Chapter 20 Lost In Translation

Clang. Clang.

I make some distance.

Clang. Clang. Me and Paul are currently sparring outside.

It's been a while since we've done this, considering the distance between me and Lilia, I do need a new sparring partner at the moment.

I dash around.

As per usual, I'm fighting under a time limit, before my reinforcement wears out, but…

Whoosh. I jump back, avoiding a strike and letting the wind carry me 10 meters away, then I let my energies recharge,

Paul breaks the distance, and-

Clang.

Too late… I'm back at full power. I redo my reinforcement.

I've come a long way, from the days where I could be pushed around. I've, more or less, plugged the flaws in my fighting style, at least my recovery. That said…

Clang. Shit.

Paul is still the better sword fighter, so every time I make it close quarters he'll eventually get the advantage.

Oh, well, a man has to do what he has to do.

Raising the dirt with my mana. I blow a dust storm towards Paul's eyes.

You're open!

I swing, and-

Eh?

I get tripped, and-

Bonk.

Get hit on my way to the ground.

"That's dirty Rudy," Paul says with closed eyes. When I come to he is standing over me with a blade(stick) hovering over me.

He literally beat me with his eyes closed.

Tch.

"It's not like I can win without taking shortcuts," I make my way to my feet.

"That's the whole point of training. You can't cheat your way through life."

That was surprisingly insightful.

"Who are you calling a cheater, everything I did was perfectly natural in a fight. It's called fighting smart, idiot."

"Who are you calling idiot, idiot," he places my head between his fists, and starts rubbing his knuckles, "don't antagonize your enemy when he has you at his mercy, lesson 2."

"What was lesson one?!"

"Cheaters never win!" Paul exclaimed.

"Go screw yourself! This isn't cheating. This is north god school! The school of hard-knocks!"

"That's no way to talk to your father!"

"Young master," Lilia enters, "Sylphiette has come for her lessons."

"Alright, I'll be there in a sec, I gotta dry off first."

She bowed, and walked away, as Paul looked at her sternly until she went inside.

Yeah… things have been odd lately.

Lilia has been, well, nonexistent. I don't think her mood has worsened, our interactions have been quite amiable. There just hasn't been that many of them. She seems to be avoiding me.

Or…

I take a look at Paul at my side, who has a scowling impression.

Perhaps she's avoiding someone else.

Yeah things have been odd lately.

Paul, seems to have awakened a grudge against Lilia. I don't know why, but I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Perhaps, this is the butterfly effect, and Lilia rejected Paul when I wasn't paying attention. I'm not omniscient, so I have no way of knowing. But I would be ecstatic if that were the truth. The second biggest hurdle to our relationship would be over, and no pointless familial drama.

Still though, it's odd. Did something like this happen in canon?

Regardless, at least I don't have to worry about cheaters anymore.

Although, it doesn't stop him from being a pain lately.

He's been a little perplexing lately. His actions throwing me off.

"All right, pops you can't let me go now. It's my turn to play teacher." I get out of his grip.

"Of course, and don't forget to swoon Sylphy. Remember Sylphy has already seen your manly side, try to show off your soft side, show her your soft side, give her some compliments. Oh, and she's a big romantic, you can borrow one of Zenith's books about knights and read it to her, she'll like that!"

How in good graces do you even know that? If you weren't my old man, I would be putting you on a list. Seriously, da-hell is on your mind old man?

Yeah… this is the other strange thing happening here lately.

For some reason the last two weeks, Paul has been pushing me onto Sylphy heavily.

Hmm… deja-vu.

What, do you have a bet on the line? What's with the 180 degree turn, from no groping, to 'go get that ass!'

Well, at least I don't have to worry about Paul and Lilia anymore. Now I have a completely different headache.

Pain…

"Hey dad, why are you mad with Lilia?"

"Eh? Mad with Lilia? You're imagining things. Anyways, you shouldn't keep Sylphy waiting, go on, go on. Oh! Don't forget to hug her hello. Skinship is good for the soul!"

"..."

Screw this! He's too much of a pain to deal with right now. "Bye,"

"OH! And don't forget we're sparring once more at night!" he yells.

"I got it!" I ran home.

You're so clingy. Give me freedom! I make a break for it, before he decides to, 'bless,' me with even more 'wisdom.'

