Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 14

Chapter 14:

The Warriors of the Desert 

AND SO, we set out for Rapan as members of Galban’s caravan. 

The head of his guard team was the warrior Balibadom, also known as Hawkeye. His companions were Carmelita the Bonecrusher and Greatblade Tont. Adding myself and Elinalise, we had five fighters and one merchant in our party. 

There were also six camels, if you counted those. I considered making up names for those guys too, but decided against it after learning that we might have to eat them if we ran out of food in the desert. I didn’t want my first taste of camel meat to be flavored with guilt. 

Before heading out, we’d held a meeting to work out our basic battle formation. As a general rule, we’d be keeping Galban in the middle. Balibadom was in front, accompanied by Carmelita on the left and Tont to the right. Elinalise and I would be positioned in the back. 

The five of us would form a protective circle around our employer and his camels. No matter what direction we were attacked from, one of us should be able to intercept the threat before it could harm our client. Your classic Imperial Cross formation, basically. 

I felt like Carmelita or Tont might be safer choices for the rearguard, but they wanted to keep me toward the back since I was a magician—and it made sense to keep Elinalise closer to me, since we were used to working together. 

“All right, then. Let’s get moving.” 

We were starting off by traveling east from Bazaar until we reached the major regional road. The names of the places meant nothing to me, but this sounded like the route that was frequented by bandits. Just to be on the safe side, I let Balibadom know about what I’d heard. 

“We don’t know a safer route through the desert,” he said. “If the bandits do attack, that’s what we’re here for. Sometimes they just demand a toll and let us go on our way.” 

A toll, huh? I hadn’t heard about this, but if we could buy our way out of trouble instead of fighting, so much the better. Bandits were just trying to make a living themselves. As long as we handed over what they wanted, they shouldn’t ask for more. 

To be honest, the idea of handing over cash to a bunch of people who were threatening travelers instead of working honest jobs wasn’t too appealing to me. But I wasn’t the one who’d have to pay up in this case, so I could live with it. 

Still, there was a chance we’d run into some greedier bandits with an interest in more than money and goods. For example, they might demand we hand over Elinalise, given how attractive she was. That could be trouble. It’s not like the two of us were old friends with Galban and company. We’d saved their lives, but that didn’t mean they’d risk their necks for us if it came to it. There was always a chance they’d hang us out to dry. 

“You look nervous, Rudeus, but I wouldn’t worry yourself too much,” said Elinalise quietly. “With a magician of your skills on our side, a few bandits shouldn’t be an issue.” 

“You think so?” 

“I do. And if worse comes to worst, I’ll use a little charm on them.” 

“Uh, what? You want to get carried off to their base, chained up, and brutally—” 

“Goodness, how extreme. As long as you go along willingly, even bandits will be gentle with you.” 

“Are you speaking from experience here?” 

“We all make mistakes in our youth.” 

Elinalise didn’t seem too concerned at all. Still, those days were long in the past, and she’d probably be less eager to do something like that now that she had Cliff in her life. 

Well, whatever. We could probably fend off an attack easily enough, as long as we weren’t outnumbered too terribly. 

Our party trudged through barren fields for a while, heading east. 

We had to fight off a lot of monsters on the way. There were Begaritt Buffalos, which charged at you in groups, and Great Tarantulas, huge spiders that scuttled around furtively. We also encountered Windmaster Eagles, flying monsters that would cast wind spells at you from above. Some of our friends from the desert made an appearance as well: mostly Cactus Treants and those killer lizards, which were apparently called Gyroraptors. There were many others, too. 

However, Balibadom proved capable at spotting our enemies well ahead of time, so we never found ourselves forced into serious combat. It turned out he had a Demon Eye himself, which was why he’d earned the name Hawkeye. 

The man was muscular and tall, and probably in his mid-forties, judging from the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes. You could tell at a glance that he was the wily survivor type. His hair was cropped short on the sides and in the back; it reminded me a little of the team captain from that old basketball anime. I kept expecting him to shout, “Just tape it!” or something. 

His Demon Eye was the same type as Ghislaine’s—it allowed him to see the flow of mana in the world around him. This was most useful as a means of detecting enemies. 

“We’ve got monsters ahead. Ready for combat, everyone.” 

