Chapter 42: 42 – Child – Inversion Impulse

Time passed. For a few weeks after the incident, I was stressed out of my mind that knights would come marching in branding Dad a traitor and trying to execute everyone in the village.

Because of that, it seemed like I was neglecting Sylphy a bit... At least enough to where she got worried.

So after the one day where she quietly held my hand and asked me to play over at her house- No, to just quietly read together... After that, I decided to take it easy for a bit.

It wasn't good to be acting like this. First of all... First of all, I was still just a kid. Even if I might have access to a bunch of random bits of information that made me smarter than I was... and even if I was technically a reincarnated adult... Er, I didn't have any of the life experience to go along with it.

Well, other than the soul-rending regret that occasionally still gnawed at my heart. But that was getting better. Helped a lot that Mom and Dad and Mama Lily were all proud of me. Also helped a lot that my sisters were super cute and didn't look at me like I was the source of all their misery and despair.

Oh, right. I got another sister now.

Unlike my first sister's dramatic birth, my second sister was born a few months later without much hassle.

I went out to play with Sylphy one day reading some more books with her, and when I came back home, Dad was there crying tears of happiness with a baby girl in his arms... and Mama Lily already back on her feet.

Mama Lily was definitely built different, just like Sylphy it seemed. At least when it came to giving birth.

And judging from how in disbelief my mom was when I got back... yeah. Definitely built different.

My first baby sister was named Norn. By Mom, of course. Dad wanted to call her a boring name like Jane.

Seriously. Not that there was anything wrong with the name 'Jane'... but considering we lived in a world where the norm seemed to be fancier European style names, a plain name like that...

Well, Mom wasn't having it, so Norn it was.

...Though it didn't seem like she knew the part about Norns being goddesses in charge of fate. A bit ironic considering that Whitey seemed to be doing his best to get rid of-

Wait. Norn, dead end... Affair...

Huh.

I thought that guy was just talking about random gibberish, but...

Note to self: investigate the hypothesis that Whitey might actually be similar to a certain Being X and trying to influence things in this world.

Also investigate the hypothesis that Whitey might be trying to ruin my life in some way and make me blow my lid.

...Actually, that seems pretty reasonable.

In that case... Yeah, 'Being W' was more fitting. Also gotta work on memory palace techniques in that case. In the off chance that Whitey- I mean, 'Being W' was a divine being and tried to contact me through a mental connection, I definitely needed to show him just what a *real* god could do when given absolute authority over a world.

Just like in lucid dreams-

Oh wait. That might actually be handy.

Second note to self: See if you can figure out a way to induce lucid dreaming. That would definitely be a way to add more hours to the day for magic research and save me time fleshing out hypotheses.

...What was I talking about again?

Oh, right. Sisters.

Anyway, first baby sister was Norn. She was a beautiful, normal, and very loud baby girl. Also didn't seem to be a reincarnator like me. Well, unless she was a world-class actor. In that case, kudos to her. Wish she wouldn't though. It'd be nice to chat to someone about Earth and see if I was actually remembering real things.

My second baby sister, born to Mama Lily, was named Aisha. Unlike with Norn, Dad actually came up with the name. It seemed like he took Mom's disdain to heart and thought hard about it.

...Though Mama Lily told me later that she was originally going to go with Jane since she liked it, but went along with Dad instead since my mom seemed to be happy about it too.

But anyway, Norn and Aisha. My two new baby sisters. With them born, the days became much shorter by virtue of having to take care of two very needy additions to our family.

...Mostly because my mom and dad were terrible at actual parenting. Thankfully, Mama Lily wasn't, and I had baby siblings in my previous life, so I somehow remembered how to hold, entertain, and feed my new sisters.

Somehow.

Memory was weird.

Anyway, more time passed.

My time with Sylphy somehow turned more into story time as we teamed up to play with my sisters to give my parents some rest.

My mom and my dad were sleep deprived and mostly zombies in the day until I jolted them awake with some light healing magic.

...Not sure if it was healthy, but they looked like they'd drop dead from sheer exhaustion otherwise, so hopefully it was.

Though Mama Lily was actually super energetic even while waking up in the middle of the night to take care of Aisha.

Again, built different. Though maybe it was because she really enjoyed the unconditional love that Aisha gave her in return and was high off of being a mother and all the feel good hormones considering how terrible her life had been up until now.

Probably that.

Dad was out of the house more often these days, having to put in extra work to make up for the new mouths to feed. He also seemed to be hard at work trying to convince his boss of something since I noticed him using his office more often both writing and reading letters.

But things seemed to be fine. He was the same as usual during our training sessions... Ah, no. He was annoyingly stronger than usual.

To make sure that didn't happen in the future, I destroyed my notebook. Couldn't risk another genius finding that and becoming as stupid broken as my dad. I had memorized everything anyway, so I could always recreate it if I needed to.

But anyway, time marched on. Peaceful days once again.

I turned seven years old, the seasons came and went... And then when winter rolled around my dad made an announcement.

It was during the evening. Dinner time.

Laws had already come to pick Sylphy up, so it was just our little family. Me, sitting next to Dad. Mom across from him and Mama Lily across from me. Then Norn and Aisha fast asleep in cradles next to Mom and Mama Lily.

After my dad finished eating, he set down his silverware and said, "I'm going to the Citadel of Roa to talk with my uncle and cousin."

Silence.

My mom responded first. She frowned and said, "Why? I thought you cut all ties with your family, Paul?"

Mama Lily nodded and said, "Yes. And the Greyrats in general are infamous for being despicable nobles. Is it not better to disassociate from that crowd?"

