***

=====

[V – World splitter] — Mastery: 33.2%

A battle art created by an unknown master Space mage, and modified by the god of Status - Ezra. It allows the user to create a lingering trail of spatial distortion that shreds anything unprotected by mana to pieces. Upon mastery, the practitioner will be able to devastate a large area around them without even lifting a finger.

=====

"Hmmm...", I lets out an exaggerated thinking sound as I was lazily sitting on a bench, waiting for Alicia to come with her friend.

I was very close to attainting the third movement of [V - World splitter]. However, something was definitely missing, and I didn't know what it was.

Snapping me out of my thoughts, however, was Alicia's shout. "Dad!"

'...What?'

I lowered my eyes in Alicia's direction and scrutinized every details.

She was definitely smiling, and it was a genuine one. There was no one following her to threaten or pressure her into making that smiling face either.

'Since when did she voluntarily call me Dad?' 

I wondered, but I stopped thinking more into it eventually.

It was a welcome change anyways.

"Alicia, where's your friend?", I asked as she came up to me, alone.

"She said that her brother needed time to prepare something"

"...I see"

Although I was opposed to having another 2 people join us at first, I eventually had to give in, as Alicia had already made a promise with her friend. 

Her friend's brother that was supposedly joining us for his sister's protection was definitely someone from Avaron, and a high-ranker at that.

'Let's just pray that I haven't offended him... whoever he is'

However, reality is often disappointing.

"She's here, dad!", Alicia exclaimed.

'...Why is he here?', I knitted my brows together as I saw Arthur approaching us from a distance, pushing a wheelchair.

However, my confusion soon turned into absolute shock once I saw who was sitting on the wheelchair.

It was a purple-haired girl with eyes of the same color.

She was... the same girl who I almost killed before in the name of 'saving the world'.

'SHIT!'

Suppressing the strange feeling that was slowly creeping up on me, I decided that I needed to take my grimoire out and turn into Lyran Myrsky as fast as possible.

Let alone the awkward atmosphere that would generate from the weird relationship I had with Arthur, I wasn't sure if the girl would recognize me as the same one who crippled her or not.

Although I was under disguise at that time, I couldn't be too careful.

However, I was too late to act, as Arthur had already spotted me.

"Huh? Why are you here, Theodore?"

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I turned towards Arthur with a strained smile. "Ah Arthur my dear friend, so you're my daughter's friend's brother? What a coincidence!"

"Huh? What are y—"

Slap—!

Interrupting him, I slapped his back, wrapped my arm around his neck and turned him away from the two kids who were looking at us confusedly.

I then whispered in a small voice. "Look, I can't have our 'rivalry' ruin the first friendship my daughter has. So act nicely, okay?"

Although I knew that Arthur wouldn't act outright rude to me with his upright personality, it wouldn't hurt to have a bit of an insurance.

Gulping, Arthur slowly nodded his head.

Seeing this, I smiled in satisfaction and unwrapped my hand from Arthur's neck.

However, my smile wasn't because of Arthur's obedience. But rather—

'YES! THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE GONE!'

—It was because I wasn't blushing, not even when I made direct skin contact with Arthur.

Slap—!

I slapped my own cheeks to regain my composure, ignoring the weird gaze everyone was giving me.

"Alright!", I shouted, playing the role of an actual father.

Glancing over everyone, while of course averting my eyes from the purple-haired girl, I continued.

"The dungeon is located in viscount Irene Nightshade's territory. As Alicia might have told you already, the dungeon is only <G> ranked, so just stick close to me... or Arthur, and you'll be fine"

After saying that, I pulled Arthur along with me while faking a smile on my face.

We looked just like best buddies.

Alicia, who was pushing Ellen's wheelchair, seemed to have a lot of questions; But I ignored her and dashed through the transfer Gate.
...

Eventually, we arrived at the edge of Ostual forest. And almost immediately after, we encountered... Horned rabbits.

