After a long while, seeing that Allen remained silent, Paul finally spoke, choosing his words carefully.
"Allen, um, I received this letter last year... I know this might be hard for you to accept, but in fact, your father is really—"
"I know James isn't my biological father."
Paul froze, looking at Allen, who wore a placid expression.
"Oh, that's great! I'll write to Philip right away and tell him I've found you. That way you can go back to Roa..."
"That won't work."
Paul looked at Allen with surprise. Allen returned a smile.
"Uncle, please sit down and listen to me."
With that, Allen pushed Paul back down into his chair and went to grab the chair by the door himself. Paul blinked, looking at him with some confusion.
"First of all, the information about the disappearance is correct. However, my 'birth father' left out the preceding events."
Allen walked to the door and placed his hand on the back of the chair, the coarse friction of the wood grain a tangible sensation.
"I was assassinated when I passed through the Upper Jaw of the Red Dragon."
Paul shot to his feet with a loud scrape of his chair.
Allen, however, simply lifted the chair and turned to face Paul.
"The 'assassination' was something I arranged myself," he began. "I had already realized I wasn't James's biological son. By calculating backwards from my siblings' birthdays, I figured out that I shouldn't even exist in the Boreas family in the capital. There was another younger brother in the same situation, but he died of illness at the age of five... Late last year, I secretly hired a group of bandits to stage a show, intending to escape from the Boreas family and come to the Fitoa Territory."
Paul let out a long breath and sat back down. He had been misled by Allen and subconsciously assumed this choice was made to return to his birth father's side.
Allen walked towards Paul, his eyes narrowing. "But the 'assassination' went wrong. The number of actual assassins was different from what I had arranged with the bandits. I expected five Intermediate-rank swordsmen, just to put on a show and go our separate ways, with the outcome being that I fell off a cliff and disappeared. But in the end, what appeared before me were eight highly skilled swordsmen. If I'm not mistaken, they included two Advanced-rank Water God Style swordsmen, and a magician..."
"...They were playing for keeps."
Paul shot to his feet again.
Allen had already reached Paul and looked at him with a nonchalant smile. "So, they died."
Paul let out a long breath and sat down once more. Allen also sat down, meeting his gaze.
"Afterwards, I slipped into the forest from the Upper Jaw of the Red Dragon. First, I faked traces of me heading north, then spent over four months taking a roundabout route to Buena Village. I had heard of Uncle Paul's 'infamous exploits' back in the capital and figured you wouldn't have a high opinion of noble sons. Plus, Buena Village is remote and suitable for hiding, so I came to you for help. However, I only learned today that news of my disappearance was released. It seems James must believe I've successfully left the Asura Kingdom and released this information."
Paul blinked. "Infamous exploits? Oh? I didn't know my legend had reached the capital..."
Allen spoke rapidly, a dozen words tumbling out in an instant. "Losing-your-virginity-at-ten-messing-around-with-all-sorts-of-women-at-the-noble's-academy-getting-confronted-by-a-cuckolded-husband-and-then-with-your-father..."
"Stop!" Paul immediately stood up and covered Allen's mouth.
The latter smiled and pulled Paul's hand away. "I suspect those bandits sold me out to James. And James has always been wary of Philip, so he deduced I was secretly going back to help him and decided to turn the fake show into a real one, taking the opportunity to kill me and eliminate a future threat."
Paul's embarrassed face instantly turned serious. He realized Allen hadn't referred to either James or Philip as 'father.' His mouth opened and closed several times. Recalling the scene of leaving after arguing with his own father, he couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
His apparent father wants to kill him, and he's never even met his real father... so he doesn't feel any familial connection to either of them...
"Then you could still secretly return to Roa City, right?" Paul asked. "If you change your name and only reveal yourself to Philip..."
"No," Allen stated firmly. "First, Sauros has a tight grip on the Fitoa Territory. He would definitely notice, and he wouldn't approve of my actions. He would most likely follow Boreas tradition and send me back to James. My situation in the capital would become even more dangerous then. Second, James has certainly planted spies in Roa City to secretly monitor Philip."
