Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

To Begaritt 

ELINALISE AND I revised our travel plans in a hurry. 

First of all, we’d purchase a horse and ride it together to the forest where the teleporter was hidden. We’d then warp ourselves over to the Begaritt Continent. 

If Nanahoshi’s memory was accurate, this would deposit us about a week’s journey south of an oasis town called Bazaar. Unfortunately, we’d be traveling through an all-but-barren desert. Nanahoshi had gotten so exhausted that Orsted ended up having to carry her on his back. We’d have to show up well prepared. 

I had my magic, so we wouldn’t be lacking for ice-cold water at any time. That alone would make things significantly simpler. We didn’t have a map to the town of Bazaar, but Elinalise had confidence in her ability to navigate unfamiliar terrain. She claimed that elves could travel through even the densest of forests without ever losing their way. 

I felt the need to mention that a desert wasn’t very much like a forest, but that just earned me an angry lecture about her many years of experience as an adventurer. Given how confident she seemed, I had to assume we’d be okay. 

Once we made it to Bazaar, we could hire a guide to our final destination. Rapan was roughly a month to the north, and that was a lengthy journey. Elinalise could keep us moving in the right direction, but it would be much faster to find a local who knew the easiest route. 

After arriving in Rapan, we’d rescue my mother as quickly as possible, then return home by the same route. It would mean telling more people about the teleportation circles, but we didn’t have much choice. I couldn’t tell my parents to take the long way back. 

From what we knew, Paul was traveling in a party of six people. Probably seven, assuming he’d joined up with Geese. We’d just have to swear all of them to secrecy. 

Incidentally, I’d made sure to warn Sylphie and my sisters not to tell anyone about the teleporters. Just to drive the point home, I mentioned that a very scary guy who could beat down Ruijerd in an instant might get really angry with them if they blabbed. 

With our basic plan nailed down, Elinalise and I got to work on the details. 

I already had my gear sorted out. I’d be bringing my trusty staff Aqua Heartia and a robe that Sylphie had picked out for me. The only other thing that came to mind was the summoning spell that Nanahoshi had given me earlier. I didn’t know when it might prove useful, but I decided to bring ten copies of the scroll along with me. I could make a new printing plate in a single day, but I didn’t want to be lugging ink around in the desert. The scrolls were much lighter and less fragile. And if I ended up needing more, I could always try to buy some ink in Rapan. 

On that note, I didn’t have any local currency. I wasn’t even sure what kind of money they used over there. It was probably easiest to just bring something I could easily exchange for cash. 

Other than that, I just needed food rations for the journey. This was my first trip to Begaritt, so I had no idea what sort of tools or equipment I might want. I’d have to obtain them locally as the need arose. 

Since our journey was only going to last six weeks now, I had some free space in my bags to work with. I could technically bring along some things I didn’t really need . 

That didn’t mean it was smart to weigh myself down with nonsense, though. It was probably best to travel light. We’d be reaching Bazaar in a week, so it wasn’t like we’d be wandering the wilderness for long. Still, I decided to bring along a book that contained some specifics on teleportation magic, given the potential risks we were facing. I knew Orsted had used these things in the past, but that didn’t mean it would be safe for us. 

I headed back to the faculty offices, flattered Jenius for a while, and got permission to borrow a few titles from the library on a long-term basis. I picked up the book I had in mind, An Exploratory Account of the Teleportation Labyrinth, and grabbed a volume called The Begaritt Continent and the Fighting-God Tongue while I was at it. I felt like that one might come in handy if I had trouble making myself understood. 

I seemed to remember that Ginger knew a thing or two about horses, so I asked her to accompany me to a local stable. I took the chance to let Zanoba know about the situation. 

“I see! You’ll be able to return in roughly half a year, then?” 

“Yeah. I can’t explain how, though.” 

“Is that so? Hmm…you know, I could order Ginger to go along with you, if you’d like.” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Zanoba.” Why would I go out of my way to make an enemy of the poor woman? 

