Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume SS - Chapter 4

Short Story:

Shirone’s Super Soldier 

THIS IS A STORY FROM BEFORE the Displacement Incident.

Roxy Migurdia had a problem. 

She had single-handedly conquered a labyrinth in the Shirone Kingdom and was invited back as a court magician in recognition of her achievement. She had been given the role of tutor to Pax, the sixth prince, and now earned more money than she’d ever dreamed of having. Life really didn’t get any better than this…or so you might have thought. But things did not turn out so smoothly.

The reason for this was her pupil, Sixth Prince Pax Shirone. When she first assumed her post, she had found him charming—he was just the same height as Rudeus, and his eyes, though a little unkind, spoke to intelligence. He was a little plump, and he had a proud streak. But as time passed, Pax’s manner changed. Perhaps he had realized that he, Pax, was a prince, for he began to make ample use of his power. In the past, the cooks had always ensured they ate balanced meals, but at the prince’s demands, the amount of greasy food saw a massive increase. Perhaps experiencing newfound desires, he began to sexually harass the ladies in waiting, and then when he learned they wouldn’t resist him, his behavior escalated further. He also stopped paying attention to Roxy’s lessons. He was brazen about skipping class and even started to sexually harass Roxy, too.

That day, Pax hadn’t come to class again. Roxy was left to wait for him in the lesson room in vain. At that moment, he was undoubtedly somewhere in the castle or else out in the town, doing whatever he pleased. In Roxy’s experience, this meant the prince had no plans of coming to class. What he would do was come back at the end of the day and yell, “Roxy, class is off today!”

It was nothing to get this irritated about. She sighed, looking exhausted as she muttered, “This is ridiculous…” Then, she rose from her chair. No matter how well she was paid, she was not about to let a whole day go to waste for the sake of a student who had no interest in learning.

Roxy headed for the town. Her days as an adventurer had brought her to the capital of Shirone on several occasions, but she had been based out of a different town there. Since becoming Pax’s tutor, she hadn’t left the castle unless she had an errand to run, and so she hadn’t explored the area of town that surrounded the castle before. To cheer herself up now, Roxy decided to do just that.

“People always stare,” she said to herself. As a demon, Roxy got strange looks from people when walking around unfamiliar towns. But she was used to it, and besides, she liked to walk around places she didn’t know. 

“The streets around here are so complicated.” The capital of Shirone was a maze-like web of narrow streets. Roxy had experience traversing labyrinths as an adventurer, so it didn’t disorient her, but any average person who didn’t know the lay of the city would be instantly lost. The city had been a location of key strategic importance when humans and demons had fought during the Laplace War, but the demons had once taken it. The people who had worked to rebuild it at the time had increased the complexity of its streets to ensure that it would not be taken so easily the next time. In other words, these maze-like alleys were a remnant of the time when the city had been a fortress. As Roxy walked along the streets, she felt a sense of wonder that the city of those days remained in the present.

“Hm?” As she turned a corner, she caught the sound of a commotion. It was a sound she knew well: the sound of onlookers cheering on a fight. Roxy wasn’t interested in quarrels, and yet she was still oddly compelled to follow the voices. She found herself in what you might call the slum district. It had rows of low buildings and the people there were dressed in rags. She also spotted a raised platform of the sort found at slave markets. It seemed like an extremely rough part of town.

I probably shouldn’t get involved, Roxy thought. Then, she ­located the source of the commotion. Hm?

A group of people were gathered in front of what looked like a tavern. From the depths of the crowd, she could hear the clash of swords, as well as bursts of magic. Most likely, a pair of drunks had gotten into a fight that had since turned deadly. To a former adventurer like Roxy, fights were nothing out of the ordinary—she was used to them. Seeing it was nothing unusual, she lost interest and made to walk off again when—

“There! What’re you waiting for? Do it! Kill him!” In amongst the cacophony, she heard a voice she knew. It was a voice that, as of late, had made her sigh every time she heard it.

“Excuse me a moment.”

“Woah there, miss! This is no sight for a kid!”

“Hmph! I am not a child.” Roxy pushed her way through the crowd until she reached the source of the commotion. The sight that met her was just what she had expected. There was a man surrounded by a large group of soldiers. Around them, men lay bleeding on the ground, apparently having come out worse in the fight—and even though they had the man surrounded, all the fallen men were soldiers. Presumably, that lone man they had surrounded, with his sword raised and the fire of battle burning in his eyes, was responsible. He was a force to be reckoned with.

