"Haa!" I lunged at Paul, leaving a crater in the ground where my foot had been just a moment ago.
"Ngh!" The man's eyes widened as he took a Water God-style defensive stance.
(Ploock!)
Our swords collided, and the force was such that his feet were dragged back a couple of centimeters, just like in anime.
"Haha..." He laughed nervously. I took advantage of his shock and swung my sword toward his shoulder.
It was a swift movement; my body was completely covered in the "force," and my strength had increased.
I was seven now, my mother would give birth any moment, and my progress with the sword was undeniable.
My sword formed a perfect arc, but when it was a few centimeters from Paul's shoulder, the guy literally dropped to all fours and swept my feet away with his sword.
North God-style...now I can see why he hates them so much.
But you'll need more than that to beat me, Paul!
"No!" With a scream, I pointed my hand toward the sky and stopped my fall with a sonic boom, which lifted me slightly.
I could see the smile in Paul's eyes. I was now about two meters high. He was in a disadvantageous position as he stood up. His sword...
is aimed at my ribs. I must be faster!
My right arm is closer to him; I'm upside down.
I concentrated most of the force on my right arm. I raised my sword as high as I could and brought it down in a perfect arc. I could swear I went deaf at that precise moment as I saw the expression of extreme surprise on Paul's face.
The next thing happened in a split second.
Paul barely got up and used the Flow technique to try to stop my sword, but I had attacked first. I dodged his sword by mere millimeters and struck him right in the chest. Even I was surprised by the force of my own attack, and a thousandth of a second later, my poor father was thrown back meters like a rag doll.
I went into shock and fell to the ground, on all fours like a cat.
"...ugh... well done, Rudy..." the man groaned as he held his chest in a fetal position on the ground.
"Did I really do it?"
"Dad? Are you okay?" I murmured worriedly as I approached him.
"No..." He groaned, still on the ground.
I quickly ran over to him and placed my hand on his chest, which was slightly deformed...broken ribs. I went a bit too far.
After healing him and helping him up, Paul buried his sword in the ground and leaned on it with a slightly annoyed expression. Then he shook my chest a little too hard.
"What you just did, Rudy... was a longsword of silence... which means you're now an advanced rank in the God Sword style," he said, and the more he spoke, I could see his smile growing wider and wider.
Probably realizing the achievement his son had just accomplished.
As always, I simply sighed and smiled.
"Now I have nothing more to teach you, my son... but we can keep training so our skills don't get rusty," he said with an almost hopeless smile.
"Hey! You still need to teach me the North God style!" I retorted.
Paul just grunted while scratching his chin. He had told me his opinions on that "style" many times before—the quotation marks are how Paul emphasizes it.
"Fine! But don't expect anything new! You could even create one or two clever tricks, and you'd be a North Saint!" He growled, and I clenched my fist in victory until Lilia came running up to us.
"Lord Paul! Lady Zenith has gone into labor!" she yelled before running back into the house just as quickly.
Without a second thought, I ran into the house, but Paul froze in place.
"Dad!" I yelled, and he snapped out of it, and so we entered the house.
It was a tough experience.
A breech birth (when someone is born feet first). With Lilia
having years of experience under her belt, she said the situation was hopeless. That's how bad it was.
I did as Lilia ordered, kicking Paul in the butt to snap him out of his daze and get him to bring Mom into my room.
While he took care of that, I
used magic to prepare a bath for the newborn, gathered all the clean clothes and towels we had, and returned to Lilia, letting her take care of things from there.
The birth took quite a while, with both mother and child at risk. Lilia put all her combined knowledge to work, and I helped by continuously casting Healing spells.
At the end, my mother boldly called out Paul's name while holding his hand; it was a twistedly sweet moment.
All in all, our efforts worked, and the birth was a success.
The baby came safely into this world, letting out her first healthy cries.
It was a girl. I had a little sister.
Paul named her Norn, Norn Greyrat.
I would strive to be an older brother she could feel safe with...
...
Two months passed since that day.
My little sister, Norn, was growing rapidly. She cried when she wet herself, she cried when she defecated herself, she cried when she was upset about something, and she cried even when she wasn't.
She cried in the middle of the night, and she cried in the early morning, and when the afternoon flew by, there were some particularly energetic wails.
Before long, Paul and Zenith had a nervous breakdown together.
The only one who remained calm was Lilia. "See!" she said, skillfully caring for the child, as she always did. "Now this is what parenting is all about! Things with young Rudeus were too easy! You could hardly call that raising a real child!"
In my case, I was already used to crying babies, thanks to my younger brother from my previous life, so it didn't bother me much.
And, not to brag, but I had experience caring for babies, again, thanks to my brother, so I changed diapers and helped with laundry and cleaning.
Paul looked at me and seemed very embarrassed by himself.
Like a Japanese person born before World War II, he didn't know how to do anything around the house.
