N CHAPTER 3

: ANYTHING’S WRONG?

[Claude POV]

Clang!

The sound of clashing swords could be heard from afar, then it continued for some time until it stopped altogether, followed by a burst of laughter.

"I'm sure Paul is trying to assert his dominance towards his 6-year-old son... What a great father he is, how childish. " I roared, almost yelling to let the one laughing out loud hear it. Of course, I know that Paul’s the one laughing.

As expected, the laughter stopped. I can see Lilia chuckling behind me while Zenith waves her hands at me, already expecting me to come.

"hey, Zenith, Lilia!" I said while waving towards them.

Their bulging stomachs show. It's already been 3 months since the day they came up-front. I didn't do anything in this incident, though Paul became more famous for his infidelity.

They would never expect that Paul would actually impregnate his worker, even though they know Lilia is the house maid.

Even my father got mad when he received the news and smacked Paul in the head when he met with him at the pub.

“You already had a babe of a wife, yet ye dare to touch your maid? You mad, man?” my father said so while pummeling him.

The villagers didn’t scorn Paul because he impregnated Lilia, but they got mad because of his drunken stupor. Paul blamed Lilia for what happened. This made the others ticked at him, and my father just punched him in the face and had a great fight that day.

Well, my father won’t lose to Paul in a drunken brawl since he’s stronger than he looks.

My father is used to handling hammers and will not be hurt by a drunkards’ punch.

Though, my father did get himself bedridden for several days after that fight... I mean, Paul is a former adventurer, and currently he’s dealing with monsters surrounding the village. So, he can do some techniques my father can’t handle.

Cough, I definitely didn’t say anything about my father was actually badly beaten, cough.

Paul’s not getting out of the brawl uninjured though, since another villager beat him up after my father was defeated.

They all became buddies after the fight, so there was nothing breaking the harmony of the village.

Anyway, I can even see Somar's mom sigh in relief while holding her husband's hand when receiving that news.

This event is one of the important moments where Rudeus and Lilia's bond deepened, although I didn't play with him that often and Rudeus mainly played with Sylphy. In fact, he is still too attached to Sylphy. It's not like I care that much about it, but it should be around the time when the babies are born when he's sent to Eris' place, huh?

"Here’s the knives and other kitchen utensils I made. It's my payment for Paul's teaching. "

"Oh my, you don't have to, though." Zenith said while I gave it to Lilia.

"No, I need to do that; it'll make me like a shameless sponger... I'm 7 years old, after all! " I said proudly, looking a bit childish.

"Fufufu, then I'll bring these back. Thank you, Claude. " Lilia said, while checking the quality of the wares I made.

"You're welcome, Lilia."

"That's the tact I like, Claude! As expected of my disciple. " Paul suddenly said

"No, please, just don't say I look like you when you're young. I have already learned about your past from Lilia. I won't be a lecher like you, Paul. " I said, squinting my eyes.

"Hey! That's rude! D*mn, Lilia! It’s supposed to be our secret..." he said while receiving a glare from Lilia.

I can't deny his perverted tendencies. I can see that Rudeus inherited it from this man without the person himself realizing it. But another inherent knowledge stops him from thinking it that way.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Well, he is an old man inside, after all.

It can be a brand globally since many young-looking people are old people with young bodies...

Hmm...

Here, the ads 'i*tel inside' can be changed to 'Oldies inside.'

Chuckle

Anyway, I came here to give the things to Zenith and Lilia. while another purpose is to provide Paul with his sword.

"Here you go, Paul..." I said as I handed him his sword and waved Rudy to come closer.

"What is it, Claude?" Rudeus asked me as he came closer.

"Call me big brother Claude. I'll tell you then. " I teased Rudeus. I can guess what he’s thinking.

He must be thinking that I am just a child, and he was way older than my father and me before he died.

He can't say so, though. Thus, he'd answer me with what I wanted to, albeit hoarsely.

"What is it, big brother Claude?" he said while squinting his eyes. He had already known that I must be bringing something suitable since I acted like this, so he complied.

I took something from my pouch and gave it to him.

