Mushoku Tensei – JOBLESS REINCARNATION. Volume. 17.
Adulthood – Asura kingdom arc (Part 2).
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‘Chapter 12: Ten Days in the Capital and the Truth About Orsted.’
TEN DAYS HAD PASSED since our battle in the palace.
We’d defeated the Water God Reida and Auber, killed Darius, and welcomed Perugius to Asura, overwhelming Prince Grabel and his faction.
In the end, Ariel opted to strip Pilemon of his role as the head of the Notos Greyrats and confined him to their domain. Luke would be assuming the leadership of the family, with his elder brother acting as his assistant. Luke’s brother had excellent social skills and seemed to be something of a budding politician, so I got the feeling he would end up handling the day-to-day operations of the family.
At first, Ghislaine continued to view Pilemon and his son with undisguised hostility. But her attitude softened after Luke’s brother barraged Eris with praise and asked if she had any interest in marriage. Ghislaine had listened to all this with the proud expression of a dog hearing her master complimented. Incidentally, she’d accepted an offer to continue serving as Princess Ariel’s bodyguard. This would probably be a permanent post.
I couldn’t speak for Ghislaine, Luke, or anyone else involved, but it felt like things had been settled reasonably well.
Anyway… what had I done over the last ten days?
First of all, I had a meeting with Orsted on day one.
After the battle was over, we’d returned to Ariel’s residence in high spirits, flush with our victory. The Princess was understandably tired and went to sleep immediately.
As for me… I’d gotten a little worked up witnessing Sylphie choose me over Ariel, so I pulled her into my room to lavish her with love. In all honesty, I’d been kind of anxious about her feelings ever since I read about her leaving me in that diary. Hearing her declare I was the “most important person in the world” in front of everybody got my heart all aflutter.
That said, Sylphie was pretty worn out herself, so things wrapped up after round one. She fell soundly asleep on the bed next to me while we were basking in the afterglow. I headed to the bath to rinse off and calm down a little…but then Eris barged in, bursting with residual excitement, and I was subjected to some rough loving of my own. The woman really needed to learn how to be a little gentler with delicate boys like me. By the time it was over, I felt like a wrung-out dishrag.
When I finally staggered out of bed the next morning, one of the maids informed me that a letter had been dropped off for me. The sender’s name wasn’t on the envelope, but it was sealed with the Dragon God’s crest. Clearly a memo from the boss. The letter was short and simple; he expressed concern about my injuries and directed me to come meet him that same day.
Our conference room that day was a graveyard.
I’d been summoned to a cemetery for servants on the very edge of the nobility’s district. It was a quiet, isolated island of grass and stones in the middle of the city. The specific meeting place was underneath the surface, in a catacomb that looked like the ideal setting for a late-night zombie dance party. A bit creepy, but no undead creature could be more terrifying than the man who was waiting for me there.
“You’re here, Rudeus Greyrat.”
“Of course! As you requested, sir.”
Orsted was sitting on a coffin with his chin in his hand. Personally, that struck me as a bit disrespectful to the dead, so I made a table and chairs with my Earth magic.
“Please, have a seat,” I said, setting my candle down and pulling out a chair for Orsted.
“My thanks.”
Once the boss had taken his seat, I settled down across the table from him. Now it was time to get the conference underway.
“First of all—congratulations on a job well done, Rudeus. It’s now guaranteed that Ariel will be king.”
“Is it really guaranteed?” I said. “The king won’t be passing away for a while, right?”
The king’s illness couldn’t be cured. He was essentially dying of old age. But it was going to take some time for that to actually happen. I knew for a fact that there were desperate, stubborn nobles who would be using that period to try pushing Grabel back into position for the throne. Ariel herself had warned us that it was too early to get careless.
There were other unpredictable factors to consider, too. The Water King Isolde had watched her beloved master die before her eyes, and the Boreas family had been closely tied to Darius. Both would require careful monitoring. In all honesty, I’d expected my next job assignment to involve mopping up the remaining opposition here…
“Rest assured,” said Orsted. “Between Perugius’ endorsement and the death of Darius, Ariel’s victory has become certain.”
