An Unattainable Wish
Time passed. Julia mastered the sword. Lana trained in spirit arts. That left only one question: what would I teach Alice? The answer had been decided from the start.
Magic.
Alice’s talent lay in magic. She possessed the kind of gift you only read about in stories—the archmage who could incinerate a mountain or trigger an earthquake with a single gesture. I knew she had what it took to become exactly that, so I had always planned to teach her the arcane arts.
There was just one problem.
I didn’t know the first thing about magic.
I had lived my entire previous life in a world where magic didn’t even exist, and unfortunately Gunter had been equally clueless on the subject. So of course I couldn’t cast a single spell. I’d been mildly curious about it on a personal level, but three months wasn’t nearly enough time to learn even basic combat, let alone sorcery. I had intended to experiment with it later when I had the leisure. Instead, events had forced my hand.
In short, I had zero ability to teach Alice magic. So how was I supposed to make sure she learned it?
After turning the problem over in my head, I reached a conclusion.
Let her teach herself.
I would have Alice learn magic on her own. In a way, it was similar to Lana’s situation. The difference was that, unlike with Lana, I couldn’t even guide her through the very first steps. Of course, I could have learned magic myself first and then taught her, but that would have been ridiculously inefficient. Alice would clearly master it far faster on her own than I could ever hope to. So self-study it was.
Normally, magic is best learned under a proper teacher. There are many reasons, but the biggest is simple efficiency and ease. Even with textbooks, having someone to explain things makes the process much smoother. But that was only the general rule. Alice’s magical talent was off the charts. She would absorb spells at a terrifying pace even without instruction.
Yeah. This is the right call.
I figured Alice would prefer it this way too. She had never seemed particularly eager to learn anything directly from me. With that thought in mind, I glanced at her expression.
…Huh?
For some reason, Alice was scowling fiercely. Why that reaction? I pondered for a moment before it hit me.
I didn’t explain enough!
Of course she would make that face if I simply handed her a book and told her to learn it. I hurriedly added, “I’m not just going to leave you with this one book. Once you’ve mastered it, I’ll find you more, so just wait a lit—”
“Hmph!”
…Or at least I tried to. Before I could finish, Alice had already turned on her heel and walked away.
“…Hmm.”
I stared blankly at her retreating back. What had gone wrong? I thought it over but couldn’t come up with an answer. In the end I decided to let the question rest. Brooding alone wasn’t likely to solve anything, and besides, even while she was angry, Alice had still taken the book with her. Something clearly displeased her, but it looked like she intended to study it anyway. That was enough for me.
After that day, my… no, our daily life changed a little. A set study time had been added to our routine.
During those new lessons, my main duty was teaching Julia. Her talent was every bit as extraordinary as I had expected. She absorbed my instructions at an astonishing rate and improved visibly each day. It was like she was looking at the answer sheet while solving the problems—there were no bottlenecks in her growth. And it wasn’t limited to swordsmanship. Her physical abilities advanced rapidly as well, and before long she had even begun to handle mana.
The other two naturally fell into self-study. There was no helping it. Magic and spirit arts were fields I simply couldn’t teach. At first I had worried. No matter how great their talent, without someone to guide them, wouldn’t they wander or head in the wrong direction?
As it turned out, that worry had been needless. Just like Julia, Alice and Lana progressed without stumbling, growing stronger with each passing day.
Watching the children develop like that, I thought to myself that it wouldn’t take them very long to gain the power to protect themselves and leave this place.
And then.
Two years went by.
“…Hoo.”
When the familiar forest came into view, I let out a long breath. Ever since we began living here, I had occasionally been forced to leave the house. At first it was to replenish daily necessities or buy supplies for various tasks, but after some time another purpose was added.
Requests.
People need money to live. And when supporting a household of four, the required sum each month is nothing to scoff at. In the beginning I had covered expenses with our saved fortune, but that couldn’t last forever. My funds had limits, and living costs weren’t the only thing draining them.
Game knowledge didn’t help much here either. If this had been after the main story, maybe, but even I didn’t know every event that occurred before the main plot. Strictly speaking, I did know a few ways to earn money at this point—ruins filled with gold and treasures, or locations where priceless artifacts slumbered. Those things wouldn’t have changed yet. The problem was I couldn’t actually go after them. The reason was simple: they were too far away. Their value meant I couldn’t entrust them to others, and going myself would take far too much time.
