Mushoku Tensei: This reencarnación is strange!!

"Haa!" My sword collided with Ghislaine's in a swift motion, raising a roar throughout the training ground.

Eris's fists clenched, her teeth grinding in barely contained frustration.

"How? How? How is that damn brat so strong if he's younger than me?!" she thought as she tried to find an explanation for the situation.

"There's no way a brat like him could be my tutor?!" Eris shook her head as she watched the fight.

My movements and Ghislaine's were so fast that she couldn't see us; she could only see us when we separated and could hear the sound of swords clashing.

Frustration continued to grow within the girl, but at the same time, a doubt grew.

"If he teaches me, then can I be as strong as him?" She questioned herself, and as quickly as she thought, her spirit returned to her body as she crossed her arms in her typical pose.

At the same time, I was sparring with Ghislaine. My body was covered in bruises and minor cuts, and I was kneeling on one knee as I tried to catch my breath.

Ghislaine, on the other hand, hadn't even broken a sweat, and upon noticing my condition, she declared the match over.

"Hey! How are you so strong?!" Eris's shrill voice echoed in my ears as she approached me.

"I knew it!"

"It's simple, my lady. I just trained diligently in everything, and my hard work paid off," I said, while simultaneously using healing magic on me.

Eris's eyes widened as she watched my wounds close.

"How are you doing that? Where is that light coming from?!" she demanded. "It's silent healing magic. Learning it is a bit difficult. You must first learn how to read and write to be able to cast the spell," I replied.

At the mention of it, Eris clenched her fists, and she seemed ready to hit me, but when she saw that I had recovered my energy, she hesitated.

"Hmm! Okay! I'll allow you to be my tutor!" she yelled and immediately ran out of the training area.

"...Did that go well?"

"Quite a bit. Besides, you're better than Paul at swordsmanship; you're close to Saint rank," she said as she approached me.

I blinked in surprise as I looked at her, but her expression was serious... except for her tail, which was wagging behind her.

*Ding!*

[Earn Eris's respect before the day is over!]

Reward: Demon Eye of "X-Ray Vision"

Completed in: 2 hours and 45 minutes

[Initiating changes to the wearer, please wait a few moments...]

Immediately after the robotic voice of the system stopped speaking, I felt a slight sting in my left eye and...

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?" Ghislaine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"N-no... it's nothing..." I replied weakly.

"So they're inverted, huh? Plus, she shaves... what a surprise."

"Hey... what's up with your eye? Is it a demon eye?!" she asked, startled, as she approached me.

"Yeah..." I replied, covering my eye with my hand, which was useless.

"Oh... unbelievable, were you born with it like me?" She asked, lifting her eye patch, revealing a green eye with a yellow ring.

"...y-yeah, I just don't use it much," I replied.

"Hmm..." She nodded. "Mine can see ambient mana and living creatures mana, what does yours do?"

"It can... see through things," I replied almost in a whisper.

She simply raised an eyebrow and remained silent for a few seconds, but then a mocking smile formed on her face.

"Oh yeah? And you liked what you saw?" she asked, crossing her arms, instantly lifting her breasts even higher.

"It's obvious, there aren't many women in this world like you," I replied.

"Heh, my mating season is in the fall, so in four months, let's see if you can convince me before then," she muttered and left the training area without another word.

"..."

"Oh boy... I can't even masturbate! The maids will smell me!"

...

So that day, I officially became Eris's personal tutor.

My monthly salary would be two Asuran gold coins, and I would have one week off for every month of work.

We agreed that I would teach Eris until she turned thirteen. That would be enough time for me to amass a small fortune before the Mana disaster...

Yes, that was another problem I would have to solve.

Also, needless to say, Philip was completely surprised that my plan had worked. He told me that that same afternoon, Eris burst into his study with her typical pose and shouted, "Father!! I want that brat to be my tutor!"

Yes... we would have to plan the topic of mutual respect...

"Okay, young Rudeus, this is your room... Do you need anything else?" a maid with bunny ears asked shyly.

She was blushing and swaying slightly from side to side as she looked at me expectantly.

"No, thank you, you can go," I replied simply.

"...very well," she replied, not trying to hide the disappointment in her tone, and so I was left alone in my room.

I turned behind me and looked at my new room.

It was twice the size of my mother's room, but it only had a desk, a small wardrobe, and a single bed, plus there were no windows...yes.

"Haaa..." I fell onto my bed with a soft sigh.

"This will be my new life for the next few years. I'll have to endure Eris's screams and tantrums while I try to get her bean-brain to learn something..."

"Ugh..." I let out a muffled groan as I wrapped myself in my blankets. I closed my eyes and quickly fell asleep.

...

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye, literally.

A dog-eared maid brought me my breakfast, and then I met up with Eris and Ghislaine in the castle library.

I can safely say this place is simply too huge!

"Hmmm..." Eris was already sitting with her eyes closed and her lips curled. I could see her patience was almost at its limit, and we hadn't even started.

Ghislaine, on the other hand, was sitting upright with her typical stoic expression.

"Good morning..." I said as I sat down opposite the two of them, but only received a slight nod from Ghislaine.

"If I want this to progress, then I'll have to have Eris's attention at all times..."

Without saying anything, I began writing something in a notebook. I made sure to glance at Eris several times to let her know I was writing about her.

"What are you writing?!" she demanded.

"You don't have to shout every time you need to talk," I said with a small smile.

"What?! Why not?!"

"... I'm right in front of you, I can hear you clearly," I replied.

"Ngh! That doesn't matter! What are you writing?!" She continued, so I simply handed her the notebook.

