N Chapter 2

: What happened to me?

[Claude POV]

It’s been several months since I was trained by Paul.

As I arrived at Paul’s home on that rainy day, I could see Rudy sitting on his knees.

"Oh, did Rudy strip Sylph already?" I said while snickering.

"Welcome, Claude." Lilia greets me, while Paul looks annoyed at me.

"Sigh... Claude, what’s up?" Paul said, since today we don’t have any training schedule. He asked me why I was here.

"I brought some spare clothes and snacks from my mom here, and was met with a downpour on the way through. Anyway, were Rudy and Luffy just doing adult things? " I said while eying Paul. I called Syphy by her kid name, Luffy, since her parents called her by that name.

"What do you mean by that? D*mn, it seems like I need to train you harsher" Paul is annoyed. What’s wrong with this adult? Is he really an adult?

"What... Who doesn’t know about your perverseness in the village?" Since the traveling merchants already tell your tales, lol.

"Who is the bas*ard spreading rumors about me?! I'll hack him to pieces," Paul said while turning away from Zenith.

You’re the one boasting in front of him. It’s your damn fault. Who’d believe that he said the deed himself while drunk, and brag about it in front of the merchant? I truly don’t pity whatever happens to you later...

"Anyway, what’s up?" I looked at the embarrassed Sylphiette hiding behind Zenith and Lilia.

I have been training with Paul for the past six months. Aside from individual training, I occasionally help my parents with their work.

After six long months, I finally finished my reading, writing, and arithmetic lessons, but found out that I am still shit with my sword.

What about the primary training? The swordsmanship...

Well, I am sh*t...

A sh*tty mob that’s just slightly better than the law...

I mean, I know that I’m not a prodigy... But I actually can’t win against Law, the mobster that named himself as Slphy’s father.

I sure am weak...

I'm still better than Rudy, though. It's been 2 months since I beat him in a sword fight. But I'd never win if he used his magic.

Aside from training in the Sword God style from Paul, I also dabble with magic.

I can only make a water quirt and an ember, or a rock and a breeze. But, hey, at least I can still used every type of spell.

There’s also another good thing that I can increased my mana from the training I had with Rudy.

Before sleeping, I exhausted my mana and slept like a dead man, guessing that this might help me increase my mana capacity. Though, the result isn’t as great as what Rudy and Luffy had. Still, I won’t complain as long as there’s still improvement.

"D*mn you, Claude, why did you never tell me Sylphy is actually a girl?" Rudy blamed me for his incompetence.

"Eh, I never told you?" I actually did not tell him on purpose and stopped talking to him to remind him of that. But, he should’ve realized it himself.

"You never did!"

"Heck, where have you seen a boy this cute, I ask you? Are your eyes a decoration or something? "

"I thought she was a pretty boy!" Rudeus shouted indignantly.

"Hah, such a stupid reason... Look, Paul, your son is such a dense b*stard... "

I stopped and then looked at Zenith.

"See Zenith, like father like son… you need to discipline Rudeus. Otherwise, you’ll create Paul number 2! "

I can see Paul fuming and hit me.

I deftly avoided it.

"Getting old, Paul?"

"D*mn, you cheeky..." Paul is mad.

Laughter soon rose, and everyone forgot about Rudy's actions after apologizing to Sylphy.

I held my head while staring at Paul begrudgingly, "Who hit a child this hard? What a sore loser... Zenith... heal me.... " I beg Zenith to ease my injured head.

Aside from the childish Paul, Zenith is actually a great woman. I’m wondering how she can fall for the trap called Paul and live a humble life like this. But her help in the clinic is a great deal on its own.

Anyway, let’s talk more about the mass teleportation incident.

We can all say that it’s too abrupt.

Everything happened in a flash, without any real sign.

You can’t say a floating ball that does nothing for months is a sign...

It just suddenly appeared and exploded after some time without any alarm.

Then, what kind of countermeasure can I make?

Should I tell the adults about it and make myself a prophet?

Absolutely not, as I do know about the future. I don't know anything about the actual end. I only know about the timeline of Mushoku Tensei from Wikipedia and other general-purpose information that I can learn quickly by talking to the merchants.

Then, what should I do?

It’s actually pretty simple.

Increase the villagers’ knowledge.

How should I do this? This then becomes another question to answer.

A village had a pretty queer tendency.

A piece of information, no matter how small it is, becomes the only source of entertainment. It’s either the knowledge I dug from Paul about him being a womanizer or Somar’s mom's infidelity thought about Paul.

All these things circulate around the village.

Then, at the start of the month, living in this village, I started to circulate things about the slave merchants and their atrocities by using the Traveling Merchant name.

I just asked the traveling merchant about this topic, and he blabbed it himself after some small conversation.

In just one month, the ways to deal with and identify slave merchants were already formed and arranged to teach their children if they showed up nearby.

When they're finished, I go to the woods and tell them I found them while walking around.

Make a track in the woods and tell Paul to warn the villagers about it.

