Mushoku Tensei Redundancy (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter 6.1

The Woman They Called the Mad Dog

I HEARD THAT MY FRIEND Dohga recently got married. North Emperor Dohga—the gentle strongman to whom I owed my life. To be honest, I was worried at first. An innocent guy like him? Some raven-hearted temptress must have tricked him. And if so, it’d be up to me to save him. 

I decided to see what Ariel knew. I was all fired up to investigate this seducer of men when a letter arrived for Eris. It was from Isolde Cluel. Water Emperor Isolde—the wholesome beauty who’d assisted us in the battle in the Biheiril Kingdom. The letter mentioned her triumphant ascension to the title Water God and her inheritance of the name Reida. It also said that she had found love and gotten married…to Dohga.

Dohga, of all people, had made that willowy beauty his wife. Congratulations were in order. But even if she had helped us in the Biheiril Kingdom, who knew what nefarious things she was up to at night? You could never rule out that possibility.

I asked Eris what sort of woman she was. Eris told me she wasn’t a bad person. This wasn’t enough to reassure me, so I went to the Asura Kingdom to casually suss out Ariel’s thoughts on the matter, made discreet inroads with Luke, and nonchalantly made inquiries with Ghislaine. I lurked in the shadows watching Dohga, went to introduce myself at the Water God training hall, and then put out feelers with the head of the Cluel family…

“My,” Ariel said dryly, “don’t you have a lot of free time?”

It wasn’t like that! I wasn’t doing this to kill time—I owed Dohga my life, and I wouldn’t allow him to suffer! 

Anyway, in the end, one fact emerged: Isolde was the sort to choose a man for his looks.

So you’re a blackhearted temptress after all, Isolde… Don’t think I’ll take this lying down…

Only, the results of my investigations revealed that the two of them were totally in love.

Dohga seemed genuinely happy. Rumor had it, when there was no one around, Isolde called him “darling” and smothered him in kisses. Despite my intel that Isolde chose guys based on looks, she must have seen something in Dohga other than his face that made her choose him. She took a convoluted route to get him, but she’d finally found a soul mate.

In a similar vein, until Dohga saved my life, I’d thought he was a useless blockhead. I’d been blackhearted. I’d been the bad guy. How could I judge Isolde? Having arrived at that conclusion, I gave the couple my blessing and set off for home.

But wow, Isolde and Dohga…? You never knew who’d end up getting together. I mean, I never imagined I’d end up marrying three people. Misty-eyed about my own marriages, I made my way home.

Three days later:

“I wanna go to the beastfolk village!” That was Eris. News of Isolde’s marriage had put her in cheerful spirits, and this was our habitual sofa lounging time.

“What’s this, all of a sudden?” I asked, sitting up on Eris’s right. On her left was Pursena, curled up and reading a book with her head resting on Eris’s lap. Between the two of them, I didn’t have quite enough room.

Linia and Pursena were both sort of like Eris’s henchmen these days, but because Pursena was Leo’s attendant, she was usually here and hanging on Eris like she was now. Pursena was a bit like a dog, so she probably liked Eris’s attention. However, Linia didn’t like Eris. She was a bit like a cat, and Eris came on too strong. Right now, Leo was curled up at Eris’s feet with Lucie and Sieg napping on top of him. Even at Eris’s shouting, they showed no sign of stirring. Maybe they were used to it. 

It was a positively domestic scene.

And yet. The beastfolk village? For Eris, that place was both a drug and a paradise. It’d go something like We’re at the beastfolk village! The beastfolk are very cute! Aw, look at the baby! Little baby! Can I have one?

Dangerous stuff!

“Remember the last time we went, and I made friends with Linia’s little sisters? I want to see how they’re doing!”

Minitona and Tersena, wasn’t it? That’s right, the two of them had to have grown up into candidates for warrior chief by now, surpassing their older sisters. If Pursena hadn’t lost her position, she might have been an advisor now rather than a candidate. She might even have been a high-powered career woman serving as warrior chief. A very different fate from lounging around on my couch.

She might have lost that position, but she was still second-in-command of my Ruquag’s Mercenary Band. She worked herself to the bone in that role. The mercenary band’s numbers had swelled, and it felt like Linia and Pursena’s position had risen the more people they oversaw. They didn’t seem all that anxious about their place in life.

“Remember? You said we’d go once Lara was bigger!”

“Well, I meant after she turned fifteen…”

“What’s wrong with going sooner?”

“Well, I guess.”

Lara was going to be their savior. To ensure that, she and Leo stayed so close, they practically read each other’s minds. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to foster close ties with the beastfolk from a young age.

