Mushoku Tensei – JOBLESS REINCARNATION. Volume. 15.
Adulthood – Man-God Arc.
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‘Chapter 3:- RESOLVE.’
Sylphiette
RUDY HAD BEEN ACTING strangely lately. He spent entire days holed up in his study, and then came out looking pale and anxious.
What exactly was he doing in there? I was getting worried, but he wouldn’t give me a straight answer when I asked about it. My last attempt had ended with him dodging the question and pulling me into bed with him. I was sure he had something on his mind, though…and it was really starting to bother me.
I went to Roxy to ask for advice, and found out she felt the same way: “So you noticed as well, Sylphie? I’m afraid Rudy tends to keep things bottled up inside. Let’s try to be ready in case he needs our support.”
I decided that if things dragged on like this much longer, we might need to press him for some answers. But then, just after dinner, Rudy finally broke his silence.
“Uh, Sylphie, Roxy? Could I trouble the two of you to come by my room this evening?”
His tone was a little awkward, but that wasn’t too unusual. It was just the way he tended to speak when he wanted to sleep with both of us at once. I never really understood why he felt so hesitant about these things. It wasn’t like he had anything to feel guilty about.
In any case, Roxy and I made our usual preparations that evening. We took a bath together and washed each other carefully, then put on the perfume we reserved for these special occasions. I changed into a set of underwear I’d bought recently and picked out a nightgown to go with it. Rudy seemed to prefer soft ones with sleeves over the skimpier kinds, so I went with something relatively modest.
I looked down at myself and considered undoing two of the front buttons to expose a little more skin. I wasn’t exactly busty, so it probably wouldn’t be that alluring…but I did want to earn as much of his attention as I possibly could.
What if he thinks I’m desperate, though? No, this is Rudy we’re talking about…it’s fine, right? It’ll be fine.
Just the other day, I’d noticed him looking down my shirt when I left a few buttons undone. I think he was trying to be subtle about it, but it was really obvious. He seemed to be enjoying himself, though, so I pretended not to notice. He carried me off to bed a little later.
Roxy was wearing her usual one-piece nightgown. She didn’t seem to have anything on underneath it, though. She was pretty aggressive in her own right.
Anyway, the two of us were now primed and ready. We took a few deep breaths and then headed to Rudy’s bedroom.
Rudy was sitting quietly in his chair, waiting for us. Roxy and I sat down on the bed next to each other. I sat on the right, and Roxy on the left. We’d never decided our places beforehand, but it was a bit of a habit by now.
Rudy would usually wriggle his way in between us with a leering grin…but today, he looked a little different. There was a serious expression on his face, and he wasn’t moving from his chair.
After a long moment, he cleared his throat and turned to Roxy. “Uh, Roxy?”
“Yes?”
“How’s Norn acquitting herself at school?”
Acquitting herself? Really? What a weird choice of words. Roxy seemed a little amused as well.
“…Why ask me? Didn’t Norn tell you herself just the other day?”
“Well, I was hoping to get some candid impressions from you. As an educator.”
How long was he going to keep talking like this? It was getting harder not to laugh…
“Uh… All right then. Her academic performance is average, and she’s making fairly slow progress with the sword. I’m impressed by her efforts with the student council, though. She seems to be earning some recognition for her disciplinary work in particular. The University has quite a few rowdy students, but everyone listens when she scolds them. I’m sure it has something to do with the fact that you’re her brother, but she’s also earned a great deal of affection from some of the older students. Either way, no one ever tries to pick a fight with her, and she seems to have lots of friends. I don’t think you have anything to be worried about.”
“Hmm, I see. Thank you very much.”
She wasn’t exaggerating, either. Norn really was doing her best out there. From what the student council members told me, she was probably the hardest worker they had. Sometimes I wished I could be more of a ‘big sister’ to her.
“And how about you, Roxy?”
“What do you mean?”
“Has anything been bothering you lately? I don’t know… maybe you’ve been getting peckish a lot? Grabbing lots of snacks from the kitchen?”
