Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Learning A Foreign Language 

Eris became better behaved after her tenth birthday. She took her lessons seriously and punched me less frequently than before. More relaxed after being released from the fear of domestic violence, I decided to focus more on my own studies. 

I started getting an overview of this world’s history with the book I borrowed from the library. It showed that this world had existed for at least 10,000 years. Its history was truly fantastical. The gist of that history was as follows: 

More Than 100,000 Years Ago 

The world was split into seven smaller worlds, each with its own god to rule over it. This was called the Ancient Age of the Gods. These seven worlds and their respective gods were: 

The world of humans, Human God. 

The world of demons, Demon God. 

The world of dragons, Dragon God. 

The world of beasts, Beast God. 

The ocean world, Sea God. 

The sky world, Sky God. 

The barren world, Barren God. 

These worlds were separated by barriers, so coming and going was no easy task. Someone who lived in one world had no idea there were other ones. Only the gods and those strong enough to cross those barriers knew of the other worlds. 

Twenty Thousand to Ten Thousand Years Ago 

In the dragon world, an incorrigibly evil Dragon God was born. With his incredible and dreadful power, he destroyed the barriers separating the worlds. With his followers, known as the Five Dragon Commanders, he began destroying the other worlds. Survivors from each destroyed world fled to other worlds seeking shelter. 

When there was only one other world left, the Dragon God’s commanders finally turned on him. The head of the Five Dragon Commanders, the Dragon Emperor, and the other four Dragon Kings fought the Dragon God and his overwhelming power. Five versus one in a battle to the death. 

It ended in a draw. The dragon world crumbled in the aftermath, leaving only the human world. That was this world. 

Ten Thousand to Eight Thousand Years Ago 

Known as the Chaotic Period. A period where the ancestors of modern humans and the refugees from other worlds, after being thrown together, began clashing. 

There exists almost no literature from this period, but according to scholars, after many years of strife, the races slowly became segregated. The beastfolk began living in the woods, the waterfolk controlled the oceans, and the skyfolk secured the highest places they could find. There were nearly no dragonfolk left, but they avoided attention and lived secretly, while the voidfolk, who could live anywhere, spread themselves out. 

That left the humans and the demons to fight between themselves on the plains. At the time, the Central Continent and the Demon Continent were still joined by land and called the Great Continent. 

Approximately 7,000 Years Ago 

Martial arts and magic were developed, and the population increased. This was also when The First Great Human-Demon War occurred. As the name implies, it was a head-on collision between the humans and the demons. Something like a World War in the world of my previous life. It was a long battle that involved not only the humans and demons, but other races as well. 

Approximately 6,000 Years Ago 

A thousand years passed as the Great War raged on, with fierce battles and lulls interspersed between. The hero Arus led his six comrades into battle, continuing the hostilities until he defeated the Five Great Demon Kings and the Great Emperor of the Demon World, Kishirika. 

Based on the Great Emperor’s name, I guessed they were probably a woman. In my head, I pictured Eris in a leather outfit, cackling loudly. 

Wait a second…Arus? What the heck was this, Dragon Quest 7? 

Approximately 5,500 Years Ago 

Being the fools they were, the humans got drunk off power from defeating the demons and began warring against the other races, as well as among themselves. Demons were reportedly used as slaves during this time. This period of constant war continued for almost 500 years. 

Five Thousand Years Ago 

The Second Great Human-Demon War broke out. Seeking vengeance for a thousand-year grudge, Kishirika, the Great Emperor of the Demon World, stirred the demons into action. 

I thought Kishirika was some sort of name each emperor received as they took the throne, but apparently the Emperor was immortal. Even if they died, they would revive hundreds of years later. Perhaps the reason they were called the Great Emperor of the Demon World was because they were a rank above the other Dragon Emperors. 

Either way, the demons made allies of the beastfolk and seafolk, overwhelming the humans. The humans were driven into a corner. 

Four Thousand Two Hundred Years Ago 

The Second Great Human-Demon War came to an end. 

