It had taken some time to sort through all of Noth’s various questions for the prophet, and because he was a bit on the spot, he couldn’t force himself to remember all of them. He asked as many of them as he could manage to think up, and then when he started having to truly dig through his memory to think up more questions, the old man offered that if the Noth wrote to him about what he wanted to know, he’d do his best to reply. The teen was positively ecstatic to know that he had such answers only a pen tip away. The answers he’d already been given were positively wonderful to receive, almost feeling like tiny missing pieces he’d never known had been gone were being returned to him one at a time. Sure, some of the answers weren’t what he’d expected them to be, and maybe a few had had more of a sinister nature to them, but overall he didn’t regret learning what he now knew.
Things seemed a little awkward with his angel when she finally reappeared from wherever she’d been off to all this time. He was told she'd been taken to the God-dess’s side, but that didn’t tell him exactly what they were up to. For all he knew, Serris had been intently watching everything that Noth had been doing while she was away. He’d known that she’d started out antsy and a little depressed about him finally learning the truth about her, so when she showed back up out of nowhere with a disgruntled look as if she wanted to talk to him and yet was too mopey to say anything, the teen couldn’t help but worry a bit. However, asking her what was wrong had never once produced the results he was hoping for in the past, so instead he just decided to wait for her to talk to him when she was ready, just like always. This unfortunately meant that their journey back home had quite a sombre and lonely feeling to it though, despite how brief it was.
Noth had only been gone two-thirds of a day, and everyone else had expected him to be gone for at the very least two days, so the teen ended up coming home around dinnertime to an odd situation. His father had barely even interacted with the children past the occasional pop into the villa to find his son, or the random gifting of presents he’d sometimes give to them all. And yet, when Noth opened the door and went into the kitchen, he found the strange scene of his father sitting and reading to the children, all of them completely enraptured in whatever story he was reciting, while Elillith stood, gently working on combing Ren’s hair and putting it back up in her usual cute little ponytail. Everyone seemed to be so enthralled in what they were doing that no one seemed to notice Noth entering the room. It wasn’t until the teen sat down and happily watched over the situation for a small while before everyone’s gaze suddenly shifted towards him.
“Hm…?”
The first to say anything was of course his father. The others took a little longer to get over their shock, but Noth’s overly anxious father was not one to take his time. Not when it came to his son, anyways.
“Noth? Is that really my son? Already? …Did something stop your trip?! I’ll have to send a letter to the capital right away!”
As the many gazes upon him all suddenly took a more worried tint at the Earl’s words, Noth’s face turned up into a slightly more smug and snooty look.
“No no, don’t worry, I went and came back already. In fact, you all now have the honour of addressing ‘Count Noct’.”
The teen was pleased to see how quickly everyone’s faces shifted to a more awed visage at his brand new name. Even Elillith was showing hints of it on her usually immobile features. The only problem was that less than a few seconds later his father’s impressed look cracked.
“Wait… A Count? Ho-”
“Wow, they gave you a whole new noble name?!”
Ren’s small, excited cry quickly cut off the Earl’s words, and it seemed no one else had reacted to what he'd said. Noth shot his father a small look of apology and then focused his eyes back on the eager faces of the children. The way they were all practically leaning across the table in excitement positively tickled him. Even the usually more mature and composed Jean was doing it.
“Yes. Every noble gets a new name once their title is declared. I’m happy this one is at least somewhat close to the name I've been using so far. Funnily enough, they also gave me a fake [Gift] to tell to everyone.”
The last statement really confused everyone, especially Jean, and to a much lesser but still quite meaningful extent, Elillith. It was probably best that he explain before someone gets out of their chair and shook him to get the answer out like they looked like they might. He felt bad having to omit how this particular [Gift] change came to be, but it was probably better for his own sanity that they didn't learn that the God-dess had picked it to tease him.
“You all know I was a [Choose Your Own Path] before, and many people still think that to be the case. And most of the people in the know don’t really want to tell the public what my current [Gift] is, since it’s a bit too… holy. It could skew the power dynamic of this country a little too hard if it came to light, and there are many people who don’t want that- for various reasons. So, publicly, my [Gift] will be said to be [Heavenly Monster Slayer] instead.”
