*-Rudeus-*

"I hope you understand."

Currently I was sitting in a kind of meeting room. In front of me was Philip, Hilda, and Sauros.

To make a long story short, after the kidnapping incident the three of them aren't comfortable with Eris leaving Roa. Understandable on their part, but it puts me in a bit of a pickle. Short term at least. Right now I had 5 other students back at Buena. Only Phoebe could realistically move here, but the others had to stay.

I was bound by contract to teach Eris, but that contract hadn't mentioned where I'd be teaching Eris. That meant that the location could be changed by the one who wrote it, which was Philip.

"I do, but I can't just leave my other students behind. If I could I'd like to talk to Eris's teachers about implementing weekends."

Philip raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure I follow."

"A week is seven days. A child's mind isn't made to take in new information every single day, even if they are curious it's just too much. Essentially you have lessons for five days and then the last two days are rest days. Her other teachers can use these as rest days to take a break or make lesson plans, meanwhile I could use these days to travel to Buena and make sure my other students' studies are going well."

Philip put his fingers to his chin and let out a long draw-out hum.

"I see no issue with that, but it's up to Eris's tutors on whether or not they agree to it. Miss Edna will be here this evening for Eris's etiquette classes. You'll be able to talk to her and Ghislaine afterwards."

"I'll be sure too."

"Very well. You are dismissed."

I gave a bow and exited the room. Pin was waiting by the door.

"So how'd it go?"

"Seems I'll be staying here for a while. I'm gonna have to talk to Miss Edna about introducing weekends, but I'm sure she'll understand. I suppose while I'm here I'll need to get comfortable in my room. I could also make good use of that library."

"You always study this and study that. Don't you ever save time for fun?"

"Studying is fun. I like being smart."

Pin rolled her eyes as we started walking.

"Whatever you say."

"So after five days we give her two off?"

"That would be correct."

I took a sip of my tea as I looked at Edna sitting across from me. Ghislaine had managed to catch her after one of Eris's etiquette classes, and I was currently talking to her about the concept of weekends.

"Will my pay be lowered for the lower work hours?"

"That would be something to talk with Philip about, but I don't believe so."

"If that's the case then I have no problem with it."

"Okay then. Now let's discuss schedules."

"Does she do this with her other classes?"

I stared at the empty desk. Ghislaine shook her head as she rested her chin on her hand.

"She begrudgingly takes etiquette classes, and she eagerly takes swordsmanship classes."

"Welp, I'll be back in a second. Gotta go find the missing redhead."

I left the room and started walking through the hallway. I spread static crows throughout the shadows and hummed as I walked through the halls. I turned a corner and nearly bumped into a tall and lean red headed boy.

"Sir Rudeus. Good evening."

"Hello Juno. You wouldn't happen to have seen Eris around would you?"

"I'm afraid not. She can be oddly quiet when she wants. I believe Raion taught her proper stealth."

I made an act of looking to the side as I saw Eris through a static crow.

"Found her. Napping in the stables. Good talk."

"Same to you."

I opened a window and jumped down. I stopped my descent with space magic. Conveniently I was right beside the stables. Peaking into one of the stalls I found Eris lying on top of a stack of hay. I floated above Eris and looked down at her. I summoned a ring of silence around us to keep all the noise inside.

I took in a deep breath and...

"ERIS! YOU'RE LATE FOR CLASS!"

Eris shot up and swerved her head around.

"Whose- what's- huh?"

"You're late. Let's go!"

I picked both myself and Eris up with space magic, and pulled us through a window.

"Hey! Let me go!"

"Good news Ghislaine! I found our missing student. Can you believe that she got class time mixed up with nap time."

The class went... horribly. Eris refused to pay attention to mathematics and literacy, but whenever I brought up magic class she perked right up. It went the same way for the first month, but it helped me understand her better. Eris wasn't ignoring my lessons because she didn't like or respect me, she was ignoring my lessons simply because she hated learning the things I was teaching. Now, after a month I finished my first set of miniatures. Upon hearing I had an old world game to show her Eris eagerly showed up to class.

