*-Rudeus-*

I woke up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I was exhausted, but a little life magic woke me right up. Looking around I saw that I wasn't in my room, and then I remembered what happened last night.

Right. My gift. That also explains...

Both Roxy and Phoebe were holding onto my left and right arm respectively, and none of us were wearing clothes. Like any time I do naughty things with Roxy or Phoebe I had aged myself up a bit, and it looks like Phoebe had done the same. We both looked like we were a little older than Roxy. A sudden sad feeling came over me.

After today Roxy is gonna leave the village. It's not like I was never gonna see her again. With Flow, which is the name we picked for her Kumu. I'm still gonna be sad though. I'd gotten used to Roxy's presence here. Even if I could stay in touch with her I'd still miss her presence dearly.

Though I should celebrate a little bit. If all goes well then I'll officially become a Saint ranked water mage today... nope, still sad.

After Phoebe and Roxy got up I used a bit of healing magic on Roxy since she was having trouble standing.

"Alright. Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Then hop up."

Roxy had packed some stuff on Dad's horse Caravaggio. She had a small basket hooked on his back. I floated up and sat in front of her on the saddle. With a small flick of the reins Caravaggio started trotting. As we went through the village we waved and greeted some of the villagers we passed by. It was a silent ride. Eventually Roxy broke through the silence.

"Once I've become a king class water mage and Saint ranked in another class of magic I'll come back here. I think I can be satisfied with that, as long as you teach me some magic from your past life."

I turned my head up so I could see Roxy's face. She had a slightly pink tint to her cheeks as she smiled at me. Her eyes were as droopy as ever.

"Sounds like a plan."

I widened my smile as I leaned back and rested on Roxy's chest. Crossing her arms she managed to hug me while still holding the reins. We stayed quiet the rest of the way.

Eventually we reached a small hill with a single tree on top. Roxy tied Caravaggio up to the tree and walked a bit away.

"I'm going to cast the Saint rank water spell Cumulonimbus. It creates lightning and large storms."

"Right."

Roxy hefted her staff as she took another few steps forward.

"I'll hold the spell for around a minute. After that you'll need to hold it for one hour. You do that and you can officially call yourself a Saint Rank water mage. Oh and one more thing. Cast an Earth Dome around the tree. We'll want that to be dry for later."

"Okay?"

Confused I silently cast Earth Dome and a large dome of dirt and rock grew out of the ground and surrounded the tree as well as Caravaggio.

"Ready?"

"Mhmm."

"Good. Grand spirit of water and imperial prince of lightning who ascends the heavens, grant my wish and bring about a savage blessing. Display your might to insignificant beings. Strike awe with a blow of your divine hammer on the anvil, and cover the land in water! Come, oh rain, and sweep all else away and expel everything! Cumulonimbus!"

Storm clouds began gathering around Roxy and I. By sensing the mana in the air and spreading a thin sheet of magic over my eyes I was able to see how Roxy's mana flowed into the spell. Long story short, it was beautiful. The way the mana poured out of her staff and flowed into the sky was like watching a waterfall flow in reverse. When it reached the clouds it popped out and formed the clouds as well as creating water in those clouds, but it also pulled in the nearby moisture in the air.

Heavy rains started pelting us, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Slowly sharp pangs of what looked to be fire mana spread through the clouds. They'd shine out and a thunderous roar could be heard. These spikes of mana started converging together, and when they met a bolt of lightning stabbed down and exploded against the Earth Dome.

"Eep!"

Roxy yelped since the boom of the lightning was so loud, but even as my vision blurred slightly and my ears rang as loud as they could I still continued to watch the sky as the mana dissipated. Like rivers flowing in all sorts of directions the mana spread out until you couldn't see it anymore.

"Beautiful."

"Rudy! Are you okay?!"

I looked over at Roxy who was worryingly holding my face.

"Um yeah. I'm fine, why?"

"You're crying."