“Hrm. Well all right, then.” 

“Don’t worry about me, okay? Just worry about looking out for Sylphie and my sisters.” 

“There’s no need to worry yourself on that account. Perhaps I could even assign Ginger to protect them in your absence.” 

I snorted. “Is it just me, or are you trying to get her out of your hair?” 

Zanoba glanced over in Ginger’s direction, then leaned over to whisper in my ear. “The woman is something of a nag, Rudeus. Ever since I was a child, she’s lectured me about every single mistake I make. And lately, she’s been just as strict with Julie as well. It’s getting tedious.” 

The guy sounded like a college student complaining about his mother. I guess he was in his mid-twenties, come to think of it. I could sort of understand how he felt. Sort of. 

Mostly, though, I just felt bad for Ginger. She was still young herself. The girl was wasting her twenties taking care of an oversized baby. 

“What do you think about this, Julie?” I asked. 

Our junior pupil had tagged along on the horse-shopping expedition. I’d have to encourage her to keep at her training while I was gone. We could resume the Ruijerd figure project after I returned. 

“Miss Ginger just…points out Master Zanoba’s…bad habits.” 

“Well, there we go. Better shape up, Zanoba. You need to set a good example for her.” 

“Hrm…” 

Yeah, this really did remind me of a mom barging into the filthy apartment her two kids had been filling up with junk. It was kind of heartwarming, in a way. 

“Anyway. Make sure you keep practicing like you promised while I’m gone, okay, Julie?” 

“Yes, Grandmaster. I’ll do my best.” 

Julie wasn’t stumbling over her words much at all lately. We had Ginger to thank for that as well. 

At this point, the woman in question came back over to us, leading a horse along by the reins. “Here you are, Sir Rudeus. I believe this one should serve your needs.” 

“Ooh…” 

The horses in these parts tended to be bulky creatures, since they had to push their way through the snow most of the year. Up close, this one almost looked like a different species from the slender racehorses I was familiar with. It wouldn’t sprint as fast, but it looked like it could keep going for days at a time. Horses in this world were monstrously strong in general. 

For no particular reason, I decided it was worthy of the name Matsukaze. 

“Thank you, Ginger. You’ve been a great help.” 

“That’s quite all right. It was no real trouble.” 

“Want me to ask Zanoba to do something for you? Maybe massage your shoulders?” 

“Sir Rudeus…I have great respect for you, but I wish you’d show a bit more—” 

“Right, right. Sorry. It was just a joke.” 

Judging from the way she was glaring at me, Ginger didn’t find it very funny. 

Anyway. I had my horse, and I’d let the most important people in my life know what was going on. Was I forgetting someone? Maybe. I felt like I’d spoken with all my friends, though. Badigadi still wasn’t around, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. 

Well, whatever. I’d checked every item off my to-do list, and I’d sworn everyone who knew about the teleportation circles to secrecy. We were good to go. 

On the day of our departure, my wife and two sisters saw me off at the front door. 

“I’ll be back before you know it, Sylphie.” 

“Rudy…” 

Sylphie threw her arms around me with tears in her eyes. I’d gotten accustomed to holding her over the last six months. Her body was small and radiated warmth. It felt like hugging an affectionate little animal sometimes. 

But today, her shoulders were trembling, and she was sniffling softly. This wasn’t making it too easy to leave, honestly. 

…Should I just stay behind after all? Maybe I could wait for my child to be born before I help the old man. 

I mean, think about it. Normally, it would have taken me almost a year just to get out there. Couldn’t I stay home for another seven months and leave after my child’s born? The journey should only take six weeks now, so I could still make it on schedule. 

I wasn’t strong enough to keep the thoughts from flitting through my mind. But at the end of the day, Geese had been desperate enough to send an express message from the Begaritt Continent. Those services weren’t cheap, even for the briefest of letters; it wasn’t something you did unless you had to. Time was probably of the essence. 

