Chapter 59: Affection is a Restless Tug-of-War with Oneself

Allen continued on his journey on foot at a swift pace. However, having been through a battle and driving his battle aura to run for four hours straight, he noticeably felt a wave of exhaustion. By midday, he simply plunged headfirst into a patch of green grass by the roadside, deciding to make do with a quick nap.

He was far too drowsy.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the lush grass, casting scattered patches of light across his face. The grass stems danced in the wind, tickling his face with a slight itch while his eyelids fought a losing battle.

Right at that moment, however, he found himself thinking of Roxy’s hand.

"...System?"

[Speak.]

This time, the system responded promptly to his call.

Allen blinked his dry eyes, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious. After hesitating for a moment, he finally voiced his question.

"Um... I've got a question... Back then, every trivial little thing would trigger an increase in favorability. This time, I got along quite pleasantly with Roxy all the way... well, at least I thought it was quite pleasant. So how come there's no notification about gaining her favor anymore?"

"...Am I worried that you're skimming a commission off my points? You know what I mean, right?"

Whether it was his imagination or not, he felt as though the dust floating before him flickered slightly, as if...

It was laughing.

[The moonlight was quite nice last night.]

Allen’s consciousness was somewhat hazy, and he subconsciously nodded.

"It certainly was."

[You held her hand and chatted for a long time, and the atmosphere was clearly somewhat ambiguous. Yet you're wondering why there was no prompt for an increase in favorability... Is that what you're trying to ask?]

Hearing this, Allen’s expression stiffened.

"I've been wronged! I'm completely innocent! I really was just concerned about my points!!"

[Oh? Is that so?]

"Cross my heart... Now hurry up and tell me why the points aren't rolling in!"

[The host needs to understand that in terms of human emotions, intimate relationships have distinct boundary lines and chasms.]

[For instance, strangers, acquaintances, friends, admirers, lovers, and family members—each tier of intimacy possesses a clear dividing line.]

[Once a certain threshold is reached, progressing any further cannot be achieved simply by casual chatting, simple physical contact, or a solemn wave of farewell.]

[Do you... understand?]

Allen stared fixedly at the system interface, his gaze lingering for a long time on the word 'friend' swaying in the wind, before answering with his inner voice.

'I understand. Last night was just holding hands anyway... No, you can't even call that holding hands, it was at best a coincidence... What is wrong with me? Suddenly feeling so pure and innocent that my IQ feels like it's dropped. Damn it, acting like an elementary schooler, thinking Roxy actually fancied me... The very first of life's three greatest illusions... This must be what they call a delusional self-proclaimed nice guy.'

'Calm down... Right now, Roxy's favorability toward me is probably stuck at the 'friend' stage, and she must still be a long way off from ambiguous relationships like lovers or sweethearts.'

Upon reaching this thought, Allen actually breathed a quiet sigh of relief. After a moment of silence, Roxy's smiling face upon parting involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

'Ha... If we really had crossed some kind of boundary, I wouldn't even know how to handle it. In the novel's plot, Allen doesn't even exist as a named character. If I really started dating Roxy instead of Rudy, that would be way too awkward to bear. Without future sight to help me participate in subsequent major events, wouldn't I just be standing there bewildered, sword in hand? If I do that, Lilia won't even be born later, so how would the Man-God appear to interfere... Stop! Stop being so delusional! How on earth did my mind jump straight to having kids!!'

Allen looked at the grass before him, fell silent once more, and closed his eyes as weariness slowly washed over him.

'Roxy... has already brought me plenty of points. That first chance encounter alone gave me 23 points... I shouldn't be greedy... This is fine... This is good... This is wonderful...'

'Roxy...'

'Wonderful...'

Surrounded by the scent of grass, Allen, whose nerves had been strained all through the night, finally drifted off to sleep.

Yet, the system dust continued to drift and dance.

[Time and the future are such fascinating things. What happens in the present is often already predestined by a choice made at some node in the past, while the events of the future have already sown their seeds in countless present moments.]

[Heh...]

[...Your points, the very moment you met Roxy, had already been drawn in advance from that future share.]

[Allen.]

—

By the time Allen made his way back, it was already mid-July.