She immediately frowned as she looked at me.

"I can't read it!"

"Isn't that inconvenient? What would happen if someone started writing a strategy in front of you to kill you and you couldn't even notice?" I said, and her frown only deepened.

Ghislaine, on the other hand, simply looked down, seriously considering my words.

"That doesn't matter! I'll just cut them down with my sword if they try anything like that!" Eris replied, and this time it was my turn to frown.

"And what if you get lost one day while exploring a dungeon and the only way out is through written instructions?" I counterattacked.

"No problem! You'd just read them for me!"

"I won't always be with you. I'm your tutor, not your adventure partner," I replied seriously.

"That's it!" She started to respond, but immediately fell silent as she clenched her fists.

"Good!"

"Knowing how to read and write is more important than you think. Even with all the strength you might one day gain, it would be nothing if you were scammed with exaggerated prices for a simple food," I continued.

Eris's frown deepened, and Ghislaine shifted her gaze toward the window as if she remembered something.

We were all silent for several seconds before she looked me in the eye and snorted loudly.

"Hmm! Good! I want to learn to read and write!" she declared with a grimace, as if the words hurt her mouth.

*Ding!*

[Eris's Intelligence increased to 12% from 10%]

"..." I fell silent at the system notification and held back the sigh that threatened to escape my mouth.

"Hmm? What's wrong with you?!" she yelled when she noticed my gaze.

"No, nothing, let's continue," I said and began to write on a piece of paper.

Fortunately, the human language of this world only had a 27-letter alphabet, and the pronunciations were almost the same as those in my previous world, so it wasn't too difficult for me to learn.

"Okay... these are the letters of the alphabet..." I said as I showed my writing to Eris and Ghislaine.

Eris frowned, and Ghislaine looked at the words with her typical stoic expression.

"Hmm! That's too many!" she complained, and I held back a sigh again.

"It's not like that, Miss Eris. You just have to memorize their names and sounds. For example, this is pronounced A, this is B, and this is C."

Eris's expression only soured further, but she didn't say anything.

"A...B...C," she muttered. "Correct, once you memorize them all, you can start learning to read!" The enthusiasm in my voice was palpable, but she simply glared at me.

On the other hand, I heard Ghislaine muttering the letters A, B, and C to herself, as if she were seriously trying to learn them.

"Shit! Why didn't they hire me as Ghislaine's tutor instead?!"

*Ding!*

[Ghislaine's Intelligence increased from 5% to 8%!]

"..." I held back another sigh as I looked at the two women in front of me.

But I shouldn't get discouraged! This was the first day of many! I mustn't lose faith!

"Lady Eris, it's time for your fencing lessons," Thomas said, slowly walking into the library.

"Great!" she shouted, standing up and pushing back the chair she was sitting in before running out without looking back.

"Ghislaine! Hurry!" Was all Eris yelled.

"Haaa..." This time I couldn't hold back my sigh, and the cat woman just gave me a faint smile as we both walked toward the training grounds.

...

I walked toward the training room with heavy steps behind Ghislaine.

I felt slightly dejected by Eris's reaction, but I was also preoccupied with staring at the cat woman's toned ass.

And as if she sensed my gaze, she began to pace, her hips swaying from side to side.

"..."

"Don't bother. Boreas men usually stare at my ears. You're a refreshing change."

"Oh? Then what a waste," I muttered with a smile, and as if we'd both made a silent agreement, our demeanor changed just as we stood before Eris.

As expected, she had already changed into her training clothes and leather boots.

"Ugh! Another blow to my pride, Miss Eris!"

"What are you two waiting for? Hurry!" she shouted, grabbing a wooden sword.

"Eris, I want you to face Rudeus today. I always knew you needed someone your age to improve your training," Ghislaine said as she patted me on the shoulder.

The girl immediately frowned as she pointed her wooden sword at me. I took mine in the same direction as I went into a Water God-style half-stance.

"Hmm... good," Ghislaine noticed this immediately but said nothing. "Begin!"

The next instant, Eris lunged at me, but... she was extremely slow.

Yes, her body wasn't using Touki, and her technique was poor. She was just running at me like a normal 9-year-old girl.

"Haaa!!!" With a loud scream, Eris threw her sword at me, heading for my neck. I didn't bother dodging as I simply deflected her sword easily. I didn't have to use my Touki here either.

"Nngh!" She gritted her teeth in frustration as she lost her balance and fell to all fours, only to leap up with her sword now aimed at my ribs.

*Plack!*

The sound of our swords clashing echoed throughout the training area. I stopped her attack with one hand as she tried to break through my defense with all her might.

"Nngh! Aaah!!" She continued to struggle, but then abandoned her attacking stance and now headed for her feet.

I simply jumped slightly as her sword grazed my feet.

"Enough!" I yelled as my foot landed on top of her sword, stopping it completely.

"Okay, Eris, what did you do wrong?!" Ghislaine said in her teacher's tone while she still glared at me angrily, but not as much as yesterday.

"...I couldn't break her defense..." Eris muttered weakly.

"And why was that?!"

"Because...I'm still too slow," the words came out of the girl's mouth as if they hurt her.

"Okay, then we'll work on your speed, Rudeus! Your technique is perfect. Keep it up!" Ghislaine's voice sounded firm and authoritative, and it only made Eris frown more.

'Ugh! Low blow, Ghislaine!'

*Ding!*

[Eris's Affection Increased to 2%!]

[She Acknowledges Your Existence!]

"..." I fell silent again and simply sat on the floor while Eris threw her tantrums.