Leon Greyrat: The Second Son – Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 115 – A Quiet Peace

— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —

“Damn. They really are so tiny, huh?” Eris said, idly holding out her finger.

“Well, that is how babies are. You should know this by now,” Sylphy said, holding back Anna and Aria as they watched on curiously. “Besides, it would be quite difficult if they were any bigger.”

“Yes… I’d say…” Roxy said, getting control her breathing as she leaned her head back, looking up at me from my lap. “Leon… that’s it… Two is the most, you understand? Ask the others if you want any more kids…”

“Of course… and thank you,” I said, giving her a small kiss on her forehead.

That seemed to appease her somewhat, as her lips spread into a soft smile before looking back down at the infant in her arms.

It had been quite a difficult birth, not out of any complications, but simply due to the length of time it took.

My fourth daughter seemed to not want to leave her mother just yet.

“You caused me some trouble, didn’t you? Little Roana,” Roxy said, gently stroking her head.

Roana Greyrat, that was my newest daughter’s name.

While both of us had decided on the name together, it was Roxy that asked that their name start with ‘Ro-‘, as is the tradition with her native tribe.

She didn’t care about it before when we had Aria. In fact, she would have probably hated it, seeing it as a reminder of the pain she went through as a child.

But after meeting her parents again and finding her place with the rest of us, she had come to accept her heritage, and actively wanted to cherish it, at least in a small way like this.

And thus, Roana was chosen, with Roan being the name if it had been a boy.

“Mmm, but do you regret it?” Ariel asked, having joined us after putting Emilia and Ars to bed.

“No… not a chance,” Roxy said happily.

A sweet silence followed as we all stared down at the newest member of our family, bundled snugly in a blanket with the few strands of blonde hair slicked against her head from the water magic I had used to clean her up.

Yet again, my baby was adorable.

Perhaps it was something to do with my genes?

“Yes, I am glad to say I know the feeling as well,” Ariel said, her cheeks gaining a bit of colour. “Pain really has a hidden pleasure to it once you come to accept it, don’t you think?”

…No, I think that was just you, Ariel.

I assume that was what everyone else was thinking, but no one decided to speak up, for everyone’s sakes.

“Anyway… I wonder what Zenith and Lilia will think of her. She’s the first one that they haven’t been here for, right?” Eris said.

“I’m sure they’ll be ecstatic. You know how Mama is,” I said. “I just hope they aren’t sad about it.”

As for the reason neither of them were here, well… that would have to do with the impeccable timing on Sara’s part, as she had also gone into labour at the same time as Roxy.

And so, with Sylphy and I being able to easily heal Roxy should anything go wrong, as well as the family being quite experienced with childbirth, we left them to Sara’s care instead.

But to think my brother would not only get another child, but also another woman in Shizuka in such a short time… it was quite amazing.

But to think that him and Shizuka would get together so fast… while I wasn’t surprised, considering the hints that I had noticed, it was the speed at which they did that surprised me.

Well, perhaps I would learn more once Rudy and I had some time to spend together.

“Mmm… I know,” Roxy said, looking down at Roana with a smile.

“Is… something wrong?” I asked, noticing the slight bittersweet tone of her words.

“No. It’s just… I’m conflicted,” she said. “Her hair… it’s from you.”

Well, seeing as it wasn’t blue, that was quite obvious.

“And even though I know it will make her life so much easier… when I see that it isn’t mine… I can’t help but feel a bit… conflicted,” she said, looking up at me with a worried frown. “Does that make me a bad mother?”

I smiled.

So she had left behind that fear… or, maybe not left it behind, but had found that the connection to Aria more than made up for the worry about her hair.

That made me… very happy.

“No… it makes you a wonderful one,” I said, kissing her forehead. “It’s only natural for a mother to want to share their looks with their daughter.”

“I… suppose so,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder. “And at the very least, she has my eyes.”

Indeed, she did. A beautiful, deep blue colour that was just like Roxy’s.

Although, it was quite hard to see them at the moment with how deeply our newest daughter was sleeping.

But yes…

“Welcome home, Roana,” I whispered under my breath.

And now, with five kids, we would soon be running out of rooms, wouldn’t we?

— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —

A month had passed since Roana had been born, and as expected, Sara had given birth to a healthy baby as well.

One Damian Greyrat, the third of Rudy’s children, and the second boy.

