A while after Paul left, Eris and Ruijerd returned.
Eris had a large bruise near her eye, and Ruijerd was making a complicated face.
"What happened, you two?"
"Nothing. So, what happened with that man?"
As if to say she was extremely displeased, Eris folded her arms and snorted.
"We made up."
When I said this, Eris' eyes immediately narrowed[10].
"Why!?"
She smacks her clenched fists on the table.
The table broke with a huge noise.
Mn, well, it was quite powerful...
"I see. So you made up, huh?"
In response, Ruijerd looked glad.
"Rudeus!"
Eris had grabbed me by the shoulders.
She's tightening her grip.
Her strength is absurd.
"Why!?"
"What do you mean by 'why'?"
I ask, a little confused.
"Yesterday, weren't you completely depressed!?"
"Yeah. You really helped me yesterday. Thanks to your hug, I managed to calm down quite a bit."
That I could look at Paul's face today was also unmistakably thanks to Eris.
Had it not been for that hug, I might have secluded myself in my room for a while.
"That's not it! That man didn't show up to your 10th birthday either, Rudeus! Not only that, the journey through the Magic Continent was really tough! You were even thrown into jail in the Great Forest! And then, finally, even though you finally managed to meet him, he did something like that! You said that he rejected you, right!? Why are you forgiving him!?"
Eris had spoken in one breath.
I understand her point as well.
Certainly.
If you say it like that, Paul was the worst.
Had he declared that he hated me, I would have believed it.
Had I been a normal child, I'd probably have never forgiven Paul.
However, it can't be helped that Paul had failed in regards to me. I've inherited my memories from my previous life, and have always done things well. Towards such an irregular son, it'd be unreasonable to expect him to interact normally. Paul has trouble grasping the distance between us, and is troubled over how to treat me.
Moreover, despite the things I say, there are still various things I don't know about how a proper father should be.
I don't think that this is anything bad.
To me, from the standpoint of a son, a father is just someone who watches over and protects you from above.
To me, it doesn't matter how many times Paul fails.
My heart isn't broken anymore.
Though, there's still the fact that we parted ways immediately.
"Eris."
"What...?"[11]
I'm troubled over what I should say.
Eris is angry for my sake.
However, it's something that is already settled to me.
"Tou-sama is just one person. He'll make mistakes too."
I said this, and then used Healing on the bruise near her eye.
Though Eris had obediently allowed me to heal her, looking at her expression, I understood that she hadn't accepted this.
When I had finished treating her, she sulkily returned to her room in the inn.
While watching her go, I asked Ruijerd a question.
"So, Ruijerd-san."
"What is it?"
"What's with that bruise?"
The bruise near Eris' eye.
She didn't have that yesterday.
"I had difficulties in stopping her."
He spoke calmly.
Normally he'd fly into a rage about people hitting children, but it seems that his mind had changed.
Eris had probably been violently struggling because she couldn't forgive Paul no matter what, but she and Ruijerd have a student and teacher relationship. Because of their training, this isn't the first time Eris has been injured.
No, look carefully.
Ruijerd's expression.
It's not actually calm.
He's not a man who makes a lot of facial expressions, but right now it's a little bitter.
It seems he was reluctant.
I guess there's no helping it, huh?
Whether it's what happened, or what kind of conversation they had, or what kind of circumstances there were, I don't know any of it.
However, there's only one thing I can say.
That Ruijerd and Eris were at odds with each other was my fault.
I was able to reconcile with Paul.
In that case, what I'll say is my thanks.
"Thank you very much. Thanks to you, I was able to reconcile with Tou-sama."
"No reason for thanks."
However, right now Ruijerd can't stop Eris without hitting her.
Without me knowing, she's gotten steadily stronger, huh?