It's been a couple of months since I tried creating that black hole, but I haven't made any progress with it. I'm too scared to attempt it again—I don't want white hair so early. Just remembering how I had no control over my mana scares me every time I think about starting again.

For now, I'll leave it alone; it's not even my main focus. Right now, I'm outside at the big tree, swinging the sword. I've been practicing every day to strengthen my sword skills. It's paying off; my swings are faster and I feel more nimble.

I've also been training with my magic eye, but it strains my eyes too much, so I try not to activate it often. I figured out the person who was watching me; it's a young Sylphie. It makes sense since this is where Rudeus found her in canon. She watches me but hasn't had the courage to talk, and I haven't approached her either. She just runs away if she thinks I've noticed her. I haven't seen her get bullied yet; I wonder if I should intervene.

Training with Lilia has been tough. No matter how much I improve, she always seems to be better. I think she secretly enjoys pushing me, but her motherly smile makes it hard to stay mad at her for long.

"It's getting late. I should head home before my parents worry." Suddenly, rain starts pouring down, intensifying into a thunderstorm.

"Oh great, just what I needed." I start using a thin layer of wind magic over my head to deflect the raindrops so I don't get wet, like Gojo from Jujutsu Kaisen.

While walking, I notice a green-haired girl curled up under a tree, crying.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." I walk up to, and she sees me approaching, recognizing me. She turns her face away, timid.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask, extending my hand. She looks up at me in shock and fear, unsure of what I'll do.

"Yes, I'm fine," she replies hesitantly, taking my hand as I help her up. Her hood falls down, revealing her green hair and beautiful features.

"Wow, you're so cute," I blurt out involuntarily. She blushes, clearly not used to compliments from someone outside her family.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. Um, my name is Rudeus Greyrat. I'm the knight's kid. I think I know you; aren't you Sylphiette?"

"Um, yes, I'm Sylphie," she says softly, trailing off as she speaks.

"I don't want to keep you out in this rain. Let's go back to my house so I can dry you off," She looks at me with confusion.

"Um, why aren't you wet?"

"Oh, because I'm using wind magic to deflect the water droplets. Look on top of my head; see how they almost hit me, then fly away?" She looks up, eyes sparkling with fascination, reminding me of childhood innocence.

"Wow, magic! That's cool. How did you learn it?"

"I'll tell you when we get to my house. I don't want you catching a cold," I say, gesturing for her to climb onto my back. "It'll be faster this way, and you won't get wet anymore."

Sylphie gets on my back, noticing she stays dry, amazed by the magic. I assume a stance, tensing my leg muscles with the foundation of lightning breathing, then burst into speed.

Sylphie holds on tighter, eyes closed, clearly unused to such high speeds. After a few minutes, we reach my house, where Lilia waits with a warm towel.

So much déjà vu; all I have to do now is pull down Sylphie's shorts

"I don't need it, Lilia. Give it to my friend, they need it more than me." Lilia turned to the girl on my back, and Sylphie instinctively put her hood up to cover her hair.

"Actually, on second thought, Lilia, I've got it. Is the bath ready?" Lilia turned her gaze back to me.

"Yes, Rudeus. I've prepared a warm bath. Master Paul and Miss Zenith will be back shortly; they've gone to the village for important matters."

"Okay, Lilia. I'll call you if I need you." I started walking upstairs with Sylphie's wet and shivering body on my back. We made it to my room, and there was one bucket.

"Okay, get off my back. I'll dry you and your hair off real quick." She jumped off my back and stood in front of me. I used melded magic to produce warm air and started blow-drying her hair and body.

"Thank you," she said, looking at the floor meekly and playing with her fingers.

"Okay, now I'll cover my eyes, but you have to take off your clothes so I can dry them. You can have the tub all to yourself; I can't have a cute girl like you catching a cold."

"Okay," she said shyly. I turned around and covered my eyes. I heard her taking off her clothes. I won't lie; this was the first time I'd been alone with a girl who was undressing, and I was kind of excited. I heard her body enter the water, and I turned around. Her body was almost fully submerged.

"Okay, so Sylphie, do you want to learn magic?"

"Magic? Really? Yes!" I could hear the excitement in her voice. She even started to squeal a bit.

"Well, I have a magic tutor, and I'll ask her if she can take you in." Sylphie looked like she started to have a sad look on her face.

"Um, Rudeus, my parents don't have that type of money to give to a tutor." I could feel the sadness radiating from her voice.

"You're in luck; I can get her to teach you for free."

"Really? Yay!" She jumped up in excitement but quickly noticed she wasn't dressed and sat back down, blushing.

