— Leon Greyrat —
The three bullies looked toward in shock as I sprinted towards them.
“Huh? Who are you?” one of them asked.
Coming closer to the victim, I slowed my pace to a walk as I ford a few balls of water above my palm, causing the three bullies to back away from the smaller kid.
“Does it matter? I asked you three a question. What do you think you’re doing?” I said with a frown.
“T-That’s the knight’s kid! He knows magic!” one of them exclaid.
‘He knows magic’... nice deduction skills, genius.
“H-Hey! We’re just punishing a dirty demon! Don’t you see? They even have green hair!” another one said.
Right… green hair was supposedly a taboo here, stemming from the Demon race of Superds in the last Human-Demon war.
Not only did I not care about such stereotypes, but under certain lighting, Roxy’s hair looked like a shade of green.
And it was beautiful.
“Scram before you make do sothing we both regret. Got it?” I snarled, casting a floating fireball for emphasis.
They seed to get the ssage as they quickly scampered away, not before barking back so words which I easily ignored.
Watching them walk away, I crouched down to the kid.
“Hey? Are you okay?”
…Well, it was obvious they weren’t.
I guess I could take this chance to brush up on my communication skills with those outside my family.
“Ah, probably not, right?” I continued. “Here, let heal you up.”
Reaching over to their hood, I was stopped by a frail hand.
“N-No! Keep the hood!” they cried.
Hm? Oh… green hair, right. They must have a complex about it.
“I’m not stupid like them. I don’t care what colour your hair is. I actually quite like the colour green. It reminds of spring and nature,” my words, while a bit cheesy, seed to calm down the kid.
“A-Are you sure?” they asked ekly.
“Positive. Now co on, I need to see the damage.”
Relinquishing to my request, they then lowered their hood, revealing a set of pointed ears, a cute tear-stained face, and as expected, a set of green hair.
And if my guess was right, ‘they’ seed to be a ‘she’.
“There we go. What’s your na?” I asked as I checked over her injuries.
Her face was marred in dirt and gri, as well as a few scratches from what seed to be a fall, and under her clothes were likely more than a few bruises, if they hadn’t ford already.
“S-Sylphiette- Ahn!” she shouted.
“Shh, calm down. It’s just healing magic,” I said, casting healing magic. “Sylphiette, huh? That’s a pretty na.”
She squird as I continued healing her, likely due to the itchiness from getting healed, as well as the unfamiliarity of the sensation, but soon enough, she was as good as new.
Thankfully, there was no need for skin-to-skin contact if the injury wasn’t bad, so there was no need to strip her of her clothes.
“Can you close your eyes, mouth, and nose for ?” I said.
She nodded her head, and with her nose scrunched and mouth sealed, I then generate so warm water before cleaning off her face and hair, controlling the stream to wash away all the dirt.
After I finished, I then began drying her off with so warm wind magic, and in no ti at all, she was clean as a whistle, her green hair shining beautifully under the sun.
“There we go. I don’t know what they were talking about. Your hair is very pretty,” I said with a smile.
“T-Thank you… for everything,” she responded ekly.
Shoot, was the air too warm? Her cheeks were awfully red…
“But you’re… not bothered by it?” she asked.
“What? Your hair?” I said.
“T-That too, but being a demon...”
Oh, that?
Well, since I had travelled with an elf, a dwarf, a beastfolk, and a monkey-like demon for a year, I was probably quite different from the other three kids who hadn’t stepped foot outside this village.
After all, isolation bred discrimination.
Either way, race was the least of my worries when eting soone.
Well, unless it was a beastfolk in mating season.
In that case, I would probably run away for my safety.
“I don’t care. In fact, my teacher is a demon, so that just makes it better,” I said.
That seems to catch her interest.
“Really?” she asked.
“Really,” I nodded. “Anyway, what race do you belong to?”
Roxy had told that she was of the Migurd race, one of the many races categorized as a ‘demon’, but I wondered which one Sylphiette was.
“I don’t know…” she said.
Hm? Really?
“Well, what are your parents’ races?” I asked.
“M-My father is half-human and half-elf, while my mother is human with so beastfolk blood…” she said, trailing off at the end.
Huh. Sounds… complicated.
“They… neither of them have g-green hair though, hic!” she began to sob.
Ah, shoot.
I forgot, since Rudy and I were both a bit weird, but kids were usually emotional like this, weren’t they?
