The Hero's Adopted Son is a Legendary Genius. (1)
The Hero's Adopted Son is a Legendary Genius. (1)
A smell seeping into his sleep tickled the tip of his nose.
A large burnt smell and a slightly sweet scent stimulated Kael's young body.
He wondered what kind of situation this was and tried to rub his eyes and get up, but Laika's sharp voice reached him.
"... You bitch who knows nothing but how to make fire!"
"You're the one who told me to cook this!"
"No, I said cook it, who told you to burn it?"
Kael realized even in his sleepy state that his mothers were fighting.
Actually, he wasn't so oblivious that he couldn't tell even in such a noisy situation.
'... Why, why are they fighting?'
Like a young child, he was rubbing his eyes to stop them, just at that moment.
"Everyone, please don't fight, Kael is sleeping. What if he wakes up and sees this?"
Aria tried to stop them, as if not wanting 'Kael' to see such a sight.
It wasn't very effective, as emotions were already running quite high.
"... This is all because you pushed it onto us when we've never cooked before, Aria!"
"... Yes?"
"It's your fault!"
"... Then, it's not like you went on an adventure for a year or two, why didn't you try cooking yourself, Laika?"
"Every time we tried to, you stepped in."
"Of course I did. Do you know how important eating is for a woman? Alicia just burns everything, and Laika, you said you'd be gnawing on tree bark if I didn't cook, and you were scraping at trees with your dagger!"
Kael wondered to himself whether he should get up or not.
He had already adapted enough to living as a young child and the hesitation to act like a child had disappeared, but....
'... If I get up and stop my mothers, it, it will definitely become more awkward, right?'
He just gulped, thinking he should wait a little longer inside.
"... Phew-."
Kael squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled, "Phew-," pretending to sleep so as not to do anything that would worry Aria.
Having received plenty of motherly love for over a year, he wanted to repay them even a little.
Because Kael was someone who absolutely did not want to do anything that would trouble his mothers.
"... What can a religious nut who only knows how to pray do besides cook?"
However, at that moment, a sharp remark was heard.
Aria didn't just sit there and take it.
The sound of something flapping, "Flap-," was heard.
"What did you say!"
"La, Laika. Your words are too, too harsh."
"It's because of you, because you keep nagging about nothing!"
"... Alicia, hold it in. Even though an Elf is over eighty years old, they're a lazy race that acts the same as twenty-year-old girls. No, if a human were eighty years old, forget cooking, they would be filled with wisdom about the world. Their way of thinking isn't completely different from ours, is it?"
Racism.
No, speciesism.
At least, as words that shouldn't be said, which remained in Kael's memory, popped out.
"... Mo, Mommy-!"
Kael jumped up without realizing it.
That his mothers were smiling somewhere, and a sweet scent was spreading amidst the burnt smell.
Actually, their voices were loud, and there was a flapping sound, but he didn't hear any screams or sounds related to a physical fight.
He could see everything about the three people, but unfortunately, the boy's gaze was only fixed on his mothers.
"... Hic-."
Wanting to stop them, Kael forced himself to get up from the bed, but his legs gave out.
It was because his young body didn't follow his lead when he tried to move as soon as he got up.
Still, Kael, who climbed down from the bed that was as tall as his height while struggling.
"Do, don't fight-. I, I'm scared-!"
He hugged Aria's legs, tearing up.
"... Wow-."
Kael was tearing up, fearing that his mothers would fight and fall out.
But before Kael's plea could even finish, Aria let out an exclamation.
The boy who came running to stop his mothers was so cute that she picked him up, kissed his cheek, and laughed.
"Heh-, were you worried that Mommy and the others would fight?"
Logically, the smell of burning shouldn't have reached the bedroom, right?
Why are people who are fighting like that laughing as if they're watching something fun?
More than that, why can't I see Laika?
Only then did Kael realize something was strange.
"... Mo, Mommy?"
The moment he tilted his head and asked one more question to the Saintess who was looking at him lovingly.
Bang-!
At the sound like a gunshot, Kael squeezed his eyes shut.
When he carefully opened his eyes, paper confetti was fluttering around.
From the door outside the bedroom, a green-haired woman was approaching with a shy smile, holding something.
"... La, Laika Mommy?"
"Heh, were you surprised, Kael?"
There were seven candles stuck on the cake.
Is, is it my birthday?
Who, who is it?
When Kael looked around, Aria put Kael down.
In the middle, the Saintess, next to her the Archmage, and next to her the High Elf squatted down.
They wore birthday party hats on their heads.
"There's no way our mommies would fight beside Kael. Right?"
"Alicia isn't actually that bad at cooking, Kael."
"I, still, I'm closer to Alicia than Aria!"
"... Eh? What does that mean, Laika."
