Chapter 5 : 5 years later

It has been five years since I retired after the war and first met Elia.

Five years, which could be considered long or short, truly passed in the blink of an eye.

Farming, training, childcare—these were the only three things in my daily routine, but even with just these three, my days were packed.

First, before the temperature dropped further in early winter, I tended to the garden beds, and when spring began, I bought seedlings from the village and started farming.

And the result of that farming was a huge success!

I only had very basic knowledge of farming, but the fertile soil and favorable weather allowed my rudimentary farming to succeed.

Potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, cabbage, and other useful crops grew lush and green in the properly tilled soil.

Perhaps because the soil retained moisture, there were only a few pests from the monster family, and ordinary pests didn’t even approach the fields, making farming easier.

As the days passed, I gained more knowledge about farming and went through various trial and error, eventually becoming proficient in farming.

However, raising Elia was much harder than the easy success of farming.

The first six months were a tough period, especially until her baby hair fell out and new hair started growing.

Since there was no communication, I had to keep the surroundings clean to prevent Elia from getting sick, always warming breast milk at scheduled times, and quickly cleaning her up whenever she needed it.

When working on the farm or training, I always kept Elia within my sight, constantly being careful to avoid any problems for her.

Since I had to raise Elia on my own, I had to be especially attentive.

It was truly a time where I couldn’t let my guard down for a single moment, 24 hours a day.

But when I started giving her solid food and she could burp on her own, things became a little easier, and by the time she was one, she started walking and began to speak, so communication started to become possible.

Of course, raising her was still difficult, but as time went on, I got more accustomed to it, and it became more manageable as I didn’t have to pay attention to everything all the time.

After getting through the tough initial period, about two years later, the difficulty of raising her became easier.

By the second year, Elia was not just crawling, she began walking and running on her own, and she could say more words, not just “mom” and “dad.”

And most importantly, after raising her for two years, the bond I naturally formed made it much easier to raise her.

How could I not form a bond with a child I raised with sweat and effort from start to finish?

Unlike when I thought she was simply cute, from around the second year, just watching her made Elia seem lovable.

There were times when I wanted to rub my face against her while holding her all day long.

Of course, if I did that, even Elia, who rarely expressed emotions, would push me away with all her strength, so I couldn’t do that.

Still, after passing a period where both mentally and physically I started feeling more comfortable, five years have passed.

Recently, I had been teaching Elia the common language of the Marika continent and basic arithmetic.

“Okay, Elia. What is this?”

“That’s a sparrow.”

“Correct! That’s a sparrow. Our Elia is a genius, huh? Now you can read, write, and talk, right?”

“Hehe, yes…!”

Elia grinned, showing her teeth at my praise.

Elia, who generally showed almost no emotions, often displayed positive emotions like happiness and expectation, much more than negative ones like sadness or anger.

Of course, this was only in front of me or Ruina, who visited once a month, but still, that was something.

Just to be sure, about a year ago, I had Elia checked by a skilled doctor and a mental magic specialist to see if there was an issue with her psychological state.

But they diagnosed that there was nothing wrong with her ability to feel emotions.

According to them, she felt all emotions normally, but Elia was simply born with a neutral expression.

It seemed that unless emotions overflowed, Elia would maintain a neutral expression no matter what she felt.

There was no real treatment needed, and I was relieved by the diagnosis, so since then, I’ve tried to make Elia experience only positive emotions whenever possible.

After all, if any emotions showed on that neutral face, positive ones would suit her much better than negative ones.

And even without considering that, Elia was so smart that I could only praise her.

The common language of the continent was relatively easy to learn, similar to Hangul, but still, Elia learned to read and write in just under a year and a half.

Moreover, it wasn’t just language skills—Elia also quickly learned arithmetic and understood it easily.

“Okay, Elia? Elia has three apples, and then bought seven more apples from the merchant. After that, Elia gave two apples to her friends on the way back. How many apples does Elia have now?”

“Uh… eight apples!”

“Correct! Our Elia is really smart!”

“Yes! I’m a genius!”

Although double-digit addition and subtraction were still too much, to be able to do single-digit mixed addition and subtraction calculations perfectly at just five years old was impressive.

She could even do it mentally, without writing it down.

At this rate, she would probably learn all four operations within a year and be able to do double-digit operations before turning seven.

Considering that most people only learn basic arithmetic in their mid-teens, this was a remarkable achievement.

Patting her head to praise her, Elia tilted her head forward, enjoying my touch.

“Hehehe…”

She giggled and smiled, a sight enough to pierce the heart of anyone who saw it.

Elia’s straight white hair cascaded down to her shoulders, making her look unbearably cute.

After stroking Elia a bit more, I reluctantly pulled my hand away and stood up from my seat.

“Well, since we’ve finished studying for today, why don’t you take a little break, Elia? Daddy’s going to do some training for a bit.”

“Okay! I’ll be resting!”

As soon as I finished speaking, Elia hugged the teddy bear next to the chair and threw herself onto the sofa.

The bear was bigger than her, making it look as if the bear was hugging Elia instead—but that made the scene even cuter.

Watching that sight, I left the cabin and headed toward the training ground located behind the house.

“Alright, let’s loosen up a bit.”

My body felt stiff from preparing Elia’s breakfast and tutoring her since morning.

After relaxing my muscles with some light stretching, I pulled a wooden sword from the pile stacked in the corner of the training ground.

“Hoo…”

I wasn’t exactly out of practice, but holding a sword always put me at ease.

In an unpredictable world, holding a sword made me feel like I could face any danger.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly raised the sword above my head.

First, I’ll start with some basic sword forms.

Swish—!

The sword sliced through the air, leaving behind a shimmering afterimage.

Then, the moment my eyes followed the afterimage, five consecutive strikes followed immediately after.

In almost the same instant, five strikes were unleashed, and the initial afterimage was split into five slashes.

A sharp echo followed soon after.

Paang!!!

A harsh, whip-like sound resonated after the strikes.

When the sound faded, all that remained were the marks of the sword strikes etched into the dirt floor of the training ground.

It wasn’t a bad speed, even compared to five years ago—but maybe because I hadn’t been in actual combat for those five years,
I could feel that the sharpness of my strikes had dulled a little compared to the past.

Clicking my tongue, I muttered to myself.

“Well… I guess it can’t be helped.”

I didn’t like that my strikes had dulled a bit, but then again, I wasn’t training to kill anyone.

The goal was simply to keep my body from getting rusty in case of an emergency—so I raised my sword once again.

Once more, I ran through the basic forms, followed by thirty variations and one hundred and fifty practical combat forms I had created through real battle experience.

Pouring my full strength into each swing, I wielded the wooden sword.

Blocking out the sunlight, the breeze, and even the surrounding scenery, I immersed myself in training, leaving only me and the sword in the world.

I was so focused that I didn’t even notice Elia and Ruina approaching from behind the training ground.