Chapter 63: Doting

Alra’s gaze was completely taken, his eyes moved up and down and his head tilted to try and better see past a corner. It was nothing of interest to me, the apartment’s style was just as I remembered barring the mirrored layout, but Alra looked dazzled.

For a moment I was wondering what was so fascinating but then felt the sharp dagger of guilt remembering he had been living like a wild beast—weathering the rains and sun with no tent or bed. I am sure it was the reason why Alra was so meticulous about keeping his hair and clothes neat. His constitution is extremely sturdy and was never in danger from being exposed, but it was no excuse.

“I have failed as a parent already…” saying in a low voice I ushered him into the apartment.

Standing at the center between the living room and the kitchen he stayed still. After taking a moment to bring all of it in Alra turned his small white-haired head to me and looked up with big eyes for reassurance asking “what do I do?”

His eyes could not only speak but seemed to have the ability to turn on a switch in my head that could force a realization.

Wait a minute, wait a tiny minute. I-I have a kid.

My eyes widened slightly and my knees became a little weak, the same knees an expecting father must feel during their partner’s labor, as the truth started to hit. I had known this basic fact prior to, but it was only just now that this basic fact had come alive.

A torrent of questions fell into me and quickly began to drown me in a sea I never expected to fall into so early in my life and especially at this moment in my life in a new world.

How do I raise him? Does he have a specific diet? What about lustrating or magic? Does he learn the same way or is it all innate? What are his likes? How do I teach good and bad? What is truly good and bad for this world? I have courses too, so do I take him with me? Do I need a baby sitter? Who would sit an “undead” though?

In a daze, I smiled a soft smile and gently pushed his small back towards the living room sitting us both down on the couch. Trying to appear calm, more for my own sake, my mind was in a frenzy at the new responsibility.

[You only think of him as a child because you wish for a family Lucid. Alra is far from a child. He is a hybrid like me but instead of half MAGI he is half hyre. Well, for things like this percentages don’t truly work it's better to say he is both of your old lower body, I needed the head, and his familiar self simultaneously mixed into something new.]

Far from a child?

I understood Eurval’s reasoning, but seeing Alra’s mannerisms I don’t think it was quite right to say wasn’t a child. But I won’t deny her other words; I won’t deny that I’m happy with this, sudden, familial tie. This filial bond is a chain for a lifetime — an imprint of me that will stay with him forever.

Feeling a boost in my confidence I turned to Alra.

“Are you hungry? It’s lunchtime.”

“Lunchtime?” Seeing me finally speak he looked at me with a curious face.

Seeing the expression once more I couldn’t help but want to put my hand on his head and ruffle his hair around. And like expected he hurriedly fixed it but his eyes had stayed on me still waiting for an answer.

Was he was truly that curious?

“Lunchtime?” He asked again.

He really is.

“Lunch is what humans call the midday meal,” I said standing up.

“Come with me I’ll show you. When humans eat it is usually at the table. Eurval already ordered food but let's get some practice.”

Walking with Alra to the table I sat him down beside me taking out the few utensils I had in my storage treasure.

Starting with the spoon I pretended to scoop at food and bring it to my mouth while explaining the types of foods it's usually for, then showing something similar with a fork and a knife. I felt a little embarrassed explaining it to a kid who looks like they should already know but the look on his interested face quickly dispelled any discomfort.

After my short lesson I heard the door with the food and brought the dishes placing them on the table.

“Do you think you got it?”

Alra nodded his head lightly.

“Then let's see.” I said messing with his hair again to which Alra quickly fixed.

“Oh, and if you don’t like one of the dishes you don’t have to eat it.”

Diligently, Alra began to do as I had taught him starting with the pasta dish. His movements were mechanical and awkward, however, his innate abilities stopped him from being clumsy. With slow twirls of his fork and a robotic guidance to his mouth, I saw a faint smile appear at the sides of his lips after the first chew telling me he liked it.

So he likes human foods.

Happy, I took notes and wondered what other foods I should bring him. I wanted to see that smile again.

Keeping an eye on Alra I began to eat alongside him noticing that he would take glances at me to change his eating habits to be more like mine.