So far, he’d perfectly predicted every approaching monster and change in the weather. It was almost like traveling with Ruijerd. He wasn’t quite as precise on the details, but he spotted enemies very quickly. His many years of experience was probably a factor there. 

“This brings me back a little,” said Elinalise with a smile. “Ghislaine used to spot the monsters just like that, using her eye and her nose.” 

When you had someone in your party who could detect enemies in advance, combat tended to be a lot less risky. By the time the monsters came into range, I was ready to hit them with a spell. I’d started off using Stone Cannon, but aiming it precisely started to get tedious, so I was currently blasting them into the air with wind magic and then smashing them down into the ground. That took a bit less effort. 

“You’re using those spells awfully freely, boy. Aren’t you going to run out of mana?” 

I’d been getting so lazy about it that Balibadom eventually came back to speak with me, looking a bit concerned. 

“I should be fine. I can keep this up all day long, I think.” 

“I see. You’re a Great Sorcerer, then?” 

“What does that mean, exactly?” 

“It’s a title given to magicians who have achieved deep mastery of their craft.” 

“Well, uh, I wouldn’t say I’m a master of anything yet.” 

“In any case, it’s rare to find a magician willing to use their powers so freely.” 

Many magicians made a point of not spending more than half of their mana supply in any given day. That was standard in the Northern Territories too. Since most mages weren’t too physically strong, their mana supply was all they had to rely on to defend themselves. But I’d never even emptied half of my tank, as far as I knew. 

Keeping some mana available for emergencies was basically just common sense. To desert warriors who didn’t know much about magic, though, it probably looked like most mages were just slackers. Balibadom seemed to have enough experience fighting in a party to understand the real reason why magicians held back. Still, he didn’t seem that knowledgeable about magic in general, given that he didn’t comment on my silent spellcasting. 

“I’m glad to have your firepower on our side,” he said, “but try to save some mana for unexpected situations. There’s five of us in this group, you know? Hold back on the long-range attacks until I call for them.” 

“Got it.” 

I wasn’t exactly trying to hide the fact that my mana supply was massive, but I didn’t see a reason to come out and tell him that either. I wasn’t too sure where my limits actually were, for one thing. I didn’t want to get too cocky and end up causing a disaster. 

At night, the five of us took turns standing watch while Galban rested inside his tent alone. We were all expected to sleep outside. Not that I’d been expecting equal treatment or anything. 

I created a shelter and encouraged everyone to sleep inside it, but Balibadom and the others declined, saying they’d have a harder time noticing any monsters that might approach. That seemed like a legitimate reason to sleep outside, actually. 

It made me feel a little awkward to use the shelter myself, but Elinalise intervened. “There’s no need to feel bad, Rudeus. We’ve got our own way of doing things, and we’ll be more useful if we’re well rested tomorrow.” 

That made sense to me, so we ended up sleeping in our little hut after all. It was definitely more restful than the alternative. 

Two of us would be standing guard at a time throughout the night. I’d assumed one would be enough, but apparently it was safer this way when you had a group of this size. We’d be changing up the shifts every night. 

On our first night, I was paired with Carmelita. 

“Hey, there. Guess we’re working together tonight, huh?” 

“Yes. Don’t fall asleep.” 

“Well, I wasn’t planning on it.” 

While we did technically have a job to do out here, staring silently at nothing in particular can get pretty boring. The two of us eventually started to make a little conversation. 

“Thanks for the help. The other day.” 

“Oh, you’re welcome. It was no big deal.” 

“You’re strong. So’s the other one. The woman.” 

Carmelita the “Bonecrusher” was a warrior by profession and would be turning twenty-one this year. Her weapon of choice was a sword with a wide, thick blade more than one meter in length, which she swung around ferociously in combat. 

It seemed like many of the warriors in this region favored huge weapons of that sort. Balibadom also carried a massive blade. There seemed to be many large monsters with thick, tough shells around here; it made sense to use weapons that wouldn’t break easily. No matter how skilled a swordsman you might be, you wouldn’t want to try punching a hole through an iron plate with a skinny little rapier. 

Their combat style seemed to be somewhat unique as well, from what I’d seen of it. 

“Your woman’s sword is too thin, though. You can’t kill anything with that.” 