The warmongering humans fought for 800 years without admitting defeat and finally forced their enemy back. This was thanks to the efforts of the legendary hero, Golden Knight Aldebaran. 

This guy was a total cheater. He routed over 10,000 men by himself. He defeated all the powerful demons he encountered and fought one-on-one with the Great Demon Emperor. His final attack was so powerful it created a hole in the Great Continent, splitting it into the Central Continent and the Demon Continent, with the Ringus Sea in between. 

One passage wrote that he was the Human God himself. The only Aldebaran I knew was the one who would die if he used his own lethal technique. So it seemed this world’s Golden Saint was made of tougher stuff. The whole bit about him splitting the continent sounded like a load of garbage, but it was true that the continent separated into two, forming a new ocean. 

A long-sought peace finally settled over the land once the continents split. 

Four Thousand Two Hundred to

One Thousand Years Ago 

Time passed quickly after that. The world was at peace, but the demons were being driven from the Central Continent. The humans were a clever bunch, using diplomacy to corral all the demons onto the Demon Continent. 

The Central Continent’s land was naturally lush and easy to live on, whereas the Demon Continent’s land was barren and prone to magic accumulating in certain areas. By forcing the last of those foul demons onto the Demon Continent and blockading it, the humans were metaphorically slipping a silk cord around their necks and strangling them with it. This was all done with the cooperation of the other races, in the hopes there would never be another Great Human-Demon War ever again. 

The demons most likely resisted this in some way. They were, after all, on the receiving end of a concerted attack. But whatever their reaction was, no war broke out. As a result, they soon became desensitized to the way they had been restricted from leaving their continent. 

In that harsh environment with scarce resources being fought over, civil war naturally broke out. This forged them into fierce warriors, but their numbers dwindled. 

One Thousand Years Ago 

The Demon God Laplace came into being. 

In the long history of demons, there were many Demon Kings and Demon Emperors, but there was only one who people referred to as the Demon God. 

In a relative blink of the eye, Laplace rallied the demons and conquered the Demon Continent. The records from battles at that time turned into war chronicles that were passed down. Even now on the Demon Continent, Laplace is still treated like an idol. 

Laplace spent many years cultivating his empire, grooming his race to be tough and fierce. 

Five Hundred Years Ago 

The start of Laplace’s military campaign. 

After many long years spent winning over the seafolk and beastfolk, Laplace finally made his assault on the Central Continent. The humans were forced into a war far more brutal than any they had fought before. 

Laplace launched his invasion from the south, drawing all the humans’ military power there. Then he set his wyrms upon the land, making passage through the mountains impossible. After that he took the humans by storm, attacking with a separate unit from the north, scattering his enemies. 

In a short time, he had gained total control of the north and the south. Then, from both directions, he pressed his assault on the western region. 

Four Hundred Years Ago 

Forced into a corner, the humans took their last gamble. The seven heroes convinced the seafolk to lift their blockade, then set out on the seas for the Millis Continent. 

Millis had escaped the invasion for many reasons, such as the barrier around Holy Millis, its robust army of holy knights, and the topography that made it difficult for a large army to disembark. Part of the reason they were so isolated was also due to a great forest that covered the north. 

Now allied with the demons, the beastfolk had taken control of the Holy City of Millis. So the seven heroes set about persuading them to their side. Or rather, the seven went to the head of each clan, took their children hostage, and threatened them into cooperation. In the book it was written that the children cooperated willingly, but I wasn’t deceived by such an obvious spin. 

It came to the day of the decisive battle. The last remaining kingdom of humans on the Central Continent, the Kingdom of Asura, mounted all their effort for the final battle. Soon the seven heroes came, leading the holy knights of Millis and the beastfolk in an assault on Laplace’s main stronghold. 

After a violent confrontation, four of the seven heroes were dead, but they successfully sealed Laplace away and destroyed his closest companions. Three heroes survived: the Dragon King Urupen, the Northern God Kalman, and the Armored Dragon King Perugius. They were referred to as the Three Legendary Demon God Slayers, but…they didn’t slay anything! 