With that, Allen bowed his head and spoke earnestly to Paul. "So I implore Uncle Paul to take me in. In return, I can promise to protect Rudeus's future. After all, you can't always be with him, Uncle. But since we are close in age, I'm sure we can become good friends in the future."
Paul looked at the letter, now back on the desk, and after a moment, could only nod.
Allen added, "After two years, when the heat has died down and I've grown a bit more, I'll shave my eyebrows to look kinder and get a gloomier hairstyle with bangs. Even if someone who knew me before stood in front of me, they probably wouldn't dare to recognize me."
Unlike the information age of my previous life, the lack of information technology in this world has its benefits. And there are very few magic items that can preserve an image... Someone as infamous as Ruijerd could enter a city just by changing his hair color. And two years is more than enough time for me to learn from Paul and at least raise my swordsmanship to Advanced-rank in all three styles.
"Of course," Allen continued aloud, "James and my family in the capital who watched me grow up could probably recognize me, but as long as I avoid meeting them, I should be fine."
Paul glanced at Allen and sighed internally. He had a gut feeling that Philip would definitely recognize him, but he didn't voice this to Allen. "That's true. And by then, your strength will have improved further. Apart from a very few Sword King or Sword Emperor level experts, probably no one could threaten your life. And your official status is just 'missing.' Even if they recognized you, they could only send assassins after you; they couldn't openly declare hostilities. That's how the nobility of the Asura Kingdom works."
Allen nodded. "Yes."
Just then, footsteps were heard outside the door. Paul and Allen fell silent simultaneously. Then, there were three knocks on the door.
Lilia opened the door and peeked in. She first looked Allen up and down, then spoke.
"Master, dinner is ready. Please come and eat."
As expected, Zenith's cooking skills were directly proportional to her cup size.
Magnificent.
Allen looked at the steaming soup-rice on the table, a pizza-like flatbread, and a pot of tenderly stewed meat in the center that exuded a rich aroma.
Rudeus sat directly across from Allen, sizing him up through the rising steam.
Allen subconsciously smiled.
Rudeus immediately shut his eyes and turned his head away.
Allen's lip twitched.
Just then, Paul tapped the table with his fingers and cleared his throat.
"Alright. After our conversation just now, I have confirmed that Allen has the ability to instruct Rudeus. So, there's no need for a trial period. From now on, he will be Rudy's swordsmanship teacher. Please treat him as a member of the family. Don't look down on his role in the house just because of my swordsmanship rank."
Lilia, who was serving by the side, was the first to clap. Although she also thought it was unnecessary to hire another swordsmanship teacher, as the daughter of a former sword dojo master, she had no objections to Allen's display of the Water God Style earlier. With his ability, he could easily serve as a guard in the royal palace, a high-ranking one at that.
Zenith, on the other hand, clasped her hands in front of her face, smiling like a warm spring breeze.
"Since my husband has already decided, I naturally welcome Allen. I'm sure Lilia won't look down on this teacher because of his age, right?"
As she spoke, her hands were busy, scooping rice and placing it in front of Allen.
Then Paul threw an arm around his shoulder and, grinning, introduced Allen to the three of them, his words full of praise.
Zenith also nodded at him frequently, offering a kind smile.
It's completely different from the cold daily life with my so-called family in the capital...
Allen, who had barely experienced family warmth in two lifetimes, felt a little uncomfortable with everyone's attention. He subconsciously lowered his head, and the aroma of the food wafted up to him.
The steam, mixed with wisps of smoky system text, rose before his face.
[Current Stage: Childhood. Cumulative Participation Score: 40 points. You have preliminarily integrated into Paul's family, but Rudeus himself has a different opinion of you.]
[Pending Instant Quest: Obtain Rudeus's favor.]
[Rudeus: Countdown: 77:38:47]
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