Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 125 - The Eldest Brother

When Windsor was six months old, Aisha finally sent her first letter. One year since she left home, and this was the first word we'd gotten.

[To Rudeus Greyrat

I'm doing very well. Sisters-in-law, mothers, Father, Sister Norn, don't worry.

That's all!]

I don't know why, but she didn't mention me at all.

Not once.

But from the sound of it, Aisha's doing fine.

As long as she's safe.

-------

I'm not sure how to describe it. Watching Windsor grow up — my own daughter — there's something in my chest that I can't quite name.

"Da... Da..."

"Daddy's here~"

I reached out and scooped her up, this babbling, squirming little thing demanding to be held.

Windsor's personality is on the quieter side. Nothing at all like Eris as a child.

I lifted her up high. She didn't laugh. She just stared straight at me, completely serious.

Hmm. Aren't kids supposed to enjoy that?

Before I could figure it out, Eris's voice cut in from beside me.

"Rudeus, you spoil Windsor too much!"

"Uh... is that bad?"

"Of course it is! What about me, then?"

Eris spread her arms wide open right in front of me. No hesitation whatsoever.

As expected. In my relationship with Eris, I always end up in the weaker position without even meaning to.

Not that I'm complaining.

I set Windsor down in her crib and turned to embrace Eris.

"Mmm~"

"Eris, are you jealous?"

"Hmph! Absolutely not..."

Even after becoming a mother, not one bit of her cuteness had gone anywhere.

I'd worried, once, that motherhood might bring some difficult moods I wouldn't know how to handle. Turned out that worry was completely unfounded.

"Ma... ma..."

From the crib, Windsor watched the two of us with wide, mournful eyes, her little expression the picture of wronged betrayal.

I vaguely remembered reading something about infant psychology in my past life. In a baby's world, the people closest to them are their possessions. Mom. Dad. Theirs.

Seeing one of those people claimed by someone else makes them uneasy.

So right now, in Windsor's mind, I'm her possession.

That's actually not a bad feeling at all.

"Alright," I said. "Windsor's watching."

"Rudeus... you've changed."

"Hmm?"

"I'm happy you love Windsor. But you can't give her the love that belongs to me."

"I'm not giving it away. I love Eris just as much as before. No — more than before."

"Hmph!"

Her signature hmph. Then she tilted her head, pretending to think it over.

After a moment, she leaned in close to my ear.

"Then... tonight, Rudeus belongs only to me~"

"Of course."

And with that, Eris happily scooped Windsor out of the crib and went off to wander the yard with her.

I have no idea where she learned to negotiate like that.

...

The two pregnant young women were in the kitchen making dinner. I slipped up quietly behind them and wrapped my arms around both of them from behind.

"Rudy~ what are you doing?"

"Do you need us to keep you company tonight?"

Sylphie and Roxy kept cutting vegetables as they asked, voices warm and unhurried.

I shook my head from between their shoulders.

"Don't bring up that kind of thing during pregnancy."

Both wives were five months along now, their bellies just beginning to show. I'd wanted the maids to handle all the cooking for the entire pregnancy, but the two of them had brushed me off without a second thought.

Their position: [Don't worry so much. Moving around a little is fine.]

I was not convinced. They don't have Eris's constitution. In my eyes, Sylphie and Roxy have always been delicate, and I wasn't willing to let them carry even a small risk.

I'd already had Ariel help Roxy request a leave of absence from work. The headmaster was deeply unhappy about a year-long absence, but he'd agreed in the end. Ariel's standing at the school had reached a rather staggering level.

"Your bellies are getting bigger. I'm having the maids move in and take care of you."

"This again? Hmm..."

Sylphie hummed and exchanged a glance with Roxy, a silent check-in passing between them.

Roxy gave a small nod. No objections.

"Rudy, we'll leave it to you then?"

"Of course~ my lovely wives."

Roxy turned pink.

"Rudy, honestly..."

We'd done far more embarrassing things than this, more times than I could count. And yet she still blushed at a simple word from me.

I'll never understand it.

But that side of her is very cute.

...

That afternoon, when the maids came for housework, I pulled them aside and told them the arrangement. They would move into the house fully and look after Sylphie and Roxy around the clock. Eris and Windsor as well, of course.

These two had been with me since I first bought this house. Several years now. Their impression of me seemed to be fairly positive, I was generous, didn't create problems, and compared to the nobles they'd worked for before, I was probably an unusually decent employer.

They heard me out without a single objection.

"I'll be raising your pay as well," I added.

"Thank you, Master." x2

They know how I operate. No flattery, no extra words. Do the job, fulfill the request. That's all there is to it.

...

Let me talk about Norn.

A few days ago she came to find me, and we talked for a long time. She said a lot of things she'd been carrying inside.

She envies me. She envies Aisha.

But at the same time, she loves us both.

I've always considered myself a decent older brother. And yet I'd completely missed what she was going through.

That day I held her, and we talked until there was nothing left unsaid. We opened up to each other in a way we never had before.

It's been sitting warmly in my chest ever since.

But.

Lately, Norn has been acting strange.

Not strange in any alarming way. Nothing physical, nothing erratic. I mean strange as in: recently, she and Ruijerd have been spending a lot of time together.

At first I thought nothing of it. Ruijerd is Ariel's personal guard. Norn is my sister and a student council member. Their paths crossing made sense.

But it's different now.

A while back, I went into town on a whim to pick up some things for Windsor, and I spotted Norn and Ruijerd walking together on the street.

?

That was genuinely the only thought in my head. A single question mark.

I'm not a controlling older brother. I've always told myself that.

I still followed them.

Ruijerd definitely noticed me. There's no way a magician tailing him goes undetected. But he didn't call it out, didn't make any strange moves. He just kept walking.

So I followed them the whole way.

My conclusion:

They were on a date.

A date.

Norn bought ice cream from a street stall and hand-fed it directly to Ruijerd. And that guy ate it without the slightest hesitation.

What is happening.

Norn likes Ruijerd?

By the end of it, she'd given him a coat she'd apparently brought along.

She's never given me clothes.

The next day, I went to the student council room at school to find Ruijerd and have it out with him directly.

Why not confront Norn? Please. I have absolutely no desire to be hated by my little sister.

I stood across from Ruijerd, Ariel, and Luke.

"Ruijerd, haven't you and Norn been getting a little too close lately?"

"..."

"She's young. She doesn't know where the lines are. You should know that, right?"

"Mm..."

I was drawing breath to deliver the ultimatum when the door opened and Norn walked in.

She saw me and tilted her head.

"Brother? Is something the matter?"

"Nothing. I just came to see you. You haven't been back in a while. I missed you."

"Eww~ Brother, that's so embarrassing. What do you actually want?"

"Can't I just want to see my little sister?"

"I seriously doubt that."

Norn waved dismissively, set the stack of books she was carrying down on her desk, and got them sorted. Then she looked back at me.

"Really nothing?"

"Really nothing. Just came to see you."

"Alright, we have work to do. Go on home, Brother."

"Fine..."

I've never wanted to be the kind of older brother who makes his sister feel smothered.

Before I left, I turned back to Ruijerd with something still ready on my tongue. But he spoke first.

"When you're not beside her, I'll protect her."

Every harsh word I'd prepared evaporated on the spot.

Well.

Even if the age gap is what it is. If Norn genuinely feels something...

I reached over and put a hand on Ruijerd's shoulder.

"If Norn is serious about this, you'd better be too."

➤ Next: Roxy, Love — Heartbreak