Noth cringed at having to say the embarrassing [Gift] out loud, but he knew he’d have to get used to it someday at least. After all, it was going to be following him around for a long time, whether he approved of it or not. The children’s already shiny eyes had grown even more starry at what they supposed was a cool sounding [Gift], while Elillith just seemed to snort and mutter something under her breath. But his father’s face took a noticeable turn.
“They gave you such an amazingly high tiered [Gift] because they knew what you had was even more amazing… And yet they still only made you a Count?!”
The Earl’s words had started out in a hushed tone, but they suddenly grew louder and more indignant as he roared out the ending. The veins on his face were practically only a few steps away from bulging right off of his head, and he’d managed to dig his fingers into the now closed hardcover book he’d been reading before. A few frightened squeaks from the children filled the room in response. Noth sighed; He’d never wanted his silly father’s temper to flare up like this in front of the children. The teen stood up and leaned across the table, his long arm reaching out and his open palm pushing his father’s outraged face.
“Stop it. You're going to make the kids hate you.”
Ruth Kieran’s rage was quickly replaced with a visage of shock and confusion.
“Did you just push my…”
The teen sat back down when he saw that he’d successfully defused his father. The children still sometimes gave little wary glances to the Earl, but mostly they seemed to admire how easily Noth had stopped the scary man. Looking back and forth between his son and the kids, the Earl quickly realized the embarrassing way that he’d lost his cool. He cleared his throat in a dignified way in the hopes it would erase the previous poor showing from their minds, and decided to bring up a different topic.
“Yes, well then. Ahem. Titles aside, I’m assuming they still gave you a territory to lord over? Hopefully it’s one that’s not too far away from this father of yours.”
“Of course. It seems that all [Slayers] are given a territory near the southern front, so that they can serve the country by fending off the 'demon menace' or some such.”
Sadly, this answer only managed to quickly re-enrage the Earl. His eyes might as well have been on fire. The subsequent ‘WHAT?!’ that he shrieked out might as well have been the cry of a fierce beast. Noth couldn’t help but let out another even longer sigh. Perhaps his father would never fix this nasty habit. As the man’s fury grew, he suddenly flung the book that was in his hands, just narrowly missing Elillith and slamming loudly into a wall. The unphased woman barely flinched, but that certainly wasn’t true for any of the children in the room. Noth was deeply displeased that the Earl was showing them such unpleasantries. It was even worse that he was doing it in their very own home. How were the kids supposed to feel safe now? The teen narrowed his eyes.
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“I won’t allow this in front of the kids.
And with a dismissive wave of Noth’s hand, the seething Earl disappeared.
With a weary look on his face, the teen climbed out of his seat and walked past all the others that were frantically looking around the room for his missing father. He found where the poor mistreated book had landed and picked it up, running his hand over its marred surface and bent spine. Noth knew this book, it was one of his favourites as a child. His mother had often read it to him before bed. He muttered a simple wish under his breath, and the book slowly mended itself, back to how it looked before his father had ever abused it. His arm began to prick a bit from how much he’d overtaxed his bracelet today, but it was all worth it if he meant he could fix this situation. The teen slowly sauntered back over to the table where the children were, placing the now recovered book gently on top of it, and then turning and giving what he hoped was a reassuring smile to them all.
“Don’t worry, he just gets like that sometimes. He’s not going to hurt any of you.”
And he wasn’t.
Noth would make sure that the man would never hurt anyone he loved ever again.
Partially for the sake of the children, yes, but also for the man’s own sake.
Because he loved him.
He loved his father.
And now Noth was a noble, just like him.
He’d finally become strong enough to keep the promise he’d made to himself.
He’d use this power of his to help keep his father from dirtying himself any further.
He’d keep forgiving him.
He’d keep the man from coating himself in any further filth.
And he’d hopefully one day slowly remove the previously accumulated grime from the man.
It was the least he could do for someone he loved.
Shouldn’t he be powerful enough to do at least that much by now?
~~~
Half an hour later, Elillith had taken all the children up to bed. It had taken a little bit for them to calm down, especially Ren, but once they’d all let go of their stress and fear, only sleepiness awaited them. Noth had sat at the table and tried to look reassuring for the kids all the while, but once they were no longer in view he couldn’t help the way he sagged.
“I suppose I should go talk to him.”
