had been mainly using my Demon eye for a while, I have been able to sense mana and touki before achieving it with my Water God style training.
And this guy… I could tell he had a lot of it.
So why couldn't I see it?
"Hahaha! I see!" the man said, laughing to himself. "I am the Demon King Badigadi! I have come from quite far away to find you, so fight me!"
My mouth widened in slight shock.
Huh?
I… feel like I missed something.
"Uhh… why?" I asked.
"Hmm? I heard about you from my wife," he said, crossing his arms. "She said you were interesting! So… fight me! Should you defeat me, you will be granted the title of a hero!"
"But… I don't need anything like that," I said.
In fact, it would only be troublesome.
I had no want to become a 'hero', thank you very much.
"Oh? You don't want to fight?" he said, narrowing his eyes as he glanced at a passing group of students. "Then… should I just make you?"
This bastard… did he really want a fight that bad that he'd threaten someone?
Well… I wasn't one to fight needlessly, but if he was going to attack me anyway…
"Aha! That's better!" he said, cracking his knuckles. "Don't lose too easily!"
And with that, he sprinted forward, his six fists extending outward in tandem to punch me, a sonic boom exploding from the speed of his strikes.
What?
He was very powerful… but why was he using his fists?
And his stance… it was so… open.
Did he not have any survival instincts?
Drawing my sword, I dashed across the ground with a Longsword of Light, cutting an arm off in the process.
Or, at least… I was supposed to.
Instead, I had only dealt a deep gash, barely reaching the bone.
Turning back to face him, it seemed to not phase him in the slightest, as the wound easily regenerated, not even a visible scar left afterwards.
"That was some speed there!" he praised me. "Be proud! Only a King-ranked attack could harm me like that!"
What? That… was one of my strongest attacks.
Why couldn't it take off his arm?
And that regeneration… that wasn't healing magic, was it?
He's a demon, so… that must be his race's trait.
How annoying…
"Well! Here I go!"
He then rushed towards me again, this time only sending out four fists at me, with two cocked and ready to attack at either side if I dodged.
And more than that… I could feel the bloodlust in his charge.
That… I don't know what was wrong with this guy, or what he had against me… but he was definitely aiming to kill.
But the question was… why?
Either way, I didn't really care about it.
I'd just have to find a way to get past that regeneration.
Forming a barrier between us, his fists impacted it a moment later, and taking advantage of his momentary surprise, I lashed out my sword with a Longsword of Light, bisecting his body as I used the touki to trace my path through the air.
Turning back once more, I couldn't help but frown as the deep cut separating his torso began to instantly heal back together, the line fading to nothing as Badigadi laughed.
"That was even better!" he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "But… is that all?"
This guy… his regeneration was insane.
I could tell by now that my sword skills weren't able to end him.
While his combat skills were weak, barely at the level of a Sword King, his touki was strong.
Aside from Orsted, he probably had the strongest defensive touki I had encountered yet.
So, the only way I could get through that was by slicing… which was an injury he could heal in a moment.
With magic… I could probably do it.
Especially if I used an attack like I tried against Orsted that decimated that mountaintop.
But not only did I not want to destroy the surroundings, I also didn't want to use too much mana, in case I needed to heal myself from any injuries.
Dammit… I fucking hated touki defences.
If only it was something like a barrier spell, I could simply find the source and use some disturb magic to… remove it…
Wait.
Disturb magic?
"You're not coming? Then I'll come to you!"
Leaping out of the way of Badigadi's charge, I sent a flurry of long-range touki slashes to keep him occupied as I remained in thought, the removal of his arms granting me a moment to think without interruption as they all slowly crawled back to him.
Why hadn't I thought of it sooner?
Touki… it was much more instinctual, but it was still mana at the fundamental level.
I had already discovered that through my training.
So if I can disturb mana with my mana to disrupt magic… couldn't I do the same with touki?
Now that I had experience in using it outside my body… I think the answer was obvious.
So, with my sword held tightly in both hands, I breathed as I focused on the touki surrounding the self-proclaimed Demon King.
Focus… concentrate… connect…
My Demon eye set on the cloud of touki around him, I watched as it began to spin, churning across the demon's body as it shook in a hurricane-like torrent.
I wasn't manipulating the touki with the intent to harm, like when I finished off the North Emperor Auber with that surprise attack, but rather with the aim of invading Badigadi's impressive defensive and distorting his touki, giving me an opening to exploit.
It wouldn't be nearly as effective as mana, as I knew that touki was much more fluid and 'personal' compared to mana being used for magic, but if I could just mess up his defences for a moment… that would be all I needed.
Something seemed to change, as the Demon King that was confidently racing towards me paused with a surprised expression, and seeing that… I launched my attack.
A broad stroke of the sword, concentrating the touki along the edge as I flung it outwards, but not sharp, like all the other sword strikes I had practised.
