Mushoku Tensei – JOBLESS REINCARNATION. Volume. 17.
Adulthood – Asura kingdom arc (Part 2).
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‘Chapter 6: On the Road.’
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, we gathered all our things together and set out from the cabin. The sun hadn’t yet risen, and the woods were dark and silent.
“Okay then, follow me.”
Triss led our party as we made our way deeper into the forest. Without the sun as a guide, it was hard to tell which direction we were going, but the ground slanted upward before of us, so we were probably moving toward the mountains. We moved quietly, without any unnecessary chatter.
The forest was dense here, and it seemed to go on forever. But then, we pushed our way through one last dense patch of brush…
“Ooh.”
…and found ourselves looking down at a sizable lake, with the forest suddenly behind us.
Some people might have called it a pond, since it didn’t look very deep, but lake somehow felt more appropriate. It was semicircular, surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs and forests, and its surface was a brilliant shade of blue. From the looks of things, it wasn’t part of a river system; maybe the water came from underground.
“This wasn’t even on our map,” I murmured.
“Yeah, it’s positioned so you can’t see it from a distance,” said Triss. “And this is all our turf, so you won’t see it on any maps.”
“Hmm…”
We proceeded to follow the curve of the lake to the cliff on the far side. At first glance, it looked like a sheer, almost featureless rock face right at the water’s edge. But a single stone tablet stood on the ground nearby. When Triss performed some sort of incantation in front of it, part of the cliff melted away, and a cave appeared before our eyes.
“This way,” she called. “It’s easy to slip and fall in here, so watch your step.”
She led the way once again, stepping carefully into the lake, which continued into the cliffside cave. Apparently, the water was very shallow here. It only came up to about her knees.
“Come on, Rudeus!” said Eris, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Let’s go!”
Even at twenty, she hadn’t lost any of her enthusiasm for adventure. She was clearly itching to explore this mysterious hidden cavern. But I wasn’t much better, in my own way. I’d never grown out of my love for used underwear.
“Just don’t move so fast that you make the horse slip in the water, okay?”
“Yeah, I know!”
With a smile that suggested my warning had gone in one ear and out the other, Eris stepped post-haste into the water, pulling our horse Matsukaze along. Matsukaze was reluctant to wade into the lake and resisted her, but she managed to drag him in pretty quick. It was like watching a kappa at work.
Hmm… Eris would probably be good at sumo wrestling. Wonder if she likes cucumbers, though? I don’t think she has many favorite foods, but you never know…
“We should try to keep up, Rudy,” said Sylphie.
“Right.”
With Eris at the head of our group, we formed a single file and led our horses carefully into the water. It was surprisingly chilly, given the time of year. I didn’t even want to think what it would feel like wading through this in the winter. Wouldn’t horses die from exposure? Hmm… the lake would probably freeze solid, actually. That might actually make the trip easier.
Fortunately, the cave led upwards from the entrance, so we were out of the water before too long.
“All right then,” said Triss. “Follow me, and try not to fall too far behind. You don’t want to get lost in here, trust me.” With her torch blazing in one hand, she confidently set off deeper into the gloomy cavern. I’d taken a moment earlier to summon a lamplight spirit for some additional illumination.
Glancing behind me to make sure the others were following, I made eye contact with Princess Ariel, who was contemplating her drenched pants with a troubled expression.
“Let’s wait until later to get those dried out, Your Highness.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” said Ariel, somehow managing a cheerful smile.
Last night, most of our party had convinced themselves that it was pure coincidence Triss and Ariel knew each other. They were all very impressed with the princess for winning her over on the “spur of the moment”—with the possible exception of Eris, who’d gotten a bit cranky over all the admiring gazes at Ariel.
That aside… it was kind of nice to have the princess on my side now. It seemed like she was serious about supporting me.
I’d been studying Ariel’s face for a long moment when Sylphie spoke up from beside me. “Uhm, Rudy?”
“What is it, Sylphie, my beloved wife?”
“Don’t stare at Princess Ariel too much, or I’m going to pull your ears.”
“Understood, dear. You want me staring at you constantly, correct?”
Sylphie replied to this by yanking my ear.
For some reason, she seemed opposed to me getting too friendly with Princess Ariel. She hadn’t objected to me marrying Roxy or Eris, but I guess Ariel was in a different category. I seemed to remember her saying Nanahoshi might be okay, too…
Hmm. It was hard to tell exactly what counted as “cheating” in her mind.
