Chapter 158: The Child Is Father to the Man
A few days later, just as the classes ended I skipped my club activities and rushed straight to Maxwell’s mansion.
“Help , Maxy!” “Who the hell is Maxy! Settle down now.”
Maxwell responded to who was in a state of panic as he made tea. I felt like he was drinking tea whenever I ca here.
But there was no ti for sothing so trivial now.
I then went on to convey my recent worries to him. Honestly, I couldn’t think of anyone less unreliable than him, but he was the only one who knew about my identity. There was no alternative.
“Hmm… it seems to that the environnt is influencing you the most.” “Environnt?” “I an the environnt that surrounds you. Cortina and Finia dress you up, and you also spend ti as a child with Letina and Michelle, so the influence from that is starting to settle into your ntality, is it not?” “You can’t be serious…”
If my lifestyle was eroding my ntality, there was no choice but to change that lifestyle. That ant I had to part with Cortina, Finia, Michelle and Letina.
It may have been to achieve my ideals, but if you asked whether those ideals held enough worth to abandon all that in exchange… Honestly, it would be a no.
To give up my friends for my ideals. The fact that I couldn’t do that was my weakness, and I was well aware of it, but there was no changing my nature.
“T-Then, putting it another way, would I be able to return to normal if I distance myself from them after I get stronger?” “Reid, have you heard of the saying: Habits from childhood follow you to the grave?” “Huh?” “How you live and what you learn as a child has a big influence on your ego. That’s what it ans.”
In other words, the current influence is going to stick to till I die?
“But I’m in my twenties inside, you know? If you add both lives together, I’m already past thirty. I’m finding it hard to buy that stuff about the influence this late in the ga…” “You are a child right now. The current you could be described as soone being forcefully cramd into a child vessel. If that vessel undergoes a change, so would you, whether you want it or not.” “…Wait, so you’re telling I’m in a really bad state right now?” “Reincarnation magic is considered a secret art partially due to such problems.” “Gh…” “However, not all of it is bad, you know?”
He had been explaining things with a serious expression until now, but now his expression twisted up into a crooked grin. I’ve seen that expression in my past life.
It was the sa expression he had back when he instigated Lyell and I to peek at the won’s bath and got us into huge trouble. Incidentally, this geezer quickly vanished from the place and avoided that disaster.
“You have to cajole Elliot now. In which case, having the ntality of a woman would make things more convenient, wouldn’t you say so?” “Not a f?u?c?k?i?n?g chance!” “Co on, while I did say that the influence of infancy is quite extre, I never said it could not be corrected.” “I-Is that so?” “Even the villains can often return back to society after they have redeed and reford themselves, right?” “Now that you ntion it, there’s definitely a pattern there… No, still—” “It is not within my intentions to do sothing that would sadden Cortina. When you return to being a man, wouldn’t she cry if she’s left with an effeminate man instead? This is rely a temporary asure.”
Maxwell admonished with a serious face. His previous expression did a complete turn and was looking extrely sincere now. I didn’t think he was lying now… Well, I’ve been thoroughly deceived by the sa expression in my previous life, though.
“Shall we put this matter off until you make full use of it?” “If you say so, old man… But if things turn for the worse, I’ll seriously be depending on you, okay?” “Leave it to .”
He assured with a tap on his chest. Was this really a wise decision, I wonder…?
In the end, we decided to wait and see for now. With that settled, I had no other choice but to temper myself in the limited ways I had left.
I mostly stopped doing night training sessions with Cloud ever since we started forming parties. With my studies, club activities and hunts after that, adding training to the list was really putting too much burden on , after all.
After I joined the music club, it finally started burdening too much, so I had Cloud join our party, and started training him together with Michelle and Letina.
“We didn’t do today’s hunt due to my circumstances… I probably did sothing bad for Cloud who’s trying to stand on his feet, huh?”
He was trying to beco independent through his inco from our hunts. Rest of what could be counted as consumable at he gave to the orphanage kids as presents. You could say his life depended on it.
Though we did defeat a big ga recently, given the number of people at his place, his savings should be running dry already.
“I should take him to a profitable adventure next ti… Hmm?”
Suddenly, I discovered soone I didn’t expect. It was Elliot, taking a walk downtown all by himself. Naturally, he wasn’t actually alone. There was no knowing when he would be targeted. Priscilla must have been guarding him from sowhere.
Still, with none of my acquaintances around… Wasn’t this actually a perfect chance?
“If I’m going to cajole him, this is the chance, isn’t it?”
There shouldn’t have been anyone familiar except Priscilla around. That also ant Maxwell wasn’t either… So, would it be in my best interest to make arbitrary decisions here, I wonder?
If I wasted ti pondering too much, soone might show up. This situation demanded a prompt decision.
“Oh whatever, might as well get it over with!”
Along with that mutter, I used the ring’s power and changed my appearance.
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