Mushoku Tensei: Life and Strife.

From Paul’s perspective

…

Paul loved Zenith. Just as he loved both Rudeus and Laurel. But as much as he loved them, he loved the sword. That was the reason why he wanted his children to learn the way of the sword. It was when the children were at the age of five that he began teaching them.

He wanted his sons to be strong enough to protect themselves against the world. And because he was best with the sword. But maybe it was the first time they actually bonded with each other, or it’s because he had to think deeply about the things that he was teaching, so he started to notice things.

The most obvious thing was that Rudeus has no talent for the sword whatsoever. Well, he can definitely swing a sword, but he wasn’t particularly showing any talent for it. And the second most obvious thing. Laurel is a born natural.

Laurel swung his blade once, then he bent his knees and lowered his center of gravity. It wasn’t a perfect stance, but it was a stance he made instinctively, untaught by anyone. And that was just the beginning of everything.

People said something about how you’d know about a person when you clashed blades with them. If it were before, Paul would probably scoff it off as a joke. But when seeing how his twin kids act, Paul couldn’t help but realize it on his own.

Rudeus was the theoretical kind. The kind that would understand things by the logic behind everything. It was also because of that; he tends to think too much, and he’s a bit of a coward, hesitating at times. It was made clear that he was a very cautious kid, the kind that works best if he knows what he’s doing. And therefore, the worst kind of student for Paul to teach.

Laurel was the complete opposite. He was the kind to learn from experience. And he was a risk taker. If you beat him with the same trick a few times, he’ll attempt to learn the trick and even counter and lure you to attack using prediction. What was especially notable was that Laurel was silent during the fight. Eerily quiet. While Laurel had mostly been a quiet child, both the way he acted and his eyes were different when he held the blade. It was cold and quiet. That was when Paul realized two things.

One. Laurel was born with pride in his veins. Laurel was very prideful, to the point where it felt maddening. It’s just really subtle. It wasn’t in the way he walked or talked, but it was there in his gaze. To trust one’s blade so greatly that it seemed like arrogance instead. The moment he held the blade, Laurel was in a hyper-focused state, focusing only on Paul and his blade.

But Laurel wasn’t entirely reckless. He had a habit of sneak attacking and avoiding frontal confrontation. At first Paul simply thought that Laurel was being cowardly. However, the more they clashed, the more Paul noticed that Laurel was opportunistic.

It reminded him of a tiger staring at him, waiting for an opening. The moment Paul showed his weakness is the moment Laurel dived in and tore him apart. It was that sort of subtle yet indescribable feeling.

Two. Laurel was born extremely suited to Northern God swordsmanship- No. He was natural. It was as if he was destined to reach the top of the style. Well, it could simply be Paul’s overestimation of his children. His creativity was to the point where even an advanced Northern God Style user would be slain if they weren’t careful. It made Paul proud as a parent, but at the same time, he was a bit worried.

Once, he feigned swinging the blade down at Paul’s right with Sword God Style, but suddenly when he was within distance, his shoulders went up, and he used the Water God Style to strike Paul’s left. And if that fails, he’ll back down while pointing his sword forward. If Paul had tried to close the distance, he would have taken a hit.

Another time, he suddenly fell and used his left hand as support, swinging his sword up from below, nearly landing a strike on the first hit. After realizing that cleanly winning against Paul was basically impossible, he kept using his body as bait to lure Paul’s attacks, just to avoid the strike and counter it. One time, Laurel baited an attack from Paul as he kept walking in slowly from a distance and suddenly slid to the right and tried to pierce Paul. Paul had no idea where Laurel came up with those ideas in his head.

That was Paul’s experience fighting with Laurel. It was wild and creative. A single mistake could result in Paul’s defeat. Well, not that far. Yet. But close. Very close. Seriously, that brat of his kept trying to end the match within a few moves. Paul could swear that Laurel would survive even if he were thrown into a dungeon somewhere. And he hadn’t used magic yet.

In a sense, Paul was both glad and proud. Laurel had always had this wanderlust-filled gaze staring out the window. But at least now, Paul won’t have to worry about Laurel getting into danger and ending up dead somewhere.

One other thing that he noticed was about himself. He was a terrible teacher.

“Take a step forward, like hngh, and then fwam! No, you dolt! That was a step forward like hmph, and then a wham! I said Hngh and then fwam! Stay lighter on your feet!”

“… Dad.”

“Yes, Laurel?”

“Do you know how to cast a water ball?”

“What? Of course not. And why would that have anything to do with—"

“You held out your hand like hngh, and pushed mana out like fwam and then turned mana into a water ball like sham! There. Did you understand anything?”

Laurel said as he looked back at Paul with a polite smile. Judgingly. Seriously, how is silence so expressive? Of course, Paul didn’t understand a thing. God, was that how the children felt? Paul thought. And that was when Paul, who only studied the sword instinctively, was forced to learn the essence of swordsmanship, as well as clashing and improving fast enough to face his unpredictable brat, improving on his own.

Paul couldn’t help but feel proud staring at his children. They were fairly young, just four years of age, yet both inherited Zenith’s smarts. Especially when it comes to Laurel, that kid inherited Paul’s swordsmanship quite well. Sometimes he had to wonder whether they really were his kids, but then again, who else could they be from?

… And now, they have grown to the age of five. The twin’s birthday was coming soon. He probably should get them a pair of swords. As much as Rudeus was bad at the sword, he should still be given one. After all, he was Paul’s son; no doubt about it.

Well, maybe Paul was being a little too much. Still, it couldn’t be helped. Laurel was, after all, the unanimous favorite child for a reason.

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