Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The Turning Point 

Shirone Kingdom. 

Roxy Migurdia looked out the window with her brows knitted. The color of the sky was strange. Brown, black, purple, and yellow; a change of colors one didn’t usually see. And yet, she had seen these colors somewhere before. 

“What is it, I wonder?” 

The hues were familiar to her, but she had never seen the sky like this before. The only thing clear was that this wasn’t a natural phenomenon. 

The most likely explanation was magic that, for whatever reason, had gone out of control. The scale of it was such that she could see it whirling even from a distance. 

Then she remembered. The way it shone—she had seen this before at the University of Magic. The light looked like summoning magic. 

“That direction… In the east. Asura Kingdom? Don’t tell me it’s Rudeus?” She remembered the boy she had once taken as a pupil. That boy who, at the tender age of five, produced a storm while utterly composed. Now he would be ten. At half his age he had complete control of his bottomless pool of mana, so it was possible he might do something like this. 

In his most recent letter, he wrote of his difficulties studying summoning magic. Maybe he had somehow obtained a book on it, or perhaps found a teacher. 

“You’re wide open!” 

As she was deep in thought someone threw their arms around her from behind. As her breasts were grabbed, she felt something hard press against her thighs. 

“Hnnngh…” 

Roxy was fed up. No matter how he groped her, the thickness of her robes masked everything. Besides, even if he got pleasure out of doing this, the only thing she felt was displeasure. 

“Raging flames consume my body—Burn in Place!” 

“Gyaah!” 

The force of the flames that covered her body sent the person behind her flying. She still couldn’t cast spells without chanting them at all, but she had shortened the length of her spells greatly in these past five years. When she learned that Rudeus was teaching his own pupils to cast spells without chanting, she decided to practice shortening her own incantations. It hadn’t been easy. Just how much was that boy genius expecting from his pupils? Not everyone was as blessed with talent as he was. 

Roxy turned and gazed at the boy collapsed on the floor. “Your Highness, you can’t come up behind a woman and just start groping her chest.” 

“Roxy! Were you trying to kill me?! I’ll have you thrown in prison!” 

Shirone Kingdom’s seventh prince, Pax Shirone, was a kid with a bad attitude who had just turned fifteen. His bad behavior was endearing at first, but lately he had developed a real interest in sex and would make sexual advances toward Roxy every afternoon. 

“My apologies. I didn’t realize such a weak attack would be fatal. You must have the constitution of an insect.” 

“Grrr! Criminal disrespect! I won’t forgive this! If you want my forgiveness, then roll up your robes and let me see your panties!” 

“I’ll pass.” 

He had already put his hands on multiple maids, leaving the king troubled over how to handle the situation. Now it seemed he had turned his attention to his curt household tutor. 

Just what about a rude girl like her did he find appealing? Roxy didn’t understand. Still, no matter how much he came at her, she had no reason to obey his commands. According to the contract she made with the country’s governing party, no matter what selfish demands the prince made, it was up to her discretion on how to handle him. 

There weren’t many living in this castle that would obey his orders directly. Besides, he was the seventh prince. He was low in the line of succession, so he had next to no authority. In fact, if you looked at the privileges afforded to them, Roxy was in a much higher position as an imperial court magician. 

The prince tried a different approach. “Roxy, I already know. I know that you have a lover!” 

“I see, and just when did I manage to do something as incredible as finding a lover?” she replied to his sudden gibberish, tilting her head. A lover? She did want one at some point, but she had yet to meet her ideal match. Even if she did, with the way she looked as a member of the Migurd race, he surely wouldn’t reciprocate. She had already given up. 

The prince was odd himself, which was probably why he wanted a taste of her body, even if just once. But Roxy had no intention of being so easily seduced. 

“Eheheh, I slipped into your room and found all those letters you had piled up in the back of your shelf! I don’t know what kind of backwoods peasant he is, but with my power I could have him crushed! If you don’t want to see him face a cruel execution, you better become my woman!” 

So this was his other method. He would take hostage the lover of the person he was interested in, then demand the object of his affection submit to him to keep their lover safe. After that he would take her in front of her lover just so he could feel empowered by dominating another person. 