Paul laughed and said, "Yeah. We Greyrats... speaking about my side of the family, at least. We're pretty bad. I mean, look at me, right?"

I frowned. "Dad. You're a good person. Stop that."

Paul paused and then a weird expression crossed his face. Kind of a smile, but also kind of a frown. Like he wasn't sure what expression to decide on. But then he sighed and settled with a faint smile before patting my head. "Thanks, Son."

That was a red flag.

I felt my stomach churn and said, "You aren't going to turn yourself in or anything right? Or admit to crimes? I thought you said that the knights situation was settled? Is it not settled?"

"Rudy-"

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I stood up. I felt my heart pound in my chest, but forcibly kept it calm. No, I tried to keep it calm. But I couldn't stop thinking about it.

What if?

If something happened to Dad...

"No." I shook my head and then grabbed his hand, pulling it down. "NO! I won't let you go!"

Norn sniffled and then started crying. Shortly after that, Aisha started crying as well.

My mom stood up and walked over to grab Norn. Cradling Norn against her chest, my mom cooed and said, "There, there, Norn. It's fine."

Mama Lily picked Aisha up as well. Cradling her, Mama Lily smiled and said, "Calm down, little one. Everything will be alright."

When I saw that, I flinched. But I didn't back down. I glared at my dad and said, "I won't let you go. If you're going, I'm coming with you."

My dad frowned and then he cocked his head towards the front door and said, "Let's have this talk outside. We shouldn't wake up your sisters."

"...Fine." I stood up and walked out first.

As I did, I heard my mom call out to my dad. "Paul-"

"It's fine, Zenith. We won't be long."

A gust of wind, carrying with it powdery snow.

I scowled and then swung my left hand, batting it all away.

At that time, my dad walked out. He stared at me and said, "You seem pretty pissed about my little field trip, Rudy."

"Don't joke around with me, Dad!" I glared at him and said, "Why are you going to meet them? Tell me."

"Maybe your old man just wants to catch up and make amends? Why are you so worried?"

"Because that's not why." I narrowed my eyes and said, "If it was, we would all go."

My dad raised an eyebrow. "In this weather? When your sisters are barely a few months old?"

"If you know that, why are you going now? They need you here more than ever! Mom does! Mama Lily does! ...I do!"

'I'm... I'm so proud of you.'

A phantom of a memory I didn't have anymore. A soft and tired voice I couldn't even remember.

I felt my stomach churn and then clenched my fists. Glaring at my dad, I said, "If you're going to try and talk things over because the incident with the knights caused problems, I'm coming with you."

I couldn't allow it. I couldn't lose my dad again. Not like this.

My dad fiddled with the sword he always carried on his left side. "And what makes you think I'd let you?"

I grabbed the wand I always carried on my right side and said, "What makes you think I'd let *you*?" I swung it up, causing the winds to howl and ice to scatter. "I'm not letting my dad do something stupid to get himself killed."

"...Karma really is a bitch, huh?"

"Wha-?"

A sudden burst of killing intent from behind.

But it was different. Not my Dad's.

I flung out my left hand and threw up a wall of barriers. Five magic circles stacked on top of each other.

The sound of shattering glass. All of them broken in a single blow. And then a crimson flash aiming for my head.

My eyes widened and then I instinctively sent out a gust of wind, sending me up. When I did, I caught a brief glimpse of my attacker.

A woman with tan skin and a fur coat. A long mane of silver hair, reminiscent of a wolf. One eye was dark, but the other was an eerie green color shining even in the snowy night. But that wasn't all. Unlike my dad, her mana was like a silver sun, blazing throughout her whole body and lighting it up.

A split second. That was how long I had to examine her. And in the next, she was gone.

No, not gone. If she was that fast-!

Five in my left. Six in my right. I quickly formed magic circles and stacked <Magic Barrier> on top of itself. The moment I did that, I saw a crimson arc from above.

A heaving impact. The sound of shattering glass. But this time, it didn't make it all the way through. Nine broke, but two remained.

The woman pressed against me with her sword, sparks flying as she tried to break through my last two barrier spells. But as I stared at her, I noticed that she wasn't focusing on that.

Instead, she was staring at me. Specifically, at my eyes. "...Natural Demon Eyes?"

I clicked my tongue and then swept my wand out again, blasting her with a six-fold <Wind Ball>.

At least, that was what I planned.

But before I could even start that, she pulled her sword back and then kicked me to the ground.

"Kuh!" I got the wind knocked out of my lungs, but I smacked my chest with healing mana and quickly stood back up, glaring at her.

The woman fell to the ground, landing with a soft impact. After that, she sheathed her sword and tilted her head, examining me.

My dad walked over to her and said, "What do you think, Ghyslaine?"

"Not bad." The woman... No, Ghyslaine nodded her head and said, "Another year or so and he'd be a monster. I've never even heard or seen a magician able to block an attack with barrier spells and react so quickly."

"Right?" My dad turned to look at me. "...But it's still not enough."

"Yeah. If you want to do 'that', he'll get killed before you walk through the front gates."

I grit my teeth and said, "What the hell is going on here, Dad?"

My dad sighed and said, "It'll take too long to explain. And knowing you... No. Knowing your temper, if I do, you'll probably do something reckless. So let's make a deal." He pointed at Ghyslaine and said, "If you beat her, I'll tell you what's going on. If you lose... Well, you stay here to protect your moms and sisters while I make a little trip with this busty big sister."

A lecherous grin. A sly gaze at the woman filled with lust.

The woman noticed and then growled back at him. A playful sound.

I saw red.

"STAY AWAY FROM MY DAD YOU BITCH!"