Mushoku Tensei Redundancy (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 1:

Lucie’s First Day of School (Part 1)

THE DAYS SLIPPED BY. Eris and Roxy safely gave birth to their children, both girls. We named Roxy’s daughter Lily and Eris’s daughter Christina. I now had four daughters and two sons. The house was starting to get cramped; maybe it was time to start looking at an extension…and consider some family planning.

On top of that, Lucie turned seven, old enough to become an elementary school student. Elementary school—where children of the same age spent their days together, learning the fundamentals.

Truth be told, parents could handle teaching the basic knowledge. With school, the point was socialization. People need people. Some have the strength to make it alone, but they’re the exceptions. School is where we learn how to make friends, how to relate to others, how to handle fights well. Here in the Ranoa Kingdom, there was no such thing as an elementary school, which wasn’t a surprise, given there was no compulsory education. 

If you ask me, kids ought to go to school. I was a dropout in my former life, but in this life, school had given me everything. I’d befriended Zanoba, I’d met Cliff and Badigadi and Nanahoshi and Ariel…and I’d married Sylphie. Without a doubt, it was my time at the Ranoa University of Magic that had allowed me to build my current rich personal life, and I wanted the same opportunities for every child.

When I’d announced that at the family meeting last year, the majority had been in my favor. Sylphie, Roxy, and Lilia were on my side, and although Eris had said, “They don’t really need to go,” she hadn’t been strongly opposed. Thus we decided that from the age of seven, our children would attend the Ranoa University of Magic. I figured even if some of their classmates were older, it’d be a benefit.

Today was Lucie’s first day of school. She would go for seven long years, more if she failed a grade, and this was Day One. 

“Lucie, do you have everything?”

“I’m fine!” Lucie stood in the entranceway, her oversized school uniform hanging off her and her backpack too big for her body. Everything she had was brand new, including the beginner’s staff and robe, the magic textbooks, and the lunchbox in her backpack. 

Lucie inspected herself in the full-length mirror, apparently pleased with her shiny new getup. She had a smug smile on her face. Maybe that was why she sounded so nonchalant. We’d checked that she had everything over and over the previous night, and it wasn’t like she had that much stuff to take in the first place. Yeah, she was probably okay.

Another check wouldn’t hurt, though.

“Do you have your handkerchief?”

“It’s in my pocket!”

“Do you have your pencil case?”

“It’s in my bag!”

“And your lunchbox?”

“My bag!”

“What about a goodbye kiss for Daddy?”

“No way!”

No way?! Hm, what was left? Things you’re likely to forget. Dreams for the future, hope, truth…

“Rudy, she said she’s ready.” Sylphie tapped me on the back, cutting through my thoughts. “She’s growing up, she’ll be fine.”

Growing up… Oh, no. She was already seven. Seven meant she was a big kid—look how capable she was!

She’s a big kid now.

“I’m fine, Dada! I’m gonna do my best!” Lucie said, making a fist. The gesture was courageous, adorable, and made me extremely anxious. If I were a kidnapper and I saw a tasty morsel like her, I’d gobble her up. She may have grown up, but she was still so tiny.

“Lucie, you mustn’t go anywhere with anyone you don’t know, okay?”

“Okay!”

“If anyone tries to force you to go with them, you shout your name really loud, understand?”

“Okay!”

“If they cover your mouth and say they’ll kill you if you scream, you show them the letter Dada gave you and have them read it, understand?”

“Okaaay!”

The letter, by the way, contained my message to any kidnapper. It explained the nature of the person I served and the kinds of people I was connected with, and it went on to describe what would happen if any harm should come to Lucie. The kidnapper might not be able to read, so I’d also brought the matter to the slave traders in advance to ask them to ostracize anyone who kidnapped a child of mine. Any criminal who touched my daughter would be blacklisted from criminal society. Even then, I found fuel for my anxiety everywhere—I couldn’t ­foresee everything, after all. I was beside myself with worry about what could happen. 

“Lucie, you tell the teacher if any of your school friends bully you.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sure they won’t, but if your teacher bullies you, you tell Blue Mama or the vice principal. They’ll both be in the staff room.”

“Okay.”

“If you feel like you can’t talk to Blue Mama or the vice principal about it, there’s White Mama, or Red Mama, or Auntie Aisha, or Lilia, or Auntie Elinalise, or…well, the point is, tell someone. You can talk to Dada too, of course, or Dada’s friends. Don’t keep it to yourself.”

“Okaaay.”

