Chapter 25: 25 – Young Child – A Sinister Presence

The day after I had a heart-to-heart with my mom, I stayed home to interrogate- I mean, have my sword lessons with my dad.

Mom was out with Miss Lilia on some errands in the village so it was just us two guys at home until evening.

Which meant I had all the time in the world to get my answers.

I swung my wooden sword, parrying my Dad's attack. After that, I frowned and said, "Hey Dad."

"Yeah?"

I stared at the white mist swirling around him and said, "Have you noticed anything strange recently?"

My dad swung his sword again and then frowned. "Not really. Why?"

"Because Mom's been acting weird around you, and I wondered if you knew why."

My dad stumbled, missing his next swing. After that, he laughed and said, "D-Don't worry about it, Rudy. It's just-"

"You haven't done anything with Miss Lilia, have you?"

My dad flinched.

I narrowed my eyes.

My dad stared at me and then sighed. "No, Rudy." He let out a strained smile and said, "I haven't done anything."

He hadn't done anything 'yet.'

My dad didn't say it, but I could hear it in his tone of voice.

This was a problem.

I knew that there was something between my dad and Miss Lilia a while back now, but it hadn't seem like anything would happen because of it. After all, if Miss Lilia had heard the same things I did for the past five years late at night, washed the sheets afterwards, and still didn't do anything, I was pretty sure that nothing would happen.

Until recently.

It was a slight change. A faint longing in the way Miss Lilia looked at my dad. The way my dad's gaze lingered a bit more on Miss Lilia when he looked at her.

It didn't seem like anything had happened yet. As irresponsible as Dad was, he was also honorable. And he cared about our family too much to do anything to ruin it. Not to mention that Miss Lilia was too respectful to let that line be crossed.

But all it would take was one mistake. And the way things were headed, it seemed like that mistake was inevitable.

Mom had noticed too. She tried to hide it from me, but from how frantic Mom and Dad's night sessions were recently, as well as how clingy she had been with me, she was starting to get worried.

My frown deepened and I raised my wooden sword.

My dad flinched.

"...That's the sign of a guilty conscience, Dad."

He blinked and then laughed. "Rudy's as smart as always." He shook his head. "But don't worry. Nothing's wrong. And nothing's going to happen, okay?"

"...Okay. Then before we get back to it..."

"Yes?"

"Is Miss Lilia your first love? And is that why you said time heals all wounds?"

"Gah?!" My dad stumbled.

At the same time, the white mist started swirling more around him.

I narrowed my eyes and then shot out a cloud of my mana to wrap around my dad.

Like before, I heard static. And in that static, I heard another voice.

'Norn... Dead end. Get rid... Affair?'

After hearing that, the sinister white mist vanished again.

I frowned, mulling over those words.

Norn and dead end...

Norn was the name of a Norse goddess of fate, wasn't it? And dead end... then there was "get rid" and affair...

Did someone curse my dad? No, was there someone trying to break up our family?

Lilia seemed to have a mysterious past of some kind and there was clearly a history of some sort with her and my dad. Then there was the fact that my dad never talked about his side of the family other than that he was some noble...

"Y-You're imagining things, Rudy."

My dad's voice drew me out of my thoughts.

He laughed and said, "I knew Lilia from a while back, but t-there definitely wasn't anything like that."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I'm going to ask Miss Lilia too, you know?"

"Gah!? Really?! T-That... I mean... B-But I haven't even told your mom yet!"

"...So there is something."

"Kuh..."

-LIV-

Long story short... My dad was a piece of shit. Lower than low. One of the worst scumbags to ever walk the Earth... or whatever this world was called.

For once, he didn't bother dodging and let me smack him around a few times with my wooden sword.

I healed him, of course. But then he went back inside, downed a giant mug of mead and knocked out.

Didn't blame him though considering all that he admitted.

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But now...

I sat at the kitchen table and rubbed my face. "What the heck do I do?"

To sum up the current situation...

When my dad was 14, he joined a dojo where Miss Lilia trained. Since she was pretty, he started messing around trying to flirt with her. But since Miss Lilia wasn't used to that sort of attention, and since my dad was even dumber than he was now, he thought she was into him. Then, at night, he snuck in and had loveydovey time with Miss Lilia.

Non-consensual loveydovey time.

My dad thought it was great. And Miss Lilia didn't push him off or anything, so he thought she was into it. But when he finished, he realized that Miss Lilia was sobbing. And not happy tears.

So of course my dad did the right thing and stuck around... not.

Like the dumb kid he was, he bailed.

He was lucky too. It seemed like Miss Lilia kept quiet about the incident and she didn't get pregnant.

