Something to be Proud of

"There's something I think you should know."

Zenith picked up on my serious tone and her gleeful expression morphed into an equally serious one as she put all her focus on me.

"Okay Rudy.  What did you do now?"

"Have you ever heard of the Seven Great Powers?"

Zenith nodded yes indicating she has.

"I think I've heard the name before, but that's about it", Therese responded.

"After the second Great Human-Demon War, someone known now as the Technique God selected seven people, including himself, and declared them to be the strongest in the world."

"The Technique God created several magical stone monuments and scattered them throughout the world in places where mana concentration is high.  The monuments display the insignias of the Seven Great Powers and automatically update when their ranks change."

"Yes, I've seen a couple of those monuments before", Zenith answered.

Therese and Luna meanwhile seemed captivated by the story and listened attentively.

"As you know Mother, I was sent to the Demon Continent during the displacement incident along with Eris.  Shortly after we arrived there, a wandering Superd named Ruijerd Superdia found us and promised to guide us back home."

Luna perked up when she heard Ruijerd's name.

"Ruijerd is a noble and righteous person.  He is loving and gentle towards all children and hates evildoers.  He truly embodies the exact opposite of the rumors you hear about the Superd Race."

"Shortly after our arrival in Zant Port, we came across some smugglers who had kidnapped a group of Beast Children.  After taking out the smugglers, we decided to escort the Beast Children back to their home in the Great Forest."

"While we were escorting them back home, we were ambushed by one of the smuggler's leaders, a North Saint named Gallus Cleaner, as well as the North God himself, Aleksander Ryback."

"The North God!?"

"You were ambushed by the North God!?  How did you survive??"

Zenith and Therese alike responded in shock.  The idea of Fighting one who has achieved the rank of 'God' is so ludicrous a normal person wouldn't even think of it.

"I got separated from the rest of our group during the ambush.  Ruijerd, Roxy, Elinalise, and Talhand worked together to defeat the North Saint.  He was no match for the four of them.  Heck, Ruijerd could have beaten him himself.  While they were fighting Gallus, I was alone to face off against the North God."

"You fought the North God all by yourself?", Therese exclaimed.

"That's impossible.  Even for you, Rudy!  You're an unbelievably talented mage, that's for sure, but it's common knowledge that mages are at a disadvantage against swordsmen in a one on one fight.  I don't care how powerful a mage is, there's no way one could beat a God ranked swordsman in a one on one fight."

"Common knowledge.  What good is common knowledge when you're up against one of the strongest people in this world.  What you need to reach that level is anything but common."

*Gulp*

The atmosphere in the room became palpably heavy as Zenith and Therese began to understand just what I meant.

"When I fought against Aleksander, I gave absolutely everything I had.  He had me all but defeated, and all it took was one moment; one moment where Aleksander let his guard down, thinking he'd won.  In that one moment I risked everything on one last all or nothing attack.  If that didn't finish him I knew I was as good as dead."

Everyone was silent as they listened to my story in disbelief.

"Thankfully, that one moment was all it took.  That last attack of mine won me the fight and by extension, earned me a spot on those stone monuments."

"You don't mean..."

"Yes.  I've earned the rank of Magic God.  Seventh ranked among the Seven Great Powers.  If you visit any of those stone monuments, you will see that they have changed to reflect it."

"...I'm sorry, Rudy.  It's not that I think you're lying... This is all just so hard to believe."

"Trust me, I understand.  But if there's one thing I've learned during my time in this world, it's that magic is all powerful."

"Eh?", Zenith and Therese both seemed confused.

"There's nothing that Magic cannot do.  If something seems impossible, it's merely that nobody's figured out how to do it yet.  I've learned so many things with magic."

"I can manipulate the gravity of objects or people"

As I said this, I lifted up the chair that Zenith was sitting in about a foot off the ground.  Zenith shrieked in surprise and almost lost her balance and fell off the chair.

"I've learned to draw teleportation circles and can travel across the world in an instant, and I've been working on developing magical implements that allow you to communicate across long distances."

"You mean those things you've been working on lately?"

"Yes.  I call them lithograph stones.  You can write a message on one and it will display on another, no matter how far apart the two are."

"That's amazing!  You can send messages instantly where a letter might take years to arrive!"

