Chapter 11: You Just Collapsed (Patreon)

What Rudy had done wasn't wrong. But Paul's temper really wasn't the best, either. Her heart ached at the thought of Rudy being unfairly blamed. But then she saw her unconscious husband...

Zenith rushed forward, worry etched across her face. She began casting a healing spell on him.

As the green magical light bloomed again and again... Paul slowly stirred back to consciousness. In an instant—!!! The fury from before surged up in him, and he shot to his feet, ready to act. But the next moment—!!!

Smack!!!

A loud slap rang out as his mother Zenith struck Paul across the face.

Staring at Paul's dumbfounded expression, Zenith frowned and asked, "Paul, have you had enough??"

The anger that had been building in him was instantly knocked clean out by that slap. He looked at his beautiful, furious wife standing before him. Then he raised his head and glanced at the one standing close by, looking down on him from on high, studying him with a calm, level gaze — Rudy.

Remembering how helpless he'd just been, Paul could only sigh in defeat. "...Sorry."

Nodding, Zenith turned to Rudy. "Let's leave it at that, then."

Rudy smiled and nodded. "No problem, Mother. Though, honestly, Father really is a bit too weak. I never noticed it before, but now... I think he really needs to pick his swordsmanship back up. In the future, I'll definitely be leaving home at some point. And I don't want to be out there, worrying that... my weak, powerless father doesn't even have the strength to protect our family. So — tomorrow, Father, why don't you train with me? Would that be all right??"

The tone of it made Paul's temper flare right back up. But Zenith thought it was a fine idea. All these years... Ever since they'd gotten married, Paul had let his skills slide more and more. If, someday, something truly bad happened... it would already be too late by then!!!

Thinking of this... Zenith turned to Paul and asked with a smile, "Paul, what do you think??"

"I..."

Seeing that Zenith had already made up her mind, Paul had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Honestly... toward his son Rudy, who'd been so shamelessly bold just now, he genuinely felt irritated, down to his bones. Calling him a useless wreck who couldn't even protect his own family — was that any way to talk to your own father??

So... he had to get stronger!!! He was absolutely going to make that brat Rudy understand that there was always someone stronger out there!!!

And seeing Paul fire back up with resolve, Rudy smiled warmly.

A young tree grows crooked without pruning; a person turns unruly without discipline. When a father won't listen, what's to be done? Naturally, you give him a good, thorough disciplining. And look — now he was listening just fine.

As for Paul striving to reach the point where he could utterly wreck Rudy in a fight... honestly... Rudy was genuinely, truly looking forward to it.

Zenith and the maid Lilia together helped Paul into the house. Once the events of the day had been explained from start to finish, Paul reluctantly apologized to Rudy once more. But at the same time, the resentment building inside him toward Rudy climbed another notch. Still, looking at his wife and Lilia smiling so sweetly, Paul forced himself to laugh along with everyone else.

......

......

Soon enough... the sun rose, and a new day arrived. In the morning, after breakfast, Rudy led Paul a short distance away from the house.

Looking at Paul's grim, determined face, Rudy said with a smile, "Come on then. Use that magnificent swordsmanship of yours and come at me."

"Heh, you've got some nerve saying that!!!"

The moment the words left Paul's mouth, his whole body had already flashed around behind Rudy. But the next instant—!!! Before Paul could even land a strike on Rudy, a fierce blast of Wind Magic sent him flying several meters back.

Rudy walked slowly toward him and said with a smile, "Real training now, Father."

"Heh, don't get too pleased with yourself just yet!!!"

With a loud shout, Paul threw everything he had into it — this time, there was no way he'd let Rudy catch him off guard.

A swordsman relied on speed — quick, decisive strikes to take down a slow-reacting mage. His past combat experience had taught Paul exactly how to deal with a mage. So... the same logic should apply to Rudy, too, of course.

Except—!!! Reality was far crueler than the ideal. No matter how Paul charged, the instant he was about to strike, Rudy always caught the opening with perfect precision. A blast of magic sent him flying again.

Before they knew it, half the morning had slipped by. Sylphiette, the new friend they'd made recently, showed up in front of Rudy right around then. Watching Rudy relentlessly discipline Paul, Sylphiette's eyes were full of boundless admiration.

And once Rudy felt he'd had enough, he sent Paul flying a few more meters with one last blast, then said gently, "Paul, you should keep practicing a while longer. This one-sided beatdown is honestly getting boring. Sylphiette's here now, so I won't keep playing house with you."

Waving a hand, Rudy didn't even glance at Paul's darkened expression. He just smiled, took Sylphiette's hand, and walked off in another direction.

Watching the two of them grow smaller in the distance... Paul looked down at the sword in his hand. He let out a helpless sigh. Had he really let his old skills slip that far? To think he couldn't even put a four-year-old son in his place. Damn it all!!!

Standing back up, Paul threw himself into training with dead seriousness. Losing to his own son, mocked so thoroughly by him — even as the boy's father, he couldn't hold his head up after that.

No matter what—!!! he was going to make Rudy understand that there was always someone stronger out there. Otherwise... who knew how far that little brat's tail would rise by the time it was all over.