“Uh, no. You’ve actually been pushing so much food on me lately that I’m a little worried I might put on weight.”
“How are things going at school, then?”
“…Oh, well enough. I suppose there are a few students who make fun of me for being so short, or refuse to pay attention to my lectures. But that’s fairly rare.”
“What? They’re ignoring your classes?! What a bunch of hopeless ingrates! How about I teach them a remedial lesson in manners, Roxy? I’ll make sure they grovel at your feet next time they see you!”
“Huh?! N-No, I don’t think that’s necessary. This just comes with the territory when you’re a new teacher, really. But thank you for the offer anyway.”
Roxy bowed her head to Rudy, looking somewhat exasperated…but also somewhat bashful. I noticed she was playing with the ends of her braids. I understood how she felt. It made me a little envious sometimes, seeing just how deeply Rudy respected her.
“Anyway,” Roxy continued, “I guess there is one other thing that’s been on my mind…”
“And what’s that, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Roxy paused, then shook her head. “I’d prefer to be sure about this one before I tell you anything in particular.”
“…I look forward to hearing all about it, then.”
Ooh. I think I know what this is about.
Come to think of it, Roxy had mentioned feeling a bit odd lately. Maybe I’d have to arrange for a little celebration? Or was that too premature at this stage? We didn’t know for sure yet, after all.
“All right then. Sylphie?”
“Yes, Rudy?”
As the conversation turned to me, I tilted my head to one side and tried to look as charming as possible.
Rudy’s line of sight drifted down from my face toward my upper body. My strategy was a success, from the look of things.
“How, uhm… how’s Lucie been doing lately, you think?”
“Well, you’re keeping an eye on her yourself, aren’t you? She’s a happy, healthy baby.”
“You haven’t overheard her muttering ‘In the heavens above and this earth below, I alone am uniquely honored’ or anything, have you?”
“What the heck are you talking about? Uhm… I think she might be crawling around on her own before too long.”
“Hmm.”
Thanks to Lilia’s help, things really were going smoothly with Lucie. Princess Ariel seemed to feel that children were best raised by maids and attendants, rather than their mothers. But Grandma Elinalise told me I should try to give my child as much personal, loving care as I could. I tended to agree with Elinalise, and Rudy seemed to want us both to be involved in raising Lucie, so I’d been putting in lots of time and effort.
“Have you noticed anything strange lately, Sylphie?” Rudy asked. “Anything on your mind?”
“Not really. I guess I’m wondering why my husband’s hiding things from me, butthat’s about it.”
The words just came out on their own. I hadn’t intended to be that harsh on him, but…
“Uh… right,” said Rudy, averting his gaze nervously. “Sorry about that.”
So there was something going on, then. Was he ever going to clue us in?
After a moment, Rudy looked back to me. This time, his gaze was steady and determined. Whenever he got this look in his eyes, you knew it was Rudy at his best.
“Actually, this is exactly the reason I asked the two of you to stop by tonight.”
At these words, I sat up straighter and buttoned up my nightgown. Roxy straightened up as well, although her expression was a little uncertain.
“The problem is, I’m not sure how to explain… I guess I’ll start at the beginning. A few days ago, I met a certain individual.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“Right. He was…something like a Blessed Child, I guess. One with the power to predict the future.”
Rudy went on to describe his conversation with this person. The details were alarming, to say the least. Basically, there was someone out there who wanted to harm him—and his family. Terrible things might happen to us if this mysterious enemy had their way. And in order to keep us safe, Rudy might have to do some things that seemed very strange from time to time.
To be honest, I wanted to think he was taking this too seriously. But I could tell that Rudy was convinced it was completely true. I could tell he was keeping some of the details to himself—there were probably parts of this story he thought it was better for us not to know. That didn’t feel great, of course. Still, I could understand why he wanted to be very cautious about this situation.
“Okay then,” I said. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I’m sure there will be. To be honest, though, I’d rather not put the two of you in too much danger.”