In retaliation for her attack, I slipped behind her and licked the back of her ear.
It hadn’t been obvious at the entrance, but the floor of the cavern we were moving through was neatly tiled. Apparently, this tunnel was man-made.
“It gets real twisty and complicated from here on in, so stay real close,” called Triss from just ahead. “Keep alert, too. We don’t get many monsters in here, but sometimes they wander in from the deeper tunnels. Oh, and don’t go wandering outside if you see a light in the distance—we’re in Red Wyrm territory now.”
At this point, the tunnel had a high ceiling and was relatively wide. But just as Triss said, it was constantly curving, and there were frequent side passages and branches in the path. It felt like we were moving through one part of a giant man-made maze.
“This place is really amazing, Rudy,” murmured Sylphie quietly. “It isn’t some kind of labyrinth, right?”
“Hm? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it isn’t.”
“How do you think they made such huge tunnels through the mountains?”
I frowned thoughtfully. “Hmm… Well, the Red Wyrms took over this area four hundred years ago. Maybe there were dwarves living around here up until then, or something?”
“Oh, that makes sense. I guess these might be some really old mining tunnels, then…”
Up ahead, Eris poked curiously into one strange side passage after another, only to be dragged back by Ghislaine. For better or worse, it felt like spending last night under a roof had helped us all relax a little.
“By the way, Rudy…”
“Hmm?”
“…Sorry, it’s nothing.”
Sylphie fell silent, but shot a quick glance over her shoulder.
Ariel, Luke, and the attendants were following us at a decent distance. Our formation was feeling kind of loose… we’d probably gotten a bit too spread out. It didn’t seem like there were many monsters lurking on this path, but the last thing we needed was for the princess to get lost.
We’d been walking through the tunnels for quite a while. It was hard to say how long exactly. When you can’t see the sun, it throws off your perception of time; until you get used to walking in those conditions, a single hour can feel like three. Moving through dark, unfamiliar terrain tends to be more fatiguing, too. I’d learned all this from my adventuring days, trekking through dense, overgrown forests where no sunlight ever reached the ground. Ariel and her attendants were clearly getting tired. I was starting to hear a few comments like “It feels like we’ve been walking for days now,” and we weren’t moving as quickly as before.
But before anyone could throw in the towel, Triss finally came to a halt at what looked to be a dead end. A stone tablet similar to the one we’d seen at the entrance was sitting unobtrusively on the ground nearby.
When Triss activated this device, the wall of rock in front of us opened up… and we blinked as the sunlight hit our faces.
Just like that, we were back outside again.
Squinting as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, I looked around the area. We’d stepped out into another forest, from the looks of things. It was dense, but not overgrown enough to hide the sky from view.
The sun’s position told me that the time was a bit past noon. We’d set out very early that morning, so all in all we’d been walking for about eight hours.
Triss took a few strides out into the open, then turned to face us as we blinked and squinted. “Welcome to the Kingdom of Asura, everyone,” she announced, a playful grin spreading across her face.
We’d made it safely across the border after all.
The exit Triss had guided us to was a bit southeast of the actual border checkpoint. If we headed due south from here, we’d reach the Donati Region. Fittoa was off to the southeast. Our ultimate destination, the royal capital, was further to the south of Donati.
After an extended breather, we pushed ahead, trying to make our way out of the forest. Triss was anxious to get us moving. There was a good reason for that: from dawn till dusk, this route was used to smuggle people into Asura; at night, it was used to smuggle people out. Whenever two groups heading in opposite directions bumped into each other, the head of that bandit gang tended to get very upset. This seemed to explain why he’d kept us waiting in that cabin overnight as well.
We needed to take several breaks along the way, but we managed to push out of the forest that same day, and then resumed our journey south through the Donati Region.
Naturally, we stayed off the main highways, sticking to quiet, less traveled backroads. Just to be clear, these weren’t rough trails crawling with dangerous thieves or monsters. While it was always simplest to take the direct roads that connected various cities and towns, Asura had plenty of others that were mainly used by the locals of that specific region. These were usually just wide enough for a single wagon, though, and the princess’ carriage did attract some curious looks.
These roads weren’t on our maps, but Triss knew them like the back of her hand, so we progressed toward our destination steadily enough. Thanks to her, we stayed one step ahead of Auber… well, assuming he was even pursuing us at this point. It was entirely possible that the Man-God and his allies knew exactly where we were, and had simply decided to concentrate their forces in the capital or the palace. There was no telling if it was the Man-God or Darius who was calling the shots about these things, but we needed to tread very carefully regardless.
