Adopting the Male Protagonist Changed the Genre - Chapter 15

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 15

* * *

Everyone has nights when sleep just won’t come.

When I heard the shuffling footsteps from beyond the wall, I realized that yesterday had been one of those nights for Leo.

I immediately pulled out my three-piece set for putting a child to sleep.

A cozy environment like a secret hideout.

A warm glass of milk.

And a fairy tale read at the bedside.

This works. Because I know from experience!

On sleepless nights, I would secretly crawl under my desk away from my aunt’s family, turn on a night light, and read the same worn-out fairy tale book over and over again.

Eventually, my eyes would get tired and I’d fall asleep without realizing it.

…Come to think of it, this might be a bit different.

“Ahem, Jui-bam-tol?”

“Yes!”

Huh? His response is particularly energetic today.

“Today I’ll give you a task. A very special mission that only my servant can do.”

“…!”

Instantly, Leo’s face brightened up as if fireworks had exploded behind him.

If Leo had a dog’s tail, he would have been wagging that fluffy thing non-stop.

“Yes! I can do it well! I’ll definitely do my best!”

Uh… if he’s that happy about it, I feel a bit sorry.

“I’ll give you this.”

I avoided Leo’s sparkling eyes and handed him a delicately crafted quill pen made from processed peacock feathers.

“…?”

Leo carefully held the quill pen with both hands and tilted his head.

Then he glanced at me and clumsily gripped the pen, examining it from various angles.

At that moment, the tip of the quill tickled Leo’s chin.

“Ah!”

I could almost see an exclamation mark appearing above Leo’s head.

Leo immediately grabbed the pen nib and started… dusting the windowsill with the feather part.

“This is a duster…!”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Leo looked dejected.

It seemed he had never even held a pen, let alone learned to read and write.

‘We have a long way to go.’

I placed a sheet of quality paper on the desk and sat facing Leo.

Then I declared in a more strict and solemn tone than usual.

“From now on, I will teach you how to read and write.”

“Study… you mean?”

Leo just blinked while holding the quill pen upside down, as if he had no idea why or how to do such a thing.

“First, that’s not how you hold a pen.”

I took out a new pen and demonstrated by writing on the paper.

The Belinda translator also applied to handwriting, and fortunately I could write meaningless words properly as long as they weren’t related to my emotional expressions.

Leo dipped his pen in plenty of ink and started copying exactly what I had written on the paper.

His concentrated expression with his lips pursed was so cute that I secretly swallowed my laughter.

Would this child ever realize that the first letters he wrote were his own name?

For a first attempt, his handwriting is quite neat. Our Leo must be a genius.

The Hero’s Star has learned letters for the first time and acquired the ‘Elegant Handwriting (lv.1)’ skill.

The Hero’s Star’s Intelligence has increased by +1.

I couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction. Then Leo stared at me intently.

Realizing my mistake, I quickly turned my head away and tightened the corners of my mouth.

Ugh, whenever I let my guard down, my smile always leaks out like this.

“From now on, you’ll learn three words each day, and take a test every week.”

Gulp. I heard the sound of Leo swallowing nervously.

Indeed, the word ‘test’ seemed to have the power to make anyone instinctively tense up.

“If you fail to pass the test…”

Suddenly feeling mischievous, I deliberately smiled wickedly and said.

“I’ll hit your head like last time.”

“Th-that incident was…!”

Leo’s face, remembering the previous misunderstanding, turned as red as a ripe tomato.

* * *

Life in the annex was comfortable.

Since employees from the main building were dispatched to handle cleaning and meals, it wasn’t much different from life in the main building.

However, since I prohibited employees from entering the second floor, which was our living space, cleaning our rooms was up to Leo and me.

Actually, I didn’t want to make Leo do household chores.

But I couldn’t just tell him not to do it unconditionally because…

The Hero’s Star’s ‘Sparkling Clean (lv.6)’ skill has improved.

The Hero’s Star’s Stress has decreased by -1.

‘His stress decreases when he cleans.’

While choosing books for Leo’s writing practice in the study, I sighed at the status window that suddenly appeared.

