Yomigaeri no Maou

It was two weeks after that when Luru’s father returned home.
Around noon when the sun was high, his father who was riding a carriage from the neighbouring town was wearing neither sword nor armour, and was lightly dressed like any old villager so from a glance you could not really tell that he was a skilled swordsman.

He had a gentle and calm atmosphere, and in his luggage were a number of heavy books, and even now was reading while wearing the Magus Tool that he always put on when he did so. Because of that, rather than a knight, he seemed more like a scholar.

Alighting from the horse carriage left at the entrance of the village, with a few books and a large-ish bag, he noticed Luru who had come to meet him and leisurely waved his hand.

“Hey… It’s been a while, huh, Luru. Have you been well?”

His father spoke in a kind tone, befitting of his appearance, and though it wasn’t as though they hadn’t met in years, Luru thought that it was something he missed.

“Yeah, I’ve been well… It’s been a while. Will you be able to stay a bit longer this time?”

His father, Patrick, worked in the royal palace in the royal capital, so he didn’t have that much leave. That’s why Luru asked what he did.
Normally his family should have been living together in the capital, but his mother took a liking to this village, and his father didn’t want to take Luru and his mother to the capital either.
It seems that his mother had lived in the capital in the past, but after marrying with his father they came to this village, and she had lived here ever since.
Perhaps it was because the two of them didn’t like metropolises, or perhaps there was some other reason they didn’t mention so Luru didn’t know, but anyway, because of their circ.u.mstances, Luru hadn’t been to a large city yet.

“Let’s see… This time… I don’t think I can stay for too long either. Though it’s not like I have to go back immediately either. So there’s enough time to train you and Rusty.”

Said Patrick with a smile.
Each time Patrick came home, he would teach Luru and Rusty.
There were quite a few people who had learned swordsmanship in the village, but the only one who was skilled enough to teach people properly was Patrick.
Because of that, he would often teach the children of the village swordsmanship when he came home.

While he was in the village, Patrick was completely on holiday without anything else to do, so he had a lot of free time.
Having said that though, there was no way that a knight could let his skill decline, so he trained in the sword every single day, and it seems that the children who saw him do so asked him to teach them, and that was how it began.
There were a few children who learned under Patrick, left the village, and became adventurers, and Rusty was working hard to be the same.

“I think Rusty’s burning up this time. He’s probably frantically trying his best, so… could you tell him not to overdo it?”

“Mn? Did something happen to him?”

“We’ll tell you about that later… There are a whole bunch of things we have to tell you, after all.”

“I see… Speaking of which, where’s Medea?”

“Ah, she’s inside making lunch with Iris. We didn’t know when your carriage would arrive, but she was here up until just a moment ago.”

Saying that, Patrick nodded with a ‘hmm’.

“Iris huh? I read the letter but, adopting her, huh? The letter wasn’t detailed, but just why are we adopting somebody…?”

He was probably talking about a letter that Medea sent.
It was a letter that she sent regularly, that detailed the things that happened in the village, and the conditions of the family and estate.
It took a week at the least to reach the capital, but it seems that this time it had arrived relatively quickly.
But even so, it seems that she hadn’t had time to write about it in detail.

“Iris herself said that she’d be fine being a maid but… Mum[Okaasan], you know…?”

Luru’s tone suggested that he had some things he wanted to say about it, so Patrick made an astonished expression.
However, it seems that he wasn’t exactly against it, and asked Luru a question.

“Medea is being unreasonable again, huh… Well, that’s fine though. Are you all right with it as well, Luru?”

He was probably indirectly asking to see if Luru was in shock about a stranger suddenly becoming family.
From Patrick’s point of view, Luru was a small child.
It was obvious concern for him.
However, that was completely off the mark.
Iris was the daughter of somebody who had been like his family since long ago, and as for Luru himself, he had built up a bold enough personality in his previous life that he would be fine with living with a stranger.
That’s why there was no issue at all.

“I don’t mind at all. Iris is polite, and a good girl…”

It seems that Patrick felt something other than just simple approval from Luru’s manner of speech, so he stroked his chin and said, with his gla.s.ses glittering,

“My, my… Your girlfriend?”