Though Laplace was defeated, the humans were greatly exhausted from the battle and couldn’t keep up the fight anymore. Instead, they signed a treaty with one of the demon kings back on the Demon Continent, one that wasn’t allied with Laplace and led a more moderate faction of the demons. 

The blockade on the Demon Continent was lifted. The demons could now freely travel to the other continents. According to the terms of the treaty, racial discrimination against demons was prohibited. It was like the United Declaration of Human Rights in my previous world. 

Present Day 

The deep-seated trend of discrimination against the demons continued, but things were mostly peaceful. 

From all of this, I understood a couple of things: 

Cutting things off at the number seven was done for historical reasons. There were seven legendary heroes, and seven worlds. Thus the lucky number was seven. Six was unlucky, since there were the Five Dragon Generals and Five Great Demon Kings, each of which made six when counted with their respective leaders. 

The various races like the elves, dwarves, and halflings were like subspecies, but they were counted among the demons. It was possible they were new races that had developed during the Chaotic Period. Or perhaps they had something to do with the barrenfolk that first came over. 

Incidentally, part of the reason so much knowledge about this long history existed was because some species were immortal. This was the case for the Great Demon Emperor Kishirika as well as a few other Demon Kings. Perhaps there was some sort of magic that made them live forever. 

*** 

By learning about the history of this world, I also turned up some information about the other languages that existed here. The most commonly used ones were: 

The Human tongue: used on the Central Continent. 

The Beast God tongue: used in the northern part of the Millis Continent. 

The Fighting God tongue: used on the Begaritt Continent. 

The Sky God tongue: used on the Divine Continent. 

The Demon God tongue: used on the Demon Continent. 

The Sea God tongue: used throughout the seas. 

To distinguish them, the languages were named after the Gods of the various races residing on different continents. Only the Human language didn’t use that convention, a decision that might incur their god’s wrath. 

The humans who spoke the Human tongue on the Central Continent were divided into three regions: north, west, and south. Each region’s language had minor differences from the others, something like the difference between American and British English. 

My native tongue was the western dialect of the Human tongue. Apparently that dialect was mutually intelligible to those in the north, but in other regions it was best not to use it. Men from the western region were thought to be wealthy, and wealth only attracted unwanted— sometimes unfortunate—attention. 

The Millis Continent was also split between the north and the south. The north spoke the Beast God tongue while the south spoke the Human tongue. 

As for the sea, seafolk lived all over the waters of the world. I had heard the term “fish people” before, but never seen them in the city. 

*** 

On top of my regular monthly income, I made and sold figures, assisted Philip in managing the daily hiring of part-time workers, and sometime resold wares I had bought several months prior. With these little bits here and there, I managed to earn a small amount of coin. 

Unfortunately, that book I had wanted sold while I wasn’t paying attention. I couldn’t buy what wasn’t for sale. I began thinking about using the money I had saved to buy something else. What could you buy with four gold coins? No, there’s no need to spend it all at once, I reasoned. 

That was when a book in a language I didn’t know caught my eye. After reading about the world’s history and learning about its languages, I remembered how important it was to learn them. 

Which was how I began learning a foreign language. I decided to start with Ghislaine’s native language, the Beast God tongue. I also wanted to learn the Demon God Tongue. I decided to send Roxy a letter in hopes that she might teach me, even if just a little. 

*** 

I turned nine. That meant two years had passed since I first became Eris’s home tutor. 

I’d spent a year learning the Beast God tongue. I had Ghislaine’s assistance but acquiring the language didn’t take much time. There weren’t many letters to memorize, and so long as you knew its grammatical pattern, it was easy to speak. I was terrible at foreign languages in my previous life, but this body seemed to be good at remembering things. 

Now, I was going to learn the Demon God tongue. I bought a cheap book on the language. The owner of the bookstore prefaced the sale by telling me, “I have no clue what’s written in here, just so you know.” It was seven gold coins, but I haggled the price down to six. 

*** 

Three months passed. My study of the Demon God tongue wasn’t making much progress. Translation itself was difficult; in fact, to be honest, I had no idea what was written in this book. If I at least knew its title, maybe I could have guessed at its contents from context and dug my way through. But I didn’t know them, nor did I know the language, so I gave up. 

