Mushoku Tensei Redundancy (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3:

Norn’s Betrothal (Part 3)

 Norn 

I WAS TO MARRY Ruijerd. It all happened so fast. Big Brother asked me all sorts of questions, and I ­answered him honestly. Then, not even ten days later, he set up a meeting between Ruijerd and me. There and then, Ruijerd told me he loved me and proposed. I felt like I was walking on air.

The arrangements went ahead for the wedding, which would be held in ten days. Big Brother and Ruijerd were steadily getting things ready, while my only job was to make my wedding clothes with the Superd women. The outfit was very Superd-style, like what Ruijerd always wore. 

The wedding was to be held according to Superd custom. I’d always sort of liked the idea of a Millis-style wedding, but I wasn’t unhappy about a Superd-style wedding—it reminded me I would be Ruijerd’s bride. And all the Superds were wonderful people. I couldn’t have asked for more. Besides, Ruijerd would probably have been uncomfortable with me kissing him on the forehead in front of people.

No matter what came up, Big Brother told me to leave it to him. I accepted it all with gratitude. Though, I did kind of want a Millis Necklace. Maybe I’d ask for one. After all, this would probably be my last chance to ask my brother to indulge me.

These were the kinds of things I pondered while I packed up my room. It was the room I had used ever since Ruijerd brought me here with Aisha. Honestly, after all this time, my dorm felt more like home than here. However, as I packed, I realized that every item held memories. There was the figurine of Ruijerd that Zanoba had given me. I’d been so thrilled the first time I laid eyes on it that I begged him for it. It had sat in my dorm room until graduation. Gazing at the doll had become part of my daily routine. It didn’t look exactly like Ruijerd, but you could tell it was him. Every time I saw it, I missed him.

Then there was my wooden practice sword. I’d used it practically every day since Eris started teaching me sword fighting. I hadn’t progressed much, and I knew I had no talent for it, but I didn’t mind. Swinging the sword around was fun, and it wasn’t as though I wanted to be the strongest in the world. Besides, no one here in Sharia told me I should give up if it didn’t come naturally. Big Brother didn’t, of course, and neither did Eris, Roxy, or Sylphie… Even Zanoba and Cliff didn’t comment on it, despite how gifted they were. 

I now understood what a great kindness they had done me, and how important it was to persevere. If not for how hard I’d worked, I could have never become student council president. 

None of the student council members while I was president had any talents either. Some of the teachers called us the first student council of dunces since the founding of the university, but Vice Principal Jenius told me, “The students are far more peaceful than when Ariel was president.” Truly, there was less violence and crime at the school while I was president than there had been in Ariel’s time. It was possible I was just lucky, but I wonder if it wasn’t because none of us had any talent. The fact we were dunces probably meant we could relate to the average student’s needs better, and the students were considerate of the student council in return. Maybe they thought we needed their help. The university had around ten thousand students, so all those students taking a little more care would do more good than just a dozen or so student council members trying their hardest.

I never wore my school uniform anymore. It was in the closet. I’d heard that Nanahoshi had designed it. Before then, everyone wore different clothes, but now everyone, from the scariest delinquent to the most bewitching beauty, dressed the same. 

The uniform helped me make friends for sure. If we’d worn different clothes, I’d never have been able to relate to everyone on the same level. With the way that demons and beastfolk and people like that dressed sometimes, I would have never even approached them… Or maybe I’m wrong. Aisha had copied the idea and brought in uniforms for the mercenary company, so that was a good sign it was effective. I mean, Aisha was doing it.

Then there was Father’s sword, hanging on the wall. He had used that sword for years before he married my mother. When Big Brother divided up Father’s belongings after his death, the sword went to me. Aisha got the other one, but Big Brother took it back straight away, saying he was going to use it in battle. The armor was in Mother’s room. 

Whenever anything bad happened, I prayed to this sword. Father hadn’t followed the Millis faith, and he lived a life that faithful people sneered at, but I loved him. If he were still alive, I’d probably always be scolding him. Even so, I could never dislike him. He tried; he really did. But just because you try doesn’t mean things will work out—not for Big Brother, not for me, not for anyone… I think that’s why I never stopped loving him… 

…I prayed to my father today too.

