HPDBC Chapter 113 – A Growing Family
Chapter 113 – A Growing Family
Chapter 113 – A Growing Family
— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —
A few months had passed since I began training with Orsted, and with us entering the ninth month of the year, winter had once again begun to descend into Ranoa.
It wasn’t as if our family remained solely in Sharia, however.
With Ariel returning to her duties as queen, as well as Sylphy, Eris, and I taking turns to stay by her side and protect her, our family was essentially splitting time between staying in the royal palace and our humble abode in Sharia.
We tried to remain secretive about the extent of Ariel and I’s love so that our family could retain some privacy, but... well, with so many people, rumours were bound to start.
Luckily, it was only to the extent of curiosity at the moment, mixed in with the excitement of an elusive royal family for the populace, but if any dangerous folk caught wind of it... well, I could only hope they also caught wind of me defeating the former Water God as well.
Thankfully, for the people of Sharia, Ariel was more known as the former student council president rather than the princess of Asura, so there weren’t too many issues here up north.
But aside from that, life was... stable.
Stable and good.
Aria was starting to learn magic, and while Anna was just as difficult as ever, she did show a cute and lovable side now and then.
Ars was able to run freely around the house, which was more of a curse than a blessing, and was starting to say his first words, while Emilia was still the cute little baby I held as often as I could, even though I knew she would soon be getting older just like her siblings.
She was my fourth, so I knew that my little princess wouldn’t stay so little forever... even if it still stirred up bittersweet feelings.
Anyway, yes... the family was good, as was life in general.
But of course, there was still that issue looming over my head.
The Man-God.
I was still training with Orsted, and while I was getting better, he said very clearly that fighting Laplace at this point would be futile, and thus, I should focus on getting stronger before making any other preparations, which in my case, meant getting the North God on our side.
Apparently, he had a high likelihood of being an apostle, but unlike most people, he wasn’t someone that could be so easily influenced by that being’s ‘divinity’, but rather could be used simply due to his gullibility.
Well, it was nothing a good beating could change... at least that’s what Orsted told me.
So yes, the eventual plan to defeat the Man-God, and first Laplace, was currently on hold before I gained some strength.
And lastly... there was the issue with Shizuka and her drain syndrome.
And hopefully, by today, that would be an issue no longer.
“Let’s hope this works,” Rudy said, positioning himself on Shizuka’s right.
“It should. We’ve been practising for long enough,” I said, sitting on the opposite side of her.
“And as I said before, there’s no need for this,” Shizuka said with a sigh. “Well, whatever. Go on and try it.”
While her tone was a bit cold, I could sense the faint feeling of hope in her voice.
Well, that was only natural.
While the Sokasu tea made her symptoms non-fatal, it wasn’t a cure, which was why she was still bedridden up here in the floating fortress for all this time.
But after today... well, I wouldn’t make any promises, but this should work.
Exchanging a nod with Rudy, we then got to work, both of us placing our hands on her chest as Rudy closed his eyes and I activated my demon eye.
Focusing on Shizuka’s body, I was easily able to tell that she was different from anyone else in this world.
After all, whether it was a little or a lot, and whether it was finely controlled or completely unrefined, everyone had some mana in their body... everyone except her.
Even objects had mana, although it was extremely faint, so Shizuka really stood out as a walking ‘blank space’ so to speak.
Except... that wasn’t the case right now, as where there used to be nothing... there was now a mass of mana.
And unlike a regular person’s mana, this was ugly and... well, ‘dirty’ so to say.
This must be what ambient mana looked like when it was left uncontrolled and concentrated in someone’s body, huh?
Well... while it was interesting, considering how it was making Shizuka sick, I would prefer not to see it again.
“Are you ready, Rudy?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered.
“Alright... then just follow my lead,” I said, slowly letting my mana flow into Shizuka’s body as Rudy did the same.
While Rudy struggled at first, likely due to his lack of expertise in healing magic, he eventually got the hang of it, as both of our trails of mana snaked their ways toward the messy, concentrated ball in Shizuka’s core.
Usually, one would be unable to affect another person’s mana, save for using disturb magic, and to take control of someone else’s mana was still impossible, even for us.
But luckily, this mana, despite being inside Shizuka, still wasn’t ‘hers’... which was also the reason for her being poisoned by it.
I was still unsure of the process in how ambient mana gets an ‘owner’, all I knew was that it had something to do with someone’s life force, but still... that didn’t matter right now.
All that mattered was that Rudy and I were able to control this mana, and after a few attempts... we were able to remove it as well.