'Ah, the nostalgia', I thought as I murdered my way through the forest with ease.

Throughout all of this, Arthur wasn't doing absolutely nothing, as he was staying besides Ellen and Alicia, protecting them from unexpected dangers that fortunately never came.

A good thing was that since we were focused on getting to the dungeon only, there weren't any awkward conversations between me and Arthur.

Although, the same thing couldn't be said to Alicia and Ellen, as they giggled to each others all the times, engaging in rather not-awkward conversations.

Some might call me a creep, as I was using every opportunity I had to listen in to their conversations. But such actions were necessary, as who knows if they were talking affectionately about a boy?

I needed to kil— I mean have a talk with such boy after all.... If he even existed in the first place.

'God I really hope he doesn't exist'

Overall, our trip to the dungeon was very efficient, much more so than I have initially anticipated.

...

"Are we there yet?", Alicia groggily asked.

"Almost", I answered for the 20th time.

After 5 more minutes, the dungeon finally came into our sight.

It stayed mostly the same as it was 6 years ago: Mainly, it still looked like a cave's entrance.

If I had to point out a difference, it was probably that there were knights and soldiers patrolling around the dungeon.

"HALT!", a loud voice suddenly came from in front of us.

I raised my hand up, signaling for Arthur to lower his sword.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!", a familiar looking knight in silver-clad armors - the owner of the voice, shouted.

I replied almost immediately. "We're here to clear the dungeon!"

Pausing for a bit, the knight shouted again. "RESERVATIONS AREN'T AVAILIBLE THIS WEEK! TURN BACK!"

Well, what the knight said did make sense.

Dungeons fall into the jurisdiction of whosever territory it appeared in. As such, many nobles implement a 'reservation system' for such dungeons, all for the sake of profits.

Viscount Nightshade was no exception. She had been making lots of money off the dungeon ever since I informed her of its location.

As such, normally, no one can come into noble-owned dungeons without making a reservation. However—

"Sir Bart! It's me, Theodore!"

—My identity was everything but normal, at least in this fiefdom.

Bart - the knight, squinted his eyes in my direction, before hanging his mouth open in surprise.

"Oh! It's the 'little puking knight'! I thought you'd never come back", he jokingly said as he walked towards us.

I frowned at his words. "Stop calling me that! You know I stopped puking in armors since I was 12"

Laughing hysterically, he slapped my back. "Nah, it's always fun to tease you. Anyways, you came at the right, or well, wrong time. The dungeon is closed down to the public right now like I said before"

"Did something happen?"

"Well, it's nothing too special", Bart shrugged his shoulders. "The dungeon was just closed out of concern. You know, Void rifts suddenly appearing and stuff"

"I see..."

"Anyways", I continued. "Can we still use it?"

Scrutinizing my group for a good second, Bart spoke. "Go ahead. You're the one that found it after all. But are you sure you want to take those two kids with you? I mean, one of them is even a cripple"

Hearing this, Arthur looked as if he wanted to say something; But I glared at him, not letting him say whatever idiotic thing that he was probably thinking in his mind.

I then released my <E-> rank pressure in an attempt to convince Bart. "Yea, we'll be fine"

Although Bart was surprised that I had already reached <E-> rank, he still continued to question our capabilities further.

"Are you absolutely sure? I'll have you know, even if it's a <G> ranked dungeon, protecting 3 people at the same time isn't an easy task"

"Don't worry about it", I pointed to Arthur. "Although this guy looks like a total pushover, he... has already reached <D+> rank"

Bart had a look of disbelief on his face. "Him? That unfairly handsome bastard?"

"Arthur, show him your <D+> rank Mana or something"

Instantly, a bright golden hue enveloped Arthur's body. The pressure emitted from his body was the undeniable proof that he was indeed a <D+> rank.

"...I guess there's no reasons to keep you back", Bart sighed.

