It's curious that in this world, even though you're in the sky, there's a huge variety of plants and flowers that can grow. Normally, the idea would have been insane to me, but the blue flower in front of me says otherwise.
"I really like this flower." I wonder if I could take it home. Maybe Blue Mother would like it. Oh wait, I just remembered that everyone in this place wants to kill me. I don't blame them; I mean, just an hour ago I attacked the lord of this castle. It's a miracle that I'm still here and alive.
The door opens and I see everyone coming out. My father is bowing to the winged woman, it seems like he's apologizing again. White Mother keeps holding Sieg in her arms; judging by her face, I guess the meeting wasn't so bad. Lord Orsted and Zanoba are the first ones to approach me.
"You put on quite a show there." I didn't look up at Zanoba when he said those words, but judging by his tone, he doesn't seem angry. Lord Orsted just remains silent.
When everyone finally gathers in the teleportation circle, I can feel all their gazes on me. Honestly, I don't want to look up because I'm afraid of what I might find.
When we used the circle and left the Chaos Breaker, Zanoba and Orsted left us. Father, White Mother, Red Mother, and I had to go back to tell Blue Mother about everything that happened. We didn't talk on the way home, the silence was suffocating. Since I reincarnated in this world, none of my parents has ever been angry at me, which is why I'm so scared to look at them now. I don't know how they'll react.
When we arrived the house, and my father opened the door, it was Blue Mother who received us.
"How did the meeting go?" As she spoke, I tried to sneak to my room without being noticed, but something grabbed my neck and lifted me. I looked up and saw Red Mother staring at me, her red eyes burning like fire. Without a word, Red Mother carried me to the yard while Father, Blue Mother, and White Mother stayed talking in the living room.
"You think you're strong?" Red Mother slammed me onto the ground as she spoke. "When I trained you, I did it so you could defend yourself, not to attack others!"
I stayed on the ground and looked up at her. "I'm sorry..."
"Hmmph!" Red Mother snorted angrily, then turned me around and pulled down my pants.
"Wait! What are you—" Without warning, Red Mother started spanking my butt.
"You have become arrogant! Just because you know a few spells doesn't mean you can attack whoever you want!" As she scolded me, I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks.
"WAAAAHHH!" I don't know if I was crying because of the pain or because of the humiliation of being spanked like a little kid. Well, technically I am a little kid now, but that doesn't make it any better!
She kept spanking me until the point where I couldn't cry anymore. When she finally finished, Red Mother grabbed me and took me back to the house, where Father and the other two mothers were waiting. Honestly, I was very angry—the fact that I was spanked was the most humiliating thing I've ever experienced, counting my two lives.
"Ryker, sit," Father ordered, but I actually had to lie on the couch because I couldn't sit due to the pain in my ass.
Father sighed as he looked at me. I think seeing me all red and with tears softened him a little bit.
"Ryker, I understand why you did that. I truly do, and honestly, I'm happy that you wanted to defend Sieg, even if that meant defending him from Perugius-sama." He smiled as he spoke.
"But that doesn't mean what you did was correct." It was White Mother who finally intervened.
" You were completely careless and disrespectful. Your actions almost cost us our friendship with Perugius-sama."
It was the first time I'd seen White Mother angry at me.
"If you wanted to defend Sieg in this case, you should have talked things out respectfully, not launched yourself to attack Perugius-sama."
White Mother was severe as she spoke. And it did make sense, now that I think about it, that was exactly what Father was doing during the meeting. Even though Father said he was willing to fight, neither he nor Perugius-sama made a move to attack each other. I was the one who messed everything up.
"You have the spirit, Ryker, but White Mother is right. You need to learn to control your emotions and never let your own strength make you arrogant." Father patted my head when he said that, but then he regained his strict posture.
"Ahem! Anyway, Ryker, I discussed it with your mothers, and your punishment is that you're prohibited from using magic or having any magic lessons until we say otherwise."
It was a strange punishment if you think about it—they were basically prohibiting me from learning. But when I thought about it more, I realized what this punishment truly meant. What I do the most is learning and practicing magic; the rest of the things are boring to me. If I couldn't use magic, then I'd be bored all day. Compared to my past life, it's like being forbidden from using my cellphone. Tch, they made a smart move.
"Can I at least have some lessons with Blue Mother?"
"No!" Father, White Mother, and Red Mother all said at the same time. I looked at Blue Mother hoping she'd back me up, but she only scratched her cheek and looked away.
"Fine… again, I'm sorry." When I said that, they finally allowed me to go back to my room, but I turned around with one last question.
"By the way, what happened after I left the castle?"
"Mm? Oh, Perugius-sama told us to go to the Divine Continent to baptize Sieg," my father replied. Well, at least it seems everything went fine.
"Oh, Ryker, by the way, you're completely banned from going back to the Chaos Breaker." My father said that with a chuckle, but I could see the deadly gazes of my mothers aimed straight at me.
"At least I'm alive…" I murmured as I finally headed to my room.I really want to get some sleep. It's been a long day.
---
It's been a week since the incident in the Chaos Breaker. Father and my three mothers are currently on their trip to the Divine Continent to baptize Sieg.
"Ryker, it's already noon. Get out of bed, I need to clean the sheets." It was Aisha trying to drag me out of bed.
"Ugggh… why don't you clean Ars' bed first?" I growled, burying myself deeper into my sheets.
"Unlike you, Ars is happily playing with Lucy and Lara downstairs. Now get up." Aisha shook me hard enough that I had no choice but to get up and leave the room.
