Light Novel Volume 1/Summary

Prologue
A thirty-four-years-old unemployed and reclusive man is disowned and kicked out of the house by his siblings following the death of their parents. As he wanders along the streets aimlessly reflecting upon his ugly and regretful past he suddenly notices a truck speeding towards a group of three students. Realizing the students had not noticed the out-of-control-truck headed for them, the man rushes in with the intent to pull them away only for him to end up directly in line with the truck's path. He is pinned by the massive truck against a wall ultimately killing him.

Chapter 1: Is This Another World?
As he opened his eyes, he is blinded by a dazzling light but as soon as it lifts away he notices a young woman and a man of about the same age; they seem to be talking in an unfamiliar language. He then realized, to his dread, he could not move his body believing he had woken up after the accident with his limbs lost. A month later, he finally sums his situation; he had been reborn with his memories intact and he is no longer in Japan, and the two persons he saw was most likely his parents now. Half a year later, he quickly begins to pick up on the language and learns to crawl around the house finding out they lived far out in the countryside with a maid on staff. One afternoon, he happens to catch a glimpse of his father practicing sword swings in the yard. Surprised by his odd behavior he slips from the window and hits his head which caused his mother to immediately run up to him. He is again taken aback when his grief-stricken mother recites an incantation of sorts, thinking it was silly, but in the next moment his pain was gone. In the wake of it all, he ultimately comes to an understanding - he has been reincarnated into a radically different world of swords and sorcery. Feeling as if this is his formerly unattainable second chance in life, he decides he would live his life right this time with his former life's experiences to help him.

Chapter 2: The Creeped-Out Maid
Lilia used to be a royal handmaiden and a guardswoman at the Asura Palace. After her leg was caught in an assassin's dagger her movements were still hindered after recovery, leading to her being discharged from her position. Wanting to not put her life in danger again, she arrived at the Fittoa Region where she eventually found a new job in the remote Buena Village. Her employer happened to be her former swordsmanship acquaintance, Paul Greyrat, who was in search of a house-maid following the pregnancy of his wife Zenith. Their newborn, Rudeus, was an unsettling child—Lilia thought—reminding her of unpleasant memories of a depraved minister during her days at the Asura Palace. For the first year, she lived in fear of the child believing he was possessed by a demon. But soon, Rudeus began to change; he would hole up in Paul's study all day and Lilia sensed earnestness and diligence from him in contrast to his crude dullness from just a few months earlier. With nothing to fear about the boy any longer, Lilia figured it was best to leave the boy well enough alone.
 * Lilia's point of view

Chapter 3: A Textbook of Magic
It had roughly been two years since he was reincarnated as Rudeus and he could now walk and talk in the world's language. Having decided to live his life properly this time, he makes an effort to study and learn various things about the world. He grows particularly attached to a beginner's textbook on magic where he is engrossed over the concept. Wanting to get practical, he recites an incantation to successfully conjure a Water Ball; to his surprise, he manages to conjure up the second and third silently with intuition alone but was physically drained by the fourth due to mana exhaustion. He spends the following days trying to get behind the mechanism of projectile magic and investigating how his mana reserves expand by draining mana everyday. Finally, wanting to start experimentations on magic he decides to build up his magical potential by regularly exhausting his mana.

Chapter 4: Master
Rudeus turned three-years-old, and one day he accidentally blasts a hole in the wall practicing magic. Paul and Zenith rushed in only to end up confused and astonished by the sight. Confirming Rudeus's aptitude for magic they decide Rudeus would learn magic under a private tutor in the morning and swordsmanship with Paul in the afternoons. They eventually hired a magic tutor and contrary to what Rudeus had imagined a magic tutor should look like, a young blue-haired girl called Roxy Migurdia shows up at their doorstep. Roxy initially thinks Paul and Zenith had overestimated their three-year-old's talent but quickly, she is shocked by Rudeus's ablity to silently cast spells and acknowledges his aptitude. From the following day onwards, Rudeus spent the mornings practicing magic with Roxy, physical training with Paul in the afternoons, and then spell experimentations by himself in the evenings. Rudeus soon becomes an Intermediate-ranked mage after four months of diligence and his knowledge of the world progressively starts to expand thanks to Roxy's lectures. During their lessons, he learns Roxy is actually a demon while proceeding to take note of an especially dangerous race of demons called the Superds to never mess with them should he encounter them. After roughly another year, Rudeus successfully advances to Advanced ranked in all branches of magic.