The reason the Beast God tongue had been so easy for me to learn was partly because of Ghislaine, and partly because the book I was using told the tale of one of the beastfolk heroes from the Legend of Perugius. It was a side story, but so long as I had Legend of Perugius with me, I could pick out vocabulary easily. 

For the book in the Demon God tongue, I had no idea whatsoever. How did archaeologists manage to decode languages anyway? They began with vocabulary, I thought. First, they sought out similar vocabulary words, then began hypothesizing meanings for those words. Probably. 

Anyway, right now I had no idea what parts were even vocabulary. Not a clue. 

Just as I was lost as to what to do next, Roxy’s reply finally arrived. I had heard nothing in over a year. I was beginning to wonder if something had happened to my letter or if she no longer resided at Shirone’s Royal Palace. But finally, a reply. 

“Heheh…” I was happy enough just getting a letter from Roxy. I hoped she was doing well. I restrained myself as I took the letter from the maid. A letter? It was more like a small package. A fairly heavy wooden box. Not quite that large, but around the size of a phone book at least. 

Inside the box was a letter and a thick book. The book had no title, but the cover was made of animal hide. It was like a phone book with a jacket on it. 

I decided to start with the letter. I smelled it before I opened it, and it was almost like inhaling Roxy’s scent. 

To Lord Rudeus, 

I received your letter. 

I am sure you have grown greatly in this short time. My jaw dropped when I read that you became the home tutor for the grandchild of Fittoa’s liege lord. If you must know, I failed the interview for that job. You must have some powerful connections to have landed that. 

If I weren’t currently the home tutor for the king’s son, I might be jealous. Still, you even became acquainted with Sword King Ghislaine, and became her pupil on top of that. Sword King Ghislaine is very famous. After all, she’s the fourth strongest person in the Sword God Style. 

Ahh, just where did the five-year-old who peeked at me while I was bathing go? You feel so far away now. 

Now, let’s get down to business. You said you want to learn the Demon God tongue, yes? Each sub-race possesses some unique magic unknown to humans. I doubt any literature remains, but if you learned the language, you could visit those sub-races’ settlements and have them teach you. Of course, that is IF you establish a good rapport with them first. This would be impossible for the average magician, but maybe not for you. 

It’s with these great expectations that I created this textbook for you. I wrote it myself. It took me a long time, so I hope you’ll use and treasure it and not sell it or throw it away. If I see it for sale in a store I might cry. 

Speaking of stores, the prince snuck out of the castle the other day and bought a small statuette that looks just like me. The robe is detachable, and even the blemishes on its skin are perfectly placed. Creepy. Maybe I’m going to be cursed. I have no idea what to expect, but…so long as it seems safe, I’ll send this letter to you. 

From Roxy. 

P.S. - You’ll be recognized among adventurers as a magician if you carry a staff. 

I see. 

First, the whole thing about me peeking at her bathing was a misunderstanding. I wasn’t peeking; I just happened to glance in. Total coincidence. I mean it. Okay, I did know when she showered, but my peeking in was a fluke. There were times I deliberately took walks around the house, but the time it happened was a pure accident! 

That aside, was Ghislaine really the fourth strongest person in the Sword God Style? There was the Divine-tier, Imperial-tier, and the King-tier… Wait, what? 

Ah, maybe there were two people at the Imperial-tier. Did that mean there was only one person at the King-tier? I heard that most of the swordfighters in the world used the Sword God Style, so I thought there would be around ten people with King-tier proficiency, but perhaps that was harder to achieve than I thought. 

Also, it appeared the Roxy figurine I made had accidentally found its way to its subject. That prince had good taste. 

More importantly, the book included in her package was something she wrote herself. I didn’t know when my letter reached her, but she must have written that book in less than half a year. She worked so hard to write it for me, so I was sure it would be instrumental in deciphering the Demon God tongue. I would do my best to accomplish that. 