The rice paddies outside the village were being rippled by the wind into golden waves of grain.

As he reached the entrance of the village, the two little ones happened to be practicing magic right there. Sylphie spotted Allen from afar, froze blankly for a fraction of a second, and then a delighted expression instantly bloomed across her face as she flew straight into Allen’s arms.

Seeing Sylphie’s pointed ears twitching rapidly, Allen subconsciously caught her and spun around in a circle on the spot.

And then, he caught sight of Rudy standing nearby, whose expression had turned from delighted to resentful in an instant.

Allen’s expression froze. Realizing that the boy had already discovered the mysterious disappearance of his underwear, he coughed awkwardly a couple of times, set Sylphie down on the ground, and avoided Rudy’s gloomy gaze.

Sylphie stood steady, lowering her head to tidy her messy hair. Looking somewhat flustered, she spoke in a soft, sweet voice.

"Allen, Rudy and I have both been terribly worried about you this past month..."

Allen’s brow twitched. Reflected in his pupils was Rudy’s gaze, which bore no resemblance whatsoever to the look of someone who had been worried. He recalled his interactions with Roxy along the way.

His smile turned somewhat subtle, and he cautiously spoke up.

"Uhm, Rudy... About... the underwear thing, I can explain—"

"Allen!"

—

Before he could finish speaking, a hulking, muscular figure suddenly leaped out from the nearby clinic. Allen gave a start and looked over sharply.

It was Paul.

'Whoa, Brother Paul.'

'Wait, why is this guy hanging out in the clinic with his wife in broad daylight again?'

Just as this thought crossed his mind, before he could even greet him, Allen was abruptly caught in a headlock by Paul. The latter hauled him straight toward the house. Out of a shred of guilt for leaving without a word, Allen didn't struggle. However, when he noticed Paul’s arm tightening further around his neck, burying his head completely into the canyon of Paul’s pectoral muscles, and a wave of potent male hormones surged into his nostrils,

He finally panicked.

And began to struggle violently! Waving his arms, Allen wedged his face out from Paul's chest to look at Rudy, signaling frantically with his eyes.

'I can't handle Brother Paul's overwhelming passion! Rudy, stop just standing there and save me, please save me!'

Rudy understood Allen’s look, but he merely curled his lip and had no real desire to bail him out.

When he discovered that his holy relic had vanished into thin air, he had already reconstructed the events of that night in his mind: First of all, on the night he fell asleep, he should have been in Roxy's room, but when he woke up, he was back in his own room.

The most likely scenario was that Roxy and Rudy—no, Roxy and Allen had carried him back.

Then he racked his brains... and vaguely recalled some hazy memories... It seemed Allen had spoken to him that night, and right before that, there had been the sound of hurried footsteps leaving.

So the conclusion was crystal clear—the holy relic had been reclaimed by the God.

It was simply heartbreaking.

Logically speaking, up to this point, it didn't really have anything to do with Allen... But the problem was—

'Why on earth was it my underwear inside the shrine!'

At this thought, Rudy shot Allen a gnashing, resentful glare. He saw Allen reach out and grab the arm of the person trying to break free from Paul's embrace. In the span of a single second, the look of gratitude on that person's face rapidly morphed into sheer terror as Allen...

With meticulous care, he stuffed him right back into Paul's embrace, even patting Paul's hand to offer consolation.

The expression was identical—nay, indistinguishable—from the night Allen had slapped Rudy awake and then comforted him back to sleep.

"...Father has been terribly worried about you these past few days, which is why he's been waiting with us at the village entrance... You should just submit to him..."

"Huh?? What the hell?!"

Allen thrashed about a couple more times, only to find his neck trapped in Paul's embrace like an iron ring. With a mournful expression, he looked at Rudy, let out a resigned wail, and—under Rudy's rather peculiar gaze—was hauled all the way back to the study at home.

As for why he didn't use swordsmanship to fight back?

Emotionally, Allen was afraid Paul might want to engage in a fencing match with him, but rationally, he could judge that the current situation was not some kind of comedic development.

It was undoubtedly because Allen had left without a word, so Paul was genuinely angry. Therefore, the best course of action was to play along for now, and once they got home and Paul calmed down a bit, he could carefully explain everything...

