In the fifth month of her pregnancy, the winter nights began to retreat. Reluctantly for now, briefly for now, but the sun had already started to appear more often.
A lesson was in progress.
"Today we are reinforcing the previous topic again," I said. "Reading by the eyes. This will be very useful to you in life."
Buckets of water stood on two sides in front of the students. The task was simple: to douse each other. They could defend, they could attack, but under one condition—under no circumstances look away from the opponent's eyes. They had to both read intentions and hide their own.
I was dedicating a fifth lesson in a row to this.
How slowly they learn.
I lay on the ceiling back down and watched them with closed eyes.
"That kid is distracted again," I muttered. "Every ti he looks around, watches the people around him, when he should only be watching the opponent's eyes."
Poof.
I blew up one of his buckets. He imdiately had only one left. He imdiately looked at —and at that sa mont, his opponent splashed him with water.
I laughed.
Although that kid has been staring at that girl for a long ti.
Yeah... damn.
How could I forget. They are sixteen or seventeen. Their hormones have been raging for a long ti, and I'm even interfering.
Alright. I will use my power.
"You, girl. And you, boy. Against each other now."
Hope and gratitude to fate imdiately flared up in the kid's eyes.
And the girl ca out with this:
"Teacher, but he's a weakling. You always matched opponents by strength. Why do you consider
weak now?"
Sadness and wounded pride instantly appeared in the kid's eyes.
I answered calmly:
"It just seems like you will lose to him."
She imdiately tossed her chin up.
"I will prove to you that you are wrong."
"Go ahead," I said. "Don't let
down."
Bang.
I blew up the buckets of the rest of the students because they got distracted by other people's business again.
"Oh, and I forgot to say," I added lazily. "You can't move from your spot either. According to the rules. Just in case you didn't understand."
I started whispering to the boy from afar:
"Try to lose and you will be running the whole next lesson. Concentrate on winning. Let go of the hormones."
He imdiately turned around.
Idiot, I thought.
The boy was admiring her beauty a bit too much. Way too much.
And why did she get embarrassed? She wasn't embarrassed in front of the others.
I looked at her disapprovingly. She imdiately felt my gaze and imdiately got down to business. Bam—and splashed water right in his face.
The kid waved his hand, and the water went aside.
Then he slowly started turning his wrist. A vortex quietly began to spin in his bucket.
He looked at her in a certain way, causing the girl to get embarrassed again, and he imdiately took advantage of this—sharply splashed water at her. She didn't have ti to react.
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What a MANIPULATOR, I thought. Of course. Used feelings.
I squinted slightly.
What a manipulator of girls, indeed, I repeated ntally.
I won't put him against her again. Although for her, to be honest, it was also a good lesson. She'll have sothing to think about.
When the lesson ended, I left first, and they, as usual, stood for so ti, talking among themselves.
"Yeah, with this teacher, I seem to be really getting stronger," soone said.
"True, his lessons are sotis strange," another added.
"But the way he explains," a third responded. "And he really tries to explain to everyone. And when you don't understand, he cos up separately and explains until you understand."
"He's crazy in the head."
"No, very normal and calm, as for . And always matches opponents by strength. And he doesn't just lie on the ceiling for no reason, but watches us the whole ti."
"We still have a long way to go to reach his level."
"Yeah, exactly."
One of the guys scoffed:
"I don't know, guys. As for , how can such a squirt teach us?"
The girl who had just lost imdiately hit him on the shoulder.
"Don't you dare call him that."
"Oh, co on."
"No, not co on," she cut off. "When you didn't understand anything at all, he hamred the sa topic into you for a whole lesson. And generally, before that, you barely understood water magic."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he answered lazily. "Maybe he's a little bit good, but still gets too arrogant. Haughty, in general."
So seniors were just passing by. One of them heard the last word and stopped.
"Haughty?" he asked again. "Do you even know how old he is?"
The juniors looked at each other.
"He looks fifteen."
The senior looked at them like they were hopeless.
"What are you, fools? He's over a hundred years old, don't you know? He participated in wars in the southern lands."