"Huh?"

I reached up and touched my eye. I could feel a tear slowly leak out. Feeling further down I could feel where previous tears had left their mark.

"I guess I was. But Roxy! That was Beautiful!"

"Huh?! Um... thank you? I didn't see anything abnormal so I'm afraid I don't get what you mean. It looked like a regular storm to me."

We checked on Caravaggio and the tree. Thankfully Caravaggio hadn't been hurt. In the list of things my dad loved most that horse came right after Mom in a close second.

"Here. So you can see what I saw."

I used space magic to swap the lenses in my sunglasses for regular lenses, and coated them with the same sheet of magic I used on my eyes.

"Thanks."

Roxy cast Earth Dome around herself, the tree, and Caravaggio. I walked to the same spot where Roxy had stood and held out my baton. Holding it carefully so that the sword didn't slip out of its sheath I pointed the tip with the wand forward.

"Grand spirit of water and imperial prince of lightning who ascends the heavens, grant my wish and bring about a savage blessing. Display your might to insignificant beings. Strike awe with a blow of your divine hammer on the anvil, and cover the land in water! Come, oh rain, and sweep all else away and expel everything! Cumulonimbus."

I could feel as mana rushed out of me and poured through my staff. I didn't use mana sight, since I didn't want to lose concentration on the spell, but I made sure to continue to sense the magic as it flowed so that I could try and control the magic that formed the lightning.

I held the spell and I could sense the pang of fire magic as it started sparking in the clouds. Reaching out I tried pulling on it and it popped in the cloud with a huge rumbling noise. As an experiment I summoned small fireballs in the clouds and spun them around. I held the heat close so that it didn't evaporate the water holding the spell together. I could feel the fire magic in the Cumulonimbus rushing towards the spinning flame and it started spinning as well. It joined in the flame and a continuous rumble could be heard.

I brought my hand down in a dramatic motion and an explosion much louder than the one Roxy's spell made blinded me. My ears felt like they were bleeding, but I held the spell together. Glancing over I could see Roxy holding her hands over her ears. For the rest of the spell I dispersed any fire magic that appeared in the spell. After an hour Roxy's Earth Dome collapsed and I dissipated my spell.

With the glasses still on her face Roxy was still looking up at the sky. She was probably marveling at the mana dissipating. I walked over and pecked her on the cheek.

"What in the world... I need to sit down."

I conjured up a stone stool for her and sat her down.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah. But that was... incredible."

"Yeah. So uh... did I pass?"

"Phahaha! Of course. After that?! How could I not pass you? How was the lightning that strong? With the way you moved your hand you made it look like you controlled it."

Roxy laughed at my question. That was nice. I much preferred her smile over her confused look from earlier.

"Did you see the spikes that formed in the clouds a bit after the spell started? Those were bits of fire magic. When you cast the spell those bits of fire magic slowly converged together, and when they all met in the middle they came down as a lightning bolt. All I did was use my own fire magic to attract that fire magic and then brought it down manually. I'm assuming that my lightning was stronger since I pulled in more ambient fire magic and I also added my own fire magic."

"That was fire magic? I didn't know that was there during Cumulonimbus. It's times like these that I question if I'm worthy to be called your teacher Rudy."

"Of course you're worthy of being my teacher! I'd refuse it if anyone were to try and teach me like you have. If I could go back and learn it again. I'd only do it if it was you teaching me Roxy. That's the truth."

"Rudy."

Roxy got up from her stool and hugged me. Pulling away from the hug she moved over to Caravaggio who was now probably terrified of rain, thunder, and lightning. As she walked away I held my hand near my chest with my palm facing the sky.

I tried copying the feeling I felt when the lightning struck. I felt a slight tingle, but quickly lost the feeling. I'd have to experiment more on that.

Looking up I saw that Roxy was laying down a small blanket on the ground near the tree.

"A picnic?"