Honestly…

///

Having run the way home, I opened the door, only to see…

"...and then he and Roxy ended up crashing on the roof. I thought a monster landed on the roof so I borrowed my husband's sword, and went outside only to see Rudy and Roxy arguing about something, they were so cute then."

"Why were they on the roof?"

"Rudy wanted to practice flight magic with two people, but apparently steering two people is difficult, ha ha… Roxy's embarrassed face was so cute when she was apologizing."

"I wish you told her that. She was feeling quite down for damaging her employer's home," I intruded in their conversation.

Yeah… there's also that. This is another of the odd circumstances going on. Mommas a gossiping school girl now.

Zenith is on cloud nine at the moment. She is the happiest I've ever seen her. I suppose after six years of trying for another kid, only to be met with failure must have burdened her mind. As for now, the woman is so radiant you could mistake her for the sun. She's walking around with an extra pep in her step, and talking about her kids(me)(Roxy?) to Sylphy and Lilia.

Well, mostly Sylphy. Lilia has heard most of this before.

Everyone is acting so weird.

Lilia and Paul seem to be on the outs. Paul is pushing me on to Sylphy, and pushing hard, and all the while, Zenith is over the moon. Rather than bad, it's just strange. It's like everyone in this house just decided to change radically in response to the new child being born.

Izanagi? Maybe I should try to find that mind herb now.

""Rudy!"" they yelled.

"I'm home~ how are yo-bgwah!" a green haired body tackles my stomach wrapping her arms around me. "...hello to you too, Sylphy," I pet her head.

Never change, you are the only normal one in this house right now.

"Welcome back Rudy. How training go?" Zenith questioned.

It was fine… I'm a bit sweaty, I'm going to go upstairs and wash up, be back in five… I walk away. Please don't embarrass me too much while I'm gone.

"Yes, go on ahead. Me and Syphy are gonna have some girl talk."

I know. It terrifies me.

"Hey?" I holler.

"Hmm?"

"Where is Lilia right now out of curiosity? She was ahead of me a second ago."

"She went upstairs, she's cleaning the rooms. Anything you wanted to ask her?" Zenith answered.

"Just curious?" I turn to Sylphy. "I'll see you in a moment Sylphy," I walk away, "oh, and remember everything she says is a lie."

"Rudy, don't slander your mom," Zenith says.

"Sorry~ I meant only everything she says about me is a lie."

"Rudy!" she yelled.

"Takingabath bye!" I dashed away.

Going up the stairs, I wondered if I should look for Lilia, see if I could catch her off guard, and ask her why she has been avoiding me so much. Maybe she could provide some insight into the Paul situation.

As I open the door to my room, Lilia is standing there with an empty bucket ready for me.

"Master Rudeus, a set of fresh clothes have been provided to the side, please wash up and don't keep Sylphy waiting too long, she bowed, I'll take my leave. She walked past me, showing me her back.

"Lilia," she stands still, "you know you can talk to me right? About anything…"

"..." she pauses before walking away.

"...I'm going to need to do something drastic at this rate…"

Taking a bath I just thought of where my life is, and whether this can be labeled a good life, or not. "Trace on," concentrating on my manipulation of mana I start condensing the moisture, and letting it manifest in the bucket, followed by warming it up with Heat Hands.

"My very own jacuzzi, yay," I strip myself of clothes, and let the water wash my worries away.

"Hurkwah…" I hear some retching from down the hall. Zenith is retching again. Hope she's not feeling too bad.

I hope pregnancy really is easier the second time around.

"When I grow up, I should invest in some soundproof walls wherever I live. There's just no hiding things behind these walls."

Being the good son, I'll pretend not to hear her morning sickness, and let the water do its work.

Sooo… Relaxing…

…

///

I fell asleep. Oops.

I woke up in the comfort of my own bed, but it was already waayyy past my bedtime, if it wasn't obvious by the moon outside. Combined that, with the fact that pops has been sparring with me at nights, as added sessions. I suddenly find myself with a surplus of energy.

What to do, what to do?

"Might as well…"Howl youth!

Getting off my bed, I hook my toes to the bottom of the dresser, and proceed to start doing sit-ups in an effort to get rid of some of this excess energy. "1… 2… 3…"

Sadly, I missed today's lesson with Sylphy, but then again, I'm pretty sure Zenith probably had a bunch of embarrassing stories to tell her, or whatnot, so I'm sure she had fun at my own expense. I won't be surprised if she showed her my sleeping form.