But! “We can’t just show up without warning,” I pointed out.

“It’ll be fine! Right, Pursena?”

“Just showing up in and of itself won’t be a problem,” she replied carelessly.

“No, you’re coming too.”

“I’ll go, but that’s not going to help.”

“What, you don’t mind?”

Last time, Pursena had gotten arrested for swiping from the village stores. There had been extenuating circumstances, so she was sentenced to be Leo’s attendant. In theory, if she kept at it until Lara came of age, she’d be back in the running for leader of the tribe. It did seem like she’d fallen off the career ladder, though. It was hard to imagine the stubborn beastfolk would recognize Pursena as a leader if she just sauntered back in after years away.

“Boss, I’m second-in-command of Ruquag’s Mercenary Band… You could even say I’m subleader of the pack. I don’t love being lower in the pecking order than Linia, but I’ve gotta conduct myself with dignity around other packs.”

“Wait, come on, you are in the running for leader of the Doldia Tribe…”

No way. She hadn’t given up, had she? She wasn’t thinking that, like, even if she couldn’t be tribe leader, hey, second-in-command of the Ruquag Mercenaries was good enough, or something?

So far as the world’s concerned, we’re a minor enterprise, you know?

“Heh heh. Don’t you see, Boss? I, the second-in-command of Ruquag’s Mercenary Band, will become leader of the Doldia tribe. The Doldias will gain a connection with a powerful pack. This is how I will stand out from the rest when the leader’s selected. My triumphant return, you might say!”

Given the Doldias were connected with me, they already had a connection to Ruquag’s Mercenary Band… But then again, how stable was that bond? It would probably be a weight off to have one of their own blood in both camps. 

“Oh, but it might be better to wait a bit longer before taking the sacred beast and Miss Lara.”

“Why’s that?”

“For the beastfolk, the sacred beast setting out on a journey holds special significance. They’ll want to make it grand, with a ceremony or a sort of festival. That day will be when they first behold the savior. It’s significant.”

So it wasn’t a good idea to have Lara make her debut at this stage.

“The Doldia tribe will spend years getting ready for it. They’ll ask all the tribes of the forest to help them to make a big thing of it.”

“Right… I mean, I’m happy to contribute from a financial perspective.”

My pocket money might not go far at a beastfolk festival, but I was the head of the Greyrat family. For the sake of my daughter’s big day, I would bravely do what it took to secure the cash. That’s right, I’d even beg my employer to let me borrow it.

“You can’t. The Doldia tribe is proud. That’s why they’re the leaders of the beastfolk. They’ll do it all themselves.”

It was a custom or a convention or something then, huh? Well, if the Doldias were too proud to accept help, I wasn’t about to get in their way.

“Still, you could at least go hammer out the arrangements now.”

“True.”

If I didn’t know what sort of ceremony it would be, I wouldn’t know how to get Lara to prepare for it. I didn’t think it’d be dangerous, but I’d feel better knowing.

“Then I guess we’ll pop over there.”

“All right!” 

Eris jumped to her feet, and Pursena went tumbling to the floor with a yowl. She must have crushed Leo’s tail as she did so because Leo growled. Eris apologized profusely, and then Lara, bleary-eyed, raised her head and made grabby hands up at Daddy. I picked her up.

“Let’s go!”

“Not so fast. We’ve got to get confirmation from Orsted first. He might be busy.”

“Whaaat?!” Eris whined. 

But I wasn’t about to abandon my job to go enjoy myself. That said, it was unlikely the CEO would turn me down about anything regarding Lara. He’d never once told me, “If you’ve got time for that, you’ve got time for work.” It was a bad idea to rely on that, though.

Eris was already at the door of the living room, but a thought suddenly struck her.

“Let’s bring Ghislaine too!”

“She won’t come, will she?”

I wasn’t totally clear on what sort of treatment Ghislaine had received in the Doldia village, but given what I remembered of Gyes’s attitude, there was bad blood there.

“Why not?” Eris demanded. “Ghislaine’s an Asuran knight! She even had the gold armor last time! It’ll be a triumphant return!”

“That’s right,” Pursena muttered. Without meeting anyone’s eyes, she awkwardly fiddled with the tip of her tail. This was peer pressure. Her face said she absolutely knew how Ghislaine had been treated back in the village.

Ghislaine herself didn’t come across as all that conflicted about the Doldia tribe. Gyes seemed to have reconsidered his opinion of her too, so it might be good for them to have the chance to have a nice moment together. At this rate, Ghislaine would go her whole life without returning to the village, then end up on her deathbed, whispering, “If only I’d gone home just once…”

“Okay. Let’s ask her.”