I walked over and sat on the blanket. Roxy placed the basket on the blanket and she sat beside me.

"W-well we've been lovers for a while, and sure we've gone on walks through the village, but we've never really set time aside to just... spend some time together."

Roxy was looking to her side as her face grew red. A picnic ey? Well they say the fastest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and she knows how much I love food.

"Sounds like a wonderful time."

I leaned over and laid my head on her shoulder. She took out a bundled piece of food.

"Phoebe taught me how to make this. She said it was one of your favorites... I hope you like it."

Roxy held out the wrapped food to me. I undid the wrapping and stared at what was in my hands. One of my favorite foods. A cheeseburger.

I excitedly took a bite out of it. Peaking at the basket I could see small magic circles patterned across the edges of the basket. That explains how it was kept at a perfect temperature this whole time. The buns were toasted perfectly and the meat was cooked just right. Everything about it was delightful. I had eaten the entire burger in 2 minutes.

"Aaaah. That was delicious."

"Really? I'm glad you liked it. I was worried I'd have messed something up."

"Trust me. I've had a lot of burgers in my lifetimes. That was definitely one of the top three."

"You're just saying that to make me feel good. You can be honest Rudy."

Roxy glanced to the side again.

"Hey. We both know I never lie about food. That really was one of the best burgers I've ever had. I'm serious."

Roxy smiled as she looked back at me.

"Then I hope you like the rest of what I made."

Roxy pulled out more food. Based on the contents it seemed that the basket was bigger on the inside. She pulled out an assortment of food including more burgers, fried shrimp, sushi, and a bunch of other things.

"I kind of overdid it with the food. Sorry if it's-"

"Gulp. No such thing!"

I had to swallow the mouthful I had in my mouth to correct Roxy. Truly there is no such thing as too much food. Though she hasn't touched any for herself.

"Aha. Glad you think so."

"You know you can have some if you'd like. There's plenty."

"Really? I made it all for you though."

"Please. It'd be a bit weird if I'm the only one eating."

Honestly I'd be fine eating alone. This food was absolutely delicious, but she worked so hard to make it. It felt wrong for her to not eat any. She reached down and grabbed a small muffin. She took a bite and then devoured it. After that she mainly ate muffins, small cakes, and macaroons. She's always had quite the sweet tooth.

We stayed out there for another three hours. That last hour was spent me allowing Roxy to have "Little Rudy" time against my better judgment. I swear I feel like a glorified teddy bear doing this. Though I suppose it's worth it if I get to see Roxy this happy. It's not very often that she shows this much emotion.

But you know what they say. All good things must come to an end. Eventually we had to pack everything up and head home. Once we got home it was lunch time, but Roxy and I didn't eat anything. We were still stuffed from our picnic. Going up to her room Roxy came back down holding her briefcase and magic staff.

"Well... I believe I've done all I can here."

"Roxy..."

Mom looked on with a sullen expression. Dad had a similar one on his face. Aurora looked confused more than anything, and Cyrus was staring at Roxy with a look similar to the one's Mom and Dad were giving her.

"Rudy is officially a Saint Rank water mage. There is nothing I have left to teach him."

"Surely you could stay a little longer. There are still some recipes I haven't taught you."

"Yeah Roxy. The villagers love you here. I'm sure everyone would be happy if you stayed."

"Thank you, but no. My experiences here have shown me that I've still got much to learn. One day though. Once I'm stronger I'll come back. It's quite a nice village after all."

Cyrus walked up and tugged on Roxy's sleeve.

"Do you really have to go Miss?"

"I do Cyrus. Hey can you do me a favor? I need you to make sure your big brother doesn't do something crazy like challenging one of the seven great powers again, or conquering a nation. Can you do that for me?"

Cyrus nodded with a fire in his eyes. He ran over and stood next to me as he saluted to Roxy. I was standing by the door frame leading outside.

As Roxy moved towards the door I stepped forward.