"18… 19… 20…"

Wait a minute? Who dressed me?

…and here I thought I was done with the being dressed part of my life.

Whatever, questions for later.

"35… 36… 37…"

Hmm, I wonder if Paul is going to barge in and demand we spar or something?

"48… 49… 50, whew, done."

…still, too much energy… maybe I could sneak out?

I could work out more, but I rather not. I have no idea what are the limits to this body, from a physical point, but I don't wanna run the risk of stunting my growth, because I exercised like Rock Lee at age 6.

I have no intention of being Krillin thank-you-very-much.

Having plenty of time on my hands, I think this is a good time to start experimenting. There are some techniques I wanted to try out, or should I say fly out, that I haven't tested yet, and this seems like as good a time as any. There's just one question. I take a glance at the moon outside.

How late is it?

If it's too early, then they'll probably wake up to check on me. If it's late, I can sneak out for an hour or two.

Usually, I could tell how late it is based on their… eager love making noises… but Zenith and Paul have been abstaining from sex lately, so I have no way to judge how late it is without it.

"Guess, I'll check the halls…"

Opening up the door, "trace on…" I whisper before proceeding to remove the air in the hallway using my mana, and sneaking across.

I honestly have no idea if the 'trace on' aria is really doing anything anymore. Its purpose was to reduce the use of mana, by having an aria associated with it, but my reserves and control have gotten so high, I'm not sure if it's doing anything anymore, or if it ever did.

That's the thing about self-hypnosis, how do you know if you actually did anything, or if it's just the placebo effect? You don't.

It would be really nice If I had magic circuits right now.

Still though, can't hurt to say a couple words.

I prepared the silencing spell.

In a fit of inspiration one day, I thought of creating a spell that could disable a mage, permanently if necessary, hence; a silencing spell. Sound travels through air, so create a vacuum, and voila no magic. And well… if you're feeling particularly vengeful; no air.

That said, It's hard!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to move something you can't see, with energy you can't touch?

It's a pain, is what that is.

Anyways, removing the air, and holding my breath, I scurry down the hall, and crack the door to my parents room a bit. I spot two prone sleeping bodies.

Alright, coast clear.

I close the door, take five steps away, and then let my mana stop pushing the air away.

"Wooh, I can breathe again. Alright, operation kite man is a go."

"Hah… ah… hah… ah," celebrating my freedom, I hear rough breathing, and turn around, only to see a young woman in a white camisole leaning against the wall.

"Lilia?"

Her appearance surprises me a bit, and I wonder how I didn't notice her for a second, before realizing,

Right… silencing spell.

"...Rudy… I'm sorry… I… am having trouble breathing…"

Oh, Oh! Oh… Oh, shit.

///

"I'm sorry, here Lilia," I handed her a cup of water. After almost causing Lilia to faint, I went downstairs and got her a drink. It's the least I could do.

Gulp. "I see master Rudeus is up to his usual eccentricities."

"Ah, yeah, something like that. I'm seriously sorry about that, you know… the breathing thing," I apologized.

"May I inquire what exactly Rudy is doing, casting suspicious magic at night?"

"My magic is not…"

Wait a minute; magic that can silently kill someone, check? Magic that can be used to sneak around undetected, check. Magic that has an a.o.e effect indoors, and could be used by thieves or assassins… check…

Well, I'll be, I think I might have invented something insidious, and to think I only invented this, so I could get a good night's sleep, if the time called for it.

"Oook… so maybe it's a little suspicious, but I'm not doing anything nefarious, just careless. I'm sorry about that by the way."

"You're forgiven already master Rudeus."

Can't hurt to apologize again. Honestly you're being a little too kind to me. At least slap me for hurting you, it would ease my conscience.

Well, I'll make it up to her later.

"Thank you. Anyways, nothing big, I was just going to sneak out, and was checking if everyone was asleep."

"I see…"

"Yeah…"

"..."

"..."

And now we're back to square one, damn.

I take a look at Lilia. She's wearing what I can only assume to be her sleepwear. It's a simple white camisole, light and comfortable to sleep in.

So she does wear something besides her maid uniform.

She's currently looking into her empty cup lost in contemplation.