It took an extra week to actually get her to understand addition so she could correctly use her dice, and once she mastered addition and subtraction I put multiplication and division into the dungeon puzzles. She was both enjoying herself and learning, and I was experiencing euphoria not having to deal with conflicting schedules. Truly a dungeon master's dream.

"What even is an owlbear?! How can an owl hit you so hard?"

"Well Eris, it's simple. It's part bear."

"But that doesn't make any sense!"

I totally wasn't enjoying all of Eris's reactions to the unusual monsters of the game. I was even able to get a reaction or two from Ghislaine with the more bizarre creatures.

At first Eris was against the dice, or more specifically the amount of dice, but I wouldn't bend on changing the dice since counting and adding them together was part of her lessons. She got over it eventually though. She still had plenty of trouble working together with Ghislaine in certain situations though, but if I could use these lessons to improve her people skills I wasn't gonna complain.

She was definitely getting better, even if it was just a little bit. I think I heard her say 'thank you' to a maid the other day, but she denies it any time I ask.

After a month I made a trip down to Buena. We'd officially be starting the implementation of weekends into Eris's schedule, so I needed to check on the others and deliver the news to them. I rode on Yoko so I'd get there as fast as possible, or I suppose riding Yoko is the second fastest since I could've asked Yuki to make me an ice mirror.

I slid off Yoko's back and approached the front door of the house. Before I could reach for the doorknob a green missile charged at me and grappled me from behind. Could I have dodged it? Yeah, but how could I deny a hug from my favorite cinnamon roll.

"You're back! That felt like forever!"

"Sorry Sylphie. Come on. Let's get inside. I've got some not-so-good news to tell everyone."

Sylphie got a worried look on her face, but followed me inside as I opened the door. As soon as I walked through I was greeted with another missile. This one in the shape of my little sister, Aurora. Unlike Sylphie she didn't say anything when she hugged me. She just balled some of my clothing into her fists as she clung onto me.

"Good to see you to Aurora. Same to you Cyrus."

I waved to Cyrus who was looking at me awkwardly from the table. He looked like he was stuck between a decision he didn't know how to make. Sitting beside him was Eurydice. He seemed to be teaching her how to read.

'Don't worry about me. Just keep on doing what you're doing.'

Cyrus gave me a thankful nod as he went back to his lesson with Eurydice.

"Young Master, it is good to see you've safely returned."

"Good morning Charlotte. Lilia, can you gather the others? I'm afraid the plans for Eris's studies have changed, and I've got some news the other Godkin need to hear. It's important."

"Understood. I shall do so immediately."

Lilia quickly walked outside and left lunch to Charlotte. I sat at the table with Cyrus, Eurydice, Aurora, and Sylphie. It didn't take long for Phoebe to show up, and Kuroi showed up shortly after her. I realized that the table was now too small for everyone, so I used some space magic to make it bigger. The table's legs scraped on the floor and ended up waking Norn and Aisha, so Kuroi and I held them to stop the crying. Norn was particularly whiny, but quickly stopped when I made stars float around her.

"She's been crying a lot more since you left. If not for the bracelet you made I think Aisha would've teleported somewhere we wouldn't be able to find her just to get away from it."

"It's been that bad? I'm sorry Norn. Can you forgive your big brother?"

"Baba! Gujeebuh!"

"Haha! I have no idea what you're saying."

"That's cause she's a baby Thorn. Not all kids are like us."

"I know, but isn't she just adorable?"

After a couple minutes the food was done and I enchanted the cauldron to not run out so everyone could eat. We were a good ways through the meal when Lilia arrived with mom, dad, and Sara, and for the third time today I was greeted with a tackle hug.

"There's my Rudy!"

Mom smothered me in a hug, and dad patted me on my head. Sara also gave me a slightly awkward hug, but I gladly returned it.

"So Rudy, you said you had some important news?"

"Yeah. To get straight to the point, after my first week working in Roa there was a kidnapping attempt. They kidnapped me, Eris, and Pin. Raion, Ghislaine, and a small army of knights managed to track down and deal with the kidnappers once we were safe. What concerns me the most is the identity of the mystery man hanging out with those two Hitogamis."