By watching me bit by bit his eating became more natural with a few hiccups spread around; Alra had gotten confused when he saw me use a spoon to cut a tender piece of braised meat causing a carrot to shoot from his plate.

Surprisingly he didn’t like leafy foods as much as I thought, considering he was a rock tortoise, but liked the mixed grains and marinated meats the most.

The biggest surprise was the size of his appetite for his new smaller stature, dish after dish he continued to eat without showing any signs of slowing down. I had asked him if he felt full but he shook his head leaving me to watch as he took bite after bite. It wasn’t until the eleventh plate that he finally looked at me to say he was done with a reluctant face.

Our son is so cute.

[You have been grinning ear to ear the entire meal...]

Was I? I pretended to be bashful.

I was happy. I couldn’t have meals like this with my parents so seeing Alra have them with me…

I can’t help but feel a part of me be fulfilled.

“And now?” Alra looked at me again.

“And now?” I questioned back.

“What else do you do?”

“What else do I do?”

Ah, seeing him give me the same curious face I understood Alra’s wishes a little better. He was too shy to outright say it but it was obvious he wanted to learn more about the normal routines humans go through. Was it to be more like me?

I began to explain random tidbits about desserts like my favorite types and how to properly use a napkin.

“When we have dinner later I’ll show you what desserts there are, the one I like the most is the—”

“Hmm?”

His eyes widened under the light above the table waiting for my words when I met his gaze. My mouth stopped as I looked into his eyes losing my original train of words as I, for the first time, saw the bright iridescence contained within his irises. They were beautiful, truly, in the way they sparkled like gemstones, a direct reflection of the runes I had seen on his shell once before. I stayed put for a moment as I studied his face wondering what else I haven’t noticed.

Wasn’t it the parent’s duty to know everything about their child?

“Hmm?” He said again seeing continue to be still.

Collecting myself I had forgotten what I was talking about lost wondering if my parents could describe the exact shade of my eyes. I wanted to make sure I could answer such a useless question about Alra.

“Oh, and after eating we usually wash the dishes in the sink over there and store away any leftover food you want to save.” I said collecting myself.

Alra quickly understood and diligently took his stack of dishes to the kitchen. Unfortunately, he was too short to place them into the sink and was about to pull a chair to assist him before I got up and stopped him.

“Bringing them here is good enough. You just have to help me put them away after I dry them okay?”

Alra handed me his stack of dishes, which were heavier than any kid his age could carry so casually, and patiently waited while watching me intently as I cleaned the dishes and dried them with a simple manipulation of mana that wiped away any trace of water.

Handing them back he put them into the cabinets beside the sink and below the countertop. I couldn’t find it in me to tell him I usually placeed them in the cabinets above.

“Good job!” I said patting his back seeing him place the final plate.

His blank expression turned into a proud one for a fraction of a second; just like his smile I wanted to see that expression more often too.

“And with that we’re finished with eating. The same process is done for dinner and breakfast too. The meals eaten are usually different though.”

Nodding his head he absorbed everything I said like a sponge, then would quickly look up at me in a blink wondering what I would do next.

“With lunch completed, now we can relax and spend time however we want.”

Alra tilted his head.

“Some of the things you can do is watch television, you can read books, you can take a nap, you can play games. What do you think? Do any of those sound interesting?”

His face drew blank forcing me to change the question.

“What was something fun that you remember doing?”

…

“Anything you liked? Even for a little bit that excited you?”

Alra closed his eyes for a moment in thought.

“The keeper.” He said opening his eyes.

I choked on my saliva. There was only one “exciting” activity in our past that we had with a keeper.

“A-are you talking about the fight with the Tole Forest Dungeon Keeper? I, uh, I didn’t mean it had to be exciting in a scary way…”

Alra’s face stood expressionless.

“Did you find fighting it entertaining?”

Alra nodded his head.

“With you.” He said.

With me?

[Like I said he is the amalgamation of you and his original self mixing into something new, his innate calling to be a familiar is still there. I don’t think it means he wants to be a familiar but it does mean the instincts that were there affect his preferences. The time spent together while battling is like what your memories refer to things like playing catch.]

I was beginning to understand what Eurval meant earlier more clearly.

So he wants to play catch with me…

My eyes lit up. If my son wants to play catch then we’ll go play catch.