“Hey, I asked you a question! Go! Arrest him, now!” Meanwhile, another figure urged the soldiers on. He was noticeably shorter than the other onlookers, but both his girth and his ego were unmatched. It was the source of the Shirone royal family’s strife and of Roxy’s troubles: Pax Shirone.

In front of him stood five soldiers, as well as the knight who served as his bodyguard. Her sword was raised. Of all the things for him to get up to when he was supposed to be at his lessons… Like as not, Pax had snuck into a tavern, then shot his mouth off with some adventurer—or vice versa. It had turned into a fight, so he had set his bodyguards on them. Roxy worked all this out in an instant, then, afraid she would get dragged in, she turned to leave.

“Ahah, Roxy! Just in time!”

Unfortunately, Roxy’s blue hair was hard to miss. Pax spotted her at once.

“Agh,” she sighed.

“You help too! Take that man captive!”

“My prince, you got yourself into this quarrel, so I ask that you please finish it yourself. I won’t be cross with you for missing your lesson.”

“This is no quarrel! There’s a bounty on his head!”

“Say what?” Roxy turned back to get a proper look at the surrounded man and found that she did recognize him. His posters had been up at the Adventurers’ Guild. Once a member of an S-rank adventurer party, he was a Saint-tier North God style swordsman and could use basic magic in each discipline up to intermediate level—a mage knight. For a time, that party had enjoyed the same level of fame as Fangs of the Black Wolf, but a few years back, when it had come to light that he had assassinated a prince, a bounty had been put out for him. Despite that, between his prowess as a warrior and his knack for laying low, he had thus far evaded capture. Now, he had turned up here of all places…

“I shall see him captured and claim the credit! Go forth, Roxy!”

“All this foolishness over a bounty…?” Roxy said, letting her displeasure show openly on her face. In truth, she wanted to ignore him and go home. But then her eyes fell on the fallen soldiers. Whatever else he had become, this man was still an S-rank adventurer and a rare mage knight. Anyone who couldn’t counter both his blade and his magic would only end up dying a pointless death. And those who knew how to do so were few and far between. Otherwise, his head would have already been exchanged for the bounty on it. 

Because of the prince, soldiers who had done nothing wrong would die. And if this man killed all the soldiers, he might kill Pax too. If Pax died, Roxy would be held responsible. They would say she had abandoned him. If all they did was throw her out of the castle, that would be all right, but she could also end up with a bounty on her head, just like this man.

“All right,” she said at last. With a sigh, she stepped out in front of Pax.

The man kept constant watch on his surroundings. He was probably looking for an opening to make an escape, but they still outnumbered him.

At the same time, Roxy was not confident in her own strength. Monsters were one thing, but her experience against human opponents was limited. Still, her long years as an adventurer had taught her something. She knew how to fight a mage knight.

“All of you, charge! Go, go!”

“Keep him surrounded,” Roxy shouted, overruling Pax’s commands. “One of you, get in front of me! I need you to protect me! Focus on his sword! If he attacks with magic, I’ll counter it!”

It was a gamble whether the soldiers would take orders from her or not, but to her surprise, they all followed her instructions and formed up around her. Most likely, they all hated Pax.

“A magician?! Dammit. Let the great protection of fire be on the place thou seekest. I call the bold heat of a torch here and now. Fireball!”

“Rapid muddy currents, gush forth! Flood Flush!”

“A-a shortened incantation?!” The man’s fireball collided into the mass of water Roxy called up with her truncated incantation. The flames fizzled, then disappeared. Meanwhile, water kept on rushing forward. While the man was still reeling from the speed of Roxy’s incantation, it smashed into his face. He staggered.

“Mistress Knight! Go now! He can’t cast spells if he can’t breathe!”

“Got it! Gaaaaah!” The knight swung her sword over her head, then slashed at the man. It seemed to Roxy that she was rather skilled. But she was still no match for the man, and he easily parried her strike.

“The rest of you, attack him when he turns his back on you! He can’t see directly behind him!”

“Gah! Unknown God, answer my call and raise the earth up toward the heavens! Earth Lance!”

“Majestic blade of ice, I summon thee to strike my enemy down! Icicle Edge! Mistress Knight!”

