Chapter 3.

To my surprise, Roxy didn't leave immediately the day after. She stayed for a full extra day because she was too hungover from my birthday party. I took the opportunity to convince my mother to offer her a temporary job in the house while she looked for a permanent one. Roxy required temporary housing as she considered her options going forward, and staying here would be significantly cheaper for her. My mother, of course, being the gracious lady that she was, listened to my advice of keeping Roxy around for longer, and had offered my master a home until she found her career path. Roxy took up the offer, naturally. Admittedly, it was quite amusing seeing my master struggle with basic tasks throughout the day, but all in all, it was an uneventful day.

Naturally, I had to see my master depart eventually. It would be a bittersweet moment. On one hand, she was an extremely talented teacher, and a brilliant mage as well, losing immediate contact with her was frustrating, as it was very unlikely I'd find anyone as competent as her any time soon. On the other, her departure would mean she'd expand her horizons, and quite possibly gain more influence... If I played my cards right, she could be the leverage I needed to grow even more.

Of course, so far, I had no real reason to become any more powerful, but I wouldn't take my chances if there was even the slight possibility of Being X still existing in this world. In my last life, he took well over 10 years to speak to me again, I had no guarantee it would be any different this time... And besides, planning for eventualities was never a bad thing.

And so we continued to live together for some time.

The following months were fruitful. Training with Paul had become less and less effective. It seemed as if I hit a ceiling to my capabilities. There was only so much I could calculate with my mind, and enhancing my movements beyond a certain level had become entirely impossible. It didn't help that I was armed with a stubby sword instead of a spear of polearm, thus limiting my effective range, as well as my potential in purely melee combat.

Mid-ranged to long-distance combat was a different story, however. If I could create any amount of distance between myself and Paul, he'd more often than not be overwhelmed by my prowess, and yield. The first time I did it I was quite proud, but subsequent attempts had been less successful. At one point I became sure he was not at all holding back when fighting me, which was funny because he was a grown man, and I was five.

With time, Roxy came up with other ways to implement magic during combat by watching my sparring matches closely. She had developed a sort of protective layer of mana by creating a mesh of elements held together by magic around the caster. It was an adaptation of a similar technique she had learned during her time in the demon continent. Admittedly it wasn't super effective, and the barrier would break after a hit or two from Paul, but I would take any advantage I could get in a fight. It was somewhat similar to the protective layers in my second life.

Roxy herself took part in training. She wanted to gain some more experience against nimble fighters in case she returned to being an adventurer, which was a wise choice. She often departed for several days to check for potential jobs, but seeing as she returned each time, I figured the job offers were not all that good... That, or she was infatuated with my family.

In the process of training both me and Roxy, Paul also became stronger. Apparently he was quite rusty, and battling two people who could push him to his limits constantly quickly brought him back to prime shape. It was not my intention at first, but with a better parameter for what high-ranked adventurers looked like, I also took the initiative of getting my Mother to train more often as well. Of course, she already practiced chantless magic regularly with me, but she was hardly what I imagined an S-rank adventurer would look like. She was capable of much more, I was certain of it, and I was keen on bringing out her potential so that in the future she would be a strong and dependable ally... Loyalty was a given, she was my mother, after all.

Another situation I had to deal with was a girl... Or what I thought was a named Sylphiette. She was a villager who at first I had thought was a superd due to the green hair, but the lack of jewel on the forehead told me otherwise. I had scared off bullies away from her once or twice. It wasn't much, but after some time of it repeating itself, it became clear to me that the girl was completely spineless! She didn't fight back even once! It was infuriating to watch. Of course, it wasn't pleasant watching an innocent suffer, but It was none of my business... I saw an opportunity in her though.

She was clearly the obedient type. If I could get her loyalty, I'd effectively have a secretary of sorts to attend to my every need, as well as take care of lesser projects in the future. If Roxy was my door for opportunity, then this girl would be the reassurance I needed to seize that opportunity, underlings were important, lest I wished to overwork myself... Still, this relied on the assumption that she was competent, but it cost me nothing to do it, so investing some of my time into it was a no-brainer. All I needed was for no one else to interfere, and for an opportunity to sweep her off her feet! And that opportunity did come indeed...

