Leon Greyrat: The Second Son – Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 96 – A New Year

— Leon Greyrat —

“You what!?” Eris shouted, reaching over the table to grab me by the collar. “What do you mean, you met Orsted!?”

“There wasn’t a fight, Eri,” I said, unlatching her fingers as I took her hand in mine. “There was just a… conversation.”

And quite an enlightening one at that.

Both Sylphy and Roxy looked at the two of us with confusion.

“Leon… who is this ‘Dragon God’?” Sylphy asked. “And why is Eris so angry?”

Roxy also looked confused before a flash of recognition appeared on her face.

“Wait… your scars… that unbeatable enemy…” she murmured.

That was my smart wife.

“Yeah. Our first meeting wasn’t the greatest… but that was sort of my fault,” I said. “Eri… you remember how scared we were with Ruijerd? How he was cursed by Laplace?”

Eris’ face scrunched in concentration.

“Err… I think so. But what does that have to do about this?” she asked.

“Well… Orsted has the same curse,” I explained. “In fact, it’s worse. Not only is it stronger, but even if you get over the fear, you feel immense hatred for him.”

Though, while I said it was my fault, he was the one who made the first move.

But according to him, my ‘fated path’ was quite a troublesome one, and to be honest I would react the same if I met someone I thought was working for the Man-God, so I couldn’t blame him.

“But don’t be too angry at me, Eri,” I said, rubbing her hand with my thumb in the way that always calmed her down. “I wasn’t aiming for a fight, and if I was, I wouldn’t have kept it a secret.”

Her anger subsided quite a bit at this.

“…You promise?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” I said, nodding. “But remember… we have a family to protect now. So even if I needed to fight someone, I might ask you to defend our home instead.”

Eris looked at me for a few moments before turning her head to Sylphy and Roxy, and then to Anna who was sleeping in her crib, and Aria who was playing with her blocks in the living room with Ariel.

“Fine… I can do that,” she said, looking back at me with a smile. “Everyone else here is weak, after all.”

Sylphy and Roxy’s smiles turned strained as their eyes twitched, but they quickly calmed their annoyance.

After all, they had been with Eris long enough to know that wasn’t an insult.

Rather, it was a declaration of fact, and more importantly, a reason for her to protect them while separating from me, even though Eris hated it.

It was Eris’ own expression of love… even if it was a bit awkward.

“So, Leon… this Dragon God… why did you meet him?” Sylphy asked.

Right… that was the other, arguably more important thing.

“Yeah… I was getting to that,” I said before looking into the living room. “And Ariel, I think you should be here for this too.”

The princess looked over the couch with interest before getting to her feet.

“Does this happen to concern me?” she asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “You could say that.”

Now… how to explain this?

I had given the diary to Orsted so he could read through it, but even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t feel comfortable showing that to them for… obvious reasons.

“First… have any of you heard of the ‘Man-God’?” I asked.

Seeing that all of their faces were only showing confusion, I let out a small breath of relief.

I wasn’t worried about Ariel being an apostle, as I doubt that Orsted would want someone who could be on the Man-God’s side in control of the strongest nation in the world, but I was slightly worried about my three wives.

But luckily, it seemed that my worries were for naught, and me staying near them, the Man-God shouldn’t be able to easily interfere with them either.

“No… what’s that? Is that some religious figure? Or perhaps a Divine-rank fighter?” Ariel asked.

“No, it’s… something a bit more troublesome,” I said. “And that being… he is our enemy.”

I then went on to reveal everything I knew, both about Orsted and the Man-God as well as the eventual plan to defeat him, explaining the pieces of knowledge from the future diary that made him our enemy simply as an aspect of Orsted’s fate reading.

I left out a few things, of course, such as the three of my wives being in love with my brother, as well that terrible man’s exploits, but I did explain that I was out of the picture, and as a result, they had all eventually lost their lives and that his goal was to stop me from having descendants.

“I see… so this ‘Man-God’ is already my enemy,” Ariel said darkly. “And he must also be the reason for the unanticipated assassin attack… it seems that Minister Darius is one of these ‘apostles’ you spoke of.”