And if I left now, I could still make it back to see my child be born. I just had to think of it as a kind of business trip, basically. 

Wiping away Sylphie’s tears, I spoke to my sisters, who were standing awkwardly behind her in the foyer. “Aisha, Norn, I’ll see you later. Take care of things for me, okay?” 

I wasn’t entirely sure myself what that was supposed to mean, but the two of them nodded emphatically. 

“Don’t worry, brother dear. I’ll keep matters well in hand here.” 

“Of course, Rudeus! Be careful out there!” 

I nodded. “Good to hear. Try not to fight with each other, okay?” 

They replied “Yes!” in perfect unison. I couldn’t help smiling at the grimly serious expressions on their faces. 

“Sylphie!” 

Elinalise chose this moment to ride up dramatically on our horse. He was carrying two full weeks of provisions on his back, but didn’t even seem to feel the weight. Our Matsukaze really was a beast. 

“Be brave, dear, you’ll be all right! You don’t need a husband hanging around to give birth, anyway. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience on this one.” 

“I guess so,” said Sylphie with a weak smile. “You be careful out there too, Grandma.” 

“Oh, don’t worry about me . I’ll manage just fine.” 

Elinalise flipped her hair upward in a gesture of supreme confidence. The woman could be cool when she wanted to. She looked like a lady knight from a fairy tale or something. 

It was a shame I’d seen her throwing a tantrum just the other day. The memory of that kind of tainted the whole experience. 

Well, I guess everyone has their weak spots, right? 

I certainly wasn’t lacking a few of my own. 

“Okay, then. We’d better get on the road.” 

Not wasting any more time, I hopped up behind Elinalise. She was a slender woman, but she sat ramrod straight in the saddle. It was kind of reassuring to know she had the reins. 

It wasn’t unpleasant having my arms around her either. I felt a little stab of guilt, but…hey, I was only borrowing her from Cliff for a little while, right? 

“Rudy?” 

Sylphie tilted her head curiously at me. Not that I was doing anything fishy! Really! I had to hold on tight so I wouldn’t fall off—that was all. 

“All right, everyone. See you soon.” 

At last, our journey got underway. 

*** 

It took five days for us to reach the forest to the southwest of Sharia. 

During that first leg of the journey, we were accompanied by an adventurer we’d hired from the guild. He’d be responsible for taking our horse back to the city afterward. Horses would only slow you down in a dense forest, and we didn’t know the size of the teleporter we’d be using. It would be convenient to have a beast of burden for our travels across the desert, but it was smarter to just procure one over there. We’d probably find something better suited to the local climate. 

All in all, it made more sense to have someone just escort the horse back to Sharia for us. He hadn’t come cheap, so I had every intention of keeping him. 

I’d never learned how to ride, so I mostly spent the trip clinging to Elinalise from behind. Of course, I did keep myself occupied…in a perfectly platonic way. I spent an entire day charging up that magical diaper Cliff had created. This did involve wrapping my arms around Elinalise’s waist, so I caught our hired sword shooting me a few envious glances. 

After arriving at the forest, we said our goodbyes to Matsukaze. Hopefully he’d hit it off with Aisha and the others. 

Now we had a forest to investigate. I forget exactly what its name was. Something like the Lumen Forest, maybe? A word that meant “stomach” in some language or the other. 

That choice made sense once you were inside the place. The vegetation was incredibly dense; there were so many tall, old trees that their branches blocked out the sun. Kind of a gloomy place, really. The ground was thick with roots, so it often felt like you were walking on top of a lumpy, uneven wooden floor. You had to watch your step constantly. The bigger trees had much larger roots, and in some places, they even formed natural staircases of sorts. It was almost like an outdoor dungeon. 

Even an experienced ranger could easily get lost in a place like this. And once you wandered off the path, it would be all too easy to become a monster’s prey, or to slip and fall off a wooden “platform.” Many human bodies had no doubt been digested by this forest over the centuries. 