No… this time, it would be using pure force, with the aim to destroy rather than to cut.
And as it turned out, the force of a strike belonging to one that was named an Emperor-rank swordsman by the Sword and Water God themselves was pretty damn powerful.
With a crash echoing through the air, I watched as my launched touki made contact with Badigadi's chest, disintegrating his torso an instant later as his extremities were launched outward.
Well… I guess I won?
Unless he could regenerate instantly from that.
No… I don't think that was possible.
Sheathing my sword, I turned back to continue my journey back home, deciding that the university could deal with any annoying stuff that came afterwards.
And so, in the middle of the year K423, the Demon King Badigadi breathed his last-
"That was something else!" a familiar yet squeakier voice said.
Turning back to what I had thought to be a corpse, I watched in muted shock as the set of legs stood up, a smaller version of Badigadi growing from the waist up.
"Truly! Like this, I won't be able to fully regenerate for another hour!" he said, laughing cheerfully.
"Right…" I said, my hand returning to my sword. "So? Are you done?"
"Haha! Indeed! You are the victor, Leon Greyrat!" he said, smiling as his eyes then narrowed seriously. "As he thought… I'll need the armour…"
Huh? What was he talking about?
Don't tell me he wanted to fight again.
"Right! But you can proudly call yourself a hero!" he shouted.
This guy really reminded me of Sauros in the worst ways…
"I don't need such a title," I said, waving off his praise. "I think it would just be annoying."
"Is that so? Well then, I still congratulate you," he said, his body growing a bit bigger. "So come share a drink with me!"
"I'll pass," I said, sighing.
As it turned out, Badigadi wasn't one you could just refuse.
— Leon Greyrat —
Having spent much of the night drinking with the six-armed Demon King, much to my displeasure, by the time morning arrived, Badigadi had already fled the city, leaving just as abruptly as he came.
Though, from how an army of knights had suddenly formed on the outskirts of the city, it seems that he had caused quite a bit of destruction during his travels.
Hopefully I wouldn't need to meet such a troublesome person again, but I had the feeling that such a thought was wishful thinking.
But while annoying, at least I was able to take some pleasure in the situation at how my father had nearly gone grey from the stress.
Ah… and it also seemed that the 'hero' title that Badigadi had given me had stuck, at least within the university, so that was annoying.
"So why are you dragging me to the merchant district again?" I asked, sighing as I followed Rudy through the crowded market. "You know I'd rather be spending my free time with Aria, right?"
Especially after that annoying Demon King had decided to take over my night with his drinking.
"I know, you damn overprotective father," he said, clicking his tongue as he turned to me. "And as for what we're doing? Well, we'll be getting ourselves a diary!"
"A… diary?" I said, confused. "Why?"
"Well… as for me, I just want to write about life and magic, but I think you should get one too," he said, scratching his ear. "After all, what do you have? There's Aria, our family, your swordsmanship, your magic… and then there's that thing you've been researching when you help with Shizuka's experiments. That's a lot, right? You should have a place to write it down so you don't forget anything."
"That's… actually a good idea," I said, nodding my head.
It was a lot, to be honest, and I was sure that I had learned of the same 'breakthrough' more than once due to forgetting it in the past, so being able to write about my days and every new discovery would be extremely helpful.
But more than that… I should do a diary for my kids.
It would be awfully cute to look back at, both for me, my wives, and themselves when they grew older.
Like how Mama would tell stories about me as a baby to Sylphy, Roxy, and my sisters.
Even if it was embarrassing, it was still a very nice time, so I should give the same opportunities to my children.
And as Paul had so wonderfully shown me, it was a parent's duty to embarrass their kids, so such a thing would be great material for the future.
So, heading into the nearest confectionary shop, Rudy and I both perused the shelves, trying to find something that fit our needs.
Unfortunately, they didn't seem to sell diaries here, so we would have to make our own.
But at least they had quite an impressive collection of paper, so I could easily cut two thin pieces of wood for the covers, and use some twine to hold it together.
Hmm… a diary… this type of sentimental thing was something that Roxy would like, so maybe I should get another one for her?
Yeah, I think I'll do that.
So, with two impressive stacks of paper in my hands, and Rudy deciding on the same idea, we then went back home, ready to get started on this new project.
As it turned out, Rudy was a bit better at making things like this, and hearing his ideas, I asked him to make rings out of earth magic to bind it together rather than twine, while also creating plates out of earth magic, as wood could easily deteriorate and rot.
I guess his years spent making figurines had come in handy, huh?
— Rudeus Greyrat —
With the first entry made in my diary, going about the day and gushing about how cute Sara looked cuddled up with Lana, I then turned off the lantern for the night and closed my eyes, ready to get as much sleep as I could before Lana decided it was time for Sara and I to wake up.