“You might be surprised, actually. It’s a magic item, and she knows how to use it. I’ve seen her cut up Gryphons. Oh, and just so you know, she’s not actually my woman. We’re just friends heading to Rapan together.” 

“But you sleep with her, yes? When a Succubus comes?” 

“Uh, no. I know some Detoxification magic, so I just use that…” 

“When a Succubus comes, the men are aroused. The women sleep with them. It’s the way of things, in the desert.” 

“Oh?” 

Carmelita went on to explain the connection between the Succubi and the way warrior bands worked in the desert, sounding rather proud of herself. 

These days, Succubi could be found all across this continent. The species was originally native to the southwest region, and their numbers were relatively low, but in the war four hundred years ago, Laplace had deliberately encouraged them to reproduce. It had been part of his plan to break the stubborn resistance of the Begaritt warriors. 

Succubi were deadly against men. Their pheromones could incapacitate even strong-willed veteran fighters. I could attest to that part personally. If two of them were to come at me at once, or if one popped up right in front of me, I wasn’t at all confident that I’d survive. 

Once hit by a Succubus’ pheromones, men were reduced to thoughtless slaves. But a single Succubus can only bring so many victims back to her lair at once. They tend to pick out a few choice morsels, leaving any others behind. The men left behind in this manner then fight each other to the death. Once your mind is poisoned by the pheromones, every other man you see automatically becomes your enemy. It sounded a lot like the Charm status effect, honestly. 

To cure someone of this condition, you had to either dispel it with an Intermediate-tier Detoxification spell or let them sleep with a woman. And four hundred years ago, basically no one on this continent could use Detoxification magic. 

As a result, many young men who were virgins ended up losing their lives. There wasn’t much to be done—they didn’t have anyone to sleep with. They probably died wishing they’d had sex with someone, even the Succubus that doomed them. I could empathize… 

To jump forward a little… Over time, the warriors of the Begaritt Continent had adapted to their circumstances. Every band began to travel with a number of women. At first, these were often slaves or demon prisoners, but the warriors quickly realized that the noncombatants were slowing them down. The women had little stamina and constantly needed to be protected in battle. 

The warriors thought the matter over. They racked their brains for years and finally landed on a solution: they could train women to be fighters, too. Exactly the sort of solution you’d expect from a bunch of Conan the Barbarian types. 

And that was how the women warriors of the Begaritt Continent first came into being. 

At present, every group of fighters or guards on this continent contained at least a few women. When the party encountered a Succubus, they were responsible for slaying it and then sleeping with the men to break the spell. Some groups even had more women than men, since facing Succubi was safer that way. All in all, the women of this continent did more than their fair share of the fighting. 

Carmelita had no objections to her role. Whenever her band encountered a Succubus, she killed it and slept with the men to break its enchantment. Of course, this sometimes resulted in pregnancies, but the women warriors accepted this and would return home proudly when it happened. The baby was eventually entrusted to the people of their village, and the warrior returned to her duties. Carmelita had already given birth to one such child herself. 

These babies were raised by their entire village, rather than their parents. All were cared for and treated equally regardless of their heritage or race. They were taught to fight as children, and once they reached physical adolescence, they underwent a coming-of-age ceremony and left their village behind. When a warrior grew too old to fight, they earned the right to return home and devote themselves to raising future generations. 

However, there were some who chose never to go back, preferring to spend their entire lives fighting. Balibadom was one of these. 

Naturally, there was no real concept of marriage in these villages. It was hard to imagine anyone in that society getting romantically attached to any one specific person. 

Honestly, the culture shock was real. I’d read about tribes with similar arrangements back in my old world, but…it was definitely hard to get my head around. I couldn’t even manage to convince myself it was sexy. 

I looked over at Carmelita for a long moment, trying to understand things from her point of view. 

“I’m grateful to you,” she said in her halting way, “But I hate mages. If a Succubus shows up, go to the other woman.” 

For some reason, it stung a little bit to get shot down in advance like that. Although I could deal with the Succubus thing myself anyway. 

Greatblade Tont was a quiet man in his thirties with a thick mustache, light brown skin, and rippling muscles. He wasn’t quite as tall as Balibadom, but their faces looked very similar. Without the facial hair, I could easily have mistaken them for each other. We spoke a little on our first night watch together, but he wasn’t a chatty sort. It was a real contrast with Carmelita, who seemed to enjoy talking. 