“Grk!”
Although, apparently, it still hurt.
“Sorry, Shizuka. I’ll be sure to make this quick,” I said.
“Just... do it,” she said through gritted teeth.
Increasing the mana I was outputting, I had it spread throughout and around the ‘infectious’ mana of Shizuka’s, with Rudy following my lead.
And once we had all the mana under control... we slowly began pulling it out, forcing it down her arm and into her hand, following her mana pathways that were thankfully there despite her not having any mana.
I... wasn’t sure how that worked either.
But thankfully, with the infectious mana bubbling to the surface of her palm, Rudy and I did one last push as it dissipated to the atmosphere a moment later.
And then, like that... it was gone.
“We’re done,” I said, standing back up as I wiped the sweat from my brow. “Do you need any healing? You seemed to be in pain earlier.”
“H-Huh? Uh... no, I’m fine,” Shizuka said, moving her hands across her chest. “I’m... I’m fine! Hahaha! I’m... fine...”
With her lips settling into a soft smile filled with relief, I found myself smiling as well.
Despite her tough and indifferent front, I guess she was more worried about her condition than I thought.
“So it worked... thank goodness,” Rudy said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Yes, but it will probably return eventually,” I said, frowning a bit. “We’ll probably need to do this regularly. But now that you’ve done it... do you feel confident in doing it by yourself, Rudy?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah, I probably can... Even if I can’t, I’ll just ask for your help,” he said.
I gave him a nod before turning to Shizuka. “So that’s that. You should probably have Rudy check you over once a year, or if you feel any signs of it returning.”
Breaking out from her daze of happiness, Shizuka gave me a nod before suddenly pausing.
“Would... would checking monthly not be better?” she said, her cheeks gaining a bit of a blush as she looked down, not meeting my eyes. “Y-Yes... I think having him check on me monthly would be much more acceptable. I don’t want any chance of it returning, after all. It could... affect my research.”
Uh... sure, but... what was with this atmosphere?
“I am more than fine with that,” Rudy said with a smile. “But now that you’re healed, would you like to stay here, or do you want to come back with us?”
“I’ll... head back with you, but... there’s something I want to confirm first,” she said, turning to me. “You, Leon... you’re... from another world, aren’t you? More specifically, you’re from my world.”
Uhh... sorry?
“I’m... not following,” I said, confused. “I was born here, and you can even check with Ma- with Zenith, who held me as a baby. I wasn’t randomly summoned here like you.”
Why would she even think that?
Didn’t she meet me when I was younger as well?
“No, not like me,” Shizuka said, shaking her head. “Rather than being summoned... you were reincarnated, weren’t you?”
She nodded as her ball began to grow, slowly converting all the concentrated mana she gathered above her hand into the desired element of water, while maintaining her control of the magic all the while.
Usually, this would be the point where her control would waver due to lost concentration and cause her spell to deform, leading me to need to quickly take control of the water before it splashed on the two of us.
But this time... it seemed that she got it.
“Dada! Look!” she exclaimed, opening her eyes as she happily looked at the result of her training.
“Yes, I see. Well done, Aria, but don’t lose focus now,” I said, placing my hand on her head.
“R-Right!” she nodded before she returned to her concentrated face, her tongue unconsciously sticking out the side of her mouth as she focused,
So cute.
“Okay... now that you have it, let’s try to move the water around,” I said.
“Like when you do your tricks?” she asked.
“Yes... but maybe not to that extent,” I said, smirking to myself. “Just slowly move it to the side, as if trying to pass it to me.”
Narrowing her eyes, I watched as her ball of water began to deform, rippling as it moved sideways before suddenly... it collapsed.
Watching as the now-regular water began to fall freely, I quickly infused my mana into the liquid, taking over the spell before suddenly dispelling it into thin air so that we didn’t get wet.
“Darn it...” Aria said, pouting.
“Don’t be sad, Aria. You did it!” Roxy said, reaching over my shoulder to pat her head with a smile. “Very few kids can even cast a single spell at your age, and other than your father and uncle, I bet you’re the only one who can do it without a chant, so be proud.”
Aria’s frown turned upside down as smiled at the praise.
Well, that made sense, as while it wasn’t necessarily rare for Roxy to give our daughter compliments, it was still harder to come by compared to me.
This was most likely due to Roxy’s lingering feelings towards the praise she received as a student getting to her head, and was worried about the same happening to her daughter, but either way, I was glad that she was outwardly a bit harder to please.
Not that the Aria didn’t deserve the praise, of course.
In fact, she deserved all the praise in the world!
