Chapter 219 - Windsor, One Day

Windsor's Perspective:

Today is a day of adventuring with Mom and Dad.

Ever since I was little, I've always longed for this, the stories of adventurers.

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"Potions?"

"Ready!"

"Food?"

"Ready!"

"Sword?"

"Ready!"

"Well then~ is there anything else we haven't prepared?"

Dad said it with a grin, crouching down in front of me.

I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.

After I finished, Mom spoke up.

"My turn, Rudeus!"

"Oh!"

Mom cupped his face in both hands and kissed him, on the lips.

Hmm. That was different from usual.

Normally it feels like Dad is the one being dragged into it by Mom.

Right now, standing in front of me, it looked like Dad was the one in control.

But none of that really mattered.

"Alright — preparations complete!"

"Oh!"

"Ohhh!"

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Dad and Mom held my hands and walked me to the Adventurer's Guild.

The moment we stepped inside, the whole place went quiet.

I looked left and right, taking in the adventurers around us.

Every single one of them was staring at Dad. Some even dropped to one knee.

The corner of Dad's mouth twitched and he gestured for them to stand.

Hmm. They were all... middle-aged men?

There were some pretty older women staring at Dad too.

Their gazes didn't last long, though. Mom glared at them, and that was that.

At the front desk, Dad produced his adventurer identification card.

S-rank Adventurer. Same party as Mom.

Mom is an S-rank Adventurer too.

This is what I've always longed for.

"Lord Rudeus, do you have a request you wish to post?"

"Not exactly. I'd like to get an adventurer identification card for my daughter."

"Of course, Lord Rudeus! What rank should we set it at?"

"You can set the rank directly now?"

"Naturally — she is Lord Rudeus's daughter, after all."

Dad furrowed his brow and glanced at me.

Was this that thing? Privilege?

But adventuring wasn't supposed to work like this.

Dad and Mom must have climbed up from the bottom, rank by rank, back when they started.

I want to be just like them.

I raised my hand.

"I want to start from the lowest rank!"

Dad smiled and ruffled my hair, then looked back at the desk lady.

"Lowest rank it is."

"Yes! In that case, Lord Rudeus, will you fill out the paperwork, or shall Miss Windsor?"

I raised my hand again.

"Me! I'll do it! I can read and write!"

"Of course."

I stood on my tiptoes and took the card she slid across the desk.

It was gold.

Why was it gold? Mom and Dad's were silver.

"Um... front desk sister..."

"Yes?"

"Why is my card a different color from Mom and Dad's?"

"The gold card allows Miss Windsor to receive special treatment at other Adventurer's Guilds, free lodging, free meals, that sort of thing."

"I want one like Mom and Dad's."

"...How about this, Miss Windsor: keep this card, and I'll issue you a standard one as well."

"No. I want the silver one."

The front desk lady put on a smile that looked worse than crying.

"Our guild master absolutely insisted on gifting you this card... so..."

"There's no need. You can keep it."

"...Very well."

I took the silver adventurer identification card and filled out my information. Once I handed it back, the desk lady checked it over, activated some kind of magic, and returned the card to me.

"Ohhhh! From now on, I'm an adventurer too!"

I spun around to look at Dad and Mom.

Dad was smiling wryly. Mom looked absolutely smug.

"Windsor! Well done! As expected of my daughter!"

Mom laughed and started patting my head.

What just happened?

Dad spoke up too.

"Windsor, I'm very happy you look up to Mom and Dad this much, but sometimes a little privilege is fine to use. It's not hurting anyone."

"Got it!"

Then Dad and Mom led me over to the request board.

Ohhh! Last time Aunt Ghislaine and Mom brought me here, they didn't let me pick a request at all.

I looked at the board, then looked at my rank.

I could only take things like... herb-gathering.

"Pick whatever you want. Dad and Mom are S-rank, so Windsor counts as partying with us right now."

"That's right! Rudeus and I are S-rank Adventurers!"

Pick whatever I want.

Then I'll pick something where I can actually be useful.

If I picked something too hard, Mom and Dad wouldn't let me fight. I'd just end up watching from the sidelines.

I pointed at one of the postings: Goblin Extermination.

"This one, Dad!"

Dad tore the request down, looked it over, and frowned.

"Windsor — you're not planning on becoming a knight or anything like that, right?"

"No."

"Good... then this request it is!"

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Goblins.

A small, intelligent type of monster.

On the way there, Dad walked me through the dangers of goblins and where they were weak.

Simply put, they were basically like people. Cut off the head and it was done.

We reached the forest and found the goblin nest quickly.

Dad hadn't brought a staff, but Mom had her sword.

Mom patted my back.

"They're just goblins. I believe in you!"

Dad was written all over with worry.

"Be careful, okay? Goblins are the kind of monsters a child could take down with a stick, but we're dealing with a whole nest. Your mom will thin out the numbers in a moment and leave a few for Windsor to practice on."

Mom immediately backpedaled.

"Your dad is right! No matter what kind of opponent you're facing, never let your guard down, even if it's goblins!"

You just said they're just goblins...

I nodded.

"Got it!"

Aunt Ghislaine always said:

No amount of practice compares to one real fight.

Last time I went out with Aunt Ghislaine and Mom, all I did was watch.

This time, it was my turn.

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Killing enemies wasn't as hard as I'd imagined.

But the feeling of cutting one down with a sword,

It was really...!

Dad used magic to drive the goblin horde out of the nest. The moment Mom moved, only five or six were left standing.