Mixed into his words were a bit of teasing.
It was a bit of bonding between parent and child.
However, Luru had already pa.s.sed the age at which he’d be taken in by such teasing in his previous life, and so it probably couldn’t be helped that he just replied in an astonished tone,

“A person who’s going to be my younger or older sister from now on isn’t somebody I’d be thinking of making into a girlfriend, right…?”

Not only that, but speaking frankly, she was the daughter of his friend.
The mental hurdle for making her his girlfriend was much too high.
However, Patrick reb.u.t.ted with a reasonable argument.

“Marriage between non-blood related siblings is not forbidden by law, you know. Well, in those cases they become the adopted daughter of somebody else in name, though.”

It was the truth.
This was written clearly in the laws of the kingdom’s charter.
However, that wasn’t the problem.
That’s why Luru said,

“It’s not a matter of legality…”

And after all of this, seeing that Luru didn’t seem to be thinking of her romantically at all, perhaps Patrick finally understood because he said,

“Hm… From what I can see, the possibility is low, huh? It feels like you really see her as your little sister…”

They were some oddly sharp and insightful words.

After that, Luru took a few books off Patrick’s hands, and started walking towards the Cadisnola residence.
Patrick followed after him, and after a while, they arrived at their home.

When they arrived at home, Medea and Iris, as well as a maid, were awaiting Patrick.
Patrick greeted them one by one, and hugged them.
The maid as well.

Was it because he was a lower cla.s.s n.o.ble, or was it just unique to him? Luru didn’t know because he hadn’t really met any other n.o.bles, but Patrick treated people without much distinction, and he was social and open with both the villages and the maids.
It was enough that he even said it was fine to address him without honorifics.
If he took a step in the wrong direction, it would end up as a personality that was unbefitting of a n.o.ble, but the villagers were careful, and around people from other villages or travellers, they would properly attach ‘-sama‘ to his name, so there wasn’t much to worry about.
There was something to worry about when it came to children, but to begin with, not many people came to the village, so for now there didn’t seem to be anything that would cause trouble.

After that, Patrick organised his luggage and left them in his room, and gave Luru a few books that he had brought with him.
Each time Patrick came back from the capital, he would bring Luru books as souvenirs like this.
Luru remembered that when he asked Patrick why he brought these even though books were expensive, Patrick had replied that he had a friend with a large book collection, and because that friend often bought books, he could get them at a cheaper price.

Perhaps because they were obtained through that channel, they were slightly old editions and sometimes pages would be missing, but even so it was a good source of information, and was no problem to Luru.

Whilst eating the lunch that Medea and Iris had made, everybody sat together and chatted.
Patrick knew a lot, so he would speak about the conditions of the capital, but the contents were simplified things that a child of Luru’s age could understand, so even the detailed conversations were appropriate for a child of his age, and it seemed difficult to talk about things beyond this, so Luru felt that he was lacking information.
This was why he wanted to do the deal with Gran and Yuumis, and while thinking that it really was a good idea, Luru had a chat with his father for the first time in a while.

The conversations he had with his father had interesting contents, but as expected, it was quite different from the perspective of an adventurer, and though he could grasp the atmosphere of the capital from it, his father didn’t often speak of things like international relations.
Even when he did talk about it on occasion, they were mostly rumours or very general information, and rather than seeing these things himself, they were things he heard from others or knowledge he had learned from books.

The reason he didn’t speak about things in detail was because Luru had the appearance of a seven year old, so it might have been inevitable, but as expected, Luru felt a little disappointed about this.

Unlike adventurers, Patrick couldn’t just freely cross over to other countries, and as a knight who had sworn allegiance to the kingdom, he couldn’t touch on subjects that were cla.s.sified and wouldn’t thoughtlessly speak about these things.

So in general, you could say that his father had the exact opposite character of carefree adventurers.

