Shaden stared at his brother and father while they were exchanging blows with their wooden swords. His father Garthan currently had one hand tucked away on his back and was sparring with his left arm. He almost looked bored, but his gaze was focused on Rother as he gracefully parried and dodged. Rother, on the other hand, was drenched all over, breathing heavily as he slashed at his father with all the strength he could muster in his skinny arms. Pearls of sweat ran down his neck and legs, staining his brown clothes with dark spots.

“Do you like watching them?” whispered his mother, Melsei.

Indeed. Shaden loved it. He had never seen a swordfight this close before, and the majority of filmed swordfights in his old world were bound by rules and styles that was too boring for his taste. This fight was not much of a fight either, but the ruthlessness Rother showed while swinging his blade made Shaden feel excited. A kid back in his old world could never fight so fiercely.

Shaden grimaced as a loud *wack* vibrated through the air. His father had smacked Rother on the head with the back of his sword, and Rother had fallen face down on the dirt. Garthan swung his sword to the side as if to get the blood off and nudged Rother with his foot while shouting words of encouragement. Rother quickly recovered and jumped up from the ground, his hands still glued onto the short, wooden sword. He quickly wiped the dirt off his face.

“I’m alright!” exclaimed Rother. “Please keep going!”

Impressive, thought Shaden. I wonder how old he is.

The spar continued with Rother getting smacked all around continuously. It was around 15 minutes since the training started, and Rother grew slower and slower as he swung his arms with weakening vigor. The ground beneath him was becoming muddy due to all of the water, and Shaden seriously was worried that Rother would die of dehydration before their sparring ended.

“Times up,” said Garthan. “Looks like you need more training. Drink some water and get ready to run.”

“Hah…hah…hah…yes…” replied Rother weakly.

“Here you go. Be sure to drink slowly~” said his mother cheerfully.

Rother graciously accepted the jug of water from Melsei’s free hand. He hurriedly gulped down mouthfuls of water as fast as his small throat could manage. Bruise marks were already beginning to show on his skin; the surface was beginning to swell with blood. Garthan had skillfully left marks only on the upper half of Rother’s body—the lower half still had to run. Melsei reached out with her free hand and placed it on Rother’s back.

“Let the blood flow and mend the body – Heal.”

A faint green light appeared on her hand, and Shaden could see the bumps on Rother’s back start to grow smaller and lighter. The ordeal lasted for a few seconds, and Rother’s back returned to its healthy tone. His mother continued to repeat the healing spell on various parts of Rother’s body until all the red marks were gone. Shaden watched all of this in awe and giggled out loud.

“Mmm~? Shaden, do you like magic too?” asked his mother. She poked her finger on Shaden’s cheek and smiled. “When you grow up, maybe I’ll teach you some magic.”

“Honey,” interjected his father, “didn’t we promise that our sons would learn to handle weapons?”

“It’s okay to teach them a few emergency spells, right~?”

“Errr…fine. But the girls will have to learn simple dagger skills too.”

“That’s not good~! Their arms will get all big and ugly~!”

“Just a little? For emergencies.”

I really think you should leave that decision to the children themselves, thought Shaden. He liked the thought of learning both magic and weapons, so it didn’t matter to him, but his future siblings could think otherwise.

“Mmmm…I guess that’s okay. But if we only have sons, some of them will have to learn magic~”

“That’s if we only have sons. We’ll be busy after all.”

“Oh~?” His mother fanned her blushing face with her hand.

Oh no. What did I just see. Shaden screamed internally out of the sheer cringe of the moment. He wouldn’t get to know until he could speak, but his parents looked very young. Compared to his old parents, they were green. So of course things like this would happen. Eesh.

“Dad? I’m ready.” Rother had drunk his fill of water and was now recovered from magic. He was readying his legs by jumping up and down and stretching them, and his brown hair, still wet with sweat, swayed in the wind due to the motion. So he quickly squeezed out the moisture. His father also stretched his legs in preparation and equipped a large sack over his back. It looked very heavy, and one look at his father’s legs told Shaden that this world was indeed supernatural. The muscles were bulging out and refined, and even though the legs themselves were lean and slender, the individual tissues were clearly visible strip by strip. It was quite a sight for Shaden’s eyes.

“We’ll be off then!” said Garthan. He beckoned to Rother to follow him and jogged away. Rother was right behind him, following his father like a shadow. They had gone pretty far when Shaden’s mother started walking towards the house.

I wanted to observe his muscle more, Shaden thought. He came to understand a little why muscle-fetish existed, but he was more curious about the strength that lay in the muscles. How high could his father jump? How fast was his fastest sprint? What about his stamina? He thanked the heavens for making his dream indifferentiable from reality as he could also hope to achieve the same muscles as his father. What a great dream, he thought.

Shaden’s mother stepped into the house and closed the wooden door behind her. She moved to the bedroom with Shaden still on her arms.

“The males all care about muscles and sweat…” she complained to no one. “I really want a daughter to teach magic to….but he did say we will be busy~”

Melsei giggled to herself in a cute way. Shaden had to suppress his unholy thoughts and force them to the darkest corner of his mind. He sang LALALALALALA continuously and started to blink furiously. But to his demise/delight, his mother looked at him. And said—

“Shaden! I’m sorry~! You must be very hungry~”

Oh boy, thought Shaden. Here we go again.