“Hey, there, there, it’s okay,” I consoled her while gently patting her head. “Look, soon enough, those kids will grow up and realize how stupid they were, okay? It’s just the colour of your hair, right? It doesn’t change who you are.”
Unfortunately, those words were a lie.
Prejudice didn’t just disappear like that, after all.
But at least she would have on her side, and Rudy too, even if I had to beat him into it.
“Anyway, how are your parents? Are they good to you at least?” I asked.
“Hic! Y-Yeah. My dad’s scary when he’s mad, but he and Mom are nice,” she said through sniffles.
“That’s good, then. Do you want to walk you ho?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, they’re both at work. My dad is a hunter, and my mom works at the clinic, so no one’s ho.”
Wait, at the clinic?
Ever since Mama healed from having Rudy, she had taken over all the clinic duties, leaving with no need to help.
Of course, with learning magic and swordsmanship, there was no ti to help out anyway, unless there was an ergency, that is.
But in the short ti I had helped out there, I rember the nice pregnant woman who stopped by a few tis… What was her na again?
“Your mom’s na… is it Anne by chance?” I asked.
“U-Umm, yeah. It is,” she said. “How’d you know?”
Huh. Small world.
Or rather, a small village.
“...I’ve t her before. Anyway, if you can’t go ho yet… do you want to play?” I asked.
I didn’t exactly want to leave her to fend off the bullies by herself, and even if I was a little late for my swordsmanship practice, I’m sure Paul would understand.
He’s always preaching about morals and stuff, after all… even though I’ve caught him sneaking glances at Lilia more than a few tis.
Stupid womanizer.
He’s just lucky he can hold himself back, and that his gaze hasn’t shifted to Roxy, or else I might have needed to learn Advanced-rank healing magic for the aftermath.
“R-Really?” she asked.
I pulled her to her feet. “Yep! We can play tag, hide and seek, your pick!”
Her lips spread out into a smile as she then tapped her fingers together shyly.
“Then… can you show more of that thing you did earlier? With the water and the wind and stuff?”
Oh? Magic?
How wonderful!
“Of course I can!”
Now I could get so practice in and keep a cute girl happy!
You’re a genius, Leon!
“Umm, but first… what’s your na?” she asked.
Oh, right. I didn’t tell her that, huh?
“It’s Leon. Leon Greyrat,” I said.
She t my smile with one of her own.
“A-And you can call Sylphy.”
— Leon Greyrat —
“Thank you again for taking care of my Phi. I was always worried about her being bullied... But who knew that such a polite kid would be Paul’s son,” Sylphy’s father, Laws, said.
“Indeed. It was nice to see you again, little Leon. You sure have grown up nice and handso. Isn’t that right, sweetie?” Anne asked her daughter.
Sylphy just ekly nodded her head in response.
“It was my pleasure. It’s nice to et another kid my age… who isn’t an, that is. But I really should be getting ho now,” I said in response.
Yikes.
At this point, I might miss my sword practice altogether.
“Alright, be safe getting ho!” Anne said.
“Bye Leon! Thanks for showing your magic! And… and for saving too,” Sylphy said.
I gave her a lighthearted wave.
“It’s fine. Let’s do this again tomorrow, okay? We’re friends now, after all.”
“Y-Yeah!”
That girl, while still ek, really ca out of her shell once I showed her a few magic spells.
She was quite interested, to say the least.
Well, if she wanted, I could also try teaching her, but that could wait for later.
She was only Rudy’s age, after all, and unlike him, she wasn’t a crazy genius.
With a skip in my step, I made my way back ho, only to see a very pissed-off-looking Paul standing in front of the door upon my arrival, his hands on his hips and his face drawn into an angry and disappointed frown.
Uhh, I… didn’t think he took sword practice that seriously.
Especially considering I was only a kid.
“Umm, I’m ho?” I said. “Sorry I was late, I was just playing with a new friend-”
“Do you know why I’m mad?” Paul said, cutting off.
“Uhh, is it because I missed sword practice and didn’t tell you?” I asked.
His scowl deepened.
“No. It’s because Ms. Eto’s wife ca by earlier, telling you punched her son, Somal.”
I did what to who?
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about-”
“Don’t spout bullshit with , Leon! What did I tell you about being strong?” he snapped.
He’d told a lot of things about getting strong.
How to use it to get ladies, how to get girls, how to get won…
Yeah, Paul was a simple man like that.
But not completely without morals.
So, if I’m understanding this right, he must want this answer.
“To not get strong just to flaunt it around?” I said.