With that in mind, I sat down and opened the book. It was like a bar popped up over my head that said, NOW READING. 

“Wow, this is amazing.” 

I couldn’t hide my surprise when I looked inside. It was a textbook, but it was also a dictionary. There were translations for every word in the Demon God tongue. 

Roxy most likely took a dictionary from the royal palace and copied all the words down. She covered vocabulary, specific turns of phrase, and even described the pronunciation extensively. 

That was only the first of the surprises. 

In the latter half of the book, she also wrote what she knew about the various demon races. The descriptions of each race were accompanied by her personal commentary. Don’t do this with this race, don’t do that with this other race. There were even (poorly-drawn) illustrations annotated with the peculiar traits of each of the races. 

There was an especially long portion, spanning five pages, where she wrote about the Migurd Race in minute detail. It made me happy to think she did that because she really wanted me to know more about her and her people. 

People of the Migurd race tend to like sweet things, she wrote. I wondered if it were true. If it were, I wanted to prepare something sweet for her the next time we met. 

That said, the fact that she wrote this whole thing in less than a year made me feel like I was nothing compared to her. If we did meet again, I would have to kiss her feet. 

That aside, this book was the best textbook I could have asked for. My grades hadn’t been particularly good in my previous life, but I was incredibly good at learning things in this one. I was sure that in six months I could perfectly master the contents of this book. At the very least, I wanted to be able to master basic conversation. It was time to put my nose to the grindstone. 

Ghislaine 

Rudeus had shut himself in his room. He was up to something again. He had a habit of surprising Ghislaine like that sometimes. When she first met him, she thought he was just a kid, and not at all dependable. She thought Paul was being an over-confident, too-proud parent when he forced this kid on her. 

Ghislaine owed Paul. She had no feelings for him other than a sense of obligation. On the off-chance that Rudeus failed to be appointed Eris’s tutor, she still planned to propose that he stay here. 

In the end, he won over Eris’s trust in record time and secured a place in the house as her tutor. 

The kidnapping was something he’d proposed. Ghislaine heard that the butler took advantage of the situation out of greed, but when she arrived on the scene to help Rudeus and Eris, he was already dealing with the two people hired by the butler on even footing. 

He managed to manipulate two different schools of magic in a unique fighting style—albeit an imperfect one—that overwhelmed his opponent, an Advanced-tier North God Style swordsman. He did drop his guard at the end, perhaps because he was still a child, but his combat instincts were genius-level for someone of his age. Even for Ghislaine, initiating battle with an opponent over a hundred meters away would likely mean defeat. 

Beyond his fighting instinct, he was exceptional at organizing effective lessons for Eris that were easy to follow. Ghislaine never thought she would be able to learn reading, writing, arithmetic or receive a wand. She, the village nuisance, who had been entrusted to some wandering swordsman before she had even turned ten. She who had been turned away from adventuring parties despite becoming a Saint-tier swordswoman. When she finally managed to join one, she was continuously told by some not-too-bright, frivolous man that she had muscles for brains, so there was no point in wasting time thinking. What would those people say if she went home now? Just thinking about it brought her to the brink of a smile. 

Ghislaine never thought the day would come when thinking about people from her village would make her feel triumphant. And all this, unprecedented, from a boy who would be the same age as her son if she’d had one. 

After her party disbanded, Ghislaine was swindled almost every day. The defrauding left her penniless, but the strict discipline her master instilled in her against touching the belongings of others meant she couldn’t turn to thievery. She was on the brink of starvation. That was when Sauros and Eris took her in. 

Ghislaine paid Rudeus the same respect as she paid the two of them. If she went as far as calling him “master,” her sword master would probably fume at her. “Don’t you dare put me and that brat on the same level!” It was probably best to call him her teacher instead. 

And Rudeus deserved respect for his skills as a teacher. He was truly patient when he taught her arithmetic and magic. Ghislaine tried her best, but she wasn’t good at picking up new things. She made the same mistakes over and over. Despite that, Rudeus never showed the least bit of annoyance as he carefully explained things to her. He would change his phrasing each time to help her understand better. 