"It's a bangle. I use the same magic circle from your wand to employ them. You can use them in an emergency. Don't use too much of your mana though. It'd break…." I said while Zenith and Lilia were gasping in the background, and Paul stared at me wide-eyed.

What? What's wrong with them?

"Whoa... Are you for real? Claude? " Paul suddenly said, and surprise filled his tone.

"What? What’s wrong with it? "

"I mean, a magic circle? Won't that make it a magic tool?" he suddenly questioned me.

"Uh, obviously, what do you expect? It's the only successful one, though. The other is scrap... They can only increase the magic spell by half of what I intend, though I can make it better in the future…." I said, bragging to him.

"Whoa... Zenith, is this child a monster in a different way or something? A 7-year-old enchanter? And a blacksmith at that. " Paul said, looking surprised at what I did.

"Praise me more, hahaha! I am a genius! " Their praise makes me happy, though looking at the weird face Rudeus had made me more comfortable.

"See, I told you I'm awesome." I said, while patting Rudeus’s head.

"I... see..." he said.

I failed to learn any more advanced spells no matter how hard I tried, and Rudy started to pity me. which infuriated me. My dream of becoming a magic swordsman vanished...

I learned later that an intermediate Sword God style with a beginner magician is already great for an adult in the first place.

Luffy and Rudy are weird since they are a saint and an advanced-grade wizard at that age.

I can already beat Rudy easily by now, so much so that Paul allows Rudy to attack me using magic. D*mn that father doesn't want Rudeus to lose and makes excuses to let Rudeus use magic to attack me.

Well, leaving their astonishment-filled gaze.

Their inquiries and questions aside, I suddenly use my sword to attack Paul.

"Let's start our training!"

"Haha! Do you start to sneak-attack me nowadays? Be ready to get your ass kicked. "

So our fight began, and Rudy raced to catch up with Luffy.

…

..

.

[Lilia POV]

I am astonished that Paul suddenly gets a disciple, and the kid has a talent.

I can see that he's thinking of the lesson with Paul as gibberish, though, and I know that Paul isn't that good at teaching.

Nonetheless, practice can aid the child's learning. Claude is learning by observation. Paul doesn't need to teach him physical conditioning since by the second week, the child is training himself better than Paul.

No, he's training himself more rigorously than what my father taught Paul and me in the past.

It's not weird that he can reach intermediate by 7. With that kind of training, he could outdo me by another month.

Wait a minute...

Now that I think of it, he can use all kinds of spells…

All attribute aptitude with a near-intermediate-grade healing spell.

At the age of 7, Claude is already stronger than me. I never once see him fighting against Rudeus with his spell, but I will ask Paul about it later. I can see that without mentioning that, using the knowledge I had alone, I can see that he's superior to Rudeus in more ways than one.

Leaving his fighting capability aside, just the fact he could create a magic tool alone enabled him to have a lavish life in the royal capital.

He can also create great knives, swords, and kitchen appliances. It's not something an apprentice can make, not even if he's someone from the smithy.

"What the hell is wrong with this village's kids?"

Zenith must have had the same thought as mine...

"I agree, Zenith."

"Oh, you think the same as me?"

"Yeah, Claude is quirky..."

"Yep, Sylph's the same… she's already at an advanced level, you know? Not to mention that both can do it chantlessly. It's the same as a swordsman that can use his ability without a sword. "

Now that you mention it...

Wow, what a line-up...

I don’t understand what can these children even do, not to mention the matter about the villages being wary of the slave trader.

This is uncommon, I don’t know who perpetrate this in the darkness. As one from the capital, I know the number of slaves each year is enormous, and there’s no way they can stay safe from all the slavers hiding within the traveling merchant.

However, even Paul feels weird that he found more of those slavers being killed outside of the village. There are traces of monsters attacking them, here and there but the slaves weren’t there.

This point is really dubious for me.

I can’t help but thinking that someone killed the slavers, save the slaves, and covered their track using monsters’ attack.

I’m not complaining but, I can’t help but feel intrigued by this…

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[Edited 09/29/2022]

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