I didn’t have anything in particular I wanted to discuss, but time seemed to pass slower when we were just staring out into the darkness silently. After a while, I tried to draw him out. 

“I like your name, by the way,” I said. “Greatblade Tont. That’s got a nice ring to it.” 

“Yes. The matriarch chose it for me.” 

“Oh, really? You didn’t just pick up the nickname at some point?” 

“The matriarch chooses our second names. It is so for all the warriors of the desert.” 

Apparently, their titles weren’t just nicknames, but rather ceremonial names given to them by the village elder on the day they left it for good. 

For those with great strength, like Carmelita, this was often something like Bonecrusher or Mighty-Arm. Those with sharp eyes, like Balibadom, were usually Hawkeye or Eagle-Eye. You could usually tell from a person’s name what their greatest talent was, in other words. But since there are only so many ways to call somebody “strong,” you’d sometimes run into another warrior who shared your name. 

Tont was known as Greatblade, but his sword wasn’t unusually massive by his people’s standards. It was just a way of saying he had physical power. Maybe there was a “One-Cut Killer” out there too. 

“Well, people just started calling me Q uagmire Rudeus, I guess,” I said. “I used that spell every single battle for a while.” 

“I haven’t seen you create a quagmire even once.” 

“Yeah, it wouldn’t be too effective against the monsters around here.” 

The spell was very useful against crawling, creeping, or walking monsters, but way less so against anything that could get itself up off the ground—like a Succubus or Gryphon. And stopping a slow, heavily armored bug in its tracks didn’t make that much of a difference. 

I wasn’t bothering to stop monsters before I targeted them these days anyway. 

“Your magic is always flashy. If it’s your specialty, I’d like to see it at least once.” 

“Well, Q uagmire’s kind of a boring spell, honestly…but I’ll try to use it sometime, if I get the chance.” 

With a small nod, Tont fell silent. Apparently, he’d used up his supply of words for now. 

As our party moved further east, the land around us grew steadily greener. 

That Kinkara place lay in this direction, and a large jungle just beyond it. It struck me as a little strange that a jungle could exist so close to a barren desert, but we weren’t going to get the chance to see it this time. When we reached a large vertical rock someone had left behind as a landmark, Galban changed our course, and we started heading north. 

After three days of traveling in that direction, we ran into the main regional road. It wasn’t paved, much less actively maintained; it looked more like the natural product of countless travelers moving in the same direction. Compared to the sandy terrain we’d been traveling on, though, it felt firm and reliable underneath my feet. That suited me fine. 

“Sir, we might run into bandits now that we’re on the road. I think we’ll manage just fine, but if things turn ugly—” 

“I’m paying you good money, aren’t I? Just worry about keeping the goods safe!” 

“…Yeah. All right.” 

Balibadom clearly wanted Galban to consider abandoning the cargo in an emergency, but the man was having none of it. Maybe his merchandise was more important to him than his life. Didn’t make much sense to me, but who was I to judge? 

“We gonna be okay, Boss?” 

“Don’t waste your time worrying about it, Bonehead.” 

For some reason, Balibadom and Tont often referred to Carmelita in this way. I guess it was a friendly spin on the Bonecrusher thing…or maybe an insulting one. Either way, I had the feeling that she’d punch me in the face if I tried to use it. 

“ Q uagmire, Dragonroad, I want you two to stick to Galban like glue from now on. Tont, you’re on the camels. Don’t let a single one slip away. Bonehead, you take the rear. I’ll scout ahead of us and give the signal if something’s up. You better not miss it.” 

“You got it, Boss.” 

“Gotcha.” 

“Roger.” 

Assuming our new positions, we set off cautiously. The bandits around here mostly set ambushes and waited for people to blunder into them, from the sound of things; if you spotted them in advance and took a detour, it was possible to avoid trouble completely. 

Thanks to Balibadom’s expert scouting, we were able to detect the first ambush in our path well ahead of time. Groups of people weren’t as easy to detect with his Demon Eye, but he’d managed to spot them the old-fashioned way. We took a long, looping detour off the road and around the danger. You won’t find many people who willingly walk through a dog turd they’ve noticed up ahead, right? It’s only natural to go around it. 