“Also, if you think another kid is being bullied…” At this point, someone grabbed me by the collar and dragged me away. 

I looked around and saw Sylphie glowering at me. Lucie, meanwhile, looked a bit dejected. 

“Dada, I’ll be fine…” she said, a little uncertainly, glancing up through her eyelashes. Had I scared her? Should I have sugar-coated it? “You go make a hundred friends,” that sort of thing?

But this was important. Bullying could make you feel like no one would help you, but you always had someone on your side somewhere.

“Rudy, trust Lucie a little more,” Sylphie said.

After a long pause, I said, “All right.”

Right, of course. You send kids to school to make them more independent. It was no good trying to fix everything for her. Lucie would have to fend for herself someday. That was a long way off, of course, but independence was the whole point of school—that was what we’d decided as a family.

“Lucie, say bye-bye to everyone.”

“Bye-bye!” Lucie called. She opened the door and bounded outside. Calling after her to take care, I watched her go.

There to see her off were me, Sylphie, Eris, Leo, Lilia, and Zenith. Roxy had already left for school. Aisha had left early—apparently, there’d been a problem with the mercenary band. The other kids were still snoozing.

“I’m gonna go train,” said Eris.

“I’ll start on the laundry,” said Lilia.

“Time to clean,” said Sylphie.

Everyone dispersed to attend to their chores, but I remained, staring at the door. Leo stayed with me. I bet he felt just like I did—worried. For all I knew, Lucie might have lost her way. She was supposed to have walked to the school with Sylphie and Roxy loads of times, but today, she was by herself. 

I was worried. Maybe it was a bad idea to let a seven-year-old walk by herself. A sweet little girl like that shouldn’t walk alone. I should have given her an entourage of tough-looking bodyguards, including a certain green-haired, white spear-wielding guy who likes kids.

And then there were classes. Lucie had enjoyed a gifted and talented syllabus from Sylphie, Eris, and Roxy. She wouldn’t struggle to keep up, but she might get too far ahead and end up isolated. Not that we knew for sure she was special. Vice Principal Jenius had suggested it, but I wanted her to have a totally normal experience, so I’d enrolled her as an ordinary student. I made her take the exam too. She got an excellent score, but maybe that wouldn’t translate to class. I worried that I was treating her like an experiment.

“Leo.”

He replied with a quick bark when I called him, looking up as if to tell me there was no need to say more. We were on the same wavelength. Between us, no words were needed.

“Rudy! Don’t even think about it!” Sylphie’s sharp voice called from behind me as I put a hand on the front door. I turned and saw her with her hands on her hips, glaring at me.

“You promised me yesterday that we wouldn’t intervene, remember?!”

“No, it’s Leo. He wants to go for a walk.”

At this, Leo turned away from me, then padded off down the corridor to the children’s room. That traitor! He’d protect my children from outside enemies, but he wouldn’t protect me from my own wife!

“Look, Rudy…” As I stood there rooted to the spot, Sylphie sighed, her hands still on her hips. “I believe it was being apart from you that allowed me to grow as a person. You taught me magic and how to study, and that gave me the foundation to stand on my own two feet. I was well set up when I was with Lady Ariel after the displacement incident.”

“Mm.”

“I agree it is important to teach and protect her, but she can’t just have everything handed to her. Unless she makes her own discoveries and tries to figure things out for herself, she’ll never find her own way.”

I’d been looking forward to today. I planned to go to school with Lucie as her guardian, say hello to her teacher, then show her around the school. I even took today off just for that. But then Sylphie came to me yesterday and insisted—Lucie would go to school by herself.

“Just wait and see how she does for now, okay? Let her make her own mistakes.”

“Yeah,” I said at last. Sylphie could be persuasive. She’d spent seven years raising Lucie and watching over her. If she could confidently send Lucie off, then I ought to trust her judgment. 

I really couldn’t do everything for Lucie. I mean, I knew I was worrying too much. Lucie was a good kid. She took good care of her brothers and sisters, she was obedient, and from what I heard, the neighborhood children admired her too. If anything, she’d probably have a way easier time settling into school than I ever did. 

So there was only one thing I could do: pray that she had fun at school. My prayers ought to reach my god, given that the god was also at the school.

“In that case,” I said, “I’ll head to work.”

“Got it. If anything happens, I’ll handle it. Okay?”

All the same, I felt somehow lonely as I headed for Orsted’s office.

“—and that’s what happened,” I said, having recounted the events of the last hour. This was met with silence. “There’s no doubt that Sylphie’s right. For me, and for her too, it was being away from our parents that allowed us to grow. That goes without question.”

