Mushoku Tensei: the Apostle of God

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It was nearing noon when Sylphie arrived.

She stood close to the outer wall, her body slightly turned as she carefully examined the wild grass at her feet. If it weren't for the occasional flicker of her gaze toward the courtyard, Allen might have thought she was just passing by.

Paul, who had claimed he would be training all day, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw this. He then rubbed his forehead and shooed the two kids out to play.

After being bombarded with endless questions from the children earlier, Paul's brain had clearly reached its limit.

Allen walked toward Sylphie with a smile, ready to wave, but suddenly froze.

'Being seen naked by a kid isn't a big deal, right? Haha... it's fine... even though people in this world mature faster...'

"It's... it's okay. I don't mind what happened yesterday," Sylphie stammered.

'What do you have to mind?!'

Allen pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on, and weakly said, "Then... let's just pretend it never happened. Rudeus? Huh? Rudeus??"

Allen noticed that Rudeus hadn't followed. He turned around to see Rudeus standing a meter away, awkwardly greeting Sylphie. Not only was he embarrassed about the previous incident, but he also wasn't good at interacting with girls his own age.

Allen blinked.

'Even though Rudeus is a pervert, at his core, he's still a NEET... all talk, no action. He can talk a big game, but when it comes to actually doing something, he'd probably run away because of his issues with Eris and end up impotent...'

He couldn't help but chuckle. Turning around, he slung an arm around Rudeus and started walking toward the yard, casually grabbing Sylphie's shoulder as well.

"Come on! Let's go teach Sylphie some magic!"

"Don't hug me like that, Allen!"

"Huh? Are you shy?"

"Shy? No, I need to go get my magic textbook!"

"Oh... right!"

"Heh..."

"Sylphie, what are you laughing at?? I'm getting the textbook for you!"

"...Rudeus, I... I'm not laughing."

"You're lying, but at least manage your expression! Allen, what are you laughing at?"

"I'm laughing at how weak you'll be in the future, relying entirely on Sylphie to support you."

"??"

"??"

...

Two months passed in the blink of an eye, filled with laughter, sword training, and magic lessons.

Before they knew it, it was the end of May.

Just like in the original story, Sylphie displayed extraordinary talent for magic. In just two months, she had mastered most of the spells in the magic textbook and was now learning silent casting from Rudeus.

During this time, Rudeus spent his days secretly researching tactics to use against Allen. At first, he would discuss strategies with Sylphie, but after accidentally discovering that she had been leaking information to Allen, he stopped sharing his findings altogether.

June 1st.

After breakfast, Rudeus exchanged a glance with Allen, then pumped his fist in the air and headed out the door amidst cheers of encouragement.

Allen, on the other hand, leisurely helped clean up the table.

Zenith watched Allen with a smile.

"I was a bit surprised to hear you two were going to spar. Allen, go easy on him, okay?"

Allen smiled back. He had a good impression of Zenith. Perhaps it was because her personality was the closest to what he remembered from his previous life, making her feel familiar and comforting. She had also been very kind to him.

...It felt like a strange sense of warmth... like family?

Although Allen wasn't entirely sure what family meant, having grown up in an orphanage.

"Rudeus is much stronger than you think. Instead of worrying about him, you should worry about me."

Zenith looked at Allen, her lips curling into the same eerie smile Rudeus often wore.

Allen shuddered.

Then he heard Zenith say, "After all, our child is a genius, and he's very well-behaved too~"

Allen nodded vigorously.

'If stealing the teacher's underwear counts as being well-behaved.'

Zenith then smiled warmly and reached out to gently touch Allen's hair, which was neatly combed down to his forehead.

"Allen, you're a genius too~"

Allen blinked, momentarily stunned by Zenith's expression, unsure of how to respond.

But then Zenith's face suddenly darkened as she leaned in close to Allen's face.

"So, you're not going to end up at the clinic again today, right...?"

Allen coughed awkwardly.

"That definitely won't happen... I'll be careful."

Zenith narrowed her eyes, clearly skeptical.

"Uh... the poisoning incident last time was an accident."

"Alright, I won't scare you anymore. Go on, and be careful."

"Okay."

Allen walked out the door to find Paul already standing in the yard. Paul smiled at him, but Allen walked up and stood in front of him, his hand resting on his sword hilt, silent and ready.

Paul tilted his head in confusion.

"Are we... continuing the morning sword practice?"

"Yes."

"Oh? But aren't you supposed to spar with Rudeus?"

"He's still preparing to go over his tactics one last time. We agreed I wouldn't watch, so Sylphie will come get me when he's ready."

Paul looked down at the sword in his hand and chuckled.

"I see."

As soon as he finished speaking, Paul's sword was already out of its sheath, his figure a blur as the blade shot straight toward Allen's neck!

Allen's pupils constricted, and his hand tightened around the hilt of his sword.

"Twenty Slashes!"

Sparks flew as Allen's blade deflected Paul's strike. Without hesitation, Allen swung his leg toward Paul's face.

"Thud!"

The fabric of Allen's pants fluttered in the air as Paul calmly blocked the kick with his hand, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Allen's surprised expression.

"No good. You're still instinctively using other styles. I don't recognize the technique you used to deflect my strike, but it's not Water God style... Is it some North God style technique I don't know about? And that follow-up kick is a classic North God style counter."

Allen grimaced and pulled his leg back, leaping away to create distance.

Paul rolled his neck and raised his sword above his head, adopting an aggressive high stance.

"If you keep relying on the styles you're comfortable with, your Sword God style will never improve. How many times have I told you that over the past two months?"

"Sorry... old habits are hard to break..."

Every time Paul launched a rapid thrust, Allen instinctively fell back on his familiar combat techniques to counter it... and this was already the result of him holding back. Before, he had been using Water God style exclusively.

Why?

Because at the same level of swordsmanship, Water God style had a clear advantage over Sword God style. It was a subconscious survival instinct from his past life.

Allen took a deep breath.

'Sword God style... before mastering the Light Reversal technique, the main way to counter someone using the same style is to be faster. Whoever lands the first strike wins... so I need to take the initiative...'

As his mind raced, Paul's sword came at him again. The blade struck Allen's sword, and as the metal clashed, Paul's words struck Allen like a hammer.

"The sword must be faster than thought, so why are you still thinking?!"

The blades clashed and separated, and the next strike was already slicing through the air toward Allen's ear!

Note: So far this story is published up to chapter 70 on my patreon, go take a look.