After much prodding and begging, Paul finally taught me the basics of the North-God Style. Turns out he hesitated on teaching it to us because of the heavy training you endure. A lot of the training involves learning how to fight while injured, with one or more limbs missing, or how to fight when you don’t have a sword at all. Any cheap trick was fair game in the North-God Style, making it part mindset, part fighting technique. It was weird in that sense.

Half the time we didn’t even swing a sword, but learned how to move through a 3d environment, and make those movements unpredictable to the enemy you were facing. It was the most physically demanding thing I had ever done, but by the end of it, oh man did I have results.

I had reached the Elementary-level fairly easily, once I overcame the initial bumps, and then moved onto Intermediate in short order. Advanced is where I started to hit a snag, not unpredictably.

My body couldn’t yet keep up with the pace I had to set to get to that level, so I went back to the other Sword-Styles. For now, they were more about memorization and getting the technique down so well that it comes easier than breathing.

In a way, picking up the sword was a way of life, not just a hobby or a technique you learned. You didn’t hone just your sword-arm, but yourself. Your tenacity, your drive, your discipline.

I loved every second of it.

More than a year had passed, and in that time I had gotten all three styles up to the Intermediate level.

But that wasn’t the only thing I was learning to do.

Ever since Sylphy saw Rudi get carted off, a fire seemed to have lit up inside her. The passion she brought to learning magic, she doubled into everything else she could learn. She completed her education for reading, writing and arithmetics, while also learning how to cook and sew from Zenith, and noble court matters from Lilia.

Seizing the opportunity, I also joined her for these lessons. Though I already knew how to cook and sew from Zenith through sporadic lessons throughout the years, so really I was just letting Lilia teach me whatever she wanted.

It started with the walk. Apparently, having a straight and even walk was more important than your greeting. Before we even got to any interesting stuff, we first had to learn a bunch of random rules of the court. Like how you’re supposed to position your forks when eating at a dinner table for both less than ten people, and more than ten people, because then it was different. For some reason.

Lots of backwards little stuff like that I absorbed readily. I can’t imagine a future ahead for me where this wouldn’t be useful knowledge.

Sylphy, a commoner in almost every sense of the word, didn’t have any contextual clues to help her, and Lilia was a strict teacher, so she struggled more often than not. It was cute in a way.

When Rudeus was here, he acted as sort of a shield between the outside world and her, meaning I honestly didn’t interact with her that much, even if she was constantly over at the house.

Now, I had a bit more of an opportunity.

“Say, Altea-san. What do you like to do for fun?” She randomly asked me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Zenith giving her encouraging motions.

I sighed inwardly. Might as well play along. “I train mostly. If I’m not doing that, I’m singing, playing my practice lute, helping take care of my siblings, or napping. No real order of priority there. Just what I do.” I shrugged. “What about you?”

Her ears stood up in jerking motions and her lip quivered. I just asked you a question, girl, dang. “Umm! I like going outside and playing in the wheat fields and—Umm. Cooking!” She yelled out that last word.

I can see Rudeus has a type. The easily flustered kind I mean. Little annoying to me, but to a forty two-year old man with no game…

Hey, he’s not here. I can roast him all I want!

“That’s nice. What kind of things do you like to cook?” I asked, hoping she prepared for the follow-up question at least.

“Ummm. Soup! All kinds of soup!”

“Oh. What’s your favorite?”

“The soup Rudi ma—” I could see, from my peripherals, Zenith drawing a massive X with her arms. “Chicken, no! Tomato soup!”

“Gotchu. I like tomato soup too.” Not really. I could tolerate it, but child taste buds were way more selective than I remember and flat out refused to entertain certain foods. I hated it. “Would you like to make it with me some time?” I asked the vanilla question.

It still seemed to catch her off guard though. “Yes! Of course! I mean. Right now?”

She better get used to me quick, I can only handle someone this high-strung in small doses. “Nah, I’m going to the clinic with kaa-san later. Maybe tomorrow?”

Her ears drooped down. Is she disappointed? Oh, now I feel bad. “Is—is that a promise?” She raised her eyes up to me in a particular way that just—

Okay nevermind. I totally get you now, Rudeus. This girl is too cute to be true!!

“Heck yeah!” I grabbed her fidgeting hands and raised them with mine. She yelped.

Aaaand she’s a twitchy mess again. Great. “HAAaaaa!! Aaahh…..”

This one would need some work.

‘Good job!’ Zenith mouthed.

I can see you…

----------------------------------------

“Alti, you really need to start learning to take better care of your hair. I mean, there’s so many knots in here! When’s the last time you detangled any of them?” We were both sitting in chairs, Zenith in the one behind me. She had a giant and painful comb wading through my ever increasingly long hair.

“Umm. You’re supposed to detangle it?” My hair was never really a uhh.. concern in my previous life.

“You’re suppo—do you even listen when I tell you these things?” Zenith huffed. She pulled on a particularly nasty knot, and I had to hold in my cries of pain. “Your hair could be so nice if you actually put effort into it.”

I mean I guess. I had inherited Paul’s hair color, meaning I had the same color scheme as Rudeus did. The type of hair, and the way it sat, was definitely from Zenith though. Straighter, less wild. Didn’t stick up as much.

“Sorry. I guess I’m just so busy with everything else I don’t really give it any thought.” Most of the time I just grabbed a hair tie and put it up. End of story. Seems that wasn’t enough anymore.

“Soon, you’re going to start thinking about boys and then you’ll be listening to me. They won’t spare you any attention with hair this slovenly!” Oh wow, I didn’t even know she knew the word slovenly. Has she been going through our dictionary?