On our journey south, we passed by the Fittoa Region.
Some years had passed since the rebuilding effort began in earnest; fields of crops were dotted here and there across its landscape. The people living in the area looked like they’d regained some of their spirits, too. Still, it was a far cry from the endless fields of golden wheat that I remembered. It would probably take another decade before Fittoa regained that level of prosperity.
Eris and Sylphie paused, their horses side by side, to look out at the grassy plain with its smattering of fields. The expressions on their faces contrasted sharply: Sylphie looked nostalgic, and Eris frowned sulkily.
“There’s a lot more fields of wheat than the last time we passed through here,” said Sylphie.
“If you say so,” said Eris. “I don’t remember.”
“I hope they get it all rebuilt soon.”
Eris tossed her head, looking even more surly than before. “Hmph. I couldn’t care less.”
“Come on, don’t say that. It’s the place where we were born and raised, right? I’m not saying I’d want to go back there for good, but… I’m sure you’ve got some old friends living there, right?”
“Not really. Everyone back home hated my guts.”
“Hmm. I guess I wasn’t too popular either, actually…” Sylphie paused, smiling slightly as she recalled the past.
It put me in a kind of sentimental mood as well. Both had both been loners as kids, but for very different reasons. Sylphie was bullied relentlessly, and retreated into her shell like a turtle; Eris jumped at anyone who tried to approach her, scaring them off with her wild outbursts. If they’d met back then, maybe they could have balanced each other out.
…Nah, doesn’t seem too likely. The only outcome I could picture was Eris beating Sylphie up until she cried. The woman had herself mostly under control these days, but back then, she was basically a wild animal. If you’d tossed the two of them together as kids, Sylphie’s life would probably have turned into a hellish nightmare. I’m talking Gian versus Nobita levels of bullying here.
Then again, if you sent Sylphie back as she was now, it might turn into more of a co-bullies type situation. She’d gotten a lot tougher over the years.
“Look, Sylphie,” said Eris after a moment. “I’m just going to say one thing.”
“What is it?”
“I couldn’t have done anything useful for Fittoa, even if I stayed there.”
“Hm…?” Sylphie tilted her head, looking something like an uncertain squirrel. Adorable. “Oh, right. You were the daughter of the lord, weren’t you? Sort of a princess yourself! It kind of slipped my mind.”
“Hmph. I was just a stupid dress-up doll.”
“Well, you’re pretty imposing these days. I bet you’d make a very convincing ruler if you wanted to.”
“…You think?”
Sylphie’s compliment seemed to put Eris in a better mood. Whatever else you could say about her, the girl wasn’t difficult to placate.
“Well, whatever. It’s not like I want to rule Fittoa either way. There’s no way I could handle a job that complicated.”
“Hmm. It does feel like you were born to be a swordmaster, I guess.”
“Exactly!”
Wow, Sylphie’s really laying it on thick today…
“Still, you could easily have ended up spending your whole life as an Asuran noble, huh?”
“Not a chance.”
“I bet Rudy would have stuck around to help you, and ended up ruling from the shadows. He probably would have made you the head of the Boreas family in no time at all.”
Miss Sylphiette? I’m sure you’re not serious, but… you’re not serious, right?
“Then he would have seduced me and wiggled his way into Princess Ariel’s inner circle. The Boreas family would back her for the throne, and we’d end up fighting Darius or Grabel together.”
Did Sylphie let me “seduce” her in this scenario? How would that work, exactly? We probably wouldn’t even have run into each other…
Okay, let’s not overthink a game of make-believe.
“Sounds like things would turn out exactly the same,” said Eris dubiously.
“But you’d be the ruler of the Fittoa Region, and Rudy would be your loyal aide! I bet you two would be the talk of the whole kingdom…”
“All I want is to fight with my sword and make babies with Rudeus. I don’t want anything else.”
Somehow, Eris had delivered that line without a hint of shame. It was enough to make me blush, and I wasn’t even the one who’d said it.
“Aren’t you satisfied with things the way they are, Sylphie?”
“Oh, absolutely. Sometimes the whole thing almost feels too good to be true, to be honest.”
“…”
“You know, back when we first got married, Rudy and I used to go at it like animals every single night. When there wasn’t anyone else in the house, he’d carry me off to the bedroom with this ravenous look on his face! And of course, I was quivering with anticipation the whole way… err… Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be talking about this in public.”
