Ch.89Awakened Hatchling (1)

# Ruide came to the infirmary.

This was the only place with a large mirror.

“…So this is what I’ll look like in the future.”

Ruide stood in front of the mirror with his hair cut short.

Looking at himself like this, he barely passed as a boy. Just a handsome pretty boy.

Until now, he had looked unmistakably like a girl. Simply cutting his hair had changed that. Ruide realized how much impact a hairstyle could have.

“How old am I here?”

[1, about 17 years old.]

“Are you sure?”

But there was another problem—

‘Why am I so short!’

He had been certain he would be tall in the future.

After all, Amelia was tall for a woman, and Irene wasn’t short either. If Amelia was around 170cm, Irene would be about 168cm.

‘Right now I’m slightly taller than Hersy, which means I’m much shorter than Amelia.’

By that calculation, his 17-year-old self was estimated to be around 163cm.

“…I don’t grow any taller?”

[Well, this is your fully grown form. Yes. You’ll be that height for the rest of your life.]

“…!”

Ruide was more shocked than when he had received a death sentence from a doctor.

‘Rather than living as a short man, I’d rather stay a kid.’

At least as a 12-year-old, he could pass as a unique character(?).

Being in the low 160s was just too much.

“Huh…?”

Just then, he heard a sleepy female voice.

Turning his head, he saw Lydia looking at him, having just woken up.

“Have I slept for ten years already?”

Lydia said with a yawn.

“Now that you’ve grown up, I can eat you, right?”

“……”

Suddenly, Ruide remembered Lydia’s age. According to her backstory, she must be at least 500 years old.

Her body hadn’t fully matured. She looked like a girl of about 15.

Ruide abruptly placed his hands on Lydia’s shoulders.

“What’s your secret?”

“…Huh?”

Lydia was uncharacteristically flustered by Ruide’s sudden action.

Well, Ruide currently looked like he wasn’t in his right mind.

“Tell me the secret of immortality.”

Stopping the body’s aging.

Ruide was completely serious.

‘Research on immortality has progressed a lot in this world.’

That was indeed true.

After all, the goal of the Black Mages, who could be considered the great enemy, was to make their master immortal.

“Do you want to know?”

Lydia tilted her head and looked at him somewhat seductively.

It was the first time she had acted like a proper Saintess. Ruide spoke seriously.

“If you tell me to believe in God, I will.”

“God is dead.”

“…?”

“You don’t need to believe in such a god.”

Lydia spoke coldly, then returned to her usual expressionless face.

“Marry me instead.”

Lydia placed her hand on Ruide’s cheek.

“Then I’ll make you immortal.”

Ruide was desperate enough not to be picky, but the word “marriage” brought him back to his senses.

Normally, he would have refused with a simple “No.”

But he had grown. He decided to properly respect the other person.

Ruide said with a serious expression:

“I think a 500-year age gap is unconscionable. Even looking at it generously, I can’t date someone with more than a 5-year age difference. I appreciate the offer, but I must decline.”

“……”

Lydia looked down at her chest.

It was as if dozens of arrows had pierced her. All direct hits to the center of her heart.

“Miho.”

[Yes.]

Miho trotted over and bit Ruide’s arm.

With a refreshing sensation, the fox orb came out, and Ruide’s stature shrank.

Returning to his 12-year-old form, Ruide checked himself in the mirror.

This was his original appearance. He never thought he’d miss this little kid look so much.

‘What remains is…’

Sweating slightly, he checked below.

‘Thank goodness.’

It was still there. His precious thing.

Ruide wiped his forehead with a sigh of relief.

Then he left the infirmary as if nothing had happened.

Much later.

Lydia, the Saintess who remained sitting, fiddled with her hand where Ruide’s warmth still lingered.

“That’s too cruel. I’m a woman too.”

Having been rejected four times this year alone, Lydia was in a foul mood.

**

“You go back to Hersy.”

He had formed an official contract with Miho.

It definitely felt different from the familiar contract.

‘I can feel it. Emotions, location, power.’

There was a sense of being more connected to each other.

Probably, Miho could feel his emotions too.

It wasn’t a bad feeling.

[Yes. What will you do, Master Ruide?]

Miho looked like she had gotten what she wanted. She seemed soft and pliable.

Even though he wanted to dislike Miho for causing so much trouble, he found it vaguely impossible to hate her.

Appearances really do matter after all.

At least as long as she maintained her fox form, Ruide found it difficult to be angry with Miho.

“To Hersy.”

[…This time I acted on my own and was presumptuous, so I’ll handle it cleanly. Of course, I won’t do anything you don’t want, like killing, or killing.]

‘So you do want to kill?’

Miho’s true feelings were revealed in the last part.

However, her desire to handle things cleanly was also genuine.

The power and wisdom of the Great Spirit couldn’t be ignored. Hersy’s family matter would probably be resolved quickly if left to her.

But he firmly shook his head.