Chapter 5: Swords and Sorcery
Rudeus was now celebrating his fifth birthday. In this world it is customary to celebrate the fifth and tenth birthday, and finally the fifteenth when one is considered an adult. Paul gifts him a real sword and a practice sword, a botanical encyclopedia from Zenith, and a wand from Roxy. The following day while practicing swordplay Paul expresses his worries Rudeus might not be interested in learning swordsmanship at all as he was more proficient in magic. At the end, Rudeus comforts him by showing his determination to learn the way of the sword. But again, during the middle of his class Roxy relays her thoughts to Rudeus that he could strive to become a knight instead of a mage. While Paul saw in Rudeus a talent for magic, Roxy saw in him a passion for the sword. Rudeus is concerned over this situation but before he could give his answer Roxy abruptly mentions his graduation is coming up very soon, leaving him in disbelief.

Chapter 6: Reasons for Respect
The graduation ceremony was to take place outside the village. Rudeus was afraid; he was a shut-in who was afraid to step out of the house in his former life. The instinctual fear of the outside still remained even after he was reincarnated; he had never gone as far as beyond their yard. Contrary to his anxiety, Roxy actually thought he was only scared of the horse they were about to ride on. She nonchalantly put the nervous Rudeus on the horse and immediately ventured beyond their yard.

People bowed to them as they rode through the village, but there were also sharp stares. At first, Rudeus thought the cold stares were directed at him but then realized it was actually for Roxy. He knew for a fact that demons were discriminated against and the villagers actually bowed to Roxy, a demon; Rudeus came to a realization, Roxy was truly trustworthy and she would most likely stand up for him in a bad situation. For the first time outside, he was able to loosen up.

They galloped for an hour till they reached their destination – a wide grass plain. Roxy then informed she was going to cast the Water Saint-level spell Cumulonimbus and the test was that he should attempt the same himself. She chanted and then slowly their surroundings swole dark, black clouds flickered with purple lightning, and then a downpour came. She then instructed Rudeus to do the same and keep the clouds for an hour. Rudeus started to chant the incantation but then feeling that having to continuously expend his magical power and hold his pose is tiring, he applied scientific methods from his previous world to keep the clouds steady for an hour. Roxy was so taken aback by his genius feat; she then commended Rudeus for his graduation and bestowed the Water Saint title to him. For the first time since coming to this world, Rudeus felt he had truly taken his first step with this accomplishment.

The next day, Roxy was at their doorstep about to leave, saying her farewell to the family. She said she would travel around the world to hone her magic more. She gave Rudeus her amulet of the Migurd tribe as a present and finally went on her way. Before he knew it, Rudeus was crying for Roxy had given him so much: wisdom, experience, skills and more than anything she took him outside - his greatest fear. He overcame that fear with her comfort; not even his current parents nor his previous parents, but her.

With their parting, Rudeus found the most profound sense of respect for Roxy.

Chapter 7: Friends
Rudeus decided he was going to go outside and study as much as possible about where he lived. He had asked and received permission from Paul to go outside. With his botanical encyclopedia and his wand, he headed out.

Several days went by and Rudeus wasn’t frightened of the outside world anymore; he succeeded in greeting people perfectly and people properly greeted back. His main objective in going outside was to go exploring to get the lay of the land and find out which plants were edible and which were not. His objective was finding ways to survive if he ever got kicked out of the house.