"Thank you for everything Roxy. I'll be excited to see you again."

"Yeah. I'll see you soon Rudy."

Leaning down Roxy kissed my forehead as she walked out the door. I could see dad grin, and mom worryingly sighed. Lilia remained stoic as ever. Aurora had slightly wide eyes. Cyrus looked like he was depressed. I guess he did have a bit of a crush on Roxy didn't he? Well too bad. She's mine.

'Oh and one more thing. Phoebe said she wanted to talk to you about something before you go.'

I could barely see a smile spread across Roxy's face. Looks like she still enjoys telepathy as much as she did when she first got it.

'Thanks. I'll be sure to stop by her house then.'

That night when I went to bed I noticed a piece of fabric under my pillow. Casting an illusion around me I picked up the pillow and found a pair of white panties with a small blue bow on the top.

Heh. That's one heck of a parting gift. I can still smell her on them. What a perverted teacher. Or am I the pervert for smelling them? Or we could just both be pervs.

Things were different now that Roxy had left. I suddenly had a bunch of free time in the mornings. I'd still help Mom at the clinic every other day, which overlapped with the days Sylphie couldn't come to our house, so that worked out. On my free days I'd either be teaching Sylphie, Cyrus, and Aurora or I'd be sparing with Kuroi and Pin.

As it went right now Kuroi could beat me alone if he could go all out, but due to the possibility of collateral damage he couldn't. We tried using a void dome, but we quickly stopped since his void magic was so strong that the dome was sucking the life out of me. Literally.

"So if you do this, and then this then. Yes!"

Sylphie clapped her hands together as some mist appeared around us. She's been trying to use melded magic ever since she saw Cyrus use it. Now, after a month of practice she had finally done it.

Phoebe ran over and gave her a high five.

"Congrats Sylphie! You're growing in magic so fast. I don't know how you do it."

"It's cause I have the best teacher I can ask for! Rudy's the best!"

"Yeah he is!"

Right now Phoebe, Sylphie, and I were all standing underneath a lone tree on a hilltop. It wasn't the same one as where I did my graduation. This one had a big tree on it, but the other one was smaller and spilt into smaller trees. This one gave a big view over all of Buena.

Sylphie ran over and looked at me expectantly. I patted her on her head and sang her praise.

"Good job Sylphie! As always you've mastered a spell most magicians take years to learn in a matter of minutes."

Sylphie just giggled as she leaned into my hand. Something Phoebe and I learned was that Sylphie liked head pats. She only liked them from me or Phoebe though. Phoebe made a connection through our Kumus and spoke to me.

'Must protect the cinnamon roll.'

'At all costs.'

One big thing changed during my nights though. It felt cold. I suppose I had grown so used to Roxy sleeping with me that without her here it was as if all warmth had left the room. Phoebe had increased the amount of times that she would sneak into my room though. Only when she was with me did it feel like some of that warmth had come back.

Now that Aurora and Cyrus were sleeping in real beds it was starting to get a bit crowded, so with Mom and Dad's permission I used some space magic to change our rooms. Now when you opened the door to our room you find another storage room with three doors on the back wall. Each door had a sign with our names on them. Each room was the same size, but they all looked different.

My room was put in a storage dimension making it look like you were standing on a floor in a nebula cloud.

Aurora had me make her room look a little girlish. The walls were pink and she had some stuffed animals on her bed. The roof was made of the branches of a Sakura tree giving the room a pleasant smell. A switch by the door allowed the trees petals to slowly fall. By flipping the switch again the petals would return to the branches.

Oddly enough Cyrus asked to keep his room as it had been before. When I asked why he said he was worried that if he got too comfortable then he might slip back into being a NEET. I was pretty sure he wouldn't, but I didn't want to force the matter.

I also gave Phoebe a special bracelet. It would provide total concealment of one's presence. Since the rooms had been split into three if she tried entering the window she didn't know who's room she'd be climbing into.