"Ta-da, it, it was a prank!"
The three people simultaneously smeared cake cream on their fingers.
They smeared it on Kael's nose, left cheek, and right cheek, "Smear-," and smiled.
"... My, bi, birthday hasn't come yet...?"
When Kael spoke carefully, Aria held Kael's delicate hands tightly.
'There's cream on them-.'
Kael pulled his body back, worried that cream would get on his mother's clothes, but the three mothers pulled him in and hugged him, as if to say there was no need to do that.
"We decided today is your birthday. The day with the most flowers blooming, the warmest, and the happiest day."
"... Alicia and Laika. I discussed it with the two of them and decided together, is it okay, Kael?"
"That horned demon bastard... No, if the day those guys bullied you is your birthday, it's too hard. So, from today on is Kael's real birthday, and the day we became your real moms. Got it?"
As soon as he heard the three mothers' words, Kael felt his heart pounding.
However, it didn't feel bad or strange.
He felt how beautiful pure love could be and realized how grateful he was.
Although he is a child, he has memories of his past life.
Even so, his heart was still warm and fuzzy, and the overflowing emotion stimulated his tear ducts.
"... Hue-."
Drip-.
Without realizing it, Kael cried.
Tears flowed down his cheeks, moved by the emotion.
Shouldn't he hold back his tears as the only boy?
When Kael tried to hold back his crying, a strange sound leaked out instead.
"... Hying-. Hiccup."
The flustered mothers immediately blamed Laika.
"Kael! A, are you hurt somewhere? Did we hug you too hard?"
"... You, you stupid elf! If, if you do this, you said he'd like it! Kael is crying!"
"... Ah, Ka, Kael? A, are you okay? No, I didn't mean to make you cry. I, I thought you'd like it, I, I'm sorry. Don't cry, okay?"
Alicia hurriedly hugged Kael and ran out to the garden outside the mansion.
Since bad smells make you feel bad, she wondered if smelling good flowers would make him feel better.
"Hm? Don't cry. Kael, Mommy is sorry. We were wrong, we won't play pranks like this again. Okay?"
However, Kael was still crying.
It was because his emotions were more sensitive as his body had become younger, and just as the mothers loved Kael, Kael loved his mothers.
It was because he felt a strange satisfaction in seeing a new side of his mothers.
"Urr- urr-, peek-a-boo! Please, don't cry. Peek-a-boo! Kael, I'm sorry. Peek-a-boo...."
As he was crying his eyes out, Laika appeared in front of him, looking very flustered, and repeated covering and showing her face.
Even so, it didn't get better, so Aria, who only learned how to pray, suddenly started praying.
Alicia didn't know what to do and just stomped her feet.
This was enough.
Before the mothers' embarrassment turned into sadness, Kael opened his mouth.
"Mommy, p, please put me down-."
Then, he lifted his small body and looked at the mothers.
He tried to say calmly that he was crying because he was so happy.
"It's not because I hate it-, or because I'm scared-."
However, the problem was that the emotions that had already overflowed didn't subside at all.
Unlike his thoughts, Kael was only six. No, he was just a seven-year-old child now.
"Hic-, it's just, huing. So, so happy-. Because you love me-. Hic-, I'm grateful-. So, te, tears-."
Wiping his tears repeatedly, he barely managed to tell them over several times.
Eventually, Kael stopped crying after another twenty minutes had passed.
"... Goo, good-! It means I was happy, sob-."
"... It's a relief-. That Kael thinks that way-."
"... Mommy is sorry-."
The mothers' tears stopped twenty minutes after that.
...
"Here, say ah-. Mommy will feed you."
Kael ate a sandwich lying in a flower garden with his mothers for the first time in this world.
It was clearly made with clumsy skills, but it was more delicious than any food in the world.
His cheeks turned hot from Alicia's surprise kiss, his heart melted from Aria's warm hug, and laughter burst out from Laika's playful hand stroking his hair.
Kael was finally feeling the preciousness of family with his whole body.
"What kind of person does Kael want to be when you grow up?"
When Aria asked.
Kael smiled shyly and spoke quietly.
"... A kind and cool person, like my mothers."
More than any action or word he had done for his mothers, the words he was saying now were closer to the truth.
Even now, the horned men. So, the demons were scary and brought up trauma.
But, not hiding in this world, like the three mothers who adopted him and loved him without stint.
He thought he wanted to become a cool and proud person.
"You want to be like us?"
At Kael's honesty, Laika picked up a leaf.
Just a human child.
No, it's just one of the things a son would say, but I don't know why my heart is pounding so much.
Laika shot the leaf into the sky as if to show off.
Whoosh-!
She only threw a leaf, but a strong wind blew.
And he could see it crossing the world like a meteor shower, emitting a green light, going far away.