Then I stepped in.

How do I describe it?

The sensation of a blade biting through flesh...

It was... intoxicating.

After I finished off the last few, Mom grinned at me.

"Well? How was it?"

"Amazing!"

"Right?! I felt the exact same way the first time I killed a monster! Windsor is definitely going to become a powerful swordswoman!"

"Mm!"

Dad smiled wryly and waved me over.

I jogged across, and a warm Water spell hit my face, gentle like a wash.

"Honestly... your face is covered in blood. Be more careful with your swing next time. And don't grin with your mouth open while you're fighting, it's unsettling. Monster blood in your mouth is disgusting."

"Got it. Thank you, Dad."

"You really are exactly like your mother..."

"What was the first monster Mom ever killed?"

At my question, Dad turned to look at Mom.

Mom furrowed her brow, clearly unhappy.

"Rudeus, you haven't forgotten, have you?"

"I'm just thinking about whether you might have killed some other monster before that one."

"Hmph! Just say the answer, Rudeus!"

"It was on the Demon Continent. A monster that looked like a piece of wood, right?"

Mom's face broke into a huge smile. She threw herself at Dad and wrapped her arms around him.

"I knew you still remembered! I love you, Rudeus!"

"Honestly..."

Dad kissed her, then turned back to me.

"Do you want to collect the ears and turn in the request? We don't have to, I can just go explain. It's not like we need the money."

"I want to collect them. If you're going to do something, do it properly."

"That sounds exactly like something Windsor would say."

So Dad and Mom helped me collect the ears.

20 was enough, 20 kills proves you have the ability to wipe out the whole nest.

By the time we finished, it was evening. Dad brought Mom and me to a riverbank, where he set up camp, started a fire, and began making dinner. We'd be spending the night out here.

Mom was cooking.

She stirred the pot slowly and spoke to me as she worked.

"If you were a real adventurer, you'd usually be out very late. You might camp outdoors for several days at a stretch. That's why we're sleeping outside tonight, so Windsor can get a feel for it."

"Why would it take so long?"

"The reason we found the nest so quickly is because your dad is the world's strongest magician. Finding monsters is easy for him. But if Windsor goes adventuring alone someday, it'll be much harder."

"Oh..."

While Mom and I were talking, Dad finished setting up the tent.

So this was the life of an adventurer.

Killing monsters was fun, but what I was looking for might be something a little more... sweeping. More grand.

Oh! Like Aisha Mom's experiences.

Traveling the world, hunting for treasure, taking down powerful enemies...

Though, come to think of it, Dad and Mom had traveled the world too.

"What are you thinking about, Windsor?"

Dad's voice broke through my thoughts.

"I was thinking about traveling the world."

"Windsor wants to do that?"

"Mm!"

"Before you turn 20, Dad won't be allowing it..."

"I know. Because I'm not strong enough yet."

"Mm... right. Let's say that's the reason."

Dad trailed off and tilted his head back to look at the sky.

Without me noticing, the light had faded. There was still a faint glow on the horizon, but the stars had already come out.

"But Windsor, traveling the world might not take very long for the Windsor of the future."

"Hm? Why?"

"Teleportation magic. You've used it plenty of times already, haven't you?"

"Then I just won't use it."

"You should use it! I'm not saying Windsor should use teleportation just to get around faster, what I mean is... if you ever do set out, once a month... no, once a week, you have to come home and see Dad."

"...Even if Dad didn't say that, I'd still come back."

At those words, Dad smiled.

Dad is pure. Even at my age, I can see it clearly.

The World's Strongest Magician.

Fourth of the Seven Great Powers.

The King Without a Kingdom of the Asura Kingdom.

The Pillar of the Ranoa Kingdom.

The Executioner of Nobles Worldwide.

Dad has so many titles. He doesn't care about a single one of them.

All he wants is ordinary happiness.

Just like right now, sitting under the stars, talking with his daughter about the future.

This great, terrifying man. And the only things he's ever asked of his daughter are that she knows how to read and comes home once a week.

"Dad."

"Mm?"

"...I... I love you. Thank you, Dad. For loving me so much."

Lara can say those words so easily, like it costs her nothing.

I'm different.

It's not something to be embarrassed about, I know that. But I always wait for Dad to say it first before I respond. I rarely do what Lara does and just... say it out loud on my own.

I looked up at him.

He was holding the soup ladle, frozen. He stayed like that for a long moment before he spoke, and when he did, he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Mom.

"When Windsor says something like that... why does it sound like she's about to get married?"

His voice was right on the edge of breaking.

I'm only 6 years old.

Mom leaned over and pulled Dad's head into a gentle hug, patting him softly.

"There, there~ Windsor is how old, exactly? Rudeus always falls apart whenever daughters come up."

"B-but! I just pictured it — if my daughters said to me someday, Thank you, Dad, for taking care of us all these years — I absolutely could not handle that. I know I couldn't."

"What Windsor said and what Rudeus is imagining are completely different things~"

Dad sat up from Mom's arms and stared straight at me.

Then, as if that still wasn't enough,

He stood up, settled down beside me, and pulled me into his lap.

"Thank you, Windsor. I love you."

"Ugh... Dad, don't be like this..."

Under the starry sky, I spent a night that was nothing like what I'd imagined.

And I loved it far more for it.

A night that was mine, a night that belonged to adventure.

➤ Next: Surprise [Incomplete] — Words Unspoken