Andrew(Count) Hale’s POV:

“Richard is returning tomorrow, right?”

Sofia, my beautiful wife said to me during dinner.

“Huh? Oh... right. He said so in his letters.”

My eldest son, Richard, who went on a journey almost two years ago is finally returning home. Good grief, that troublesome child. He only told me about it through a letter a week before. It was like that when he told me he wanted to go on a journey too. He’s just doing what he wants. It’s not like I could stop him when I saw the excitement on his face. Usually a ten-year-old like him wouldn’t go on such dangerous adventures, you know?

Well, it’s not like I’m one to talk; I’ve been letting him do whatever he wants. Despite my strict-looking face I never reprimanded him for anything. He sleeps during his lessons with his tutor, and always running around the manor and disrupting the servants’ work. Perhaps it’s because of how he’s been showing excellent results despite slacking through all of his lessons, and he treats the servants with such kindness even though he’s a Count’s eldest heir. I can’t really scold him for being a bit naughty after all that.

Although I do worry about him a little. His talent is too tremendous. One day, he suddenly showed interest in learning magic and swordsmanship and got Harry and Henderson to teach him.

Harry, who came from the prestigious family of mages and who, despite being impractical in battle holds a frightening amount of knowledge about magic. The only reason he currently works in my manor was that he was overshadowed by his older brother, Larry, who became a Great Mage. Harry might’ve been more knowledgeable than his brother but the reason mages are held in high regard is because of their strength in battle after all.

And then there’s Henderson, my closest friend from when I was a young student at the Academy. We fought together in a lot of wars, and he was like a brother to me. Even after earning the title of Arcadia’s Strongest Sword, he remained loyal to me and became a knight of the Hale manor instead of the Royal Palace. I was indebted to him.

Two of such distinguished people became my son’s teacher; even a child with average talent would grow into an eminent figure learning under that duo. But Richard, the talent he showed can’t even be called ‘great’. When I was but a young child, I was called a person with great talents, and then I grew up to be a Great Mage and even earned the title of Arcadia’s Guardian. But compared to Richard, I was just another average child if I was his age.

But even then, that child has always been good at fighting even before he started getting interested in swordsmanship. That boy, when he was 5 years old he frequently goes out to the town on his own and he never returns home without getting into fights with the local kids. Every single time he came home with bruises all over his body after beating a group of kids that are all older than him. Those kids were the local bullies and that’s how my son got into a fight with them but I still came and apologized to their parents; Richard gave them a harsh beating after all. But I also advised those parents to be more responsible for their children’s behavior.

That’s why I worry about his childhood. No matter how talented he is, he’s still just a child of mine. Richard having to shoulder responsibilities unbecoming of his age is not what I desire. That’s why I’ve been lenient with his upbringing and let him play around.

“Sigh...”

“What’s wrong, dear?”

Sofia noticed my worried expression and asked me out of concern.

“Is it okay for Richard to grow up like this?”

Even the day before his journey, he killed some assassins in cold blood. The guards could have dealt with them but somehow Richard got to them first when he quietly snuck out to the garden at night. Those assassins were just grunts sent by that bastard Malcoff, but I wonder if a child should be able to do such a thing. Sofia never knew about such happening though.

I also received reports from Harry and Chris occasionally about how Richard’s journey went, and I found out they went and destroyed a whole Dark Guild with just three people. Even if said Dark Guild was just an insignificant low ranked guild they were still dangerous people, and Richard killed the leader all by himself.

Although, the one who investigated the Black Rose fellas was me. And I gave Harry the green light after making sure that the small guild won’t pose any danger to Richard. I was worried, but I decided to believe in the strength that Richard had shown when he single-handedly killed an executive of Black Rose. And I did send a squad of assassins of my own to save Richard if he was ever in danger the whole time. These people are elites so Richard never managed to find out about their existence.

Other than that, Richard ranked up all the way to A-rank in just a year. For a whole year after he became an adventurer, he spent all day doing missions without rest. It’s unbelievable when I heard about it. And even after he became an A-ranked adventurer and started doing missions less frequently, he spent the rest of his time blacksmithing and learning how to cook in different restaurants, and he started training these orphanage kids for some reason. These are all the things that he never mentioned in the letters he sent, other than the fact that he reached A-rank and that he’s ‘doing well’ so we don’t have to worry about him. He even told me he’s going to bring back some ‘new friends’ from Cale. If it wasn’t for Harry’s report I would never have guessed that they are some orphanage kids Richard trained.

Really, even though he’s never caused me any trouble...

“He’s really a troublesome child, isn’t he?”

Sofia smiled at my remarks.

“Isn’t it fine if he’s growing up well?”

“I suppose so...”

“But, you can be a bit strict with him this time. How could he not come back home even once for two years? He keeps coming up with these excuses to not return even for a while. I know I shouldn’t disturb his training but didn’t he miss his family? I missed the growth of my son for two years. And we can’t even go there to see him ourselves because of work and he even went out of his way to tell us to not visit him...”

And there she goes. Sofia started ranting about Richard having never come home even once during his adventures. It’s not like I don’t understand how Sofia felt, but Richard was really focused on his journey so I can’t blame him for not thinking of returning home. It’s not like there’s anything for him to do here. I’m sure if it wasn’t for school he would have stayed there even longer and I would have to get him myself.

I even had to go out of my way to curb the information about his achievement in Cale only within the city with the help of Viscount Vernice. I don’t really want the child to attract some attention to himself. Although, I couldn’t stop the information completely, and some people with a little bit of connection could already have had their hands on information about Richard. But it’s enough for Richard to not have to worry about every single person knowing recognizing him on the street. It was Richard who didn’t bother hiding his identity in the first place, only hiding the fact that he’s the son of a noble. Even a small insignificant guild like the Black Rose could find them because of it.

I didn’t place any guards on Harry, my blunder had almost costed Harry’s life. But I’ve taken measures so that such things don’t happen again. They’re also strong enough to take care of themselves now, I don’t know how their position reversed, but it seems that Richard taught Harry to be stronger in combat and he looks like a proper mage now.

Right when I was lost in my own thoughts, the door opened and the house butler entered and bowed.

“Young Master Richard has arrived, My Lord.”

“He’s here!”

Sofia stood up excitedly and quickly left the room to welcome our son home. Rodwell and I followed suit shortly after.

I didn’t notice, but despite thinking about how troublesome that son of mine is, it seems that I was no less excited than my wife when he finally returned home. I was looking forward to how much he had changed for the two years he left home.