I knew things were going to be awkward, but I didn't think it would be to this extent. She casually rejected me once before, so I didn't think this time would be that different.

I do miss our closeness a little, but there is nothing I can do about it now.

All I can do now is wait…

Well, there is one other thing I can do.

I control my mana, and place my hand on her forehead. "Heal," I casted.

She looks at me slightly bemused.

Healing magic is the best after all.

"What's that look for, did you forget who's your personal doctor?" I lowered my hand, and smiled at her. "Just to be safe. A little extra healing never hurt anyone… well, except that one time, but let's forget about that, ha ha," I rub my head in embarrassment..

It's not much, but it's the least I could do.

"...rry…" she muttered.

"Hmm, Lilia?"

Tears escape her eyes

"...I'm sorry… I'm sorryI'm sorry, I'm sorry! I'm sorry… I! I'm just so sorry," she repeated.

…I am unprepared for this…

I don't know what to do, so I hug her.

"...it's alright. It's alright…" I pat her back. At times like this I wish I was a little bit more sociable, but this is the best I could do. I hope it's enough.

"Waaaah!" She cries into my chest fully, and lets her worries pour out. Shortly afterward, she would fall asleep into my arms.

It's nowhere as romantic as it sounds.

///

I woke up refreshed, with Lilia right next to me.

After Lilia cried herself to sleep, I laid her on my bed so she could get a good night's sleep.

Should I have carried her to her bed?

Perhaps, but this is the closest we've been in weeks, and I didn't want to leave her alone.

…or more accurately I wanted to hold onto her, if only a little longer.

"Good night, Lily," I part her hair, as I join the bed with her. It was time for us to go to sleep. I embraced her, taking in her scent, "just for tonight," I wrapped my hands around her, and was pleasantly surprised when her arms wrapped around me as well.

It was a silent night.

After a few hours, we would inevitably wake up. I felt refreshed.

Now I wonder how long 'till she wakes up.

As the sun rose, it started Illuminating the interior of my room, and waking me up, being an early riser already. I woke up easily enough, only to be blessed with the sight of Lilia's sleeping face.

How cute. Hope she sleeps a bit longer.

Wait, wrong! She was crying earlier, not the time to get lost in her looks.

…but she still looks beautiful…

I should wake up, for my morning routine… then again, I could skip it, until Sylphy comes over, that gives me three hours of snuggling.

Hmm, what to do…

…

I get closer to Lilia…

"Hmm…" she starts waking up.

Well, that's unfortunate.

She looks around for a moment, a little confused of where she is, before noticing me, and proceeding to look down at herself, then covering herself with a hand.

"Ahhh… what are you doing? You're just wearing your sleepwear. It's perfectly modest… and I already saw it last night," I say.

After blinking owlishly at me for a moment, she gathers her bearings, before continuing, "I seem to have fallen asleep in Master's bed. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I'll take my leave."

"Are you seriously pulling the maid card to get out of this?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she blushes.

Hmm, a sleepy Lilia is a defenseless Lilia, notes for later.

"You've been avoiding me," I strike while the iron is hot.

"Young master is mistaken. I am simply moving to the side, and giving Master Paul and yourself more familial bonding time," she says, making her way to the door.

When I grab one of her arms.

"Did I do something?" I asked.

"Young master has nothing to worry about, I am not angry with you at all."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing is-"

"Liar,"

"I am not-"

"How many years have you lived here, Lilia. I know when you're lying to me. Not to mention the crying…"

"...It isn't anything the young master should worry about…"

"...Is that so… fine, but you know, I'm right here for you, if you need me right?"

"Thank you, Rudy. I will take note of that." She smiles meekly.

I let go of her, and started walking back to my bed, before I remember last night's Lilia hugging me while crying.

"Screw it…" I stop.

I hope I don't regret this.

I turn around, and focus on my mana, or is it toki?

Regardless, I focus my energies, and let them flow through me, as I step and breach the space between Lilia and me in one fell swoop, sweeping her off her feet into a bridal carry. A slight green shimmer at point of contact.

"Rudy?!"

"Shh. Mother and father are sleeping right now, let's not wake them," I pleaded. "Lilia, do you trust me?"

"Yes, I trust you."

"Good, hang on," I walked to the window. Making sure my grip on her is tight. Right now, my strength is probably at the level of a teenager, with the toki/reinforcement boost, so I can carry her easily enough. I move towards the windowsill opening it.

