Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter Pr

Prologue 

Three carriages rattled down a narrow road, surrounded by a dense, dark wood. 

This was the Wyrm’s Whiskers, a forest that separated the Kingdom of Asura’s northern border from the valley known as the Red Wyrm’s Upper Jaw. The Upper Jaw was a natural chokepoint, but unlike its counterpart—the Lower Jaw—far to the south, it was located several days’ travel from the Asuran border. 

There was a good reason for this, of course: The forest between the border and the valley was infested with monsters. Many years ago, the Kingdom of Asura built a wall to the south in order to keep those creatures from wandering into its territory, a measure that dramatically reduced its spending on monster extermination. Largely neglected, the forest remained home to vicious monsters…as well as bandits and criminals who’d fled Asuran territory. Few were eager to risk a journey through it. Still, some hardy merchants did push their way to the Northern Territories and back in pursuit of profit. 

The leader of this small caravan was one such man. He was a trader by the name of Bruno, an up-and-coming merchant who’d made something of a name for himself in the last year, and had only just joined a major Asuran trading company. Bruno’s current task was to bring two carriages stuffed with goods from the Kingdom of Asura to the Northern Territories. This was a sizable, valuable shipment. Losing it would mean the end of his career, and possibly his life. There was a good chance he’d face attacks from monsters, bandits, or both. 

Before joining his current company, Bruno had been a simple traveling merchant, accountable to no one but himself. In those days, he’d relied on his own sword and instincts to protect his cargo. But now that he’d come up in the world, he was facing far greater dangers and much more serious consequences for failure. He could no longer do everything by himself. 

Fortunately, he could afford the services of professional guards. 

The third carriage in Bruno’s caravan was occupied by a group of adventurers he’d hired to defend it, in addition to a handful of paid passengers. 

The guards were the five members of the B-ranked party Counter Arrow, which had been active in the Kingdom of Asura for some time. The passengers numbered three: two swordsmen-in-training heading north to hone their skills, and one gloomy young magician in a dark gray robe. While they weren’t technically guards, Bruno expected they’d fight to defend the caravan if necessary, given that their lives would be on the line. 

Incidentally, the gloomy young magician went by the name Rudeus Greyrat. At that moment, he was in the back of the swaying carriage, blankly looking skyward. He had eyes like a dead fish and his mouth hung half open. He wasn’t sitting so much as he was slumped against the wall. 

The boy was totally hollow. There was nothing but a void within him. When you glanced at his miserable face, you could almost hear his thoughts out loud: 

Everything’s meaningless. What’s the point of being alive? Why do any of us even bother? 

I don’t know. The only thing I know is that I’m empty inside. 

I’m nothingness. I’m zero. I’m the Heart of Space… 

The boy let out a weak, lifeless sigh. 

Thanks entirely to his presence, the carriage felt about as cheerful as a morgue. “You’ve been doing a lot of sighing lately, kid,” said one of the boy’s fellow passengers. “What’s the matter?” 

The woman who’d spoken, a member of the B-ranked party Counter Arrow, was dark-skinned with dreadlocks pulled into a bun. She wore a chest protector and gauntlets—relatively light armor, but a bit more than what a typical swordswoman would go for. Her professional class was most likely a Warrior. 

The young magician slowly looked at her and tried his best to smile. It only served to startle her. The boy might have intended it to be a friendly smile, but there was no emotion in it whatsoever. It was like the eerie grin of a wax statue. “I’m sorry; was I sighing? Don’t worry about it, miss. I’m just fine.” 

He’d spoken loudly and energetically, but his eyes were still lifeless and his expression was still gloomy. It was obvious that he wanted to be left alone. 

The warrior wasn’t about to give up. “Okay, then. So why are you heading up north, anyway?” She’d half expected the young magician to ignore her completely. With that in mind, getting any response at all was a decent start. “Huh? Uh, does that…really matter, miss?” 

“I mean, I’m guessing you’re a magician, but you haven’t even come of age yet, right? Did you just graduate from some academy? If you’re looking for adventure, I’d start somewhere a little safer than the Northern Territories.” 

This gloomy magician did look young, to be fair. He might have been twelve, or perhaps thirteen—almost a child, really. Before responding, he made another attempt at a smile. It didn’t go any better than before. “Sorry, but is there a reason I need to answer any of these questions?” 

His reply amounted to a blunt refusal to participate in the conversation. This young man clearly had no interest at all in chatting. Evidently, he wanted to wallow in his misery until the carriage reached its destination. 

Some might have found his attitude unpleasant. Still, at the end of the day, this was a conversation between travelers. The boy’s tone could have been more polite, yes; but there was an unspoken rule that you shouldn’t get too nosy with people you met on the road. When you got rejected this explicitly, the normal thing to do was shrug your shoulders and drop the subject. 

