To settle the matter and find out more about Eris's new tutor, I sorted my thoughts and visited Philip not long later.
However, on the way I passed by Philip's wife - Hilda.
She had the same deep crimson hair as Eris, and an ample chest. She seemed to be taking a walk with maids.
I was already introduced to her before, but we didn't interact.
"Good afternoon, Lady Hilda." I did the nobles' greeting, politely bowing my head whilst touching my heart.
"Tsk." Hilda sent me a scornful look, clicked her tongue and walked away while ignoring my greeting.
Oh well, I don't think there was a way for me to make a good impression in my situation no matter what.
After collecting my thoughts, I came to Philip's office.
Luckily, he was there.
"Uncle Philip." I routinely did the noble's greeting as I walked in.
"Seraphim, it is good that you're here." Philip slightly smiled at me. "Please, sit down."
"Yes."
As I sat opposite him, Philip looked at me and said, "I already heard from Father. You're going to be Eris's magic tutor. How do you feel about it?"
"I don't mind. I'll do what I can." I smiled like a good kid.
"Mm. Thank you for that. We can talk about it later. However, even more important than learning magic is that she learns the language and arithmetics."
Well. I wouldn't say one is more important than the other, but I could imagine why Philip said what he did.
I said, "Right, today was her first lesson with a tutor. How did it go?"
Philip said, "From what I heard from the tutor, the magic and language lessons went quite well. Eris was full of spirit and desire to learn that it surprised even the tutor herself. But a problem occurred during the arithmetics class. In the middle of the lesson, Eris proclaimed that she doesn't need arithmetics and ran off."
"I see."
"You don't seem surprised."
"Haha. I just thought it's something that Eris might do. She showed to be very interested in learning magic and reading, but not so much in mathematics."
"Right. That's why I wanted to ask your opinion on how I can motivate her to study arithmetics as well."
"I see."
"Do you have any ideas?"
"Yes."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, I already thought about it… Uncle, who is the person that Eris admires the most?"
"That would be… probably you."
I see.
So Eris admires me now. I already had a feeling it was like that. Her behavior is still that of a wilful selfish brat, though she admires me.
But it was not how the conversation was supposed to go!
I said, "Actually, I wanted you to say Ghislaine."
"Ah, Ghislaine?"
"Yes! From what I saw, Ghislaine also doesn't know arithmetics. So how about Ghislaine starts studying with Eris?"
"... Oh, I like it! If it's Ghislaine, she might be able to motivate Eris…" Philip's eyes were glazed over for a while, before he looked at me. "However, would Ghislaine want to study as well?"
"I think she might. The stories of the troubles she had as an adventurer because she couldn't count would at least motivate Eris to learn the basics. Something similar happened during our trip to town."
"I see. So that's what happened... You really have brilliant ideas. Well, then I will talk with Ghislaine and see how it goes."
"..."
"Thank you for this. You're a huge help."
"No problem!" I said and then smiled in a silly manner like a happy kid satisfied from being praised by an adult.
I felt I was way too adult-like when conversing with Philip, so here's a bit of acting.
Philip gently smiled at me, then said, "Now then, about your job as a magic tutor… Let's see. For the daily schedule while you're still here, I'll have to discuss it with her tutor Anastasia. It will probably happen after her normal lessons finish. I think as long as you can teach Eris basic Elementary ranked magic at one point and help her stay motivated to study the other subjects, that's enough. How about I arrange the rest with Paul?"
"Alright."
I guess I had no choice here. I was a 5 year old and Paul was my father.
It isn't like I lived in Roa. I only visited for holidays.
"Good," Philip said and smiled. "By the way, how do you like it here in Roa?"
I thought for a moment and said, "I think it's much more interesting here than in the village… Well, our village is pretty and peaceful, but there are more things here, like the Magicians' Guild."
"Indeed. There are many more opportunities in a city, aren't there? Compared to a backwater place like the Buena village."
"..."
Philip smiled. "Either way, you've been a great help so far. You're welcome to stay in Roa as much as you want, as long as your parents don't mind."
"Thank you."
…
After leaving Philip, I asked the maids to lead me to Eris's room.
However, she was not there.
When I came back to my own room instead, I found Eris waiting at the door, seated in a seiza position on the ground like a female warrior while meditating with closed eyes in a manner that I taught her.
Below her calves there was a pillow, probably brought in by one of the two neko maids that were with her.
During exercises, we would focus on mind-muscle connection and an optimal movement instead of just moving the weight. Then instead of simply waiting to recover, between each set we would mindfully meditate.
The purpose of both was to practice mindfulness and acquire a better awareness of the body, something that I think might help with manifesting or controlling Battle Aura in the future.