As it turned out, this was a mistake. 

Maybe Balibadom was spotted by the enemy during his scouting expedition, and they tailed him back to us. Maybe he’d only seen a small part of the bandits’ forces, and our detour just happened to lead us into their main army. 

Either way, we came under attack. 

*** 

It happened right after we’d put a safe distance between ourselves and the ambush. Everyone was just starting to breathe a little more easily. 

And then something came whistling through the air. 

All of a sudden, Tont had an arrow in his chest. He fell to the ground. 

Failing to understand what was happening, I started to rush over, intending to cast a Healing spell. But Elinalise grabbed me by the collar and pulled me back. 

As she did so, another arrow struck the camel that Tont had been standing next to. 

“Run!” screamed Balibadom. “We’re under attack! They’re coming from the west!” 

It finally hit me that we were in serious danger, and that we needed to flee for our lives. Elinalise released me. Galban and the camels were already sprinting desperately forward; I followed after them, running as fast as I could. 

There was a group of men on horseback on a hill to our left, and they were charging at us. They were mounted, and we were on foot. All of them wore an identical sandy yellow turban. 

“Sir, we’ve got to leave the camels! They might let us go if we hand over everything!” 

“Not a chance!” 

“Are you suicidal, or just an idiot?!” 

“Protect my cargo, damn it! That’s what I hired you people to do!” 

“It’s not possible! There’s just too many of them!” 

As Balibadom and Galban screamed at each other, our wounded camel stumbled clumsily. Just as I realized it was foaming at the mouth, it staggered off to one side and collapsed. 

A cold shiver of dread ran down my spine. These arrows were poisoned. 

“Tch! They’re coming from the rear, too!” 

Another group of horsemen was bearing down on us from behind, and the archers on the hill were readying their next volley. Most of their shots were falling short, but a few could really make their arrows fly; every now and then, one would come dangerously close to hitting us. 

There had to be fifty of them. No, a hundred. And that was just the ones that we could see. 

The word bandits had misled me pretty badly. This was an army we were up against. 

“…” 

My heart hammering in my chest, I tried to analyze the situation. We were under attack from the flank and the rear; at the very least, there weren’t any foes directly in front of us. That was where we had to flee. 

“Rudeus!” shouted Elinalise. 

“Right. I’m going to use Q uagmire and Deep Mist.” 

The spells popped into my mind immediately. Nothing else was going to work here. 

“All right, fine! Do it already!” 

Turning around, I summoned up the largest quagmire I could manage. I didn’t bother making it too deep. It just needed to trip up the horses. 

“Balibadom! I’m going to blanket us in fog! Keep running straight ahead!” 

“What?! Uh… All right!” 

“Deep Mist!” 

By summoning up an enormous amount of moisture in a wide range all around us, I effectively covered the area in a thick white shroud of mist. It almost felt like we were inside a cloud or something. No matter how talented their archers were, they wouldn’t be landing any shots on us now. 

But a split second after that thought ran through my head, an arrow thumped into the ground a few feet in front of me. 

“Gah!” 

Startled, I nearly fell backward, but Elinalise caught me before I hit the ground. 

“It’s all right, Rudeus! They’ve got one brilliant archer, but he won’t be hitting us again!” 

What? Was she saying that the same person had killed both Tont and the camel? How did she know? 

It didn’t matter, though. We had the mist on our side now. 

“Come on, run!” 

Nodding shakily, I got moving. He wouldn’t be able to target us again. He wasn’t going to hit me. It just wasn’t possible. I was invincible! 

Damn it! I should have asked Sylphie for some lucky charm or something! Maybe I could have taken my souvenir of our first night together from the shrine… 

“Shit, they’re catching up! Draw your sword, Carmelita!” 

Balibadom’s shout brought me back to reality. When I listened closely, I could hear the sound of hoofbeats approaching us from behind. Some of the riders must have swerved around my quagmire. And despite the fog I’d thrown up, all they had to do was charge straight in the direction they’d been moving. 

We were up against mounted fighters here. Cavalry did have some weaknesses, but their speed was a deadly weapon in itself. 