“Facing a keeper again is too dangerous, come with me tomorrow and we’ll spar in the training rooms.”

“Spar?”

“Spar means practice fighting to learn.”

Alra’s eyes also lit up and stayed bright. The mosaics in his eyes shining bright enough to strike through and quite literally light up.

“Then for now we should study some basics on how to fight with a human body.”

“I can.”

“Can?”

“Summon.”

“Summon?”

Alra’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed and his gaze turned to steel. With his change in expression the colorful lights in his eyes appeared in the air around him viciously flashing like uncontrollable fireworks.

Well there goes the living room at least the walls and floors are sturdy…

Accepting what was about to happen I shut my eyes and preemptively winced my face.

…

However, after a few shallow breaths, nothing seemed to have happened. Opening my eyes I came to see that Alra was still his small self looking at me with a blank expression.

So that’s what he meant…

His white hair gained the colorful iridescence his eyes had and sitting on his head was a semi-translucent tortoise, whose shell looked to be made of a mosaic of jewels, that could cutely fit in my hand. After everything seemed to be finished Alra stood there staring at me.

Is he waiting for a reaction?

“Wow! What is it? What can you do?”

Saying nothing Alra lifted both his small arms in flex and widened his stance.

“Oh, so it makes you stronger?”

Putting his arms down Alra nodded his head.

“And what does your friend on your head do?”

His hand pointed at me, following its direction was the small tortoise. Floating towards me it landed in my hair. With it touching I could sense spell weaving over me like a layer of skin invoking a feeling similar to augmenting spells but with a more natural feeling —my guess being from this being innate magic.

Different from the augmenting spells I had it didn’t feel like it could speed me up or increase my strength instead it made my body feel as if I was at the center of a fortress.

“So it's like that, but it suits you better; don’t you need it for your own safety?”

“Keeper, you lost, almost. Need protection.”

A soft laugh escaped me. He couldn’t read my memories like Eurval so in his mind he still believes I’m the same as I was back then and wants to help increase my resistance; being in the forest he also never had a chance to see me in the tournament.

Ga! Unable to help myself I ended up running to him and lifting him in a hug.

“Too cute!”

And too heavy… I was a little shocked picking him up thinking his tiny frame would be as light as feather. Did he gain weight since I brought him from outside?

How much does he weigh? Just estimating from holding him he had to be at least 300 pounds… Did I not notice since I was already exerting superhuman forces from traveling?

Raising him from his underarms to see him better at an arm's length I couldn’t help but feel happy. I sighed again in joy reminded of what he had just said.

On inspection I realized he looks kinda like a doll, his pale and smooth skin with a slight rosiness around his joints and large colorful eyes made me think I was really holding one.

“Hair…” He said seeing he couldn’t fix his hair that had ruffled with the air as I held him up.

“Ah sorry.”

“So cute.” Saying again I crouched to gently put him on his feet.

Placing him down Alra quickly fixed his hair and straightened his clothes in his usual fashion. New, however, was a yawn added at the end.

Even his yawns are so cute…

It was a quiet one with no arm-stretching or deep breaths with only a few sparse long blinks and a mouth that was agape for a short moment.

“Mmm, sleepy…” Walking to me his little legs gave out and had I not still been crouched he would have landed face first into the floor instead of falling onto my left shoulder.

Burying his face into where my neck met my shoulder his arms wrapped around my neck hanging himself off me as he began to softly breathe.

“He fell asleep like this…“ I said in a low voice in surprise.

“Ah, he’s never felt a food coma…”

So cute…

Letting out a chuckle as soft as I could I used every muscle in my being to pick him up as quietly as possible before taking him to the bedroom.

After carefully laying down the 300, or maybe 400, pound child to sleep on the only bed I had my eyes were drawn to his tiny stature on such a massive bed. His face looked so peaceful that I now understood why parents would compare their demonic goblin children to angels, except Alra was truly angelic in looks and manners. Sad I didn’t have more time to watch him take slow breaths as he slept I covered him with a blanket and went to the desk in the room to begin studying.

While I wanted Alra to be free to do as he pleased, I needed to continue to work my strength now that I had access to the large catalog of materials through the academy.