Thanks to his efforts, in two short years Ghislaine had mastered the basics of fire and water magic. And now, according to Rudeus’s curriculum, she was not moving on to intermediate-tier spells, but instead learning to cast spells without chanting. 

It was sound logic—if she could master that, she could use magic even when both hands were occupied. She understood that logic and was working hard to accomplish it. Granted, working hard at something didn’t necessarily mean she would accomplish it. 

Ghislaine’s sword master, who was a Divine-tier swordsman, was always preaching about logic to her. He’d say things like, “In other words, logic is the foundation.” That his style of swordplay, cultivated over many years, was founded on rationality. Ghislaine’s younger self detested the simplicity of the foundations, so her master went to great lengths to drill them into her. She was forced to practice them repeatedly. 

Rudeus’s teaching style was very similar. When he wasn’t around, Eris would often complain, “I want to use fancier magic.” But Ghislaine was fine with how things were. In a real battle, the most reliable fighter wasn’t the advanced magician who took forever to cast a powerful spell. It was the magician who could adapt to the situation and had full mastery of basic and intermediate-level magic. 

In the past, she thought magicians were completely useless in battle. But after seeing Rudeus fighting, Ghislaine had changed her mind. An opponent who moved swiftly while using offensive magic to restrict his opponent’s movements would be a formidable enemy for any swordfighter. 

She heard his only real match back in his village was Paul. Paul, who was immature, and surely came at Rudeus without holding anything back. If the result of that were Rudeus gaining the ability to move strategically in a swordfight…then that was a happy coincidence. 

So, Paul was good for something after all. Had he made one misstep, Rudeus might have quit fighting altogether and wasted his potential. Rudeus must have inherited that refusal to quit from his father. 

Ghislaine eventually wanted to teach him a technique to defeat Paul. Unfortunately, Rudeus had no talent for the Sword God Style. He overthought everything. He took the logical foundations of the style, tried performing them even more logically, only for the results to be completely illogical. 

It wasn’t a bad thing, given his personality. He was most likely using magic as a basis for his swordplay. That was not, however, appropriate in the Sword God Style, where a single step decided everything, and a battle ended within a split second of swords crossing. He was more suited to the North God Style or the Water God Style, but it seemed Paul hadn’t taught him either. Unfortunately, Ghislaine only knew the Sword God Style. She couldn’t teach him herself, but she knew someone who could. If he still wanted to learn swordplay in three years, she would introduce him to someone who used the North God Style. 

Right now, she could only continue teaching him the foundations of the Sword God Style. If he mastered them, he would see rapid improvement when he began learning the North God Style. If he still wanted to learn swordplay by then of course. 

He currently seemed at an impasse with magic since he had no master to teach him, but he would surely become an accomplished magician someday. Rudeus might not reach the Divine tier, which seemed an almost inhuman feat, but he might reach the Imperial tier. 

Ghislaine wondered how to guide him. Surely Roxy, his magic instructor, had struggled with the same question. She thought it a bit pathetic that the girl ran from the problem, but Ghislaine couldn’t blame Roxy for doing that. In fact, she should probably thank Roxy. After all, it was through Roxy’s instruction by proxy that Ghislaine learned to use magic herself. 

Learning from a stupid teacher only held a pupil back. She might get a taste of that bitterness while teaching someone else the sword someday. 

Her thoughts had veered off-track. Ah, yes. She wondered what Rudeus was doing in that room. Unlike the Young Mistress, who seemed overwhelmed with the free time her day off provided her, Rudeus was always sticking his fingers into something new. Most recently he came to Ghislaine’s room after dinner with a book in one hand, telling her that he wanted to learn the Beast God tongue. 

She wasn’t sure what he planned to do with a language that was only used in a large forest village, but he spent the next six months learning it. The Beast God tongue didn’t have any difficult expressions in it, so he could probably engage in a daily conversation fluently. 

“Now I can go to the large forest village whenever I want,” he said afterward, joy absent from his expression. 

And what did he plan to do in such an isolated place? He became flustered when Ghislaine asked. 