“Kaa-san. I don’t think you have to worry about me and boys. Like, ever.” She frowned at me, and stopped torturing my poor scalp for a bit.

“Don’t say things like that! I do want grandkids, you know?” Aaand she resumed the agony.

“Oh I’m sure you’ll have grandkids alright. Rudi takes after tou-san after all.”

She pulled particularly hard for a second. “Mmmmmm.” Was that... necessary? “He’d better not. He should stay faithful to his wife when he gets one. We can’t have him becoming a no-good man like your tou-san, can we?” Her tone of voice was scary. I didn’t wanna turn around and see what her face looked like.

“Yeah. Of course! You’re right. Now are we done here?”

“No! First you have to promise you’re going to take good care of your hair from now on! Can’t have it getting like this anymore.” She still went on her tirade, even after she finished combing my hair. “—ant you to grow up to become a proper lady! Our household can’t survive another failure..” Everything comes back to Paul, huh.

I nodded in the positive. “Mhm. Yeah, sure. Will do.”

Another thing I’d have to keep track of.

----------------------------------------

It was surprising. But then again, it wasn’t.

Aisha really is a genius. She picked up walking and started talking almost as fast as Rudeus did. It was kinda creepy since I was about 90% sure she wasn’t reincarnated. At least, when I tried to speak to her in English or Japanese she wouldn’t respond or recognize it.

At just shy of two years old, she was already holding full conversations with me, usually while residing on my lap. Not just a few-word sentences either. Whole discussions. And boy did she like to talk.

“And then—and then—Norn fell! Ha!” Also, she liked to make fun of Norn too. Maybe it’s because the mental divide was so wide, and they were forced together so often, but they just did not seem to like each other..

They both loved me however. And they would often fight over my attention. Today, Aisha had won the battle. Mostly by virtue of Norn being taken for a check-up at the clinic today.

For some reason, Zenith didn’t trust an 8 year olds’ evaluation and decided to take her away to the doctor instead. Quite rude, if I may say so myself.

Anyway, “It’s not polite to badmouth people behind their back Aisha.” She pouted. I had told her this about a few dozen times now, but when it came to Norn she just refused to listen. Does she see her as competition? Is that why? We don’t exactly encourage such behavior in this house, so that can’t be it.

“But it’s Norn! She’s—” She searched her tiny, lightning fast brain for an insult she hasn’t used yet. “Slovenly!” Really Zenith? What are you telling these girls?

I deadpanned at her. “You don’t even know what that means.”

“So too!”

I gestured for her to go ahead.

“Umm. It means you’re slovey!”

“EEH! Wrong!” I put my hands into an X. “Slovenly: Untidy or dirty, especially in personal appearance.”

“Yeah, that!”

“Wrong again! Norn is always presented immaculately. I should know, I bathe and clothe her! Are you saying I do bad work?”

She took a moment to process my sentence. “No! What I mean is—What I mean is—” I let her take her time.

“You should listen to Alti-sama, Aisha. Any order she gives you you must faithfully obey.” Lilia, who came out of absolutely nowhere, said.

I don’t know why or how she got the idea to indoctrinate Aisha into being me and Rudeus’ personal servant…? But it’s creepy, and I hate it. I’ve told her that several times too, but she keeps rebuffing me, not budging in the slightest. I can see where Aisha gets her stubbornness from.

Lilia walked out of the room, having said her piece. And then just left. Like a wraith.

“Aisha. In that regard, and that regard only, please don’t listen to your mom. You’re your own person okay? And my precious little sister.” I hugged her for good measure.

She nodded, but I could tell her mother’s words had an effect on her. Maybe this was the source of her conflict with Norn? Did she feel lesser because of the pressure on her?

I’ll figure it out. One day.

“So then Norn—” Oooh boy.

----------------------------------------

“Ne, tou-san. I’ve known this for a while now, but um. How do I say this?” We were both facing each other with our wooden swords drawn, going through Sword-God stances in the backyard.

“What is it, Alti? You can always share what’s on your mind to your dependable father!” He stopped in his swings to pose for me. It looked dumb.

“You look dumb.”

“E—”

“But that’s not what I wanted to say. Just, well tou-san. Me and Rudi have both thought this, but. You’re kind of a lousy teacher.”

His mouth dropped open. “Just hitting me with all the zingers today, huh. Are you secretly Rudi in disguise?”

“No it’s just. I don’t think I’ll be able to move onto Advanced Water-God Style like this.” I didn’t wanna hurt his feelings, but it was true. “Your explanations don’t really make any sense.”

Opposite from what I expected, his expression cooled instead of broke. “Oh? And what do you think we should do about that?” …Is this a test? Like with Rudeus?

“Normally I’d suggest hiring a tutor like we did with Roxy-sensei, but I know our finances are strapped right now.” That got a reaction out of him. “So, I don’t know.”

“And what if I were to send you off like I did with Rudi?”

I prepared my wooden sword, my other hand already prepared to launch a litany of spells. “I would fight you.”

“Why? You don’t want to go see the world?”

Well yes actually. Just staying in the house all the time is starting to get grating, but. “I need to stay here with the family. At least for now.” If I had any hope of saving both you and Zenith, I had to take it. Even if I don’t have a hope of stopping Nanahoshi’s summoning. Or what comes after…

“I see. I think it’s time we start getting you some practical experience then. You’re strong enough by now.” He started nodding at himself, and I lowered my hands again. What?