We could all choose to open or close our individual windows. If we threw something out of our window it would exit outside like normal, but if something came into the window it would be randomly sent to one of the rooms.

After a while we realized that she could just teleport inside, but I still let her keep the bracelet. She had me remove the enchantment since she wanted to wear it and still be seen by others.

Things were still going well in the capitol. Ariel had officially declared that she would be supporting Phoebe to take the throne.

Grabell had continued to try and stop us with assassins, but when the assassins tried killing puppets that were slightly weaker than we were, but also didn't have to worry about any form of injury or poison the assassins never stood a chance. All it took was Phoebe sending over a Kumu and it could fix the puppet up good as new.

It's been a little less than 2 months since my birthday which meant that Phoebe's birthday was coming up soon.

I was sitting alone by a small tree in the middle of the forest. The reason for me being alone could be found in my hands. I was in the slow process of carving magic circles into a long thin cut up branch. The branch was from Yggdrasil, the tree I made during my fight with Perugius. It shimmered gold as I very carefully used space magic to etch the lines of the magic circle onto the wood.

It's composition was perfect for conducting and amplifying magic. Add to that the magic boosting of the Blood magic crystal I got from my experiments with James's generals and it'd be a very powerful magic staff. The magic circles further boosted magic conductivity and helped control the magic used. Control was extremely important because of how powerful this staff could be. Once their birthdays come along I plan on granting weaker versions of the staff to Aurora, Cyrus, and Sylphie as well.

"Watcha doin?"

"Gah!"

I looked up and saw Kuroi perched on a tree.

"You are so lucky I had just took my hand away from that circle."

"I suppose I am. What is it?"

"It's my gift to Phoebe. I'm making her a magic staff."

"Really? Cool. Sorry about not being able to get you a gift."

"It's fine. Guess you'll just have to make it up to me with your gift at my tenth birthday."

"I guess I will won't I."

Kuroi hopped down sat across from me.

"So uh. I have a question."

I looked up and saw that Kuroi wouldn't meet my gaze. He had an embarrassed look on his face and he was twiddling his thumbs.

"Oh this has gotta be good. What's up?"

I put the staff and all its parts in my storage dimension and rested my chin in my hand.

"Um. You're uh... gods this is awkward... Do you think you can give good relationship advice?"

"..."

"..."

"Thorn... why does your smile look like that?"

"Sooooooooooo, whose the lucky lady. To have caught your eye she must be quite endearing. Ask away my friend I'm happy to help. I owe you quite a debt."

"Yeah so the thing is... you know Lilia?"

"As in my family's maid. Yeah I know her why do yo- oh. Okay~. What do you wanna know, lover boy?"

"Please don't call me that, but what does she like? Foods, literature, pass times things like that."

"Well. She likes scrambled eggs, but her favorite thing to eat is blueberry muffins. From what I've heard she likes to read, but we don't have any reading books in our house except for two fairytales. She really likes cooking, and she likes to knit and crochet."

"I see. Thank you Thorn."

Kuroi gave me a small bow and tried walking away, but he hit his head against an invisible wall.

"Now where do you think you're going? If you think you just leave without elaborating you must be crazy. Come back and tell your match maker the details."

*-Kurio-*

It first happened when Pin and I obtained godly status and helped Thorn fight off Perugius and his servants. After we had returned from the fight Thorn had passed out. After I put him in his crib is when I first saw her. She was the maid of the Greyrat household in Buena.

Her name was Lilia. As soon as I saw her I felt a warmth in my chest that was unfamiliar to me. For the rest of my stay in Buena I struggled to not stare at her.

Everything about her was eye catching. The way her hair swayed when she moved during her work, the way that she did her work with the precision only few other maids could ever hope for, and her beautiful eyes that seemed to be plucked straight from a field of lilacs. She always had this calm stoicism about her. It made me want to know more.

