A lot happened.

First, it turned out that using the powers of a Demon God was really intoxicating. Enough to where I felt unstoppable.

Except that it gave me a pounding headache afterwards. Probably because it was literally getting drunk off power and mana... or something.

Or maybe Master Roxy hit me too hard too.

Anyway, that was a can of worms we had to work out sometime. But far from home next time.

Can't believe I actually started trying to create an extradimensional gateway by brute-forcing a wormhole while I was using that mana...

Not only that, but I was grounded. Grounded and forbidden from using mana.

Mom and Mama Lily weren't happy to find out that I was using magic when I still hadn't completely recovered my mana. Not only that, but they also weren't happy about me tapping into what definitely seemed to be fragments of a Demon God's power that was lying dormant in my mana somehow.

Dad completely agreed with them. He also took me aside later and gave me a long lecture about how even if I had the power of a Demon God at my disposal, I was forbidden from going around and demanding virgin sacrifices or slaughtering the general populace.

That was good. Dad was at least trying to instill 'some' morality. Though, considering his track record and the fact that he planned to kill not only his own brother but a whole bunch of other people to take over the Notos family if push came to shove, he probably wasn't the best person to have that lecture.

Long story short, grounded because of using Demon God powers and lying about my mana being topped up. That was the first big thing.

Second... Sylphy. Sylphy and Master Roxy.

It was complicated.

Sylphy was my best friend. I liked being around her. She made me happy. I liked seeing her happy.

And it seemed that I made her happy too. Enough to where she was seriously considering what my dumb dad said about her becoming my fiancee.

But she didn't understand what that meant.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. She understood a little bit. The whole fairytale part about being together forever, love, and the whole shebang that came with being married.

Except it was on the same level as a girl imagining being swept up by Prince Charming.

Probably.

I wasn't sure. Sylphy was smart and mature for her age, but I didn't know if she really understood still the full extent of what that meant.

Fortunately, Mister Laws and Miss Rose were putting a pause to all of that talk.

Yay for playing the 'they're still just kids you dumb asshole' card on my dad.

...That didn't save me from the awkwardness between me and Sylphy since that possibility had been dropped by Dad, but Master Roxy was doing a great job of smoothing things over by keeping things to a normal routine.

Norn and Aisha helped too. My cute baby sisters were a perfect distraction for Sylphy since they loved seeing her do magic tricks.

So things were mostly back to normal.

Dad came back home and continued his normal job. There weren't any signs of issues cropping up from our exploits in Roa. There wasn't going to be any ramifications from the capital for what Dad did to the knights... according to Philip, at least.

Not sure if I entirely believed that considering I was 99% sure that Being W had been involved.

But whatever the case, things were back to normal. Playing with Sylphy and Master Roxy in the morning, lessons with Dad in the afternoon, watching my cute baby sisters in the evening while Mom and Mama Lily prepared dinner. And then at night, chatting with Master Roxy until I started nodding off and she tucked me in for bed.

Happy times. Peaceful times.

But-

"You're distracted, Rudy!" Dad's voice.

A brown blur. Dad's training sword, swinging towards my head.

I pivoted on my heel and parried with my own training sword. After that, I clicked my tongue and swung my sword at his outstretched arm. "Why do you keep aiming at my head?! Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

Dad stepped back, moving just beyond the range of my sword. He chuckled as the sword brushed just in front of his shirt and said, "As a Greyrat male who's inherited all of my looks but your mother's smarts, it's even more important for you to learn to dodge blows to your head, you know?" After saying that, he stepped forward and swung his sword again.

I crouched and tilted my sword over my head at an angle.

A soft *clack* echoed as Dad's attack was stopped by my sword, sliding off to the side instead of smacking my head.

I quickly jumped back and took stock of the situation.

We were outside in the grassy plains just past the gates of our house.

Sylphy wasn't here today since Mister Laws said there was going to be an important guest over at their home.

Master Roxy said she was feeling anxious just staying at home all the time, so she was taking over Dad's job of patrolling today.

Which meant the only people at home right now were my immediate family members.

And speaking of my immediate family members...

"Go big bro!"

"G-Go Rui!"

Aisha and Norn cheered...