I’d certainly appreciate it if you stopped, yeah. Eris’ eyes were narrowing with what looked like jealousy, and I was starting to think I might get dragged into the bushes tonight for some vigorous lovemaking. It was an appealing idea, but right now we needed to conserve our energy for the task at hand.
“Anyway,” said Sylphie, “I think that’s the whole reason it’s fun to think about how things might have turned out. Because I’m really happy with how they did.”
“…I wonder if I’ll feel the same way once I have a child, too.”
“Hmm… if you and Rudy have a kid, it’ll probably be a real lecher…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Sylphie did have a point. Anyone who inherited half of my genes would probably end up at least moderately perverted. Which made me a little anxious about how Lucie might turn out. Sylphie wasn’t that much of a pervert, relatively speaking, but she had Elinalise for a grandmother. What if those dormant horny genes had been activated by combination with my own? We might end up with a daughter who went around sucking innocent young men dry left and right.
This calls for precautionary measures. The secret morality lessons will commence immediately.
“I hope I get one soon,” said Eris after a moment.
“Oh, it won’t take long. You’re a full-blooded human, remember? You’re a much better match for Rudy than I am.”
That seemed like an unnecessarily negative choice of words. At the very least, Sylphie and I matched perfectly in bed. Even now, the beast inside me was waiting vigilantly for its chance to get started on baby number two.
“Either way, that comes later,” said Eris. “Right now, the most important thing is keeping him safe.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
The two of them kept chatting. They speculated about what Roxy was doing at the moment, then talked about how good the food was back in Fittoa. Sylphie promised to teach Eris how to cook a few meals once we got back home. That sort of thing. Sylphie ostensibly did most of the talking. Eris wasn’t the best at this kind of casual conversation, and sometimes there were awkward pauses.
Still, the sound of their voices made for pleasant background noise as we rode along. It felt very relaxing just sitting on that horse with my arms wrapped around Sylphie, listening to their conversation. There was no telling when the enemy might attack us next, but that afternoon it was a challenge just to stay awake.
***
After about ten days on the road, we stopped at a place called Rikket. This was a city near the southern edge of the Donati Region, and a hub for trade with the Royal Region.
Most of the merchants here were heading south to bring their goods to the Royal Region, rather than the other way around. Because of this, the streets were thick with representatives and headmen from villages all across Donati, here to send their harvest south and to buy the crops their people needed from the sprawling market. This was clearly a place of major economic importance for Asura as a whole. It was also larger than the whole of the Magic City of Sharia, even though it was really just one giant trading post and rest stop. That’s the Kingdom of Asura for you.
We wanted to make it to the capital city of Ars, without making our presence known if possible. We’d gathered information in the villages along the way, but found no clues about the movements of our pursuers. A city this big would offer them all sorts of places to hide—and set up ambushes, of course.
On the other hand, it also offered us a chance to stay undetected… at least in theory. Unfortunately, our party kind of stood out in a crowd. Ariel was still maintaining her anonymity, but that didn’t matter as long as she was strutting around with a bunch of eye-catching bodyguards like Ghislaine, Eris, and Sylphie. Luke was a well-known figure in Asura in his own right.
However, there was no going around this city. Triss knew all the roads in Asura, but she couldn’t make new ones appear out of thin air. And people generally only made roads to places they wanted to go to. Bluntly, the only road that led from Donati into the Royal Region ran through this city.
Rikket was a chokepoint, just like the border fortress. There was an excellent chance our enemies were waiting for us here. To my surprise, though, the guards at the gate didn’t stop us, and there weren’t ranks of armored soldiers across the streets inside.
Triss swiftly guided us to an inn that was well-suited for groups looking to keep a low profile. It looked like a normal place from the outside, but it was actually run and staffed by people closely connected to her bandit gang. They also owned the buildings on every side of it, and had undergrounds tunnels to allow for emergency escapes. It was like something out of an old ninja movie. Ariel would be shutting herself inside the inn while Triss headed out onto the streets to gather information. The rest of us stayed in the inn to guard the princess.
Ghislaine and I stood watch at the inn’s first-floor stairway, with Eris and Sylphie guarding Ariel in her room. The two attendants had disguised themselves and gone out to buy supplies. Luke was laying low in Ariel’s room. That made me a little anxious, but I had to trust that he wouldn’t suddenly lose his mind and try to stab the princess. If the man snapped, hopefully he’d just throw himself at her or something…
Stifling a yawn, I glanced over at Ghislaine. She was standing quietly next to the stairway, staring toward the entrance with her ears perked straight up.
