4-Accident

Ralph woke up early in the morning. The sun hasn't risen yet, and the sky is still dark blue. He stretched his whole body and moved his body in a warm up routine.

Ralph turned three years old for a while now. Now that he's at this age, Paul and Zenith gave him the permission to leave the house and play. Though he wasn't actually playing like they were expecting.

Ever since Paul promised to teach him swordplay, he started doing whatever training he can from the start. Ralph was so looking forward to it, he ended up doing a daily training routine.

Though it was nothing intense. Running around the village in laps early in the morning was basic exercise.

Not just laps, but he made the entire village as an obstacle course. Leaping from trees to trees, crossing the rivers, and jumping over houses. It's basically like doing parkour.

With the realization that his body works abnormally, he had the full intentions of making use of it, doing a daily exercise that borderlines physical self abuse.

When he gets home, Lilia had already readied a hot bath for him to wash off the sweat, grime, and dirt.

"Thank you very much as always Lilia-san."

After a soak in the bath, he would find himself refreshed and his stamina rejuvenated. His stamina recovery also worked very fast, even his sore muscles would be gone after just a few minutes of rest.

After breakfast, he'd leave the house and continue another set of training. Then rest for a while after getting exhausted and fatigued. Eat. Train. Rest. Repeat.

That's what he's been doing until now.

-*-*-*-

One day in the middle of his secret training, a fateful event happened.

"!!!"

Suddenly a loud explosion happened coming from the second floor. It destroyed the entire wall as dust and debris flew from impact.

"What the hell's going on?"

Ralph dashed straight towards inside the house and went straight through the second floor. He just realized the explosion happened to be inside the study room. The room that his twin brother just happens to be the place to always be in reading books.

"Rudi!" Ralph shouted in a voice that even he surprised himself.

Unconsciously he started to get worried for Rudeus' safety. Their relationship isn't exactly buddy-buddy, in the end he's already Ralph's blood brother... his family.

When he opened it, the dust had yet to settle. Ralph made the effort to blow it away with his breath clearing up the visibility. What he saw first was the sight of Rudeus on the ground. The air seems moist and the floor was damp. And there was a massive hole in the wall that cleared the scenery outside.

"Are you, okay?" Ralph went to Rudeus first and asked.

Rudeus was surprised that Ralph ended up coming here first, "Ralph..."

"What happened?!"Just right after that Paul came rushing into the room. He looked at the hole in the wall with surprise, but then noticing his son's nearby he also came to worry for their safety. "Are the two of you okay?"

"Oh goodness." Then next came Zenith, she was always a lot calmer than Paul. She looked first at the shattered wall and the pool of water on the floor.

"Huh?" Zenith's gaze shot to the magic textbook and fixed on the page it was opened to. "Ralph, did you know what happened?"

"I heard a veeeeery loud sound! And then I come fast here. I see Rudy on the floor, and I was worried, but he looks okay."

With Ralph's explanation, Zenith came to understand that he was just here because of the loud explosion.

"Then Rudy? Did you speak some of the words from that book out loud?" Zenith asked.

"I'm sorry." He replied with a tiny nod.

"Sorry?" Paul asked. "That was an Intermediate-tier sp–"

"Oh, honey, did you hear that?!" Zenith interrupted, practically squeaking like a fan girl. She balled her hands into tiny fists and hopped around in ecstasy. "Oh, I just knew our boy was a genius!"

Zenith was clearly thrilled by this development, but Paul still appeared at a loss.

"Wait, hold on." Paul said. "We haven't even taught him how to read yet, or–"

"We'll have to hire a tutor for him right away! Oh, he's going to grow up to be an amazing magician, I just know it!"

Meanwhile Lilia started cleaning up the mess, wiping up the pool of water on the floor. Seeing this Ralph said he'd like to help, but was refused by Lilia saying she'll handle it.

"Darling, we have to get him a home tutor!" Zenith said. "I'm sure we'll be able to find a great magic instructor in Roa!"

Paul was less enthusiastic about Zenith's suggestion to find me a home tutor for magic. "Hold up, now. Didn't you promise that if we had a boy, we'd raise him to be a knight?"

"But he can already use Intermediate magic at his age! With the right training, he'd be an amazing magician!" Zenith argued.

"A promise is a promise, though!"

"Don't you talk to me about promises! You break promises all the time!"

"We're not talking about me right now!"

Seeing his parents going to a lover's quarrel with it going nowhere, Ralph raised his hand.

When Ralph got their attention, Ralph declared, "Dad, I want to be a Knight! So don't worry!"

"Ralph..." Paul said softly.

Zenith inserted and also has a soft smile, "Oh my, so you want to be a Knight Ralph?"

"Yes, Daddy promised he would teach me swordplay!" Ralph said. "So Dad, don't worry!"

What Ralph was basically saying is, 'If Rudeus will be a mage, I will be the Knight. So you don't have to worry Dad!'

Understanding the words of their three-year-old child, the married couple ended their argument.

As soon as tomorrow the family would hire a magic instructor in the nearby city. That magic instructor would teach Rudeus magic.

Since Ralph hasn't shown any talent with magic yet, they would have to see to it first, and if he does show promise he would also be tutored. If not, then he would just have the basic general education of reading and writing, and arithmetic with Lilia.

The maid Lilia then suggested that the schedules would be different. Morning would be for magic lessons and the afternoon would be sword practice.

Paul begrudgingly accepted it. He thought he would have the chance to teach both of his child swordplay, and follow his footsteps. And display his greatness to them in the process.

It is one hectic day for the family.