“Exactly,” I said. “So you can see how terrifying such an opponent is.”

“Mmm… but this Dragon God is his sworn enemy… and wants me to take the throne of Asura…” she said before turning to me with a sly smile. “I guess we’re fated to be together, huh?”

Fated to be together… as in the fight against the Man-God?

“Yeah… I suppose you could say that,” I said.

Ariel’s smile widened a bit before she suddenly looked away.

Truly, that princess has been acting weirder and weirder, but she was very sweet with Aria, so I couldn’t complain.

Though Sylphy and Roxy were making an odd face…

“I am unsure about all the fate stuff that Orsted explained, but you are pivotal to weakening the Man-God’s power,” I said. “I was on your side for the sake of a better kingdom and Sylphy and Aisha’s protection, but now I have another reason to make your wish come true.”

“Hmm… thank you, I guess,” she said, still looking away as she began to play with her hair.

Hm? Did she pick up that habit from Roxy and Aria?

How sweet.

“But Leon… isn’t this quite bad?” Roxy said. “If this Man-God can create allies out of nowhere…”

“I know,” I said, letting go of Eris’ hand as I looked over to her. “But there’s nothing we can do to appease him, and Orsted said he would ensure there are no assassins coming for our families while we take over Asura.”

“But still…” she said, her eyes drooping in worry.

My story of the future seemed to frighten her, which I didn’t blame her for.

Right now, my beautiful blue-haired wife needed some comfort.

So, reaching over to grab her hips, I quickly lifted her onto my lap as I rested my head onto hers.

“L-Leon…” she said, lightly struggling.

Was she embarrassed?

Hmm… I found that quite endearing.

“It’ll all work out, Roxy,” I said, pulling her closer. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt our family.”

“F-Fine…” she said, leaning into my chest.

There we go. She seemed a bit calmer now.

Roxy was a simple girl to please with physical affections, but that was what made her so adorable.

“Leon… while I’m worried about the Man-God, I think I can trust our collective power to defend ourselves. I have already encountered my fair share of assassins, after all…” Sylphy said. “But your plan to fight Laplace… isn’t that a little too ridiculous?”

Yeah… there was that too.

“Yes. I know that as a demon, the tales of that man are exaggerated, but you cannot deny that it took seven of humanity’s greatest heroes to defeat him,” Roxy said, turning her head to look up at me with a frown. “And only three of those heroes survived, with one of them dying immediately after the battle.”

She then shifted in my lap, moving to face me as she wrapped her arms around my neck, her blue eyes staring into mine.

“Leon… you’ve given me a loving family… you’ve given me a beautiful daughter… you’ve given me so, so much happiness that I had never felt before,” she said, smiling sweetly at me. “So please… don’t take that happiness away from me. I need you to be happy, husband… I need you to be alive.”

My lips quirked into a smile as I planted a soft kiss on her lips, relishing in the taste as I felt her mouth open up to reciprocate.

Mmm… I could easily find myself lost in this feeling, but I should stop myself before I get too far.

We were having a serious conversation here, after all.

“Don’t worry, that fight won’t happen for a while. I’ll be spending that time to get stronger and recruit some allies,” I said after we separated. “But even if I ended up facing him alone… if losing meant I would never see my family again, never watch my children grow older, and never show my love for you three…”

My eyes drifted over to Sylphy, and then to Eris, before returning to look down at Roxy as my mouth spread into a confident smile.

“If losing meant never experiencing all of that… then there’s no doubt that I’ll win,” I declared.

Roxy’s cheeks gained a bit of a flush, and hearing a huff, I looked up to see Eris staring at me with an intense glare.

Not out of anger or annoyance, no… that glare was instead filled with lust.

“That made me very horny, Leon,” Eris said as her lips curled up into a confident grin. “But we’ll deal with that later.”

Will we?

Well… from how she was still looking at me, I don’t think I had any room to refuse.

Nor did I want to.

Even if she was pregnant, I had learned that Eris still needed to be satisfied.

“But don’t misunderstand,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest. “When that time comes, I’m going to fight with you.”

I returned her smile with one of my own.

“Good,” I said. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

And with that, my wives and I were now on the same page in regard to our fight against the Man-God.

