Aisha suddenly grabbed his finger, and this action frankly took Shirou by surprise, making him feel a little lost.
After all, in Shirou's own understanding, he was never very popular with children.
Even when he first met Miyu, Miyu was very wary of him at first, even very hostile.
This was also evident in Rudeus in the past and Norn now.
Perhaps it was some kind of murderous aura that Shirou naturally had, or perhaps he was too serious. When Rudeus was young, his fear of him could be said to be from the inside out. Shirou could even clearly feel that his younger brother was afraid of him. It wasn't until now that he completely got rid of that terror and began to be somewhat close to him.
And now Norn's situation is similar. When Shirou walks near Norn, this Greyrat family's little sister always cries louder than usual, even shaking all over, making Shirou feel at a loss, so he can only try to keep his distance from her.
Because of this, Shirou rarely participated in taking care of babies before. While Zenith and others were busy taking care of the babies, he was almost the only one who didn't participate in taking care of them, and he could only spend his time practicing his swordsmanship.
This led to Shirou having almost no contact with Norn and Aisha before, and he never expected that Aisha would be completely different from Norn, showing closeness to someone like him.
"Aren't you afraid of me?"
Shirou looked at Aisha's wide eyes, hesitating whether to let go.
"Um?"
The red-haired baby girl turned her eyes flexibly, looking like she was sizing up the situation, but she grabbed Shirou's hand tighter and tighter.
She had obviously feel that Shirou was not a bad person, so she had no worries at all, showing a dependent attitude towards him.
"..."
This reaction really made Shirou a little at a loss. It was the first time he had encountered this kind of situation where he was缠上 by a newborn baby, and he froze in place.
"Young Master Shirou."
At this time, the maid Lilia appeared next to him. She had obviously come to take care of her daughter. "Aisha seems to like you very much."
"It seems so... but I don't understand, after all, children generally don't like me very much."
Shirou very bluntly stated the fact that he was not popular with children.
His overly serious attitude and unrestrained murderous intent always made children respect him from a distance.
Due to the event that happened before, the children of Buena Village had recently even regarded him as an absolute demon that must not be provoked. They usually would not approach him even half a step, and would run away as soon as they saw him.
In the entire Buena Village, only Sylphy and Rudeus were willing to talk to him now.
Now that Aisha, such a newborn baby, would unexpectedly be so close to him, Shirou was really a little at a loss. If he didn't know that this was Paul's child, he would have even suspected that Aisha was his own child.
"..."
On the other side, Lilia looked at Shirou's troubled appearance in the face of Aisha's closeness, and couldn't help but smile.
Young Master Shirou only shows a helpless look at times like this... He has never been good at dealing with other people's kindness since before...
However, Young Master Shirou himself is a gentler person than anyone else. His fierce appearance is more like some kind of deliberately disguised instinctive reaction. Perhaps, the experiences before coming to the Greyrat family made him always maintain that cold appearance. Even I was startled by it at the beginning, thinking what a terrible and dangerous person this child would be. Now, looking back, it's really a regrettable thought...
After all, what a gentle person Young Master Shirou is. It was I who took the initiative to commit the crime of having an affair with Paul. It was I who did not maintain the bottom line and did something unreasonable, but he not only did not blame me, but took the initiative to fight Paul on that day.
Lilia recalled the scene of Shirou punching Paul that day. Her first reaction at the time was very shocked, but thinking about it afterwards, Shirou actually stood up for her.
After all, Paul at that time was too irresponsible. Not only was he unwilling to admit the affair, but he even jokingly said that Shirou did it.
This kind of thing could be said to be a huge stain on Lilia's reputation, so it's no wonder that Shirou was so impulsive that he directly fought Paul. Although it was ostensibly for Zenith, it was actually to vent his anger for Lilia, at least that's how Lilia herself felt.
Young Master Shirou is really too gentle a person. Hidden beneath his cold exterior is actually an incomparably hot and sincere heart. If this kind of person is misunderstood and causes other people's dislike, it would be a very regrettable thing. But judging from his appearance, the possibility of that happening in the future is very high...
Although with Young Master Rudeus and Mrs. Zenith by his side, the possibility of Young Master Shirou going astray will be much smaller, but there is no guarantee that the young master and madam will always be by Young Master Shirou's side. At least when they are not around, there is still the possibility that Young Master Shirou will be misunderstood and rejected by people because of his stubborn personality.