As the knight came at him from behind, the man tried to hold her back with magic—but Roxy quashed his every spell. The man took a strike to his back, but it seemed his armor took the worst of it, because he only stumbled.

“Grr… First you, magician…” He turned to move toward Roxy, but was met by the knight.

“I’m not letting you go!” She parried his strike, and in that opening, the soldier directly behind him attacked. When he used magic, Roxy took care of it, and in the gaps, one of the others attacked him. Roxy, the knight, and this soldier worked together with such coordination you’d never believe it was their first time fighting together.

“Dammit!” the man shrieked as the knight came at him from the front and the soldier from behind to cut him down. He dropped his sword, then crumpled at the knees to fall on his face. For a few seconds, his body twitched. But he did not rise again. Little by little, the twitching grew weaker. Meanwhile, the blood pouring from his body pooled on the ground around him. Even the onlookers stared in silence as Pax walked toward him, then poked his head with his foot.

When Pax was sure he was dead, he bellowed, “Huzzah! I won!”

“Phew,” Roxy exhaled. This was not her first time fighting a person, but she had still been nervous. She would have been in trouble if the soldiers hadn’t followed her instructions.

“Well fought, Roxy! That’s why you’re the court magician, eh!”

Roxy sighed. “Thank you, my prince.”

Pax came over to her, his chest puffed up as though he’d won the fight himself. Then, he turned to the knight and the others with narrowed eyes.

“The same can’t be said for you lot. Losing four of your number to the likes of him? You aren’t training hard enough!”

“Forgive me, my prince!”

“None of you has any aptitude for the blade! Resign as soldiers, this instant! You’re not worth your salaries! If you come back, I’ll fire you all!”

The soldiers exchanged glances. Their faces were pale. Pax really followed through on this sort of thing.

“Excuse me, Your Highness,” Roxy said. “I didn’t win by myself… If everyone here learned how to fight against magic, an opponent like we had today shouldn’t be a problem for them. If anything, the rewards and praise—”

“That doesn’t mean anything if they can’t do it now, does it!”

“Well, yes, that’s true.”

“Hmph. Oh, fine! It’s not as though there’s any guarantee the soldiers who replaced you would be any better! Ahah, looks like the commotion drew some reinforcements! Here, you ingrates! Where were you? I already claimed the bounty myself! I shall go home and rub my older brother’s face in it! Hahahahaha!”

Pax made a soldier cut off the man’s head, then, without burying the body, he set off back to the castle with a spring in his step. Of course he ignored the soldiers lying on the ground moaning in agony too.

Roxy sighed again as she set to work casting healing magic on the wounded soldiers.

“Thank you for your aid, Miss Roxy. I owe you my life.” Roxy looked up to see the knight who had helped her.

“It was nothing,” she said.

“What with you being a demon and a former adventurer, I looked down on you as the little court magician. But you impressed me with your leadership back there!”

“‘Little’ was unnecessary, don’t you think?”

“Would you do us the favor of teaching us how to fight against magic?” the knight asked. The soldiers who had fought with her and the others whose lives she’d saved with healing magic nodded in agreement.

“Yes, Miss Roxy!”

“We’re all lost when it comes to magic.”

“If you’d teach us, we’ll have fewer incidents like today.”

“There might be some who aren’t happy about being taught by a little girl...”

“One look at what Miss Roxy can do will take care of that! By all means!”

“Now see here, I am not little!” Roxy shouted. In truth, though, she was feeling good. Ever since coming to Shirone, she’d spent ­every day at the mercy of Pax’s whims, getting more and more stressed. No one had praised her like this. Indeed, it was a long time since she’d been surrounded by people like she was now, and before she noticed what she was doing, she had her chest puffed out and her nose in the air.

“O-oh, all right, if you insist!” she said, as though they’d worn her down. “I’ll teach you what magic is all about!”

“Hooray!”

“Now the missus can rest easier at night.”

The soldiers were delighted, and the knight, looking relieved, said, “Thank you very much.”

And that was how Roxy ended up teaching the soldiers of Shirone how to fight against magic.

If you were going to teach, it was always better to have willing students. From then on, whenever Pax skipped his lessons, Roxy would drop by the soldiers’ training area and, half to blow off stress, teach them tips for fighting against magic users, as well as simple spells. Her name would be remembered with gratitude by the soldiers of Shirone.