The two of us hadn’t done much talking since this journey began. I guess she was more of a professional about her duties as a bodyguard than I’d ever be; whenever I tried to strike up a conversation with her on uneventful shifts like this one, she’d cut me off, saying that she was listening for danger. A part of me was starting to wonder if she actually hated my guts. But she wasn’t doing much talking to Eris, either. She was probably just talking her job seriously.
Today, however, turned out to be an exception. She actually started a conversation for once. “Rudeus?”
“Yes, Ghislaine?”
“Thank you for your help earlier.”
I just blinked, trying to figure out what she was referring to.
“With Wi Taa’s armor, I mean.”
Oh. This about that battle way back in the forest? “Don’t mention it. It’s my whole job to support the rest of you.”
“You’ve always been quick to think up clever tricks like that, haven’t you? Ever since the old days.”
The old days, meaning… ten years ago, probably? I felt like I’d changed lot since then, but maybe I was still the same cheeky little brat to Ghislaine. “I guess so. They usually don’t accomplish much against the tougher enemies, though.”
“For the tougher ones, you can have Lady Eris do the heavy lifting.”
I was a little surprised to hear that coming from Ghislaine, honestly. She’d always seemed more like the “find a way to handle it yourself” type…
“That’s the whole reason she trained so hard for all those years.”
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
In my heart, I wanted Sylphie and Roxy to stay put at home where it was safe. But for some reason, I didn’t feel the same way about Eris. It probably had something to do with all the effort she’d put in to fight alongside me. The years she’d spent in the Sword Sanctum had really paid off.
Then again, it was also just impossible to imagine her waiting patiently back at the house while I went off on some adventure.
Come to think of it…the woman said she wanted to have a baby, but was she actually capable of sitting still during the pregnancy? Kind of a scary thought…
“…”
The conversation seemed to have ground to a halt. Crap. Don’t we have anything else to talk about? Uh, maybe the good old days? Uhhh…
“By the way, Ghislaine, are you still keeping up with your reading and writing?”
“Yeah. I practice like you taught me when I have some spare time. Wouldn’t want to lose a skill I took the time to learn.”
What an admirable attitude. Eris, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten almost everything I’d taught her by now.
“You know,” said Ghislaine with a smile, “the others at the Sword Sanctum didn’t believe me when I told them I’d learned how to write.”
“Couldn’t you have just written something for them to prove it?”
“I did, but most of them can’t read, either. They said I was scribbling a bunch of nonsense and laughed in my face.”
“Haha…” I kind of wished I’d been there to see that happen.
“How about you, Rudeus? You still practicing with the sword?”
“A bit, yeah. When I have some downtime at home, I practice the forms you taught me and do a bunch of swings as part of my daily workout.”
“Really? You’re a full-fledged magician now, so I figured you’d stopped years ago.”
“Even magicians need to stay in shape, you know.”
I wasn’t trying to improve my skill with the sword at this point, of course. Becoming Paul’s equal had been my goal once, but he was gone now. I only really used it when I was teaching Norn. In this world, you couldn’t make it too far as a swordsman without the use of Battle Aura.
“Oh, this reminds me,” said Ghislaine. “Do you remember that promise you made me, back when you were just a kid?”
“Uhm… what promise was this?”
“Slipped your mind, I see. You said you were going to make another figurine of me.”
Oh, right. I did say something like that, didn’t I? When was that, my tenth birthday? That really takes me back…
“I’ve heard you’re still doing those figurines even now, right? Make me another one sometime, if you don’t have anything better to do.”
“Absolutely.”
“Thanks. I don’t know much about art, but I do like your work a lot.”
That was nice to hear, don’t get me wrong, but why was everyone in this world constantly saying stuff like this with a battle looming on the horizon? It made me antsy. Hopefully we weren’t setting any death flags here…
Nah. I could understand it, actually. I still had my memories of cheesy movies from my previous life, so I felt like talking about the future right before a battle meant your death was all but guaranteed. But it was probably the other way around. Reminding yourself of the reasons you wanted to survive made it more likely that you would.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, Ghislaine’s ears and nose twitched. I lifted my staff and prepared myself for a fight; but she held out a hand to stop me.
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
A moment later, Triss walked into the inn with sacks in both her hands. She nudged the door shut with her shoulder, then strode up to us and held out one of the bags.