"Thanks, I owe you one"

"It's nothing. How about going to the Nightshade mansion afterwards to have a drink eh? Surely you are legally allowed to drink now. I think the viscount will join too if she knows you're there"

"Maybe another time", I said as I hurried Arthur and the kids into the dungeon.
...

"Wow! So this is what a dungeon looks like!", the purple-haired girl, whose name was Ellen, exclaimed in excitement.

Well, I didn't see what was so fascinating about the dungeon, as the first floor resembled a generic small hill that could be found literally anywhere.

And the only monsters on this floor was Horned rabbit - one of the weakest monsters.

I was starting to get lazy, you know, like usual. Thus, I decided to utilize the cheat that I brought here with me.

"Arthur"

"Huh?"

"You take the vanguard. I'll stay behind and protect them"

Despite having said that I would protect the kids, however, I knew that with Arthur being the vanguard, I wouldn't have to do anything but to walk leisurely, while sometimes entertain the children a little bit.

Well, I was supposed to take it easy, but it was difficult dealing with the surges of weird emotion I had whenever Ellen talked to me.

***

"Hey Alicia", Ellen whispered.

"Huh?"

"Want to have a bet with me"

Alicia looked at Ellen suspiciously before answering. "Tell me the details first"

Grinning, Ellen spoke. "Let's see who's cooler. Your dad or brother Arthur"

Thinking for a while, Alicia accepted. "Alright! I'll win for sure"

"Hoh? Why are you so confident? Brother Arthur will definitely w—"

bzzzzt—! BOOM—!

Suddenly, Ellen was interrupted by a loud explosion.

Luckily, however, the explosion wasn't directed at Ellen. Rather, it occurred in the middle of a shabby-looking village, one that Ellen herself hadn't noticed until now.

"Alicia!", Ellen shouted. "The village exploded! The people are in da—"

"Don't worry", Alicia interjected. "It's a goblin village, not a normal one. After all, who in their right mind would build a village in the middle of a dungeon?"

Ellen nodded at Alicia's words. "It does make sense..."

"But... why did it explode all of the sudden?", she continued.

Pointing towards a certain figure in the distance, Alicia grinned. "See for yourself"

Red Lightnings rained down onto the goblin village, almost as if the Gods of thunder had casted their divine judgement onto the filthy greenskins.

-KRIEEEEEEEEK!

-SWIEEKEEE!

The disgusting screams of goblins rang out as they were being charred black by the Lightnings.

Amidst the screams, however, was a certain crazed laughter.

"AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! DIE!"

It was Theodore. He was laughing uncontrollably as he repeatedly casted [Lightning spear], killing every single goblin he set his eyes on.

Of course, no one but Theodore himself knew that he was doing this to help suppress the weird surges of emotion Ellen caused him.... And he was also doing this to take revenge on this particular goblin village for almost killing him, and worse, scarring Krista all those years ago.

As the last goblin was crushed into meat paste along with the building it was in by [Gale force] - a powerful Wind magic spell that professor Misha had helped Theodore to develop recently, Alicia turned towards Ellen with a smile.

"Pretty cool, don't you think?"

Staring blankly at the charred parch of land that used to be a village of goblins for a few seconds, Ellen answered with a sigh.

"Hmm... I guess. The part where he used the Lightning spells was okay. But his laughter ruined it by making him look like a maniac"

Ellen then looked at Arthur, who was similarly gazing at the ruins of the village. "Right, brother Arthur?"

"Huh?", Arthur turned his head towards Ellen. "I guess you're right"

It was then that Theodore, whose clothes was covered in the disgusting green blood of the goblins, walked up to them, startling no one but Arthur, who had just indirectly insulted him just moments prior.

"Let's continue, shall we?", Theodore pointed to a hole in the middle of the village a grin. "The boss monster is just right ahead"
***

"Hmm... so it's a Goblin shaman...", Arthur muttered.

The boss monster was indeed an <E+> ranked Goblin shaman. 

But it wasn't something Arthur couldn't handle.