There he goes again…
This had been coming up a lot with Rudy lately. I felt like it had started right after his father’s death. It was nice to know he cared so much about us, but he could get a little over-protective sometimes. I wasn’t a helpless child anymore. I could pull my own weight these days…
“Doesn’t that mean you’d be putting yourself in danger without us around to help?”
“Can’t say for sure yet, but it’s pretty likely, yeah.”
“Well, I don’t like the sound of that…”
That battle with Atofe had been bad enough. Rudy was a powerful mage, but he never wanted to fight anyone. And yet, he was always flying off on some mission or other and nearly getting himself killed… Was I supposed to just sit around, waiting to cheer him up when he limped back home? That was starting to get old. I wanted to go with him at the very least. I might be able to help out somehow.
Then again, the last thing I wanted was to be a liability… Hmm.
“All right,” came a quiet voice from beside me. “I understand.”
Roxy had spoken up for the first time in a while. Fiddling with her hair, she looked Rudy in the eyes and smiled.
“While you’re out and about,” she continued, “I’ll keep Norn and Aisha safe.”
Her voice was clear and confident. She seemed to have genuinely accepted this as her role to play.
“Are you really okay with that, Roxy?” I asked. I couldn’t help thinking there was a part of her that wanted to tag along as well. But Roxy just nodded.
“I know Rudy would rather put himself at risk than see his family in danger.”
“Sure, but…”
Come to think of it, Roxy had been there with Rudy when his father died. It was hard for me to picture just how devastated he’d been by that tragedy, but from the sound of things, he’d sunk into a very deep depression. At the very least, it was enough of a shock that he ended up breaking his promise to me…
Ugh. Cut it out, Sylphie. You’re just being sulky now. Rudy had come back to me in the end. That was what really mattered, right?
“That said, Sylphie… I don’t intend to just sit around and watch while Rudy puts his life at risk for us.”
What was that supposed to mean? Hadn’t she just promised to stay at home?
“We can keep a careful eye on him,” Roxy continued. “And if we decide he really needs our help, we’ll follow him whether he wants us to or not.”
Oh… yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense…
We didn’t need Rudy’s permission to help him. We could make up our own minds. As long as things turned out all right in the end, he wouldn’t have any reason to complain.
“…Yeah, I guess you’re right. Okay.”
Rudy listened to all of this with a little half-smile on his face. I’d half expected him to try and tell us off, but instead he just listened—with something like trust in his eyes.
“You go off and do what you want, Rudy,” Roxy continued, smiling back at him. “Don’t worry about things back here—we’ll keep everyone safe and sound.”
“All right then,” he finally replied. “It’s good to know I’ll have you two watching my back if things get ugly.”
There was some genuine relief behind his smile. And maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought his eyes were shining slightly. I had to admit, I was impressed with how smoothly Roxy had handled this. There was a reason Rudy respected her so much.
In any case, the most important thing was that he could approach this challenge with a clear mind. And if he got himself into trouble, I could always go help him out. I’d be the good, loyal wife most of the time—but when things got ugly, I’d ride to the rescue. Yeah. That was the kind of relationship I wanted.
“Uhm, moving on, then. There was… one other thing, actually.”
I’d been getting a little pumped up there, but the conversation wasn’t over yet. For some reason, Rudy’s voice sounded awfully meek all of a sudden. His body language looked a little different, too. He’d been choosing his words carefully this entire time, but now it sounded like he was reluctant to say anything at all.
“…I’m not sure how to put this, to be honest.”
“Is it an awkward problem?” Roxy said gently, trying to ease him forward.
Rudy nodded in response. “Very awkward. It’s not an easy thing to tell you two.”
“…”
Well, now he had me anxious. Could this have something to do with how haggard he’d looked lately? Hopefully he hadn’t caught some kind of disease that magic couldn’t cure.
“I think, uh, there’s a chance we might… add one more person to the family.”
“…”
Hmph. Is he talking about a woman? Yeah, that has to be it.