Pin said I was "smitten". I don't know what it means, but if it means being this happy just by seeing one person then I guess I don't mind. She tried telling me that I'd likely grow out of it after some time. Something about me being alone for 15 years making me think any women is beautiful, but I knew that wasn't right. I didn't feel this same way towards Mrs.Zenith or any of the other women I saw in Buena.

I asked Pin what she liked, but she wasn't able to give me an answer. She simply hadn't known her long enough. After Pin and I spent 20 years training in the void we returned and found Thorn about to be killed by an insanely powerful gravity attack. I saved him and Pin distracted the guy. With Thorn's final attack we beat the man named Aleksander.

After they finished their business in the capitol we all went to Buena village. Once I saw her again I knew my feelings were true. Sure I was 45 years old now, but I still looked like I was in my early twenties. Hell I could barely grow any facial hair.

So I asked Thorn what she liked, and this time I got some answers.

"And now I'm here. Explaining all this to you."

"I see. Look at you making your first crush. I'll test the waters for you. Just leave it to me bud."

"You talk like your older than me."

"No I talk like I've had more sex than you."

"Wha-"

Thorn jumped up and flew past the treetops.

"Gotta go byyyyeee~!"

"What in the world has he been up to?"

*-Rudeus-*

Why can't I keep my mouth shut about that?

I looked down at my blackened arm.

"I blame it on you."

I slowly descended down to the house, and walked through the front door.

"I'm home!"

"Good afternoon Young Master."

"Hey Thorn."

Both Phoebe and Lilia were in the kitchen. They seemed to be cooking something. It smelled amazing.

"Sooooo. Ask him what you asked me. He can probably give you a better answer."

"Hm? What is it Lilia? Is something wrong?"

Phoebe gave Lilia a nudge forward. Her usual stoic expression was replaced by an embarrassed and slightly blushing face. She was fiddling with the hims of her uniform. Why did this feel so familiar?

"I... I was wondering if the Young Master... If the Young Master could tell me about one of his friends?"

Ain't no way.

"Oh? And who would you like to learn about?"

"It... it is the Sky folk named Kuroi."

"Lilia. Why don't you, Phoebe, and I sit down. You can tell us aaaall about it."

*-Lilia-*

In truth I never thought I'd see the day. To one day feel this feeling again. The last and only other time I felt this was when I watched Paul spar back at the dojo. Once I moved here to Buena I truly believed that I'd either serve the Greyrats until I died without a husband, or I'd be taken in as a mistress for Paul. I never thought I'd know "love" again. I'd just be something the master could use when their wife was unavailable.

And then he showed up.

A sky folk who had saved not only Lady Zenith, but the Young Master as well. The only friend of theirs' who hadn't been instantly reincarnated, but instead trained for 15 years so that he could help his friends. I hadn't noticed at first, but as he stuck around more and more I started noticing his glances. More and more I'd see him watching me, but it didn't feel the same as the noblemen of Asura or Paul, or like a hawk stalking prey. It felt kinder.

I could see him quickly looking away not in shame, but trying to not make me uncomfortable. It was honestly a little cute. One day though he and Pin both left to get stronger. Honestly I was a little sad to see him go. It was four years later when he finally returned.

He had one again saved the Young Master's life. I had started picturing him as a knight in shining armor. He began a delivery service. For a slightly higher price he would fly and deliver packages faster than any horse or carriage could.

Since Pin had started spending a lot of time with Zenith again Kuroi had started coming to the Greyrat house as well. He'd spend his time either with Pin or with the Young Master. And even when they were in the deepest of conversation he always seemed to find an opportunity to look at me.

In truth I feel as though the most flattering part of his glances was that he was looking at me. Not my large breasts or wide hips, but me. I had never been gazed upon like this before. In its own way it was... exciting.

So one day whenever Phoebe came to show me a new recipe I asked her about him. Unfortunately she didn't know much of anything about Kuroi, however she did say that the Young Master could know more.