"It's super easy; all we have to do is go up to her, both of us, and make the saddest face and beg her. She won't be able to handle our cuteness and will give in."

I'm going to use my privilege of being a cute kid to guilt Roxy into taking Sylphie in as a student.

"Sylphie, hurry and wash up before Roxy gets here."

"Okay, Rudeus."

The shy and meek Sylphie seemed to be warming up to me. I never thought I'd meet her this early. I wonder what coincidence this will have on the world.

"Rudeus, let's —" Roxy barged into my room and saw me next to a girl with green hair, naked and taking a bath. Seeing the green hair, Roxy took a step back, unconsciously in fear.

"Rudeus, what are you doing with a naked girl in here?" I heard Roxy shaky voice and see her eyeing sylphie's hair.

"Oh shit, Roxy is scared of Sylphie. Doesn't she see her gemless forehead? But now that I think about it, it's kind of strange I have a random girl fully naked in my room, surprised Lilia didn't say anything."

"This here is Sylphie; she's my friend." After taking a moment to compose herself, Roxy took a second glance at Sylphie and noticed her head didn't have a red gem. Under Roxy's gaze, Sylphie started to sink herself under the water to escape the judging look on her face.

"Look what you did, Roxy; now she's sad. You should be ashamed."

"Oh wait, it's a perfect time right now to ask her while Sylphie is present and now she feels bad. I have cid kagenou-type luck."

"Roxy, can I ask you a favor?" I saw her head tilt in curiosity.

"You see, my friend here, her family isn't well off like mine, and she can't afford a tutor. But she has such a good talent for magic, and even silent casting. Could you please take her in as a disciple?"

"I don't know," Roxy her voice hesitant. I didn't want to pull this out, but she left me no choice. I got on my knees and started making puppy dog eyes.

"Sigh, fine, only because you're my cute disciple." In the back, Sylphie couldn't help but unconsciously be a little jealous that Roxy called me cute.

After that incident, the next day, Sylphie accompanied us for lessons.

"So, because we have a new student, I'll need to see your talent. I need you to recite the words I'm about to say."

"[Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing, burbling stream here and now. Water Ball.]"

A water ball appeared at the end of her staff and launched out.

"Wow, it's that easy! Okay, I'll do it."

"[Let the great protection of water be on the place thou seekest. I call a refreshing, burbling stream here and now. Water Ball.]"

A water ball formed in her palm; it wasn't as big as Roxy's because she didn't have a staff.

"I did it!" Sylphie started excitedly jumping around because she did magic.

"Wow, is everyone in this village this talented?" Roxy looked a little depressed, like her pride as a magician was being stepped on.

"Wait, but Rudy, what was that magic you did yesterday? I didn't hear you chant anything."

"Yes, that right there was something that basically nobody else can do. It's called voiceless incantation."

"Voiceless incantation? I heard you say I had a talent for it yesterday."

"Wow, she's surprisingly smart."

"Yes, I'll teach it to you tomorrow. Just start to get these spells down first and expand your mana pool."

"It should be easy to teach Sylphie voiceless incantation, as in the original, she picked it up really fast. Her talent for magic will probably surpass mine and her mana pool as well."

"Okay, that's enough for today. I can see that Sylphie looks like she's ready to pass out, so we'll continue tomorrow."

"Sylphie, since we're done with our lessons, do you want to go and play?"

"Yes, Rudy! Can we play tag?"

"Of course, let's go." I grabbed Sylphie by her hand and started to pull her towards the big tree. After a couple of minutes of running, we made it to the tree. I noticed three kids; they looked like they were waiting for someone. They noticed me and Sylphie walking towards them.

"Oi, when did the demon get a boyfriend, or is she mind-controlling you?" The two other brats started to laugh at his joke.

I remembered these kids; they were the ones who bullied Sylphie in the original. I couldn't help but frown; they really started this early, and it seemed like they were waiting for her. I had to teach them a lesson.

"And what about it? She's a cute girl. You guys are just jealous she's with me."

"Tch, as if we would ever want to be with a nasty green-haired demon like her. She needs to die and leave the village."

"These dirty little bastards; they're nothing but cannon fodder side characters who probably died in the mana disaster." Sending my anger, Sylphie squeezed my hand.

"Um… it's okay, Rudy. It doesn't really bother me." She was already reverting back to her shy, meek self. I wanted to beat them unconscious.

"Oh no, the demon's going to cry to her little boyfriend. Wait, aren't you the knight's kid? The knight's kid is a demon lover. AHAHAH."