After a few days, he decided he’d expand his search radius and cautiously made his way closer to the forest because the village didn’t have any notable flora. He made his way up a small hill and just then he heard the sounds of kids bullying. Three boys were hurling mud at another boy, calling him a ‘demon’. Being a former victim of bullying, Rudeus sympathized with the boy and felt like helping him. Rudeus jumped in and succeeded in driving them off. Rudeus felt victorious for wining agaisnt the bullies for the first time in two lives.

He went on to check the boy and decided to wash the mud off with warm water heated with fire magic. He saw the boy had a pretty face, elf-like ears, and emerald hair. Just when Rudeus was alarmed by the emerald hair he noticed there was no red jewel on the forehead. Relieved, he concluded he was not a Superd, which was warned by Roxy. He was bullied for only having born with such features. With a sense of pity, Rudeus decided he would be his first friend and stick with him. The boy introduced himself as Sylph.

Sylph was delivering his father’s lunch, who stood guard at the watchtower. He was a very attractive man and seemed like a good person. Rudeus politely introduced himself and took his permission to go play elsewhere with Sylph. When they got back to the small hill, Sylph confessed his amazement on how Rudeus previously heated the water with magic to wash away the mud and begged him to teach him magic. And so, Rudeus and Sylph’s magic training began and played until the sun went down.

When Rudeus got back home, Paul was furious. He had been informed by one of the bullies’ parents that Rudeus had punched their son. Paul was demanding an apology for a thing he had not done and absolutely refused to hear out Rudeus’ side. Pissed, Rudeus snarled back at him with sarcasm only to end up getting hit in the cheek. Rudeus was enraged; he threatened he would never use the Greyrat name again and he would downplay his family’s honour because Paul “condoned bullying and abuse”. Confused, Paul realized the bully’s parents must have made a mistake and apologized for hitting him. He asked for the full story and Rudeus, relieved, explained the details of the situation. Paul sadly apologized again for getting ahead without knowing the details. However Rudeus didn’t take advantage of it, he naturally consoled Paul. To Rudeus, Paul was only an immature parent, and thought it wasn’t right for his own child to let him feel miserable about himself.

【 Paul’s POV 】

It was an afternoon, one of the villagers came to Paul and complained his son, Rudeus, had punched their son. Paul assumed his son was playing and gotten into a fight. He decided he would need to scold his son properly on how he needed to be very careful with the power he wields.

But that evening when Paul demanded an apology, Rudeus had no intention whatsoever of apologizing. When Paul tried to ask what actually happened, he only responded back with condescension and sarcasm. It galled him as a result, and out of reflex struck Rudeus. Suddenly, Paul came to a realization, while he was trying to get his son apologize for his wrong usage of power, he himself had hit him in the heat of the moment; he was now in the wrong. Paul’s wistful apology came out naturally, Rudeus seemed to took it and with a softened expression went to explain the whole story.

It turned out Rudeus was helping another kid who was getting bullied and the bully had misinformed his parents. Rudeus was actually in the right! Paul recalled when he was young, his father too never listened to his side of the story and always felt miserable when he scolded him. The same thing happened to him now and ended up hitting his own son when he swore he would never be a parent like his father. Whatever lesson he had been trying to teach to Rudeus, he himself had failed at it. But in spite of it, Rudeus didn’t blame Paul. He even consoled him in the end and learn this experience. Paul felt proud of his brilliant son

【Paul’s POV – end 】

Chapter 8: Obliviousness
Rudeus turned six. His daily life hadn’t changed – sword practice in the mornings, magic practice along with Sylph in the afternoons. Recently, he had also been augmenting magic to swordsmanship; his greatest goal was to at least defeat Paul once within the next five years.

One afternoon, to Rudeus’ surprise Sylph was able to pull off voiceless incantation too! Then suddenly, rain poured down. Since Sylph’s house was too far to run to, they made their way for the Greyrat residence. On their return, Lilia received them with warm water to wash up. While Rudeus was undressing to wash up, Sylph was fidgeting awkwardly, seemingly not wanting to take off his clothes in front of him. He was quite obstinate about it; Rudeus, wanting to tease on him, dived down to suddenly pull down his pants. And to his shock there wasn't a penis; Sylph was a girl all along! At that moment Paul came in only to see the spectacle of Rudeus holding Sylph’s underpants. Rudeus felt there was no talking his way out of this one.