But... if we praised her for every little thing, then when she did something particularly noteworthy, the praise wouldn’t feel nearly as meaningful... so we had to make sure not to overdo it.
Unfortunately, I was much too doting to restrain my compliments, so Roxy had to pick up where I was lacking.
Sorry, darling.
“Papa... can I try too?” Anna asked.
Looking over to my side, where my second daughter was currently playing with some blocks on the floor, I hesitated on how to answer her.
She was around two and a half now, and I didn’t start teaching Aria until she was three... but then again, Anna was a bit more advanced mentally for her age... but she also never really seemed interested in magic once she learned to walk... Hmm...
“Are you interested in magic, Anna?” Sylphy said, walking in from the kitchen.
“Mmm... a little bit,” she said, turning back to stack her blocks. “But it cooler with sword.”
Ah... so she was more interested in my magic swordsmanship, then.
Well, that still made me quite happy, but training her in the sword would have to wait until she was five, at the least.
Not much you could train with a toddler body, after all.
“Unga!”
Feeling something run into my leg, I looked down to see Ars laying sprawled out on his back, with a giant smile on his face.
“Hehehe!” he giggled ecstatically.
“What are you so happy about?” I asked, feeling a smile on my lips as I began rolling him back and forth with my foot, causing him to laugh again.
What a carefree kid.
He almost reminded me of Aria when she was younger, but he didn’t seem as attached to his parents, instead having all the fun in the world by himself.
...Well, it did make it quite easy to keep him entertained, so I wasn’t complaining.
“It’s ‘it is cooler with the sword’, Anna,” Sylphy said, taking the little brown-haired girl into her arms. “And I think you need to focus on reading first. It’s not good to learn magic without knowing that, so how about I read you a story?”
“Mmm... okay,” she said, resting her chin on Sylphy’s shoulder, though with a slight pout of disappointment.
Well, I guess training the second magician would have to wait for a while.
Sorry, little Anna. I’ll be sure to read to you a lot so you can start as soon as possible.
“Aboo...”
Hearing a cute voice, and feeling my hair getting pulled from behind, I tilted my head back to see my youngest staring down at me with a wide, curious smile.
“Hello, Emilia,” I said. “Is my hair so interesting?”
“Agoo!” she exclaimed, smacking my head again.
So it was.
She was similar to how Aria was as a baby in that regard, just like Ars, but rather than having an equally intense love for all her parents like my oldest, she was way more attached to her mother.
“I think she wants to see her father, darling,” Ariel said, leaning down to plant a kiss on my forehead. “And I’m back.”
So you were.
“Welcome back... how was it?” I asked as I moved to the side, letting Ariel sit down on my left.
“Same as always. Though the nobles are getting curious about our little princess here,” she said with a sigh.
“Tch, those guys...” I clicked my tongue. “They should be prostrating themselves in thanks just to see her once a year. They’re getting arrogant if they think they can see her whenever they want.”
“Now, now, don’t be so harsh,” she said, giggling lightly into her hand. “It’s only natural that they wish to ascertain the safety of the heir to the throne. Besides, if we want to make things safe for her, she needs to have a strong base of support.”
“Yeah, but... that can all wait until later, right?” I said.
“I suppose...” Ariel said before resting her head against my shoulder.
Even though we had already introduced Emilia to the nation of Asura as the crown princess, there still wasn’t a need to show her off too much.
We wanted to be different from the royal families of the past, after all, and while I would gladly let Luke and Sauros meet her, I didn’t want her to be touring the nation as some sort of attraction or political pawn.
She was my cute daughter, and one that needed lots of naps.
And speaking of naps...
“Huam... mmm, comfy...” Aria mumbled against my chest.
I wonder how she could sleep with all the noise, but looking closer, I noticed that her mana was nearly completely depleted.
I guess that final spell took all of her mana out of her, huh?
Well... even if it wasn’t her actual bed, I guess it was fine for her to rest like this.
In fact, it was very nice.
Between Orsted’s training, Ariel’s position, and everyone’s own lives, while it wasn’t necessarily rare for us all to gather around the fireplace like this, it did have a feeling of... comfort.
Ah... but we were missing someone, weren’t we?
“Leon! When dinner’s done, go up to my room!” Eris said, appearing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest. “I’m not gonna sit back and let Roxy take the lead!”
Yes... my lovely redheaded swordswoman.
Somehow, this lady had an odd view of pregnancy as some sort of competition, and thus, she had been particularly eager as of late.
I wasn’t complaining.
But... couldn’t she come rest with us for a while first?