“Alright, it’s decided! Tomorrow you’ll go with me into the woods to go slay some Monsters!”

----------------------------------------

And so, I was out here. In the woods. To go slay some monsters. Yeeeh.

There was a report of a collection of Attack Hounds, A C-ranked monster getting too close to the sheep pens to be comfortable. ..What is this, a wolf culling gig?

“You really think I’m ready for this?” Unlike Rudeus, I didn’t really think about combat that much. Swords? Absolutely. But analyzing people and thinking up viable strategies through the back of my mind didn’t really occur to me to do. Not that I wouldn’t be prepared but, “What if I freeze up?”

“Don’t worry. I can protect you. Let dad show you his manly side for once. ” He patted his chest. “Anyways. It’s good that I got you fitted for armor. It’s a little big now, but I think you’ll grow into it.”

Like he said. Paul surprised me, when right before our trip he pulled out a chainmail outfit I could wear into battle. It was still big on me, but I think by the time I reached ten, it would be adequate. I hoped.

“It’s still weird. Wearing all this, and then a real sword..” Not that I hadn’t used my real sword before now. You had to get used to the weight of it. But to actually use it for something felt definitive in a way I can’t explain.

“You’ll get used to it in no time. I can see it in you, the spirit of an adventurer.” He smiled down at me. A smile full of pride. I wonder what he saw.

Suddenly his expression turned serious. “Get ready. We’re approaching their reported habitat.”

We snuck through the tall grass upwind, making sure to keep out of their line of sight. They weren’t hard to spot, their fur a bright orange. It looks like there were five of them. Not a lot, but not a small amount either.

Paul nodded at me, as if to ask: “Are you ready?”

I nodded back and got into a Sword-God stance.

I breathed in. Breathed out. And shot off.

Before my victim could even react, I had already cut its head from its neck. It didn’t feel at all like what I expected it to feel like.

I thought I would feel the resistance of the blade carving through skin, muscle, bone, but nothing. It went through the hound like it was made of butter.

The power of touki… crazy.

The other hounds caught onto the death of their fallen comrade from the sound of its head plopping on the ground.

They growled at me and encircled me. I got into a Water-God stance almost reflexively. One of them flung at me, and I dodged and countered as if on auto-pilot. Another one lost its head coming for me.

I didn’t get a buffer this time. They all shot off at me. I couldn’t handle three at once! What do I do? WhatdoIdo?!

“Aaaah!!” A knee jerk reaction prompted me to launch some magic off from my other hand while I closed my eyes in anticipation of an attack.

After several seconds passed, nothing happened. I dared to open my eyes and saw the carnage I had inflicted. I launched an Icicle Spear into the ground around me, piercing through all three monsters in many different places with blades made out of ice. Red was mixing with crystal clear blue as blood flowed from as many as seven different holes.

“That was impressive, Alti!” Paul came from out of nowhere. “You killed three in one shot!” With Advanced Water magic. Not a Sword Style.

“I—I froze.”

“That you did.” He chuckled.

I punched him in the thigh. “That’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.”

“Teach me how to fix it.” He crossed his arms.

“I can’t do that.” I rounded on him.

“What?”

“Only experience can do that. We’ll just have to put you in more of these scenarios, won’t we?” He smiled down at me.

“Ah. Right. You’re right.”

..That was the first time I honestly thought Paul was cool.

----------------------------------------

And so, I factored another task into my daily schedule. On top of helping with the girls, and then taking lessons with Lilia, and then my swordsmanship lessons with Paul (which were moved to the mornings now) helping out in the clinic, lute and singing practice, and finally making sure I didn’t get rusty on my magic, there was always something to do.

Though, by far the biggest time suck was the first thing on that list.

Norn and Aisha are… a lot. I don’t think even Lilia was fully prepared on what it would look like to raise two half-sisters together. Maybe under different circumstances things would have been different. They might not even recognize they weren’t full sisters by blood.

But when they were Norn and Aisha.. Well…

The differences were stark, and obvious. Aisha was bright, talkative and incredibly intelligent. She liked to be active, always doing and learning something new.

Norn was gloomy, very in her own head, and while far from slow, she was just like any other child with normal developmental milestones. She also took her time warming up to new things and ideas, testing the waters before fully committing to anything.

In short, they were like water and oil.

Their personalities clashed all the time, and ever since they found out Lilia wasn’t technically married to Paul, and thus not “legitimate” in that sense, (and were fully cognizant of what that meant) their disagreements turned into something much nastier.

I had done my best over the years to curb the tendencies that caused frictions later on in the story, but this one was something fierce.

In particular, I worked most with Norn out of the two. I tried to hide it a little from both of them that I spent more time with Norn, but when you all live in the same house, it gets noticed. And when Aisha starts feeling inferior, she starts to lash out. Then, I would have to go fix the mess Aisha made, and then Norn would perceive that as Aisha stealing me from her and the whole cycle would begin again.

To begin with, Norn had an inferiority complex the size of the old Mongol Empire. She’s been told stories of Rudeus, and naturally sees me, an adult in a child’s body doing all these amazing things. And then Aisha… is Aisha. I could see why she would start to feel like the odd child out. If I were in her position, I would feel like that too.

But that didn’t mean she was any less loved or valued, by anyone in this household. Getting that point across has been my mission these last few years. And I think I was succeeding.

“Hey Norn, can you help me with an experiment I’ve been thinking about?” I pulled up a bucket in front of her. “I promise it’ll be interesting.” She looked at me like I told her we would be having only giraffe for dinner from now on. “Relax. If you don’t like it, I’ll just get someone else to do it.”