“Hey there. Brought some food for ya.”
“Appreciate it.”
“Yeah, aren’t I nice? Make sure you savor it real gratefully.”
There were a number of tough, pear-like fruits inside the sack. I took one out and tossed it to Ghislaine, who immediately began to gnaw away at it, skin and all.
“All right then, guys. I’ll leave you to it.”
Triss waved her hand vaguely and made her way up the stairs toward the second floor. The woman had only spent ten days with us, but it felt like she’d already found her place in the party. Basically, she fell into the same category as Ellemoi and Cleane—a true believer in the righteous Princess Ariel. She had a foul mouth on her, but she seemed like a decent person.
My only real complaint was that her clothing made it tough to keep my eyes where they belonged. I mean, I guess Ghislaine’s outfit wasn’t any less revealing…but it’s easier to appreciate the muscular beauty of a warrior’s body on a purely artistic level.
“Triss seems to be in high spirits today,” Ghislaine commented.
“You’re right. I wonder if something happened.”
I pulled out a pear for myself, skinned it with my knife and took a bite. The thing was kind of crunchy for some reason, and its flavor was more sour than sweet. For whatever reason, a lot of the fruit in this world didn’t taste so great on its own. It was edible enough, though.
“I expect she heard some useful information,” said Ghislaine. “Leaning something valuable always puts those sorts in a good mood. Geese was the same way.”
“Hmm, I bet you’re right.”
Princess Ariel had tasked Triss with scouting the city and gathering all sorts of information. Learning the whereabouts of Auber and Darius’ soldiers was naturally our top priority, but she wanted to know plenty of other things as well. She’d told Triss to report anything that seemed even possibly relevant; she then sorted through that flood of information, picked out the most important pieces, and discussed them with me. Since Ariel was choosing what information she would share with me, there was a chance I might miss out on hearing something crucial. But at this point, I’d decided to just accept that risk. It wasn’t like I was capable of controlling events perfectly in any case.
Right now, my job was to consider the tidbits Ariel did pass on as carefully as I could.
“That reminds me,” I said. “Didn’t Geese say something about heading for Asura? I guess we might bump into him somewhere.”
“He’ll probably spot us first, if he’s still around.”
Yeah, that did sound like Geese. I could see him picking us out at a distance, then planning out and staging some kind of dramatic reunion.
“But knowing him,” Ghislaine continued, “he probably lost all his money gambling and wandered off to some other country years ago.”
“Isn’t Geese a pretty good gambler, though?”
“Only when he’s broke.”
From what Roxy had told me, the Kingdom of Asura wasn’t a great place to live in if you were an adventurer like Geese. There weren’t many monsters to slay in general, and the government assigned knights to protect specific villages. On top of that, the Royal Magicians and their knightly counterparts were periodically dispatched on large-scale hunts that doubled as training missions.
As a result, monster-hunting jobs were few and far between. The large Asuran businesses tended to have their own dedicated resource-gathering operations, so there weren’t many requests for raw materials, either. And given how safe and secure the Kingdom was, the demand for temporary guards was limited as well. The tasks that got posted were mostly tedious, time-consuming stuff like missing-person jobs and delivery runs. At certain times of the year you probably could find work helping out on someone’s farm, but there simply wasn’t much real adventuring to be done, compared to other countries.
That was particularly true in the regions closer to the capital city of Ars. There were always a certain number of youngsters who decided to become adventurers anyway, but as they ranked up they usually drifted off to Fittoa or Donati—and eventually further to the north or south. Those with remarkable skills or extensive training could sometimes find steady posts as household tutors or bodyguards, but that was a high bar to clear. And you didn’t need to be an adventurer to secure those jobs, anyway. There were professional specialists in Asura who could handle most of the work that needed doing, so the people here didn’t feel much need to rely on a bunch of smelly, rough-and-tumble freelancers. You can understand why the headquarters of the Adventurers’ Guild was located in Millis instead.
“…Hm?”
As Ghislaine and I were chatting about all this, I noticed her ears twitching once again. And this time, the expression on her face turned slightly stern. Maybe trouble had finally found us. I dropped the bag of fruit, grasped my staff in both hands and stared warily at the door.
But Ghislaine wasn’t looking at the entrance to the inn. Her gaze was directed at the second floor. When I listened carefully, I could just make out the sound of people arguing.
What’s all this about?
“I’m going to go take a look, Ghislaine.”
“Right.”
