The Paternal Paradox 3 - (Fateverse, MC becomes 'the' Dad)

"You should summon someone new, dad."

This idea from Zhao had me a bit baffled. Sure, summoning her turned into a good idea. But one summon had been enough in my opinion. It wasn't like I had an urge for an army. She literally was taking over the British Triads even at this stage with her plotting for a new Chinese Empire.

I was already sweating bullets at the idea of this leading to some unpleasant diplomatic accidents.

Nonetheless, despite all good reasons to not do that, Zhao pushed me left and right until I decided to do so out of shutting her up on the matter.

So, the setting I had to prepare was a bit uneasy since... I was doing it in front of non-magus. In the past, this would have been a reasonable issue, but since the connection with the Root had been stabilized through some irritating breakthroughs, the true worry was just the habit of not 'breaking the news' to anyone to avoid any fear.

Some of the thugs were skeptical that I could be a 'wizard', but their skepticism was put to rest as I went through the same ritual that brought to this world my first 'Child'. As I went through the very same process, contemplating if I was going to get a repeat like with Zhao or if this was going to actually summon a Servant.

Same rites, same chalk, same candles and soon... the same blinding light.

A figure soon stood before us. I quickly recognized the unusual robes he wore before taking notice of his natural attributes. A young boy with golden-blond hair kept short and... red eyes. Unnatural, and inhuman. But not in a negative manner. He was a pretty boy, too pretty perhaps.

"I suppose you are... my Father, yes?"

Dangit. Once again, I got this weird relationship going on.

"Yes. Could you please introduce yourself?"

He nodded, and offered a most polite bow. Yet, despite his nice mannerism, I couldn't help but pick up a degree of 'smugness' coming from his smile.

"Sure. Rich Class Son, my true name is Gilgamesh of Uruk."

Holy fucking shit.

It was a surprise. A big fucking surprise for sure. The name 'Gilgamesh' was a big one for the Magus Association. Not only due to his historical importance, but also because... Well, Gilgamesh was a known summoned Servant during one of the last Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars.

"Nice to meet you, Gilgamesh. I am Aiden Vinson and-"

"And I am the first one he summoned, you may call me Zhao or 'Your Highness'."

Oh dear. I don't need this.

I forgot that Zhao was, by all means, a competitive girl. She had to deal with a lot of troubles to first claim and then keep the throne during her reign. Lot of deaths, lots of poisoning, and also a slice of putting her kids in house arrest when she got old enough to not give a shit for appearances.

"Oh, I almost didn't see you, Zhao. But I doubt that you truly need to be referred to as a ruler... after all, Father is the one in charge."

"But I am his beloved Daughter and apple of his eye!" She snapped strongly, eyes narrowing at the boy when... she felt a hand settle atop her head.

"Both of you, enough," I flatly stated. "I get it, you got strong wills, but that doesn't mean you need to be loathing each other."

"I wasn't-" "She started-"

"I cared not. I am still the responsible adult for the both of you. Plus, you are giving this childish display in front of the respectable gentlemen of the Triads."

It was to put them on the spot, but I could tell the thugs were more amused than embarrassed. That seemed to be enough to quiet up the two of them.

"Now that you two are at ease, you both shake hands."

I saw their glances almost comically turn to my face with the same amount of shock.

"Why?" Zhao asked, Gilgamesh nodding in agreement.

"First, because I said so and I am your father, then there's the fact that you both are siblings and both owe each other the basic amount of respect to that extent. Think of it as 'salute the rank, not the man' sort of deal."

I doubt they picked up the Band of Brothers' quote, but after one of the most intense standoffs I had ever witnessed, Zhao rolled her eyes, walked up to Gilgamesh and she offered her hand.

The silent exchange ended with Gilgamesh accepting the offer and, from that day onward everything was fine.

...

Oh, did I say fine? I meant 'hell'.

"DAAAAAD, HE IS TAKING MY SHIRTS!"

"They are good shirts!" Gilgamesh whined back, "Plus, you can always buy those elsewhere."

"BUY IT WITH YOUR MONEY!"

"Father told me to not use it or I may crash the economy!"