There was one attribute both of the sisters shared, and that was competitiveness. Make something a challenge and they’re up for basically anything. Even if they weren’t really competing against anything. It was kind of funny how easily you could fool children.

“I—I’ll do it then.” She built up her resolve, waddling over in her little green sundress.

I had brought the bucket here for very obvious reasons. Even if they would never become mages, or even proficient in magic, voiceless casting is a very useful skill to have. It was about that time. They were both approaching four already (holy crap, time flies) so I believed they had enough of a grasp of abstract thought to learn how to use magic.

I had taught them the theory. Like offhand comments here and there, but I made sure they knew the knowledge inside and out. Now, we just had to put it into practice.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Can you chant out this spell for me please? Here, hold your hand over the bucket so we don’t spill anything.” I moved her hand over the bucket. Don’t feel like drying the floor today.

“What are we doing this for?”

“I want to see if you can learn voiceless casting as well.” Her eyes lit up. Seems she recognized the importance. “First, try chanting this out and pay particular attention to the way it feels having your magic be drawn from various places, into the necessary places.” Her eyes glazed over. Woops. “Just pay attention to how it feels to do the spell okay?” She nodded vigorously.

“I can do that. I can do that!”

“Yeah, now get ready!”

Of course, I had taught her how to read, but the process of her reading out the chant was still incredibly slow. “Let.. the.. Gre—great… proteks—protec—protection..” She looked at me nervously. All still very expected for a four year old. In fact, that’s actually better than most four year olds can do.

I nodded encouragingly at her. “Keep going. Until you get it right.” And so she did. I had to correct her pronunciation a few times, but nothing egregious.

Like I predicted, no spell came out once she reached the end of her chant. Her eyes started watering. “Now, Norn. Don’t worry, you got this. Just try chanting again.”

She read the words again, a lot faster this time, but she missed a word, so the spell didn’t go through. “Again.” I said patiently. And so she did it again. And really one more time before she got the whole thing out.

Her magic focused over her palm and about a cup full of water exited out of her palm. “Whoa!! What do I do?!”

I smiled, victorious. “Just let it drop.” She dropped it. “There you go. Perfect. Now try it again. Just chanting for now.”

And so she did it again. The spell went off without a hitch, but I could see she was drowsy. Seems two is the limit for just about everyone starting out.

“You did great today, Norn. Take a nap and we’ll go at it again tomorrow okay?” She rubbed at her eyes languidly.

“Okayy…” I picked her up and carried her over to her bed, where I tucked her in.

Aisha was out in the market today with Lilia getting supplies so I had free reign of the house today. I wouldn’t be so lucky tomorrow, where she would be in all day. What should I do… A distraction?

Paul maybe. Not a bad idea…

----------------------------------------

“Come on, you don’t have anything besides the sword to teach her? Nothing? Not even fishing?!” I ranted at Paul the next morning. I explained the situation and told him he just needed to distract Aisha for a couple of hours. How hard could that possibly be?

Apparently very hard. “No Gisu usually did— Anyway, can’t you ask Lilia to do it? I’m busy today.”

“Oh? Doing what?” Since when does Paul actually do anything? The worst he’s had to deal with is just some basic monsters and a house robbery or two, in all the time we’ve been here that’s literally been it. Buina village is crazy peaceful.

“We’re going to be having a meeting at the town hall today, and as the resident Knight, I have to prepare speaking points.” His arms were crossed, indignance written all over his face. And you couldn’t have thought to do that, any other day but the day of?!

But still. That was technically a valid reason. “Whatever. It’s just—I rely on Lilia-kaa-chan way too much already. It’s starting to become a problem for my relationship with Aisha too.”

“Isn’t it alright already?” He waved at me in a carefree manner. “I certainly wouldn’t complain if I had a cute little sister maid by me at all times.”

I glared at him. The fact that Rudeus, despite his claims, kept her around for pretty much the same thing makes me wanna glare at him too. “She’s my sister. Not my lower. I thought I made this obvious.”

“Heh.” He snorted, hands on his hips now. “For such a young little girl, you sure do like to give your dad some serious attitude. You’re not even 10 years old.”

No, but I’m about to be. And that’s the real problem, because after my 10th birthday… “I don’t have time to be talking to you right now. Go have your dumb meeting or whatever.”

“Ooo, are we already at the teenage rebellion phase? So thorny~” I sent a tiny little shockwave to erupt near his butt in response.

“Hey!”

----------------------------------------

“So, I’ll be relying on you again.” I smiled sheepishly at Lilia.

“So you need Aisha out of the way for a few hours again.” She stared at me. “Is she.. Don’t tell me. You think she’s not good enough for you? Are you rejecting her?!” She held a hand in front of her face dramatically.

“What. NO! Look, I’m on a timetable here so I can’t afford to dally. Just please help me. Pleasseee?” I pulled out the puppy eyes. I knew they had a limited effect on Lilia, but I had another card to play. “Pleaseeee Lilia-kaa-chan?”

She didn’t show any outward expression change, but I knew I had her the moment she broke eye contact. “Alright. I will find a way. Please get whatever business you need done over with quickly. She is starting to ask... questions.” And Aisha’s questions, much like Rudeus’ were exhaustive.

“You got it, Lilia-kaa-chan!” She sighed as I sped out of her room like lightning. No takesies-backsies~!

----------------------------------------

I had Norn on my lap the moment Aisha was out of eyesight, the bucket in front of us. “Alright. Try chanting one more time. Here, the book.”