He had no such authority. Yet he was still the prince of a country. He had some troops of his own that he could do what he wanted with, and there was a rumor that he had taken one maid’s lover hostage before. 

Such poor taste. All he does is creep me out, Roxy thought. I’m glad I don’t have a lover. All those letters were from Rudeus. Rudeus, who was a respected pupil and not her lover. 

“Feel free to do so,” she told him. 

“What?! I really will do it, you know?! If you want to apologize, you better do it now! If you do it now, all you’ll have to give me is your body!” 

The prince clearly wasn’t thinking. He didn’t even know Rudeus’s location in the first place. Based on his attitude, he hadn’t read the contents of any of those letters either. 

“If you can actually succeed in doing something to Rudeus, then you can have your way with my body.” 

“What are you acting so confident for? You should know what kind of power I have!” 

Of course she knew. She knew that the little bit of power afforded to him as a prince of the royal family was barely worth snorting at. 

“Rudeus is under the protection of the Boreas family, an elite noble family in Asura Kingdom.” 

“Boreas…? As if nobles could stand up to the authority of a member of the royal family!” 

He didn’t even know the names of the elite royal families in Asura Kingdom. That realization prompted a sigh from Roxy. Had the other tutors even taught him anything? 

As the four great regional liege lords, the Notos, Euros, Zepiroth, and Boreas families were of great renown. When the Asura Kingdom entered battle, they were the ones standing on the front lines. They had been military men for generations upon generations. Besides, members of those elite noble families might occasionally travel to Shirone on diplomatic engagements. Those names were definitely worth remembering. 

“The country of Asura is ten times the size of Shirone. To take the child of an elite noble family on some baseless suspicion and escort them to the gallows, you would have to possess a tremendous amount of political power and strategic skills. That’s impossible for you, Your Highness.” 

“I-I’ll have him assassinated! I’ll send my imperial guards!” 

Imperial guards? Roxy sighed inwardly. He really wasn’t thinking this through at all. “There’s no way your guards could cross the country’s border. Even if they could, and the chance would be one in a million, the Boreas family has invited Sword King Ghislaine to their house as a guest. You truly think they could sneak into the Citadel of Roa, into the Boreas manor, slip past Ghislaine’s watchful eye, and assassinate a master magician?” 

“G-grrr!” The prince ground his teeth together and stomped his feet. 

Roxy let yet another sigh slip past her lips. Ah, I can’t believe this. He’s already fifteen and he doesn’t even know the first thing about distinguishing between what’s possible and what’s not. 

Roxy heard that Rudeus’s pupil, Eris, had been an uncontainable wild animal three years ago, but had recently become more refined. Meanwhile, her student was in this sorry state. 

Years ago, she had found him endearing and even recognized his talent for magic. Unfortunately, as soon as he realized what kind of power he had, his will to improve vanished and he spent the better part of his lessons sleeping. Now she saw no potential in him. 

“Anyway, I’ll be quitting my position as your tutor soon, so you wouldn’t make it in time even if you sent assassins out right this very minute.” 

As soon as she said that, he raised his voice in shock. “Wh-whaaat?! I haven’t heard a word about this!” 

“You must not remember then.” 

The agreement from the beginning was that she would work as his tutor until he reached maturity. At the time she had considered requesting to stay beyond her contract. However, there were many in the royal palace who resented her presence. Leaving was the wisest course of action. 

“It’s a good opportunity as well,” she added. 

“A good opportunity for what?” 

“There’s something strange about the western sky. Now I can go see it for myself.” 

“Wh-what the heck…” 

She didn’t say it was because she wanted to see Rudeus’s face after all this time. It would only enrage the prince if she did. 

“I-I still need you! We’re still in the middle of our lessons, right!” 

“Irrelevant. You sleep through them anyway.” 

“That’s your fault for not waking me up then!” 

“Oh really? Then as a bad teacher, I should take my leave quickly. Please be sure to hire someone who will wake you next time. I’m not interested.” 

