Leon Greyrat: The Second Son - Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 41 - Reconciliation

— Leon Greyrat —

Having forced the trio of Eris, Aisha, and Norn to head into the commercial district with Ruijerd acting as their guard... or rather, as their babysitter, I found myself sitting in the same bar as yesterday with a mug of juice in my hand, waiting for a certain someone to make their appearance.

While Eris and my sisters really didn't like the idea of leaving me to meet with Paul alone, thankfully, Ruijerd was able to take them away without too much of a fuss, trusting me to deal with it alone.

As I idly twirled some wind magic in my hand to pass the time, eventually, after less than an hour of waiting in relative silence, a familiar face appeared.

"L-Leon..."

I guess the girl who widened her eyes and left when she saw me told him, judging by how she was standing in the doorway now.

She was one of the girls I accused Paul of cheating with, right? I'd have to apologize. That wasn't fair to her.

...Unless it actually happened, of course.

In that case, I would just leave the sad excuse of a father and a husband behind and cut all contact with him.

"How nice of you to come say hi, Paul," I said, turning to face him. "Cooled down a bit?"

I was slightly surprised by the sight of the man, though I was able to hide it well.

What before was the shoddy, sorry excuse of a man had changed completely.

With a clean face, well-kept hair, and eyes that shined with determination and life, it seemed that Paul had used last night and this morning to think hard and clean himself up.

I would say it was completely unexpected, but... for better or worse, Paul was always the unpredictable type, able to change moods on a dime.

"Yeah... Leon, I'm... I'm sorry!" he said, dropping to his knees as he bowed his head.

Different from the drunken state I had seen yesterday when he had apologized, this time, I could feel the sincerity radiating off the man.

"For being a piece of shit... for taking my incompetence out on you... for blaming you... I'm sorry! For all of it!"

Watching the man continue with his apologies, I released a sigh before getting up.

"I get it, Paul. You messed up our fated meeting after such a long time apart. Not to mention being a total ass..." I said, looking down at him.

"...Yeah. You're right," he nodded. "I know I'm an ass..."

"Yeah, you were, so..." I opened my arms as Paul's green eyes stared up at me. "Come greet me properly this time... Dad."

His mouth gaped in surprise before suddenly scrunching up, forming an ugly face as tears began to pool in his eyes.

Getting to his feet, Paul took one leap to quickly reach me, wrapping his arms around me in a hug as his tears began to shed onto my shoulder.

Huh... we were basically the same height now...

"Leon... Leon! I'm sorry! I'm... I'm so proud of you! You... you kept your sisters safe! You kept yourself safe! I... I...!"

"It's alright, Dad." I patted his back as an itching heat began to form behind my eyes. "Seriously... crying on your son like this... such a worthless old man."

Ah... now I was crying too.

"Seriously..." I wrapped my arms around his body. "Y-You're such a piece of shit... Scum..."