I felt there at least would be no demerits in doing that and the idea itself held some logic. This wasn't Earth, after all.
Now I see that Eris took my advice seriously and even tried to mindfully meditate in her free time.
It was a bit surprising. She was difficult to guide properly during physical training, but it seems she at least tries.
"Eris, so you're here," I spoke up.
"Seraphim!" Eris opened her eyes and looked up at me. From her lap, her hands traveled to her hips. "Grandfather said that you'll teach me magic. You will, right?"
"Yes. From now on I'm your magic tutor." I smiled at her.
"Yesss!" Eris jumped up. "Can you teach me some more today?"
"Sure!"
That's exactly why I wanted to find her.
Magic had to be practiced every day and the sooner we started, the better.
I took out the key from my neck and moved in to open the room.
But then I stopped.
Eris was too selfish and too spoiled.
Although she began to respect me these days, it isn't good if every time I just did everything that she asked me to do, like this.
I turned to her. "I'll teach you, but you have to say please."
"...But you already said you'll teach me!"
"I'll teach you… But shouldn't you also bow down your head when asking for a favor?"
Eris hesitated for a while.
"P-please, will you teach me magic?" She finally said, looking slightly uncertain and quite ashamed.
Good.
That's all I needed.
I was about to say 'alright', but at that moment a voice sounded out from behind me, "Is that an attitude of asking someone for something? Eris?"
I turned my head.
It was Philip, standing there with his usual gentle smile.
Eh? Why is he here?
"Grrrr…" Eris glared at him and lowly growled, her cheeks flushing red. It wasn't a blush of embarrassment; she was pissed off.
Philip said again, "Is this how you were taught to ask for favors?"
"Noooo…" Eris scowled. She then stomped her foot and strongly said: "Father, leave!"
"...Alright." Philip turned around and began walking away.
I was dumbfounded.
What was that?
That's exactly why Eris is the way she is!
…
Unlike my expectations, I didn't experience the Boreas style etiquette that day.
Eris again asked me to teach her, and I agreed.
As I did so, her shoulders slumped down in relief.
…
After Eris entered my room, I asked her some questions and quickly reviewed what she had already learned about magic so far.
Once I got a basic idea of what the tutors went through with her in the past, I then informed her that what I will teach here will be partially things that are not known by the general public.
I said seriously: 'The things I teach you, you're forbidden from sharing with anyone, even with your grandfather.'
I overdid it a bit on the seriousness, but in turn Eris nodded seriously and looked even more excited about studying.
I guess, what kid wouldn't be excited about learning secret magical knowledge?
Once I got her attention, I said, "Okay, the first thing is, magic needs to be trained every day. Every day you need to use magic until you completely run out of mana. It's the most important thing."
"Yes!" She nodded.
"The more you use magic, the stronger your magic will become. That's why you need to quickly learn to cast your first spell."
As I continued, Eris listened at attention.
I said, "In the beginning you won't be able to use much magic, so your magic training will be short. But first you have to learn your first spell, so you need to work hard at the very start."
Taking out my notebook, I then again repeated the ghost story that I told her before to help her memorize the Fireball Incantation.
For some time then, Eris casted the partial Fireball spell again and again.
Gradually, the flames that she could make were becoming larger and larger.
At one point, before she succeeded in creating a complete fireball, she looked quite drowsy and tired.
Still, she then pushed herself one more time and fainted.
I watched as she dropped down onto my bed unconscious.
'Mana exhaustion.'
As Eris fell asleep on my bed, I saw through the window that it was still just afternoon.
After thinking for a bit, I walked out of my room to search for Ghislaine. It isn't like it needed to be the night for Ghislaien to use her Demon Eye.
However, Ghislaine was right outside my room, keeping watch with her back against the wall.
"Ghislaine."
"Hm, Seraphim. Did Eris Ojou-sama fall asleep?"
She heard it through the doors? Nice hearing…
I then also realized that she should have heard the contents of the lessons.
But it did not matter - let alone the fact that Ghislaine was trustworthy and was made to practice silent spellcasting in the original, I didn't even teach Eris any secret knowledge today.
"Yes. She trained to the point of mana exhaustion and fainted."
"I see. Will you make her do it every day?"
"No. I only let it happen now, so she can better learn how to identify the feeling when she's low on mana."
There was no need to train to the point of mana exhaustion.
As long as she used up her mana before it overcapped, she should have experienced optimal growth.
I had no way to test it on myself and from the start imitated Rudeus who seemed to just have done normal practice after fainting the first time, but I have also run this experiment with Sylphy.