For some reason, he seemed totally confident of this. I couldn’t understand why, but it was obvious he was no longer the slightest bit concerned about the outcome of this power struggle.
“You look rather puzzled, Rudeus Greyrat.”
Oh. Whoops. Was I being that obvious? “Well, Sir Orsted… in all honesty, I think it’s too early to let down our guard.”
Orsted’s gaze struck me with full force.
Come on, boss! It’s not like I don’t believe you or anything, really. I’m just trying to say it isn’t exactly over yet, you know?
“I mean, uhm… well… sometimes things don’t work out exactly as you foresee, right? It feels like we wrapped this up really quickly. Isn’t there at least a chance the Man-God still has a trick or two up his sleeve?”
“No,” said Orsted. “I can say that with certainty.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that, really. Orsted was still hiding something from me, and it seemed he didn’t have any intention of changing that.
“Well, I was a disciple once. Guess it makes sense to keep me in the dark…”
I hadn’t meant to mutter those words, but they slipped out anyway. I regretted them immediately. Orsted rose to his feet at once and glared at me even more intensely than usual.
“Yikes! I-I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s not like I’m complaining about you keeping things from me, I just—”
“It’s true, Rudeus Greyrat. I never completely trusted you.”
I fully activated my Eye of Foresight to frantically glance around in search of an escape route. It was no good. Shadowy images of Orsted had me surrounded on all sides. If I jumped up and tried to flee, he’d cut me off in no time.
Guess I’ll just prepare myself for the worst…
“In fact, I monitored you throughout this mission to see if you might betray me for the Man-God.”
Oh. Well. That did make sense. I mean… the man probably could have taken out Auber, or anyone else, all by himself without me even noticing. Maybe he’d left them to me as a test of sorts.
“But after your performance in this matter,” Orsted continued, “it’s clear to me that you’re not just talk. You are a man worthy of my trust.”
A pause.
“Allow me to offer you an apology, Rudeus Greyrat. Part of what I’ve told you about myself is a lie.”
“Really?”
Orsted scowled at my question. No, maybe that was just a thoughtful frown? Sometimes I wished the guy would take some time to practice the art of smiling. It would make talking to him a lot less stressful.
Then again, I had some problems in that department myself.
“Yes. Do you recall when I explained the secret art created by the first Dragon God? I told you that it enabled me to see the flow of destiny, and exempted me from the laws of this world.”
“I remember.” He’d described it as a power that let him see the general path of someone’s future.
“Half of that explanation was a lie. I can see nothing whatsoever of what lies ahead.”
…Hmm. Okay.
“So that means you really are exempt from the laws of this world, right?”
“Indeed. But let me ask you this, Rudeus Greyrat—what do you think that means, precisely?”
How am I supposed to know? I don’t remember him dropping any hints about this. Uhm… well, what about his curse? The one that makes everyone hate him? Could that have something to do with it? Nah, I can’t see how that would be connected…
“Well, you said it dramatically slows your rate of mana regeneration. But that’s just a side effect, right?”
“Yes. My mana regenerates very slowly, and in exchange, I am immune to the Man-God’s meddling. Don’t you find this odd, however? Why would the first Dragon God have created an art that puts its user at such an enormous disadvantage?”
I mean, maybe that was the only way to hide him from the Man-God? The trade-off might be worth it… Wait…no, that doesn’t make much sense. The Man-God can’t see me when I’m wearing Orsted’s bracelet, and my mana regenerates just fine.
“Allow me to explain,” Orsted continued. “This secret art was created to guarantee victory against the Man-God.”
I blinked.
“In exchange for crippling the user’s rate of mana regeneration, it allows them to redo this war from the start with their memories intact. No matter how or when they die.”