She went through the entire thing, a lot more confident than yesterday. She almost missed the bucket before I course-corrected her hand. “Good job!” I squeezed her a bit, and she relaxed a tad.

“Now you remember how that feels, right? Try replicating the feeling. Don’t think about the chant, but the feeling and try again.”

She looked at me blankly before holding out her hand again and scrunching up her face. “Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.”

“Close your eyes. It’ll help.” And so she did.

She held the stance for three whole minutes, before she farted. “Ah!”

Oh that is not pleasant. Norn what did you eat?! I waved at my nose to get the smell away. “I’m so sowwyyy! I was twying an—”

Her hands came to rub at her eyes, but I took them from her. “Nevermind that, just try again. Focus.”

She hesitantly positioned her hand over the bucket again, giving me looks every two seconds. “Norn. I believe in you. There’s no need to worry. Just breathe.”

She did. In. Then out.

Her focus lined up, and slowly but surely, a result could be felt. A different air took her over, and within a few minutes, a ball of water came out of her hand, and plopped in the bucket.

I exploded in praise. “Good job Norn! You did amazingly!! And so quickly!!” I ruffled her hair while I did so, and she giggled in response.

Ah there’s the smile. Norn doesn’t often show it to me, but her smile is so radiant it could cure aids. If Rudi were to see it, he would probably faint on the spot.

“I did it, onee-chan!!”

“Yes you did!!”

I spent another half an hour with her, having her try it over and over until she ran out of mana and proceeded to take a nap in my arms.

So cuuute~

Her sleeping face was the best!!!

(God I sound like Rudeus…)

----------------------------------------

From that point on, I told her to practice the Water Ball spell on her own whenever she could until she ran out of mana, just to get as far of a headstart as possible. I wasn’t going to have much more time to teach her if I had to keep stealing moments after all.

She actually did admirably as far as keeping it secret went, going out into the night when Aisha was asleep and taking the bucket with her. She had a bad habit of falling asleep right after exhausting her mana though, so I had to surreptitiously carry her back to her room.

It was a miracle Aisha hadn’t found out yet, though I suspected Lilia already knew, as usual. I didn’t try to manufacture any more free time between us, generally just taking the opportunities when they came. Stolen moments here and there to teach her a new spell so she could expand her repertoire.

In about three months, I could confidently say she was at an Elementary-level in Water magic, all incantation-less. She wasn’t talented, necessarily, but she was a hard worker, and once she got going, had a stubbornness to her that was hard to break.

But I was running out of time, so I had to move on. This was about the furthest head-start I could give her.

I brought up magic training to Aisha one evening when I was helping her read a book. Zenith and Paul had decided they could give me a (small) wage for working with them at the clinic and knight duties. It was an allowance, really. But I had saved up and whenever I could, bought new books to bring into the house. Nothing too elaborate or expensive. Simpler ones, so Norn and Aisha would better be able to pick up how to read from them.

No offense, Rudeus, but not everyone could teach themselves how to read through guidebooks and encyclopedias.

I usually did these reading sessions with both siblings, but Aisha randomly grabbed “Perugius’ Legend” from the bookshelf and asked me to help her read it.

“Say, Aisha. Any particular reason you wanted to read this book in particular?” I asked. She was getting a tad bit big now, making it harder to fit on a nine-year old’s lap. But both she and Norn might have gotten used to me doing so, and whenever I tried to get them off, would just climb back on again. (My legs… I can’t feel my legs…)

“The cover looks cool!”

And it really did. It had a picture of Perugius and what the author interpreted the inside of his castle to look like. Perugius looked pretty accurate to what little pictures I remembered, probably because there was a portrait of him in the Asuran Royal Castle, but most people would only be able to see the outside of the castle from the ground while it floated in the sky.

“Can’t deny that.” I really suspected she just wanted to take the opportunity to spend more time with me, since she didn’t seem to have too much trouble going through the book.

I mulled over it in my head a little, how exactly to approach magic training to Aisha. Recently, I had taken to letting Norn and Aisha out into the village to explore the land outside of just our home and yard. They were still young, so I did chaperone them while they were out and about. (with a sword underneath my robe, but no one needed to know that) Though, I did so from afar and mostly hidden so they could have some time away from the usual family constraints.

They knew I was watching them, though if they were far enough away from me it gave them the illusion that they were pretty much on their own. I did so mostly so they could interact with other children their age. I didn’t really think about it when Rudeus and I were growing up, but for some reason Zenith and Paul didn’t really have that many friends inside of the village with children in our age ranges. Whether that’s because Zenith didn’t trust any of the women to get close to Paul (which wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. That obnoxious woman from the time Rudeus got slapped came back six more times) or they just weren’t interested in doing so. Nevertheless, we didn’t have too much contact with children our age. Rudeus pretty much only had Sylphy, and that was after five years of pretty much no one. Me? I didn’t particularly care for having to babysit children that weren’t mine, thank you.

I didn't want the same to happen in regards to Aisha and Norn though. They would need the socialization to grow up to be proper and well-adjusted members of society.

It went about as predicted. Aisha was outgoing and good at ushering people. She got along well with just about anyone, and was good at mediating situations. But she also didn’t form any close or long lasting bonds, and had a certain cunning to her in that she enjoyed steering people into scenarios to laugh at them.

Norn on the other hand didn’t seem to click with anyone at all, quiet and reserved she kept out of most of the groups when they were playing. That is, until she found another girl just like her, who seemed more interested in the world around her than the people in it. I forgot her name (I think it was something like Mirabel?) but they hit it off pretty quickly and it was cute to watch.