【 Paul’s POV 】

Paul came home from work to find his son assaulting his only friend who was a young girl. He wanted to tear into him on the spot, but he didn’t want to rehash his previous failure and managed to stay level.

However, when he asked for the reason Rudeus only apologized deeply, unlike previously. Seeing his boy utterly dejected made Paul feel a bit guilty. He directed to Rudeus, if he wanted forgiveness then he needed to apologize to Sylphiette, and assured him she’ll forgive him. His son’s face brightened at that.

Rudeus immediately apologized to Sylphiette for his behavior - he thought she was a boy due to her short hair.

When he heard the apology, for the first time Paul felt his son was a lot dumber than he thought.

【 Paul’s POV – end 】

After a lot of apologies, compliments, and reassurances, Rudeus finally got Sylphie to forgive him. He found out her name was actually Sylphiette and figured he would call her “Sylphie”. But ever since that incident, Sylphie had very been wary of him.

One day, on Paul’s advice, Rudeus went to Sylphie hoping to reconcile with her, but her reply made him realize he himself was the barrier all along. He had been treating her differently ever since he found out she was a girl. As a result, Syphie didn’t know how to react. Understanding she wanted normalcy, Rudeus decided he would treat like he did before and try his best not to fluster her.

Chapter 9: Emergency Family Meeting
Zenith had learned she was pregnant. The Greyrat household was abuzz at the announcement. It was a day of bubbling joy and countless smiles. The problem didn’t arise until about a month later. Their maid, Lilia, had discovered that she was pregnant, as well. The family was in shock. Paul nervously blurted out the child might be his. And thus was convened an emergency family meeting.

Lilia first proposed she would give birth in Fittoa and then raise the baby back in her hometown. However, Zenith immediately rejected the idea since it was physically impossible not only for the mother but also for the newborn. Zenith was grappling with two separate emotions: her fondness for Lilia and her feelings of betrayal. Rudeus, not wanting to see his family break apart, decided he would help Lilia to solve the problem. He cleverly came up with a plan that used Lilia as the victim of Paul, evidently Paul being the scapegoat. Rudeus turned to his mother and deceitfully crafted a story of Paul making moves on Lilia, and Lilia not able to defy the master giving in to his desires. Paul was in shock by the development but Lilia was able to play along; Rudeus pushed a bit further and Zenith consequently gave in. She finally announced Lilia would be staying with them as family.

【 Lilia’s POV 】

Lilia was the one who seduced Paul. She no initial intention but, after hearing Zenith and Paul release lascivious sounds night after night and to clean a room that scented of a very satisfied man and woman – she had her needs building up.

That came crashing when Zenith got pregnant. Knowing Paul had an abundance of libido, it got into Lilia’s head that this was her opportunity, and invited him to her room. All in all, she blamed herself.

But to her surprise, Rudeus forgave her. Even though he must have already sensed Lilia was purposely avoiding him, he chose her and her child over his feelings and came up with a plan that allowed her to stay at the house. He has truly earned her respect. Lilia decided at that moment, once her child has grown up, she would see that they made their way into Rudeus’ service.

【 Lilia’s POV – end 】

Several months had passed. Rudeus felt Lilia had begun to open up to him bit by bit ever since that incident.

Soon after, Zenith gave birth. It was a rough experience, with Lilia in her own difficult condition. With the help of a midwife from the village. The birth was a success, to Rudeus’ joy, a baby girl was born. The relief was short-lived, however, as Lilia went into labour as well. Rudeus quickly prepared all the things with magic and the midwife handled the rest. Another girl was born.

Zenith’s daughter was named Norn. Lilia’s daughter was named Aisha.

