Mushoku Tensei - A Second Chance

"Huh!?"

I sat up, momentarily confused by my surroundings. It didn't take long to catch up on reality though. I was in my room. The master bedroom of my manor in Sharia.

"Is everything alright, Rudy?", a familiar voice called out from beside me.

It was my beautiful wife, Sylphiette. She was bundled under the covers, snuggled up against me.

"Ah... yes. Sorry for waking you. I just had a really strange dream."

"No, that's alright. I had just woken up myself."

True enough, she seemed slightly dazed as well. She sat up as well, her thin nightgown leaving little to the imagination. That, along with her beautiful white locks disheveled from her bedhead painted a very alluring picture. I couldn't resist myself as I leaned in for a kiss.

Sylphy's face blushed a deep red. She reached up to her mouth and touched it with her fingers.

"Something the matter", I laughed.

"You kissed me...", she said warmly.

"I'm going to do more than that!", I said with a mischievous grin on my face.

*THUD!*

*CRASH!*

Just as I was prepared to pounce on my lovely wife, we were rudely interrupted by a loud knock against our bedroom door and a small, flower-filled face fell off our dresser, spilling its contents onto the floor.

"Hey! No rough-housing!", I yelled at the door.

"One moment, Sylphy. I'll go make sure she's alright."

I got up and opened the door to find Leo crouched down in the corner of the hallway. He held his front two paws over his snout as he looked up at me, teary eyed. On his back sat my daughter, Lucy.

"Don't be mad at him, Daddy! It was an accident!"

"I know it was an accident, but that's why we don't run in the house. That's how accidents happen."

"Sorry..."

Lucy looked up to me with pleading eyes matching Leo's. How could I ever stay mad at someone so cute?

Well, to be honest, I wasn't ever really mad to begin with. That vase was easily replaceable. I just don't want Lucy getting hurt.

"What was that noise", Aurora called as she came upstairs.

"It's nothing", I answered. "Lucy and Leo just had a little fall."

"Leo, you're supposed to be Lucy's protector", she scolded. "Be more careful with her when you play."

*Woof*, Leo whimpered.

"Anyways, breakfast will be ready soon. Come on down after you and Sylphy get ready."

"Lucy, why don't you go down and help Mother Aurora finish breakfast?", I suggested. "We will join you soon."

"Alright..."

I closed the door behind me and looked over towards Sylphy, ready to pick up where we left off, but she was already out of bed and was just finishing putting on her daytime clothes.

*Sigh*

"Oh, come on Rudy. We can't make Lucy wait on us for breakfast. Hurry up and get dressed."

I begrudgingly obliged. I slipped on my undergarments and then my indoor clothes and the two of us walked downstairs together. Plates filled with a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausages, and vegetables were laid out on the dining room table. Sylphiette and I sat down next to each other. As usual, Lucy hopped up on my lap.

I picked up a spoon and scooped up a small amount of eggs. Lucy happily leaned forward and gobbled up the spoonful of eggs.

"Oh, Rudy! You spoil her too much!", Sylphiette complained.

"You say that like you wouldn't be doing the same thing in my position."

Sylphy puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, but then gave way to a smile.

I took my time enjoying breakfast, alternating between bites for myself and feeding Lucy. My two beautiful wives watched us contently.

"You two had best eat up or you'll be late for work!", Aurora warned.

"Okay, okay", I said as I started eating in earnest.

After breakfast, I put on my robes and walked to work with Sylphiette. Aurora stayed at home to watch Lucy and manage the housekeeping while Sylphiette and I both worked at the University. Not long after graduation, I had joined the Magician's Guild and quickly rose through the ranks to become a prominent member. I worked at the University under a research grant for developing new magical implements. Sylphiette, on the other hand, was a professor and taught classes on voiceless magic. It goes without saying that her classes were extremely popular.

Aurora still volunteered at the Sharia Church of Milis from time to time, but now that she had her responsibilities at home she wanted to make them her priority. Not to mention that she wanted to have children of her own.

Once we arrived at the University, the two of us hugged and parted ways. Sylphy left to teach her classes while I headed to my room at the R&D building.

"Good Morning Rudeus", Zanoba greeted me as I walked in the room.

"Good morning Zanoba", I answered.

Zanoba and I worked together under the same grant. He had joined the Magician's Guild alongside me after graduation. The grant we were working on was specifically for the design of human-like automatons; essentially robots. The higher ups at the Magician's Guild were stunned when we presented our first prototype.

"Rudeus, could you double check the configuration here?"

"Sure thing."

We are currently working on programming the automaton's 'personality'. Most importantly, we programmed it to not hurt humans under any condition. The second highest priority was its ability to obey its master's commands. Thirdly, we programmed some basic self preservation logic, so long as it doesn't conflict with the first two priorities.

"Ah, I see what the problem is. This command here is overriding this one over here..."

The two of us worked together like this every day. I can't help feeling like we could have progressed faster had Cliff not moved back to Milis with Elinalise, but as long as he's happy taking over as Pope then that's all that matters.

Hours passed by and before we knew it we heard the faint chiming of the bell indicating that it was lunch time. We made our way to our little outdoors table outside the cafeteria. Sylphiette, Julie, Ginger, and Roxy were already seated waiting for us by the time we got there.

Julie has mastered voiceless earth magic and has passed Zanoba's rigorous testing on her knowledge of dollmaking as well. She's gotten his stamp of approval to start making dolls of her own. I made a figurine of Ruijerd for her to get to work on mass producing. We were going to sell them to raise awareness of the Superd and dispel the misconceptions about them all being extremely violent.

Ginger continued to work for Zanoba as his personal knight, but in reality she functioned more like his maid. I felt bad for her at times. I think she might have some romantic feelings for him, but she knows as well as I do that he'll never see her that same way.

Roxy was a teacher at the University, just like Sylphiette. She taught several classes from entry level classes such as 'Magic Theory', up to classes on advanced level magics in each of the attack schools. She's the University's only King-Class water mage.

Every day during the schoolyear the six of us ate lunch together at this same table. Sometimes Norn and Aisha joined us as well, but they typically preferred to eat in the cafeteria with their friends.

While the six of us talked, an unexpected guest joined our table.

"Roxy, darling, looking cute as ever!"

Soldat leaned down and kissed Roxy on the cheek, causing her to blush deeply.

The two of them had gotten married not too long ago. When I heard, I was quite surprised to say the least. I never figured Soldat as the type of guy to settle down like that. Evidently his party had saved Roxy when she had gotten herself caught up in some trouble in a labyrinth and the two of them fell in love.

Roxy turned her head to kiss Soldat back. For some reason the sight of them kissing made me feel uneasy.

'What, am I getting Jealous? Maybe I still had some residual feelings for Roxy; I used to worship her like a goddess when I was a kid.

I couldn't help but look away. The sight of their embrace made my stomach turn. That was when I noticed something surprising. Sylphy was staring at them with a disturbed look on her face as well. What possible reason could she have for being upset?

I couldn't place my finger on it, but for some reason this whole situation filled me with a vague sense of unease, the kind you get when you're having a vivid dream, right before you realize you're dreaming and wake up. Something feels wrong.