A.N. This is another impulse story that I don't plan on updating too much.

Prologue (1) - Elliot

"Hey Dad, are you sure you're allowed to bring me with you?"

"Don't call me Dad," said the man dragging the boy's arm. "And it's fine. Just don't cause any trouble while you're there."

Currently, the two of them were walking down a luxurious hallway with several servants passing by them. The boy noted that a few of them seemed to give respectful nods to the older man he was following but promptly ignored that fact to instead talk with his new guardian.

"As far as I know, just giving someone the wrong look might end up with me getting executed," the boy replied with a strange cheer to his voice. "And what else do I call you? Uncle Redbat sounds like the name of a slave trader."

Then again, he could just call him by his name. But where was the fun in that?

The mage sighed and released the boy's hand to rub the bridge of his nose. "Just call me Mister."

"Just Mister?"

"Yes," he said with a sort of finality to it.

"So Mister," better not argue with the man for now. "Why exactly are you taking me with you to see the new princess?"

He sighed again, having just explained it to him yesterday. "We're just giving our blessings to the newborn."

"Yeah, but why am I here?" he repeated. "I can understand why you'd need to care about that, but how come I'm going along with you?"

That was on his mind for a while. Who'd seriously let some random child just meet with the newly born Asura Princess? Sure, Derrick - the man he was with - worked for them. But that couldn't have been enough to just allow him to enter the palace. There must be another reason why he was allowed here.

"Because you're going to be the new guardian knight of the princess."

There was silence after he said that.

"...are you serious?"

"Yes."

It took a while for the boy to finally react to the news.

"What the heck!" the boy exploded. "As much as I joke about being your kid, you do know that you can't tell me to do that right?"

Sure, he lived with the man. But that was more because he had nowhere else to go while he was gathering funds. Derrick was just the poor sap who found him after he was cheated out of all his money after a bad day. It wasn't like he was his actual guardian. After all, despite what his appearance suggested, he was a full-grown adult.

"Elliot," the man called out. "Please, just let me explain first."

The boy crossed his arms, waiting for his explanation.

"You're right, I can't tell you what to do. But you still haven't found a job even now, and I figured that if I introduced you to some of my bosses, you might actually earn some money so that you can finally get out of my house."

He winced at that. It was true that he wasn't doing too well, only surviving to this point by basically mooching off of the other man. Something about his appearance seemed to make people think he was boasting when he said that he was a powerful mage. Maybe it was the fact that he looked like he was only seven years old.

Geez, he was just as bad as the Migurd Tribe.

"I'm not gonna have to worry about people talking about my ears right," he said while rubbing said pointed ears in question. He didn't really remember if the Asura Kingdom was racist or not.

"No," was Derrick's reply. "You don't need to worry about your race, but you may need to watch out for a few... handsy nobles."

Elliot didn't understand at first until Derrick gave a pointed look at him. Looking down at himself, he finally gave out a soft 'ah'.

He was a young elven boy after all, and this was the famed Asura Kingdom. No doubt there were hundreds of nobles with a kink for that kind of thing. A shudder went down his back as his imagination ran wild.

"Please tell me the sexual harassment isn't that bad?"

"Funny thing, I just heard a rumor about an underage maid getting pregnant the other day."

"Don't even joke about that!"

Even as he laughed at first, Derrick's face suddenly turned serious. "But I really believe that this job will be good for you."

Elliot paused at that.

"...fine, maybe for a few years. I'm still not completely on board with your idea," he replied. "And besides, I have to get the job first before I worry about anything else."

"As long as you agree," the other man nodded.

}-{

~One Month Later~

"Are you sure they didn't just hire me to be her babysitter?"

Sadly, the decorated wall did not answer him back. It would've surprised him if it did.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Elliot sighed as he quickly went to call for a maid to change the princess' diaper. He could do it himself since he was taught how to change the princess' diapers a few weeks ago. But there was no way he wanted to go through that ordeal again.

But really, who knew that he'd somehow end up becoming the caretaker of the newly born Princess Ariel Anemoi Asura. Certainly not himself, not after everything he knew about the yet-to-be future Queen.

Elliot Wunderkind, that is his new name ever since he awoke in an unnamed dungeon several decades ago. Having somehow found himself in another world with no knowledge of where he was or what language everyone spoke in, it took him several years to recognize that he was in the world of Mushoku Tensei.

Now, he was an eternally young elven boy who traveled the continents trying to make a living off of various jobs he did with his magic. The eternally part was a bit of a surprise to find out after his first decade, but it was something he adapted to.

Elliot left the room once a maid finally came to take care of changing the princess. Sighing to himself, he let himself lean against the wall to relax for a bit.

Now that Princess Ariel was born, it shouldn't be too long before Rudeus came to this world. His memories of the story weren't too clear, but they should be around the same age. It would be nice to meet another person from Earth again, even if Rudeus is from another version of his Earth.

But until then, he'll settle for watching the bratty princess grow up for a few years.

I just recently watched the new trailer for the anime adaptation, and just found myself writing this while the hype was still going. This is another SI story where the main character awakens in an unnamed dungeon as a young elven boy in the world of Mushoku Tensei. So far, he's been in this world for a few years now, and there's still quite a while until the plot starts.

I'm not gonna update this much since I'm focusing on two different projects instead. But I figured I'd post this so that people would enjoy it.