My statement got multiple reactions from around the table.

Zenith:"A kidnapping?!"

Kuroi:"Is Pin alright?"

Paul:"How'd they even manage to kidnap you?"

Phoebe:"What happened to the people who tried to kidnap you?"

Norn:"Bah!"

"Yes there was a kidnapping, Pin is fine, they managed to catch me because I was mentally exhausted and they nailed my hands and feet together with mana disrupting nails, and the people are still being held in the dungeon for us to squeeze as much info as we can out of them."

The thing about them being kept in the dungeon was actually a lie. Currently they were inside Yoko's headspace for me to use freely for my experiments. Those were going great by the way, but I'll save the details for later.

"Wait you said you found out who the mystery god is?"

"Yeah... it's bad."

"Bad how?"

"It's Poseidon."

Kuroi and Phoebe's eyes widened, and the others had confused expressions on their faces.

"He claims I killed his brother and stole part of his domain. He's also calling me Khaos Konton."

"Khaos Konton as in the guy who created the leviathans? He was a revolutionary! Without him life magic would still be illegal, but this doesn't make any sense. Both of Poseidon's brothers are still alive, and the only person here with anyone form of domain is Kuroi."

"I don't get it either, but he's dead set on killing me and the other godkin."

Phoebe let out a long sigh.

"Great. We were brought here by being killed by the gods and now another god is chasing us down on a quest for vengeance that's completely absurd!"

"Worst comes to worst we can try asking Sir Erebus for help. I'm not sure if he's strong enough to beat Poseidon, but if we all fight him together we could stand a chance."

I nodded along as Kuroi gave his two cents, but I had my attention pulled away as dad popped in.

"Woah woah woah! The gods that killed you before are coming here? Look I get that you're strong, but if they've killed you once can't they kill you again?"

"No one's killing Rudy!"

Sylphie shot up from her chair and slammed her hands on the table. Despite her angered voice, her face was filled with fear. Sara and most of the others had similar looks on their faces.

"We're stronger than we were before. Plus with Erebus's help we stand more of a chance than you'd think. Erebus is incredibly powerful, even without his domain."

"Such flattering words. If you require my help then all you must do is ask."

"@?&! Where did you come from?!"

I fell out of my seat and looked up at the one-armed god leaning on my chair.

"Just showed up actually. Mind if I join?"

Erebus waved his hand and a shadow appeared on the cieling. A simple chair fell from the shadow beside Kuroi and as Erebus sat down he gained an interest at the baby cradled in Kuroi's arms.

"And whose baby might this be?"

"Well sir Erebus, this is my daughter. Her name is Aisha."

"By the stars! Well if she isn't the cutest little thing, and such powerful waves of void magic! She shall truly grow into a powerful sorcerer. If I may ask, who is the mother?"

"That would be me Master Erebus. My name is Lilia Hane."

Lilia gave a bow as she introduced herself. Erebus started tearing up, and he grabbed a handkerchief from nowhere and started dabbing his eyes.

"He's grown so fast. I'm so proud. Well Lilia, I welcome you to the family, and please. You'll be my daughter-in-law once the twins let me adopt them. Just call me Erebus. That goes for you too Kuroi."

"I was under the assumption that you had already adopted us?"

"Then let this be confirmation. I'm truly blessed! I'm now officially a father and a grandfather!"

Once Erebus was done fawning over his now granddaughter we got back to the problem at hand.

"So Poseidon is forcing his way into this world, and is on a path of vengeance? Not to mention the fact he's calling you Khaos. I know that the two had some kind of beef between them, but I don't see how you're related to this. Sure, your souls look pretty similar, but there are differences if you look hard enough."

"Well either way it seems like it's gonna be a while since he makes a move. He was really ominous about the whole thing, but I think we'll be safe for now. However, whenever he does come after us can we count on having your support?"

"Of course. If it's possible could I have my arm back please? It'd make things much easier."