This prince is impossible for me, Roxy thought. I can’t stop comparing him to Rudeus. All I had to do was teach Rudeus one thing and he would take that, study it, and learn ten or twenty new things. Maybe I can’t be a teacher again after meeting a student like that. 

And thus, Roxy left Shirone and set out on her journey. She was accosted by the seventh prince and his personal guards on her way out but swiftly repelled them. 

Afterward, the seventh prince obstinately insisted that she should be apprehended and brought before him to answer for the unforgivable act of violence she committed against him. However, the king refused to pay his claims any heed. Instead, the prince was rebuked and severely punished for being unable to convince the Water King-tier magician Roxy Migurdia to stay. 

*** 

Roxy was not the only one to notice the change in the sky. Every person in every part of the world took notice both of its abnormality and the abruptness of its appearance. Even those of wide renown took note. 

The Red Wyrm Mountains 

The Dragon God Orsted gazed up at the western sky. 

“Mana is pooling there? What is it, what’s caused this madness?” he scowled with suspicion. “No matter. I’ll know once I see it for myself.” 

He headed straight west, passing over the corpse of the red wyrm he had just slain with a single attack. Other red wyrms were swarming the area like a drove of insects, but not a single one tried to involve themselves. They knew what manner of being walked the ground below them. They knew that even if they banded together to attack, they would only be killed. They also knew that if they stayed clear, they would be safe. 

That being was the Dragon God, a being that existed outside the rules of this world. A being they could not touch. 

Full of pride, another young wyrm that didn’t understand its place in the world descended upon Orsted. In a split second it was rendered into nothing more than a lump of meat. 

Red wyrms were dreadfully strong creatures that resided on the Central Continent. It was not just their battle prowess that made them fearsome, but also their intelligence. That was why they knew he was the man rumored to be the strongest in the world, and an opponent they could not hope to defeat no matter how much their numbers favored them. 

Orsted moved slowly down the mountain as the red wyrms watched, his intentions a secret that only he was privy to. 

The Floating Fortress 

The Armored Dragon Perugius, one of the three legendary heroes, looked down at the northern sky. 

“What is that? It looks like the light emitted when the Great Emperor of the Demon World revives.” 

Standing nearby was a woman with a white crow’s mask over her face, a member of the skyfolk who possessed black wings. She whispered, “The mana level is different.” 

“Indeed. If anything, it resembles the color of a summoning.” 

“Yes, but that said, I’ve never seen that much light from a summoning before.” 

“It’s similar to when we created Chaos Breaker.” 

Perugius had to act. 

He had spent today just like any other, seated atop his throne in Chaos Breaker, attended by his twelve followers, continuing to monitor the surface. He had only one objective, to vanquish his loathsome enemy, the Demon God Laplace, as soon as they revived. He waited in the sky for that moment when the seal would come undone. 

“Could it be that the Great Emperor of the Demon World is trying to unseal Laplace?” 

“It’s possible. The Emperor has been unsettlingly quiet in the 300 years since their revival,” she responded. 

“All right. Arumanfi!” 

“I am here.” A man swathed in white and wearing a yellow mask appeared and kneeled before Perugius. 

“Search immediately and—hmm, I’m certain whoever is behind this must be up to something. If you see anyone suspicious that seems to be involved with this, kill them.” 

“Understood.” 

The Armored Dragon Perugius made his move, his twelve retainers behind him. All to avenge the four friends that he had lost. This time, for certain, he would deal the Demon God Laplace a finishing blow. 

The Holy Land of Swords 

The Sword God Gal Farion gazed up at the southern sky. 

“What’s wrong with the sky? Also…” The moment his focus shifted to something else, two of his beloved pupils launched an attack on him at the same time. “Don’t come at me while I’ve got my attention on other things.” 

His composure was relaxed. In comparison, both of his beloved pupils were short of breath. 

As usual the two had no sense, he thought. They were overconfident from having earned the title of Sword Emperor, yet this was all it amounted to. What a load of crap. Fame had no place in swordplay. All you needed to do was get stronger. The only thing fame brought you was money and political power. There was no value in that. Anyone could obtain those things. Being as great as he was, he could cut right through that garbage in a single stroke. If you were strong, you could have things your way. Having things your way was how you stayed alive. 

