Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume SS - Chapter 27

Short Story:

A Nightmare

“STOP IT… PLEASE, I’m begging you, stop…”

It was an awful sight. Sylphie sat slumped against a tree, a red stain covering her chest. As the healing magician, she had taken the first hit. Everyone had tried to protect her, but the attacks had come one after another with unerring accuracy until, eventually, one found her, throwing against the tree trunk, where she’d slid down it to her current position. She had twitched for a while, but now she wasn’t moving at all. She was paler than she had ever been, and the blood trickling from her mouth had dried up. The flow of blood from her chest had stopped too. She was dead.

Roxy lay fallen on the ground, her arm outstretched toward Sylphie. One of her trademark twin braids lay on the ground beside her. The other was probably still attached to her head, but where her head was… I couldn’t see it anywhere. Her headless body would never move again.

After losing the other two, Eris still held on. But with every two or three exchanges of blows she had taken more damage until, eventually, she was hit by a mortal blow. She was at death’s door, but even now, she tried to fight back, roaring like a lion. But the next hit took her arm off. The next opened a gaping hole in her stomach, and she fell to her knees. She looked back at me with empty eyes, saying something. But I couldn’t hear her.

“Please. Spare us. I’ll do anything. Just please have mercy. Please…please…” My begging fell on deaf ears. Before I knew it, the scene had changed, and I was looking at my house. Everyone was dead. Lilia, Aisha, Norn, Zenith…and there, with a face like a demon, Orsted held Lucie up by her head.

“N…uh…uh…” I couldn’t make words. I had to say something, but I didn’t know what. Even if I begged him to stop, he’d never listen to me. I knew that, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

“Please. Please, don’t destroy the world. You can kill me. Just don’t take my children, don’t take their future. Please. I’d never felt that before. I’d never felt that sort of happiness before. Please, forget about the Man-God. Please.”

The reply was the same one I’d heard once before.

“I cannot.”

He crushed Lucie’s head in his fist.

***

“Aaaaaaagh!” I leaped up, my breath coming in short gasps as I cast my eyes around me. I was standing on top of my bed at home. Apparently I’d woken up so violently that I’d actually stood up. 

I looked outside. Sunlight poured in, too bright to be morning light. It was maybe a bit before noon. Even though it wasn’t really morning, I could hear the tweeting of birds. How peaceful.

I took some slow, deep breaths and looked at my hands. I’d lost my left hand, but it was definitely there now. That was the hand Orsted had regrown for me. Around it was a bracelet I wasn’t used to seeing there yet. That, too, Orsted had given me.

“It was…a dream…”

Right, of course. After everything that had happened yesterday, one thing led to another and I had yielded to Orsted. Neither Sylphie, nor Roxy, nor Eris were dead, and he hadn’t attacked the rest of my family either.

Right? He hadn’t, right?

“Huh? Big Brother, are you awake? You okay? You were yelling like crazy.” Aisha poked her head through the door. I beckoned for her to come over. “Hm? What’s up?”

Still standing on the bed, I stroked her head. Aisha seemed to enjoy it. Apparently, she was the real thing.

“Eheheh… What do you think? Easy to stroke, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Oh, a split end.”

“What! No way!” Aisha pulled away, then began to check her hair in a nearby mirror.

“Just kidding,” I said. Aisha looked back sulkily at me, folding her arms with a huff. 

“Hey, Big Brother, I’m happy that you’re giving me attention and all, but you should pay attention to someone else first.” 

I followed Aisha’s gaze. There at my feet, I saw a woman lying prostrate around the head of the bed. A glance at her white hair and long ears told me it was Sylphie.

“She stayed up all of last night to take care of you, you know!” Aisha said, then left. I sat down on the bed. Right, yesterday I had come home after the fight with Orsted, then fainted. Sylphie had stayed with me all that time… Feeling a great rush of love for her, I put my hand on her head and stroked her hair gently, so as not to wake her. She breathed softly, sound asleep. At that moment, I wanted to pull her out of bed and share the joys of life with her, but I restrained myself. 

“Mruh…” Sylphie began to groan. I looked closely at her, frowning. Was she having a nightmare? No sooner had I thought this than—

“Gah!” Sylphie awoke with a start. Her shoulders heaving, she stared at me wide-eyed. After a moment, she reached out and patted my face, then my shoulders, my arms, my chest, my stomach…Woah there, wife. Bit early in the day to be touching that, isn’t it? Wait, you’re not touching it? Yeah, guess that figures. 

Sylphie let out a sigh of relief. I could more or less guess what sort of dream she’d had.

“Morning, Sylphie. Hotter than I was in the dream, right?”

“Morning, Rudy… Yeah. Unlike in the dream, you have a head.” 

I found this so funny that I snickered. Sylphie, her eyes still blurry with sleep, chuckled too. Her quiet laughter, free from any pain or strife, filled the bedroom. Feeling at ease, I silently thanked Orsted for rescuing me.