Well, I didn’t really have any grounds to complain. He’d dropped a few hints about this earlier, and I hadn’t objected or discouraged him.
That didn’t mean I was ready to give my approval to just anyone, though. My feelings about this weren’t quite that simple.
“Who is it? Nanahoshi?” I tried to keep my voice neutral as possible. I felt like I’d succeeded. I didn’t sound angry, at least.
If it was Nanahoshi, though, that felt a little…wrong to me. I didn’t think she really loved Rudy in the way we did. Her feelings were something more like gratitude. She probably wouldn’t refuse him if he pushed her for a relationship, but that didn’t mean she’d welcome it…
“No, it’s not Nanahoshi.”
Well, that was a bit of a relief.
For some reason, though, Rudy was looking even more guilty than before. “It’s a woman named Eris.”
“Eris…?”
Who was that again? I’d heard the name before, but it wasn’t someone I knew from the University.
“Isn’t that the girl you were tutoring during your stay in the Fittoa Region, Rudy?” Roxy prompted.
It was enough to jog my memory. “…Wasn’t she the person who caused your condition?”
“Uh, yeah. I guess she was.”
Had Rudy already forgotten how depressed he was back when he arrived at the University? I hadn’t picked up on it at the time, but after seeing the way he was transformed by our marriage, I realized that he’d been suffering from a serious lack of self-confidence. That ‘condition’ was no laughing matter for him. It was hard for me to fully understand his feelings, but I knew he’d been suffering. It had been a bit of a shock for me as well when I found out.
“Do you still love her, even after what she did to you?”
“Not as much as I love you two,” Rudy replied, looking me straight in the eyes. “That’s one thing I can say for sure.”
I felt myself blushing. Rudy could be such a lady-killer when he wanted to. It was hard to suppress the urge to squeal a little. I almost wanted to go brag to Linia and Pursena about that line. It was a shame they weren’t around anymore…
Gah. Stop it, Sylphie! Focus! We’re talking about this Eris person. Don’t let him distract you!
“Okay, so… is she the one who wants to make up with you? Even though she dumped you?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I might have been wrong about her dumping me. It sounds like her feelings never really changed at all.”
“…Maybe so, but she still broke your heart, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
In theory, I didn’t have any real objection to Rudy taking on a third wife. I’d come to terms with our arrangement by now. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to have him all to myself, of course… but Rudy wasn’t a member of the Millis Church, and I knew I wasn’t strong enough to support him all by myself. As long as it was someone who loved him, and whom he loved, I wasn’t going to object. I’d made up my mind about that some time ago.
But we were talking about someone who’d hurt him deeply in the past. That made things a lot more complicated.
“You know, Rudy, I still remember how sad and desperate you were.”
“Yeah. Back then, I couldn’t have forgiven Eris. Just the idea of seeing her again probably would have terrified me.”
So why were things different now? Maybe it had something to do with that Blessed Child he’d run into the other day. They might have made some prediction involving her.
That didn’t feel like a good enough reason to me, though. I mean, if someone had told me “You’re going to marry a man named Rudeus and have five children with him,” it would probably have been pretty exciting. But I wouldn’t have run out and married the first guy named Rudeus I could find. Did it really make sense for Rudy to marry this woman if he wasn’t even sure that he loved her?
“If you’re firmly opposed to the idea, I won’t marry her. But at the very least, I think I need to see her and talk things through.”
Rudy paused and frowned, as if something had just occurred to him. “You know, the thing is… Eris has been training in a place called the Sword Sanctum for years now. And it sounds like she was doing it for me.”
“…”
“Wouldn’t it be kind of harsh to just shoot her down when she finally comes back to rejoin me?”
“Well, yeah, I guess it would be…”
I could kind of imagine how painful it would be to have the rug pulled out from under you like that after years of hard work. I’d put in a lot of effort myself back in Buena Village, trying to catch up with Rudy.
“I’m not really saying I’m opposed or anything…”
What if the Displacement Incident had never happened, and Rudy had never bothered returning to Buena Village? What if I’d tracked him down, only to find him married to another woman? That would have been one heck of a shock.