Ghislaine understood that best, but she had grown soft. That was why she was stuck at the level of Sword King. Those with a powerful lust for life were innately strong, no matter how physically weak or incapable of wielding a sword they might be. But those who had become strong could lose that driving force. That was why Ghislaine lost her way. She wasn’t selfish enough. 

It wasn’t as though the pupils before him were especially gifted. It was their obscene greed that made them strong. The insatiable appetite of a pair that lived on a life-or-death battlefield. 

“Hey, hey, come at me already. Defeat me then battle each other to the death so one of you can call yourself the Sword God! You’ll have enough money to play around for a hundred lifetimes! You’ll be able to line up women, from slave girls to princesses, and have your way with them! Your name alone will bring people to their knees in fear! One step forward and crowds of people will part to make way for you!” 

“I didn’t start learning the sword for something like that!” 

“Master! Please don’t insult us like that!” 

This was it. They were going to learn to be more honest with themselves. For if they did, they would easily be able to crush someone like him and call themselves Sword Gods. 

The Sword God Gal Farion had already forgotten about the southern sky. 

Somewhere in the Demon Continent 

The Great Emperor of the Demon World, Kishirika Kishirisu, gazed up at the eastern sky. “Hmph, when you become as great as I am, you can see things even if you face the opposite direction! How’s that?! Amazing, isn’t it?” 

There was no one there to answer her. Not a single person was present. 

“So you’re ignoring me! Mwahaha! Very well, very well! I’ll forgive you, humans! Or rather, no one will come near me because of the peace treaty, so I have no choice but to forgive you! Mwahahaha, mwahahaha, mwaha—gurgh…” 

Kishirika was lonely. 

The moment she had revived from death, she had cried out, “I, the Demon World’s Great Emperor Kishirika, have revived! I must have kept you all waiting! Mwahahaha!” But no one was there. She decided she would go to the city and repeat her declaration, only for people to look at her as if she were a pitiful child. Since then, no one paid her any attention. 

She tried visiting one of her old friends, but they simply told her, “Things are peaceful right now, so behave yourself.” 

“What are those human diviners even doing? When I revived in the past, they would start trembling in sudden fear, babble weird things, then leap from their windows. Without that opening act, it feels like there’s no value to my revival. Hah, honestly, youngsters these days…” 

She kicked at a stone and looked up at the magic pooling in the western sky. Another name of the Great Emperor of the Demon World was the Demon Emperor of Demon Eyes. She possessed more than ten, and in a single glance she could tell what was happening, no matter how far away. With those eyes she saw powerful mana, the familiar light of summoning magic, and the person controlling it. 

Or at least, she should have been able to. 

“What’s this? I can’t see the one doing this? I wonder if there’s a barrier. You must be a shy one, hiding your face after causing such mayhem.” 

Kishirika’s eyes were not all-powerful. That was why she was merely the Great Emperor of the Demon World, and would never be called a Demon God, no matter how much time passed. Not that she was particularly bothered by that. 

“It’d be nice if they could at least summon a hero. But lately everyone is all Laplace this and Laplace that. ‘Kishirika? Who’s that?’ So it’s not like it matters. I guess even heroes would rather go for young men with good looks like Laplace. I want some time in the spotlight too. I want to be showered with attention and put on parade!” 

She sighed as she set out on her journey. A journey with no particular destination in mind. 

At the Same Time - Rudeus’s Perspective 

We went to a hill on the outskirts of the Citadel of Roa. As I had promised on my birthday, I was going to show Ghislaine what Saint-tier water magic looked like. Eris, of course, tagged along. 

I took out Aqua Heartia and removed the cloth I had wrapped around the crystal just in case. As awkward as it looked, it was better than showing off to potential thieves what an expensive item I had. I had wrapped it to look like a mana-filled cloth for amplifying the magic of the staff. It was at least better than people thinking I was hiding an enormous gem. 