"You had better not hurt Rudy again, Paul, or I swear to Milis you'll regret it!"

Mom scolded Dad...

"Smack your father in the face a few times, Rudy."

...And Mama Lily calmly supported me while giving express approval to teach Dad a lesson or two.

Dad flipped his sword around caught it in a reverse grip with his left hand. Glancing over to our audience cheering from the gates, he sighed and ran his right hand through his hair. "Man. I really am chopped liver these days, huh?"

I shrugged and said, "You pretty much cashed out all your trust at once, Dad and then went into the negatives. It takes a lot to climb out of debt."

He chuckled and said, "True, true. It's my just desserts, so I guess I can't complain too much. You still trust me though, right?"

"Barely. Mention anything about a betrothal contract, fiancée, or love interest around me again and that trust is gone."

Dad sighed and said, "I still think that it was a good idea. Besides, Eris really isn't a bad girl, you know? You two would probably have a good effect on each other."

Me? And that crazy girl who attacked Dad on sight and made Sylphy desperate enough to tap into the same Demon God mana that I had somehow?

I narrowed my eyes and then stepped forward, swinging my sword.

Since his sword was in a reverse grip, it would take too long for him to bring it around to block so-

*clack*

The familiar sound of wood clattering. Dad, somehow spinning around in time to parry even with the reverse grip.

I clicked my tongue and stepped back, carefully analyzing him.

"Whoa there, tiger. You don't need to be that mad." Dad laughed and then tossed his sword through the air, winking at Aisha and Norn as he did.

An opening.

I immediately whipped my sword towards his face and ran forward.

As I did, I focused.

Dad was skilled, but he was still an instinctual fighter. So I could take advantage of that.

Since the attack was fast, he would dodge. But since he was being cocky by trying to show off, he would also be unarmed.

So it was my chance.

Dad was definitely a better sword fighter than me. He was also a natural combat genius.

But he wasn't someone who could come up with new things.

Like he admitted, Dad was dumb. If he saw it once, he could replicate and improve on it. But he wasn't the sort of person to sit around and think up a new technique.

Not like me. And speaking of new techniques...

After running a few steps, I dug my right heel into the ground and kicked off, flipping through the air.

A feeling of weightlessness. Almost like I was flying.

And then when I was just about to reach the top, I spun around and slammed my left heel down on my dad's head.

-At least, that was the plan.

"Whoa! You're getting pretty creative these days, Rudy!"

A light push. That was all I felt before the world flipped again, my vision swiftly filling with green grass as I flew towards the ground.

But I was expecting that.

I anticipated the possibility of Dad intercepting. An aerial attack was ripe for counterattack or redirect. Since it was the latter...

Impact. But not with my head.

I slammed my hands on the ground and then forcibly twisted my body, swinging my legs around.

"Hoh?"

An impressed sound from Dad.

I ignored him and instead focused on my next actions.

A sweep of my legs parallel to the ground to divert the momentum, tracing out a circle with both. And as they came back around, I pushed off the ground with my arms, launching myself towards Dad with a full-body force kick.

"Whoa!"

I missed.

As expected, Dad dodged the blow.

But also as expected, my attack ended right where my sword had landed.

And so as the trajectory brought me back to earth, I rolled and grabbed my sword along the way before springing back to my feet.

Dad didn't pursue. Instead, he stared at me with a proud look on his face and said, "You almost got me there, Rudy! See? You're just as good as your old man was at that age!"

"Oh shut up." I grumbled and walked back over to him. "Dammit. Now I have to figure out countermeasures for you working that into your footwork somehow in the future."

"Ooh, thanks for the idea. That would definitely solve a few problems with Sword God techniques... Maybe dual-wielding would work then?"

I sighed and walked back to the gate. As I did, Aisha giggled and ran towards me. "Big bro! Up!"

I smiled at her and did as she asked. "You have fun watching, Aisha?"

"Yeah! Swoosh, swoosh!" Aisha mimed swinging swords around and then gave me a bright smile. "Big bro, cool!"

Dad walked over and then snatched Aisha from me. "But Daddy's cooler, right, Aisha?"

"Oi!"