Does that mean what I think it means? Is Orsted actually—
“My starting point is in winter of the year 330 in the Armored Dragon Era. I return to a nameless forest in the Northern Regions of the Central Continent. From that moment, I have two hundred years. Unless I kill the Man-God by that deadline, I am returned automatically. The same thing occurs when I die at some point along the way.”
So he was stuck in a time loop. The possibility had occurred to me before, but I’d found it too strange to believe.
“An outlandish story, I’ll admit. But you have seen a man travel through time with your own eyes—surely you’re capable of believing this.”
“Well, yes…”
My future self had found hints about the principles of time travel in ancient Dragonfolk ruins. And I knew they’d created a reincarnation technique that sent their souls into the future. I could easily believe they’d worked out a way to jump back in time as well…especially since I’d figured out how to do it all by myself.
“Uhm, so… Can I ask how many times you’ve reset so far, Sir Orsted?”
“I stopped counting at a hundred,” he replied bitterly.
Two hundred years times a hundred would be… twenty thousand years? Just thinking about this is making me dizzy…
“I’ve traveled this loop hundreds of times by now, I suppose,” Orsted said. “And in the course of those attempts, I’ve witnessed Ariel and Grabel’s battle many times. I know what matters to its outcome, and I know who matters. I know what will lead to Ariel’s triumph and her defeat. And at this stage, it’s simply impossible for Grabel to turn things around. Ariel’s victory is assured.”
“Even with the Man-God meddling with events?”
“Even so. The Man-God does not retain his memories of our past conflicts, and is therefore unaware that I’m trapped in a time loop. But after I learned of his existence and began my war against him, he has meddled in conflicts of this kind numerous times. And in every instance, there comes a point where he ceases to interfere.”
“And we just passed that point.”
“Precisely.”
Well, this did explain why Orsted always made his predictions with such confidence. He was speaking from a truly huge amount of experience.
A part of me felt like events might still take an unexpected turn… but when you put the same group of people in the same situation, they were probably going to act the same way every time. There had to be some minor differences in the circumstances this time around, but the odds of a complete surprise did seem very low.
“In other words, there’s no cause for concern,” Orsted said. “Ariel will rule.”
“Okay. I understand now.”
At this point, I was willing to take Orsted at his word on that. Something did make me slightly anxious, though: the fact that he’d failed in his mission so many times in a row.
“Sir Orsted…can you really defeat the Man-God?”
“I can. I’ve already established what I need to kill him, and I know what preparations will be necessary. And this time, I have you on my side as well. We’re very close now.”
All right. I’ll just have to believe that.
To me, it didn’t make much of a difference if Orsted was seeing the future or if he was caught in a time loop. I had to trust his judgment either way.
I was going to do my part. It was the only way to keep my family safe.
On the third day after the battle, Isolde stopped by the mansion where we were staying. It was something Princess Ariel had given to us, apparently one of the smaller residences she owned, but still twice the size of my home back in Ranoa. The thing even came with servants who’d take care of it in our absence. She said we were free to use it as a villa any time we stopped by Asura.
Isolde had come over to see Eris in particular. I was wary of her at first, just in case she was here for revenge. She seemed to notice the tension on my face, but still behaved quite politely.
After introducing herself to the servants, Isolde followed Eris to the living room, where the maids brought in some tea. Our hospitality was pretty modest, but you’d never know it from how confidently Eris handled things. The girl was a natural at ordering people around. Which made sense, given that she’d grown up in a mansion.
Living in my house was probably a little awkward for her, wasn’t it? I mean, we did have Aisha, but she wasn’t really a servant…
Isolde received our welcome graciously, but seemed doubtful about my presence in the room. After a while, she bowed to me cautiously. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Isolde Cluel. Eris and I trained together in the Sword Sanctum.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Rudeus Greyrat, Eris’ husband.”
Isolde grimaced. “Ah. So it was you…”
Well, the woman seemed to hate my guts. But I’d been expecting that, given the way she’d talked about me the first time we bumped into each other.