So he thought.

However, upon returning home, the turn of events still exceeded his expectations.

Zenith wasn't at the clinic; she was at home. The very moment she laid eyes on Allen, her face clearly blossomed with pleasant surprise, but an instant later, dark clouds gathered over her expression. Ignoring Allen's pleading gaze, she followed Paul and the others up to the second-floor study, with Lilia trailing close behind.

With a sharp snap, the door was shut. Paul sat in his chair with his arms crossed, a face full of fury.

He didn't say a word.

The study was deathly quiet, save for the heavy panting of Allen, who had finally broken free from the macho embrace.

Noticing the bizarre atmosphere in the room, Allen glanced at Rudy and Sylphie, who were sitting obediently on chairs, as well as Zenith with her solemn expression and Lilia standing with her head bowed in a dutiful manner. He slowly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

'This isn't right... What is going on here? Shouldn't this be a 1-on-1 man-to-man confession scene? Where he simply asks where I went? Then I give an explanation, get a little lecture, and this plot arc wraps up? Why is the atmosphere so bizarre?'

Paul's face remained tight. He opened his mouth a few times as if to say something, but it ultimately dissolved into a heavy sigh.

"Allen, do you really think leaving without a word like that is okay?"

Allen blinked in surprise.

'What's going on? Is this Paul's lecturing event from the original plot? Did my presence mess it up, so by some mysterious twist of fate, it got transferred onto me?'

He instinctively looked toward Rudy beside him, only to find that Rudy didn't show the slightest hint of dissatisfaction; he was simply staring straight at Allen.

Allen blinked, then turned his gaze to Zenith. Her expression was almost identical. He turned his head again to look at Sylphie.

This child wasn't wearing a stern face, but she looked at him with an expression of worried concern.

"Allen... Everyone was really worried about you. Uncle Paul threw a huge fit a month ago..."

Allen froze, and then realization suddenly dawned on him.

At the time, he had been in a rush and hadn't thought much of it. He had simply left a letter for Paul, stating that he would be back after dealing with the 'Bristle Wolf'. Since Paul knew his identity, and Zenith often looked at him with the expression one might reserve for a child of their own household, she most likely knew as well.

In Allen's own mind, going away for a bit and then returning was no big deal—after all, it wasn't a strict employment relationship. Besides, Paul's current knightly job in Buena Village had been arranged for him by Philip. As Philip's son, Paul had every reason to look after him and tolerate him, whether out of a sense of gratitude or familial affection.

However, from the perspective of everyone else, that was completely unreasonable.

Imagine going to work at a company, leaving a note for your boss saying, 'Hey old man, I've got some personal business to take care of, see you in a month.'

'Don't bother sending any gold coins this month, just keep making them rain when I get back.'

And then you vanish without even saying goodbye.

Was that appropriate?

Therefore...

Paul had most likely already explained his identity to the rest of the family.

Even so, they shouldn't be wearing expressions like this... A scolding was understandable, but this interrogation-like stance...

At this moment, Paul irritably scratched his head, putting on a front of still being angry, and remained silent. Instead, Zenith assumed a solemn posture and spoke slowly.

"Allen, I've already explained your identity to everyone. That day, your uncle threw a massive fit... It was no longer possible to keep it hidden, and besides, I feel..."

Zenith looked at Allen's startled expression, and enunciated each word clearly.

"I feel there was no need to hide it anyway. We all treat you just like a child of our own family, and Rudy clearly gets along with you wonderfully—it's much more than a simple teacher-student relationship... All of that is wonderful... But..."

"By acting on your own like this, do you... view us as... your family?"

Allen swallowed hard, at a loss for what to do.

'Family? It's only been a little over three months... Is it because I'm Philip's son? But if we're family, shouldn't that make it easier to understand...?'

Right at that moment, Roxy's troubled expression surfaced in his mind, alongside her words carried by the night wind.

"...If it's something very urgent, you need to ask Lord Paul for help. He's an advanced rank in three different swordsmanship styles, you know. Moving around like that on your own is very dangerous, and everyone worries about you... You need to apologize properly to them when you get back..."

Allen faltered. Zenith's words gave him no room to catch his breath, clearly conveying her thoughts at that very moment.