I’d seen at least fifty riders rushing toward us; how many had made it past my spell? Twenty? Thirty? I didn’t want to try fighting a group that large at close range. 

“I’ll slow them down! Keep running, everyone! Earth Wall! ” 

I summoned up a thick, two-meter wall behind us without slowing my pace. A galloping horse couldn’t be brought to a sudden halt. In this fog, many of them would probably smash right into it. Even if they realized it was there, they’d have to slow down and go around. 

“Haah…haah…” 

There weren’t arrows falling all around us anymore, but I still ran like my life depended on it. Every few seconds, I paused to summon up a new wall behind us. 

As I fled, I thought of Tont, who’d taken an arrow to the chest at the very beginning of the ambush. Were we leaving him to die? 

No. He was a goner either way. That arrow had hit him in the heart, and it was poisoned. Even with Advanced Healing magic, it was probably a fatal wound. And more to the point, there was no chance we could have stopped to help him. 

Gritting my teeth, I focused on running as fast as I could. 

I’m not sure how long we kept running, but it felt like at least two hours. Probably more. Eventually, Balibadom looked behind us and called out, “I think we’ve lost them,” and everyone staggered to a halt. 

“Haah…haah…” 

I was exhausted, of course, and soaked in sweat. But all my morning runs hadn’t been in vain. I could have kept going if I had to. 

The three warriors in the party barely even had to catch their breath, though. That battle aura stuff was really just unfair. 

“Gaaah…haaah… Gweeeh…” 

Galban collapsed to the ground, his face pale as a sheet. Even for a seasoned traveler who’d spent years on the road, running for two hours straight was a lot to ask. At least I wasn’t the only one. 

We’d lost only one camel in the raid. And one bodyguard, of course. 

Poor Tont. If I’d been able to yank that arrow out right away and take some time to cast Healing and Detoxification spells, there was a chance he might have lived. Maybe the arrow hadn’t struck him right in the heart. I probably would have tried to save him, if Elinalise hadn’t grabbed me by the collar. But if I’d stopped to focus on him, I wouldn’t have gotten away in time. The next arrow probably would have gotten me. 

Elinalise was right to pull me away. Her experience in battle had probably saved my life. Even if I’d only hesitated for a few seconds, it might have proven fatal. 

“…” 

Looking around the group, I noticed that Carmelita was glaring at me. Had I done something to upset her back there? Nothing came to mind. 

During the ambush, she’d been positioned behind me in the rear of the party. Maybe she’d been injured at some point and needed healing. It didn’t look like any arrows had hit her, though. 

All of a sudden, she stomped up to me and grabbed me by the front of my robe. “Why?! Why didn’t you kill them?! You could have! I saw your magic!” 

“Wha—” 

What was she saying? Had she expected me to kill that entire group of bandits? 

It sounded crazy. But after a moment, I realized that I’d never even thought about trying that approach. 

“Stop it, Bonehead!” 

“You saw it too, didn’t you? He made the horses sink into the ground! He made them run into walls! He made everything foggy!” 

“You’re not thinking this through, damn it! Use your brain for once!” 

“Shut up! If he’d used his magic, we could have avenged Tont!” 

“There were too many of them, kid! That was Harimaf’s band out there, I’m sure of it. There were more of them behind those hills!” 

“But—ah!” 

Elinalise had pushed herself in between me and Carmelita. She pressed her buckler against the woman warrior and put a hand on the rapier at her waist. 

“Do you object to the way we handled that?” she said. 

“What…?” 

“Rudeus acted appropriately, given the situation. We were hugely outnumbered and facing a force of unknown strength. Worse, they were shooting poisoned arrows at us. He stopped their cavalry with his quagmire, blinded their archers with the mist, and bought us time to escape with his walls. He’s the only reason we’re alive. We lost one man and a single camel, but we got away. Would you have preferred to stand and fight? We would have died like fools, and they would have taken everything.” 

The actual words meant nothing to Carmelita, since Elinalise was speaking in the Human Tongue. Still, her frosty tone of voice made her meaning clear enough. It was rare for Elinalise to speak so aggressively to anyone, especially an ally. 

She did have a point about their raw numbers. I saw fifty bandits at the very least, but there must have been a hundred of them or more. And as Balibadom pointed out, they might have had more waiting in reserve. 