“I want to do it myself.”

People don’t change overnight. That applies to everyone. Ruide was no exception.

He still wanted to live as a child and didn’t want to become an adult. After all, he was still a child.

But with recent events, Ruide had come to realize various things.

Especially the word “respect” that Damon had mentioned yesterday was deeply etched in his mind.

His previous resolution to “take life seriously” had fizzled out. Honestly, he still wasn’t sure what it meant to live life seriously.

But respecting someone, as Damon had taught him, seemed doable.

Ruide looked at his small hands.

‘Without this body of “lazy Ruide,” I’m nothing but a jobless person. But somehow I’ve possessed the body of “lazy Ruide.”‘

This incident made him realize.

Being possessed into this “lazy Ruide” was truly a great blessing and fortune.

In truth, he still didn’t feel like doing anything grand. Saving the world, becoming a hero, being recorded in history—he could do all of it, but he didn’t particularly want to.

Ruide just wanted to live happily with those around him. Sleep when sleepy, play when he wanted to play, living freely as he pleased.

Could anything be more selfish? It was equivalent to abandoning all obligations.

But having decided to live that way, he needed to do the minimum.

At minimum, he needed to show respect.

That would be the repayment for receiving this unconditional love.

“I’m going to respect Hersy. For that, I need to act myself.”

[A-are you finally taking action?]

Miho swallowed nervously.

Ruide stopped walking.

He spoke somewhat hesitantly.

“N-not a lot, just a little…?”

Still, his jobless nature hadn’t gone anywhere.

**

“Assistant professor?”

Fenicia looked at the small boy who had come to find her with an incredulous expression.

“…It’s been a month since you last conducted your own classes.”

“There were circumstances for that…”

Ruide was about to answer as usual, but then added:

“Sir.”

“…?”

Fenicia gave him a surprised look.

‘What change of heart has occurred?’

Using formal speech? Of course, he used to speak formally before, but recently Ruide was known to speak informally to everyone.

Fenicia was puzzled but smiled brightly.

“You can speak informally to me.”

“……”

“It actually feels like we’ve grown more distant. I think others would feel the same.”

Ruide nodded.

“I understand.”

“I feel like I should be your assistant professor instead… but you probably don’t want to teach. Yes, I welcome it. Shall we go together?”

Fenicia stood up, holding today’s lecture materials. Ruide followed her.

When they entered the classroom, his eyes met Hersy’s. A fox was napping on Hersy’s desk. Hersy’s eyes widened at the unexpected figure.

“This is Professor Ruide who will be serving as assistant professor for the time being. Since he’s only in a supporting role, please direct your questions to me.”

“I-I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“…When is the next cooking class?”

Ruide stared into the distance.

Fenicia laughed awkwardly.

“He says he’ll announce it later.”

“Um, may I ask why the Duke is observing this class?”

“Well, since the students taking ‘Dellin’s Magic Theory’ are the most elite students at the Imperial Academy, he wants to see the level of academy students.”

Fenicia made up an excuse with a bright smile. She was being considerate of Ruide.

‘She’s really capable.’

Thinking this, Ruide took in the sight of Hersy with her gentle expression.

‘It really is different.’

Seeing her in this form, he felt immense goodwill. Clearly different from before.

Someone else might have felt disappointed, but Ruide felt grateful instead.

‘It was because of the fox…’

Until then, Hersy hadn’t been hostile. She got angry because a complete stranger had touched Miho.

He had entrusted Miho to her purely out of laziness. But Hersy had been taking precious care of his spirit.

That’s why—he didn’t want to see Hersy cry.

‘What kind of idiot came up with the plan to seduce her and then say “I prefer people with good family backgrounds”?’

Ruide smiled weakly while engaging in some self-deprecation. Let’s put that dark history aside, he thought seriously.

‘Either make him acknowledge her, or remove him.’

It was simple. If he observed Klein and thought he was rotten, he would remove him.

But if it was just a common trouble arising from noble sibling relationships, he would make Klein acknowledge Hersy. As Amelia had advised.

Ruide hoped for Amelia’s approach as much as possible. It was peaceful, and best for Hersy.

But—

“…I have a request, Professor Fenicia.”

“Yes. Speak, Klein.”

“I understand it’s unusual for Duke Ruide to participate in such classes. Duke Ruide is a genius magician who has accomplished many feats in a short time since the great magician Dellin, so I think prohibiting questions is too harsh. Could you give us about ten minutes to ask questions?”

“Ah, haha… I’m sorry. Duke Ruide said he doesn’t want to participate in anything outside the lecture content.”

“I see… That’s a shame. Very much so.”

Ruide instinctively felt it.

“……”

Looking at Klein, who was smiling while hiding subtle anger, Ruide realized that Irene’s approach was needed more than Amelia’s.

And the current Ruide was determined enough to adopt Irene’s approach if necessary.

“Now, let’s begin the lecture.”