Aftermath (3/3)

Later that night, Eris woke up from her sleep, confused and disoriented. Her parents, who had been sitting by her bed, explained what happened to her and what Rudeus went through to save her. Initially, they wanted to leave out some parts for her own sake, such as the fact that the assassins had been sent by Notos, and that Rudeus was their target.

They knew their daughter best, and they were not confident Eris would be able to keep such information to herself. Besides, they did not want to burden their child with such a heavy news.

However, Rudeus had convinced them otherwise. He told them that Eris deserved to know that her bodyguard was being targeted by another noble family, so that she can have the choice whether or not she still wanted Rudeus to continue on his protection service. She would only feel betrayed and deceived if this was kept from her when she will inevitably find out the truth someday.

Philip and Hilda hesitantly agreed, unable to find faults with Rudeus' argument. They understood that Eris has thus far been too heavily sheltered. She was going to be 10 years old soon. And that also meant they will have to start getting her more involved with the family business. They didn't want her to be tricked without knowing who their enemies were when she grew older.

And so Eris heard the full story. Assassins had come for Rudeus, and had implicated her to be used as bait. These assassins were also very likely sent by the Notos family, whom Rudeus' father used to be a part of. And now the current head of the Notos family wants to eliminate Rudeus before he can grow up and threaten their authority.

"Wait, the head of the Notos, he is Rudeus' uncle right? How can an uncle want to kill Rudeus??" She asked, bewildered.

"Amongst the nobility, things like blood relations are only valued as much as what benefits they can get from it. He does not care that Rudeus is his nephew. He only cares about what danger leaving Rudeus alive might pose to his authority."

"What!? That jerk! We should go teach him a lesson!" Eris angrily responded, clenching her small fists tightly.

"We will. But not now. Rudeus is still small. When he grows older, he will go and teach them a lesson." Philip reassured her.

"Mmm okay! We will help Rudeus, right?"

Philip and Hilda looked at each other, not sure how to tell her.

"Well, here's the thing - Rudeus wanted us to ask you if you still want him to continue on as your bodyguard and tutor." Her mother relayed what Rudeus wanted them to ask Eris.

"Yes!" The little girl answered without hesitation.

"Wait, let us finish. Now that he is being targeted by the Notos family, you might get dragged into his problems. You might get hurt, or worse. Do you still want him to stay?"

Eris thought about it for a moment but looked back with clear eyes.

"Rudeus is Eris' teacher! His problems are also my problems! Rudeus is strong but he is still so small you know? Even I am taller than him. I don't care if it's the Notos or whatever family, I will help protect Rudeus like he protected me!"

Seeing her determined response, Philip and Hilda chuckled amusedly. They could not have imagined Eris making such a statement if it was just a few months ago. It was clear to all who resided in the Boreas family how much Rudeus had influenced Eris and her behaviour.

Hilda had a stray thought, and decided to broach the question with Eris.

"Eris, now that you know our Boreas family is going to help Rudeus regain the Notos family head position, you should also know that in the future he will help your brothers come back home."

"Oh? The brothers that I have never met before will be coming back? Uuu... I don't know how to feel about this."

"Yes, and well, in the future Rudeus might also become the head of the Notos family. It would be good for us to solidify an alliance with him, preferably before he turns 15."

Eris nodded along, not really understand why her mother was telling her this and what she was getting at.

Philip on the other hand picked up on the meaning behind his wife's words.

"Hilda, you mean..."

Hilda nodded, "Yes, dear. Eris, what do you think about marrying him?"

The girl nodded along before doing a double take, "Eh? Marry!? Who?"

"You know, marry Rudeus." Her mother nudged.

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you saying? Why would I want to marry R-Rudeus?" Eris stammered out with a rosy blush on her face.

"Hmm? You don't like Rudeus?"

"What, how can I like that guy. He always bullies me and scolds me! Just because he is a little stronger than me... hmph!"

Hilda thought for a moment before putting a finger to her full lips. "Oh, then do you hate Rudeus?"

"Uuu... I don't hate him... Rudeus is teaching me how to throw fire out of my sword, so the great me will tolerate his occasional impudence. But that doesn't mean I like him! Not… not in that way!" Eris shot back, some of her words lifted from what she occasionally heard her grandfather say.

Philip chuckled. "Rudeus will be sad to hear that after rescuing you so heroically."

"That's-! That's something he is supposed to do anyway. He is my bodyguard after all, I expect no less from Rudeus."

Hilda waved her arms placatingly, "Alright, alright. We will talk about this again in the future. Go to sleep, you need your rest after such an eventful day."