“Huh? Nothing in particular… Oh, there might be some cute girls there though. With cat ears.” 

That convinced her. He was definitely Paul’s son and had most certainly inherited the Greyrat blood. 

Her certainty came from the fact that everyone in the Greyrat household seemed to stare at her with an odd look in their eyes. If they were just ogling her because she was a woman, it wouldn’t have bothered her as much. Their gazes were peculiar. Other men might look at her breasts. First her face, then pretending to look somewhere else while they ogled at her chest. After that they would go lower, to her stomach, then her crotch, then her thighs. When they were behind her, she knew they were checking out her butt. 

The Greyrat men, however, were different. At first Ghislaine thought they were the same, looking at her face and her butt. It was fine, so long as they weren’t expecting anything more. Aside from Paul and his strange tastes. 

But she realized their eyes focused on odd places. Not on her face, but just above it. It wasn’t exactly her butt they were eyeing either. She discovered they were staring at her ears and tail. Eris, Sauros, and Philip were all the same in this. Before Ghislaine went to fetch Rudeus from his house, she asked, for the first time, why they kept staring at her ears. 

When she did, Philip replied, not looking the least bit abashed by it, “Because the Boreas family likes beastpeople.” He stared at her ears as he said it. 

Rudeus, she was told, was a different case. While he had not inherited the noble name of Notos, he was still part of the family. “As Paul’s son, I have no doubt he shares his father’s fondness for women though,” Philip added. 

Ghislaine had little doubt about that at the time. When she actually met him, however, Rudeus was such a gentleman it was hard to believe he was Paul’s son. Unlike his father, he worked extremely hard, was very serious about studying, and showed great self-control when it came to sex… Well, it might be too early to tell for that last part. But she did suspect he might not be Paul’s child. 

She had since revised that stance. There was no doubt about it: Rudeus Greyrat was Paul’s biological son. 

“So, you really are Paul’s son. Can’t be satisfied with women of the same race, eh?” 

“I was only joking. Please don’t put it like that.” 

It definitely wasn’t just a joke. This boy was going to be a womanizer someday. 

Lately, a sparkle had started to form in Lady Eris’s eyes when she looked at Rudeus. Ghislaine may have been ignorant in the affairs of love, but even she could see it. Eris looked just like Zenith had when she began falling in love with Paul. 

Rudeus had apparently begun learning the Demon God tongue lately. First the Beast God tongue, now the Demon God tongue. In the future, he seemed likely to set out on a quest to meet all the women in the world. 

Paul once said something similar about traveling around the entire Central Continent so he could create a harem. He abandoned that on the Millis Continent when Zenith caught hold of him, but perhaps Rudeus had inherited that idea. Honestly, what a worthless father-son pair… 

No. Ghislaine respected Rudeus. That wasn’t a lie. Paul was the only one she held contempt for. Rudeus may have shown glimpses of the same disposition, but he had yet to act on it. Yet. 

He was still a boy worthy of respect. Yes. At least for now. 

“What’s wrong, Ghislaine?” Eris appeared before her as she was lost in thought. 

Eris had grown a lot in this past two years. Ghislaine had first met her five years ago. At that time, Ghislaine thought she was an utterly hopeless, selfish little girl. On Eris’s first day of sword lessons, Ghislaine trained her until she could barely stand. Then at night Eris came at Ghislaine with a wooden sword. Ghislaine put a quick end to that by turning the tables on her, but for months afterward Eris’s fiery gaze tracked Ghislaine, waiting for Ghislaine to drop her guard. 

Ghislaine used to be a troublesome child herself, so she felt a fondness for Eris. She was just like that when she was younger after all. 

In the beginning, Eris would always complain about this or that during training. That finally abated recently. And after her birthday last year Eris stopped yelling and sullying her clothes. Rather than attributing it to her etiquette lessons, Ghislaine was inclined to think it was because Eris wanted to look good in front of Rudeus. 

Maybe he’d said something to Eris on her birthday. Something he had learned from Paul, Ghislaine was sure, the kind of words that would sway a woman’s heart. 