“Exactly! So why did you hit Somal?” he asked, still irate.
“No, I don’t know what-”
“No excuses!” he cut off again.
Dammit. It was always the sa with this guy.
He would do before he could think, and never took a mont to calm down and use his brain.
“Well? Why aren’t you talking?” he asked.
Haa…
“Because you don’t seem to want to hear my side of the story-”
“Enough!”
Feeling a stinging pain on my cheek and a ringing in my ear, I quickly regained my balance.
He… hit .
W-Why? What had I done wrong?
It wasn’t anything too surprising.
After all, we had sparred nurous tis, and against a skilled swordsman like him, I was bound to get struck more often than not.
But this… this was different.
“Just apologize, Leon! Apologize for doing sothing wrong, and then I’ll take you over to Somal, where you’ll apologize to him!”
What?
Who the hell was Somal?
And why the hell was I supposed to be apologizing for!?
“Why!?” I asked.
“Because no son of mine- scratch that, no son of Zenith’s, bullies the weak!”
As if being hit by another smack, I felt the world co to a stop as my chest clenched in sadness.
No… perhaps it was confusion?
I an, why was he saying such a hurtful thing?
Or maybe it was the feeling of betrayal.
No… that wasn’t it either.
I just felt overwhelmingly… lonely?
Yeah, lonely sounded like the right word.
He was right, after all… Mama… wasn’t my Mama… and Paul wasn’t my father.
Even though I knew he didn’t an it, especially since he now looked quite shocked at what he just said… the reminder still hurt all the sa.
And so, with my emotions in turmoil, and my chest swirling in a lost sense of confusion at the feelings I felt, I did the only thing that felt natural.
Run.
“Ah! Leon!” I heard Mama shout from behind .
But with my vision blurry with tears, I ignored it in favour of running into the night toward the hill where I practice magic.
— Roxy Migurdia —
“I don’t think Leon is the type of kid to hit soone without a reason,” I said to the people gathered at the table.
Paul had co ho fairly irate at his son, saying that he had gotten into a dispute with another village boy… but I was quite skeptical at the whole thing.
After all, Leon was extrely mature for his age, and he was also a kind child.
But then again, he hadn’t had much interaction with kids his age, and I knew that if soone pissed him off the right way, he wouldn’t idly sit by.
“Haa… I know, but since Leon has always been a perfect kid, Paul’s quite worried about not being a good parent. Especially with Rudy growing up. I just hope it works out okay…” Zenith said worriedly.
“I’m sure it will. After all, Young Master Leon should be able to explain himself clearly, and as Miss Roxy said, I doubt he is at fault,” Lilia added.
“Yes, you’re right. I just-”
Smack!
The sharp sound of a hand hitting skin resounded from past the doorway.
“D-Did he…?” Zenith voiced in shock.
Haa… for so reason, I had predicted sothing like this happening.
While a great swordsman, Paul left much to be desired in terms of emotional maturity.
As Lilia and Zenith made their way toward the door, with following closely behind, we heard what seed to be the finale of their argunt.
“Because no son of mine- scratch that, no son of Zenith’s, bullies the weak!”
Even my eyes widened at the words.
After all, to an orphaned child, especially one with such a close bond to their mother, that was not sothing ant to be said.
Especially by soone ant to care for them.
Zenith and Lilia, quickly getting over their montary shock, ran out to open the door just in ti to see the sprinting Leon jump over the rock wall of the garden.
“Ah! Leon!”
Zenith's cry fell on deaf ears as she then turned to Paul, her expression the pure incarnation of anger.
Smack!
A second slap resounded through the air.
“What in the hell do you think you just did, Paul? You wanted to ‘leave it to you’, huh? Well, look what good that did!” she shouted.
Lilia, on the other hand, just glared at the man, though sohow her gaze felt sharper than any sword even the greatest dwarves could craft.
“I-I… ssed up,” Paul said. “I didn’t an it like that-”
“Damn right, you ssed up!” Zenith shouted.
“I told you that that wench was eyeing you the whole ti and that the kid didn’t even look you in the eyes when telling you what happened! But noooo~ No way, Zenith! ‘This is the perfect chance to instill so discipline into him!’ Into my sweet boy! My sweet boy that is supposed to be ours!” Zenith lectured him, poking his chest with each word. “Didn’t you always complain to about your father? Hmm? Aren’t you just doing the sa thing as him right now!?”
At least Paul has the conscience to be ashad, his head hanging ekly as he took in his wife’s words.