But back to the point of all that!

I generally only interacted with Aisha nowadays in the context of other people. Whether it would be the tutoring sessions in the evening with Norn where I would teach them how to read, write and do maths, or the etiquette lessons with Lilia I had (begrudgingly) allowed her to attend in lieu of actual maid training.

Maybe she felt I was trying to distance myself from her in a way, and I really didn’t need that on top of all the other drama. But that was just a theory, and it didn’t really matter in the short-term. What mattered was that I had a chance to approach her about magic.

When we put the book aside for the night, (and it was well over her bedtime. Maybe that’s the game she was playing?) I finally raised the topic to her.

“Hey, Aisha. How do you feel about starting your magic training sometime soon?”

Her head whipped around as fast as possible, turning from the bookshelf where she was putting the reading away for the night, to me in record time. “Yes! Yes! Oh finally! I get to learn magic?!”

“Uuuh yeah?” A little caught off-guard by her reaction. In the series, she never really showed a strong interest in learning it, choosing to serve Rudeus instead of going to magic school. (Again, creepy) It might be a result of me individualizing her a bit more, in which case, I’m very thankful.

She launched herself at me, hugging my neck as tightly as her tiny little arms could. “Yeeeh!! Thank you onee-chan!! I’ll make sure to study hard and practice a lot okay?!”

I could only vaguely nod. What a reaction.

----------------------------------------

Again, Aisha fell in line with expectations. Teaching her the theory wasn’t much of a hassle, and voiceless incantations weren’t a problem either. She wasn’t innately talented in the same sense that Rudeus or even Sylphy was, but if she applied herself the same way Norn did, I could see her making it pretty far.

In about a month, she also was comfortably at the Elementary level for Water magic. So, from that point forward I had already moved Norn onto Wind and Earth Magic, (Fire was a bit dangerous to learn without supervision) and decided to amalgamate both their lessons. I had stopped hiding Norn’s lessons after Aisha got to a decent level, and never bothered to hide Aisha’s lessons, so the combination went… decently smoothly.

I could tell Aisha caught onto what I had been doing fairly quickly, but she kept her reservations to herself for now. And that’s really all I wanted so I didn’t mind.

When I did that, their lessons, now aided by personal instruction (and everyone else’s knowledge that I was doing so) sped up by quite a bit.

Once they learned all the Elementary level attack magics, I had moved them onto learning Healing and Detoxification magic.

Full disclaimer, I myself was still learning Detoxification magic, mainly because it was a hassle. It was mostly diagnostics and memorization. The diagnostic part, working out exactly what the ailment was, was fun. But learning the long chants, which even if you learned them you couldn’t do voiceless? Exhausting.

Roxy had taught me and Rudeus up to the Elementary level, but Zenith found that if I was going to be working inside the clinic, I would be a lot more helpful if I could do Intermediate Detoxification as well. I objected, and maybe because I acted like the child I technically was for the first time in a while, she relented. For a bit, anyway. We were short staffed at the clinic one day, and a nasty bout of flu had entered the village. When all I could do was stand there and hand out wet cloths, she got a little mad at me. So, I was learning Intermediate Detox magic.

Anyway, Norn, taking after her mother maybe, took to Healing like a duck to water, getting that down voiceless faster than I did. It was a slight surprise in a way, and I resolved to mention it to Zenith later, to see if there wasn’t untapped potential there.

Aisha did alright with the healing, but due to her superior learning capacity, Detox magic came a lot easier for her.

I got the siblings to Elementary-level in both in the next two months, but if you could notice the theme, I was running out of time. Just one more month until my 10th birthday. So, I had to prioritize.

I noticed Aisha had a particular talent for Fire magic, out of everything she learned, she absorbed that the fastest, so I focused on teaching her the Intermediate spells for that. She was easily excitable when she did so, which tended to cause problems. When I say that mother’s plants have been through a lot, I really mean that. My head has been bowed in apology more times this month than any other period in my life.

For Norn, I had her specialize in Healing, getting her to Intermediate with the help of Zenith. We even took her with us for a rotation at the clinic, even if she just observed for now. She was still barely five, so getting her to actually do anything was a risk I wasn’t yet willing to take.

It took me basically giving up on my own magic training, as well as having to put my shifts with Paul and Zenith on hold for a bit to get them to this level. The siblings didn’t really question the sudden change in schedule, just happy to spend more time with me. The adults however, just kept getting more and more suspicious. Especially when I asked for Zenith’s help training Norn.

Not only that, I had seriously started efforts to find a way to get us out of Fittoa before my tenth birthday, although I hadn’t had much luck so far. There were a few options that had merit, but no dice. I had thought, plenty of times, to find a way for all of us to move outside of the Fittoa region and call it a day. When I brought it up, they assumed I was too cooped up in the house, and suggested I move out instead. When I told them that’s not what I was wanted, they dismissed me immediately. I asked several times, citing this reason or that, but got a no every time. Especially from Paul, who was technically stationed here as a knight by the Boreas family. I tried getting him fired, manufacturing mistakes at his job, sending anonymous letters of complaint over to Philemon, but nothing budged. I didn't even get a response. Should have figured...

Then, I thought of us just taking a trip outside to… somewhere. It had merit. We would only be talking about a few days vacation, for my birthday or something. Persuading them to go anywhere far enough to avoid the blast radius would be a challenge. I’ve brought up visiting other cities before, and they’ve always staunchly refused, citing the sisters’ age and Paul’s job. The only option left for me was strong-arming them into it. I’d have to knock Paul out, but that shouldn’t be too hard, if I sneak up on him. The last thing he’d expect would be a sneak attack.