If possible, I really want to serve this upright young master for the rest of my life, stay by his side, and relieve his pain and pressure, but to be honest, I know even better that I don't have this ability. I am so weak and lack the ability to be ordinary that I would probably have enough trouble just being an ordinary maid.
That's right, since Aisha has shown such a clever and sensible appearance since she was a child, and does not hate Young Master Shirou, why not let Aisha wholeheartedly serve Young Master Shirou? After all, for Aisha, Young Master Shirou is the savior of our mother and daughter and is a person who must be respected.
It just so happens that Young Master Shirou is not a biological child of the Greyrat family, and there is no blood relationship between him and Aisha. If Young Master Shirou is willing in the future, it would not be impossible to take her as a concubine...
Lilia thought about the future and silently made some kind of determination.
Shirou didn't know what Lilia was thinking at this moment. He just looked at Aisha, who was clinging to him too much, with some distress, and a helpless but warm smile appeared on his face.
...
Winter has completely arrived, and white snow once again fills the entire village of Buena.
Because of the winter, the monsters in the forest may become active again, and Laws once again let Sylphy stay at the Greyrat house.
Sylphy was undoubtedly very happy about this, but she also had unhappy things, that is, she found that Rudeus and Shirou were obviously worried recently.
"Rudy, Shirou are you having any troubles?"
Finally, one day, Sylphy took advantage of the three of them studying and researching magic together to raise her question.
"Ah? I, I don't have any troubles..."
Rudeus denied it instinctively, but he then realized that his reaction was too clumsy and would be seen through almost instantly, so he could only say helplessly, "Okay, I've been thinking about the magic academy recently."
"Magic... academy?"
"Simply put, it's a school that teaches magic."
"School?"
Faced with Sylphy's reaction of knowing nothing when he asked three questions, Rudeus had no choice but to spend a lot of effort to first let Sylphy understand what the concept of a school was.
The overall productivity of this world is still very backward, and Buena Village will naturally not have any private schools that teach people to read. The nearest school even has to go to Roa, the central city of Fittoa Territory, to see it.
"Rudy wants to go to that school?"
"Probably, I want to further study magic."
Rudeus stated his goal directly.
"Th, that's so..."
Sylphy showed an understanding expression. She had realized a long time ago that it was unlikely that Rudeus would be confined to such a small village. His overly outstanding abilities should have a broader stage to display.
Sylphy then looked at Shirou on the side.
Shirou couldn't hide it either, and could only say silently, "I'm thinking about the Sword King teacher's reply. It's been almost a year, and there should be a reply coming soon. No matter what the other person thinks, I hope to become his disciple and learn a more powerful Sword God Style."
"..."
Because it was a topic that had already been mentioned before, Sylphy was not surprised.
But the moment she thought that Rudeus and Shirou would soon leave the Greyrat house and pursue a distant and great goal, Sylphy couldn't help but feel endless loneliness and寂寞.
The girl tilted her head slightly, and her emerald green hair swayed with it.
"I think both Rudy and brother are very amazing, and amazing enough."
She plucked up her courage and spoke.
"Maybe, but that's not enough."
"We must become stronger."
On the matter of becoming stronger, the two brothers had no doubts and their attitudes were very firm.
Seeing their appearance, Sylphy didn't know why tears welled up in the corners of her eyes, and the tears flowed more and more, to the point where she couldn't even hold back.
"Sylphy?!"
Shirou and Rudeus were startled by the sight. The two brothers looked at each other anxiously, but they didn't know what to do at this time.
Sylphy kept wiping the corners of her eyes with her hands, trying to stop the tears, but this not only did not reduce the tears in the corners of her eyes, but her shoulders trembled even more, and the sound of crying came out.
Shirou and Rudeus then realized that if the two of them made the choice to leave the Greyrat house to pursue a higher goal, then they would leave Sylphy alone in this house, and her green hair would prevent her from making any friends, and she would fall into endless loneliness.
However, they really couldn't solve this problem. After all, they couldn't give up their goals, and they didn't want to let the other person embark on this difficult path like them.
"Bang bang!"
Just as the scene fell into chaos, the door of the Greyrat house was suddenly knocked on. Lilia hurried over to open the door, and what appeared in her eyes was Laws, who had come through the wind and snow.
The moment this Sylphy's dad saw Sylphy crying non-stop, his expression suddenly froze.
And Shirou and Rudeus didn't expect Laws to come at such a coincidence, and they were speechless for a while, not knowing what to say.
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