There seemed to be no benefit in training until mana exhaustion.
Perhaps there were only demerits of doing that because this kind of abuse made you feel and perform like crap afterwards, and might also hurt your 'life force'.
"I see. That's good," said Ghislaine. She then added, "But you're not going to do anything to her when she's unconscious? If it were Paul, I'm sure he wouldn't pass on an opportunity."
"Okay, that's enough! I'm not like this!"
I stopped her right there.
I was not like that. And I was neither a kid like Eris, so it was even less appropriate.
Perhaps I was a degenerate by considering Eris as my future love interest as we grew up together, but it was not to the point that I would molest an unconscious and unwilling 7 year old with a lewd grin.
"I see." Ghislaine was expressionless.
"...Ghislaine, can I ask you about something?"
"Hm? Go ahead."
"About your Demon Eye. It can be used to view mana, right?"
"...So Paul told you about my Demon Eye." Ghislaine looked at me, then nodded. "Yes. Apparently it allows me to see the flow of mana. It's mostly just a bother though."
"I see…"
Did she view her Demon Eye as a bother because she wasn't a magician?
Though I'm not sure what use it would have for a magician, it would probably not be useless.
Whilst thinking of this, I then planned to go along with the thing I wanted from her, but I suddenly thought of something and asked, "If you use your Demon Eye, could you see through the wall?"
"No, I can't."
I see.
So she cannot.
That's why she covers it with an eyepatch and it manages to block it.
It's a shame. It would be a rather useful ability otherwise.
But perhaps she simply could not control it fully?
Brushing aside these thoughts, I asked, "Ghislaine, there's something that I want you to check out with your Demon Eye."
"What is it?"
"The sky."
"The sky?"
"Yes. I just want you to check it out. I saw something strange in the sky, but I could have been mistaken."
…
After we agreed to simply lock Eris in my room with a key, I walked outside into the courtyard with Ghislaine.
Ghislaine took off her eye-patch, showing a deep green eye with a cross-shaped pupil.
She then began to scan the sky at my request.
I kept observing her.
Ghislaine looked around the open sky.
She then put her eye-patch back and looked at me, "There's nothing here. It's just a normal sky."
My heart humped at those words.
I asked, "Are you sure? Did you scan the entire sky?"
"Yes. I'm sure. I looked over the entire sky."
"...How sensitive is your Demon Eye?"
"It's very sensitive. If there was anything strange here, I would have noticed."
"I see…"
If she went so far to say that, there's nothing more I could say.
"Maybe the thing you saw was the flying fortress? It sometimes flies over Roa."
She told me the same thing Sauros did.
But I no longer listened to her as my mind was focused on what I just learned.
The red orb… was not there!
Which means that the Mana Disaster will probably not happen.
"..."
As Ghislaine and I made our way back inside, I kept thinking about it.
I felt both a bit freaked out by this change, but also relieved at the same time.
But it was not that I originally worried about the Mana Disaster happening or about the consequences.
I could cope with those. Even if things spiral out of my control, then so be it, as long as me and the few most important people to me are fine.
The Mana Disaster wasn't something I could fully stop. Or I might also not even want to stop it, since if I did my future knowledge advantage would suffer.
Instead, I was relieved because I finally knew what my situation was.
Ironically, if the Mana Disaster doesn't happen, the future only becomes more uncertain.
The results of the Mana Disaster's teleportations should not be quite random, but had to do with people's fates. Since I've likely inherited Rudeus's fate, I would probably end up on the Demon Continent anyway to meet with Ruijred and so on.
Even if something unexpected happened and there was a huge twist, I would just aim to ask Kishirika for the location of people important to me and improvise, doing a similar thing to Rudeus but better.
Especially if I guided things toward that path, the results might have been surprisingly close to those of the novel.
Hitogami's actions could have been predicted to a degree as well.
But as it is currently, with no orb, my metaknowledge and future knowledge advantage will be minimized.
History will follow a different course.
The Man-God Hitogami will become unpredictable and make very different moves.
And I can't rely on the novel events to simply do 'the same thing but better'.
But that's fine!
Even if most of my future knowledge becomes useless, I will just have to make the most optimal choices and carve out my own path.
My advantage of reincarnation is much more than just the knowledge of one possible future.
Originally I was always somewhat worried about making changes. My actions might have caused growing unpredictable consequences that might make things more difficult for me down the line after the Mana Disaster.
If the Mana Disaster happened early as well, at an unpredictable timing, it would have also completely thrown things out of order. Some crucial characters would not have been at the place where they should be or certain things would have not happened yet.
But now I know that I can go all out on doing what's best, without a worry and without holding back!