"No, wait, where's Rudeus? I want to go talk to him first."

"Hmm? Do you want to ask to come sleep in your bed together with you? How daring. And I thought you didn't like him." Hilda teased.

"Mama! It's not like that. I just wanted to thank him, that's all..."

"Fufu, well, that's fine too. I think he's in the training field. You can go look for him if you want to, but don't stay too long. It's already late."

Eris jumped out of her bed and ran off, "I got it, goodnight!"

Philip shakes his head, "Look at this girl, more excited to go see a boy than spend time with her parents. She will definitely forget about us once she finds a husband."

"Fufu, I was like that at her age too. And that boy was older than me as well..."

"Eh, what you just said, I have never heard of it before?"

"Hmm? What are you talking about, you heard wrongly."

"D-did I? Hm, I thought you said... well, never mind."

.....

"Rudeus!" Eris yelled as she approached the training ground. "You here?"

She stopped as she looked into the training ground, which was now illuminated only by the moonlight.

In the middle of the moonlit field she found Rudeus with his eyes closed, in the middle of a Water God stance. His clothes were damp with sweat, indicating the amount of effort he had put in to perspire this much even on a cold night like this one.

"Eh? What is he doing? And did he just ignore me!" Eris asked herself before getting angry.

Suddenly, Rudeus moved. He swung his sword following the steps of an Advanced Water God style technique. From Eris' point of view, his movements and the way he swung his sword made it seem like he was fighting an invisible enemy.

Rudeus transitioned from the defensive water god stance and lunged forward with a single step. His short sword Blue Fang was swung downwards with immense speed - Advanced Sword God technique: Longsword of Silence.

The spot where he had been standing exploded into small chunks of dirt and debris, as a result of the massive mana Rudeus injected into his leg muscles.

His sword cut through the air, unleashing a small shockwave that travelled and struck a tree - resulting in a long gash appearing diagonally down the trunk of the tree.

Rudeus remained in the last stance of Longsword of Silence. He exhaled deeply, his eyes still closed.

'It's not enough. Kaballah moved way faster than this. I almost had it. I feel like I'm just one inch away from grasping Saint-rank Battle Aura. Something's missing, I just don't know what.'

He felt his mana circulating beneath his skin, enhancing his physical ability to near Saint-level, but still unable to breakthrough that final barrier.

'Is this what Master Ghislaine calls a bottleneck? Battle Aura has always been more about instinct rather than theory. It is something that requires feeling, not thinking. Unless I can instinctively comprehend what Saint-rank Battle Aura should be like, no matter how much mana I have, it's useless...'

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. Still on high alert from the ambush earlier in the day, Rudeus dashed forward and swung his blade instinctively. The moment he saw the distinct, crimson red of Eris' hair, he forcefully halted the circulation of his mana and his momentum ceased. His short sword stopped a couple inches from Eris' neck.

"Lady Eris! Pardon me; I did not notice you there." Rudeus apologised as he immediately withdrew his sword.

"U-un. I-it's alright." Eris forced out, cold sweat flowing down her forehead. Truthfully, at that moment, Eris had thought that she might die from the intense killing intent that poured out of Rudeus as he swung his sword. His eyes, that were usually warm and sincere, felt like ice cold daggers that were stabbing at her.

Rudeus had been mentally running through the battle with North Saint Kaballah. He had been shadow boxing an imaginary opponent that was representative of what North Saint Kaballah was capable of. Rudeus thus needed to fully immerse himself in his memory of battling Kabbalah, which included his emotional distress at that time.

He was surrounded, ambushed by seven enemies. He had close shaves with death, at times thinking that the alley in Roa would be where he might die. Faced with the killing intent from seven different enemies, he had to focus his mind into pushing back with the same intent to kill in order to not get sucked in by the oppressive pressure.

This killing intent was what Rudeus unknowingly radiated at Eris as she approached him during a tense state where he recalled and immersed himself in a mental frame of life and death. If he hadn't stopped himself in time, he might really have just chopped off her head without realizing.

Seeing Eris stare at him mutely, Rudeus approached her and placed his hand on her forehead.

She immediately reacted and stepped back, the memory of talking about marriage with her parents still fresh in her mind, "W-w-w-what are you doing!?"

"I was just checking to feel how your condition was with Healing magic. It's a diagnostic spell. The assailants hit you in the head and you fainted because of that. There might be some lingering damage that I didn't pick up on before. Now that you're up and running about, it's better to be safe than sorry." He explained before once more placing his palm over her increasingly warming forehead.