But that didn’t really help with the situation at hand.
“I swear to Millis, if Leon feels worried when hugging even once after this, there’s no sex for a month! No, a year! Haa…” Zenith then turned to . “Roxy, can you go check on him please? I don’t… I don’t know if I’m the best one to go get him.”
“Of course, Zenith.”
Leaving the shaken Paul and the two irate won, I followed the path Leon took.
Damn, I sotis forgot because of his age, but Leon was already an Interdiate-rank swordsman, which ant that he was way faster than .
But luckily, it didn’t seem that he had run far, as I only had to reach the top of the nearest hill before noticing the balled form of my student leaning against the tree.
“Hic-! Hic-! Gah, sniff!”
I couldn’t help but frown a little at the sight.
No, perhaps a little wasn’t correct.
I was frowning quite a bit.
I… felt pretty close to both of the boys I was teaching, but especially Leon.
It… didn’t feel good, seeing him like this, all sad and alone.
It reminded of my old self.
Luckily, that ant I knew how to make him feel better too… At least, I hoped so.
Sliding down next to him, I hesitantly reached my arm over his shoulder, pulling him closer to .
“...Are you alright?” I asked softly.
He only nodded his head in response, lowering his face to his pulled-up knees.
I… sotis forgot… No, I often forgot, that Leon was still a child.
After all, when you’re from a race that stops growing once you reach the age of a teenager, age is always a tough subject.
And considering this child was teaching how to perform what was seen as the pinnacle technique for magic in chantless casting, it was understandable why I viewed him as a bit older than he was.
But seeing him like this… yeah.
Leon, for all his genius and maturity, was still but a child.
For so reason, the thought brought a small smile to my face.
Why was it?
I felt the sa thing whenever he got embarrassed around too.
I guess… it was because he looked cute.
“I-I’m fine. Just… can you stay here for a little bit? With ?” he asked with a nasal voice.
Yes… this childish side of Leon was indeed very cute.
“Of course,” I said, smiling down at the boy. “Leon… I can understand what you’re feeling, you know.”
It wasn’t exactly the sa, but it was close enough.
Plus, Leon always liked to use analogies during his explanations.
Combing my hand through his hair, I continued, “I told you about my race, right?”
“T-The Migurd race?” he asked.
“Exactly,” I nodded. “But I never told you about their special trait.”
He turned his head to look at curiously, “Special trait?”
“I suppose you could call it a unique form of magic. But all the mbers of my village can communicate telepathically with each other… all except ,” I said, looking off to the distance with a sad smile.
“Oh… that must have been… lonely,” Leon said, cuddling closer to in a sign of affection.
Ignoring the way my stomach tingled at the closeness, I continued, “It was. And I left my holand because of it. But… I feel much better now.”
“That’s… good. You’re… important to .”
Guh! T-That… I knew he wasn’t saying such things to flirt with , but that only made my heart flutter even more.
“A-And you’re important to too, Leon. So? Did you want to talk about what actually happened today?” I asked.
Nodding his head, he then goes on to explain about his walk on the town, the bullies he scared off, and the new friend he played with.
Slowly, the sadness on his face morphed into an excited smile, one that could charm even the coldest of hearts, as he talked about his day.
Just why… why couldn’t he have been ten- no, nine years older?
Haa… but I suppose this was nice too.
— Information on the Six-Faced World —
Continents of the World
Central Continent: The largest continent in the central and western parts of the world. The human race makes up the majority of the population.
Millis Continent: In the southern part of the world, it connects the Central and Demon Continents. The northern part of the Continent is where the Great Forest is located, the holand of the Beast race and elves. In the south is the Holy Millis Kingdom, the world’s second-ranked country and ho of the Millis Church.
Begaritt Continent: In the southwest part of the world, it has nurous labyrinths and many strong monsters. As a result, the majority of the population are adventurers or ex-adventurers.
Demon Continent: In the eastern part of the world, it is a Continent full of strong monsters and many different races of Demons. As the fertility of the land is very low, the majority of the population is very poor.
Heaven Continent: In the northern part of the world, this Continent is 3000 ters above sea level, making it extrely difficult to visit. This is also where the Heavenly race lives.
— Rudeus Greyrat —
I didn’t really understand what was going on.
Paul was quite angry at my brother for… so reason, and then they argued before Leon eventually ran off.
Knowing the idiot that was my father, it was definitely his fault, but I was still confused about what made my extrely mature brother act so… childish.