“Uhm… yes. I’m Rudeus.”
“The man who neglected Eris for years on end, and took two other wives in the meantime?”
“…Right.” This was starting to feel familiar. It almost felt like I was talking to Cliff. Might we have another bible-thumper on our hands?!
I mean, yeah. I figured that out the first time, too…
“I had rather assumed you were that frivolous knight Luke, you know.”
“Well… I don’t think I ever lied to you about my identity, did I?”
“No. I simply jumped to conclusions.” Isolde paused, then offered me a slight smile. “In any case, it seems you take better care of Eris than I’d expected.”
“What makes you say that?”
This sudden turn in the conversation felt a little puzzling. I wasn’t sure how much I “took care” of Eris, honestly. She definitely took good care of me. But I didn’t remember saying anything about our relationship either way.
“The Water King Isolde is here to visit,” said Isolde. “She was a student of the Water God Reida, and saw her master killed before her eyes. What if she’s an enemy of the princess? What if she came here for revenge? Eris might draw her sword. I have to protect her… That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it? It’s written all over your face.”
I didn’t know you could even fit that many words on my face… I felt like people had been reading my thoughts way too often lately. Maybe I really did need to make some time for those smiling practice sessions.
Ah well. It wasn’t the end of the world.
“And… that makes you think I’m treating Eris well?”
“If you didn’t care about her, you wouldn’t be so protective,” said Isolde. “She’s just wife number three, after all.”
Did she really have to call Eris “number three” right in front of her? It wasn’t like I ranked my wives or anything.
“In all honesty, I assumed you’d be neglecting Eris. Perhaps demanding that she fight your battles and sleep with you, but otherwise not even speaking to her…”
Sounded more like slavery than a marriage.
Eris wasn’t really that talkative in general, though. It was rare for her to start a conversation, and sometimes she just burst into my room at night to ravish me… Hm. Was I just her plaything, or what?
Nah, that wasn’t fair. She was always willing to do stuff like training with me, at least.
“It’s a bit of a relief,” said Isolde. “She looks quite happy with you.”
“Well… I’m glad to hear you think so.”
That earned me a smile from Isolde. It was a beautiful thing to witness, honestly. She looked like the prim and proper type, but there was a hint of the alluring about her too. Men would be falling over themselves around her once she really blossomed, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t happen until she got married. I could see her as the sexy wife next door, for sure…
Ouch. Eris, dear? It hurts when you stomp on my foot.
“So? Why are you here, anyway? Rudeus is mine, so you can’t have him.”
Hmm. Hearing me complimented usually put Eris in a good mood, but today she seemed to be stuck in her bossy brat mode.
“Believe me, I’m not interested in the slightest.”
Understandable, but do you have to sound so disgusted by the idea? I’m a little hurt.
“You want a duel, then?” asked Eris.
Isolde smiled awkwardly. “No. Master Reida wanted me to carry on the Water God Style, and Princess Ariel has already agreed to support us. I’m not your enemy.”
Just as originally planned, Isolde was going to complete her stint as a novice, then receive an appointment of some kind once she became a full-fledged knight. She’d probably end up as the palace sword instructor or a captain of the Royal Knights. There was even a chance she might even be granted a noble title at some point.
“Master Reida could be rather prickly, but it seems she had a number of friends and sympathizers in the royal court. I suppose the princess doesn’t wish to make an enemy of all the practitioners of her style, either.”
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
The swordmasters of this world tended to be monstrously strong. Political clout still counted for more than combat prowess, but it would be silly to antagonize a group of deadly fighters when you could get them on your side instead.
“And of course, we’re all quite relieved to know that our training halls won’t be shut down entirely.”
On a superficial level, Reida’s attack was an insane, unprovoked attempt to murder a princess of Asura. Even in a place like the royal court, where intrigue was constant and murders were commonplace, a public assassination attempt was going to lead to an investigation. You could get away with anything, as long as it happened in the shadows. If you got caught, there was going to be some trouble. Well… unless you were a seriously powerful figure like Grabel, Ariel, or Darius, who could sweep most things under the rug.