“It’s just… I don’t know. I’ve never even met this person…”
That was the heart of the issue, really. I didn’t know Eris at all. Until this moment, I’d always thought of her as a cruel person who’d mistreated Rudy. It sounded like that was a misunderstanding, though. She hadn’t meant to hurt him, right?
“Could I interject?” said Roxy, interrupting my circular train of thought. “It seems to me that we should all defer our decision on this until after we’ve actually met Eris.”
“You think?”
“Yes. For one thing, I get the impression you’re not entirely sure of your own feelings yet, Rudy. Once you see her again, I’m sure it’ll be much easier to make up your mind.”
How did Roxy herself feel about all this? The last time we discussed Rudy taking another wife, she’d sounded accepting of the idea. But it was hard to tell what she was thinking right now.
“And in any case,” she continued, “Sylphie already asked as much of you.”
I blinked in confusion. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about anymore.
“You don’t remember, Sylphie? I think your exact words were Just make sure you bring her to meet me first.”
Oh! Right. Yeah, I did say that, didn’t I?
“Bring Eris here and introduce her to us, Rudy. We’ll talk things through and get to know each other. But if it just doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out… I’ll have to oppose the idea as well.”
The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like the most reasonable idea. We weren’t committing to anything yet, but we could stay open to the idea. Roxy sure did have a good head on her shoulders. Watching her in action made me feel a little inadequate as a wife.
“Of course, I imagine we’ll have to discuss this idea with a number of other people as well… but for what it’s worth, Rudy, you have my support and my trust.”
“Thank you, Roxy. That means a lot.”
“All I ask is that you try not to forget about me completely, no matter how many girls you end up marrying.”
“Rest assured, I couldn’t forget about you if I tried.”
“I’ll take that as a promise, then?”
“Absolutely.”
She was clever and thoughtful, and Rudy trusted her completely. It made me kind of jealous sometimes…
No, no. That was the wrong way to think about it. I’d just have to do my best to follow in her footsteps.
I can be a grown-up too! Just you watch! Hmph.
“Does that sound okay, Sylphie?” Rudy said hesitantly, turning to face me. “I’m sorry about all this.”
“It’s all right. Sorry for being so difficult today. It wasn’t really fair of me, after all those things I said last time.”
Rudy and I ended up apologizing to each other for some reason. I could hear Roxy chuckling softly.
It was nice, this arrangement we’d arrived at. I felt totally comfortable in this room. It was something I couldn’t get anywhere else, even with Princess Ariel and Luke.
But now we might be adding someone else into the equation. That made me a little anxious.
This girl wasn’t going to steal Rudy away from us, was she?
Rudeus
AFTER OUR CONVERSATION, the three of us slept side by side in my bed.
I wasn’t quite callous enough to try and start a threesome after a discussion that heavy. Also, Eris’ face kept popping into my thoughts, which wasn’t great for my emotional state. I’d thought I was over all that, but the more I thought about her, the more I could feel that old anxiety and self-doubt bubbling up from deep inside my gut.
Just as Roxy had pointed out, I wasn’t too sure how I felt about Eris at this point. And everything I knew about her feelings had come secondhand.
One way or the other, I had to settle things between us.
To be honest, though, the idea of seeing her again was scary. There was definitely going to be some punching involved. From the sound of things, Eris had gotten unbelievably strong in the last few years. There was no telling how she might react if I walked up to her with Sylphie and Roxy at my side. The diary hadn’t mentioned her attacking Sylphie or anything, but… There was no guarantee those entries were totally accurate, and I’d obviously left a lot of details out. Also, a few poorly chosen words could easily take things in a dangerous direction.
I had good reason to be worried. It was hard to guess how things would turn out when I saw Eris again.
With everything on my mind, it took a while before I managed to get to sleep.
That night, the Man-God paid me a visit.
***
I found myself in a familiar pure-white space. As always, I’d reverted to the man I was in my previous life.