Aisha giggled and said, "Dadi zoom!"

"That's right, Aisha! Daddy goes zoom!" Dad smiled and then spun Aisha in the air.

"Spin! Whee!"

Mama Lily stared at Dad with blank eyes. And then she turned to look at me. "Rudy."

I walked through the gate and nodded. "Yes, Mama Lily?"

She glanced at my wooden sword and said, "Do you mind if I borrow that for a while?" She shifted her gaze back to Dad and said, "I believe it is my turn for some practical training with your father."

"Knock yourself out." I handed it over to her.

Mama Lily took it with a smile. And then she quietly walked after Dad... who had started running around the outside of the gate again with Aisha around his shoulders.

At that time, Mom walked over while holding Norn. "That father of yours still doesn't know a shred of caution, does he?"

I stretched and said, "Give Dad *some* credit. He knows better than to do something stupid with Aisha and upset Mama Lily."

Mom giggled and said, "That's true. She's got him on a tighter leash than I do these days."

I nodded and said, "Guilt is a very powerful noose."

Especially for Dad. For him, the more responsible he became, the easier it was to guilt-trip him into doing things. And since he was doing his best to be a respectable and responsible Dad since Norn and Aisha were at that impressionable age... Well, guilt-trip was super-effective.

"Mmhm." Mom let out a content smile and said, "It's also very good leverage for getting your father to do what I want."

Aaand that was officially too much information.

Though it did explain why Mom was so insistent on learning wind and barrier magic.

And why they moved Norn and Aisha to the room near me.

And why Dad seemed so energetic and relaxed these days-

Oh.

...Guess Aisha was going to officially be a big sister sometime soon?

I shook my head and then reached over to ruffle Norn's hair. "How about you, Norn? I couldn't beat Dad, but did I do good?"

Norn giggled and said, "Rui, cool!"

Mom laughed and said, "That's right, Norn. Rudy was really cool, wasn't he?" She tickled Norn's chin and smiled.

Norn giggled harder and then held out her arms to me. "Rui! Hug!"

Mom's smile widened and she held Norn out to me.

"Geez." I picked Norn up and held her close. "You really are too cute, Norn."

Aisha was like a little firecracker with how much energy she had, but Norn was like a giant ball of sunshine.

She nuzzled against me and said, "Luv Rui."

I paused and then looked at my mom.

Mom blinked and tilted her head. "What is it, Rudy?"

"...I know Dad says it's bad to kill people, but hypothetically-"

"No, Rudy. You can't kill your sister's future boyfriend."

"I-I wasn't going to ask that."

Mom rolled her eyes and then grabbed Norn again. "No means no. Now come on. They'll probably be a while, so how about we get started on cooking dinner?" She shifted her attention back to Norn and said, "You want to help with that, Norn?"

"U-Un!"

Mom let out a happy squeal and hugged Norn tight. "Ooh, my Nornie is just the cutest!"

"R-Rui..." Norn looked panicked and reached out for me again.

I sighed and said, "Mom. You're scaring Norn."

"Oh! Sorry Nornie!" Mom set Norn down and said, "Here-"

The moment Mom let Norn go, she ran and ducked behind me.

Mom blinked.

I laughed and then gently led Norn out from behind me, holding her hand. "Come on, Sis. I'll protect you from our scary mom."

"...Rui pwomise?"

Kuh.

"R-Rui...?"

"Forget Mom." I straightened as much as I could and said, "Your big brother promises that he'll protect you against the entire world, okay? So don't you worry about a thing."

"...Kay." Norn smiled and then moved closer to me and pointedly away from Mom.

Mom huffed. "Fine. Mommy will just be sad by herself..."

Norn tensed, glancing at Mom.

I patted Norn's head and said, "Don't get fooled, Norn. The hug monster will get you if you aren't careful. If you want to run around free, you have to know when she's pretending. Like now."

Norn looked at me with wide eyes and then gave a serious nod.

Mom gasped. "Rudy!"

"What? It's true. Your happy hugs are dangerous."

Especially with her generous assets. Those were enough to kill, you know?

And apparently enough to kill for too, judging from Dad.

...Ah. Puberty was going to suck, wasn't it?