Of course, nothing would really change with our lives, aside from some extra caution, but still… it was nice to be able to trust my partners in life with this.

Though I didn’t plan to involve them any further, except for that fight against Laplace that Eris so eagerly wants to join.

If all went well, I would only ask for them to be there for me when I was tired, letting me rest my head on their wonderful laps to regain any lost mental energy.

Such was the beauty of having three wonderfully loving wives.

— Leon Greyrat —

It was now the year K424, meaning I was now nineteen.

While I was now allied with the Dragon God, aside from another meeting where he gave me a bracelet like the one he gave Rudy and discussed a few things, we hadn’t really been in contact.

After all, while I had a plan, Orsted wouldn’t be joining it until I got Ariel to the throne.

But at least now I had the protection of the Dragon God, who had bought a small house to spend his time as the princess’ graduation slowly drew nearer, so I didn’t have to worry about the Man-God doing any big moves against me and my family.

But that didn’t mean I had been stagnant during this time.

Aside from teaching at the university, guarding Ariel, and spending time with my wives and daughters, I had also been training by using the technique Orsted showed me.

Mixing touki with mana… I was finally able to do it, though it was very hard to do.

There wasn’t really a good way to explain it other than the technique in its most simple form, which was mixing the two energies, offering enhanced power than one would get from pure mana or touki.

Of course, while strong, it also had its limitations.

Since mana wasn’t able to enhance and empower one’s body like touki did, the technique was useless for that, while also being unable to enhance one’s muscles and body from the inside.

And of course, since there was touki, the technique lost much of its use as it was launched at range, relying entirely on the mana structure, which didn’t have any form to do damage like touki did.

So, in essence, while it was an incredible technique, it was entirely focused on how Orsted used it, as a defensive shell to create an impenetrable armour.

Perhaps, as I grew stronger and more experienced with this mixing technique, I might be able to release reinforced touki slashes and techniques, but for now, I had to focus on keeping it active as a defence.

After all, even though I had spent the last month and a half focusing entirely on it, I could barely use it while moving, much less in combat.

Either way, the mixing of the two technique clearly explained how Orsted’s defence was insanely strong, and how even with layering my touki, I still hadn’t reached him.

What it also explained, however, was the mystery that had plagued me ever since the Begaritt Continent.

Rudy’s mana.

I was always confused as to how it was so concentrated, and to a lesser extent, how Sylphy’s was as well.

And then there was the fact that Rudy couldn’t use touki at all, while Sylphy’s touki was quite weak in comparison to her skill with the sword.

But now that I knew that they both had a Laplace factor and this touki and mana mixing, I finally figured it out… at least I think.

Rather than Rudy not having any touki, it was simply attached to his mana. And rather than his mana being ‘compressed’ or ‘more powerful’, it was simply enhanced with his touki.

This was also what likely happened with Laplace himself after he got split, as according to Orsted, he could not use touki, but had extremely strong mana, and a way to use it that covered his body to simulate touki… which was probably the very technique I had been practising, or at least something similar.

So yeah… I definitely had to learn this before fighting that monster.

Hmm… but Rudy couldn’t use healing and barrier magic without a chant, right?

Was that connected to it, or was it a mental thing?

Perhaps healing and barrier magic was connected to touki somehow?

It did apply mana to the body and as a physical reinforcement respectively, which touki also did… but perhaps that was a bit of a stretch.

After all, Orsted didn’t mention Laplace being unable to use healing magic, and Sylphy was able to use healing magic chantlessly with ease, despite having a Laplace factor…

But anyway, while my new hypothesis was interesting, that still didn’t explain a few things about Rudy’s mana, such as how he could launch spells with ease and couldn’t cover his body with it to simulate touki… but in the end, that didn’t really matter.

He had his Magic Armour now, and from how fondly he spoke of it, I didn’t think he was planning on parting with it anytime soon.

But that was enough daydreaming.

With my unbreakable sword coated in touki, I slowly began dispersing mana over it, using the sensation of forming a barrier to change the mana’s property into one of defence as it flooded into the gaps my touki had.