I originally wanted to stop at just the 3rd floor, since I wasn't sure if I could protect Alicia while fighting the shaman at the same time.

However, now that Arthur was here, it would be fine to challenge the boss monster.

"I'll leave it to you!", I smiled as placed my hands on Arthur's shoulders.

Frowning at me, Arthur eventually accepted his fate and stepped forwards.

-KIEEEEK!

The goblin shaman screamed as Arthur stepped foot into its cave-like throne room; Instantly, the ground tore apart, and skeletons of hobgoblins rose up from the cracks in the dozens.

However, they were merely <F+> rank at best, so Arthur wasn't in any sort of danger.

'It's going to be quite a while until Arthur could win', I evaluated.

Thus, I decided to just sit back and wait for the battle to inevitably conclude with Arthur's win. However—

"Dad..."

—Alicia was staring at me with an expectant gaze, not letting me rest one bit.

"Don't look at me like that", I narrowed my eyes.

'I won't do it, even if you beg me', I snorted inwardly.

Ignoring my pleas, Alicia continued to try and persuade me. "Come on! 50 Silvers are on the line!"

Hearing this, I instantly stood up and dashed towards the ongoing battle. I couldn't miss the chance of earning extra money after all.

"Let me help!", I shouted.

In response, Arthur merely nodded his head and focused entirely on the shaman, while leaving the skeletons to me.

I then took out my sword and analyzed the situation.

'The skeletons are slow... this should work'

<[V - World splitter]: Distortion>

Riiiip—!

With a violent ripping sound, every skeletons in a cone-shaped area in front of me simply disappeared.

After a few minutes of repeating this strategy, every skeletons were eradicated.

The area where they once occupied was utterly empty, as if there weren't a legion of skeletons waging battle on it just mere moments ago.

I then decided to see how Arthur was doing.

CLANG—!

With a swing of his sword, Arthur had knocked the goblin shaman down.

He then raised his sword up high, aiming to kill the monster right then and there.

Seeing this, the shaman conjured up a spell as its last resistance.

"It's useless!". Arthur exclaimed.

However, he was curious as to what the shaman could do in this situation. As such, he let the shaman complete its spell.

He was that confident. After all, a mere <E+> ranked attack wouldn't even leave a scratch on his body.

<[Fire ball]>, the shaman casted.

It was one of the most basic spells. However, the <E+> ranked power behind it would pack quite a punch against people of the same rank, let alone people at lower rank, who would undoubtedly be at best, critically injured, and at worst, dead, as soon as it hits them.

However, it couldn't do as much as tickle strong beings like Arthur. As such, Arthur almost yawned in boredom while tracing the fire ball with his eyes.

'It's aiming for my head', he must have been thinking.

However, the ball of fire suddenly changed its trajectory, and quickly made its way towards Ellen.

Both Ellen and Alicia widened their eyes in horror at this. Their instincts screamed at them to get out of the fireball's way immediately. However, they were frozen stiff with fear, unable to move.

Arthur immediately dashed towards them, but he knew that he wouldn't get there in time.

"NO!"

He screamed in despair, as Ellen would, without a doubt, lose her life right in front of his eyes much like Luke did. However—

<[Splice]>

—I was present.

A dark red hue exploded out of me, before compressing to fit neatly around my figure.

I then disappeared from the spot, and reappeared right in front of Ellen - where the hue extended to, just before the fireball could hit her.

BOOM—!

"URGHH-"

I couldn't help but to let out a short groan of pain as the fireball made impact with my back instead of Ellen.

Being hit by a <E+> ranked spell definitely hurt, and I would have been critically injured if I hadn't learnt how to reinforce my body with Mana.

"Ah! That hurts...", I winced in pain as I touched my charred back.

'It's definitely burnt'

"ELLEN! ARE YOU OKAY?", Arthur shouted as he ran towards Ellen, who was still shaking in fear.

Ignoring the possibly cringy conversation Arthur was probably having, I took a recovery potion out of [Alternate storage] and chugged it down.