But then again, he was truly a kid, unlike , so I guess that was natural.
As for how I knew he was a normal kid, well, I had said a few things in Japanese, and even the small bit of English that I knew, in an attempt to get a rise out of him to see if he was like .
But alas, he would only look at confused, before trying to correct with a similarly sounding word in the Human tongue.
But putting that aside… I was confused.
“What happened, Mother?” I asked Zenith.
Both she and Lilia were quite mad, and Paul had been banished to sit alone at the table.
Rubbing my hair, she answered my question, “Your father said sothing very an to your brother. Haa… I just hope Roxy can cheer him up.”
Sothing an?
But… it didn’t sound that bad to , though.
At least not compared to so of the stuff Paul had said during training.
And the slap… well, he had gotten worse from Paul’s sword, so I don’t think it was that either.
Maybe it was the stress? Or perhaps the accusation alone.
But still…
“Why did it make Leon so sad, though?” I asked.
“Well… you see… your brother didn’t exactly co from like you did,” Zenith explained. “Though I love him all the sa.”
Ah… so he was adopted.
That explained a few things.
There was the fact that he had brown eyes, when Paul had green and Zenith had blue.
Also, there was the fact that they had settled down to have , despite being adventurers, while Leon was still a baby.
“Oh… when did you take him in then?” I asked.
Zenith leaned back against the chair, “Back when your father and I were adventurers, there was a bandit attack against a nearby village, and unfortunately, I couldn’t save his mother. His birth mother, that is.”
Ah… well, if Leon saw his mother die, then it would definitely explain why he was such a mama’s boy.
“We adventured with him for a while, since I promised to take care of him, and then once we had you, we settled down-”
She was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, revealing the ever-beautiful loli-sensei Roxy, and my brother holding her hand beside her, eyes red from obvious crying.
Getting so damn close to Roxy…
Hmph! I’ll let this go just this once, brother, but only because Paul did sothing stupid!
— Leon Greyrat —
Hesitantly, I revealed myself from behind Roxy’s robes.
It definitely felt embarrassing that she saw break down like that, but at the sa ti, I wouldn’t want anyone else to calm down.
“L-Leon, son… I… I’m sorry,” Paul said, bowing his head.
The expression he was wearing was so different from his usual confident smirk.
It felt heavy with worry, so I knew he was truly remorseful about what he said.
Crossing my arms, I tilted my chin up in the air. “I-It’s fine. I should expect that from an idiot like you.”
“Haha, yeah… I really am an idiot. But… you know I didn’t an what I said, right?” he asked.
“Yeah… I know.”
I’m then smothered in one of Mama’s suffocating hugs, and feeling her warmth, I felt the last of my fears hidden in my mind washed away.
“My baby Leon… you know I love you so much, right? And I’m so proud to have you as my own… You understand that, right?” she choked out.
“Yeah… I know, Mama,” I said in return.
Giving one last squeeze, she then knelt, her eyes eting mine as she gently stroked my hair.
“Can you tell what happened today?” she asked softly.
I send a cautionary glance toward Paul, to which he grimaced while scratching his beard and averting his eyes.
Would he let talk?
“Yeah… sorry about that too…”
“Don’t worry, Leon. Just tell them what happened. I’m sure your mother already has an idea,” Roxy added from behind.
Nodding my head, I then went over what had happened today, and how I stopped the three bullies, which was where the misunderstanding likely ca from.
After I finished talking, Paul spoke up, “Shit… so it was sothing like that… I’m sorry, kid.”
“It’s fine. You already apologized, after all,” I said in response.
With how much pride the man had, an honest apology was more than enough.
Plus, seeing Lilia, Roxy, and Mama all send him stern glares helped ease my anger.
Mama’s mouth then curled into a teasing smile.
“Sylphiette, huh? How interesting… is she cute?”
For so reason, she then looked over to Roxy as well.
“Uhh… I guess? She’s nice, and she really likes magic. I was actually hoping I could push my swordsmanship lessons until a little later so I could keep her company during the day,” I said, looking over to Paul.
“Hmm… I don’t know-”
“Paul.” “Master.”
Both Mama and Lilia interjected with icy tones.
The man quickly raised his hands in defeat.
“Kidding! I was just kidding! Just don’t be out too late, okay? It’s dangerous to train in the dark.”
And so, with our bonds reforged, and our grievances put behind us, the family then sat down for dinner, putting an end to the eventful day.
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