It was slow, messy, and incredibly inefficient, but this was how I had always progressed with my abilities.

Methodically figuring out the basics before expanding its use.

With enough time and practice, doing this would be as easy as walking… hopefully.

I continued focusing on coating my sword in touki and mana while maintaining the delicate balance before someone interrupted me.

Usually, it would be Sylphy calling me in for dinner, Roxy asking me to accompany her for a walk, or Aria asking me to play, but this time, it was someone different.

A surprise visitor that I had not seen in quite a while.

“Leon,” he said, his voice just as measured and calm as always. “It seems that you’ve grown.”

Opening my eyes, I sheathed my sword as I turned to him with a smile, my cheeks straining from the action as I walked over to him

“Well, it has been a few years,” I said, extending my hand. “But it’s nice to see you… Ruijerd.”

“I can say the same,” he said, reciprocating my handshake.

He was still taller than me, but not nearly as much as when we had parted, with my eyes meeting his with the smallest tilt of my head.

“While I want to ask what brings you all the way up here, I’ll ask that once you’re inside,” I said, walking towards the house and motioning for him to follow. “I’d like to introduce you to my family, although Sylphy is still at the university.”

“Sylphy? Is that one of your women?” Ruijerd asked.

“Yes. She’s very beautiful, but don’t get any ideas,” I teased.

“I didn’t plan on it,” he said, shaking his head as his eyebrows furrowed. “But Leon… are you and Eris…”

“She’s inside,” I said. “And actually… she’s changed quite a bit. Not only is she a Sword King now, but she’s also pregnant with our child.”

“I see… you’ve been quite busy,” Ruijerd said, smiling as I opened the door, revealing the sight of Aria running across the hall as Roxy followed with Anna in her arms. “…Very busy indeed.”

Yeah, well, that was one way to put it.

“Leon! If you’re done training, do you mind taking Aria…” Roxy’s voice trailed off as she saw who I had brought inside with me.

Her eyes darted to the spear held firmly in Ruijerd’s grip, and then to the red gem centred on his forehead, as her body locked up in terror.

“T-That gem… a-a Superd…” she said, her eyes widening as her teeth began to clatter.

Ah, right.

By how Aria was looking at him with a curious smile, Ruijerd seemed to be fine as far as the curse went, but that still didn’t remove any of the fear instilled in Roxy from the stories that she had grown up with.

So, moving forward, I quickly embraced her in a hug as my fingers ran through her hair to calm her down.

“It’s okay,” I said. “That’s Ruijerd… remember? From my journey?”

“R-Right… Ruijerd… a-a Superd…” she chattered.

Haa… right, this wouldn’t do.

“Eri’s sleeping, right?” I asked, to which she nodded. “How about you go to my parents’ house and bring over my sisters. I’ll take care of the two troublemakers.”

Taking Anna from her grasp, she began to cry as I held her close.

It seems that Anna still didn’t enjoy her father’s cuddles nearly as much as Aria did.

But still, she was too damn cute to feel disappointed, and she seemed to calm down whenever I caressed her hair and her little pointed ears.

“R-Right… I’ll do that…” she said, fumbling past Ruijerd to put on her boots as she then ran out the door.

She even forgot her coat in the middle of winter… well, at least my parents lived close, so she shouldn’t get too cold.

“She seems like a character… is that the ‘Roxy’ I have heard about?” Ruijerd asked.

“Yeah. While she’s a bit terrified of you from her youth, she’s an amazing woman,” I said with a smile.

So earnest and cute… and she was growing more incredible in bed as well.

But I would keep that last part to myself.

“Anyway, I’ll get Eris up when my sisters come, so that we can all get back together again,” I said, going over to sit on the couch as Aria stayed close to me. “I’m sure they’d love to see you, and I bet even my parents will come say thanks.”

“That won’t be necessary,” he said, shaking his head. “It was an equal exchange. Besides, it is only natural to protect children.”

“Only natural…” I said, looking down at the blubbering Anna and the curious Aria. “Yeah… I think I get that now.”

I wonder how Ruijerd would think of my orphanage… even though I had essentially handed the reins over to Clara now that I was committed to helping Ariel.

