Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the President

"Even if you're worried about those two, you don't have to keep pacing back and forth, right?"

Carla crossed her arms, helplessly watching Rhode and Elfman pacing at the door of the delivery room.

"Because… because my sister's in there!" Elfman agitatedly waved his nowhere-to-put hands around.

"I heard giving birth is really dangerous! And it's been so long already, there's not even a sound… Sis, she…"

"No sound is normal, maybe it hasn't really started yet. And it's not like it hurts that badly right from the beginning…"

Rhode tried to soothe Elfman's nerves, but he himself never stopped pacing, his hands clenched tightly together.

Elfman scratched his own hair. "But how much longer is this going to take?"

"You can't rush it. Four or five hours counts as fast, six or seven is normal, and there are cases that go on even longer. It's fine, it's fine."

Rhode muttered on and on, talking as much to Elfman as to himself.

"Since you know so much, why are you still this nervous?" Carla said. "Wendy and Granny Porlyusica are both inside, nothing's going to happen."

"I know, I know nothing will happen…"

He had already asked Granny Porlyusica to come over, Wendy was inside helping, and Lisana was also inside giving a hand.

Even the Marine Sub-Dragon and Xiaohong and Xiaolan had been called over to stand by on the street out back.

Reason told Rhode that they were more than fully prepared and nothing should go wrong.

But asking him not to worry at all was something he just couldn't do.

Carla thought for a bit and advised, "You two sit down and rest a bit— I haven't seen any bad future."

This was undoubtedly good news.

In the past, whenever something major was about to happen, Carla would always see something in advance, and it was usually a bad future.

This time, since she couldn't see anything, it should count as good news.

Rhode and Elfman finally felt a little calmer.

But after a while, Mira's suppressed cries of pain came from inside, and the two of them immediately couldn't sit still again.

Mira was not an ordinary person; if it were just normal pain, she wouldn't cry out at all. The sounds now only meant that the pain was beyond imagination.

Listening to the sounds coming from inside, Rhode's heart ached terribly, but there was absolutely nothing he could do.

In what felt like an extremely long time to Rhode and Elfman, the sounds in the room gradually faded away.

What followed was Granny Porlyusica's voice giving instructions, but it wasn't very clear from outside.

There were Magic Power fluctuations in the delivery room; when Rhode carefully felt it, it seemed like Wendy was using some sort of Magic.

Only then did he remember that Wendy knew a pain-relief Magic that could greatly lessen the pain.

Luckily Wendy was there; Mira should be able to suffer a bit less.

Like this, Rhode spent half the night in torment, anxiously waiting at the door of the delivery room.

When the sky began to turn pale, the baby's cries reached the ears of the three outside.

Rhode and Elfman rushed to crowd at the door, lifting their hands but not daring to push it open.

Very soon, the door opened, and what Rhode saw was Lisana's smiling face:

"Congratulations, brother-in-law! You've got a daughter!"

Rhode didn't say a word and shot straight into the room.

Elfman's tears burst out at once; wiping his eyes with his arm, he bawled:

"Sis! You're— a real man!"

"Keep it down, Brother Elf, don't scare the baby." Lisana tugged on his arm. "Granny Porlyusica said Sister Mira will get hungry soon, let's go make some porridge for her."

"Sniff… okay." Hearing that his sister was going to eat, Elfman forced himself to stop crying.

After walking a couple of steps with his little sister, he suddenly realized he hadn't seen his niece yet. "Lisana, I haven't even looked…"

Lisana kept tugging her big lug of a brother. "We'll come see her when we bring the porridge up. It's not convenient right now."

Elfman, looking completely confused, was dragged away by her.

Carla thought for a bit and decided not to go in and disturb them yet. She turned back into her little cat form, curled up on a stool, yawned, and prepared to wait there for Wendy to come out.

Rhode was sitting by the bed, holding Mira's hand, looking at her with a face full of heartache.

At this moment Mira's complexion was clearly a bit tired; the sweat on her face had just been wiped off, and a few damp strands of hair clung to her ears.

Rhode gently brushed the strands away. "You've worked so hard, my love."

Mira smiled at him. "My love, we have a child now."

The couple shared the same blissful smile.

"I've checked her, the child's body is very good and very healthy." Porlyusica brought over the swaddled bundle, an obvious smile rare on her face. "Congratulations to you both."

"Thank you, Granny!" Rhode carefully took the bundle, turning very slowly so that the baby's little face faced Mira.

Mira gazed at her with eyes full of love and said softly, "Her hair's black; she'll probably look a lot like you in the future."

The reason she said "probably" was because, at a glance, the baby's face was all wrinkled up; it was really hard to say who her features resembled.

Just from her hair and eye color, she seemed to have inherited Rhode's.

"I've decided it's better if she looks like you…" Rhode also stared fixedly at the child in his arms. This was his daughter; he now had one more family member in this world.

The little one had her big dark eyes open—who knew what she could see—and very soon fell asleep under everyone's gaze.

Wendy had just finished laying out a fresh sheet and came back to look at her, exclaiming:

"She's so cute— but she was just crying so loudly, and she actually fell asleep this fast."

"Newborns being sleepy is normal." Porlyusica pointed at the four Dragon-Slaying Magic Crystals on the table. "Those things you prepared won't be necessary. Put them away."

"Yeah, yeah," Rhode nodded, but he couldn't bear to take his eyes off the baby at all. "Not needing them is a good thing."

Transplanting a Dragon-Slaying Magic Crystal required surgery; he had just gotten this precious daughter, there was no way he could bear to let her suffer that kind of pain.

Although this meant the child's talent might not be as great as Laxus's or Ultear's, Rhode now felt that it didn't matter in the slightest.

All he wanted was for his child to be safe and sound, healthy and whole.

So this is what it feels like to be a parent?

Wendy cupped her face and watched for a while, then asked, "Um, Brother Rhode, what's the baby's name?"

This had long been decided. Rhode smiled and looked at Mira as he said, "Since she's a girl, let's call her Zu Yilu."

"Zu Yilu," Porlyusica softly repeated it, then smiled. "Jueru, Juwel, to mean this child is your 'treasure,' huh? Not a bad name."

Wendy smiled at the baby as though greeting her. "Good morning, little Zu Yilu."

Mira, while smiling, suddenly shifted into a puzzled expression. "Even though I do quite like this name, but… didn't we say before we'd call her Houniu?"

Rhode: "…"

My dear wife, you pull this kind of stunt right after giving birth?

This is your own daughter!

You don't even spare her when you're being that much of a tease!

Rhode thought for two seconds and then laughed. "It's not impossible. We'll tell her when she's old enough to understand."

Luo Houniu—what a domineering name.

Porlyusica: "…"

Wendy: "…"

If we hadn't just helped deliver her, we really wouldn't believe she's your biological daughter.