While they were having their meal, Patrick heard from Medea once again about adopting Iris, and readily agreed with a nod.
It was likely that after having a chat with Iris and making sure there was nothing wrong with her character, he judged that there were no problems.
As for the paperwork, they decided to have him hand in the forms when he returned to the capital.
The story about how the adventurers came to the village also came up.
While talking about that, Medea told Patrick about how Luru went to the ruins, but he wasn’t that angry, and it ended with him telling Luru not to try anything excessive.

And then, the most important topic came up.
Luru quietly began to talk.

“Also… Dad[/Tousan]. There’s something I need to talk about.”

It seems that Patrick sensed that something was up about Luru’s formal att.i.tude, for his cheerful smile turned into a serious expression as he watched Luru.

“What is it?”

“I want to become an adventurer when I turn 14… Would that be alright?”

Without any pretences, Luru immediately cut to the point, and Patrick smiled at that.

“…That’s fine. Though we’re lower cla.s.s, we’re still n.o.bles so it isn’t as though there aren’t problems, but… That can just be solved by adopting a son from a relative. We’re still young too, so there’s the possibility of having a younger brother for you. But… Luru.”

When Luru was wondering if Patrick would accept without issue, Patrick’s words trailed off, and Luru’s was not so bad at guessing that he couldn’t tell what Patrick wanted to say.
Luru slowly nodded, and waited for his father’s words.

“Yeah.”

“The adventurer occupation is easier said than done. So I’m thinking of giving you a challenge to complete.”

“A… challenge, huh…?”

Just what kind of challenge would Patrick be giving him?
Luru could somehow guess.
While his father was gentle, his real character was that of a knight.
A challenge that a knight would give.
It went without saying.

Patrick spoke.

“Yes… Until your fourteenth birthday, you have to get me to acknowledge your swordsmanship. If you can’t do that, even if you become an adventurer, you’ll just die, you see… Is that fine?”

Having said that, Patrick’s eyes blazed and housed a strong will different to the kind smile up until now.
Luru could feel an intensity from Patrick that was in no way inferior to the warriors that challenged him back when he was a demon king.
So Luru answered.
He understood that he couldn’t refuse; it was the same both today, and in the past.

“Yeah… I got it. Until my fourteenth birthday, I’ll show you that I can become a swordsman you can acknowledge, Dad[/Tousan].”

Whilst receiving Patrick’s intensity, Luru declared this without hesitation, and Patrick smiled once again.
However, that smile was as expected not his gentle one… but the very smile that a warrior gave having found a worthy opponent.

“As expected of my son. Now then, since that’s decided, it’ll be special training for you tomorrow, okay? I have confidence that you’ll become stronger.”

Having said that, his father’s expression returned to normal.

In the end, could Luru become strong enough to defeat Patrick?
Patrick was strong.
He was certainly not this country’s strongest, but his skill was guaranteed.

Why?
It was because his occupation was none other than the sword instructor of the Royal Knight Order, known as the strongest in the country.

If you wanted the Kingdom of Lezaad’s strongest, you would normally say it was the Head Knight of the Royal Knight Order, or the Head Magician of the court mages.
However, in swordsmanship alone, there was probably n.o.body in the country who could beat Patrick.
In swordsmanship, his talent was beyond a level that anybody could follow.

His strength was enough that you could declare this.

Sensing that he could become an adventurer with a normal level of determination, he quickly tidied the lunch table, and headed to the garden with a wooden practice sword in hand.

From now on, each day would be intense training.
Otherwise, something like beating Patrick would be beyond a dream.

So Luru thought.

Patrick uses ‘boku‘（僕） to refer to himself which is both humble, and not so formal. I suppose it’s to highlight his soft and gentle atmosphere.

‘Whilst receiving Patrick’s intensity‘ 威迫 means ‘making somebody obey by threat, by showing your power’. So it means ‘threat’ if translated, but it’s not really the threat you’d normally think of（脅迫） so I did it as ‘intensity’.
~Whilst being forced accepting Patrick’s terms (because of his intensity)~

‘beyond a dream‘ 夢のまた夢 means ‘a dream within a dream’. So like, a super far-fetched dream. Beyond your wildest dreams. An empty dream. That kind of thing.

/Chapter 15 END