I decided to test the staff with a practice shot before trying out Saint-tier water magic. I focused the same amount of mana I always did to create a Waterball, but the result was immense, bigger than I’d ever seen it before. 

“Whoa, this is huge!” 

When I tried compressing the ball, it instead became so small that you couldn’t even see it. I slowly made adjustments. After thirty minutes of testing things out, I figured out that this staff increased the effects of my water magic fivefold. This meant my offensive magic was more potent, and I could produce the same power level with a reduced mana cost. 

To represent this with numbers: 

Without the Staff: Mana Cost 10, Power 5 

With the Staff: Mana Cost 10, Power 25 

With the Staff: Mana Cost 2, Power 5 

Something like that. In other words, it worked like a magnifying glass or a microscope. Elaborate adjustments were difficult right now, but I would probably be fine once I got accustomed to using the staff. 

“H-how is it?” Eris had a nervous look on her face. 

Don’t worry, I’m officially obsessed with my new toy, I thought. “It’s difficult to make adjustments, but it’s really amazing.” 

“R-really! I’m glad!” 

I continued testing and discovered that fire magic was amplified twofold while earth and wind were each amplified thrice. Using the staff to combine different types of magic, however, seemed difficult. Or was that also a matter of getting used to it? 

“All right then, what you have all been waiting for. I, Rudeus Greyrat, will show you my great, all powerful hidden technique!” 

“Yay!” Eris clapped in joy. Ghislaine also seemed deeply interested. I was also feeling excited. Time to show them how cool I was! 

“Bwahaha!” I raised my staff toward the sky as I chanted my Saint-tier water magic spell. “Mana, gather to me! Magnificent Spirit of Water, lift to the heavens… Huh?” That was when I noticed it. 

“Hm?” 

“What’s that?” 

The other two followed my gaze and looked up as well. 

“I don’t know, but it’s an incredible amount of mana!” 

So she could see mana with that eye. After three years I finally knew her true power…a demon eye. 

Ghislaine quickly replaced her eyepatch. 

“Shall we go back to the city for now?” I didn’t know what this abnormal sky heralded, but if something happened, I wanted to have a roof to take refuge under. We’d be in trouble if spears began raining upon us. 

“No, the closer you get to the city the more concentrated the mana. It might be better to distance ourselves instead.” 

“But we have to go back to the manor and warn everyone at least!” Surely it would be better to inform Philip and the others and get the townspeople to safety. 

“In that case, I’ll go—Rudeus! Duck!” 

I crouched reflexively. Something whooshed by, slicing through the air at top speed right where my head had been. A chill ran down my spine. 

What…was that? What just happened? 

“You!” 

Beside me, Ghislaine put her hand on her sword and her silhouette blurred. The next moment she was in a pose as if she had just struck with her sword. She’d demonstrated this to me many times before. The Sword God Style’s Saint-tier technique, the Longsword of Light. A secret technique of the Sword God Style, it was said that if you performed it perfectly, the tip of your sword reached the speed of light. Ghislaine told me it was this technique that made Sword God Style the strongest of the three styles. 

“Hm.” Ghislaine’s brows knitted. She must have missed her target. Her opponent dodged that deathblow of an attack that was too fast to be seen with the naked eye. Ghislaine’s face went hard with caution as she glared at something behind me. 

“…” 

I slowly turned around to see who had tried to attack me and dodged Ghislaine’s counter slash. 

“Who…?” 

A man stood there. He had blond hair and was wearing something that looked like a pure white school uniform, fastened in the front. He probably had a handsome face, but it was hidden behind a yellow mask that looked like a fox. In his right hand was a dagger. 

That must have been it. That was what came for my head. 

“Who are you? Tell us your name!” 

“…” 

The moment after Ghislaine shouted, his face gleamed. It was a brilliant light so bright it blinded us all for a moment. I immediately shut my eyes. “Gaah!” 

I heard Ghislaine howl. Then a clang as metal clashed against metal. Then the sound of rapid movement. 

Their blades met, twice, then a third time. By the time my vision recovered, Ghislaine was in front of me with her eyepatch pulled back. 