“Come sit,” I said, motioning to the empty chair in front of me. “We can talk a lot when those three come, but for now, why don’t you tell me what brings you here? Did you find your people?”

“Unfortunately not,” he said, resting his spear and bags against the wall as he went over to sit down. “But I found out where they are.”

“Is that so? Is that where you’re headed to next?” I asked.

“Indeed,” he said, nodding. “I plan to leave for the Biheiril Kingdom tomorrow.”

The Biheiril Kingdom… that was to the east of here, if my memory served me correctly.

It was a bit of a shame that Ruijerd was planning to leave so soon, but he had a quest to fulfill.

After five hundred long years, he was now so close to finding his people again.

I wasn’t one to stop that.

“I see… well, please feel free to stay here for the night,” I said.

“I… don’t want to intrude,” he said awkwardly.

“Did you forget about who is now my wife?” I asked. “While Eris has grown a bit, she’s still the same girl at heart. Do you really think she’ll accept a refusal?”

He frowned in response.

“Don’t worry, we have a bunch of spare rooms still,” I said. “Plus, this way, we can have a big get-together. I assume you have some stories to tell after these past years, right?”

“I… in that case, I suppose I can accept,” Ruijerd said, shaking his head with a fond smirk. “But unfortunately, my time in the south consisted of fruitless searching before I found their old village, and then a few rumours from the local population of their move north. Not exciting enough to form into tales.”

Looking around at the decor, which had grown more homely the longer we spent living here, his smile then grew a bit.

“Yes… it was mostly a time of self-reflection, wondering what the next steps for our people would be once I found them,” he said before looking back to me. “But from the fact your parents are here now, as well as how you met your other two wives, I can assume you have some stories of your own to tell.”

“Yeah… there are definitely a few stories there,” I said, readjusting Anna as I leaned back, thinking back on my journey across the Begaritt Continent.

It had been nearly five years since we parted with Ruijerd, and to think that nearly right after, Eris and I had cemented our relationship after our first encounter with Orsted.

Right… Orsted… the Man-God…

I wasn’t worried about him being an apostle.

In fact, with my last conversation with Orsted, I had been assured that no one I considered close to me was likely to be one, at least from what he knew.

Instead… I was thinking about the other matter.

I did need some allies, right?

And this would surely be a way to gain some positive influence for the Superds, at least among the human population.

“Hey, Ruijerd… you still hate Laplace, right?” I asked.

His smile dropped as his eyes hardened.

“More than anything… but what brought this on?” he asked.

“He was sealed, right? In fact, I remember you telling me a story of how you partook in that final battle,” I said, remembering some of his tales from back then.

During our journey, I thought they were interesting, but never cared too much about them.

After all, once I got my family back, I planned to live a relaxing life, where matters relating to Laplace would be far away from us.

But that situation had changed.

“Yes… despite it being a cowardly attack, as a warrior I still look upon that memory quite fondly,” he said.

“Then… you know about the seal, right?” I said. “And… how it can be lifted?”

His eyes hardened more.

“It is unlike you to talk in riddles, Leon,” he said.

“I’m just making sure,” I said as I looked into his eyes. “Then… after I deal with a few things and get a bit stronger… if I said we could fight Laplace once again… would you accept?”

His eyes widened as his mouth opened slightly in surprise, but seeing my resolute expression, he quickly understood that I was not joking.

With his hand on his leg balling into a tight fist, and his lips quirking up into a small smirk, he eventually replied.

“I would be more than happy to oblige.”

And so, less than two months after meeting with Orsted and learning the truth of the path towards the Man-God, I had gained my first ally in the eventual fight against Laplace.

— Leon Greyrat —

A few weeks had passed since Ruijerd’s surprise visit, and just as he had said, by the next day, he had left to continue his journey to the Biheiril Kingdom.

But still, we used the time together as much as we could, with my two sisters explaining to the man all of their recent exploits, Eris showing her a few movements with her sword, which I had to stop from going too hard and turning into a spar, and then my parents who thanked him for helping us get across the Demon and Millis continents.

Even Roxy seemed to get over her fear during her second encounter with the man, though she did place herself squarely on my lap the entire length of our impromptu party.