Once he returned home Phoebe gave me a nudge and told me to ask.

"And that is how we got here."

Lilia's stoic expression was back, but she still held a small amount of blush on her face.

"I see."

(Author's Note: Any words spoken in [example] are spoken in Void Tongue, a language only known by Phoebe, Rudeus, Pin, and Kuroi. When the words are spoken they are slurred and morphed. They sound similar to running water like a river, or waves on a beach.)

"[You aren't gonna believe this.]"

"[What?]"

"[I just had a conversation exactly like this with Kuroi. He likes Lilia too.]"

"[Today? Talk about coincidence. Guess we have to do what we have to do.]"

"Um Miss Phoebe? Young Master? I can't understand you."

"[We gotta get Pin in on this!]"

*-Rudeus-*

"[Really?!]"

Pin was now sitting with us at the table. Much to Lilia's chagrin we were still speaking in void tongue. She didn't have to worry about that for long though.

"Okay. So he likes flying and reading. His favorite color is green. His favorite food is anything with fish in it, and he loves to nap."

Lilia nodded as Pin told her some of Kuroi's favorite things. We spent the next hour or so giving Lilia information on him.

"It is a shame though. Whether or not I try I do not believe that a God could find genuine interest in me. Even if his glances say otherwise."

"Oh come now Lilia don't say that. I'm sure you stand more of a chance then you think. Look your going to the market today right? Why not ask him to go with you? I'm sure it'll be fun, and it's a good way to test the waters."

"If you say so Young Master. I shall try my best, though I don't expect a lowly maid such as myself to be able to accomplish this task."

Phoebe pat Lilia on her shoulder.

"Lilia trust me. You've got more of a chance than you think, and if you don't then you can complain to me all you want."

"Alright then. I shall gather a list of things we need."

"You've got this!"

I jumped down onto Kuroi's balcony and knocked on the door.

"Yoh! Can I come in?"

"Thorn? Yeah sure."

I opened the door and walked in. The room was only a floor with no walls. There was a desk, chair, and bed. Looking past the floor you'd find an endless expanse of void. However if you focused in specific directions hard enough you'd find smaller floors that held things like dressers, cabinets, and even storage units. One of the really far away ones even had a training area.

"What can I do for you Thorn?"

"It's more of a 'what I did for you' situation actually."

"Hm? Oh."

Kuroi's cheeks gained a slightly pink tint.

"P-please tell me you didn't go overboard with anything. I don't like the way your smile looks right now."

"I didn't go overboard with anything don't worry. I was just wondering if you'd like to come over."

"Huh? Um, sure I guess."

I walked back into the house with Kuroi in tow. Looking in the kitchen I could see Lilia holding a list and she had a basket on her arm. When she picked her head up to look at me her eyes immediately went to Kuroi.

"Oh! M-Mr.Kuroi. It is good to see you."

"I can say the same Ms.Lilia."

Taking a peek behind her I could barely make out Phoebe using some form of disguise magic to hide herself as she nudged Lilia towards us.

"Oh um. Would you care to join me? I'm going to the market, so I'll be able to show you around."

Watching her expressions I could see Lilia do a mental face palm. Having lived here for a while she knew that he would've gone by the market already.

"I'd quite like that. Shall we be off?"

"Oh! Yes!"

Lilia and Kuroi both walked out the door. As they got to the gate I decided that one more tease couldn't hurt.

"[Have fun on your date! Treat her well you hear?!]"

A burst of deep red blush appeared on Kuroi's face as he turned around and glared at me. Lilia only looked back confused.

I closed the door and looked at Phoebe and Pin. My grin turned mischievous as I gave them a thumbs up. Though I can't stop the feeling like I'm forgetting something.

"Oh my gods."

"Hm? What is it?"

"We gotta get Raion in on this?!"