He seemed quite nervous about his first dictation test, so he was probably calming his mind by cleaning windows.

He’s probably breathing on them and polishing them squeaky clean.

To check his stress levels and stats, I muttered ‘status window’ in my mind, and immediately a translucent window appeared before my eyes.

[Name: Jui-bam-tol]

[Age: 9 years old]

[Intelligence: 4/100]

[Stamina: 3/100]

[Divine Power: 5/100]

[Magic Power: 1/100]

[Stress: 3/100]

His Intelligence and Divine Power had increased slightly since I last checked.

As for Intelligence, well, since I’m just helping him learn to read and write despite having no abilities myself, I didn’t expect much growth.

‘His Divine Power isn’t increasing much.’

The day I faced the holy sword and thought about Leo’s true ending.

I belatedly realized that the reason I couldn’t ask him ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’ that day was because I was afraid he might not be able to answer anything, just like me when I was in elementary school.

I knew all too well how fleeting the future dreams spoken by a child with no adults to rely on could be.

Similarly, the protagonist’s world before meeting Ophelia was very narrow and the walls of reality were impossibly high, so even dreaming childlike dreams would require great courage for Leo.

What I, who only had money, could do for such a Leo.

‘I want to protect that child so that the irrationalities of reality don’t block his path.’

So that reasons like ‘dreaming is a luxury,’ ‘you need to grow up quickly,’ or ‘not knowing how wide the world is’ won’t hold Leo back.

So first, I’ll make sure he experiences all sorts of things so that Leo’s world gradually expands.

And later, if Leo develops dreams, I’ll be able to help him…

‘Let’s definitely get the three basic stats to 100.’

Stamina, magic power, and divine power.

At ten years old, if those three stats are at 100, he’ll be able to start whatever he wants.

That’s why I first targeted divine power, which can be easily raised early on if you have money.

Divine power can be increased through consistent worship and donations, but somehow the efficiency wasn’t very good compared to the donation amount.

It was probably because the current High Priest ruling the Temple of the Kingdom of Jenos was someone of low caliber.

‘Come to think of it, there was a parade in the game’s introduction about a new High Priest arriving.’

I didn’t pay attention to it since it wasn’t an event involving the protagonist, but thinking about it now, he seems to be the High Priest and patron who helps bulk up the protagonist’s divine power.

‘Unfortunately, for now I have no choice but to increase divine power little by little like this.’

Magic power and divine power are opposing forces, so if either one is even slightly higher, the opposite stat gets reduced by that amount.

For example, if divine power is 10 and magic power is 8, the two forces would repel each other and ultimately only produce the power of 2 divine power.

But fortunately, since an awakening event is needed to manifest divine power, there was no immediate need to balance magic power and divine power.

Now what remains is finding a teacher to teach magic.

‘Vivian is running late.’

I was planning to personally sponsor Vivian and entrust her with Leo’s magic education.

But for some reason, her visit was being delayed longer than expected.

‘Could it be that she didn’t go to the place drawn on the map?’

It seemed I would need to visit the Magic Tower soon to find Vivian.

I closed the status window and began carefully selecting books that could be used as lesson materials again.

While flipping through books with content that looked difficult and heavy with bleary eyes.

【Abilities That Illuminated the Kingdom’s History】.

It immediately caught my attention.

A book recording the ability users of the kingdom.

In this world, people with powers called abilities are occasionally born, and Ophelia was also an ability user born with such power.

With the ability called ‘Nurturer,’ whatever she cares for with affection—whether plants or animals—grows up healthy and special.

In other words, Ophelia was the perfect guardian for nurturing heroes.

Out of curiosity, I pulled out the book and was flipping through it when a familiar design caught my eye.

A crown emblem tied with a purple ribbon.

‘Where have I seen this before?’

As I pondered, the massive tapestry decorating the study wall came into my view.

I looked back and forth between the emblem on the tapestry and the emblem drawn in the book.

“This is the Blanche family emblem.”

My goodness, there was someone with abilities in the Blanche family too?

I hurriedly examined the contents.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————