I made my way slowly up the stairs. Sylphie and Eris were still outside Ariel’s room, but they were both watching the door in concern. Did we have a real problem on our hands here?
“Hey, Sylphie.”
“Oh, Rudy! Triss just went in a few minutes ago, but now it sounds like Princess Ariel and Luke are arguing about something…”
Ariel and Luke were having a fight? That sounded… ominous. Didn’t she have that situation under control? Supposedly?
Well, maybe this was all part of the plan. Sometimes arguments could be necessary.
“It’s Rudeus. Pardon me, but I’m coming in.”
I knocked at the door just for the sake of politeness, but then swung it open without waiting for a response. Inside, I found Luke on his feet, looking pale and shaken, Ariel sitting in a chair with an unruffled expression, and Triss looking on awkwardly.
“Ah, Sir Rudeus,” said Ariel without even batting an eye. “Just the man I wanted to see.”
“Has something happened, Your Highness?”
“Yes. Triss has just brought us some intriguing information.”
“About what, if I might ask?”
“…It concerns Lord Sauros Boreas Greyrat.”
Sauros? It might be very important, then, at least to Ghislaine. Maybe this was something Ariel had specifically asked Triss to investigate…
“As it happens, it’s often easier to learn about the intrigues of the Asuran royal court in these regional cities than it would be in the capital,” Ariel continued. “Those who know too much tend to put some distance between themselves and Ars, where certain anxious nobles might have them killed.”
That was news to me. I guess it made sense, though. Maybe.
“In any case, we’ve learned the primary culprit behind Lord Sauros’ fall.”
“And… who would that be?”
Luke’s face contorted into an alarming grimace. Ariel, on the other hand, looked as emotionless as a mask.
“I’m afraid that it was a member of my faction, acting on their own initiative. Someone who also happened to have a personal grudge against Lord Sauros…”
Ariel paused, but only long enough to draw a breath.
“Namely, Pilemon Notos Greyrat.”
Ah. So it was Pilemon himself who’d done it.
That did sound plausible, unfortunately. The Notos clan had been the leading backers of Ariel among the aristocracy, while the Boreas family favored Grabel. They were enemies at the time. On top of that, it sounded like Pilemon hated Sauros for personal reasons. He’d probably jumped eagerly on his chance to bring the old man down.
This wasn’t good news. But it didn’t come as a huge surprise, either. Despite the circumstances at the time, Sauros was still the liege lord of an entire region of Asura. And even with his territory devastated, he had allies among the First Prince’s faction. Only another powerful, influential noble could really have orchestrated his downfall.
“…What do you intend to do, Princess Ariel?” I asked.
“I’ll allow Ghislaine to take his life, just as I promised her.”
Luke bit his lip hard at those words.
This certainly explained his angry outburst. I was honestly surprised Ariel was being so blunt about this, knowing how much he cared about his family. It almost seemed like she was publicly choosing Ghislaine over him.
“However, that’s only going to happen if Pilemon… and the Notos family… truly have betrayed us. We don’t have any conclusive proof of that just yet.”
“…”
“Assuming that it’s true, I intend to have Ghislaine execute him, and then appoint Luke as the new head of the Notos family.”
“And if he hasn’t really betrayed you?”
“I’ll convince Ghislaine to settle for the others.”
“The others? Oh…”
She’d called Pilemon the primary culprit. That implied there were additional conspirators. So in this scenario, she’d spare her ally but murder all the others. It didn’t sound much like justice, but that’s just the way things went sometimes. At the moment, I couldn’t scrounge up much sympathy for a bunch of murderous aristocrats I’d never even met.
“Is that understood, Luke?” said Ariel, looking over in his direction.
“…There’s no proof that any of this is true.”
Luke’s expression was pained. I could tell that he understood Ariel’s perspective, but didn’t want to accept it on an emotional level. Still, he was staying relatively calm, given that we were discussing the potential execution of his own father.
“It’s entirely possible that someone’s manipulating us…”
Hmm. Did he just shoot a look in my direction?
“Luke, please rest assured—as I’ve explained previously, Rudeus will not be usurping control of the Notos Greyrat family.”
“Your Highness! We shouldn’t be discussing this in front of him!”
“I think it’s the other way around, actually. I’d like to make this very clear to him and everyone else involved.” Ariel paused to draw a breath, then continued in a firm, clear voice. “No matter how much he contributes to our cause, I have no intention of granting Rudeus a rank in the Asuran nobility.”