"About that... Cleave is probably one of my most powerful space spells. No matter what we try we won't be able to fix your arm. Cleave severed the space where your arm was, and as far as your arm is concerned it's actually still there. Because of that, any attempt to regrow it will fail. Even if you cut off what's left any healing spell will regrow it to that point, because it thinks it's complete. Sorry."

"I suppose I can live with that. You did think I betrayed you after all."

After that we talked a bit more about our plans for if Poseidon attacks us, and I added a new room in Kuroi's house for Erebus. It was just temporary so he had a place to stay until I made his house.

Paul was the one to start us on the other topic of discussion.

"So if that's out of the way, what was it you wanted to tell us about Eris's teaching situation?"

"Okay so after the whole kidnapping thing happened Eris's family is pretty shaken up and don't want her leaving the city. I'm bound by contract to tutor her for another 5 years, so I'll be staying there with her. Luckily I was able to convince her other teachers of doing weekends, so I'll be able to come here then."

Sylphie pouted in her chair beside me.

"But they said you and Eris would be able to stay here! Isn't that what the big house you made for them is for?"

"Yes, but they're worried about Eris's safety, and as I showed before. It's possible for me to be captured as well. That does mean that that house is still gonna be vacant. Sorry Charlotte. I guess you cleaned it for nothing."

"On the contrary master. It gave me work to do for you. If you'd like, I could continue to keep the house tidy."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary. That covers basically everything I've got, so what would everyone like to do now?"

Sara, Sylphie, Phoebe, Aurora, and Cyrus all popped in in sync.

"Tree!"

And just like we went to our island. We were also joined by Kuroi, Eurydice, and Erebus. The babies had fallen asleep so we left them in their cribs.

"So you destroyed nearly this entire forest, and then completely rebuilt it?"

"Yep. It took a few months, but I got it done. Thanks to the assistance of the Boreas family we were able to get some wildlife brought in, and the forest is starting to return to normal. So far not a single monster has appeared. It's made the forest a real relaxing place."

"You truly are Millis's student."

For the next couple of hours the others showed me what they've been practicing. I was a little worried they might stagnate, but they were bouncing ideas off of each other, and anytime it seemed like they might stagnate Cyrus or Aurora would try to copy something from an anime that one of them watched.

Sylphie and Sara had been making sure to stay close to me the entire time, and I was able to pick up some parts of their conversation. Essentially they were worried about Poseidon. It seems they thought a little too highly of us, so hearing that we were making a bunch of plans for a potentially final battle had them on edge. I was able to get them to ease up with some headpats though, even if it was just a little.

Sara was really proud to show me her new stone arrow design. It was extremely light and flew through the air with ease. She'd make it quickly and would send it flying with a Windball spell. Small holes in the arrow head let air slide through the arrow instead of pushing against it. She was still struggling to speed up the process, so it still took her about 30 seconds to make and then fire the arrow. However, she's gotten so good at making the arrows that she can make them subconsciously, so she'd fire regular arrows with her bow and make stone arrows at the same time.

Aurora and Cyrus were slowly making their way through the advanced level spells. Phoebe had already learnt them and was giving Sylphie secret lessons. It wouldn't be much longer until Aurora and Cyrus turned 5. Fortunately, their birthday landed on a weekend. That meant I'd be able to be there without having to convince Philip to let me miss a day of work. He probably would let me, but I didn't really like talking to him all that much. It felt like everything he did had some kind of ulterior motive behind it. It was kind of unsettling.

"Hey big brother?"

I felt a tug on my sleeve and looked down to see Aurora holding onto me.

"Yes Aurora?"

"I was wondering... can I go to Roa with you?"

I could guess why this was, but I wanted to ask just to be sure. I waved my hand and a ring of silence appeared around us.

"Can I ask why? No one can hear your answer, so try to be truthful please."

"It's like I said before. I can't stand playing 'family' like this. It's getting harder everyday to smile and call Zenith and Paul, Mom and Dad. Having Phoebe here helps, but it's not the same. Please let me go with you."

"I'll have to talk to Mom and Dad about it. I'll do my best to convince them, and if Dad's the one causing problems I think I have some ways to convince him."

