Chapter 486 – 486Th Episode – Audience
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The next day.
I had breakfast again with Father, Mother, and Alex.
Father’s glare was still piercing.
Showing Alex the sparring match between Noah and me was scheduled for an hour after the end of his etiquette lesson.
In the meantime, I tried to connect with Father again to build rapport, but…
“Grrrrr…”
He was extremely wary of me.
“Dear.”
“Ugh… ahem,”
Even when Mother calmed him down and I tried to approach again.
“D-don’t come near me! Are you trying to make me look pathetic in front of my wife and Gracia again!”
“N-no… I just wanted to talk for a moment…”
“If you want to talk, do it later! My body tries to lie down on its own when you come near me!”
“…Yes.”
It seemed that Father needed time to control his body with his mind.
“Oh, dear, I think your pose of surrender is not bad either.”
“Wife?!”
“It is natural to submit to the strong.”
“B-but, wife…”
“Of course, I understand your feelings. But it’s not good to be too hostile. When you think about it, you went too wild, so isn’t it your own fault?”
“W-wife… you’ve been too harsh lately.”
“Hehehe, it’s the punishment for making me suffer every night for three months. Gracia, son-in-law, and everyone else, please don’t mind us and be comfortable. Now, dear, you need to prepare to go to the royal palace.”
“Ah, I understand.”
Father also left the mansion.
“Honey, I’m going shopping with Mother.”
“Ah, then I’ll go with you! I’m curious about what kind of clothes they sell in Bridan!”
“Okay, let’s go together, Tina.”
“Yes!”
Rifa and Tina went shopping for clothes with Ryling Mother.
“Um, excuse me, Gracia, where is the study?”
“Follow me.”
Gracia went to the study with Elsie to fulfill her promise to show her around.
That left me, Noah, Tikia, and Ninya.
“Alex said he’d come to the training grounds after class, so let’s go ahead and wait.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
We decided to go to the training grounds first and wait for Alex.
But since it was awkward to just wait, I started sparring with Ninya as a warm-up.
“Haa!”
Whoosh!
Ninya attacked me with all her might, though not at full power, and I was deflecting her attacks with my hands, responding to them.
Seeing it like this, Ninya’s attacks were even faster than when we first sparred.
After Gracia and Rifa became lovers, she sparred not only with Noah but also with the two of them, and her skills were noticeably improving.
While we were still sparring.
Grab!
I grabbed Ninya’s spear, stopping her movement.
“What’s wrong, Rent?”
“Alex is coming.”
I could see Alex running through the window of the training grounds.
Squeak!
“Gracia! I’ve finished my class! …Huh? Rent and… the new sisters?”
Alex tilted his head and said.
“Um, um… where are Gracia and Rifa?”
I stopped sparring with Ninya and approached Alex.
“Gracia is in the study with Elsie right now. Rifa went to buy clothes with Ryling Mother.”
“Ah… I see.”
Alex seemed a little disappointed that Gracia and Rifa weren’t there.
Alex was now like my precious younger brother.
So, I should cheer him up as much as possible.
“Alex, you said you wanted to see a sparring match, right?”
“Ah, yes! I want to see how strong Rent is! A-and… you don’t have to use honorifics with me like Gracia does. R-Rent is my brother, after all!”
“Okay, then I’ll speak comfortably, Alex.”
“Yes!”
Alex nodded his head.
He looked so adorable and cute.
Okay! Your brother will show you his skills in a cool way!
“Then Alex, you can watch next to Tikia.”
“Yes!”
“Noah! Let’s start sparring.”
“Hehehe, okay!”
Ninya went to where Alex and Tikia were, and Noah and I faced each other in the center of the training grounds.
This time, it was different from our usual sparring.
It wasn’t about improving our skills, but about showing Alex my skills.
But just moving fast would be bland.
“Noah.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to make it a little flashy.”
“Flashy?”
“Huuu!”