Damian being the name of Sara’s late father, and chosen as a way to connect her parents to her new family, even though they had never met.

A sweet gesture, and one I had used with Anna to relate to Sylphy’s parents.

And perhaps… I could use it for my own departed parent as well.

But with the seventh month of the year coming to an end, I found myself occupied with other matters than thinking about children’s names.

“Keep it up, you three! You won’t be able to get me if you keep falling over!” I shouted, stepping away from another clumsy swing.

“Dada! You’re too fast!” Aria shouted with a pout.

“And too sneaky… annoying,” Lana added, giving me a harsh glare.

“Yeah, like a fly,” Alaric said as he stuck out his tongue.

I nearly stumbled at the last exclamation.

To think my littlest brother had called me a fly… perhaps I should give them a quick show of how to parry as well, if he could defend himself in time.

No… no, calm yourself, Leon.

There was no need to get violent when he was just having fun.

Taking a deep breath of the warm air, I once again prepared to face down the three kids.

As for what we were doing?

Well, this was our group swordsmanship lesson. The first of many to come with our new family tradition.

As for why I had started this?

Well, that was simple.

Not only was this a good opportunity for the family to get together with all of our busy lives, but the training itself was also something Rudy and I had decided to give to our children.

Having them lead an active lifestyle early was beneficial in itself, but also, this world… it was dangerous.

Even without the Man-God setting his sights on us, there were monsters, bandits, and numerous other threats that could appear. 

While at the moment, I felt confident in being able to protect all of them, that wouldn’t be the same once they left the nest to lead their own lives.

And so, we thought it to be important that everyone learned to defend themselves before then.

They didn’t need to be expert swordsmen, of course, but enough to escape a dangerous situation, and once they got a family of their own, a strength strong enough to defend them as well.

If all went well, even those that weren’t particularly talented nor interested in the sword would still be at the Intermediate rank, but that was far into the future.

For the moment, training was more akin to playing around, simply having them get used to following an opponent, maintaining stability while running, and holding a sword in their hands… even if it was a practice one.

It was important to instill such a lesson early.

A sword was a tool, and even though it could perform beautiful strikes and breathtakingly fluid movements, at its core, it was a weapon. 

Something to defend yourself and your loved ones.

It was not something to take lightly, and thus, one must always be sure they had good control over how they held it.

“Dada! Get back here!”

Well… that serious stuff could wait for a few years.

For now, I was just glad the three were having fun and that I got to bond a bit more with my youngest brother, as we hadn’t had too much time to become closer.

“You seem to be having fun, Leon,” Ghislaine said from the side.

“That I am. Are you going to join in as well?” I asked, stepping to the side as Aria launched her attack.

“Agff!”

And… she tripped.

Poor thing.

“No need. I have enough on my plate between protecting Lady Ariel and training Julian,” she said.

“Ah, right. He’s… nine now, right? How’s he coming along?” I asked, lifting my hand to parry Alaric’s weak strike to the ground, his body following through with it.

“Augh!”

And another child hit the ground… yeah, they definitely needed to work on their balance.

“He’s quite good. Not at the level of you and Eris, of course, but he is well on his way to becoming a respectable swordsman,” she said, smiling lightly In pride. “While he’s only just reached the Intermediate rank, I won’t be surprised if he ends up becoming a Sword Saint in the future.”

“Huh… so I guess our family got another talented swordsman,” I said.

Interesting.

I guess swordsmanship ran in the Boreas Greyrat blood, huh?

I was already planning on training Ars just like everyone else, but maybe I would need to focus a little more with him… although, from the passing comments that Eris had made about ‘not being able to wait until he was old enough to run’, I think she had that covered for the both of us.

My apologies, dear son of mine. But I promise that your mother loves you dearly.

…Perhaps a little too dearly.

“Argh! Uncle!”

With Lana’s shout breaking me out of my thoughts, I watched as she tripped over her feet after attempting a lunging strike, my body having unconsciously moved out of the way and leading to the third and final child falling to the ground.

“Darn it!” Aria shouted, but with a wide smile nonetheless. “We didn’t get him!”

“Leon’s really amazing, huh? Defeating all three of us…” Alaric added in a thoughtful and amazed tone.

Uh, no… while I was quite strong, literally any adult could do this much.