In this specific situation, Ariel didn’t want to spark a conflict with practitioners of the Water God Style, and they weren’t interested in fighting a losing battle, either. Since their interests coincided, no one would be held accountable for Reida’s crime. Everyone had agreed to put the incident behind them. That was probably difficult for Isolde, on some level.
“It’s a pity that Master Reida lost her life. But at least she died a swordmaster’s death—that’s no small accomplishment in these peaceful times. I only wish she’d told me of her intentions beforehand.”
She seemed to mean those words. I got the sense that she wasn’t so devastated about Reida’s death. It was an attitude that reminded me of the adventurers I used to travel with.
“So you’re over it?” asked Eris bluntly.
“I won’t deny that I’d like to avenge my master’s death…but it wasn’t you, Ghislaine, or Rudeus who killed her, so I don’t suppose I’ll ever have the chance.”
Isolde sounded just a little bitter as she spoke those words. Maybe a part of her regretted not chasing Orsted when he fled that hall.
“I don’t mind dueling, if you want,” said Eris.
“Please, Eris, don’t even joke about that. I have an obligation to protect the training halls of my style. The last thing I need is to suffer some lifelong injury fighting a crazed hellcat like you.”
“A crazed hellcat”…? Hmm. Rude. But accurate.
“Who cares about a bunch of musty training halls, anyway?”
“I suppose it would seem odd to a girl who fled her house and her responsibilities. But for some of us, our obligations are very real.”
Eris fell silent, looking sullen and a little sad.
“It’s only been a year since the last time we saw each other, anyway,” said Isolde, her eyes flashing playfully. “Wouldn’t it be more fun to wait until we’ve both gotten a bit stronger?”
“Oh! Yeah, you’re right!”
Just like that, Eris’ face lit up in excitement. She seemed to think her friend was being completely serious. Isolde, on the other hand, was regarding her with the patronizing smile of someone who’d just tossed a dog a bone. The woman clearly had some experience handling Eris.
“The only real reason I stopped by today was to see you, Eris. Since you’ve come all this way, why don’t I show you around the city?”
“That sounds good. I was getting kind of bored just sitting around here, anyway. Let’s go!”
“You’re certainly welcome to come along as well, Rudeus.”
I considered the matter for a moment. There was a chance the two of them might get into a fight out there. And for all I knew, Isolde had been lying to us this entire time… What if she led Eris into a mob of Water God Style students or something? It felt safer for me to tag along.
“…Okay then. I guess I will.”
We spent the rest of that day seeing the sights with Isolde. My concerns proved unfounded, as she never led us into any ambushes, and seemed to be genuinely enjoying her time with Eris.
I guess she waited until she’d came to terms with her master’s death before visiting us.
On the fifth day after the battle, Sylphie and I received an invitation to dinner from the Boreas family. Eris wasn’t invited.
I headed over there half-expecting them to try poisoning us, but as it turned out, they wanted to use me as their intermediary to establish a friendlier relationship with Princess Ariel.
I’d never met the current head of the family, James, but he’d mentioned my name to Alphonse, who was still heading up the reconstruction effort in Fittoa. The old man had shared a few stories about me from the good old days, which prompted James to make the invitation. It seemed Alphonse had mentioned that I was Paul’s son, and technically part of the Notos Greyrat family tree.
Cozying up to me might create friction between the Boreas family and Luke, Ariel’s most trusted retainer…but I got the sense that what they really wanted was for me to undermine House Notos. If I demanded a noble title as a Notos Greyrat, it would inevitably cause a conflict between me and Luke. Even if I didn’t come out on top, the struggle would create opportunities that the Boreas Greyrats could use to their advantage.