I released my magic power and surrounded my whole body with an aura.
“Ah, like that.”
“Wow! He’s surrounded by magic power! I’ve seen it before! G-Gracia also often surrounds herself with magic power when she spars with Rifa!”
…That’s when they’re really serious, but I’m just doing it for show, but it’s good that Alex is enjoying it.
But I can’t stop here.
Crackling!
Whoosh!
I surrounded my left and right hands with electricity and fire, respectively.
“T-to use two attributes of magic at the same time…! You’re amazing, Rent!”
Alex’s pure admiration made me feel proud.
“Let’s go, Noah!”
As soon as I gave the signal, Noah immediately pulled out two daggers and took a stance.
“Come on!”
After that, Noah and I sparred for 10 minutes, dodging each other’s attacks and counterattacking.
Unlike usual, with fire and electricity swirling in my hands, Noah focused more on evasion and counterattacked me.
If it were before, Noah would have been busy dodging if I attacked with fire and electricity, but like Ninya, he had improved a lot by sparring with Gracia and Rifa, so Noah was able to handle it with ease.
“Waaaah!”
I used Zone to slightly shift my gaze, and Alex was looking at us with sparkling eyes.
And…
“…”
Tikia was slightly puffing out her cheeks as if she was dissatisfied.
I’ve seen that expression many times.
It’s her cute expression when she wants to be acknowledged.
I stopped attacking and said to Noah.
“Noah, let’s end it here.”
“Really? I can do more…”
Glance.
“Ah ha.”
Noah was juggling his daggers, claiming that he still had a lot of stamina, but when I glanced at Tikia, Noah immediately understood my intention.
“Yeah! That’s enough sparring! Alex~ Did you see it well?”
“Yes! Both Noah and Rent were amazing!”
“Hehehe, I’m embarrassed when I get praised like that~ Oh, by the way, Alex, do you want to see something more fun?”
“Something more fun?”
“Yeah! Tikia! Show Alex some of your magic with Rent! Alex will love it. Alex, Tikia is really good at magic? Even Gracia is surprised.”
“Really? I really want to see it!”
When Alex’s eyes lit up at Noah’s words and said he wanted to see Tikia’s magic.
“R-really? Well… Alex is like my younger brother, so… okay! I, Tikia, will show you my great magic!”
Tikia immediately put her puffed-out cheeks away and stood in front of me with a powerful stride.
Whoosh!
Then, Tikia started floating in the air using levitation magic from the beginning.
“S-she’s floating in the air! I’ve never seen magic like that before!”
“Hahahaha! This is one of the original magic I developed! Let’s go, Rent!”
“Come at me anytime.”
“Twinkle Stars!”
Tikia floated around me, shooting magic.
She used not only Twinkle Stars, which poured out many small stars, but also Twinkle Buster, which blew things away in one go.
She used Twinkle Bomb, which caused explosions.
On top of that, she increased the number of sparkling stars more than usual, further increasing the splendor.
Still, since it was inside the training grounds, she didn’t use Cosmo Impact, the most powerful of Tikia’s original magic.
The more Tikia used magic, the more the training grounds were filled with sparkling starlight.
“Waaaaah…!!!”
For reference, Alex, who was watching us, had his eyes wide open and his mouth wide open, smiling like a child watching a magic show.
My time with Tikia was less of a sparring match and more of a magic show, where I used my fists and kicks to burst the magic that Tikia shot, making it look even more spectacular.
When my magic power was about to run out, Tikia climbed onto my shoulder as usual and spread her hands wide.
“How was it!”
“I-it was so pretty! I’ve never seen magic like that before! It was amazing!”
“Hehehe! That’s right! You won’t be able to see it anywhere else! Because it’s my original magic!”
“Original magic! You created new magic? Tikia is amazing!”
“Hahahahaha!!!”
Tikia’s mood was at its peak.
Tikia, who was laughing happily, was really cute.