Honestly, since the incident, I've been really depressed. First, I still felt guilty about how I handled things. I rushed to conclusions and acted stupidly. Second, I was punished, so I couldn't use magic. Normally, since none of my parents are home, I would've kept practicing, but Aisha was watching me all the time to make sure I served my punishment. And third… I was still humiliated about how Red Mother spanked my ass. Every time I sat down and felt pain, it was a reminder of my misery. So yeah, I wasn't really in a good mood.
As I walked downstairs, I saw Lucy and Ars playing. Lara was with them, but she was sleeping next to Leo.
"Ryker! Come play!" Ars has started to learn a few words; now he can communicate better. I was about to step in, but then I saw Lucy glaring at me.
Lucy and I… we have a complicated relationship. I think it all started when it became clear I could use magic. Since then, Lucy has been trying to keep up with me during training, but she couldn't. Everything got worse when I became a Water Saint. I don't blame her—she's jealous of me. Knowing I'm better than her in magic and younger than her must really irritate her.
I have complicated feelings about this. On one hand, I want to get along with her, she's my sister, and honestly, I love her as my family. But on the other hand, I want to keep getting stronger and better at magic, and I can't hold myself back just because of Lucy's jealousy.
"Sorry, Ars, I'll be with Grandma Zenith," I replied with a smile. The only solution I've found is to avoid annoying Lucy. She already thinks I steal all the attention from our parents, so if I also 'steal' the attention of our siblings, things will just get worse between us. So I've decided to step back and give Lucy and my siblings their own space.
I went outside to the yard and saw Grandma Zenith sitting there, staring blankly at the sky as always. I sat next to her.
"Good morning, Grandma Zenith." I knew she wouldn't respond, but it was comforting to talk to her.
"The sky is really beautiful today, don't you think?" I lay down and looked up at the sky. The shapes of the clouds, the grass brushing against my hair and limbs, mixed with the breeze carrying the smell of flowers, relaxed my body so much I thought I might fall asleep again.
"Ryker!" Unfortunately, a voice pulled me out of my little heaven. "I need to go to the market, so come with me." It was Aisha.
"Weren't you supposed to be cleaning the sheets?" I asked, a little annoyed.
"I finished. C'mon, stop being so grumpy and help me carry the bags."
"You're asking a two-year-old to help you carry bags?" I wasn't interested in going to the market; I'd rather stay sleeping.
"Jejeje, we both know you're not a normal two-year-old," Aisha replied, leaving me with no excuses. So I had to accompany her to the market.
The market was a really noisy place. I had never been here, but I already knew what markets were like: noisy people, scammers, and bad smells. Even though I didn't want to be here, Aisha was really gentle with me the entire time. As we were buying fruits, meat, and other stuff, a woman approached us.
"Aisha, good to see you." Judging by her pointed ears, I assume she is an elf.
"It's good to see you too, Elinalise," Aisha replied. If I had to describe Elinalise in one word, that word would be beautiful. Her blonde hair, shaped in heavily defined ringlets, made her look truly gorgeous.
"Oh, and this pretty boy over here?" Elinalise leaned over to look at me.
"He is the son of Rudeus and Eris-sama," Aisha replied, moving slightly to show me.
"Hi… my name is Ryker." I felt my face heat up a little as I looked at her.
"So you're one of the sons of Rudeus and Eris. Seems like you inherited their best features," Elinalise said, giggling. "Oh, I have a son near your age. Clive, come here, sweetheart."
Behind her, a little kid appeared. He seemed about my age.
"My name is Clive Grimore. I'm the protector of my mother," the kid said, puffing out his chest proudly. Elinalise just giggled softly and patted Clive's hair.
Aisha told me to go play with Clive while she talked with Elinalise. I was kind of hesitant; I hadn't had much time to socialize with other people, and the idea of making friends brought back bad memories from my past life.
"Hey Ryker, you see that hill up there? Let's go run there!" Clive pointed at a nearby hill.
"Mmm, I don't know… seems far, and Aisha may—"
"Let's go!" Before I could react, Clive grabbed my hand and started running. I had no other option but to run too.
We arrived at the hill, and Clive started looking at a tree that had a lot of apples.
"Woah! Look at the leafs of the tree! They're red!"
"Actually, those are apples."
"Apples?" Clive looked confused. This kid doesn't even know what an apple is?!
"Yes, they're fruits, and you can eat them. Do you want one?"
"Yes!" Clive was very excited at the idea of eating an apple. It was impossible to reach the apples because Clive and I were too short, but if I could use wind magic… well… Aisha seemed very busy talking with Elinalise, so… I conjured a gust of wind in my hand and whipped it against the tree, making all the apples fall to the ground.
"Eh?! Ryker, how did you do that?!"
"It's called magic. Wind magic, to be precise."
"Incredible! I want to do that too!" Clive looked at me, eyes wide with excitement.
"Ask your parents to teach you; perhaps they know," I said, offering him a gentle smile.
Then, from down the hill, I could see Aisha and Elinalise calling to us, so we both rushed back to them. When we arrived, I told Clive to take the apples and ask his mother to chop them so he could eat them. Then we said goodbye to Elinalise and Clive.
"Goodbye Ryker!"
"See you Clive!"
Aisha and I decided to go back home.
"It seems you had fun… Clive was very impressed with your wind magic," Aisha said. I looked at her worriedly, but she quickly calmed me.
"Don't worry, I won't tell your father, but don't do it again," she said gently, and we kept walking back home.
"Hey, Aisha."
"Yes, Ryker?"
"I didn't carry any bags."
Aisha giggled softly at my words and patted my head.
"No, you didn't."
I looked at her and smiled. As we kept walking, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.