"... Cool, right? Mommy will teach you all of this."
Laika acted like an Elf.
And Kael acted like a son.
"... I, I like it-. If I can be like Mommy, I'll do anything."
He smiled shyly and nodded.
...
As the night deepened.
The three moms gathered in the mansion, in Alicia's office.
There are many reasons, but the biggest one was Laika's impulsive remark.
"Laika, what are you doing? What if Kael lives like us...!"
"That's right. Kael doesn't need to inherit any of the skills or magic we have..."
Aria and Alicia were running wild, but Laika gestured for them to calm down and spoke calmly.
Since Kael-related matters were always actions taken after filtering through seriousness behind playfulness.
She was even relaxed, confident that she could persuade them.
"Think carefully. We can't be with Kael forever."
"Why, why? We're family, and I'm Kael's mom... And Kael is my son...!?"
"Kael will meet someone and get married, and have kids too, right? Are you going to be by Kael's side until then?"
"... Wh, why are you saying such scary things already, Laika. It's a story that still has decades left..."
"You don't even need to go that far. Kael has to attend the Academy, right? People die every day at the Academy, what if Kael ends up like that? He needs to know at least a few ways to protect himself."
Aria's eyes went round.
Alicia wasn't much different.
Academy.
A place where you are mandatorily required to attend when you come of age, and where you figure out various skills and aptitudes.
That one word made the two of them close their mouths.
They had hoped Kael wouldn't live like them, so they hadn't thought about teaching him things related to prayer, blessings, curses, or magic that they had used usefully in war... But after hearing Laika's words, their thoughts changed a little.
Because within a few years at the earliest, Kael had to leave their apron strings.
"... I just mean I want Kael to train enough so he doesn't get hurt even when we're not around."
However, even so, Alicia hesitated.
"... There's the Prophecy."
The reason they approached like fate on the day they first saved Kael was because of the Great Sage's prophecy that a child who would become a new hero to replace the heroes existed there.
"Does that old geezer get it wrong once or twice? It's nonsense he spat out before he died. Logically, how could he inherit all three of our skills?"
When Laika retorted, Alicia fell into deep thought.
Even knowing there was a high probability that Kael wouldn't have such talent...
It's just, she hesitated.
Whether she knew it or not, Laika looked at Aria instead of the pondering Alicia and brought up the main point.
"... Let's teach him a little in our respective fields. How about it?"
The three mothers naturally looked past the office, toward the bedroom.
The only existence who always dozed off in their arms and always loved only them.
Literally, it's not something they can guarantee that problems won't arise for Kael.
Two years ago, he might have just been an adopted child, but now Kael was a son they loved more than anything.
It's true that they were afraid he would grow up like them, but they could never see Kael get hurt by others.
After much deliberation, Alicia's lips parted.
Because you never know what will happen in the world.
"... I like it. Aria?"
She had lived resenting God, but perhaps because the resentment was so great-. She knew she had received a child more precious than salvation.
If it was to protect that salvation, she wasn't even afraid of getting her hands dirty with blood again, but she knew she couldn't always be by his side, so she couldn't refuse.
"I like it too."
However, outside of these superficial reasons, everyone had ulterior motives.
'If Kael becomes a mage, he can be with me the longest and will love me the most, right?'
'If Kael becomes a priest, he can go on trips with me and do volunteer work!'
'If I play with Kael, it would be so much fun. He'll like me the most...!'
The three women who finished their calculations opened their mouths at the same time, without anyone going first.
"I'll teach him magic...."
"I'll teach him divine power first...."
"With me, tree...."
And, they made eye contact at the same time.
"... Huh?"
"Eh?"
"Oh?"
They tilted their heads like fools and let out breaths filled with embarrassment, unlike heroes.
"It's me first. The root of all power starts with the understanding of mana. Basics are the most important, right?"
"No. Before handling strong power, having a right heart comes first. The prayers with me will lead Kael on the most righteous path."
"Shut up! Both of you are things you do sitting down. A child should run around! It's right to start climbing trees with me starting tomorrow!"
Now that everyone considered themselves Kael's real mom, they felt a little jealousy whenever Kael was held in another mother's arms, so sparks flew from the three women's eyes.
"What are you talking about, you stupid elf!"
"Alicia, let's decide between us two. Laika is too impulsive."
"Okay."
"What? You stupid.... No, ignorant.... No.... Hmm. A mage with big breasts and a religious nut who is ignorant!"
"Wh, what kind of shameful thing are you saying, Laika! It seems I, who am the most cultured, should go first-."
On the other hand, Kael, because he had spent such a fun and exciting time with his mothers.
This time, he couldn't overcome the pure sleepiness and had fallen into a deep sleep.
"... Phew-."
Without knowing anything about such jealousy or relationships of love.
Kael slept soundly.