Chapter 142: 141 – Mission Prep (1/2)

A peaceful and enjoyable family outing. Fun in the sun, good food, and cheerful banter all around.

That was the plan for the day, and things went as planned.

And then it was night. Usually, that would mean dragging Sylphy and Eris off to bed before they jumped me, but tonight was different.

Sylphy and Eris stayed to keep an eye on the kids with Aunt Therese and Rostelina.

Meanwhile, I went to have a chat with my dear old father, my son, and the man calling himself Pierre but who was really Laplace and may or may not be an alternate version of myself from another timeline.

Moonlight shone through the window of a tavern I rented out for the night.

Sitting at the table with a glass of red wine, I glanced around at the men joining me.

Across from me was Dad.

Unlike me, Sylphy, Eris... and pretty much everyone else, he looked the same as I remembered him. The only real difference was that his hair had grown a bit longer and he seemed a bit more calm. That, and that the silver mana he cultivated from his sword training had become a bit transparent.

To my left, there was Pierre. Rostelina's husband.

...I really hoped that he wasn't really an alternate me, because the thought of being with Sylphy's grandma was a bit weird.

Though, considering that Rudeus had been such a pervert... and considering the vastness of the multiverse, I guess it was possible.

After all, Rudeus had been slothful and lustful, leading him to become a super edgelord after messing up a lot.

I personally suffered from pride before getting knocked out of it.

Maybe there were other versions of 'Rudeus Greyrat' who fell to different sins and ended up with different lives out there.

All I knew though was that if they showed up here, I was definitely going to murder them. Too risky not to.

After all, if they fell prey to a sin, who knew what kind of weirdo they ended up to be? And if they managed to arrive here as well... yeah. Better to not risk it.

But anyway, Pierre was sitting to my left. Since the jig was up, he had taken off his mask to reveal his face.

Surprisingly, he didn't look much like me. If anything, he looked a bit more like Dad. Or maybe he just looked like a Greyrat in general? He had light green eyes and that purple/indigo colored hair still, but his overall appearance seemed like he was related to us somehow. Something about the eyes and cheekbones maybe.

That aside, Roland was sitting on my right.

Like Pierre, Roland's face was on full display, having taken off his armor and swapping out for a casual shirt and pants.

He was also staring at Pierre with a strange expression. Guarded, but also confused. With arms crossed, Roland frowned and tilted his head, causing his light green hair to shift to the side.

I didn't blame him. Even if Pierre had spent the whole day acting like a normal person/cool uncle to the family, it was hard to get over the bomb shells he dropped.

Which brought us to the main point.

I set my glass down on the table and said, "So let's get down to business."

Dad took a swig from his own glass of wine and then shook his head. "Blech. Couldn't you have ordered us something else, Kid?"

Pierre sipped on his own wine and said, "What's the matter, Paul? Too refined for your tastes?"

"More like too uptight." Dad set his glass aside and said, "We're having a chat, so we should have some beer or mead, not this fancy stuff."

Roland chuckled and said, "You would have gotten along with my friends, Grandfather. Pax always said beer was better to relax than wine."

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Dad pointed at him and said, "See? Your son gets it, Kid."

I stared at him for a bit and then said, "Since when have things gone well when you're 'relaxed', Dad?"

He stopped to think about it and said, "...Meeting your Mom and having you? Besides." He sipped on his wine again and then raised the glass towards me. "Since when have things gone right when I get too serious?"

"...Good point."

Pierre nodded. "I agree. Now." He looked towards me and said, "What did you want to talk about, Rudy?" He gestured towards Paul and Roland and said, "Did you just want a guy's night out, or is there something more serious?"

"...It's obvious that it's serious, isn't it?"

Dad stared at me and clicked his tongue. "Damn. And I thought we were just going to catch up over some good drinks and food." He pointed at me and said, "You can't lead your Dad on like that by saying you're renting out a whole tavern, Kid."

I bit my tongue to stop myself from retorting about him leading on all sorts of people when he was younger. I was better than that.

Instead, I nodded and said, "We can do that afterwards. For now though, I wanted to talk about the future."

Roland straightened.

Pierre did as well.

And hearing my words, Dad's relaxed expression vanished, turning serious.

Since I had their attention, I laced my fingers together and said, "First of all, I know where Mom and Mama Lily are."

Dad's eyes widened for a bit. And then he laughed and let out a relieved smile. "Of course you do." He grinned and then reached over to punch my arm. "Looks like puberty turned you into even more of a genius, eh?"

"It at least helped me get over the idiocy I inherited from you."

Dad leaned back and said, "But what you got from me helped out in bed, right? I mean, from how happy Sylphy and Eris are-"

Roland cleared his throat, shifting a bit in his seat. "...Could we not talk about that?"

Pierre chuckled and said, "Not quite as shameless as your grandfather, are you?" He paused and then said, "Although... Did you ever get a lover, Sieg- I mean, Roland?"

Roland's eyes turned sharp.

I sighed and said, "Could you stop with the mysterious 'I know more than you' bit, Pierre?"

Pierre cleared his throat and leaned back. "Sorry. Bad habit."

Note to self. Don't act like that. It's annoying as all hell.

"Anyway. Mom and Mama Lily." I continued and said, "It turns out that Being W ended up crunching the fabric of space and time into a weird mess. Because of that, they somehow ended up in Roland's timeline."

Dad paused. "Wait." He pointed at Roland and said, "He's from another timeline? I thought you and Sylphy just went at it like bunnies and plopped him in a time incubator or something."

"..."

I grabbed my wine and drained the glass.

Dammit. Really starting to wish my body wasn't so good at clearing out poisons. Could really use a bit of a buzz right now to deal with my Dad...