Because of that, I gave up on using game knowledge to make money. Therefore, resuming work as a mercenary was the natural choice. I was used to it, and my abilities meant I could earn a decent amount. I tried to accept only requests that could be completed quickly for the children’s sake, but it wasn’t always possible. As a result, I sometimes had to leave the house.
Leaving the children alone made me extremely anxious, but it couldn’t be helped. I had made certain preparations and taught them how to escape if things went wrong, so nothing too terrible should happen. That was how I comforted myself.
Today I was on my way back after completing a request that had taken several days. It wasn’t supposed to take long, but complications during the job had stretched it out. I worried that something might have happened while I was gone. That anxiety quickened my steps, and I was practically running toward the house when I suddenly stopped.
A familiar presence was rapidly approaching.
I stood still and waited a short while. Soon, a face I knew well appeared. Silver hair that caught the moonlight and gleamed. Golden eyes that sparkled like stars within the gently settled darkness. Features so beautiful they seemed doll-like, paired with an expressionless face that revealed nothing of her thoughts.
It was Julia.
“Gunter.”
Julia called my name in the same blank tone as she walked up to me. Gunter. Julia addressed me by name. Considering our age difference, some might call it disrespectful, but I didn’t mind. In fact, I saw it as proof that she felt some measure of goodwill toward me.
“Sorry I’m a bit late.”
I smiled bitterly and apologized. I hadn’t meant to be gone this long. I had expected it to take only a day at most, yet three had passed. I hadn’t been able to contact them either, so they must have been very worried. The thought made me feel guilty.
But Julia simply shook her head.
“You worked hard.”
Her voice was flat, yet I smiled. Her expression and tone were both curt, but I could tell the words were sincere.
That was when another familiar voice called out.
“Julia…! Wait for me…!”
It was softer and more fragile than Julia’s languid, indifferent tone. The owner of the voice soon revealed herself—Lana. She came running toward us, looking rather frantic.
“You’re… too fast……”
When Lana reached me, she bent over, panting. Seeing her like that, I could roughly guess what had happened. They must have noticed my return through the detection magic I had set up and left the house together, but Julia’s speed had left Lana behind. It had happened before, so it wasn’t hard to figure out.
I was about to check if Lana was all right when she straightened up.
“Welcome back, Mister. You worked hard.”
Two years had changed Lana considerably. Not just her appearance—her attitude toward me had shifted as well. She no longer viewed me with suspicion like she once had. It was a tremendous improvement, and one that filled me with joy.
“Yeah, I’m back.”
Meeting those gentle eyes, I smiled. Just seeing Julia and Lana made the fatigue from the request melt away in an instant. Was this what it felt like to be a father with daughters? Laughing, I reached out with both hands and ruffled their hair.
“…….”
“Hehe……”
Lana’s delight was obvious at a glance. Julia remained expressionless, but she didn’t seem to dislike it. The sight was so adorable that I couldn’t bring myself to stop.
“How long are you going to keep doing that?”
A curt voice suddenly interrupted. When I turned, I saw flaming red hair. Arms crossed and clearly displeased, Alice spoke.
“It’s only been three days. Why are you making such a fuss?”
Her tone was as prickly as ever. Those flame-like eyes then flicked toward Julia and Lana.
“Getting all worked up just because he’s a little late.”
As I thought. Since I had been late without any contact, it seemed Julia and Lana had worried quite a bit. I was feeling guilty about that when Lana stared at Alice and said,
“But Alice, you’ve been staring at the door the whole time these past few days—”
“Aaaaaah! Shut up!”
Before Lana could finish, Alice shouted and lunged at her. She was fast, but she couldn’t quite catch her. At some point Lana had called upon the help of a wind spirit.
“Stay right there!”
“Sorry!”
An impromptu game of tag had broken out in the middle of the night. Julia stood quietly beside me, watching with languid eyes.
“Hahaha!”
The scene was so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.
“Is it funny? Is it?!”
Alice glared at me with fiery eyes, but I couldn’t stop laughing. The exhaustion from the request had completely vanished. Just watching these children gave me energy.
This is nice.
I was happy. It felt good. I wondered if this was what happiness meant. So without thinking, I had the thought.
It would be nice if times like this could last forever…
However.
That was a wish that could never come true.