So, I had a plan that I knew would seriously harm my relationship with my family. Like the fact that I kept it secret that I knew that the teleportation would happen. That I didn’t say anything any sooner, that I would condemn the entire Fittoa Region if it just meant saving them. All of it would pile onto my plate.

I could admit it readily. I was not a selfless person. The only people I loved were the people in this house, and the one perverted idiot soon to be abroad. I didn’t care about the rest. Never did. That was the real reason I never bothered to make a friend here, or get close to any coworkers or anything like that. I didn’t want to make bonds that would get severed so easily.

Not after I’d lived less than half a lifetime and had all of them taken away. Just like that.

…

…Maybe I did have some regrets after all.

Regardless, all the questions and the abrupt change in schedule naturally raised some flags, all coming to a head when a family meeting, sans Norn and Aisha was called. We were seated at the dinner table, as per usual.

“I called this family meeting because of a very important matter I would like to discuss with you, Alti.” Zenith said, as the unofficial new leader of the household. “We’ve noticed a lot of things over the past few months that have us a little worried, so we wanted to share those concerns with you.”

I nodded, outwardly calm. Inwardly, very very nervous. If I had to reveal something, I didn’t know how that would change the dynamic inside our family, which was already precocious. Rudeus was gone, Aisha and Norn fought, Paul was unfaithful, and Lilia wanted her child to become a bondservant. This was not your ordinary family.

Huh. When you look at it from that perspective, the only normal member of our family was Zenith. Weird, that.

“You haven’t been coming with me on any patrols recently. Before you used to jump at the chance.” Paul said, uncharacteristically serious.

“You’re not going to the clinic either, and you’re not going anywhere else outside the house.” Zenith said.

“Well, sorry I guess.” I said, trying my best to keep from frowning. This was a poorly disguised interrogation if I ever saw one. But being defensive would do me no good. I knew that, but it still came up like a reflex.

“We just wanted to share our concerns, Alti-sama. If you properly consider it, when was the last time you picked up your lute?” Lilia asked me.

That stumped me for a bit. It had been quite a while. I was getting much better at using it, even without a teacher. There was an elder in the village who played a similar guitar-shaped instrument, and he had been helping me as much as he could. But I hadn’t even thought of visiting him in quite a few months. I didn’t even tell him I would be taking a break…

“I was training Aisha and Norn. Their education comes first, you know? I can’t get distracted.”

They all exchanged glances. “We understand that their education is important, but your situation is important too, Alti.” Zenith leaned forward in her chair. “Is there something the matter, that you spend so much time teaching them now?”

I shook my head. “No. I just want to do it properly. That’s it.” My palms were sweating. This isn’t good. Suspicion now, so close to the due date, wasn’t good.

Paul closed his eyes. “I see. Aside from not telling us that you were going to be teaching them in the first place, is there something you would like to tell us about Alti? Anything that we need to know?”

“I—” Couldn’t tell them nothing. I had to nip this in the bud. Now, after years of time spent thinking about how to avoid this situation, you’d think I’d have gotten better at thinking of something to say, but the truth was the absolute opposite.

I was so unbelievably scared. My place in this family, if they knew the truth about me, would be ripped from me. They would never look at me in the same way. Hah. I’d be lucky if they even claimed me as family anymore. I would be a stranger and a monster to them, one that had killed their daughter and taken her place. A demon that played with their hearts and minds, trying to manipulate their fate.

No matter what, that scenario can never happen.

“Something is going to happen sooner rather than later. I wanted them to be prepared. That was it. I’ve been training for the same reason.” I steeled myself. I had lied to them. I hadn’t told them any lies, but I had still lied to them.

Paul’s expression softened. “Ah, Altiii~! You know Papa’s always here to protect you right? Nothing bad is going to happen to you here.”

I tried to smile. It didn’t work. “Of course, tou-san.”

After that, I gave some more empty platitudes, and they gave me empty reassurances. At the end of the meeting, they hugged me and kissed my forehead. Normally, that would elate me, or I’d pretend to hate it if it was from Paul, but all I could feel this time was the signing of a death warrant for my family ties. The final stamp on a contract, whose terms I had set.

Later that night, when they thought I had gone to sleep, I heard them having another discussion downstairs. They were pretending to finish the dishes for a little bit, but ultimately moved on to talking about me.

“Alti… She’s really worried about something. It was worse than we thought.” I heard Zenith say. From my vantage point at the top of the stairs, I couldn’t really see them all that well, but I could tell their voices apart. “If only she would tell us what, we could help her!”

“Maybe she’s scared she’ll be kicked out of the house soon.” Lilia said.

“What!? Never!” Zenith piped up.

“It’s possible.” Lilia refuted. “She hasn’t been progressing much in her swordsmanship recently, right? When that happened to Rudeus-sama, he was promptly shipped off to the Boreas household. It could be that she is trying her best to be useful to the rest of the house, and when helping danna-sama and Zenith-sama didn’t seem to do anything..”

There was a short, but meaningful silence. “Paul, you haven’t been giving her any ideas, have you?”

“Ah, well. We had a talk about it a few months ago, and—” A slap. “Wait! Let me finish!” Another, different sounding slap. This happened often enough I could tell Lilia was the first one, and Zenith the last, just from the sound. I snickered to myself. “We just talked and then she agreed to help me with my knight duties! The smaller stuff, you know? Like monster extermination and some patrols. That kind of thing.”

