Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

The Birth of My Little Sister, the Maid 

We were at an inn in a small town within the Shirone Kingdom. It was here that the road forked, one path leading to the Holy Country of Millis and the other to the Asura Kingdom. This was where I was going to part with Lilia and the others. 

Lilia and I sat at a table together, facing each other. 

“That’s right! Ru—I mean, the Kennel Master is really incredible! If he gets serious, he can make rain flood over the forest and then freeze it solid!” 

“You’re talking about magic, right? That’s amazing!” 

“Of course! I have even more astonishing stories than that one. Want to hear?” 

“Yeah, please tell me about them!” 

Eris’ and Aisha’s voices flooded in from the outside window. Eris was boasting about the Kennel Master’s accomplishments. I smiled bitterly and turned my attention to Lilia. The two of us had talked a bit here and there in the past, but how was I supposed to approach her now? 

While I was thinking, Lilia took the opportunity to strike up conversation first. 

“Let me thank you once again, Lord Rudeus. I can’t even begin to express how grateful I am that you’ve saved my life not just once, but twice now.” 

“Please don’t worry about it,” I said. “I didn’t do anything this time.” 

“No. I heard how you caught a whisper of information about us and went out of your way to come to the Shirone Kingdom,” Lilia said as she bowed her head low. 

All I did was follow the Man-God’s directions. And then needlessly got myself stuck in a trap and needed help to escape it. If I still had the nerve to demand gratitude after all that, I should’ve been able to use that same nerve to accomplish more in my previous life. 

“Please direct that gratitude to Ruijerd and Eris instead. They’re the ones who acted appropriately and led everything to a peaceful conclusion.” 

“I spoke with them a bit,” she said. “But they told me it was all part of your strategy—” 

“That was not my strategy.” 

Lilia went quiet, then said, “If that’s how you feel.” She looked displeased, but it wasn’t like I was asking her to call something black when it was really white. 

We fell into silence for a bit after that. 

“Does Aisha…” Lilia began to ask, glancing outside the window, “…sometimes say things that are offensive?” 

“Of course not. She’s an exceptional kid. No normal child could put that much forethought into their actions at six.” 

“But she’s not as great as you. I tried to teach her as much as I could these past few years, but even now, my daughter’s too stupid to understand how amazing you are, Lord Rudeus.” 

“Calling her stupid is going a bit overboard.” Besides, I’d had an advantage in the form of the memories from my previous life. I had considered the possibility that Aisha might be the same as me, but when I tried asking her about the existence of things like television and cellphones, she just stared blankly at me. The girl was just an ordinary genius. Paul’s genes, as it turned out, were actually pretty incredible. 

“What do you think of Aisha?” Lilia asked, as if the question had just popped into her head. 

“Huh? I told you, she’s exceptional.” 

“I don’t mean that. I mean her appearance.” 

“I think she’s cute,” I said. 

Lilia pressed on. “She’s my daughter. Do you think her bosom will develop as she grows?” 

Uhh…what? I had no interest in my little sister’s chest. Besides, what the heck were we talking about here? 

“Lord Rudeus, if you intend to travel to Asura, please take Aisha along with you. I have to return to the Master’s side, but Aisha can go along with you, can’t she?” 

“Can you tell me why you’re asking this?” I deflected the conversation back at her. 

“I’ve told her every single day that she would one day serve you.” 

“So it would seem.” 

“I’ve taught her every single thing I know. She’s still young, but give her a few years and she’ll have a body that all the boys will love.” 

A body all the boys will love, huh? 

“Wait just a second. She’s my little sister, you realize?” 

“I know that you’re a womanizer.” 

She did? Huh, okay then. Still, it made me uncomfortable when Lilia presented Aisha to me as if she were a gourmet meal prepared for my consumption. “She’s still only six, isn’t she? She’s at an age where she needs to be with her parents.” 

“If that’s how you truly feel,” she said. 

Lilia looked disappointed, but I said nothing wrong. Aisha was still young. It was best for her to be with her parents, right? It was my feeling, as someone who was born Japanese, that it was best for a child to be with both of their parents while they were little. At least one, if not both, but definitely not neither . 

“I understand. It’s true that Aisha is still immature. I can’t send her off with you when she’s still so inexperienced.” 

“Uh, please don’t teach her anything too weird, okay? Like…about me being a pervert.” 

“I’ve only ever told her how wonderful you are,” she replied. 

“And because of that, she seems to be rebelling…” 

“Indeed. Though only for the moment,” Lilia said with a quiet laugh, lifting her face. Her expression was bright and sunny. 