You’d think they would have invited Eris to remind me of my ties to their family, but I guess they were wary of her. If I could make life miserable for the Notos, Eris could do the exact same thing to the Boreas. Basically, they wanted to forget she even existed.
I could understand the logic, but this cautious, underhanded strategy felt like proof that the Boreas family I knew and loved was gone for good. I spent the dinner nodding vaguely, and didn’t promise anything.
On the eighth day, I took some time to check in on how everyone was doing.
Triss had officially returned to her former life as a noblewoman. She seemed to have assumed a role as one of Ariel’s attendants, like Ellemoi and Cleane. But Ariel was quietly arranging to put her back in contact with her former bandit gang, who might prove useful down the line.
Ariel and Luke were hard at work, and probably would be for quite some time. Darius’ death had caused a certain amount of chaos and confusion in the court, but they’d brought things under control. Preparations for Ariel’s ascension to the throne were coming along steadily.
Perugius had already returned to his floating fortress, leaving one of his servants behind in the palace as a representative. When I sent him my condolences about the two he’d lost in battle, he explained they could be revived back at his castle. Sounded like a handy feature.
It seemed like Orsted was right—everything was moving smoothly along. It seemed like there was nothing left for me to worry about. My job here was done.
I mentioned to Princess Ariel that I was thinking about heading home soon; and the next day, she summoned me to her chambers.
***
On the night of the ninth day, I found myself in Ariel’s bedchambers in the Silver Palace.
I didn’t want anyone suspecting me of cheating on my wives, so I’d brought Sylphie along with me. The princess hadn’t asked me to come alone or anything.
Her chambers were beyond luxurious, naturally. Technically all of this was part of the palace, but she had an entire house to herself here. The furniture and decorations were all magnificent; the sofa was so soft I was worried it might swallow me whole. The whole place seemed to be twinkling slightly, even the parts of it that weren’t made of gold. This had to be the fanciest stuff you could find anywhere in this world.
Ordinarily, this room would probably have been swarming with maids, but I guess Ariel had dismissed them all for our meeting. It made the place feel kind of empty. The princess poured us drinks personally, with her expensive furnishings looming coldly all around her.
“Here you are.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
The golden cup she’d handed me was full of purple liquid. Wine, huh? This must be the pricey stuff, too… Like, Romanée-Conti pricey…
“I see you brought Sylphie as well.”
“Yes. I wouldn’t want to be alone with a pretty woman like yourself at this hour, you know? People might talk.”
“Goodness. Yes, I suppose there’s no telling what could have happened, is there?”
Ariel was smiling, but Sylphie didn’t look amused. She did know I was joking, right?
“Rudy really might have gotten you into bed, you know.”
Hm. My wife seemed to think I was a beast who’d cheat on her at any opportunity. Sad, but I only had myself to blame.
Even if Sylphie didn’t trust me, I still trusted her. Especially now that she’d told everyone she would choose me over Ariel. Hearing that really got my heart quivering, honestly. If I were a praying mantis, I probably would have let her eat me on the spot.
“Now then…”
After handing Sylphie her glass of wine, Ariel settled down into a seat across from us.
“Allow me to express my sincere gratitude once again, Rudeus. It’s thanks to you that we’ve made it to this point.”
“I don’t think I agree, Your Highness. This was your victory, and you made it happen yourself.” All those years Ariel spent making connections and gathering allies back in the Kingdom of Ranoa had finally paid off. She had a whole stable of talented, savvy loyalists at her disposal; they were already stepping in to fill the vacuum left by Darius’ death, and to replace the nobles of the Grabel faction. If things kept moving along according to plan, the princess would have total control over the kingdom before too long.
“And what of the matter with Lord Perugius? Or your guidance on our journey? Or that introduction you arranged for me? It was you who made this possible, Rudeus. I would have fallen short without your assistance.”
“Well… it’s nice of you to say so.”
“I owe you a great deal. Perhaps Sylphie’s right—you might have gotten me into bed tonight if you tried.”