Whoosh. A cold wind blows in.

So cold!

Alright… improvise. If I stop now, she'll regain her composure and stop us.

Not happening.

I cast a windblast, on the bed and whip the bedsheet to, and, around us, thank you rasengan training, before secretly using Heat Hands to warm myself up, and consequently her, who's holding me.

With the preparations done, I finally put my leg on the window sill before jumping down.

Her grip tightens on me for a moment, probably afraid of the fall, but there's no need.

Controlling the wind, on the jump, I let it glide us, and cushion as we touch the ground. Floating across the field for a moment, we gently stop several yards away from the house.

Not bad for my first dual flight.

Sylphy doesn't count. When we do it, she's doing it with me, so we're flying together. This is the first time I've had a passenger.

It was slightly more exhausting than I thought it would be, but bearable. The hard part was landing. My body, even with mana flowing through it, is only so strong, so I have to let the air take quite a bit of the burden, less I injure my knees.

"Woo. I guess carrying someone else is more difficult than I thought," I thought aloud. "I was trying to make an impression, but guess we'll have to walk the rest of the way,"

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Our training spot,"

I can't read her mind, but I can at least lessen her worries, by giving you a good show.

"Alright, here goes, Trace on," I cast. Needing every ounce of control I can muster, I make sure to get in the appropriate mindset, so I can carry two people, over such a long distance.

Besides… I'm kind of cool right now, right?

Trying to show Lilia my cool side I focus the wind on us once more, gathering the cold wind of the season, before proceeding to dash away, holding Lilia tight.

Whoosh. The wind whistles in my ears.

Well, here goes nothing. I'm gonna give you a good morning. They say a good start of a day can set the tone for the rest of the day. Let's do that.

///

After a short jog I made it back to the old watering hole, or can you only use that phrase for wells?

Regardless we made it, wrapping the blanket around her, I prepared my spell.

I take a few steps, stand in front of the water, and prepare. I slap the sides of my face in preparation. "Show time," I mutter.

I gather my mana, and per usual, proceed to manipulate the elements to my favor. Using all the moisture, and cold to my advantage, I cast Ice Field over the water, and proceed to mold it to my desire.

The wind bellows, but for a moment, for the image in my head, is something I see everyday, and it's something I can do even with my eyes closed.

I made an Ice statue. An ice statue in the shape of Lilia.

Ah, I made it in time.

The sun rises shortly after I'm finished, and its rays bounce off her statue giving her a rainbow hue.

Perfect.

I turned to look at Lilia to see her a little speechless.

Mission accomplished.

"Beautiful isn't it? I-I don't know what to do, at times like these. You are supposed to give someone a gift to help them along, but sadly I don't really know much about Lilia. I know you're kind, tolerant, loving, dutiful, beautiful, slightly superstitious, incredibly stubborn… hmm, now that I think about it, I know quite a bit. But… at the end of the day, I can only do so much if you're pushing me away."

This is slightly more embarrassing than I expected. Exposing one's vulnerabilities is never easy.

But it's necessary.

"So, ah… this is embarrassing," I whispered. "So, um, please don't push me to the side too much. I'd still like to get to know Lilia more. I can only do that by your side… even… even if it's not the way I would like, please don't kick me out of your life," I said, looking her in the eye as the statue of her lay forgotten in the background.

Lilia starts crying.

"Um, ah… please tell me everything's ok?" I put a hand on her cheek, wiping the tears away.

Please tell me these are happy tears.

"Everything is fine I just, I just… Rudy… can you turn around for a second."

"...sure," he turns, showing me his back.

Only a moment later, I would feel a hug from behind, "Thank you," she whispered.

I grabbed one of her hands, stroking the top gently.

You don't have to thank me, just be next to me.

We stood still like that. As still as the statue I just made.

I could really stay like that forever, but as they say all good things must come to an end.

After a very long silence, she finally starts moving. Her hold on me is close. Her hand that was hugging me, went towards my face, before it gently slid its way to my eyes, covering them. A second later another hand is on my chin, and it tilts my head ever so gently up. I can now feel her breath on me.

My eyes covered, I wondered what was going through her mind.

Smooch.

Only to find out immediately….

As I felt something wet on my lips.

Eh?

She kissed me.