I was venting. I had been persuaded—Sylphie and I had come to a decision as a couple. Luckily for me, the magic university had lots of people I knew and not much danger. From what I heard, Norn’s zealous work with the student council had really straightened the place up. Under Aisha’s leadership, Ruquag’s Mercenary Band had grown, which straightened the whole town out as well. 

But despite all that, I couldn’t help but worry. It was a vague unease I couldn’t put into words.

“Lucie’s only seven, you know? Sending her to school alone, when she’s still so small… I mean, yeah, I was seven when I went to live with Eris, and yeah, I was wandering around all over the village when I was five or so…but I still think we should at least drop her off and pick her up. What do you think, Sir Orsted?”

Orsted glowered silently. It was a face that said, “What does this have to do with work?” 

Maybe I’d gone to the wrong guy for advice. Now that I thought about it, Orsted was my boss, so not the person to complain to about this sort of thing. It probably would have been all right if it were related to the Man-God, but family problems were not something he wanted to hear about. He probably didn’t even know what to say. Heck, Lucie didn’t even exist in the version of history Orsted knew… All the same, I somehow felt like Orsted would understand my torment.

Just as I thought this, Orsted stood up, looking like he was about to start a fight. Of course, I knew better. He wouldn’t get mad over a thing like this. Pissing off Orsted would take more than that.

“You fool.”

Wait, what? He’s angry?

Oh, that was unexpected. Was I in trouble?

“Use this.” Orsted handed me a black helmet. It was a spare of the one he used to mitigate the effects of his curse. What did he want me to do with it?

“You are not worried about your daughter, you merely want to go and see her, don’t you?”

Oh! Of course! That was it!

I wanted to see her. It wasn’t about whether I was worried or not. Well, of course it was about being worried, but also, I wanted to see her introducing herself to the class, to see her hand shoot up to answer the teacher’s question, to see her standing on tip-toes to reach a book in the library… All those firsts.

The magic university didn’t have observation days. I’d wanted to see Norn at school too but hadn’t been able to. I wanted to see Lucie, at least.

“B-but if I go, Sylphie will be mad at me for sure,” I said. Without a word, Orsted took off his coat, then hung it around my shoulders. It was as if he was telling me to use it. First the helmet, now this. What did he want me to do?

“Um. What’s this for?”

“You cannot go.”

I don’t know what you’re getting at. Please say it in a way that a fool like me can understand. Could we please take a break from the mind games? 

“Hm?”

Hold on. So that’s the idea, then? If Rudeus must not cross the bridge, then Rudeus needn’t go. 

You are what you wear. Change the clothes, change the man.

I wore a gray robe and was Orsted’s right hand. That was my position. What if I was in a black helmet and a white coat?

I put on the helmet, then shrugged on the coat. The helmet was heavy, and the coat was thick and still warm. No doubt wearing it for too long would give me stiff shoulders, but it’d be worth it.

I went to stand in front of the mirror. 

“Is that…me?”

There was no mistaking the person in the mirror: Dragon God Orsted!

Of course! With the black helmet and white coat, I could be the Dragon God! I’d get in trouble for going, so Orsted would go instead!

Hmm. Except, no. It just wasn’t the same. I didn’t look anything like Orsted. It was the height and the breadth of my shoulders. My whole vibe was wrong—I didn’t have that strange aura of power that radiated off of him. The guy in the mirror was a total sham—I wouldn’t pass.

“Hmm… Don’t you think people will see through this?” I asked.

“They only need not know it is you.”

Good point. I didn’t have to be Orsted, I just had to not be me. In which case, honestly, just the helmet would do the trick. Sir Orsted really was brilliant.

“Sir Orsted,” I said. “Thank you.”

He grunted, then sat down in his chair again with a long-suffering air. Was he going to get back to sorting paperwork? Maybe I’d interrupted him. I was supposed to have had today off, after all.

“I’ll be going then,” I said. Still dressed as Orsted, I dashed out of the meeting room. There was no time to lose. To the university of magic, with all haste!

I left Orsted’s office. The weather was gorgeous. The sky was blue; perfect for Lucie’s first day of school. Maybe it was the outfit, but I felt somehow more powerful. This must have been how the donkey in the lion’s skin felt. Right now, I felt like I could wipe the floor with the North God with the tip of my pinky finger.

“Are you going out, Sir Orsted?”

I froze.