Luckily, it seemed that seeing how gently Ruijerd interacted with Aria and Anna had calmed her fear greatly, as well as the fact that I was barely able to beat him in a spar before the sun fell.

So yeah… it was nice to see him again, and with our promise to end Laplace for good in the future, I knew that it wouldn’t be the last time we met.

“You! Quit resting your feet on the damn table, or I’ll cut your legs off!” Eris said, pointing at my father with a scowl.

“Huh? Are you sure you can do that~ It’s been what… four months since you’ve held a sword? Can you even lift it?” my ever-annoying father said, wiggling his eyebrows at my wife. “I mean, you even got a visible bump and everything now, so I doubt-”

“Shut it!” Eris yelled, interrupting his words with a swift punch to the back of the head. “Hmph! Aria, let’s get away from that annoying guy! We can play that game that Nanahoshi gave us.”

“Okay, Mama Eri!” Aria cheered, climbing over the curled up form of my father and into Eris’ arms as they then walked away.

Haa… somehow, things always ended up like this.

Both Eris and Paul had grown as people over the years, with my father now being a respectable man in front of his family, and Eris often showing her warm and loving side, but somehow, when they were put together, they both reverted to their old selves.

Well, it was the old Eris that I fell in love with, and it was the same with Mama and Lilia in regard to Paul, so it wasn’t all bad.

But still…

“You really shouldn’t provoke her like that,” I said, folding the last of the linens. “When she eventually gives birth, it won’t take long before she returns it tenfold.”

My father simply smirked pridefully.

“Heh. This isn’t my first encounter with angry women, Leon,” he said, wiping his upper lip. “A man like me has his ways, and that girl’s similar to Ghislaine, so I already know how to stop her from kicking my ass.”

“Paul,” Mama chided, holding Anna closer to her. “No swearing.”

“Ah… right, my bad,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he then looked over to Lilia, who was helping Alaric take a few steps. “I guess it won’t be long until that brat is walking about, huh?” 

“They do grow old quite fast,” Mama said, looking over with a smile. “Especially Rudy. When he was his age, he was already starting to climb on things.”

Remembering the troubles that the infant Rudeus gave us, I couldn’t help but shake my head with a fond smile.

“And speaking of children… how is Elinalise’s kid?” my father asked. “What did they name him again? Clive?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “Sylphy’s actually there right now, watching him so that Cliff could do some experiments with Lina.”

Although, it was definitely a bit odd to be babysitting your uncle… ah, well, I suppose that was something natural to long-living races.

Oh. Right. Long-living races… that reminded me.

I hadn’t had much progress in my search for the lifespan-sharing magic, but through my research now and then, I had become an Emperor-ranked healing magician… not that it mattered too much.

The spells of that rank were ones that could completely regenerate limbs and organs from nothing, unlike with King-ranked spells that could only regrow them to a previous state, which I had been able to do before.

With that, I was able to regenerate Lilia’s leg to the point where her injury from defending the baby Ariel was healed, but unfortunately, the effects of crystallization were mental rather than physical, so she still had trouble walking.

But at least she was out of the wheelchair now.

Anyway, my research into that had all but stagnated, both due to the difficulty of it, and how busy I was, but thinking about it now… maybe Orsted could give me a hint?

Well, I still had to deal with the Asura Kingdom, Laplace, and the Man-God, so I think it would be best to wait a bit before delving into that.

Plus, once we beat the Man-God, Orsted was sure to be in my debt.

Yeah… once we beat him…

“Leon?” Mama said, looking over at me with some worry. “Is something wrong?”

“Err… no, it’s fine,” I said, smiling back at her. “Just thinking of some things, is all.”

Once again, I think I must have tempted fate.

But… at this point, I think I was long past the point of worrying about this ‘fate’ nonsense.

According to ‘fate’, I wouldn’t be the one with my three beautiful wives, and this same ‘fate’ dictated that I would be passing on such a difficult fight to my children and grandchildren.

No… I was tired of being scared of this ‘fate’.

So if I had tempted it… I would simply face it head on.

But for now, I didn’t have to worry about that.

Instead, I had the duty to fold laundry.