"GET OFF THIS VILLAGE YOU FILTH!"

A boy screamed at a running Sylph as he threw a rock at her head. The stone hit true and the girl was down, bleeding ever do slightly from a cut in her scalp, and she tried to get up but was hit by yet another rock, a larger one this time. The bleeding intensified and she struggled to get up. She was dazed.

I watched from afar, waiting for the perfect opportunity to make my presence known.

This time was particularly bad. They had never outright drawn blood from the poor girl, and one of the kids even looked concerned for her, but went along with the others as they approached.

"Did you know your mom cheated? Your dad is blonde isn't he?" - The boy paused for a moment, grinning and looking at his friends before continuing - "Hey do you think he loves her? I mean, he clearly knows that demon isn't his..."

Sylphy tried to open her mouth but was quickly shut up with a kick to the stomach. What was up with these kids? Why were they so violent? They started off throwing mud, and now they were physically assaulting the tiny thing!

I felt like I had enough to work with, and began moving towards them. One of the boys picked up a rock to throw at the laid-down girl again, but as he threw it, I cast a wind spell to not only push it back but push back the bullies themselves as well.

They tripped over themselves and all fell due to my wind. Finally, I had arrived.

Standing between them and Sylphy, I glared at the little group with intense eyes, and they knew better than to try and win against me. Their previous attempts had resulted in utter failure, and they knew damn well I wouldn't go easy on them this time.

With no words spoken between us, they fled, and not once looked back. With the threat dealt with, I could now turn back to face the girl.

I crouched down to her level, and she looked at me with both admiration and fear, it was a good sign, as it meant she was captivated to some degree.

"Sylphy... You know there won't always be someone there to protect you, right?"

She nodded with a look of defeat on her face. She was bleeding still and was clearly somewhat affected by the throws earlier.

I gave her a warm smile and gently placed my hand on the wound, casting healing magic and stopping the bleeding in a mere second. I made an effort to make it as theatrical as possible, after all, the more she looked at me with rose-tinted glasses, the easier it would be to mold her to my liking.

"There there... Shall we give you a little cleanup?"

She looked frightened for a moment and tried to escape, but I quickly caught her and showered her with warm water before she could even react. After drying her with magic, I took a moment to create two little seats made out of rock so we could talk properly.

I sat her down and began speaking. - "Why do you accept these things? Do you want to be bullied?"

"I... I don't but... It's so hard fighting back, and I don't wanna be mean either... It isn't my fault..." - Her voice was meek, soft and kind. She was cute, I couldn't deny that. Why were those kids picking on her anyway? Was it her green hair? She had no gem though, it was a stupid case of discrimination.

"Of course, it isn't your fault, but they won't stop just because you know they're wrong. Only you can take agency over your own life..." - I stopped for a moment, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder before continuing. - "Say, why don't you become my friend... My student! I'll teach you everything you need to know to live your life fairly, how about it?"

I once again offered her a smile, but she still looked rather discomforted. It was likely she didn't trust me, and I couldn't blame her for it. Time to change tactics!

"Hey. Just know that if you need someone to talk to or teach you things, just seek me out! I live with Paul, the village chief."

She looked at me for a moment, her eyes shining with hope for a split second before turning her gaze away. She was too shy, but that may be a good thing.

"Y-Your name... A-Are you Tanya?"

"That's me, yes. I'm surprised you didn't know, I've fought off your bullies before. What do you think about my offer?"

She thought for a moment before simply nodding her head. Success! It was nice to save the girl, but I was more interested in her potential as a subordinate in the future.

"That thing you did, with the warm air... How did you do it?"

I smiled and began explaining the very basics to her... It was the start of a good friendship, and most importantly, a good partnership. Or so I hoped.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

Little Sylphiette proved herself to be a wonderful investment. For one, she was a quick learner and picked up on everything I taught her with relative ease. With Roxy still around, her growth was so quick it was honestly frightening.