"I-I see… Be quick about it then." Eris quietly whispered out, her tone a vast difference from the volume she usually spoke at.

The two of them shared a silence that followed after, with a warm green glow from the Healing magic between them. A boy and a girl stood in the middle of a moonlit field, with one touching the forehead of the other. Even Eris, who did not have much experience in things like romance, felt her heart beating oddly at the scene.

Eris almost exploded from the tension before Rudeus suddenly removed his hand. She held herself back from breathing out a sigh of relief from Rudeus' withdrawal of his hand.

"All done. You seem to have recovered completely already. It's good that you have such a thick skull."

"Hmph, of course that is... hmm? Are you making fun of me!?" Eris started to swing a fist at Rudeus before her small arm stopped in place. She lowered her hand and looked away from Rudeus who had been preparing to dodge her blow.

"Ahem, I will forgive your insolence this time." Eris bashfully gazed back at Rudeus, "I heard that you got injured trying to save me… does it still hurt?"

He widen his eyes slightly, a little surprised to see such a gentle side to the beastly Eris. "No, it doesn't hurt anymore."

She raised her hand and traced the cut under his left eye. "This… you have a scar."

Rudeus chuckled, "Yes, I do. I could have healed it completely with Healing magic, but I wanted to leave the scar on me."

Eris snorted, "What, you think you look cool with a scar?"

He shook his head solemnly, "No. I left this scar as a reminder. It is a warning, that I am still weak. It reminds me that I must become stronger; otherwise, I will be too weak to protect the people that I love and care for. And that is something I would never forgive myself for."

"Oh." Eris dumbly responded. "Well, Rudeus is still a kid. So you don't need to worry that much."

Rudeus' heart grew heavier. He turned to Eris, his expression stony but there were cracks in his shell.

"I killed a person today."

Eris widened her eyes. The concept of killing and Rudeus was as contrasting as the Sun and the Moon. She was no stranger to death. In this world, it was common sense for someone to randomly die out of the blue. Be it to monsters, bandits or some other unpredictable and random phenomena. But she just never associated Rudeus and him killing a person together. They were two completely foreign and discordant concepts.

He continued, "If… if I was strong enough, I would not have been forced to kill him. I would have been able to defeat them without having to resort to taking a life. I would have not been pushed into a situation where I had to either kill or be killed. If only I was strong enough…"

Eris was stunned to see Rudeus like this. He had always kept up a composed exterior, or occasionally acted with the seriousness and maturity that did not match his age. But she had never seen Rudeus melancholic before, or as she would call it, 'sadness'.

"I…" She bit her bottom lip, not knowing what to say. She took a deep breath and struck a pose, "Don't worry Rudeus! Soon I'll be as strong as you, no, I'll be even stronger! Then, we will protect each other and our family together! So no need to do everything yourself! You have me as well!"

Rudeus stared at the girl, who was so obviously trying her best to console him with an exaggerated bravado. But he could not hold it against the girl who was putting all her effort to cheer him up.

He laughed, feeling the tension and pressure that he had piled up on his shoulders fade away. It was indeed comforting to know that he could share this burden with someone if he ever felt like he could not endure it anymore.

Eris' eyebrow twitched at his laughter, "You! How can you laugh when I'm being sincere!"

Rudeus shook his hands to calm the little noble down, though his lips were still twitching at the laughter he was holding back, "No, no, Eris. I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing at myself. For forgetting that I did not have to do this by myself. I have you to help me as well. Thank you, Eris."

She pouted, not satisfied with his explanation but at the same time remembering what she came here for.

"Right, I want to thank you too. For, you know… rescuing me. Even though it's your job to do so in the first place!" She was meek when thanking Rudeus, but grew more haughty at the end.

Rudeus smiled, then placed his right hand on his chest and lowered his head while swinging back his left feet, performing the proper noble courtesy he had learned on the first day he came to the Boreas household.

"It is my duty to protect you, Lady Eris. Always."

Eris reddened at his words, secretly glad that Rudeus was looking down and thus could not see her rosy cheeks, "H-hmph! That's all then. Goodnight!" She said and turned away to hide the flush on her face.

Rudeus shook his head and chuckled at her antics. "Goodnight Lady Eris."

"I told you not to call me that! And no need to walk me back. Just keep training here and I'll walk back alone. By myself!"

'Sheesh, if you wanted me to walk you back just say it.' Rudeus mused at her need to hide her warm interior with a rough exterior.

"Alright, alright, I'll go with you."

"Hmph, I said no need right! But if you want to, then I can't stop you either."