"We truly view you as a part of the Greyrat family. I know you might not have much sense of belonging to a family, and I can understand that... But you need to know, we worry about you, Allen."

"Is there anything that can't be discussed with us before you make a decision? Leaving behind just a letter... it felt..."

Zenith paused. Her usually gentle expression was now somewhat complex. She gave Allen a deep look before continuing.

"It felt... as though we were merely monsters in the forest, something you were so eager to avoid and escape from. Or do you truly believe that in the Greyrat household, you are just... an hired outsider, nothing more? Paul's act isn't because he's actually angry, you know. We're just all a bit..."

"It just doesn't feel right in our hearts..."

When Zenith finished speaking, she looked somewhat weary. She cast one last glance at Allen, said nothing more, and walked out of the room.

Following that, Paul looked at Allen's dazed appearance, let out a sigh, dropped his angry facade, and walked over to pat him on the shoulder.

"I found a bounty poster in your drawer... Looks like you went off to handle that business. The clothes you wore also had traces of blood that had been washed out. Even though your strength is great, in the future... it's best to let us know when you go out. How could you be so sure we wouldn't support your actions? Isn't the whole point of a family to support, help, understand, and lean on each other? That's what a family is..."

"Eh, whatever. You probably have a hard time understanding all this... Let's leave it at that."

Allen felt his throat go dry, yet he had no way to refute it. The current scene completely surpassed his expectations of the plot, leaving him temporarily at a loss for what to do.

Lilia glanced at Allen, then walked out of the room as well to help prepare dinner in the kitchen.

Seeing Allen in this dazed state, Rudy didn't feel like pressing him about running off to send Roxy away without him. He already knew that Allen escorting Roxy had been secondary, and that he had actually gone off to handle some previous 'personal business'. He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately patted Allen's arm, using a joking tone to ease the atmosphere.

He muttered something about how Allen turned out to be his distant relative, and finally, seeing that Allen remained unresponsive, he shrugged helplessly and walked out of the room.

By the time Allen snapped out of his daze, Sylphie was the only one left in the study.

Sylphie's gaze darted back and forth between the floor and Allen's face. Finally, she stepped forward and, under Allen's somewhat stunned gaze, gently gave him a hug, speaking in a soft voice.

"Sylphie... was also really worried about you. But as long as you're back, that's what matters."

With a quick blink, she too left the study.

The light of the setting sun poured through the window, casting Allen's shadow long and stretched across the floor.

Allen's expression remained dazed.

—

Dinner passed once again in silent gloom.

Well into the night, as Allen lay on the soft mattress that Zenith had specially taken outside to air out in the sun, it still felt somewhat surreal. To be honest, everyone's reaction had completely and utterly defied his expectations.

It felt rather like... reading a novel and having the characters point at you by name and curse, or playing a video game and having a character reach out through the screen to slap you across the face—such a bizarre sensation.

In the dim bedroom, he lay wide awake with his eyes open, spreading his hand out to look at his own palm.

'Time-travel isn't a video game... So is this actually how Paul and the others are supposed to react? And the abnormal one is actually me, because I've always approached Overlord... wait, Mushoku Tensei with the mindset of playing a realistic life-sim instead of fully immersing myself in this world... But even so...'

"Worried? We've only known each other for a little over three months. Even if I am Philip's child, is this really necessary..."

A brief silence hung in the air.

"...Regarded as... a part of the family..."

"Tomorrow... I should still apologize to them..."

Darkness settled in heavy silence for a good long while before a soft murmur drifted out once more.

"...Family..."

—

In the end, Allen never did voice that apology. Because starting the very next morning, everyone seemed to have seamlessly returned to their usual dynamic.

There was the same laughter, the same practice of swordsmanship and magic, the same daily routine of going out to 'play' under the big tree with Sylphie and Rudy, and the same murmurs drifting from the next room every night...

Along with the monthly salary of two silver coins, issued punctually on schedule, never once delayed.

Yet Allen always felt as though something wasn't quite right...

Thus, time flew by amidst the sword training and the magic studies with Sylphie and Rudy.

The bitter cold of winter had arrived.

Zenith was pregnant.