She was also quite devoted, perhaps a little too much, but my plans had worked out. She did as was asked of her, and looked at me with fond eyes. My family had also come to quite like her, they even teased her about feelings for me, but I found that notion ridiculous. I was her savior, of course she was grateful...

Please don't let this child have feelings for me.

Aside from that, Lilia was still as weary as ever, refusing to interact more than necessary. It was rather frustrating, and my efforts to win her over had faded over time, though not outright disappeared.

Several more months passed, and Roxy was still here... Was finding a job in this world really that hard? I had spent nearly two and a half years with her now, and she was still as cheerful as ever, despite leaving more and more frequently. Her magic prowess was also increasing more and more, which was good, though i suspected her being here was stunting her growth somewhat, which wasn't ideal by any means... Perhaps I could help her find a position worthy of her talents?

My mother was also pregnant, which wasn't a surprise given how often they interrupted my sleep... The real surprise is that it hadn't happened sooner.

Naturally, the family was overjoyed, and Zenith and joked Roxy would be training yet another greyrat! I was fond of my master, so no complaints on my side if that were to happen. It would be a few years before then anyways, meaning she'd have plenty of time to grow herself before returning to the Greyrat household.

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

Roxy had spent several extra months with Tanya, and by now, winter had come.

She truly did wish for a logical explanation behind her decision to delay her leave. Of course, the free housing was nice, but that wasn't the main reason behind her decision, and everyone in the house, save for Tanya herself knew it. She had grown to cherish her disciple immensely... She was inferior to her, naturally. Tanya was the kind of talent one came across once every hundred years or so, but being around the little girl felt right, and not only that, she had taught Roxy how to further improve her magic, thus allowing her expand her horizons, which was admittedly a huge thing for her.

The mage knew she couldn't be there for the rest of her life, but she cherished the time spent there, and she didn't regret her decision to stay, not even for a moment... Still, she'd have to go eventually.

She was aware of a few job opportunities that would allow her to grow, and make her worthy of being called master by Tanya once more.

Learning chantless magic was a rough thing. She had come to learn that it came much easier for younger people since they had not yet fully developed, but it was indeed possible for anyone, it was just incredibly difficult. Even now she struggled with anything past Intermediate level... But she had done it! She truly had! And she was proud of herself for it.

Maybe she'd leave after lady Zenith gave birth, but she wasn't quite sure yet

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

"My Humble apologies, I am pregnant." - Lilia's words weighed heavy throughout the room. No one spoke one. Not me, Roxy, Zenith or Paul... But we all had one thing in our minds:

"Why Paul."

- Ͼ - ⨀ - Ͽ -

Paul sat defeatedly in another room while Zenith and Lilia sat alone in a candle lit room. Neither me or Roxy dared to approach, but we watched the discussion that was about to unfold from afar, exchanging a few glances of worry before it began.

What would happen to Lilia? That was the main question. She had hardly been friendly to me, but she was not mean either, and most importantly... She was competent, and she was to be the mother of one of my younger siblings. I had to find a way to keep her here, otherwise she would die. Roxy likely shared the same sentiment, so coming up with a plan and disclosing it with her would likely be ideal.

"So... What will you do?" - Zenith began, her voice monotone and tired.

"After assisting you with childbirth, my lady, I plan to take my leave."

"And the child?"

"I hope to raise it in my hometown."

"That's a month's ride south, isn't it?"

"It is."

Not good. The child would die if that was true... And there was no guarantee Lilia would survive either. I know that already,. but confirmation wasn't nice.

They both continued to speak, and at one point Paul tried to join the conversation, only to hear my Mother's wrath. He looked twice as defeated when he returned to his chair.

Goodness Paul, what a mess you put this family in, huh?

An idea came to mind.

It would be a long shot, but there was no risk in trying. And if it succeeded, I would not only save Lilia, but also my sibling. Thus gaining favour of both the maid and my Father.

I whispered my plan to Roxy, and she was in agreement, though pitied Paul for the role she would play in it.

Very well, it was time.

With a confident step forward, I entered the room and stood beside my mother, ready to say whatever was necessary to fix this mess.