Come to think of it, Eris had stayed the night in Rudeus’s room. Could it be… No, it wasn’t possible, both were still far too young. Still, Ghislaine wouldn’t be surprised if the two of them became a couple eventually. There weren’t many men that could handle Eris. 

“I was thinking about Rudeus.” 

“Hmm, how come?” Eris tilted her head, a shade of jealousy in her eyes. 

Don’t worry, Ghislaine thought, I’m not going to steal him from you. 

“I was wondering, why is he trying to learn the language of the Demon Continent?” 

“He’s explained it before.” 

Did he? Ghislaine thought she paid attention to his lessons, but she had no idea what spurred his sudden interest in foreign languages. “What was it?” 

“‘It might be useful someday,’ he said.” 

Right, he said that when they were wandering around the stores and he was writing down the names and prices of different wares. Did that actually ever prove to be of any use? 

Now that Ghislaine thought about it, that thief in her party a long time ago was very knowledgeable about the market value of consumables. One time that thief found a shop with healing remedies which were half the usual price and proposed that the group buy them in bulk, only to later discover the goods were all of inferior quality. It was an unpleasant memory. 

If you didn’t know the market value of goods, you might be sold poor-quality goods at two or three times the price and not even know it. At the time, Ghislaine told Rudeus that she didn’t understand his reasoning, but in hindsight it seemed a good idea after all. 

Thanks to Rudeus’s arithmetic lessons, she would no longer be cheated out of change. But it was still possible she might be deceived if a shop owner tampered with prices to begin with. She couldn’t become a trader just because she had learned some math skills, but such skills certainly had many uses. 

“Forget about Rudeus for now. You can think about him all you want and you won’t understand him,” Eris said. “More importantly, Ghislaine, if you’re free, accompany me in sword practice,” 

She had really been devoting herself to the sword lately. Ghislaine wasn’t sure why, but perhaps she was feeling some pressure. Rudeus was nine. Eris had been the same age when the two of them first met. It was clear he was much more mature now than Eris had been at that age. Not just in reading, writing, arithmetic, and magic, but also in his social skills and conversational prowess. He may have lacked etiquette, but he had manners. He was polite as a trader, and had a sense of humor too. There was a glint of mischief that made him seem much older than his nine years. If you interacted with him only in writing, you would probably believe him if he said he was forty. 

That was apparently a popular scam in the Dragon Kingdom. A literate bandit would pretend to be the son of some noble family and write a letter to the daughter of another noble family. They would spend weeks earning her trust, then draw her beyond the safe confines of her home. Then they would capture her and sell her off to slavers. 

Perhaps Eris wanted to beat Rudeus at one thing. If that thing was swordplay, Ghislaine was more than happy to help. 

“All right, Eris. To the courtyard.” 

“Okay!” She nodded enthusiastically. 

If Eris continued training in earnest, she might one day surpass Ghislaine. Right now, her skill level was just Intermediate-tier, but after three years of working on the foundations, her potential was beginning to show. Her steps were sharp, fast. Her fighting spirit was beginning to drive her movements. If she learned how to use that consciously, she would definitely reach the Advanced tier in the Sword God Style. If she mastered it completely, she could be Saint-tier. 

That future surely wasn’t too far off. Ghislaine didn’t know how much Eris would grow, but if she managed to attain Saint-tier skills while Ghislaine was still teaching her, then Ghislaine would let Eris meet her master. If possible, Ghislaine would take Rudeus along as well. 

Ghislaine wondered how her master would react to that. She was looking forward to it. 

*** 

NAME: Eris B. Greyrat 

OCCUPATION: Granddaughter of Fittoa’s liege lord 

PERSONALITY: A little violent 

DOES: Listen properly 

READING/WRITING: Improving with writing as well 

ARITHMETIC: Still bad with division 

MAGIC: Can’t do any spells without chanting them 

FENCING: Sword God Style - Intermediate-tier (soon to be Advanced-tier) 

ETIQUETTE: Can imitate ladylike manners 

PEOPLE SHE LIKES: Grandfather, Ghislaine, Rudeus