"Thank you."

"Of course. You and I are family Aurora. I'd give you the world if you asked for it."

Aurora smiled as I wiped a tear off her cheek and dismissed the ring of silence. Phoebe's voice spoke in my head.

'What was that about?'

'She wants to come back with me to Roa. It shouldn't be too hard to convince dad, but mom can be pretty overprotective.'

'Paul is a little more care-free than Zenith, but you're right. Paul might even have a moment of maturity. Who knows?'

'I find it unlikely, but it's not impossible.'

The rest of the day was spent with us all hanging out on our island. Every now and again I'd give one of them pointers on how they could improve their magic, but most of the day was just spent hanging out. Eurydice seemed to be stuck to Cyrus like glue.

Eventually evening came and we went home. I brought Sara and Sylphie to their homes on Yoko. He made sure to run slower so that Sylphie didn't get motion sickness again. Once I got home I got a good night's rest and woke up later than normal. When I walked downstairs Lilia was just finishing cleaning breakfast's dishes with Charlotte's help. A plate of food was sitting on the table, and mom was sorting stuff in her bag in the living room.

"Good morning Rudy. Did you sleep well?"

"I did. Would it be okay if I went to the clinic with you today? I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh? Of course you can come with me. I just hope whatever you have to ask of me isn't as bad as yesterday's conversation. Now eat your breakfast and we'll get going."

"Yes ma'am."

"What?! How could you propose such a thing?"

"She's the one who asked mom, and you know I wouldn't even ask you about it if I thought it'd put her in danger."

"But she would be in danger! You got kidnapped Rudeus! You! You are the strongest person I've ever met, and they managed to get you!"

Mom and I were sitting in the clinic behind the counter. Well, I was sitting. She stood up in shock after I asked if Aurora could come to Roa with me.

"Because of specific circumstances that I've made multiple countermeasures against. They only got me because I was mentally at my breaking point. I hadn't slept in over a week and my brain was fried. Since my brain was fried my tether to Yoko was strained and he couldn't access my mana, but I've done a lot of things to prevent that from ever happening again."

"Still. She's not even 5. I can't allow it."

"What about after 5? What if she were to have her own evolved Kumu? Her body isn't made of magic, so she'd still have to sleep. That means that the Kumu would be able to always be on alert, and with the size of her mana pool it'd be able to keep her safe 24/7."

Mom stopped talking and seemed to stare into space for a while. First it was seconds, and then those seconds turned to minutes. Before it could become an hour she sighed and turned back to me.

"If she had a Kumu would she really be kept safe?"

"You have my guarantee."

"Alright, but you also have to ask your father."

"I don't see a problem with it."

Dad agreed way quicker than mom did. We were standing in a watchtower as we had our shockingly short conversation. Laws was standing to the left of us with a spyglass aimed at the forest. There had been a potential monster sighting a few days ago, but I could tell that it was false.

My mana still flowed in the forest and I could easily survey the entire thing. There still wasn't a single monster in the forest. I did have to kill a few wild animals that seemed to be trying to forcibly absorb my mana to become monsters though.

"I'm happy you agreed, but can I ask why you agreed so quickly?"

"It's easy. You, Pin, and Raion will all be there. You're all insanely powerful. Powerful enough that I'm sure the other two will eventually get titles as world powers. Plus, if she gets a Kumu of her own I know it'll keep her safe. I've seen what Phoebe can do with those things, and quite frankly I'm a bit upset she refused to make me one. I'm sure you'll be keeping an eye on her anyway, so I've got no worries. Just make sure you get some rest so you can't get jumped like last time."

"Trust me. I hadn't realized the importance of sleep, but I definitely do now. I'll be fine, and so will Aurora."

"Good to hear. Now why don't you go to that island of yours? Your girlfriends were looking for you."

I made sure to teleport to the waypoint as soon as I saw Laws's shoulders jerk and his head spin. His eyes spoke volumes and he meant war.

"Yo! I'm back."

It seemed that not everyone was here today. Sylphie wasn't here, and neither were Cyrus and Eurydice. The only ones here were Phoebe, Aurora, and Sara.