I couldn’t take Aisha with me, but I’d already received some precious things from Lilia. One of those things was hanging around my neck on a leather cord. The other was tucked away in a box for safekeeping. I wasn’t going to part with it ever again. 

“Thank you for the pendant.” (And panties.) 

“It was no problem. I know how precious those are to you.” There was a hidden meaning in her words, of course, since she really meant the panties. I owed her a lot for everything she’d done for me. 

“So, um…I guess carrying these around really does make people think I’m a pervert?” 

“A pervert? Is that something Aisha said to you?” Lilia suddenly leaped out of her chair. I had to make a grand show of getting her to sit back down, where she let out a small sigh. “She was relatively free to move about the castle, so someone must have put strange things in her head.” 

Strange things, yes. Very strange indeed. 

“If underwear is enough to call someone a pervert, then what would happen if she went to work at the Asura Royal Palace?” 

“The Asura Royal Palace?” I asked. “Come to think of it, you said you used to work in the inner palace, right?” 

“Yes. Compared to what I saw there, you and the Master couldn’t even begin to be described as perverts.” 

“Oh…really…” Apparently, the Asura Royal Palace was where the real gentlemen gathered. It made sense considering there was a certain noble family that I already knew loved furries. Nah—It wasn’t just the Greyrats that had such proclivities. The Shirone royal family was pretty terrible, too. 

“One of them enjoyed women’s vaginal—” 

“Nope, I don’t need a detailed picture, thanks.” I didn’t need to go any further than that. 

“Anyway, there are many among the royal and noble families whose preferences run toward the perverse. Compared to that, having an interest in the underwear of someone you look up to is rather normal.” Lilia gazed off into the distance as she spoke. She was probably reliving an unpleasant memory. 

“Please give Father my regards,” I said. 

“Understood.” 

“I’ll give you some money to cover the trip, but if it seems like it won’t be enough, just stop at an Adventurers’ Guild and seek out one of Father’s subordinates,” I advised. 

“Understood.” 

“I’m sure these soldiers escorting you can be trusted. But just in case, exercise extreme caution. They’re still strangers.” 

“There’s no problem there. I’m acquainted with all of them.” 

“Oh, you are? Then, um…” 

“Lord Rudeus.” Just as I was busy scrambling through my thoughts for anything else to say, Lilia stood up, walked over to me, and then hugged me to her chest. Her voluminous breasts smothered my face, and my breathing suddenly went erratic. 

“Um, Miss Lilia, they’re in my face.” 

“You still haven’t changed from when you were little,” she said with a small laugh. 

The next day, before we took off, Eris, Ruijerd and I performed the final check on our carriage to make sure nothing was amiss. Lilia and the others were going to leave before us and had already switched over to a different carriage. 

“Mister Kennel Master, Mister Kennel Master!” Aisha came flying out of the carriage, scrambling across the ground toward me. 

“What is it?” 

“Just a moment.” She grabbed the hem of my shirt and dragged me along with her. I shot Ruijerd a look so he would understand, then went ahead and followed her. 

The place she brought me to was a small thicket by the roadside. She crouched and gestured for me to follow suit. I did as she asked and leaned in close as if we were about to have a secret conversation. 

“Mister Kennel Master, I actually have a favor I want to ask of you, privately.” 

“A favor? If it’s something I can do, sure.” If my cute little sister had a task for me, I would do my best to fulfill it. Norn already hated me, and I didn’t want Aisha to hate me, too. I seemed to be in her good graces for now, but that was because she thought I was the Kennel Master. 

“Please take me along with you.” 

My eyes went wide when I heard her ask that. Was this Lilia’s doing…? 

“Did your mom tell you to say that?” Perhaps she thought that since I refused her request, she’d use her daughter’s tears to persuade me instead. Lilia was more cunning than I gave her credit for. 

“No, there’s no way my mother would be okay with that.” 

“Hm?” 

“Every single day, my mother tells me about how I’m going to serve my half-brother in the future.” 

“She did say that,” I agreed. 

“But!” Aisha slammed her fist against the ground. “I want no part of it!” 

She really wanted no part of being around me. Probably because I got so aroused by underwear. Sorry , I apologized in my head. 

“We talked about it the other day, right? My brother is a pervert. I understand what you were saying, Mister Kennel Master, but I just can’t bear the thought of serving someone like that.” 

“Is that right…?” 

“So please, I beg of you, save me! Just as gallantly as you did the other day, from the evil hands of a pervert!” 

“I’m going to pass on that.” This was no joke. If the two of us traveled together, she’d learn my real name eventually. And when she found out I’d lied to her…wait. We were family, so she was going to find out eventually anyway, right? 