Chapter 10: Stunted Growth
Rudeus turned seven years old and his sisters were growing quickly. Recently, he had not been able to advance in his swordsmanship at all, still cemented at Beginner level. Surpassing Paul, who was Advanced-level in all three schools and heavily experienced, now seemed nothing more like a pipe dream.

One day, while they were in sword practice, Paul brought up the topic of school. Rudeus was curious about it, but Paul immediately put off that idea. Instead, he recommended trying out adventuring and venture into labyrinths. Rudeus wanted to give it a shot but assessed it was impossible for him as a peaceful life suited him more. Their conversation was interrupted by Sylphie.

Sylphie had been coming to Rudeus’ house to study. Discerning how rapidly Sylphie was growing, Rudeus felt like she’d leave him in the dust in no time. He sighed audibly about having no choice but to go to school or adventuring to learn more things, but to Rudeus’ surprise, Sylphie threw herself at him and obstinately rejected about him leaving the village. Seeing her not wanting him to go away, Rudeus had creeping thoughts - maybe he could just stay at the village with Sylphie and enjoy a slow life. Suddenly, a letter arrived.

The letter addressed to Rudeus, was from Roxy. It opened up by explaining how she had been living as a magic tutor as the court magician at Shirone Kingdom, tutoring the prince. She revealed she had finally achieved Kingly-level Water spells and was walking towards being a Divine-level magician. She wholeheartedly believed, Rudeus must have already achieved Imperial-level or even reached Saintly-level in all other branches and finally recommended her alma mater, the Ranoa University of Magic if Rudeus should want to pursue higher magical studies.

The letter was a wake-up call for Rudeus. His respected master was expecting even greater achievements from him, while just now he had been thinking it was fine to stay at the current level forever.

Rudeus thought he couldn’t leave Sylphie behind, and decided he would ask his father to pay for both their fees. However, Paul out-rightly shot down his request. Rudeus agreed to his Paul's explanation why he couldn't, but asked him to search for a job so that he can earn Sylphie’s fees for university to which Paul agreed.

【 Paul’s POV 】

Paul wasn’t expecting that. His son was only seven but he was already talking about university and getting jobs to earn fees.

During his adventuring days, Paul remembered someone telling him – rush too fast through your life, and your life will end before you know it. He thought it was a load of crap; Paul was someone who rushed through life, he believed humans had a very limited window of time. But now, Rudeus sprinting forward so fast it made Paul nervous about letting him go.

Recently, Paul also sensed Sylphie had been attached to Rudeus too much. Sylphie needed to learn to stand on her own. Paul thought they might need some time part.

And so with those prospects in mind, Paul wrote a letter.

【 Paul’s POV – end 】

Chapter 11: Parted
One morning, during sword practice, Paul abruptly asked Rudeus what he would do if he had to stop seeing Sylphie. But before Rudeus could form a proper answer, as if Paul had already known the answer, he suddenly unleashed bloodlust and leaped towards Rudeus.

Rudeus was bewildered at the sudden dramatic change; he felt the cold and silent death – Paul – rushing towards him. Out of pure instinct, he immediately created a blast with magic that launched him backward, but to his no surprise, Paul immediately closed the distance. Rudeus had to catch both his legs at once; but before he finished prepping Paul was one step away from him! In a blind panic, Rudeus swung a careless attack with his sword, which Paul skillfully deflected. Rudeus already knew for a fact a counterstrike was coming, but he couldn’t do anything – a short, sharp blow came down to his neck and he blacked out.

Rudeus woke up and found himself tied up inside a box. Across him sat a woman – brown skin, muscular physique, with animal ears and tails. She introduced herself as Ghislaine and that she was going to be his acquaintance. Rudeus looked outside the window in the box and saw they were moving across a land he knew nothing of. He was in a carriage, tied up, and on an unfamiliar land – alarms went inside Rudeus’ head. When he asked the woman about the situation, Ghislaine handed out a letter from Paul.

