"Haaaa..." I sighed as I sat in the shade of a tree. Six more months had passed. Yesterday I had turned four, but my parents didn't celebrate. Apparently, in this world, birthdays are only celebrated every five years, and at 15, a person becomes a legal adult.
I sincerely feel like it's a little early, but it's something I can't do anything about.
It was already winter, so the cold was biting slightly, and the farmers had stopped planting.
I was now an advanced magician in all styles of magic, and Paul said he'd soon be able to promote me to intermediate in the Sword God and Water God styles, although he seemed very reluctant to teach me the North God style, so I haven't made much progress in that style, but that's another topic for another topic.
Right now, I was in the village meadow, in a tree on top of a hill. This had become my meeting place with-
"Rudy! Sorry, I kept you waiting?!" Sylphiette's voice pulled me out of my reverie. "No, I just got here," I said as I sat up straight in the tree.
"Okay! Um... what are we doing today?" she asked, staring at me.
"I don't know. Honestly, I'm out of games. Do you want to play basketball?" I asked as she sat down next to me.
"But why? Do you like losing? Um..." she asked, but in the end, she blushed and looked away, and I just smiled at this.
In the last half year, Sylphiette had gone from being a shy and scared girl to a lively and eager to learn, like every child should be. I could even see that she'd let her hair grow a little; now it reaches her ears.
"I don't mind. It's just that you've gotten really good at the game," I said, but my words were interrupted by an icy breeze, and I shivered. "Brrr..." I murmured as I created a stream of warm water with my hand.
"Mmm... Rudy? How do you do that?" she asked, looking at me curiously.
"Oh, is this magic?" I said, conjuring a ball of fire in my left hand.
Sylphiette's eyes widened as she looked at me.
"Do you want me to teach you?" I said, and she nodded fervently.
"Fine... but we should go to my house. It's already very cold..." I murmured, hugging myself.
"H-your house?" she asked, a little shyly, but I nodded.
"Yes, we'll be warmer there, and I can teach you in peace," I said, and she nodded again.
...
The walk home was quick and safe, but my nose and fingers were already very cold, so it was a relief.
"e-excuse me..." Sylphiette said, somewhat embarrassed, as we took off our coats.
"Rudy? I didn't expect you so early-"
My mother's words were abruptly cut off when she saw us both.
"g-good morning, Miss Greyrat. Sorry for intruding," Sylphiette said shyly, and my mother just smiled mockingly.
"please no..."
"heh...Rudy? Aren't you going to introduce us?"
uugh!!
"mom...this is my friend Sylphiette, whom I told you about," I said, and the girl blushed even more.
"hehe, my Rudy has talked a lot about you, little Sylphiette. She's the prettiest girl in Buena Village, he said,"
I slapped myself in the face at this, and Sylphiette blushed, but I could see a small smile on her face. Oh well, that turned out well.
"Thanks so much, Mom! Come on, Sylphiette, you have a lot to learn," I said as I took her hand and started up the stairs.
I could hear my mother laughing from downstairs, and I just gritted my teeth.
We arrived at my father's study, and I closed the door behind us.
Sylphiette was still blushing, but she looked around curiously.
"Okay! Here's everything you need to know for now!" I said as I dropped the magic book to the floor, but Sylphiette frowned.
"Rudy... I can't read..." she murmured.
"Oh... sorry..."
Now an awkward silence had settled between us.
"If you want, I can teach you," I said, and her little ears twitched with excitement as she smiled at me.
"R-really?"
"Of course, I have nothing else to do," I said with a smile, and she nodded.
We went back downstairs, but I was carrying some sheets of paper and a pencil.
We both sat down at the dining room table, and Roxy arrived.
"Miss Roxy!" Sylphie said with a surprised expression.
"Oh? Sylphiette? So she's your friend, huh, Rudy?" Roxy said with a mocking smile as she pinched my cheek.
"Why does everyone want to bother me?!"
"Teacher Roxy... today I came with Sylphiette to teach her how to read and write, it's not what you think," I murmured.
"Hehe, okay, I understand," she murmured, but I could see her expression harden, and she looked away from us.
"How strange...
"Teacher? Are you going out?" I asked.
"Yes, Paul asked me for help with the winter monster horde. It's nothing special, but a little extra help is never ignored, right?" She said as she tipped her hat and picked up her staff.
"Okay, see you later," I said and so I returned my attention to Sylphiette
The girl was playing with the pencil while looking at me expectantly and I looked at the blank papers.
True, I've never taught before, I have no experience teaching...
"aaam..." I muttered as I took the pencil from Sylphiette's hands and began to write the human alphabet of this world.
Fortunately, there were only 27 words and they were all similar to those in my old world in terms of pronunciation.
"Okay Sylphie, first things first, we need you to learn how to pronounce the words," I said and she nodded determinedly.