It didn’t look like any woodcutters came out here too often. Maybe the monsters here were relatively strong? Or numerous? Or maybe there were other forests in the area that were just more conveniently located. It was probably some combination of the three, honestly. 

Just to be clear, the woodcutters of this world weren’t anything to scoff at. A team of lumberjacks were often more organized and capable than an average band of adventurers. Forests offered plentiful lumber, but they were also home to many monsters. Cutting down a single tree was a dangerous task. People had to form teams—and sometimes even hire bodyguards. A typical expedition involved some serious combat on top of the actual woodcutting, so the woodcutters’ guild was home to plenty of formidable characters. 

Besides, their work had a vital function in this world. If trees didn’t get cut down on a regular basis, you’d eventually get swarms of dangerous Treants. 

“You remember the formation we discussed earlier, Rudeus?” Elinalise said. “Let’s take our positions.” 

“Got it.” 

Still, this wasn’t nothing to for veteran adventurers like us. We were alert, of course, but calm. Elinalise took the lead, and I followed behind her at a set distance. 

As you might expect from an elf, she knew how to navigate this terrain. And thanks to her excellent hearing, we had advance warning whenever enemies tried to ambush us. 

“Three monsters at two o’clock!” 

“Got it.” 

On command, I fired off a Stone Cannon ahead and to my right. The projectile struck a green boar just as it broke through the foliage, sending it flying backward in a spray of blood. Its two companions immediately turned tail and fled. 

Elinalise was handling the “search” part, and I was on “destroy” duty. So far, we were wiping out every threat before they even got close to us. We hadn’t engaged in any real combat so far, which was fine by me. Elinalise seemed to be guiding us around dangerous areas where animals were congregating in larger numbers. This was evidently a skill she’d picked up over the years, rather than some sort of natural elven instinct. 

“I think I found it. This is the monument we were looking for, right?” 

After some time, Elinalise spotted the thing we were here to find. It was a flat stone slab with a symbol carved on its surface, standing in front of a thick wall of vegetation. I’d resigned myself to the possibility we’d be combing this forest for two or three days, but we’d managed to find the thing before the sun set. Maybe the woman had skill points in Find Secrets or something. 

The carving on the stone was familiar to me from the monuments to the Seven Great Powers. It bore the crest of the Dragon God—a sharp, angular pattern made up mostly of triangles. It reminded me a little of the magic symbol that appeared on some anime character’s forehead when he powered up, although the specific details were totally different. Maybe they were both supposed to be representations of a dragon’s face. 

Still…had I seen this crest on its own before? 

Oh, right. It looked a lot like the symbol on those papers I’d found in the basement of my house. There were some subtle differences, but they were definitely similar. Maybe the man who created that killer robot had some connection to the Dragon God? 

Well, there were probably a bunch of similar symbols out there. In my old world, lots of countries had similar flags. 

“Is something the matter?” 

“Nah, it’s nothing.” 

Elinalise had noticed me studying the symbol at length, but I decided not to pursue this line of thought any further. We had other priorities at the moment. 

“I’ll get started on removing the barrier, then,” I said. 

“All right.” Elinalise turned around to watch my back while I worked. 

I placed a hand on the stone’s surface and opened Nanahoshi’s journal to the page where she’d written her notes. There was a specific incantation I was supposed to use. 

“The wyrm lived only for his ideals. None could escape the reach of his mighty arms. He was the second to die—a Dragon General, his scales green and gold, his life the most ephemeral of dreams. In the name of the Holy Dragon Emperor Shirad, I break his seal.” 

The instant the final word left my mouth, I felt mana flowing from my arm into the tablet, and the world began to distort before my eyes. The air itself seemed to swirl strangely for a moment; when this passed, the thick wall of trees and plants in front of me had disappeared, leaving a stone building in its place. 

“Whoa!” 

“I’ve never seen an enchantment like this , ” said Elinalise, staring at the structure in astonishment. 