According to my future self, this was the barren world—a sort of four-dimensional space, sitting at the center of a cube composed of six other worlds. When you used Teleportation magic, you travelled through this plane of reality. But based on the old man’s research, there was no easy way to travel into it.
Here I was, though, standing at its center. What did that mean, exactly? Given the change in my appearance… maybe this was a kind of summoning that only affected your mind, or your soul?
“…”
The Man-God was here, as always, with his usual…
Wait, no. He’s not smirking for once.
In fact, his body language suggested he was in a distinctly bad mood. Although it was hard to tell for sure, what with all the blurriness.
“Well, this is no fun at all.”
Yeah, okay. That sounded like irritation.
“Had to go and ruin everything…”
The tone of his voice was low and hostile. His usual carefree attitude had disappeared completely.
“Jumping back in time to warn yourself? Come on, that’s just not fair. And everything was going so well, too.”
Okay, I get it. You’re not happy. Does that mean the old man was telling me the truth? Have you been playing me for a fool all this time? Did you kill Roxy and Sylphie? I guess this means his plan worked. Did he just give you a taste of your own medicine?
“Questions, questions, questions. Always with the questions. Who knows? Who cares? It does seem like your future self was laboring under quite a few misconceptions, just so you know.”
Well, he’s messing with me again, but it doesn’t sound like his heart’s really in it. I need to try and stay calm. I need to keep this conversation going.
“Ooh, he needs to keep the conversation going! Will you stop pretending to be some kind of tactician? Haven’t you realized you’re a moron yet?”
Oh, shut up. I might be a moron, but I’m still going to try my best. On that note, mind telling me something? Why would you do this to me? Why would you try to harm my family?
“Hmm, why would I do that? Maybe I just wanted to kill them so I could watch you freak out about it? Whatever.”
Wow. He’s really half-assing it today. It’s almost like he’s sulking—like he set up some big elaborate trap in a video game, but then somebody messed it all up by wandering off in the wrong direction, and now he doesn’t even want to play anymore…
“Yeah, more or less. You messed it all up, you stupid, thoughtless jerk.”
…Can you just tell me what’s going on here? I don’t care what your ultimate goal is. I’m really not interested in getting in your way. My future self told me I can’t kill you, anyway. He told me to suck up to you, not to defy you, and I’m fine with that, personally. I mean, things were fine between us up until now… even if you were just setting me up to betray me, you still helped me out plenty of times. You can use me if you want to. It’s not like I have any reason to disobey you. All I’m asking is that you don’t go after my family.
“Well, aren’t you accommodating.”
I mean, whatever you did to that old man, you haven’t managed to harm me yet. As far as I know, at least. You did try to kill Roxy and her baby, but she came out of it unscathed. Since she’s okay, I think I can pretend that never happened. I can still control my emotions. I want to find some way to coexist with you before things cross the point of no return.
“Hmmm…”
The Man-God paused for a moment, apparently considering something that had just occurred to him.
“What if I told you that my goal is world peace? Would you believe that?”
World peace, huh? Sounds great. I’m on board. Love and peace is my personal motto. Nothing better than a tranquil day spent rolling around in bed, am I right?
“Let’s put the sex thing aside for now.”
Sure thing.
“You remember that Dragon God guy? Your old buddy Orsted? Well, his ultimate goal is to destroy the world.”
Wait, really? I wasn’t getting that vibe from him, honestly.
“He’s been skulking around in the shadows for a long time, making all sorts of evil plans. Here’s the thing: if I die, this world will break apart into a million pieces and fade away completely. So Orsted’s looking for a way to murder me.”
You sure you didn’t do something horrible and piss him off? I don’t know, maybe get his family killed for no apparent reason?
“Don’t you remember what I told you earlier? I can’t do anything to Orsted. As far as I know, he has no reason to hate me.”
Well, okay then. Go on.
“Orsted is very powerful, but he’s also alone. His curse keeps it that way. And as long as he’s isolated, he’ll never be able to harm me.”