"Okay, pay attention!" I muttered as I pointed at the first word.
"This word is pronounced like aaa, this is like beee,this is like ceee..."
...
[Paul Pov]
(ziiinng)
The sound of my sword slicing through one of the black wolves' heads reached me like a stunner.
For some reason there have been more monsters than usual this year so I even asked Roxy for help with the promise of paying her extra.
"Paul! More wild boars are approaching on your right!" Laws' voice echoed through the watchtower, and in the next instant a sea of arrows flew over my head into the forest.
That's how it's been since I came to this village, for some reason the monsters become more aggressive in winter so we have to do a massive annual hunt to repel them, But this year more than expected have come out, which is already bothering me.
"Mr. Paul! I'm here!" Roxy's voice was like a momentary relief to me.
Despite her appearance, it turns out that this girl is a demon and is older than me, so I had no remorse in asking her for help.
Instantly hundreds of chunks of ice shot out of Roxy's staff and crashed into the oncoming horde.
She has proven to be a very reliable person and I am grateful for that.
"Looks like there's trouble around here," she muttered as she approached me.
"Yeah, this doesn't make sense," I said, clicking my tongue.
It didn't make sense, last year we had cleaned the nest until it was ashes, why is there more now?!
"There's no point in worrying, the faster we do it the better" Roxy said and I nodded.
"Yes, you're right," I said, and so we continued with our massacre.
...
"phew!" I let out a sigh as I collapsed onto the snowy ground covered in blood.
The fight had gone on into the night but we had finally finished off the nest. There came a point where my strength weakened significantly and Roxy had to cover my back, She is undoubtedly a trustworthy person.
"Do you need help with healing magic?" She asked, she also looked tired but not as much as me.
"No, it's just exhaustion," I said as I cleaned my bloody sword.
"It's okay...Rudeus brought his friend home today," Roxy said out of nowhere and I raised an eyebrow.
Laws was in the distance skinning the boars so he didn't hear us.
"That's good, the temperature is dropping and it wouldn't be good for two children to get sick just for fun," I said.
"Yes, that's true...and why you didn't ask Rudeus for help anyway? He's almost as strong as me in terms of magic and also faster" Roxy asked.
"Heh...for two reasons, the first is that Zenith would hang me by the balls if I did it and second is because he is still a child, intermediate of the sword but he is a child..." I muttered.
"Huh?!, Rudeus is already an intermediate swordsman?!" Roxy asked in shock
"eh...well yes and no, he already has the ability but he's too young for me to name it yet..." I muttered
Roxy blinked in confusion as she looked at me.
"He really is someone very talented and so young still..." She muttered to herself but I could hear her plus her lips trembled slightly and her cheeks blushed and she shook her head...
I raised an eyebrow at this as I stood up from the floor and a smile formed on my face.
Hehe...you are definitely a son of mine Rudeus!
"Yes, he will definitely be someone very powerful in the future, you are lucky to be his teacher" I said and she nodded.
"Yes, I hope that will boost my resume," she said with a hopeful expression and I could only sigh.
"Paul! That would be the last one! This should even give us enough for the Harvest Festival!" Laws' voice brought me out of my thoughts, and I nodded with a smile.
"Okay, everyone line up and let's divide up the boar meat!" Annouce and all the other unharmed volunteers lined up in front of Laws and the other man as they butchered the boars.
I would take my share anyway and it seems that Roxy would too but that would be at the end.
"You know Paul... sometimes I feel like Rudy doesn't even need me when it comes to learning something... it's like he already knows everything and just takes me as a backup object..." Roxy mumbled and I blinked in confusion.
Shit...I don't know how to comfort women unless I have to get them into my bed as a requirement and I would never do that to Rudy!
"I don't understand why you think that, although it may not seem like it, but Rudy has a very high regard for you, Roxy. I don't think he would have gotten so far in magic without your help," I said, and Roxy just lowered her gaze again.
"How are you so sure? You said it yourself, didn't you? Rudeus is a genius... he could learn anything he wanted in a jiffy!"
Haaa...
Now what do I do? This should be something she was talking to Zenith about in the comfort of the house and not in a monster extermination!!
"Believe it or not, Roxy...Rudeus holds you in very high regard. He has told me many times that he wouldn't want anyone else as a teacher," I murmured.
Now she was staring at me
"R-really? H-he said all that?"
"Yes, of course," I said while scratching my nose, but Roxy blushed with a smile.
"He wants me" She muttered with a silly smile and I could only sigh in exasperation.
My son isn't even five yet and he already has two girls in the palm of his hand...
I feel so jealous!
"Paul! Roxy! It's your turn!" Laws declared and so the two of us moved forward to hold our pieces of meat.
We didn't get anything extravagant but it was an extra reserve for the winter and all along the way I could see how Roxy was in a better mood.
Good luck with that, my son...
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