Which was, in fact, exactly what the woman with the dreadlocks did. But the adventurer seated by her side reacted very differently. “Okay, what is your problem?! Suzanne was just trying to be nice!” 

For some reason, the girl was glaring furiously at Rudeus. At a glance, she looked like a strong-willed sort, blond-haired and lightly armored like a swordswoman, but she didn’t wear a blade. A bow was slung across her back instead. She was perhaps fifteen or so—young for an adventurer, even if older than the boy magician. It was likely she didn’t fully understand the customs that applied in this situation. 

Rudeus turned toward the girl and studied her face closely for a moment, then caught himself and jerked his eyes away. 

“Calm down, Sara. It’s not like he’s trying to pick a fight or anything. He was just a little blunt, that’s all.” 

“But you’ve been worrying about him since yesterday, Suzanne! You said he looked sort of depressed, right? And now he’s acting like you’re harassing him or something…” 

So the woman with the dreadlocks was Suzanne, and the younger girl was Sara. While the boy had averted his eyes, he wasn’t entirely disinterested in their conversation, judging from the way he kept shooting small glances at them. His smile had given way to a melancholy expression. It was hard to tell what he might be thinking. 

After a few seconds, he spoke again. Just as before, his voice was loud and clear, but somehow less than reassuring. “Um, I’m heading north to look for my mother. She’s been missing since the Fittoa Displacement Incident.” 

“Oh…” 

“Fittoa, huh…?” 

The two adventurers looked apologetic. 

The magical calamity in Fittoa had been a shocking event for the citizens of Asura. Neither Suzanne nor Sara were from the region, but their party had done work there assisting in the recovery effort, and they’d encountered displaced refugees in many different cities during their travels. This young magician’s gloomy expression was the same one they’d seen on those people’s faces. It was the expression of someone who’d experienced a crushing loss. 

Suzanne didn’t say anything out loud, but from the look on her face, it was obvious she felt bad about having pried. “Okay, I get it…but that doesn’t mean you have to be rude…” She still didn’t seem entirely satisfied, but the boy ignored her grumbling and turned away, expecting that he’d now be left in peace. 

The atmosphere in the carriage had only grown heavier. The two other swordsmen squirmed a little in their seats, uncomfortable expressions on their faces. 

“How are you planning to search for her, though? The Northern Territories are huge.” To everyone’s surprise, Suzanne chose to press forward. She knew the young magician was going to find this annoying, but she didn’t want to spend the rest of this trip sitting around in awkward, dreary silence. 

Exasperation flashed across the boy’s face, but he put on another artificial smile and turned back toward Suzanne. “…Yes, I suppose you’re right. I’ll just have to take it one step at a time.” 

“Okay, but do you have any idea where to start? Some sort of lead, or someone you know up there? Traveling alone isn’t easy, you know?” 

“…” 

What thoughts were running through the boy’s head in this moment? Perhaps something like Is she going to keep talking to me for the rest of this trip? Or perhaps I don’t really want this to drag on much longer. But if I shoot her down again, that girl might get angry at me. 

“If you want, I could give you a quick primer on the Northern Territories. Better to know a few things about the place than nothing at all, right?” 

The boy hesitated for a moment, then let out a little sigh. “Um, sure. Please do.” His expression didn’t suggest any interest or curiosity whatsoever. 

Suzanne, apparently, was fine with that. She chose to take his answer at face value. “All right, then. Pick the wax out of your ears and listen up, kid.” 

“The Northern Territories” was the name most people used when referring to the northern region of the Central Continent. For the most part, it was a harsh land. Things weren’t quite as desolate as in the Demon Continent, but since snow covered the ground for one-third of each year, it was difficult to grow crops. Food was far from plentiful. The majority of the nations in this region were poor and weak, and often fought over scraps of resources while their citizens eked out meager existences. There were many monsters as well, and most of them were far stronger than those found in the Kingdom of Asura. This attracted warriors-in-training and veteran adventurers to the area, but that wasn’t enough to make the region even close to prosperous. 

However, there were a handful of countries that managed to flourish even in this difficult environment. These were the states referred to as the “Magic Nations”: 

The Kingdom of Ranoa, known for its institutions of magical learning. 

The Duchy of Neris, known for its manufacturing of magical implements. 

Finally, the Duchy of Basherant, known for its expertise in arcane research. 

These three countries had formed a tight alliance, pooled their collective magical knowledge, and attained a dominant position in the region. 

After reaching Rank B as adventurers, Suzanne and her party had more or less run out of jobs down in Asura. They were moving north to re-establish themselves in the Magic Nations. And, as it happened, Rudeus Greyrat was headed in the same direction. 

Not that he’d bothered to choose a specific destination.