Could I have killed a force of that size single-handedly? It was hard to say. But I could use Saint-tier magic and probably enough mana to use it repeatedly for some time. 

After stopping the cavalry with a quagmire, I could have quickly cast a wide-range spell and decimated the archers. I could have knocked the riders off their horses with a blast of wind, then roasted them with fire magic. It was all theoretically possible. 

I wasn’t confident I would have pulled it off, though. For all I knew, those bandits had experience fighting mages. If a single archer survived, a poison arrow might have come my way. Some of the riders could have slipped past my quagmire and cut us down. And if it ever turned into a melee, I couldn’t have thrown around my spells without killing my allies. 

Elinalise was aware of all this. That was why she was taking my side so firmly. 

“And just to remind you,” she continued, “we’re bodyguards, not mercenary soldiers. We didn’t sign up to fight an entire army on our own.” 

“…” 

“Is there a reason you’re still glaring at me? Do you want to fight—is that it? What a willful child. I’ll indulge you, if you insist.” 

Finally losing her patience, Elinalise drew her rapier. Carmelita hurriedly reached for her own broadsword. But before things could go any further, Balibadom stepped in between them. 

“Cut it out, both of you. Look, it’s a damn shame about Tont, but Q uagmire made the right call. The only one who wanted to fight was you, Bonehead. You really are a moron sometimes, you know that?” 

“…Shut up.” 

With a loud snort, Carmelita backed down. She proceeded to stalk over to where the camels were resting, crouch down next to them, and bury her face in her knees. 

Balibadom watched her for a moment, then sighed. “Sorry about that, you two.” 

“Uhm, that’s all right…” 

“It’s just…Carmelita had a kid with Tont, you know?” 

“Huh?!” 

“So, well…I think you can understand how she feels. She’s just lashing out.” 

Those two had a child? 

I’d assumed that the female warriors of this continent didn’t get emotionally attached to any one specific man, but clearly that wasn’t always the case. Maybe it was different when they had a baby with someone. 

As I stood there at a loss for words, Elinalise sheathed her rapier and turned around to face me. “There’s no reason for you to feel down about this, Rudeus.” 

“…There isn’t?” 

“There are some adventurers out there who make a point of never killing another human being. Not many of them, granted, but they do exist. And you’re going to become a father soon. I can understand why you’d hesitate to take so many lives.” 

Her attempts to comfort me were a little off the mark. But of course, she didn’t know what Balibadom had just said to me. 

To be honest, I hadn’t hesitated at all. The thought of killing those men just hadn’t even entered my mind, despite the mortal danger we were facing. 

Of course, a few riders had probably lost their lives riding headfirst into those walls I threw up in the mist. I didn’t feel any guilt about that either. But the idea of using magic to murder someone directly just made me queasy. 

…It was kind of pathetic, honestly. 

“Thanks, Elinalise.” 

Still, I thanked her for trying to cheer me up. Thinking back on it, she’d been running right at my side for the entire retreat; when I lost my balance, she’d been there to brace me. It felt like she’d positioned herself to shield me from any stray arrows too. 

I had a feeling she considered herself my bodyguard, more than anything else. 

“No need to thank me, dear,” she said, patting me on the shoulder. “I’ll always look out for my grandson.” 

Your grandson, huh? Hmm. 

By the time we got back home, Sylphie’s belly would be very big. That baby was going to be Elinalise’s great-grandchild. I’m sure she wanted its arrival to be a happy occasion. Or maybe she just didn’t want to have Sylphie tearfully asking her why she’d failed to keep me safe. 

Either way, the solution was simple enough. We’d just have to make it back together. 

“Uhm, Elinalise…” 

“What now?” 

“Thank you. Really.” 

This time, I put more feeling into the words. 

In reply, Elinalise just patted me on the shoulders. 

*** 

Despite the awkward atmosphere, our party moved steadily onward. 

Balibadom was surprisingly calm and collected, considering we’d just lost another of his men. His first focus was on reworking our formation. Far from pausing to mourn his comrade, he didn’t even speak Tont’s name again. He was the same professional, focused bodyguard he always was. It seemed a little cold, but this was probably just how things went in his line of work. 