But instead of being greeted by the sounds of crying, or even an interesting dream, I was met with the familiar sight of a vast array of white, with a distorted man standing in front of me.
The Man-God…
I haven't seen you in a while. What gives?
I then looked down at my body, quickly noticing the fact that I was unfortunately still me from my past life.
But somehow… I was changing.
I was thinner, closer to my current body's level of fitness rather than that old ball of lard, and the puny cock I had from before had grown a little closer to the magic wand that I used on my lovely wife.
Well… he did say that my appearance would reflect how I viewed my self, so I guess I was becoming a little more in tune with my current life.
I mean… I was finally able to realize that my family was truly my family, so perhaps that had something to do with it.
Not hearing a response from the Man-God, I looked up, only to see him staring at me, radiating anger and frustration from his distorted face.
Uhh… is there something wrong?
"Yes… yes, there is something very wrong," he said matter-of-factly.
What? Why? I'm confused here, you know. Do you have any advice or anything?
"Advice… yes, you could say this counts as advice," he said, walking around as he tapped his chin. "I had a vision."
A vision? What are you, a prophet? Is that how you always give me advice?
"Yes, you could say that," he said. "And in this vision… the detestable Dragon God joined forces with your brother's descendants and killed me."
…Oh.
"Yeah, 'oh'!" he snapped. "That would lead to the collapse of the world, you know? So it's a pretty bad thing!"
The collapse of the world? That… is indeed a shame. But… sorry, why does this matter to me? You said descendants, so I imagine I'll be dead before anything like that happens, and I'm not some hero character. I'm just living as an NPC now. Happily, at that.
"Heh. Well, it may be closer than you think, but either way, if you don't see it as your problem, then I will make it your problem," he said, his voice radiating hostility. "I'll be frank, Rudeus. I don't want to die."
Yeah… I can imagine that.
"Yes, and I am very powerful. I can do this with any person I want, and when I do, they trust me much easier than you do," he continued.
So… you're saying you have a lot of allies.
"That would be an understatement," he said. "Everyone in this world can be my ally."
I could tell he was threatening me, but I still didn't know why.
Right, then… what does this have to do with me?
He looked at me in silence for a few moments before he spoke up.
"The Dragon God and Leon's descendants… as long as these two entities exists, my death is near-certain. And I cannot accept that," he said. "So… remove one of them."
R-Remove? What the hell are you saying?
"Either stop Leon from having children and kill Aria," he said, his words shocking me. "Or, the more practical option… kill the Dragon God."
K-Kill the Dragon God? That's impossible! Even Leon said he couldn't win! And don't even bring up me harming Aria! Even if I didn't have to worry about my brother killing me in the worst way possible, I couldn't do that to my lovely niece!
"Right… you can't kill the Dragon God… but Leon might. Especially if you two teamed up and laid some preparations," he said. "So this is my 'advice', as you so aptly put it. Pit Leon Greyrat, your brother, against the Dragon God. Do that, and your family will live."
My… family will live?
"Yeah. I said I have lots of allies, right? There are many powerful people among them, and a lot that could easily sneak into places," he said, crouching down from behind me to talk into my ear with a sickening tone. "So if you don't follow my advice… I will kill Sara and Lana. They're much easier to reach than Leon's children."
Much easier to reach!? And what the fuck are you saying!?
"Their fates are weak, though I don't want to explain everything to you. Just don't test me," he said, his slimy voice reaching my ears. "But hey… just join your brother against the Dragon God, and everything will be fine. That's the only path I can see to survival in the future, and as a result… it's the only path for your family's as well."
What… what the fuck?
But how would I even fight him?
"Well… while I can't say it was a pleasant conversation, I hope you make the right choice, Rudeus Greyrat," he said. "The lives of your family depends on it."
And then, I woke up, sitting up in my bed as sweat ran down my face.
That… what the hell?
That threat of his… that wasn't an empty one.
I could tell he was completely serious, both in his threat and ability to go through with it.
He… would kill Sara and Lana?
I looked to my side, where my wife was sleeping soundly, her arms wrapped around my own as she snored softly on the pillow.
And then, past the bed, laying in her crib, was my beautiful baby girl, her blonde hair and blue eyes clear in my mind as I saw her cute, sleeping form.
Losing them… after I had worked so hard… and I loved them so much… I couldn't accept that.
They were everything to me, so I could never accept that.
Looking out the window at the night sky, I slowly got out of bed, quickly putting on my coat and shoes as I then headed downstairs.
Shit… this was all… shit!
What the hell were we meant to do?
We would have to take out the Dragon God, right?
That seemed like the only option…
But first… I needed to talk to my brother.
"Leon…" I whispered as I stumbled out the door. "I hope you're still up."
Dammit… at least he was strong.
He was a hero, after all.