“Why not?! He’s a pervert!” 

“That’s just your imagination, not the facts,” I said. 

Okay! Let’s set the record straight right here. If I entrusted this task to Lilia, I’d probably be known as a pervert forever. It didn’t matter how much she said those in the royal palace were far worse than me—that wasn’t going to change Aisha’s impression of me. “You’ve never actually met him, have you?” 

“But there’s no mistaking those panties!” 

“Maybe there’s a reason for those,” I suggested. 

“And what reason could he have for treasuring panties?!” 

Why? That wasn’t really something I had a ready answer for…but, for instance, in monotheistic religions, people worshipped the clothing that a holy person wore, right? That was especially true when you considered these were the panties Roxy wore when she was rocking her one-handed lady band. This was a rare item that only the highest-level players possessed! If you were a player that cared about that kind of stuff, what would you do with it? You’d treasure it for the rest of your life, of course! The motto of my personal faith was “Lust and knowledge are both important!” 

Anyway, that aside… 

“Roxy was your brother’s former tutor, correct?” 

“Yes,” she answered. 

“So she’s had a great impact on your brother, right?” 

“I suppose so…” 

There was no “suppose.” I was her big brother, so I knew what I was saying. Roxy was the person who helped me do something that I hadn’t been able to do in nearly twenty years. The reason I was living my life like this was because of Roxy. 

“Then perhaps he wants to treasure it as an item that someone incredibly important to him wore.” 

“Hmmm…” She didn’t seem satisfied by that explanation. In that case, why not give her an item that her idol the Kennel Master had been wearing? 

I retrieved something from my pocket. “I’ve used this forehead protector for a really long time.” 

“Why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?” 

“Because I’m giving it to you.” I handed the forehead protector to her. It was something I’d bought a long time ago, back when we were in Rikarisu. Even though I’d washed it since, it still had a trace of my sweat, since I’d been using it for so long. 

Aisha looked a little shocked as she cradled it in her hand. “Ah! Now I kind of understand.” 

“Does it make more sense emotionally now, than it did when I just explained it with words?” 

“Yeah, I get it now! So my brother wasn’t a pervert!” 

And thus, I passed on the forehead protector I’d used for so long. That said, this kid was way too trusting. 

“Mister Kennel Master, you really are a good person!” 

“I’m not that great.” I gave her my shining Rudeus Smile. 

Aisha watched me with stars in her eyes, before she suddenly realized something and muttered to herself, “Oh yeah… Right now, my brother is still missing. If he’s dead, will you allow me to serve you instead?” 

“No, I’m not sure about that.” 

“You won’t let me?” she asked. “I’m sure you’ll understand after seeing my mom, but I think I’ll grow up to be pretty amazing. With a body all the boys will adore!” 

“‘A body all the boys will adore’… Do you even understand what that means?” 

“It means a body that makes you want to start making babies when you see it, right?” 

“A child shouldn’t talk about making babies,” I chided. At this rate, she’d be swept off by a pervert before she even came into her womanhood. Honestly, who the heck was teaching her this stuff? 

“Is there nothing I can say that will change your mind? Do you hate me that much?” Her eyes glistened tearfully. 

“All right, fine. If your brother is never found, then sure.” 

“You mean it?” 

I felt bad for deceiving her. By the time she was older, my journey would be over and we’d probably all be living together again as a happy family. 

“Then you’re not mad at me for calling you a pervert?” 

“No, of course no—huh?” 

Wait, what did she just say? 

“Thanks, big brother!” With that, Aisha shot back up and ran off to the carriage. I sat there dumbfounded as she leaped up into it. When the carriage rolled into motion, Aisha turned back to wave at me, and Lilia bowed. “See you, big brother! Let’s meet again! It’s a promise!” 

And off they went. 

Eris had a completely unamused look on her face as she said, “What the hell? She completely saw right through you.” 

“H-how…?” 

Ruijerd gave the horse’s reins a tug and the carriage jerked into motion. In retrospect, there were many opportunities for her to realize the truth. I called her by her name when we first met, and when I was speaking to Eris and Ruijerd after that, I’m pretty sure they let my name slip, too. 

So why did she pretend not to know? Think, think , I told myself, and the answer came quickly. She was probably trying to determine for herself if her brother was someone who could be trusted. If I’d kept up the charade of being the Kennel Master and tried to drag her along with me, I had no doubt she would’ve turned her back on me. 

“Haha.” Once I realized that, I laughed. She truly was a brilliant, clever little girl. I looked forward to seeing her once she was older.