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When Zenith stroked her belly and announced her pregnancy during dinner, Paul was clearly prepared but still couldn't contain his excitement. He wanted to embrace Zenith but restrained himself, dancing in place instead.
Since Zenith gave birth to Rudy, they had been hoping for another child. Now that wish was finally coming true.
Rudy looked at Zenith with curiosity and quickly ran to her side. Together with the excited Paul, he pressed his ear against Zenith's belly.
She responded with a gentle expression, stroking Rudy's head.
"That's wonderful... Rudy, you won't be alone anymore..."
As she said this, she suddenly paused and looked toward Allen, who stood nearby with his arms folded, smiling enigmatically.
"This way... you'll have another little brother or sister, right? The house will have a third child to play with. You'll have to be a good big brother, okay~"
Rudy nodded, then turned to look at Allen, with something peculiar flickering in his eyes.
Allen, standing at a distance, hadn't heard Zenith's words clearly. Noticing that they seemed to be talking about him, he dropped his playful smile and tilted his head in confusion.
Rudy smiled without responding to Allen's questioning body language, then placed his head back against Zenith's belly.
'It still doesn't feel real that Allen is my distant cousin... He's truly remarkable—very perceptive in his interactions with others, able to precisely gauge their emotional fluctuations and say the right things... but how to put it, he seems somewhat oblivious regarding his own feelings.'
'Is it a lack of confidence? He hasn't fully sensed how Paul and Zenith feel about him... I've heard Paul mention that his family situation is complicated, and he was even hunted by his supposed biological father... Although I don't feel much attachment to this family either, his situation is different from mine. I was reincarnated here, while his distance seems to stem from his original family environment... emotional detachment, difficulty handling others' affection?'
With these thoughts, Rudy cast a somewhat pitying glance at Allen, his fellow transmigrator. Under Allen's increasingly confused gaze...
Paul grabbed him and lifted him away from Zenith.
Then happily took Rudy's place, pressing his face against his wife's lap.
Allen: ...
Rudy: ...
Just then, Lilia finally finished washing the dishes and emerged from the kitchen. She glanced at Paul, then bowed her head.
"Congratulations, madam."
Zenith stroked Paul's head and joked:
"Thank you~ By the way, Lilia, you've been with us for over five years. Should we find someone in the village for you to keep company? It must be lonely being by yourself, right?"
Lilia looked down at the hem of her maid uniform, keeping her eyes lowered respectfully.
"Thank you, madam... I... don't have such thoughts at the moment. My future feels uncertain..."
"Ah... I see. Lilia, you were once a noble's guard, so perhaps there's no suitable match in the village... At minimum, someone of Paul's status would be worthy of you. Paul, should we ask Philip for help? Would a minor nobleman be more appropriate for Lilia?"
Paul raised his eyes and quickly glanced at Lilia, finding her head lowered, red hair slightly obscuring her vision, eyelids downcast, but her red pupils fixed on him. Their gazes tangled for a moment before rapidly breaking away.
Paul's expression stiffened as he recalled his past violation of Lilia and his occasional inappropriate advances. He felt somewhat flustered.
"Ah... well... I think so too... Lilia is very capable... ha... haha..."
Allen watched their interaction with folded arms, a smile slowly appearing on his lips.
Was it coming? The affair from the original story.
The timing matched up. Surely there wouldn't be another butterfly effect, right?
Knock, knock, knock—urgent knocking sounded at the door.
Allen was startled and turned toward the entrance. This unscripted development made him think of Roxy's late-night visit a month ago.
'This... surely not? It can't be another strange butterfly effect, can it?'
While Allen was uncertain, Zenith and Paul remained calm as they spoke.
"Is that Laws?"
"Ah, it should be him."
Under Allen's puzzled gaze, Lilia had already opened the door.
Indeed, the golden-haired, long-eared Laws stood there. He nodded to Lilia in acknowledgment, then looked toward Rudy and Allen inside, smiling as he stepped aside.
A small figure emerged from behind him.
It was Sylphy, wearing winter attire that had never appeared in the original storyline. The fluffy collar of her coat framed her small face, her nose red from the cold wind, and her long eyelashes shadowing red pupils that reflected Allen's image.
"Good morning, Allen."
Rudy shuffled over irritably.
"Hey, Sylphy, why are you only greeting Allen?"
"Sorry, Rudy. Good morning."
Allen smiled at Sylphy's appearance. With the recent snowfall that had lasted for over ten days, he hadn't seen her. Seeing her in thick winter clothes that never appeared in the anime, he found her quite adorable.
Allen reached out to pull Rudy close and patted Sylphy's head.
"Good morning, Sylphy. First time seeing you in winter clothes—very cute."
Sylphy's ears twitched.
"...Thank you for the compliment."
Worth noting is that in their half-year of interaction, thanks to Allen's early intervention, Sylphy hadn't suffered the year-long bullying from the original story. She had experienced friendship earlier and gradually shed her timidity, evolving toward the gentle, empathetic "White Mama" image from the original storyline.
Now when she heard Allen's occasional compliments, she wouldn't panic or become excessively shy, but could gracefully accept them and express gratitude.
Seeing this, Laws couldn't help but smile, then looked up at Paul who had approached.
"The snow has stopped. It's time to prepare for the magical beast hunt."
The Asura Kingdom had few magical beasts because surrounding villages regularly conducted hunts during winter when the creatures became dormant. These hunts were typically led by knights from each village. This was Asura's national policy to ensure prosperous trade.
This routine hardly needed mention in the original storyline since it had little to do with Rudy, but hints could be gleaned, such as:
The book in Rudy's home: "Ecology and Weaknesses of Magical Beasts in Fittoa Region."