Why don’t you just ignore him, then?
“That was the plan… until you appeared.”
What do I have to do with anything?
“Well, you’re not the problem, exactly. But it seems like you and your descendants are immune to the effects of Orsted’s curse. At some point in the future, those descendants are going to join forces with him, and together they’re going to kill me.”
Oh, I get it… so that’s why you went after Roxy when she got pregnant? The old man thought you manipulated Luke into dragging Sylphie off to die, too… But he didn’t say anything about you targeting Lucie. I guess it’s my second or third kid who’s going to be the problem, huh?
Wait. Couldn’t you have just killed me years ago or something? Why would you let things come this far?
“Well, when I first noticed you during the Displacement Incident, I did try a few things just to see what would happen. I’m afraid you’ve got a very strong destiny, though. It never worked out the way I wanted it to.”
A strong destiny? What does that even mean?
“Hmm, how can I explain? I can see a number of broad routes the future might follow branching out ahead of me, and I can tamper with the course of events to some degree. But when I try to manipulate events involving people with strong destinies, it rarely works out in the end. You survived that fight with Orsted, for example. And even though I tried to keep you far away from Roxy, you ended up finding her, marrying her, and having a kid.”
Oh, is this that ‘principle of causality’ thing? Like when you travel to the past to rewrite history, but things end up working out the exact same way somehow?
“Something like that, I guess.”
…Huh. Okay. So Roxy and I were destined to get married, then? That makes me kind of happy.
“Can’t say I feel the same.”
Sure, right. Sorry. But anyway, why did you decide to go after my kids in particular? I mean, these descendants we’re talking about are a few generations later, I’m assuming. Couldn’t you just deal with them before they join forces with Orsted?
“The ones directly responsible for my death will also be born with extremely strong destinies. It’s not just you, by the way—Sylphie, Eris, and Roxy’s are strong as well, and your kids’ will also be on the stronger side. That said, women have times in their life where their destiny gets a little… vague.”
Huh? Wait, do you mean—
“That’s right. It’s when they have a child inside them.”
I had to fight down a sudden, intense urge to punch the fuzzy figure in front of me in the face. The only thing that stopped me was a gut feeling that I couldn’t possibly beat him in a fight—not here, not in this form.
“Of course, I still managed to fail somehow.”
…Why’d you bother murdering Sylphie, then? She wasn’t pregnant at the time, and she’d already given me a daughter.
“What, are we talking about that diary now? Hard for me to comment, but I suppose I was trying to play it safe. On the other hand, maybe it was just Sylphie’s destiny to die if she left you at that point.”
I guess it’s possible… God, that’s depressing.
“You know, I really did think my plan was perfect. Once I realized your destiny was strong, I took things nice and slow. I guided you along, step by step…all so I could strike in the most efficient way, at your most vulnerable moment.”
Is he trying to piss me off now? Ugh. Calm down. Don’t let him get to you… Roxy and Sylphie are both fine. It’s all good…
“I’m not sure why you’re trying so hard to convince yourself of that. You don’t think you’ve won, do you? Just so you know, your children’s destinies won’t be as strong as yours, your wives’, or your descendants’. I’m not planning to give up, either. I really would prefer not to die.”
Well, yeah, I guess you wouldn’t. Isn’t there some other way we could approach this, though? I’m willing to do anything to save my family. Maybe I could start a family tradition of teaching each new generation not to trust Orsted. We can tell our kids all about how wonderful the Man-God is, and how evil that nasty Dragon God is.
“Sorry, won’t work. Destiny isn’t that easy to derail.”
Can you think a little harder, please? I have a pretty strong destiny myself, right? There has to be something I can do.
“…Oh.”
What? Did you think of something?
“Well, I’m not sure if it’s even possible… but there’s certainly a chance it could work… Hmm. You did say you’d do anything at all, right?”
…Uh, yeah.
“Okay then…”
Pausing for just a moment, the Man-God grinned at me like a mischievous child.
“Go kill Orsted for me.”