“I’m going to get married, Father,” I said. This was less a prayer than an announcement. Big Brother said that he often went to Father’s grave to tell him about things that had happened, even though he was so busy… I was amazed by his faith.

“Big Brother is doing everything for me in your place, Father. Up till now, I’m sure I’ve been a burden on him, but despite that, he’s working as hard as he can, without complaint. I can’t begin to express how grateful I am to him.”

I had planned on announcing my wedding but ended up talking about Big Brother instead. After our father died and our mother ended up the way she did, he stepped into Father’s place. Of course, he was so busy that there were times he couldn’t keep an eye on me, so I couldn’t help wondering if he resented the responsibility. Now, however, I knew that wasn’t the case.

There’s this memory I have from back before I could even crawl properly. I was competing with Aisha, I think. I’m not sure why. Mother was at the finish line, and naturally, Aisha beat me. She made it to Mother with incredible speed. Mother picked her up and told her what a good girl she was and how well she’d done. When I saw that, I started crying. My mother was so far away. I felt like Aisha had taken her from me and I wouldn’t be praised, so I cried.

When I did, Mother said, “Come on, Norn. I’m here.” She waited until I reached her, then she made sure to praise me. 

Big Brother was the same way. No matter how slow or stupid I was, he always waited. He was patient, and although he was sometimes flustered, he never gave up on me. It was his way of filling Mother’s shoes.

The wedding preparations, too. Big Brother had taken care of everything for me. If Father were still alive, I’m sure he would have handled it all. There might have been a bit of a row if he hadn’t liked Ruijerd, though. 

Still, I’m sure that when the time came for me to get married he would have said, “Leave it to me.” That’s probably what it was like when Father and Mother got married.

Lost in my thoughts, I finished packing up my room in no time. There had never been very many things in it in the first place. Without my belongings, it looked truly empty. Lucie or one of the others would have this room next. I thought it was tidy enough, so now all that was left was to move my things to Ruijerd’s house in the Superd village. 

Honestly, it felt like a dream. After admiring Ruijerd forever, I was going to marry him. I was full of jitters. It was like how Sylphie said it had been for her—before you start living together with a man, you feel a mix of nerves and anticipation. Ruijerd was much, much older than me, but after we got married, I assumed we would do what Big Brother and Sylphie and the others did. I’d learned how to do it in theory, but I’d never put it into practice. Would he be gentle? Would I be able to do it right? My anticipation outweighed my nerves. I was full of excitement.

I was so glad that I’d told Big Brother to go ahead with the betrothal.

There was a knock at the door, then a voice. “Hey, Norn? Got a moment?” I’d have known that voice anywhere—it was Aisha.

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

“Um… Can I talk to you?” Aisha came into my room, an uncomfortable expression on her face, and shut the door behind herself. That was unusual. It might have been the first time Aisha had behaved like this toward me.

“Why don’t you sit down?” I suggested.

“Mm.” Aisha took a seat on the bed. I pushed aside the luggage I’d packed up to take to Ruijerd’s house and sat down on the chair.

“So, um…congratulations on your marriage, Norn… Wait, no. Your engagement?”

“Thank you.” 

Now that I thought about it, when Big Brother announced my marriage, lots of people congratulated me. But not Aisha.

“It feels, I dunno, strange that you’re getting married.”

“You came here to say that?”

“No, um… Norn, what’s it like? Getting married?” Aisha wouldn’t look at me. She kept her eyes averted, as though she was asking something she wasn’t supposed to.

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you going through with it?”

Ah. That’s right. Now I remembered. Had it been Aisha who’d said it to me?

Why do you bother when you know you’ve got no talent?

My little sister never changed. I’d come to realize that her words that had seemed cruel when we were little were actually something else. She was good at everything, so she didn’t understand how it felt.

No, actually, I was being too generous. When we were little, there probably was some cruelty behind it; that was why I couldn’t stand her back then. But lately, I’d gotten over it. 