"Yeah, the magic guild thought so too.  They paid me fifty Asura Gold coins for the ones I've made so far."  As I was saying this, I emptied my money pouch on the table, which still contained about forty five gold coins worth of currency.

"FIFTY GOLD COINS!?", Zenith yelled out in shock.

"How is this a bigger deal than me becoming the Magic God!?"

"Erm... It's not.  But... that's A LOT of money."

"That's what I said!", Therese agreed.

I couldn't help but facepalm at their antics.

"There's one thing I don't understand though", Zenith said as she held her chin and looked off in the distance in thought.  "How did you even learn all this?  You had nobody to teach you, right?  How are you able to just come up with new magic spells like it's nothing?"

"Simple, I don't.  I don't come up with these things like it's nothing.  While it's true I have come up with some unique spells of my own, it's a long and difficult process of experimentation.  Also, some of the magic I've learned from other sources, such as teleportation magic."

"Who was it that taught you that?"

"Nobody taught me, per se.  I found an ancient Dragon folk temple in the Demon Continent.  Inside there were many murals and writings on the walls which I learned a lot from.  The Dragonfolk set up teleportation circles all throughout the world.  Most of them are well hidden or protected, but I studied one of them along with a close friend of mine named Nanahoshi.  Together we were able to decipher the secrets of the teleportation magic circles and create our own."

"An ancient Dragonfolk temple... that sounds really exciting!  I wish I could have seen it.  Nanahoshi sounds like a girl's name.  I'd really love to meet her", Zenith said while giving me a smirk.

"It's not like that.  We're just good friends.  She's not in Sharia, but when she next comes to town I'll have to introduce you to her."

"I'd like that."

Zenith, Therese, Luna and I all continued our conversation until the others started returning home.  Therese and I told her about how they were in hiding from the Pope and asked Zenith not to send word back home that they were in Sharia.  The rest of the time was spent talking about all the amazing magic I've learned and me showing off a little.

"Honestly, Rudy, you had me scared when you took such a serious tone earlier.  I know this is important news, but you're acting like you're ashamed of your accomplishments.  You've achieved something that most could never even dream to do!  This is something to be proud of."

"I'm sorry Mother.  It's just... I know I'm not a normal kid.  I was scared that things wouldn't be the same between us if you knew... I didn't... want you to be afraid of me."

Unintentionally, my eyes started to well up with tears.  I wasn't lying.  I really was scared.

"Afraid of you?  Psh!  How could I ever be afraid of you?", Zenith said as she reached across the table and hugged me.  "You've never been a normal kid.  You're something far greater than that.  You're Rudeus Greyrat, my one and only son.  There's not a thing you could do that would make me stop loving you!"

When she said that, the dam broke; tears started pouring down my cheeks.  All the tension I'd been feeling about this faded away.  Not just today.  Tension I've been feeling about this subject for years now.  The fear of losing my Mother's love if she ever found out who I really was.  It felt like a huge burden had finally been lifted from my shoulders.

"I love you too Mom!", is all I could think to say as I hugged her tight.

Hope, Laws, and Sylphy were the first to get back.  They returned home about half an hour after we arrived.  Lilia returned home with Norn and Aisha shortly afterward.  Once they all had arrived, I had the same talk with the adults while Therese had taken Luna, Norn, and Aisha into one of the bedrooms.

Hope was completely shocked.  Laws was surprised, but he had already known of my gravity magic and teleportation.  Still, he never would have thought I'd become one of the seven strongest in the whole world.

Lilia seemed completely composed, as if she considered it to be only natural that I achieve such a title.  Sylphy seemed more excited than shocked.  I'm not sure if she properly grasps just what that title means.  Honestly, she acted like she was just proud of my accomplishments.

Paul arrived last.  He had met some friends at the Adventurer's Guild and went out drinking with them, so he arrived late.

We all threw a party to celebrate Therese and Luna's arrival and stayed up late that night eating a feast that Lilia prepared and playing party games to include the kids.  Therese and Luna spent the night here with all of us.  I set out two more bedrolls for them.  It was cramped, but we made it work.

After that, they went back to the room I rented for them at the nearby Inn.

In the end, I decided against telling them about my reincarnation into my past self.  I don't think I'm ready to tell them.  Honestly, I'm not sure I'll ever be.  Paul wants me to come clean eventually, but I asked him to wait just a little longer.  Thankfully he's been understanding of my feelings.  He's truly a better father than I deserve.