Ruth Kieran was slumped outside the door to Noth’s greenhouse, looking as if he’d given up on the world. But when the door suddenly opened, and his stern looking son stepped out, the man quickly sprang up. Without a word, the teen beckoned for his father to follow him, and after a short and quiet trip, the two ended up at the base of Noth’s favourite tree, right in front of the manor. As his son sat down with a tired groan, the Earl stayed standing, looking down as if he was admiring the teen. During the course of his return it seemed that Noth’s previously well groomed hair had returned to its more natural and curly state. The ponytail might have been trying its best to keep everything in line, but at the very least the teen’s bangs and ends had all gone back to their normal ways, especially the resilient orange tips he’d grown.
“You look just like me when I was your age, before I started courting your mother.”
Noth looked up at the warm gaze of his father. Even with how lovingly the man was looking down at him, the teen could still see how he twitched when bringing up his mother. He was sure that if he looked even more deeply into his father’s eyes, he’d see the hints of sadness that were welling up inside of him. It was quite rare for Ruth Keiran to bring up the wife that he’d murdered, especially in front of his son. Perhaps Noth had resolved to never forgive his father for this one single thing, but that didn’t mean that he had any plans to torture the man over it more than he had already been torturing himself. If this was something that his father felt like talking about, then he’d go along with it if he must.
“Do I? I always thought I just took after mom. I have her same colouring, after all.”
“Yes, well… When you were just a small boy you were exactly her spitting image, but now… Now your face, your build, your curls, all of it clearly comes from me.”
The quiet happiness that radiated from his fathers words almost made the teen’s heart ache. He never once thought he’d hear anything close to this about himself.
“What…? I suppose I’ll have to take a good look at myself when I get back home. But how is my hair anything like yours?”
The Earl put his hand on his head and rustled his short cropped hair.
“You may not have gotten my obvious silver hue, but I assure you, if I were to grow my hair out any longer than this, you’d see exactly who you got your curls from. I’ve kept it short for about the past 12 years since it kept tickling and distracting me, but I still had my hair quite long while you were a baby. For a while, we matched.”
Noth had never known any of this. It had been so many years, and while it was impossible to remember back when he was still 3, he could certainly still remember how his mother looked. It distressed him to think that his memories of her might have grown hazy and incorrect, but he had taken great care to at least always keep a perfect image of her in mind. His father had a small portrait of the both of them still hung up in his office, and Noth had taken great care over the years of reporting to his father to stealthily steal peeks at it, so hopefully that had kept his image of her fresh.
In retrospect his father was right, his mother had had long, frizzy, puffy strands, not the slight curl that he did.
As Noth pulled forward a strand of hair and studied it, his father finally sat down next to him, and hesitated before continuing to speak.
“Your mother and I were deeply in love. I’d fallen for her from the very first time that I saw her. Those black eyes of hers seemed deeper than anything I’d ever seen before. We were always so very close… But then one day, around when you were 5, I suddenly stopped getting to see either of you as much. Before, Natalia would bring the both of you around to see me multiple times a day, but then she just… stopped spending time with me. I didn’t know what I’d done, and she would always tell me that there was nothing wrong. I knew I might have been a bit awkward around you at times, but…”
The teen was deeply saddened by his father’s distressing story, but then something about it suddenly reminded him of a story he'd once heard.
“Oh! My angel once told me that mother had always wanted more children, but when she saw how awkward you’d been around me, she decided to wait until you seemed to have gotten over it. My guess is, she was probably trying to not overload you with too much time with me, so you could take the time to get used to it all.”
The way his father’s face changed was actually pretty hilarious. Noth couldn’t help the small snort-like chuckle he made upon seeing it.
“WHAT?! All this time that was what she’d been thinking?! Then why not say something about it to me?! Why did she always try to deal with everything by herself all the time?!”
The man flailed about in a manner very unbecoming to an Earl, but after a little while of pounding the dirt and pulling up grass, he finally calmed himself.
“...Children, huh? Well I guess you managed to do something similar in the end, didn't you? I suppose you’ll be taking all of the kids with you to your new lands.”
“I plan to, yes. It’d be hard to protect them from so far away, after all.”
“How unfair. I wish I could have gone to protect you as well.”
Noth leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. He agreed with his father’s pouting. He wished he could bring his father along too. That way he could keep protecting the silly man from himself like he wanted. Perhaps with Noth and the children gone, the man would have no one precious to him left to harm. Perhaps it was for the best that they were all leaving, in the end.
But it would hurt too much to say that out loud.