It was time to part ways.
Aisha was wearing traveling attire completely different to her usual maid uniform, and she was standing at the entrance of the house with a bag. Inside of the bag were some clothes and things from her room, but her maid uniform wasn’t in there. The maid uniform she’d worn for so many years was now stored away in the basement storage.
“See you later, Leroy…”
Aisha held her son in her arms. The child she’d given all her love to for but a few days. Aisha had said that taking her child away was a weak punishment, but she started crying as she held him in her arms. Arus cried, and so did Lilia. Just looking at them made it clear that Leroy wasn’t an unwanted child. That brought me to tears as well.
“All right… Mom, Rudeus… Please take good care of Leroy.”
Aisha handed him over to Lilia. Leroy looked at Aisha blankly, then seemed to figure something out, because he quickly began to cry. Perhaps he’d picked up that he was being taken from his mother. Aisha gently caressed his head and kissed him.
“Arus, let’s do our best, okay?” she said.
“Yeah,” Arus replied with a nod.
He was still small, about the same height as Aisha, but I was sure he’d be much taller than her by the time they reunited.
“Okay, everyone… I’ll see you again.”
In the end, Aisha said that to everyone there to see her off. Not Goodbye. Not I’m sorry. But I’ll see you again. I was glad to hear that.
Aisha passed through the front gate and turned around. She looked at my three wives. She looked at the kids. Then, she nodded her head slightly. After gently petting Byt, who was wrapped around the pillars of the gate, she left.
“Hey… Sylphie, Roxy, Eris?”
On the way back into the house, I called out to my wives. They all stopped and looked at me with puzzled expressions.
“I have something I want to talk to you about. Could you come to the bedroom?”
“Is it important?”
“Yes, it is.”
I’d once thought it wasn’t necessary. I still did, but I’d decided to tell them anyway. Now that Aisha was gone, I had to. About the memories I had of my other life. About who I used to be. Going forward, I was going to talk to my kids about all sorts of things, ask about their lives, and play with them more.
I was sure I’d end up repeating my mistakes. No matter how careful I was, no matter how much I understood, sometimes my body didn’t do what I told it to. I was sure there were still things nagging at me from my previous life that I just didn’t remember. I wanted my wives to know that. That way, if something got me again like it had this time, I could have their help.
“Very, very important,” I murmured.
I knew they’d never lose their faith in me. With that certainty in my heart, I made my way to the bedroom.
✦ ✦ ✦
Four years passed.
Arus inherited Eris’s Sword of Light.
He was now a Sword Saint who used the Sword God Style, and a Saint-tier Wind Magician. He was an Advanced-tier user of both water and fire magic. He struggled a little with earth and healing magic, but even so, he was Intermediate-tier in both and capable of silent casting, too.
Since he’d repeated a year, he wasn’t at the top of his class, but he graduated with excellent grades. If nothing else, he’d improved wildly compared to where he’d been four years ago. Anyone who watched him during that time would agree that he put in the hard work.
On the day of his graduation, I asked him if he felt he was an adult who’d obtained the strength to protect Aisha both mentally and physically.
He told me he didn’t know. He’d regretted his prior actions that day he fought Eris, and he’d known things couldn’t stay the same. Still, he loved Aisha and would do everything in his power to protect her. I was satisfied with that answer and told him I expected great things from him.
Arus stared at me, surprised.
“Yessir!” he said after a pause. He nodded, then went off to spar with Eris so she would recognize his skills.
After that, he went to pick up Aisha in the Asura Kingdom. She’d graduated from the Asura Royal Academy and had been working under Ariel in the time since.
Aisha had changed a little in the four years they were apart. She’d become someone who tried to understand other people’s feelings. She stopped trying to take advantage of everyone’s weaknesses, lost a lot of her selfishness, and rid herself of much of her calculating nature. She changed into the sort of person who took the time to think over everything and find the best result, not the most optimal one.
One could argue that she’d lost her strengths. After all, Aisha would no longer manipulate the people around her to her benefit, blackmail them, or use other tricks to get the results she wanted. Personally, I saw that as growth.
The two purchased a home in the Magic City of Sharia and started living there as a family. Arus, Aisha, and Leroy.
We met up quite a bit. The three of them often came to our house to visit, and we were welcome in theirs. Aisha still helped out with chores and taking care of the garden sometimes, like she always had. But she no longer wore a maid uniform. She never wore it again.