"Those are all fairy tales."
"Fine," the senior said. "And the fact that he is married to the Supre Archmage, do you consider that a fairy tale too?"
He fell silent.
The senior scoffed and continued:
"My father said he saw their battle. And told
about it in all the details. So he is really strong. You little ones just don't understand how lucky you are to train under him."
I wonder when the child will be born.
I was walking ho and thinking exactly about this. Then I rembered Riza. And her children, supposedly, sat in the belly for a year and a half. Which ans Alastia, most likely, will carry the child for just as long.
A year and a half.
I stopped in the middle of the road.
"Must be tough," I muttered under my breath.
To be honest, I already considered three months a considerable term. And here is a whole year on top. The world is sotis arranged very strangely. Especially in those places where it concerns won, children, and how much patience is needed for all this.
When I returned in the evening, Alastia was already sitting at the table and eating.
I put what I brought next to her, sat opposite, and just wanted to calmly exhale, when she said:
"I talked to Aurora today."
I imdiately raised my head.
"Wow. Unexpected."
"Uh-huh," Alastia nodded, breaking off a piece of bread. "She said she can't wait for
to have the child."
I even froze for a second.
"That's... even more unexpected."
"I thought so at first too," Alastia said with a very strange expression on her face. "And then she added that when he grows up, she will sar him across the floor, and that will be another step towards defeating you one day."
I blinked slowly.
"Uuuuh..." "Pahhaphaphhah," laughter escaped .
Alastia silently looked at . I just as silently looked at her.
Then I carefully clarified:
"So our unborn child already has an enemy?"
"Looks like it."
"Wonderful."
I leaned back and just digested this for a few seconds.
"No, wait," I finally said. "He hasn't even been born yet. He literally hasn't done anything bad to her."
"That doesn't usually stop Aurora."
"And if a girl is born?"
"I think she will sar the girl too."
"What a woman."
Alastia chuckled quietly.
I rubbed my face with my palm.
"I already feel sorry for the child in advance."
"And I don't."
"Why?"
"Because he will be ours."
I looked at her.
Alastia shrugged and finished her piece of bread.
"If he is even a little bit like you, Aurora will regret even approaching."
"If he is like you," I noted, "then Aurora will regret it even faster."
(The author is tired of all these cutesy monts)
Alastia smiled slightly.
"You see. That ans everything is fine."
"No, it's not fine. It's not normal. A child should have a father, a mother, maybe a quiet childhood. And not a personal enemy even before birth."
"You want too much from life."
"Seems like not much."
"No. Not much is that he is born first. And then you can think about quietness."
I sighed.
Overall, there was nothing to argue with.
We ate in silence for a while, then I couldn't hold it in:
"And what did you answer her?"
Alastia looked at
completely innocently.
"That I will try to give birth to soone more venomous."
I coughed.
"What?!"
"What?"
"Did you say that seriously?"
"Of course."
"Alastia."
"Well, what was I supposed to say?" she raised an eyebrow slightly. "'Aurora, please don't touch my future child'? That sounds pathetic."
"And 'I will try to give birth to soone more venomous' sounds good, in your opinion?"
"Very."
I stared at her.
She calmly continued eating, as if we were discussing not the future enmity of an unborn child, but the weather.
"I'm afraid to imagine," I muttered, "what kind of conversations you even have without ."
"Different ones," Alastia responded. "Sotis calm. Sotis fun. Sotis you imdiately want to go and hit soone."
"I see. Female friendship."
"We are not friends."
She quietly scoffed, and then suddenly said:
"Actually, Aurora was almost in a good mood."
"Almost?"
"Almost. Until she started talking about you."
"That's already habitual."
"But she spoke about the child even with so interest."
I sat in silence for a while, then said anyway:
"That ans we will need to raise them right from the start."
Alastia put down her spoon.
"How is that?"
"Well... so they don't get sared across the floor."
She gave
a long look.
"Great plan."
"What? It's a good plan."
"Very. Reliable. Deep."
"Are you mocking ?"
"A little."
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