“Woo!” Eris strode triumphantly from the room. Leo followed her with Sieg still on his back. That left only Pursena and Lara, who had fallen asleep again on my chest. So as not to wake my girl, I eased back down on the sofa. Pursena sat with us, like nothing had happened, and put her head on my lap. I shuffled my knees to get her off.

“Ow.”

“You can’t just put your head on the knees of a man’s wife.”

“Selfish! And you’re the husband.”

“I’m Eris’s blushing bride, actually.”

“Fuck off.”

This isn’t selfishness. What happens when you start to smell of pheromones in front of my baby girl, huh?

Pursena tilted her head to put her feet on my knees instead. Eh, not so bad. She wasn’t in her wifely skirts today, so her legs were covered, and I liked the feel of Pursena’s tail brushing against me.

“Just tell me one thing…” I said. “What do you guys think of Ghislaine?”

“I think my dad and the others have some hang-ups, but to us she’s like a cool aunt. It’s not everyday someone leaves the village to live by her sword and becomes a swordswoman. She’s an inspiration to our generation.”

“Huh. All right.”

I wasn’t totally comfortable about it, but if Pursena said so, I guess it made sense. Maybe I could manage some TLC. If Ghislaine said she didn’t want to go, then that’d be that. I couldn’t see her refusing if Eris invited her though, so I’d assume she was coming and go from there.

***

The CEO readily gave his approval. He even gave me a gift to take with me. The new hire wouldn’t shut up—“Where are you going?! Who with?! Sword King Ghislaine! When’s the fight?!” I figured even if I went into the details, he wouldn’t get it, so I replied vaguely. It seemed to satisfy him. The kid was more of a chump than I’d thought.

The day arrived. Linia and Pursena came face-to-face with Ghislaine.

“It’s an honor to meet you, mew! I’m Liniana Dedoldia, mew!” 

“I’ve heard so much about you! I’m Pursena Adoldia!”

They were on their best behavior. It was like when a senior student came back for Sports Day after graduating.

“I’ve always admired how you left to make a name for yourself, mew!”

“We thought that one day, after we got ourselves known, we’d come and introduce ourselves!”

Ghislaine had the composure of a retired mob boss. She sure didn’t play herself down, but she wasn’t arrogant either—the stillness of a large guard dog. She was the same old Ghislaine I knew.

“Can you really go? It seemed like you had things to do…”

Ghislaine was at the parade grounds, deep in conversation with Sandor and Isolde about something. It had looked like she was busy…

“I’m teaching the knights new techniques.”

“Oh, right. That was a thing, wasn’t it?”

I’d heard about it from Ariel. Asura currently had three sword instructors: a Sword God Style practitioner, a Water God Style practitioner, and a North God Style practitioner. One of them was a geriatric man-child who had zero interest in teaching sword fighting and just wanted to order some kids around. With three warriors from three different styles, you could guess how they butted heads.

At Sandor’s suggestion, they were trying something new: taking the best points of Sword God Style, Water God Style, and North God Style to develop a new sword fighting style for the knights of the Asura Kingdom. A Sword King, the current Water God, and the former North God each taught their own styles, then the former North God would tie it all together. I thought they’d probably just end up with a new North God sect, but Ghislaine said, “I’ve taught you the way I know how to do it. I’m leaving the details to him.” Ghislaine’s presence was an unexpectedly good influence. She took her job seriously, but she wasn’t delicate about it. The Asuran knights’ sword fighting style had wound up mainly modeled on Sword God Style with some Water God Style and North God Style worked in.

“Aren’t you busy enough with that?”

“Oh, absolutely. I just can’t say no to little Eris,” Ghislaine said. I followed her gaze and sure enough, there she was, arms folded and in a mood.

“I’m not a little miss anymore!”

“True, you’re married now,” Ghislaine said with a laugh. Linia and Pursena snickered.

“What?” Eris demanded.

“You seem purr-leased today, mew!”

“You’re such a kid.”

“Whatever…” Without changing her pose, Eris turned her head, pouting. Eris still adored Ghislaine. She had a new home now and a family, but to Eris, Ghislaine was the only family she had left from the Citadel of Roa in Fittoa, her childhood home. Ghislaine was like a fond extended relative. The thought of getting to go on another journey with her thrilled Eris.

“Shall we get going, then?” I said. And so, we set out once more for the Doldia village in the Great Forest.