Given how expensive books were in the Mushoku Tensei world, this wasn't mere children's literature.
By rights, magical beast hunting shouldn't have involved Rudy in either the original timeline or the current one.
However, over the past six months, Allen had frequently developed a fatherly concern for Sylphy, taking Rudy along to deliver food to Laws, and eliminating many magical beasts that ventured out of the forest. Rudy would act as chef afterward. Over time, the village's adult men realized something.
Despite both Allen and Rudy being under ten years old, they couldn't be regarded as simple children. In some aspects, they were more capable than adults.
Naturally, they were fortunate to participate in the preparatory work for hunting magical beasts. Paul, believing boys should gain experience outside, brought Allen and Rudy along to witness the event.
At the forest edge, the dense summer foliage had completely fallen. The trees wore thick coats of snow, standing distinctly visible, allowing clear views deep into the forest—unlike other seasons when everything was hidden in shadowy, dense tree cover.
The men of Buena Village pulled specially extended thorn nets, treading on thick snow, securing them section by section to tree trunks, gradually surrounding the entire forest edge.
This was to prevent magical beasts from escaping into the village during the official hunt.
Allen and Paul stood at the front of the team as lookouts, protecting against magical beasts that might suddenly emerge from beneath the snow. The two youngsters remained at the back, watching from a distance.
"Uncle, is this hunt conducted every year? I've never heard of it before."
Paul held his sword and surveyed the surroundings.
"You were in the royal capital, of course you wouldn't see this. Is it surprising?"
"Not really... What's that?"
Paul paused and looked at Allen, finding him pointing toward a spot deep in the bare forest where a crudely built wooden cabin revealed its weathered eaves between the tree trunks.
"That? A safe house."
"Safe house?"
"Yes, specifically for hunters crossing the forest in winter or merchant caravans caught in blizzards—a temporary shelter."
"Temporary shelter?"
"It may look clear now, but when it snows in the Red Dragon Mountain Range, it often continues for a month. Then the forest becomes nearly impossible to navigate. If someone gets lost in a blizzard and their carriage gets stuck in snow, they can easily die in the storm. That's why the kingdom ordered these small shelters built throughout the forest."
Allen was startled by this, recalling his difficult journey through the forest last winter, using fighting spirit to traverse through snow. Before the assassination attempt last winter, his original plan had been to travel by carriage.
'Right... the winter winds combined with mountain updrafts easily cause localized snowfall... carriages definitely can't move...'
'I overlooked this before. If nothing unexpected had happened and I'd followed the original plan, would the carriage have delayed my journey? I certainly wouldn't have made the right decision to abandon the carriage and continue on foot through the forest. Instead, I would have chosen to wait out the blizzard.'
'If I'd found a shelter, I might have stopped to rest. If the snow lasted long and I discovered afterward that the carriage couldn't proceed, it would have delayed me significantly—slower than traveling on foot with fighting spirit...'
'Then I might not have met Roxy. Without meeting Roxy, my points would barely reach the passing line... Fortunate indeed. Though using fighting spirit to travel through snow was exhausting, that assassination attempt ultimately brought unexpected benefits... Misfortune as the foundation of good fortune, and vice versa?'
'Lucky me.'
About dozens of meters away, Laws was setting up nets with three others.
"Hey, Laws, aren't we going deeper than usual this year? We're several dozen meters further than previous years... isn't that dangerous?"
A bearded man scratched his head as he secured the net to a tree trunk, expressing concern.
Laws replied seriously:
"It's fine. In previous years, Paul was our only advanced swordsman, so we were more cautious. This year we have Allen too. Even if we disturb some beasts from the east, we can handle them quickly."
The man smiled upon hearing this.
"Allen is indeed exceptional. I never imagined the knight's son would have such talent in magic. First Roxy these past two years, now Allen. He'll surely achieve great things... I hear your daughter Sylphy is good friends with them. That's wonderful—too bad they don't play with my children."
Laws paused at these words.
'Sylphy... Yes, since Allen arrived, Sylphy has made friends and smiles much more...'
With this thought, he turned to look toward the back of the group. Sylphy's small figure stood with Rudy, watching Allen at the forest's edge, her small hands at her mouth blowing warm air, her ears twitching slightly.
This adorable image was imprinted in Laws's pupils, his expression melting like snow... Laws actually cared deeply for Sylphy, but his difficulty in comforting children created the impression of a strict father.
'How wonderful. If Sylphy is happy, Noda will worry less too... After giving birth to Sylphy, she felt guilty for a long time because of the child's green hair... It wasn't her fault at all. Who can be blamed for genetic throwbacks?'
The next moment, the distracted Laws stepped into a pile of snow in front of a tree.
Still lost in thought, he felt something cylindrical beneath his foot rather than the emptiness of stepping into snow.
His vision tilted, his foot trembled, and he stumbled and nearly fell. Just then, he heard terrified shouts from those nearby.
"Laws!!"
"Get away quickly, Laws!!!"
Almost simultaneously, the unpacked snow beneath his foot exploded with a bang. Laws's eyes widened in surprise as he struggled to turn his head.
Flurries of snow erupted from the ground, and an enormous mouth appeared just inches away...
Laws stared at the massive maw, feeling a rush of heat in his waist as adrenaline surged. His vision captured the rows of small fangs with terrible clarity, still glistening with fluid.
But his body couldn't react effectively in time.
Laws's heart turned cold.
Mutated Forest Snake... D-class magical beast...
The beast had been awakened from hibernation.
It launched a lethal strike at the human who had disturbed its sleep.
Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 115 on my patreon, go check it out and remember that if we reach the goal of 40 power stones I will publish the next chapter.