But at least they were happy… although they would definitely need a bath after this.

“Do you three want to continue?” I asked.

“Yeah!” 

Indeed. Peaceful days like this were nice.

But unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to stay like this forever… I had the fourth-strongest being in the world to defeat, after all.

— Leon Anemoi Greyrat —

“Mother… save me…” Emilia begged.

Unfortunately, I did not let her out of my grasp, deciding to keep cuddling her despite her pleas.

“Apologies, Emilia, but it seems that your father has other plans,” Ariel said with a warm smile. “I suggest you enjoy it. It will only be worse if you try to refuse.”

“Exactly,” I said, nodding my head. “Fear my grasp, young girl, for I have needed to replenish my Emilia-energy for quite a while.”

“Mother… now Father’s being weird…” Emilia groaned.

It seems that my affections were being ignored.

“Fufu! You two are awfully cute, you know,” Sylphy said, placing down some tea on the table for us. “But don’t smother her too much. You have Aria and Roana for that, since they love their dear father so much.”

That was true… but I was just worried.

Anna, despite being a wonderful daughter, did not like displaying her affection outwardly. Especially with me.

Thankfully, Lana was starting to do the same with Rudy, so I wasn’t completely alone… but it still hurt.

Putting Emilia back down, I watched as she tottered away, trying to escape me as she headed into the nearby room.

I just didn’t want her to end up so cold to her dear father, especially with the fact that I would be leaving soon.

And speaking of that…

“Are you two sure you’ll be fine?” I asked, the same question having already been repeated once before.

“Relax, darling. We aren’t so helpless that we need your protection every waking moment of the day,” Ariel said, shaking her head. “The kingdom is more than stable now, and Isolte is always at my side for any proceedings that could possibly go awry. You worry too much.”

Sylphy took a seat next to me, handing a cookie over to Emilia as she joined the conversation.

“And besides, while you’re strong, there are others that can protect us just as well,” she said. “Not only do we have Eris, but don’t forget that Orsted is back In the palace now. We’ll be more than fine.”

That… was true.

While that guy had left briefly to check where the North God was in this timeline, he had just returned a couple of days ago, hence why I would be departing soon.

After all, I had an ally to make, and while I had technically fulfilled one of Perugius’ conditions in him joining our battle against Laplace by defeating the Water God, there was still the need of gaining a strong ally in that guy.

The seventh rank of the Seven Great Powers, the North God, Aleksander Ryback.

According to Orsted, he was brash and idiotic, like an overgrown child, but his greatest dream had always been to cement himself in history as a hero, so I was sure I could convince him to join me.

Although… Orsted also told me to prepare to fight him, as while he wasn’t one to be completely controlled by the Man-God’s words like most people, he could still be influenced, thanks to his gullibility.

So I would just need to knock him down first, and then give him one of Orsted’s bracelets so that he wouldn’t turn against us later on.

“So? How long do you expect to be gone?” Ariel asked, taking a sip of tea.

“Likely around a month,” I answered.

Yes… because that annoying guy just had to have secluded himself in the depths of the forest in the King Dragon Kingdom.

Luckily, I could use a teleportation circle to get to the nearest city, but after that, I would need to make use of my camping skills yet again.

Haa…

Shaking my head, I looked up to see Ariel and Sylphy locked in a stare down, seemingly having a wordless conversation between them before they then both nodded in unison.

I guess the conversation was over?

“Leon… you’re going alone, right?” Sylphy asked slowly.

“Yes… why?” I returned.

I mean, I was sure that Eris would want to come, but we had already talked about it.

She had our family in Sharia to protect, and not only that, but she had been enjoying her part in training the kids… even if she ended up giving them some trauma in the process.

“Well… to be gone that long without a woman when you’re used to four… that will surely be difficult,” Ariel added.

“Uhh… I guess?” I replied, confused.

Where was she going with this?

Did she think I would cheat just because of that? Because that was a very wrong assumption.

“Indeed. So, it’s only natural that you should properly relieve yourself completely before departing, no?” she continued, staring at me with lidded eyes.

Oh.

“And it’s our duty to ensure our husband is comfortable, correct?” Sylphy added from the side.

I… see.

So that’s where this was headed.

In response to such a request made by two beautiful women, there was only one possible way to react.

“Yes please.”

I guess the tea would end up getting cold, huh?