It was a story that would make anybody think he was the worst scumbag to ever walk the planet.

Of course, since my dad had a hell of a guilty conscience, he just dumped all of this info on me without thinking about the fact that I was still just a kid who would probably be crushed by the revelation.

Again, my dad was lucky since I wasn't just an ordinary kid.

If I was though, I probably would have left with Mom, told Miss Lilia, and then never contacted Dad again.

But I wasn't, so it was fine.

Still... what a freaking mess.

My dad admitted that he loved Mom, but that he was starting to get feelings for Miss Lilia. Or rather, that his feelings from back then were coming back. And from what I could tell, even though their last encounter ended in a crime, Miss Lilia still had a soft spot for my dad.

Maybe that thing about never forgetting the person who you had your first time with was true...? Even if they were scum?

...No, that scum had been cleaned up over the years, so I guess it made sense.

I didn't know how he was back then, but right now my dad was also fairly attractive. Not to mention he was about 10000000000 times more mature and responsible than that asshole who pumped and dumped Miss Lilia back then after attacking her in the middle of the night.

At least, he better be unless he wanted me to beat the crap out of him again and not heal him up.

But now we had a big problem.

My dad said he wouldn't do anything... but this was my dad. He liked women, food, women, alcohol, women, swordfighting, and women. The fact that he'd held out this long considering his apparent wild youth was actually incredible. Still, it would take just one slipup for our family to collapse.

Miss Lilia was professional... but she also loved me like her own kid. And I didn't doubt that she had started to wonder what it would be like to raise a child of her own... and especially a child with my dad. Not to mention all of her pent-up sexual frustration from the past five years from hearing my mom and dad go at it every night. And since she had a soft spot for my dad, if he asked her... No, if he showed up in her room late at night, she probably wouldn't resist.

Well, I was pretty sure it would be 100% consensual this time around though.

But then there was my mom.

I could already see how worried she was about my dad and Miss Lilia. Not to mention the fact that it had been five years of nighttime intimacy and there still wasn't a single sign of a sibling for me.

Considering how young my mom was, that fact definitely weighed on her. Then there was the fact that I had subconsciously run to Miss Lilia way back when I panicked and blew up the storage room with <Splash Flow>... Yeah, my mom was definitely having some self-esteem issues as a mother and wife.

I was trying my best to help keep her spirits up, but words could only do so much. She was happy, but that didn't get rid of her worries.

Then there was this damned sinister white mist that seemed to spring up when I least expected it and tried to drive a wedge between everyone.

I noticed. Each time it showed up, whoever it swirled around started having weird thoughts.

First it was me, then my mom, then my dad... That sinister white mist was definitely trying to break us apart. I didn't know why it was trying to do that, but I knew for a fact that was what it was trying to do.

The problem was, I couldn't keep dispersing it like this each time. And I definitely couldn't watch my parents and Miss Lilia 24/7.

Not only that, but that sinister white mist... person... entity wasn't *actively* doing anything. It just seemed to be highlighting certain thoughts and fears.

But that was worse.

If it was something solid, I could fight it. If all I had to do was just block it off, I would.

But even if I did... the damage was already done. The fuse on this ticking timebomb was already lit and just waiting to go off.

If my dad gave in just once. If Miss Lilia didn't refuse. If my mom found out...

There was no way. I wouldn't be able to salvage it.

But then... if that happened-

Wait.

...Maybe.

My mom was someone who cared a lot about principles and responsibility.

My dad... well, it didn't really matter what he thought. It was his goddamned fault we were in this mess, so I'd make him deal with it.

Miss Lilia... she was professional, but she also had a soft heart. And if my mom approved, she would fall in line quick enough.

...I was going to need to do a lot of acting.

Fortunately, with this cute face of mine and my complete lack of pride, I'm a natural scammer!

...God I hoped this worked. If it didn't...

No, no. Positive thoughts, me. Let's not start planning world domination and plotting to overthrow the heavens just yet.

Remember, you like this world. It hasn't done you wrong yet, so there's no need to burn it to the ground. Besides, Master Roxy is a good person, and you don't want to make her disappointed, right? What would she think if her precious student went around destroying everything in sight? Not to mention the disappointment Miss Lilia and Mom will have if you become a tyrannical demon lord... So there's no need to go overboard, right?

Right.

So let's not test those particular magical theories we have about creating God-Ranked magic by chaining three-dimensional magic circles in an Archimedes Spiral with a Laplace Transform to integrate imaginary energy with real energy into a complex magical formula that could potentially create a space-time collapse.

Definitely no need for that.

...And definitely *do* need to forget about that. Because if mind reading was a thing, we definitely don't want anyone else figuring out how that works...

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