When had Aisha stopped being unkind to me…? Was it when I’d become student council president? No, maybe it had been earlier… I wasn’t sure exactly when, but she’d changed a lot since Lucie was born.

“I’m not sure what to say… For one thing, this ­marriage serves a purpose. And I love Ruijerd.”

“What do you mean by ‘love?’”

“It’s like…I just find myself wanting to be with him, and when I see him, I want to hold him. That sort of thing.”

“I love Big Brother. Is that a different love?”

“I… I’m not you, Aisha, so I can’t say.”

“I guess not…” Aisha stretched her legs out, then flopped down on the bed. “I just don’t get it… Linia and Pursena keep going on and on about marriage lately. Saying I missed my chance, or how now I’ve waited this long, I can’t just settle. Is marriage worth getting that worked up about? I’m not sure. I mean, logically, I know I should want it, but it’s not like everyone thinks that deeply about it, right?”

“Aisha, do you not want to get married?”

“I don’t know.”

“There isn’t anyone you have feelings for?”

“No. When I was little, I thought I’d marry Big Brother, but that’s different, somehow. But I can’t even imagine leaving this house…”

Aisha had been glued to Big Brother ever since she was little. I first met her in Millis a little while after our father got back on his feet and started a respectable job. I hadn’t been able to think of her as my little sister back then. I heard about people getting remarried to a partner who already had children from my friend in the dormitory, and I think it felt sort of like that. It didn’t help that Lilia had treated her less like my little sister and more like a sort of junior maid. When did I begin to see her as my sister? Maybe it was when we went to school together in Millis or during our journey to Sharia with Ruijerd and Ginger. Either way, by the time we began living here in Sharia, she was my little sister.

“How do you feel right now?” Aisha asked.

“…Happy.”

“Happy? How so?”

“It’s hard to put into words. I guess it feels like I’m not worried about anything. I know that it won’t be perfect, but without question, there will be good things.” 

As I finished speaking, Aisha sat up and stared intently at me. “That’s happiness?”

“Hm…?”

“I mean, I feel like that pretty much all the time.”

“That means you’re happy all the time then, doesn’t it?”

Aisha fell back on the bed again. “Eh… No, I don’t think so. I’m kind of envious. I feel like I finally lost to you at something.”

“It wasn’t a competition!”

“Nope, I lost. I think I lost to you, Norn.”

In the whole of my life, I had never beaten Aisha at anything. It wasn’t just Aisha either. I never did especially well at school. My win rate in mock battle magic tests was 45 percent, and even though I tried my best, my average test score was only around 80. I never got anywhere near being top of my class.

If we were to compete in something I’d studied but she hadn’t, I might be able to win once or twice, but after ten or twenty rounds, she’d win every time. Aisha was clever: she learned fast, and she could get straight to the heart of things. But now, she’d finally lost at something, and yet, I didn’t feel very pleased. Besides, it wasn’t as though we were in competition—I wasn’t getting ­married to beat Aisha.

“Hey, Norn?”

“What is it?”

“After you get married, can I still come see you?”

That was unexpected, too. It had felt like Aisha was keeping her distance from me, though she didn’t show it when looking after Big Brother’s children. It was just that, when I was alone, she never approached me or talked to me unless she needed something.

“Yes, of…of course.”

“If you have a baby, let me hold it, okay?”

“I will.”

A baby…

I’d asked Sylphie all sorts of questions. Although it was probably too soon to be thinking about it, I assumed it would happen one day, and so I wanted to be prepared. Even now, Aisha looked after Big Brother’s children. Sylphie said she was a great help. When I left this house, I’d have to raise my children all by myself. Yet another thing to worry about. Could I really manage…?

Sylphie reassured me I’d be fine, and Roxy fretted along with me. Eris would probably say “They just raise themselves” or something. Even so, it worried me.

“If anything, I’d be grateful if you could teach me what I don’t know about raising children.”

“You bet!”

“Thank you,” I said, followed by a laugh. I was so glad to see Aisha return a smile.

Aisha and I carried on chatting late into the night. None of it was especially significant, just an endless stream of idle complaints that didn’t reach any conclusion.

The next day, I took my belongings and moved to Ruijerd’s house.