"Haaah... That's better..."

After that, I was about to lie against the rocky wall of the cave and rest, but—

"What are you doing?"

—Ellen suddenly ran to my back and examined the place where the fireball had hit me.

Seeing that I was mostly fine, she heaved a sigh of relief.

Then, not wasting another second, she gave me a deep bow.

"T- Thank you for saving me, Mister"

"..."

"Mister?", she turned her head up confusedly as her words of gratitude were only met with silence from me.

"I- I..."

A disgusting lump was clogging up my throat, preventing me from making a proper sentence.

Thus, all I could do was to look back into her slightly downcast eyes, which were filled with guilt and... gratefulness.

A painful headache assaulted me as the figure of Ellen right before me overlapped with the past image of her lying on the ground, bloodied, and with my sword stuck in her abdomen.

'Don't... Don't look at me like that!', I wanted to scream out loud, but all that came out of my mouth was an unintelligible mess.

"D- do nt..."

A strong surge of emotion was slowly suffocating me. And that worst part was that... I had no idea what to make of it.

'...W- What's this feeling...?'

Sure, I had been feeling this strange emotion ever since I laid eyes on Ellen. But now, it seemed as if the emotion was close to erupting.

I tried my best to suppress it, but it just served to amplify the emotion further, as tears seemingly welling up in my eyes at an alarming rate.

Nothing wanting to break down into tears in front of everyone, especially the children, I had no choice but to use it.

<[F - Emotionless]>

Instantly, my mind was cleared, and the mysterious emotion that was overtaking me disappeared without a trace. 

Staring at Ellen with cold eyes, I finally replied. "It's nothing. I'm just glad you're safe"

"B- But you're hurt, Mister! It's my fault that you have to take the hit for me in the first place"

Hearing her words, I felt that something inside me was close to breaking. However, [F - Emotionless] swiftly did its job, and I continued to speak.

"It's not your fault", I extended my hand out to ruffle her head. "It's my mistake for leaving you two unprotected"

Despite me saying that, however, Ellen still stubbornly insisted that she was the one at fault.

Not wanting to deal with her any further, I gave her back to Arthur and began leading the way out of the dungeon.

However, along the way, Ellen kept shooting me looks filled with worries.

Thus, I didn't dare to deactivate [F - Emotionless] during the entire journey back to Avaron.

***

<<Dorm room F1 - 2>>

"That's the report for today, your highness", Kasumi said with a bow.

Eleanor mulled over what Kasumi had just reported for several minutes.

'Why did he go out of Avaron with Arthur?'

Thinking deeply about it for a little bit more, Eleanor came to a reasonable conclusion.

'Is he trying to change Arthur's personality?'

However, Eleanor quickly shook her head, as someone like Theodore should have known that trying to make a change to Arthur's mentality was just futile.

After all, Eleanor had failed countless times doing so. Every time she was close to changing the way Arthur thinks, he would miraculously revert back to his originally personality instantly, almost as if someone was controlling his mind.

'Maybe it's just a coincident that Arthur came to him...'

But... Eleanor wasn't satisfied with that explanation. Theodore was a regressor after all. Using uncertainties like this to describe his action was utterly stupid.

Thus, she decided to test him once more.

"Kasumi, contact the Green skull bandits. It's time for them to do their job"

"But your highness...", Kasumi looked at Eleanor with her eyebrows raised. "The contract says that there are still 2 months left until the bandits have to do the job. Is it really okay to make them do it now?"

"It's fine", Eleanor dismissed Kasumi's concerns. "Just give them more money or threaten them. It's not officially announced that the target is a part of one of the Great Ducal households yet anyways. So they'll have no problem doing it a little bit earlier than planned"

Bowing with an indifferent gaze this time, Kasumi melted into the darkness.

Immediately after though, there was a knock on Eleanor's door.

Knock—! Knock—!

"Delivery!"

'Oh! The new chessboard is here!'