He read the letter, Rudeus finally understood what was going on. Paul had beaten him unconscious and sent him away for a job. The job required him to stay at the Citadel of Roa for five years to tutor a violent young lady. And he would get swordsmanship training from Ghislaine, who Paul remarked as a Sword King, while he would also coach her on basic education. Additionally, in five years, once he finishes providing the young lady solid education, his contract entitles him to a special reward: a payment covering the cost of tuition for two people to the University of Magic.

【 Paul's POV 】

Paul’s son, Rudeus, was lying unconscious on the ground. This method wasn’t particularly an admirable one but Paul came to the conclusion he had no choice. He was trying to beat his son unconscious to send him away for a job he would most likely refuse if presented to him directly.

Paul was surprised by how well Rudeus responded the instant he made the first move. Though the fight lasted for only a few seconds, it actually took Paul three steps to strike him, which one too many to deal with a magician. Paul was proud of his son's knack for battle.

Paul proceeded to hand over his letter for Rudeus to Ghislaine and unceremoniously dumped Rudeus in the carriage. Looking at the carriage moving away down the road Paul silently addressed to Rudeus. He had never wanted to part this way but felt he could not have convinced Rudeus to take the job. Still, as a father, Paul couldn’t just do nothing and had to rely on this crude method. He expected his clever son to understand sooner or later. Paul knew his son would have some harsh experiences, but just like him, he wholeheartedly believed Rudeus would grow stronger and find things he loved that way. After all, he was his own son.

【 Paul's POV - end 】

Extra Chapter: The Mother of the Greyrat Family
【 Zenith’s POV 】

Zenith Greyrat, born in the Holy Country of Millis and by birth a member of the aristocracy, was a clueless child who did everything her parents told. As a member of the aristocracy, her life had already been set down the road. But she didn’t end up following it. Zenith’s life changed forever on her fifteenth birthday. She had a terrible fight with her parents and ran away from home. She had been sick of letting her parents control her life.

Zenith was hopelessly naïve. A band of thugs spotted her immediately and out her into their party as a healer. But, to her luck, a man came to her rescue and dragged Zenith into his own party. That was how she met her husband – Paul Greyrat. Zenith and Paul were total opposites in how they lived their lives, but she slowly grew attracted to him.

She slept with Paul one fateful day, but to her carelessness she got pregnant after a single night. To her incredible surprise, Paul did the honorable thing to marry her. Then she bore his child, his name was Rudeus Greyrat.

⌊ Timeskip: post-Chapter 9 ⌋

At the moment, Zenith was watching Rudeus. He crouched next to his little sisters’ cribs. Whenever they made a fuss he would make a silly face to amuse them; it always ended with a satisfied grin on his face. It wasn’t a usual occurence. Rudeus always had the most serious expression on; he never looked particularly satisfied. But now, he was making silly faces to amuse his little sisters. Seeing him like that put Zenith in a good mood herself.

Zenith recalled the early years with Rudeus. She felt he secretly looked down on the rest of the family due to his incredible talent. But Zenith had it all wrong. She realized it in the midst of their greatest family crisis. Rudeus stepped in to guide things to a neat conclusion. She, at that time, understood that he did love his family in his own way.

Suddenly, Zenith was waken up from memories by Norn's cry. It was time for her milk; Zenith proceeded to feed her. Norn looked satisfied and put her away in her crib. But then, Aisha started to cry next. After checking up on her Rudeus turned towards Zenith with an anxious face. He said Aisha was hungry too and Lilia was out at the moment. For a moment, Zenith thought if breastfeeding Aisha would make her feel anger or revulsion. But immediately she shook off her uncertainty and picked up Aisha. When she started to feed, she felt nothing other than her warm, pleasant awareness of motherhood just like with Norn. She was truly glad.

Zenith was looking out of the window stroking Rudeus’ head beside her. Outside was a peaceful spring afternoon, golden fields of wheat stretched out endlessly. She felt utterly content. The peace they had now was only because Rudeus intervened that day. Thank god for Rudeus, she thought.

【 Zenith's POV - end 】