To put things into context:

First, Zhao had decided that the one fashionable trend she could rely upon as a collection is 'shirt-collection'. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just needs to catch her fancy and it would be a worthy piece to her collection;

Second, Gil told me he has a endless supply of 'money'. This wasn't just coins, but also jewelry and expensive items that could be sold as there was a endless amount of riches in his 'Gates of Babylon'.

The issue with that mindset, as I had to explain Zhao too as she thought she struck legit gold, was that Gil had a questionably elevated amount of economic wealth that could easily crash the global markets and collapse the economy if he used it in a too extensive fashion.

"You can use your money to buy some shirts, Gil. Return those you took from Zhao back to your sister."

That was the same music as usual since things have been going on a loop in the last week. Gil did something against Zhao, Zhao went sicko-mode with her screeches, and I was the one that had to defuse the situation. Then it was Zhao's turn to be the one poking at the hornets' nest, and it was Gil that would then shout back.

And I was losing my mind over this little war I was the 'arbiter' of.

I couldn't just ignore that I had to do something to stabilize these two from escalating the matter any further, but none seemed to work.

Not punishments, chiding or even trying to appease them. After a week, my mind was on the brink of snapping again and... and I fucking refused going along this silly matter with mental breakdowns and getting pitied upon!

I wasn't a quitter, I refused to let these two young morons cause me too much grief and I started to plan a way to counter them. I had to find something- something that would turn their antics against each other. And that's where I had a bit of a crazy idea.

It had still plenty of chalk left, so it was easy to prepare a solo summoning while the two were busy. The result I got was... perfect.

It was during lunchtime, a common battleground for these two, that a new factor entered upon their reach. As they took to sit by the table, ready to speak up against one another, they realized that someone was sitting on my lap.

With pale pink hair which covered one of her paler-pink eyes, the little girl that was happily enjoying the apple slices from her plate was comfortably enjoying the lap-seat I offered her, something that truly stunned those two other Children that had not been familiar with the new entry in the family.

"Dad, who's that?" Zhao spoke up first, with Gilgamesh nodding.

"Yeah, who is she?"

The one they talked about froze at being noticed, her gaze still aimed at her food.

"Hm? Oh, I forgot to mention this but I decided to do a third summoning."

...

"And?"

"And you now have a little sister, Zhao," I remarked, turning to the shy girl. "Do you want me to introduce you?"

The girl turned to look at me and... she sighed. "I-I can do it."

Her voice was tiny, soft, and soon she turned to look at her 'brother' and 'sister'.

"M-My name is Mash- Mash Kyrielight. Nice to m-meet you both."

"Since Mash will be your little sibling, I expect both of you to be behaving well so that she doesn't get any wrong habit out of either of you. If that was to be a problem, then I would be most upset."

I didn't have a way to truly punish them, I know this much, but both were prideful and inexperienced about being older siblings. I could sense it in their expressions - annoyance and surprise mixing in a new form of unease born from the notion of 'bickering' and causing the younger child more trouble.

Despite the strange fact I could find nothing on this kid's background as she wasn't a historical figure, I could still 'notice' a strange familiarity to her and... her Class name was truly something. Alas, my plan worked. Mash's arrival created a new status quo that forced these two to solve their bickering by actually being less prone to those when the 'cute eggplant' was around.

I know that Zhao called her that as an endearing nickname, but it sure irked the poor kid a bit more than it should.

Still, life was back to stability and... I couldn't help but feel I had to truly dig into the Mash situation since I felt it was important.

AN

S-Child(ren) Stats

True Name: Gilgamesh/Gil;
Type: Son Spirit;
Class: Rich;
Strengths and Weaknesses: Same as 'Gilgamesh (All);
Likes: Mature and calm women, Mr Beast, and when his Father takes him out for shopping;
Dislikes: His older self (Archer), and Pretzels;
Father: Aiden Vinson;

True Name: Mash Kyrielight;
Type: Daughter Spirit;
Class: Abnormal;
Strengths and Weaknesses: Unknown;
Likes: The color of the sky, the smell of the earth, reading books, and headpats;
Dislikes: Being called a Eggplant, needles;
Father: Aiden Vinson;