“Rent was cool too!”
“Thank you, Alex.”
“U-um, Rent! If, if it’s okay, can I spar with you too?”
“Alex with me?”
“Yes! Although I’m still immature and my skills are terrible! B-but… I want to spar with Rent!”
Alex was a child with a high desire to improve.
I didn’t want to refuse such a commendable request from Alex.
“Then, shall we do it for a bit?”
“Yes!”
Alex ran to me.
I put Tikia down first and then looked down at Alex.
There was a big height difference between me and 5-year-old Alex.
Alex was a whole 40cm shorter than Tikia.
If I sparred with Alex in this state, it would be difficult for me to spar with him at his level.
That’s why.
“Alex, can you wait a moment?”
“Yes!”
“Huuu!”
I used a skill after a long time and returned to my childhood appearance.
Of course, my body became smaller, so the clothes I was wearing became loose. While the smoke from my body was surrounding me, I quickly created small-sized clothes with Mana Weapon and put them on, and put the original clothes in my inventory.
I waved my hands to blow away the smoke and said to Alex, who was only about a head taller than me.
“Okay! Let’s do it, Alex!”
“Huh…? Huh? Huh? R-R-Rent…?”
Alex was very surprised by my younger appearance.
Well, if someone who had been so tall suddenly became so young, anyone who saw it for the first time would be surprised.
“Yeah! It’s Rent, Alex!”
“H-h-how did that happen? Rent became y-younger!”
“This is one of the skills I can use.”
“O-oh, I see…”
“Kyaaaak! It’s been a while since I’ve seen young Rent♡♡♡”
Ninya ran over to me, hugged me, and rubbed her cheek against mine.
“So cute~♡♡♡”
“Ninya, I have to spar with Alex now.”
“Ah, that’s right. Sorry, Rent. …Tonight.”
I could tell what Ninya wanted without her saying it.
“Yes, I will.”
“Hehe, I’ll be looking forward to it♡ Tikia, let’s stay away.”
“Okay.”
After Ninya put me down again and distanced herself with Tikia, I said to Alex.
“Then let’s start, Alex. You use a sword, right?”
“Ah, yes!”
There was a small sword on Alex’s waist, suitable for young Alex.
Even though he was young, Alex was a beastman and would become the head of the Locke family in the future, so I could feel that he was receiving elite education from a young age.
Clang.
Alex took out his sword from his waist and took a stance.
As expected, his basic stance was the same as Gracia and Father’s.
“P-please take care of me!”
“Okay, attack me anytime, I’ll take it all.”
“Yes! I-yaaaah!”
Alex’s form itself was good.
But he was a little nervous, so his movements were stiff.
“Alex, don’t be too nervous. Show me your skills to your heart’s content.”
“Y-yes! Yaaah!”
Alex swung his sword again.
This time, he wasn’t nervous, so the trajectory of his sword was clean.
He was still only 5 years old, so the power in his sword was lacking, and his movements were like cute rhythmic movements, but it was clear that he was using the same swordsmanship as Gracia and Father Galf.
“Good, you’re doing well. Then this time, I’ll attack slowly, so try to dodge it.”
“Yes!?”
I extended my palm towards Alex.
“What?! Ugh!”
Thud!
I clearly pushed my palm enough for Alex to dodge, but Alex simply hit my palm and fell on his butt.
“S-slow…”
It seemed that Alex was scared because he thought I would hit him at the same speed as when I sparred with Noah.
“Hahaha, of course, I’m matching Alex’s speed.”
“O-oh, I see.”
“You can do better next time, right?”
When I reached out my hand to the fallen Alex and asked, Alex grabbed my hand, got up, and answered powerfully.
“Yes!”
“Okay, then try attacking again.”
“Yes! Rent! Iyaaaah!”
And I started sparring with Alex again.
It was very admirable to see Alex diligently swinging his sword and dodging my attacks.
