A Degenerate's Tale

Chapter 23 Ari's Thoughts

After a long hug, Earl finally pried himself away from Ari's grasp.

The corpses of the 5 kobolds were badly mutilated on the ground after Earl retracted his earth spike. He touched the area on his arm where it was pierced. There was no wound, and the pain was gone, but it felt like he took some damage to his pride.

"I have a long way to go," He sighed. He looked to Ari who still had a worried look in her eyes and told her, "I want to train here for a while longer."

"I can always heal your injuries, but that doesn't mean you can push yourself too hard, okay?"

"I won't," Earl promised her.

For the next few hours, Earl would approach groups of kobolds, taking care of them with various types of magic. Because he felt like he was too reliant on Earth Magic while being surrounded by rocks, he would switch his magic usage between groups.

After every battle, Earl would not come out unscathed, but rather scratched, or even bruised. However, the injuries were nowhere close to what he first experienced. Earl's experience quickly accumulated, as he would get hurt less and less the more he battled the kobolds.

Ari's POV

It felt surreal seeing Earl relentless go back to battle the kobolds. Every time he finished a battle, the sight of his injuries would bring pain to my heart. However, I knew better than to interfere, as this would give him the crucial battle sense and experience he would need later on.

It felt like today, Earl took a step forward for his growth and at the same time, a step away from me. Is this the feeling every mother feels watching their child grow up? It felt like I was given a sudden splash of cold water that my first priority with Earl was to be his mother. He was not some gem I picked up who turned out to have an unusual level of intelligence, but my son. My son. My, Ari Roth's son.

I know I shouldn't need to worry about the future of Earl, but I still do. How could I not? He was my treasure, my pearl, my child...

Yet, I can not help but contemplate if this is really the right thing to do? My dearest son was only 7 years old and should not be battling monsters already. But the same could be said about myself teaching magic so early on.

At the same time, looking at him work so hard brings me endless pride. He was growing up to be a fine man.

,m Hours passed, and I continued to give Earl the support he needed. Giving him words of encouragement and tending to his injuries.

Earl's growth was rapid. Because of how hard he was training, he was quickly learning about which spells were appropriate for which situations. For this, he deserved a reward...

By the end of the day, Earl was already able to handle the kobolds easily, taking care of them without having to move a step. When that was done, he did a little cheer to himself and ran to my embrace, stuffing his face into my breasts as usual. Fufu, this naughty boy.

He seemed to have treated my breasts as his pillow because, by the time he finished stuffing his face, he has already fainted from exhaustion.

I ruffled his lovely black hair and looked at his delicate face. It was hard to imagine that this cute and beautiful boy was the same one who lusted after his mother, and was immensely intelligent. Although, the lustful part would have me to blame. Fufu, I laughed to myself and lifted him up into a princess carry and left the dungeon.

We teleported into our hotel room in the blink of an eye. Because I was travelling with my son, I made sure to reserve the most luxurious and comfortable room. Spoiling my son silly was one of my biggest joys, and he deserved it for being such the good boy that he is.

I made sure to tuck him into the bed comfortably before leaving for the Adventurer's Guild. The Adventurer's Guild appeared to have never changed at all since I've last seen it.

It was a wide, built out of brick and had three stories. It was exactly what an Adventurer's Guild one would have imagined to look like. I remember wanting to form my own party and being an Adventurer for a living like my parents. Oh, how funny fate works. Now I'm just a woman obsessed with magic.

The sky was dark, but the Adventurer's Guild was as rowdy as ever. I walked over to the receptionist who took me warmly and gave what I requested.

It was a paper detailing the different parties which accepted my quest. It was a simple quest that would escort my carriage over to the Beast Kingdom. Obviously, it was unnecessary for myself who was at the Pseudo-Archmage level, but I must maintain my cover and extra security for my treasure, Earl wouldn't hurt.

I quickly skimmed through the papers and finally paused at one that caught my eyes.

[(S-Class) Wild Rose]

They were a party of Adventurers that consisted of purely girls and on top of that, the girls were all of different races too. I couldn't wait to see Earl's reaction when he sees them tomorrow.

I already knew he had a strange taste for demonkins. I wonder if any other race would catch his eyes?

As I laughed internally, I handed the paper back to the receptionist.

"I'll have the Wild Rose as my escorts."