***
“Rudy! That hurts… Rudy!”
When I awoke, I was squeezing Sylphie tightly in my arms. My throat was dry, and my entire body felt strangely cold.
“Oh… Sorry, Sylphie.”
I released my iron grip, leaving my poor wife coughing for air. I touched my face and found my forehead covered in sweat.
“Are you all right, Rudy?” came a quiet voice from behind me. I turned and found that Roxy had wrapped her arms around me.
“I’m sorry…”
I sat up in bed. It was still the middle of the night, from the looks of things. Had that just been a dream? No. Not just a dream, anyway. It was the Man-God, no doubt about it.
“Cough… What’s the matter, Rudy? Are you okay?”
Sylphie also sat up and started to wipe my sweat with her sleeve. Roxy was still holding me from behind, rubbing my back gently with one hand.
“I’m all right. I just had, uh… a weird dream, that’s all.”
Go kill Orsted for me.
There was no doubt about it—that was what he’d said. Was he serious? What was he playing at here?
Calm down. Calm down, damn it. Let’s think this through.
Orsted was an open enemy of the Man-God. There was no question about that. However, Orsted was isolated. He couldn’t beat the Man-God on his own. That seemed to be an absolute certainty as well.
It was hard for me to understand why someone that powerful needed help, but that was just the way things were. At some point in the future, my descendants would end up becoming his allies. Together, they’d make their way to the Man-God and defeat him.
For that reason, the Man-God had tried to prevent them from coming into existence. That was why he killed Roxy and Sylphie. He didn’t want them having children. Without my family in the picture, Orsted would never make it to the barren world, and the Man-God would be victorious by default.
But today, the Man-God realized that he couldn’t eliminate my family. That had to be why he’d ordered me to kill Orsted. Both Orsted and my descendants had to be alive in order to defeat him. As long as one or the other was out of the picture, the Man-God would be safe.
The question was whether I could possibly defeat Orsted. From the sound of things, my destiny was very strong. But surely that applied to Orsted, too. After all, he was still alive despite waging war against the Man-God for many years.
How the hell was I supposed to kill him, anyway? He was unbelievably powerful. I didn’t have any means to hurt him…
Or did I?
That diary contained a fairly detailed description of something my future self had used in battle—something that had amplified his power significantly.
Maybe I could make my own version of the Magic Armor.
It didn’t seem impossible. And I had a feeling it would be extremely effective in combat.
My future self had also used a wide range of magic, including Gravity Manipulation, Teleportation, and Electrical attacks. He hadn’t bothered to tell me how he mastered those spells, though… It was hard to imagine I could figure out the weirder ones any time soon.
That said… in my first fight with Orsted, I’d managed to deal a small amount of damage to him with a Stone Cannon. And my Electric spell had done a number on Atofe. In other words, I had ways of hurting him. As long as I could stay alive long enough to use them, I might have some chance of winning.
…Damn it. This is Orsted we’re talking about! Why am I even taking this seriously?!
“Rudy, please… tell me if there’s something wrong. Don’t keep it bottled up inside…”
Sylphie looked like she was about to cry. I pulled her head against my chest with my right hand. I reached back to grab Roxy’s hand with my left.
I have to keep them safe, that’s why. Stupid question, really.
“It looks like I’m going to have to kill someone.”
“…What?!”
“Rudy… what are you talking about?”
Without responding to Roxy’s question, I pulled away and got out of bed. Warmth gave way to the chill of the night air.
“Sorry.”
With that, I walked out of the room.
My steps were unsteady. My head was swimming.
I was headed for my study. I wanted to look back through that diary right away—to get some sense, however vague, of the way that old man had fought his battles.
I was going to kill Orsted. It was the only way to protect my family. I’d do it, one way or another. Even if it cost me my own life.
“…Oh.”
As I entered the study, my eyes found the letter I’d been planning to mail out tomorrow, if all went well.
“…”
I scratched out a few new lines at the very bottom of it.
…Maybe I wouldn’t get to see Eris again after all.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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