Ariel flirtatiously batted her eyes at me for a moment. My gaze wandered downward, reaching the nape of her neck before Sylphie glared at me so hard I managed to stop myself. By the time my eyes returned to her face, the princess had gone back to her usual smile.
“I’m only joking. But in all seriousness, I truly would like to reward you somehow.”
“Reward me? I don’t think that’s necessary…” This whole thing had essentially been a work assignment for me. And she’d already given me an entire mansion we could use as a vacation home.
“Come now. Is there anything I can do for you? Given my promise to Luke, I can’t offer you territory or a noble title, but you can have anything else I’m capable of giving you.”
Well, that didn’t narrow it down much. It felt like there were lots of things I wanted, but it was hard to pin down a single request. There were plenty of things you could only find in the Kingdom of Asura. Maybe she could get me a rare grimoire or something?
Oh, wait. There is one thing I could ask for.
“Well… I’m not sure when it’s going to happen, but at some point, I intend to start selling a figurine that comes with a book. It’s a figurine of a demon, so it would help to get official permission from the royal family.”
“Ah, yes. I remember you discussing this with Lord Perugius.”
“Right. I’m guessing it might be a little difficult, though?”
The Millis Church was very prominent in the Kingdom of Asura. If they saw the royal family publicly encouraging the sale of demon figurines, it might lead to some political friction.
“Not at all,” said Ariel. “I’ll see that you have authorization, and provide you with workshops that can manufacture your product.”
“You don’t think the Millis Church will object?”
“It won’t be an issue. Problems of this sort can be solved with money.”
Ah, the power of bribery… It made sense, though. Taking the throne of Asura meant becoming the single richest person in the world.
“Okay then, I guess I’ll get in touch once we’re ready.”
“Very well. I’ll be ready and waiting.”
So we had a sponsor and a manufacturing plan. Now it just came down to how quickly Julie could perfect her skills. I seemed to remember reading in my future self’s diary that the figurines sold well when packaged with a picture book, specifically. That sounded like a smart approach. There were a lot of illiterate people out there, but they could at least look at the pictures. We’d have to find an artist if we really wanted to rake it in…
As I busied myself with counting unhatched chickens, Ariel straightened her back and turned to Sylphie. “Of course, I owe this victory to you as well, Sylphie.”
“Congratulations, Ariel. I’m so happy for you…”
Yesterday, Sylphie had formally quit her job as Ariel’s bodyguard. She’d been busy arranging for her replacement until the day before. But once it was actually done, she spent an entire day with her head in the clouds.
“You’re sure you don’t need my help anymore, right?”
“That’s right. I’ll be just fine. Thank you so much for all the years you spent protecting me.”
Ariel bowed her head deeply as she spoke those words. That wasn’t something you saw every day.
“Please, Ariel. You don’t have to bow to me.”
“I don’t want to pretend I can repay you with gifts or money, Sylphie. But I want you to understand how truly, deeply grateful I am. You’ve helped me in more ways than I could even count.”
“Come on, it’s not that big a deal. I was just helping out my friend.”
Sylphie took the princess’ hands and squeezed them gently as she spoke. They had been friends for an entire decade now, hadn’t they? You could really tell how much they cared about each other.
“Please do come back to see me, Sylphie. You’re welcome any time.”
“I will, I promise. And if you happen to be in Ranoa… well, I guess you wouldn’t have time to stop by our house or anything…”
“True, but I can always arrange for a party at the castle there. You’ll all be invited, naturally.”
“Ahaha. I guess we’re big, important people now, huh?”
Sylphie and Ariel talked cheerfully for a while after that. As I listened quietly, I found myself remembering the day I’d first met Sylphie. I could still see her trudging along that field all by herself, too scared to complain when the local bullies tossed mud at her. But here she was, chatting happily with a royal princess… and more importantly, a friend.
The thought made me feel all warm and fuzzy.
Finally, the tenth day came. It was time for us to leave Asura behind.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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