Certainly, his sword skills were undeniable, and the townspeople held him in high regard, but he was only half the man he needed to be to be a father.
And this was his second time, too. For goodness sake!!
...
"Yaya brr..." Norn made guttural sounds as she stared up at the ceiling with her eyes wide open.
She was in her crib next to the kitchen table, everything seems to indicate that she is a normal and ordinary girl, fortunately for me.
Paul went out to do his morning rounds and now I'm sitting at the table while I wait for breakfast.
Thanks to the healing magic, my mother was as good as new the day after giving birth to Norn, and as you can imagine, my parents set about making their third child...
"Rudy!, I'm here!" Sylphiette's squeaky voice brought me out of my thoughts as I watched the little girl enter the house.
Her green hair now reached her shoulders and it all happened because of a simple comment.
"Sylphie...your hair is pretty, you should let it grow" I murmured
"e-eh?...really?... w-well if you like it then it's fine" she murmured with a smile.
Even looking back on it now I can't help but smile at the impact of my comment.
"Oh dear! Just in time! Breakfast is ready, get comfortable!" My mother said to my elf friend.
"Thank you very much Miss Zenith!" She said as she sat next to me.
"There's no need to be so formal, dear! Call me mother or mother-in-law!"
"I-I can't do that!" She said blushing
My mother just laughed and I could even notice a slight smile on Lilia's face...
Since that day my mother has not stopped bothering Sylphie by calling her daughter-in-law or by her calling her mother-in-law...
I honestly don't know where this came from but even Paul joined in and poor Sylphie does nothing but blush, give us a break!!
"Okay...enjoy" my mother said as she placed the plates of food on the table next to Lilia.
Breakfast was leisurely without any teasing from my mom towards Sylphie for a change, we talked about Norn and how adorable she is and how I was already double advanced in the sword.
"Sylphie... I heard you also wanted to learn how to handle the sword, right?" I murmured and she nodded.
"What would you think if I trained you a little? I don't think you'd learn much from my mother. He's good, but he's the instinctive type," I said.
"W-well...if you say so" she murmured blushing while scratching her ear.
"aaaw..." My mother gasped and Sylphie blushed even more out of embarrassment.
"Mom..." I muttered in exasperation.
"What?! You two look so cute together! I could eat you both right now!" My mom exclaimed and I wrinkled my nose.
Instinctively I looked at Sylphie and she was smiling slightly.
Rigth...
After having breakfast and playing a little with Norn, Sylphie and I left the house towards our hill, I was carrying two wooden swords in my hands and she was walking beside me but with her eyes downcast.
"Is something wrong Sylphie?" I asked her.
"I-it's nothing...I was just thinking about what your mother said."
"Oh yeah? And what were you thinking about? My mom says a lot of things."
"Well...about us..." His words were lost in the wind and I raised an eyebrow.
"Us? Do you have something in mind, Sylphie?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.
But to my surprise she hesitated slightly but then looked me in the eyes.
"Rudy...what will you do?"
"Huh?" I muttered, confused.
"Yes, I mean, what do you have in mind? Your training with your father is almost complete and if you could then you would leave the village and..." She stopped herself and tears welled up in her eyes.
I see...she doesn't want me to leave.
"Sylphie...you're getting the wrong idea...I never said I wanted to leave the village" I muttered nervously.
"No! You didn't say it... B-but I know! Our teacher said it... Sharia! That's where you could become stronger!... and I don't want that!" She screamed as she rushed to hug me and cry into my chest.
I just stood frozen in place as I carefully chose my next words
"Sylphie...if you had a chance to improve, wouldn't you take it?" I asked her and she looked into my eyes in surprise.
"b-but then that means you'd leave me alone and-"
"No, that's not true. I'm running out of things to teach you and if we stay here all our lives then we won't get stronger." I mumbled as I stroked her head.
"Th-that doesn't matter! You're amazing, Rudy!"
"...yes I am...but don't you want to be amazing too? Are you okay with living in my shadow your whole life?" I asked.
She opened her mouth, ready to answer with a "yes" immediately but fortunately she hesitated.
She closed her mouth, avoided my gaze, and thought seriously about her answer.
"...I want to be able to be by your side Rudy!...b-because I...I...I love you!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and I froze in my place.
Ok...I didn't expect that answer.
"Sylphie...love is a very strong word you know?..." I muttered
"Y-yes! I know! But that's what I feel, Rudy! And if you don't feel it, then... I'll make you love me too!"
Ok...that's already a totally statement
I just smiled and sighed weakly.
"You flatter me Sylphie, but I can't accept your feelings...not now, we're still too young...if your feelings don't change in eight years then I'll reciprocate too." I muttered with a grimace of a smile.
She blinked in confusion and then her eyes widened.
"B-but in eight years we'll have...kyaaa!!!" She squealed with joy while I reconsidered my life decisions.