My plan succeeded, and the parents started teaching their children how to fool those slave merchants in zeal.

They even hired adventurers to teach their children self-defense, although they can’t hire some high ranked adventurer, I can still do somethings in the background to train the kids better as I do several thing.

This is great.

I thought these slave merchant talks would stop by around the 3rd month, but it’s not. So I just followed the flow and created the story about the slave merchant in another kingdom, then another continent.

What are their commodities, and which continent do they usually play on?

I also told them many things until the 6th month, when Rudy stripped Sylphy.

Oh well, the time limit is still around 4 or 5 more years. So, it can wait.

As I was warming up my body, the sun had yet to emerge. The moon was still above, but my internal clock said it was already near morning, so I started running.

I usually start my morning exercise by running around the village. Once or twice is already enough. Then scan the nearby tree for a pull-up in the branch.

It’s hard to find a big or precisely sized branch for my grappling. But, as time passed, I could tell which one was good and which one was wrong.

For example, there’s this big brittle branch that, once I gripped it, it’s crumbling.

There’s also a tiny weeny branch that stays strong even though I step on it.

In these 6 months, I can differentiate them neatly at a glance.

As I finished my pull-up, the ground below the tree became muddy with my sweat. I continue to have a sit-up and reverse pull-up, then cool myself down by soaking myself in the river.

It’s great to soak myself in the river, and by the time I’ve bathed, the sun is already up. I can see Sylphy skipping happily towards Paul’s house.

"Isn’t it too early to head to your beloved?"

I tease her.

Sylphy was looking around, shocked by a sudden voice,"... sigh... So it’s Claude, you frighten me. "

Wow, she didn’t realize this hunk in the river. As expected, a maiden in love sure is blind.

"Hmmm, spring has come for Luffy, huh." I tease her a bit.

"Uuu, don’t tease me, Claude. It’s not like I do think that way! I mean, it’s not like I don’t like Rudy... " I lost what she said in the middle, as she’s talking roundabout about these things. Well, she’s 5 years old. I'm not expecting an adult speech.

"... Anyway, I'm going to Rudy’s! You want to come along, Claude?" she asked with reluctance.

"Nah, not going to disturb you lovebirds... and I’m not like you, jobless kids. I had to work with my father in the Smithy. "

"Umumumu, you’re cheeky for a child..." she glares at me, offended by my jobless remarks.

I just shrugged, jumped into the river bank, and dried myself off with the towel.

"Hide it, Claude! You're so shameless! "

"Huh? What is it? It’s not like it’s your first time seeing a nude boy, right? " I snided at her, pointing to the fact that she had already seen Rudy naked.

She got reddened and ran away. I waved at her and said, "Take care," but she ignored me.

Oh well, time to head towards the Smithy...

Pops will yell at me if I’m late.

…

..

.

[Claude’s Father POV]

My son is weird...

I know that he’s a cr*ppy, haughty, and cocky child that likes to bully others. Somar and Mike only add spice to him since he’s the perpetrator. He’s the mind behind all those crimes!

I know that since I’m doing the same thing when I’m at his age!

Well, after his underlings were all defeated, he suddenly turned over a new leaf.

I know he’s smart, but he’s started to do better.

I sometimes even think this isn’t my child anymore. Just look at his chiseled body...

There’s no way a 6-year-old child like him can have those kinds of abs, biceps, and triceps that can equate to Paul’s body...

D*mn, I envy my child’s body. I feel like a pervert, talking about my son’s body like this, but...

Well, since the day he was defeated by Rudeus. Claude suddenly started to work out, and a mere month after his workout, he soaked in the river that the grown ups avoid.

It had a strong current, but he could efficiently deal with it.

He will wake up early before sunrise, counting the minutes using the clock people in the city always use. It should be around 3 in the morning.

That early, even without a clock, I can feel it. Claude started to work out until 8 in the morning, then helped me out by drawing the water to the Smithy, or heating up the furnace.

He recently started to temper the iron.

D*mn, my son is too talented.

I bet he got the talent from me; he’s done so well he can beat me in iron tempering.

Anyway, my son is so talented that his father became cocky and proud.

Let’s go to the pub to brag tonight!

I bet those bastards in the pub will start to envy. What makes me the happiest was Paul’s expression, which is always red whenever I compare Claude with Rudeus.

He must be embarrassed as a young townie!

Hahaha, another good night to spend.

I will forget about his sneaking around at night, and coming back in the morning for several day from now on. I don’t really curious on what he did, and I will believe on my 7 years old son for now.

I am a great father, and my wife is a great mother too. Even though we knew something happened to him, as long as he doesn’t tell us his reason, there’s no need for us to asked him. everyone had a secret they want to protect, and I can see this secret made Claude become a better person.

“I wonder what’s my boy do in my back, I hope he don’t suddenly bring a child and a wife so suddenly…” I said, as I skipped to the bar.

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[Edited 09/29/2022]

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