Someone called out to me from the shadow of the ­office. I looked over and saw Alexander Rybak, North God Kalman III. No way! He hadn’t read my mind, had he? 

Wait, it’s not like that. When I said I felt like I could wipe the floor with you, it was the same as like, I dunno, how you feel invincible after watching a boxing movie. You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses, right? I’m just an NPC!

“Where are you going today, Sir Orsted? Shall I accompany you?”

What could I say to that? I thought he was messing with me, but Alec’s eyes were clear, and he spoke with sincerity.

“Oh, and thank you for the other day. To think that the North God Style four-legged stance had that advantage… I never imagined you would be so knowledgeable about North God Style. I have so much to learn. When I remember what I was like in the Biheiril Kingdom, I’m embarrassed.”

There was no way he really thought I was Orsted, right? Alec had been at Orsted’s side constantly these days. He lived in the basement of the office and padded around like he was Orsted’s guard dog. Did he really not know his own master?

“You haven’t noticed?”

“Noticed what?!”

But wait, he was North God Style. He could be trying to trick me. Like the Death God’s Enthralling Blade—the technique he used to mislead his opponent.

“Tell me the truth. You know, don’t you?”

At first, Alec stared blankly, but his expression quickly turned serious. He put his hand on his chin, then cocked his head to one side and frowned. You could practically see the question mark hovering above his head. He didn’t have the slightest clue—I knew that face from dealing with Eris.

If it was an act, it was amazing, though.

“Forgive me,” Alec said. “I’m slow, so I don’t know what you mean.”

“Seriously? You see there’s something different, right?”

“Something small, I suppose? I’m not good at picking up on small details—I can’t even avoid traps. I know it’s unacceptable, but it’s my flaw…”

Did he really not see it, then? I was a different height, a different build, and we sounded nothing alike. The helmet only weakened the effect of the curse, so if I were Orsted, Alec should at least have been feeling uncomfortable…

Is this for real?

At last, I said, “You’ll find the answer in the CEO’s office.”

“I see! Thank you, Sir Orsted.” Alec disappeared cheerfully into the office. I’d thought he was a bit sharper when I fought him in the Biheiril Kingdom. What changed? Was this just what he was like outside of battle? That would make sense, seeing as my own powers of concentration changed outside of battle. Maybe it was something like that.

All the same, I wasn’t totally happy about leaving him at Orsted’s side anymore… But right now, Lucie was more important than that. 

Alec’s response had demonstrated that, at least from a distance, you couldn’t tell that I was Rudeus.

***

When Alexander entered the office, Faliastia at the reception desk met his eyes. When she saw him, she hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to ask her question or not, then opened her mouth.

“Erm, Sir Alexander?”

“What is it, Falia? I am on my way to the CEO’s office for an answer, so please be brief.”

“Sir Rudeus left dressed like Sir Orsted… Does he have some mission?”

Alexander blanched.

“Uh… Sir Rudeus? Dressed as Sir Orsted…?!”

Such a possibility had not occurred to Alexander. As far as he was concerned, the idea of dressing up as Orsted was so terrifying it was impossible. Why had Rudeus been dressed up as Orsted? 

Well, that was obvious. He was clearly off to do something that required him to look like Orsted. Probably ­acting as a decoy or something. By dressing up like Orsted, he would lure out an enemy and keep them ­occupied while Orsted achieved a secret objective. That meant this enemy had to be someone formidable that only Orsted could face. Was it the as-yet-unseen Great Power, the Technique God? Or Death God Randolph, who was still a source of painful memories for Alexander? It might even be Armored Dragon King Perugius of the Three Godslayers. Or could it be Alex, North God Kalman II, Alec’s own father? Any one of them would be too much for Rudeus to take alone. If he donned that Magic Armor of his, he would probably win, but then he would be no use as a decoy. 

Alexander knew how brave Rudeus was. Rudeus, who knew no fear. His combat ability was, Alexander knew, less than his own, but the brilliance with which Rudeus had fought in the Biheiril Kingdom was burned in Alec’s memory. It was the strength to face down something more powerful than yourself past the point of good sense. Alexander knew what to call it—courage. Atoferatofe had recognized that when she named him a champion. He had also realized something: this was his answer.

“Falia, please keep quiet about this.”

“A-all right…”

The tilt of Faliastia’s head gradually increased, but, paying her no mind, Alec reached for the door to the CEO’s office. In his heart, he cradled the hope that Orsted would grant him the honor of fighting alongside a champion.

It was scarcely a few minutes later that Alexander would get his “answer” from Orsted.