So that was how she did it. The moment that light took our vision, she pulled her eyepatch aside so she could see with her other eye. 

“Bastard, who are you? Are you an enemy of the Greyrat family?!” 

“Arumanfi the Bright. That is my name.” 

“Arumanfi?” 

“I came to put a stop to this strange phenomenon, on Lord Perugius’ orders.” 

Perugius. Now that was a name I had heard before. One of the three legendary heroes who slew the Demon God, and one of the survivors of that battle. A summoner with twelve familiars. Then, like a chain reaction, I remembered the name Arumanfi. He was one of those twelve familiars. Arumanfi the Bright. 

“Be careful, Ghislaine. According to the literature I read, this guy can move at the speed of light.” 

“Rudeus, take the Young Mistress and fall back.” 

Just as Ghislaine asked, I used my back as a shield and escorted Eris a safe distance away so we wouldn’t be embroiled in the battle. I was careful not to go too far, staying within Ghislaine’s protective reach. 

If that really were Arumanfi the Bright, a sword couldn’t touch him. I was sure I’d read something like that in the Legend of Perugius. 

That said, where had he come from? No wait, Arumanfi the Bright was said to be the governing spirit of light. It was said that he could travel any distance instantaneously if it were within line of sight. Back when I read that, I thought it was a load of rubbish, but he had appeared behind me in the blink of an eye. Ghislaine would never let her guard down, and he had no reason to be lurking in this area beforehand. He must have flown here, at the literal speed of light. That was one of his abilities after all. 

“Woman, move. This strange occurrence might cease if I slay that boy.” 

Wait, what was he talking about? Strange occurrence; did he mean that thing in the sky? What kind of misunderstanding was he under? 

“I am the Sword King Ghislaine Dedoldia. That thing in the sky has nothing to do with us. Withdraw!” 

“Sword King? How can I believe that? Show me proof.” 

“Look! This is one of the famous blades of the Seven Original Sword Gods, Hiramune—Flat Core. Will you still not believe after seeing it?” She thrust her sword toward Arumanfi while still gripping it firmly by the hilt. 

I didn’t know her sword had that kind of inscription on it. Flat core… Core as in chest? Certainly not a word I’d associate with Ghislaine’s chest. 

“Swear on the names of your master and your household.” 

“I swear on the name of my master, Sword God Gal Farion and the honor of the Dedoldia people!” 

“Dedoldia, was it? Very well. If we later discover you’re not as innocent as you claim, Lord Perugius will decide your fate.” 

“Fine with me. 

Arumanfi stowed his dagger. I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but the issue was apparently settled. To me, it seemed obvious that swearing something was true didn’t mean someone was being honest, but apparently that was how things worked in this world. 

That said, did swearing on the names of those people really lend her words that much credibility? The same level as, say, the Roman-Catholic Pope swearing on the name of God? 

“It’s fine, as long as you aren’t the ones responsible.” 

“And you won’t even apologize for attacking us out of nowhere?” 

“It was your fault for doing something suspicious here,” he said, turning on his heel. 

Let’s just calm down and think about this rationally, I thought. First, something strange was happening in the sky. Then this guy showed up, the familiar of a legendary and storied hero. This person of legend attacked me. He thought I was the one who caused the phenomenon in the sky. That wasn’t true, of course, but maybe he knew something about what was going on up there? No, he couldn’t have, or he wouldn’t have attacked me in the first place. 

“Um…” I started to say. 

“Hm?” 

“Ah!” 

Right as I called out to Arumanfi, the sky turned white and a finger of light sped toward the ground. The instant it reached the earth the light ballooned at incredible speed, violently swallowing everything in its path like a tidal wave. The manor, the city, the citadel, the flowers and the trees. Everything was devoured as it expanded. 

As soon as Arumanfi saw what was happening, he disappeared in a burst of gold light. Ghislaine ran toward us but was swallowed before she could reach us. Eris froze in confusion, and I wrapped my body around hers to shield her. 

That was the day the Fittoa Region vanished.