"Hey Thorn. Sleep well?"

"Yep. Where are the others?"

"Sylphie's got chores and Cyrus and Eurydice are at your house."

"Gotcha. How are you two doing?"

Sara and Aurora turned to look at me from the edge of the island.

"Doing good. I'm just trying to beat Sara in a contest."

"You've got skill, but I'm just better."

"I'm not losing this time!"

I sat back and watched the two wait as the ice targets I made regenerated. Sara readied herself in a stance I hadn't seen before, and Aurora put both hands in front of her with her hands fanned out but her wrists touching. Earth started floating around Sara and quickly formed 7 earth arrows. She was about to fire them, but got knocked out of her concentration as Aurora yelled.

"Final Flash!!!"

A huge geyser of water and fire sprouted from her outstretched hands. The two beams become one and spiraled together. The water and fire crushed anything in its path, and the steam that erupted anytime they touched only did more damage. We all sat there in shocked silence. Needless to say she hit and destroyed all the targets.

"Huff. Huff. Huff... It worked! Yes!"

"Wa... you... how..."

Phoebe and I exchanged a silent glance. It contained all the information we needed to communicate.

'That was freaking awesome!'

After some damage control, for both the utterly destroyed forest and Sara's small but fragile ego, we decided to return to my house after the destroyed parts of the forest were fixed. And by that I mean I decided we were going to my house. The roots of Aurora's hair was turning white and she was noticeably fatigued. It was an extremely powerful spell, but it was terrifyingly powerful and cost an insane amount of mana.

Even I would only be able to do so many of those a day. The Fire and Water parts of the spell were equal to 15 advanced ranked spells of both types combined, plus the thick layer of mana you had to apply between and around them to stop them from immediately canceling out the other side.

Once we got home I had Aurora drink a mana potion and take a nap. She refused at first, but gave up once I carried her to her bedroom.

"Is everything alright Young Master?"

"Yeah. Aurora just tried out a spell she made. It was genius, but she underestimated how much mana it would cost her. She's napping right now."

"Understood. I'll be sure to make a hearty dinner for her then."

"Thank you Lilia."

I looked back at the couch to see Phoebe patting the back of a mentally wounded Sara. I floated over the couch and sat to Sara's right. Sara wasn't a very egotistical person, but she took pride in her creations. To see a child who hasn't had her first birthday beat her so effortlessly... well.

"How in... she's so small... so much..."

"Sara? You okay?"

Phoebe rubbed her arm and wrapped her in a side hug.

"So strong..."

"Sara, look at me."

Sara looked at me. Her eyes were cold, but I could still see the faintest glimmer in them.

"Aurora has been training in magic way longer than you have. Her mana pool is much larger than yours. In time, once your mana pool has grown. You to can do spells like that."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sara sat there for a second as her eyes returned to normal. She slowly leaned forward and hugged me as she put her face on my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and patted her on the back. After a few minutes she pulled back with a slight blush on her face.

"Thanks."

"Of course."

We hung out for the rest of the day and were eventually joined by Cyrus and Eurydice. The two had taken a short trip into town with Yoko to get some treats from a traveling merchant that was passing through. They were hard candies and were pretty good. I could probably make better with my space magic though.

Aurora woke up just before dinner as mom and dad got home.

Sara was brought home by Yoko, and after dinner mom and dad told Aurora that she had their permission to go with me after her 5th birthday. She was a little bummed out, but what was another two weeks?

And we're back! It has been a while, but I'm finally free from the burdens of high school. We're back on track for now, until I fall into college's cold-hearted hands, but for now we're all good. While we're here I wanted to address the main complaint people have about this fic. The fact there are too many characters.

Yes, there are a lot, but it's going to be shortened much more after the teleportation incident. The multiple POV swaps I do are mainly so you can get a peek into a character's way of thinking, but after the displacement incident it's going to be mainly Rudeus unless something important happens and he's not there. The mass teleportation looms closer and closer with each chapter, and will be here very soon.

Anyway, I'll see you all next week!