I clenched my fist. "Watch your mouth; she's no demon." All the kids started grinning madly and started to pick up mud and throw it at me.

I used wind magic and threw the balls of mud back at them. "What happened? Did the demon use her demon powers?"

"Ahahah, you dumb brats; that was magic." I made ten sharp ice blades and pointed them at them.

"It's not so funny now, is it? AHAHA." The look of terror in their eyes was noticeable; all the color and joy was wiped away while looking death in the eye. I could see one of the boys start to piss himself.

"Now, apologize and say you'll never do it again, and I'll spare you." The group leader gulped but stood his ground; he had a look of determination in his eyes. I had to put it out; I quickly shot an ice spear at him and stopped mere inches from his face.

He looked like he had seen a ghost, and he started to piss himself as well; both of his friends in the back started to run.

"HE'S CRAZY." I couldn't help but laugh; I may seem a little crazy, but his friends just up and abounded him

"I'm sorry, I'll never do it again! I don't want to die!" he cried, dropping to his knees. I felt kind of bad now, but he deserved it.

"Run along, and if I hear you told any more, you're dead," He hurried away, crying and leaving a trail of urine behind him.

"It's all my fault, I'm sorry, Rudy," Sylphie apologized.

"Nah, it's nothing. Bullies like them need to learn their lesson. Now, let's go play tag."

I couldn't believe Sylphie went from this shy girl hiding from bullies to the guard of the Princess of Asura and a Saint-class mage. Hopefully, she grows out of this soon, but it is kind of cute seeing her cling to me so hard.

Sylphie and I spent the rest of the day playing games like tag and hide-and-seek. I always won in hide-and-seek because of my Demon Eye. It's not cheating if there are no rules against it.

"Sylphie, it's getting late. I think we should go home now."

"But, Rudy, I want to play more."

It's so hard telling this cute little girl that we have to separate; she looks like she's about to cry if I leave her.

"We can't, but I can walk home with you, so we can keep talking." She still looks a little sad, but isn't as down since we can still talk. She begins to lead the way to her house, and we walk side by side.

"You know, Sylphie, I think you'd look good with long hair," side-glancing to see a small blush creeping up her face.

"R-really? Well, if you think so, I guess I can grow it out if you like it." Talking to Sylphie is really easy because I don't have to do much if she's over the moon just because I talked to her regularly. It's sad, though, because her whole life, she hasn't had this type of relationship.

I think her going to Asura was actually for the best. It's sad her family dies, but they don't play a huge role, and I can't save them.

"Rudy, do you think I'll ever be as strong as you?" She's already asking this? I mean, I guess I've shown her that I'm far ahead of her and I'm doing things that nobody else can do, but I didn't think she'd already be thinking this so fast.

"It's not good to compare yourself to me. I'm kind of a special person, and I'm not bound to the logic of this world. A better person to compare yourself to is Roxy; she's realistic to surpass." I hope these words will get through to her; I don't want Sylphie to go crazy trying to surpass me because it will basically be impossible for her.

"So, Sylphie, I want to tell you this now: in a couple of years, I'll be leaving for a job…" Sylphie snaps her head to me with neck-breaking speed.

"What? Why? Please don't leave me," she starts to cry and holds onto me tightly. I feel bad, but I have to prepare her because it's necessary for me to do so.

"I'm sorry, but I have to. But it's for a good reason; I need to pay for our tuition for the magic university."

"Magic university?"

"Yes, that's where we will go so we can study and advance our magic studies." The girl in my hands keeps crying, and I just hold her tighter.

"But why can't I go with you?" Wait, I never thought about this. Hmm, maybe she could go with me; I mean, it would maybe make the romance between me and Eris harder, but wouldn't it work?

"The closer we get, your parents and mine might start to think you're going to get more dependent on me and want to separate us." She stops crying and begins to think about a solution.

"Well, I'll show them that I'm an independent girl," she breaks out of my embrace and blushes after noticing we were hugging.

"Oh, we're here," I see her small village house.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Rudy. Remember, you have to teach me about that voiceless magic thing."

"Okay, bye, Sylphie. I'll see you tomorrow." I walk away. I wonder, would breathing work for me? I mean, I've been using the basics of Thunder Breathing. I mean, why wouldn't it work? I start to inhale a lot of air but start to choke and fall to the ground.

"Agh, I think I swallowed a fly. I'm not doing that again without practice."

Finally, I made it home. It's been such a long day, but a good day. It feels good; I've never had a childhood like this, or at all. I've pretty much only been in that building reading manga. So, this feels nice.


A/N: I decided to re do it as the pacing was bad and characters development was worse