*-Raion-*

Finally! I was finally able to quit the butler facade and be appointed as Eris's bodyguard. Even then that title was pretty loose. The whole reason I was gonna be assigned to that role was because we needed to hide my existence from the rest of the Boreas family, but now since Phillip was the head of the Boreas family I didn't have to hide anymore.

I still wanted to be Eris's bodyguard though. What big brother didn't want to protect their little sibling? I mean technically she's the older one physically, but after learning about my past life she's started calling me big brother. Even the rest of the family acknowledges me as the older sibling.

That didn't make me the oldest sibling though. Now that the business in the capitol was done my two big brothers from the capitol moved in. I already knew Mars, but I had another brother named Juno. Mars was 15 so he was around my actual age, and Juno was 17 meaning he was really older than I was.

Mars and I would have constant spars to improve our swordsmanship. He was ranked advanced in the North God style. Ghislaine said that I had the potential to be saint ranked in Sword god style. I had to perform the Longsword of Light, the signature technique of the Sword God style. It was only in my most recent duel with Mars that I was able to perform the Longsword of Silence, a slightly weaker version of the Longsword of Light, and the technique that makes you advanced in the Sword God style.

My oldest brother, Juno was more interested in magic than swordsmanship. One time shortly after we got back from the capitol Thorn came by and chatted with him for a while. After doing some kind of magic manipulation Thorn was able to teach him how to silently cast magic. He still found it incredibly difficult however, and he could only silently cast beginner ranked spells. When speaking incantations Juno was able to cast fire and earth spells up to Saint Rank. He could only use wind and water up to intermediate. Apparently back at the capitol he was called a magical prodigy and had attended the Ranoa University of Magic.

I still couldn't use the sword Thorn gave me. King Dragon Sword Kajakut. It simply drained too much mana simply holding it. It subconsciously drained my mana as a battery to power the sword's gravity magic. We tried for a while, but found that no matter what we did the sword wouldn't stop consuming my mana.

Today I was following Eris around as normal. Right now we were standing in the eating room. Eris was talking to Phillip about something. I was watching some birds fly around outside, so I wasn't really paying attention. Suddenly there was a big drop in the room's temperature, and a familiar looking mirror of ice appeared beside me.

The mirror shattered and Thorn popped out.

"You gotta come to Buena!"

"What?! What's wrong?"

"Not wrong. It's what's right. Come here."

I leaned forward and Thorn cupped his hands over my ear. Phillip and Eris looked at us curiously.

"Kuroi is going on a date-"

"I gotta go! Be back later!"

I quickly pushed Thorn through the mirror as it closed and we stepped into a room that looked like it was floating in the middle of space. Sitting in front of a bunch of floating screens was Phoebe, Pin, and Aurora. There was a small table with popcorn on it that they were eagerly snacking on.

On the screens you could see Kuroi walking with Thorn's maid. Lilia I think was her name.

They seemed to be at the village market as they were walking around stalls selling fruit and other merchandise. Since it was a relatively simple village the merchandise was things like baskets, bracelets, and other relatively simple items.

"We don't have audio since Kuroi would sense the magic coming from Kumu, but the Static Crows I make are perfect for stealth missions like this."

"Right."

"Take a seat. I'll make you some popcorn."

Sitting in one of the chairs a bowl of popcorn appeared in my lap. Thorn sat down and Aurora ran over and hopped into his lap. Holding up my popcorn I got comfy and started watching the show.

Small chapter. I've been bogged down with schoolwork and school events. I've been busy these past two weekends and I'll be busy next weekend as well. I'm going to officially change the update time of Rosey Reincarnation from Friday to Sunday. These next chapters may be around 5-6k words as well. Once my schedule frees up a little more and I actually have the time to write more we should hopefully be able to get back to the 10k word chapters. I want to try and write as good as I can, and keep up the weekly uploads, so I'm having to sacrifice some chapter length. See you next weekend!