His people were used to this. Death was a constant companion for them; a single mistake or a little bad luck was all it took to end their lives. This was a common attitude on the Demon Continent as well, in retrospect. It was a way of thinking I couldn’t quite understand. 

A few uneventful days later, we reached the oasis that marked the midway point of our journey. Much like Bazaar, it was mostly a marketplace surrounding a small central lake. I hadn’t noticed before, but every other armed group we saw did have at least one woman among them. They were all warriors of the desert as well, presumably. 

Galban and the others pitched our tents in an open corner of the little town. While we were in the oasis, at least, the bodyguards apparently got to sleep inside too. 

“Balibadom, do you think we need to hire someone to replace the man you lost?” Galban asked. 

“Shouldn’t be necessary, Galban. These two are more useful than your average warrior. I think it’s smarter to head to Rapan with our current group, then hire some new folks there. We shouldn’t be running into any more bandits, anyway.” 

“I see. All right then, let’s do that. Still, it’s a pity we lost that camel…” 

“These things happen. We were lucky to get away that lightly, considering their numbers.” 

Balibadom and Galban seemed to be on casual terms. It almost sounded like they were business partners, to be honest. 

“What is it, Rudeus? Is there something on my face?” Sensing my gaze, Galban turned to look at me. 

“It’s nothing, really. I was just thinking that you and Balibadom seem to get along.” 

“Ah, yes. We’ve worked together since the days when I was just a fledgling merchant, you see. I trust him more than anyone.” 

Interesting. If they’d spent that much time together, maybe Balibadom had always been closer to Galban than Tont, his fellow warrior. After years and years serving as a head bodyguard, it was possible he’d started to see his men and women as disposable. Or at least interchangeable, given how regularly they came and went. 

We stopped in the oasis long enough to rest up and replenish our supplies of perishable goods, then headed on to the north. 

Carmelita didn’t pick any more fights with me, but she wasn’t any friendlier than necessary either. We didn’t talk during our night watch shifts anymore. 

I tried not to let it get to me. We’d be going our separate ways once we reached Rapan anyway. Still, I had to empathize with what she was going through. I couldn’t imagine what it felt like to lose the father of your child so suddenly. 

I knew how much it would hurt if Sylphie up and died on me, at least. I’d been overwhelmed with joy when I learned she was pregnant. If I lost her suddenly, the despair would be even more intense. 

“…And I guess I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?” 

Assuming the Man-God was being straight with me, this voyage to the Begaritt Continent was going to cost me one way or another. 

He’d first told me that when I met Elinalise at the age of fifteen. I’d spent some time in Ranoa, but Nanahoshi’s shortcut meant I wasn’t getting to Rapan that much later than I would have if I’d left when I met Elinalise. I had to assume the danger that awaited me in Rapan hadn’t changed in that time. 

If that was true, though, it probably meant no harm would come to the people I’d left behind in Ranoa. After all, if I’d left for Begaritt right away, I wouldn’t have met Sylphie or gotten to know my other friends. I’d have no reason to “regret” some disaster taking place there. 

But now that I thought about it, maybe the regrets that lay ahead were different now. Things might go smoothly on my end but poorly back home. Something might happen to Sylphie, or the baby. 

“Did you say something, Rudeus?” 

“Nah, it’s nothing…” 

I had to stop speculating about this. You could drive yourself insane thinking about all the ways things might go wrong. And a guy like me was always going to make mistakes, no matter how hard he tried. 

There was no telling what the future held. 

This was the first time I’d ever directly gone against the Man-God’s advice. Up until now, I’d done well for myself by following his lead. Did that mean this choice was going to end in disaster, no matter what I tried? 

Nah. I wasn’t buying that. I knew there was danger ahead, so it should be possible for me to avoid it. Still, there was a real risk someone I cared about might end up like Tont. If I wanted to prevent that, I needed to stay sharp. And if there was someone out there who wanted to harm my family, this time— 

Stop it. This is pointless. 

I could tell myself anything I wanted, but I had no reason to believe I was even capable of murder. I’d just have to do everything I could to keep my family safe. 

That, at least, I could promise myself. 

Two weeks later, we finally reached the Labyrinth City of Rapan. 

We’d made it to our destination. Now it was time to get started.