“I see..” Lilia murmured. “So it might be something different then?”

“Maybe she just likes spending time with her sisters over other things?” Paul suggested.

“That could be true. You know at first,” Zenith gave out a little laugh. “I thought she wouldn’t get along with them when they were first born. Whatever free time we or Rudi had went straight into the care of Norn and Aisha.”

Paul let out a weird sigh. “Aaah, I remember when she used to pout all over the house, and turn up her nose anytime she was asked to help with those two! She was so cute when she was jealous!”

I—I don’t remember any of that!

“You make it sound like she’s fully grown up already, reminiscing about the past.” Lilia said.

“Well it kinda seems like it, right? Ever since Rudi left, she’s kind of taken over his role in the house, don’t you think?” He replied.

“You mean to say that Rudi isn’t a child either?”

“He’s “making a living and getting along with his employers”, he says in his letters. Oh I bet he’s getting along with them alright, especially that little ojou-chan he keeps writing abo—” Slap from Zenith, slap from Lilia. “An—anyway, it could be that she feels the added responsibility because Rudi’s gone and then doubled down on everything.”

“Why is she so worried, then? Does she not think we’re good enough parents?” Zenith asked, a little bit of hurt in her voice. I had the strangest urge to leap down the stairs and hug her, but kept myself back.

“Well, she does not seem to approve of almost anything I keep trying to teach Aisha. She keeps telling her the exact opposite of whatever values I try to instill in her. If I may be allowed to speak frankly, it is quite discomfiting.” I could hear the sweat dropping from here.

“I think yours is a uh—special case, Lilia. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Zenith said diplomatically.

“Eh? What for?” She sounded genuinely perplexed.

“Anyway, we’ll just have to show her what great parents we are, if she thinks we’re not good enough!” Paul declared, ignoring her.

“You’re right! If she sees that we’re not putting in enough effort, we’ll just put in twice that!”

“Maah, well twice—” I could hear Zenith’s glare from here. “Yes honey! Great idea!!”

“Shall we move onto the more pressing topic of the evening then, Zenith-sama? Danna-sama?”

“Yes! Operation plan-Alti’s-10th-birthday-party is a go!”

And that’s where I bowed out, and silently went back to my room.

Still, that was a lot to process. It seems I’ve avoided any real suspicion on my actions so far for now.

I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not.

----------------------------------------

3rd P.O.V.

“Was that necessary, Danna-sama?” Lilia asked, her voice tuned low. All three adults of the Greyrat household watched the flickering candle flame on the table, the only light in the house as it danced. They had finished their birthday planning just a little bit ago, and Altea had long since stopped listening in.

Paul’s hands rested on the table, bunched up in fists. “The charade? I’ve learned from Rudi’s case. We’re going to need to be a lot sneakier this time.”

“But shipping her off to the capital? I don’t think she’ll take it nearly as well as Rudi has.” Zenith said, a frown on her face. “She’s so attached to Norn and Aisha, she might just come running back.”

“I agree.” Lilia nodded her head. “She’s very invested in making sure that Norn and Aisha are well taken care of. Depriving her of that might backfire.”

“I’m aware.” Paul responded. “But this is something she needs. Her siblings, just like Sylphy was with Rudi, are holding her back. She’s itching to get out of the house. Some days she just stares through the window outside, a complicated expression on her face. Not only that, she’s plateauing. She hasn’t gotten very far with her magic, and she can’t get any farther with the sword. I think it’s time for her to see the world.”

“But Paul. Sending her to Ars? To live with the nobles? Do you really think that’s a good idea?” Zenith asked.

“Philemon thinks she will be able to grow much more there. Their Water God dojo is the best in the world after all.”

“The same dojo where we met..” Lilia muttered. “Do you think Alti-sama will do well in such an environment?”

“I certainly didn’t!” Paul laughed to himself. “But Alti’s different. She needs to learn how to be more social, and find out what she really wants to do with her life. She’s not going to find that here.”

“Right.” Zenith agreed. “Do you think that’s why she keeps telling us to move?”

“That’s the only reason I can think of.” Paul replied. “Although, training her sisters in magic so much says there’s something else going on.”

“If I may be allowed to speak plainly..” Lilia offered.

“Always Lilia-chan! Whenever.” Zenith said with a smile.

Lilia nodded. “Right. I think Alti-sama is very worried about something. It’s something that she has been preparing for for months.”

“Like?” Paul asked.

Lilia pushed up her glasses. “I do not know. Regardless, I think her urging to relocate us, by whatever flimsy excuses she’s given so far, is a worrying sign. Rejecting her has been visibly pushing her patience. She may try forcibly moving us somewhere, somewhere she perceives to be safer.”

“She’s trying to protect us from something?” Zenith asked.

“And you think she’ll use force to do it?” Paul added.

“Yes.” Lilia’s glasses flashed. “I think there is something dangerous coming, that she thinks only she can see. I propose letting me head out into town to gather more information.”

“You’ll be going by yourself? Is that safe?” Zenith asked.

Lilia smiled. “I will be fine. I will bring my sword with me. Although I may not be as quick as I used to be, I will not be an easy target.”

“Well, we can’t have you go right away. You’ll miss Alti’s birthday!” Paul exclaimed.

“Ah that’s right. Then, I will head out afterwards?” Lilia asked.

“Ha! You might see her out on the way! Bound to Ars on a carriage. You’ll say hi for us right?” Paul grinned.

The women at the table laughed in response. “I shall try.”