That was fine by me. I wouldn’t have accepted it even if she had offered. But for whatever reason, Luke was looking at me with undisguised hostility. I wasn’t sure how I should react to that. It felt like the next words I spoke, or even a slight change in my facial expression, might determine Luke’s course of action.
Was he going to turn on us after all?
As I hesitated, Ariel stepped in. “Now then, Luke, I think we should continue this discussion by ourselves. You don’t mind, do you, Rudeus?”
“Of course not.”
Ariel had told me she could handle this. At the moment, staying completely out of it felt like my best option. I watched quietly as she and Luke walked out of the room together.
That same evening, Ariel reported back to me. In her private conversation with Luke, she’d finally convinced him to open up and be completely honest with her.
Long story short—our suspicions were correct. The Man-God was giving him advice.
Apparently, it had only happened once so far. As we were preparing for our journey, the Man-God had warned Luke to “be ready for Rudeus’ betrayal.” His claim was that I’d secretly allied myself with Darius so that I could seize control of the Notos Greyrat house. In this scenario, I was motivated by a thirst for power, lust for Ariel, and simple greed. Sylphie had no idea of my intentions; it was all happening behind her back.
During the day, I would pretend to be Ariel’s ally, but carefully lead her into the enemy’s traps. And at night, I’d sneak off to meet with Darius’ spies and tell them everything I knew. In fact, I’d secretly orchestrated all of these events, after many years of scheming. Even my marriage to Sylphie was supposedly just another step in my master plan.
This version of Rudeus sounded like one ridiculously thorough, clever guy. It was a shame I couldn’t have him take the reins for me. My life would probably go a lot smoother.
At first, Luke had found all of this implausible. It was particularly hard for him to believe I had any interest in joining the nobility. I felt like he’d never trusted me that much, but I guess I’d earned that benefit of the doubt, at least.
However, recent events like the destruction of the teleportation circles and the betrayal of the Notos family had unfolded exactly as the Man-God predicted. That was enough to chip away at Luke’s faith in me. And once he started looking at me with suspicion, he found reasons to believe the Man-God’s story.
It seemed he still suspected me, even now.
Ariel told me that the best way to prove my innocence to Luke was through my actions. She also promised that she would keep him from doing anything unwise in the meantime.
Hearing all this came as something of a relief. The Man-God hadn’t done anything that clever here, so it wouldn’t be that hard to break his grip on Luke. The fact of the matter was, I’d never even met Darius, I had no desire to take over my dad’s childhood home, and I wasn’t interested in sleeping with Ariel. Luke could suspect me to his heart’s content, but I just wasn’t going to betray them.
By the Man-God’s standards, this seemed like half-assed work. It felt pretty clear that he’d never expected to get much out of Luke.
Still, I never would have learned any of this from Luke myself. It was a good thing Ariel had stepped in to handle the situation. She was way better suited to the job than me.
***
The next day, we set out south from Rikket.
Luke constantly glared at me now, and did his very best to ensure that I was never alone with Ariel. He probably thought that I might murder the princess and send her head to Grabel, now that she’d publicly declared I would never be a noble.
I didn’t really mind. At this point, I knew what was going on in Luke’s head, and Ariel had him on a leash. It was one less thing to worry about. I don’t know if Ariel had anticipated any of this, but I was impressed by how quickly she’d lightened the load on my shoulders.
One other thing worth mentioning took place that day. The princess personally told both Ghislaine and Eris about the things we’d learned about the death of Sauros.
“…So all in all, it seems quite likely that members of my faction played a key role in the downfall of Lord Sauros.”
“I see…”
“Hmph.”
Ghislaine listened to Ariel’s explanation with cold anger in her eyes. Eris made a show of looking disinterested, but you could see through that easily enough. She was squeezing the pommel of her sword so tightly that all the blood drained from her fingers.
“Are you going to cut me down, Ghislaine?” Ariel asked calmly.
“…No. I’ll kill the enemies you’ve offered me.”
Ghislaine didn’t seem too fixated on murdering Pilemon in particular. I’d expected this to require some persuasion, but I guess she’d thought this through in her own way.
Eris didn’t say anything for a moment, but then she nodded slightly. “Sounds good. I’m willing to kill anyone who might cause Rudeus trouble.”
Never change, Eris.
Now our remaining goal was to reach the capital and have our showdown with the enemy. Over the course of twenty days, we made our way slowly south along the backroads—and finally arrived at Ars, the crown jewel of Asura.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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