It wasn’t anything I’d seen before, either. But the way that tablet had sucked mana out of me was familiar. The thing was probably an oversized, stationary magical implement. If we broke it in half, we’d probably find a bunch of complex magic circles etched inside. 

Still, this incantation struck me as a Dragon God original, what with all the, uh…references to various dragons. That Holy Dragon Emperor Shirad guy was one of the Five Dragon Generals from the old stories, right? 

This incantation seemed to be incomplete, given that it lacked the name of the spell itself. But if you had the entire thing, maybe it would allow you to imitate the power of this tablet and dispel magical barriers freely. It seemed disturbingly plausible. 

“Let’s get going, then.” 

“Uh, all right.” 

I kind of wanted to uproot this tablet and take it home with me, but that seemed like the sort of thing that might get me murdered by Orsted. I’d had enough of that for one lifetime. 

The building before us was a squat, single-story structure. Vines of ivy ran along its walls, and there were places where the stones had crumbled away over the years. 

“Hmm…the place looks like a pretty typical ancient ruin, doesn’t it?” 

“I’ve seen a few labyrinths with entrances that looked a bit like this,” Elinalise said. “Oh, right. You don’t have any experience with labyrinths, do you, Rudeus?” 

“Nope. I’ve explored some old ruins and such, I guess, but not an actual labyrinth.” 

“In that case, make sure you follow close behind me. Only step where I do.” 

“Sure, I can do that. But, uh, I don’t think this place is a labyrinth, is it?” 

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.” 

Fair enough. There might be traps in there, for all we knew. 

Still, Elinalise wasn’t a rogue or anything. Was she even capable of finding traps? Just to be on the safe side, I activated my Eye of Foresight. It wasn’t much of an advance warning system, but it might help me cope a little better with any sudden ambushes. 

“Okay then, Rudeus. Let’s go. Be ready to cover me if things turn ugly.” 

“Got it.” 

Cautiously, Elinalise and I stepped inside the stone ruin together. 

“…” 

The interior was also made of stone. Here and there, you could see vines or tree roots poking through the walls. A classic “forest ruins” situation, basically. 

It wasn’t that large a structure, though. In fact, it looked like there were only four rooms. We moved through them slowly, making sure to investigate every corner. 

The two rooms nearest to the entrance were completely empty spaces about seven square meters in size. The third had a small closet in one corner; when we opened the door, we found winter clothing in a man’s size stored inside. These clearly hadn’t been sitting here for decades. Somebody had changed their clothes here relatively recently. And by somebody, I mean Orsted. 

The teleportation circle was supposedly going to drop us in the middle of a desert, and this region was blanketed in heavy snows for a good part of the year. I had to imagine it would be hard to buy appropriate clothing for that weather in Begaritt, which was probably why he’d left these here for his next visit. 

If I’d known we could leave things behind like this, I could have carried a little more luggage. There was no point crying over spilled milk, though. 

“What’s the matter? Is there some reason you’re staring at those clothes?” 

“Nah. Just wondering if there’s anything we could leave behind for our return trip.” 

“Hmm…I don’t think so. We’d basically be throwing supplies away if we left them here.” 

To be sure, the food we had with us wasn’t going to stay edible if we left it sitting here for months. Barrier or no barrier, there were probably bugs in here. 

“Let’s be on our way, then,” said Elinalise, turning toward the exit. 

“Right.” 

In the fourth and final room, we found a set of stairs leading down into darkness. 

“Oh, my. Now this looks suspicious.” 

Elinalise scrutinized the area around the stairs and checked every corner of the room like an FPS player clearing an area. I guess staircases were popular places to set traps. 

“Okay, then…I think we’re all right.” 

In the end, though, she didn’t find anything. I wasn’t too surprised. If someone wanted to trap this place, they’d probably have put a few at the entrance too. 

“I’ll head down first. Watch my back, Rudeus.” 

“Got it.” 

Elinalise took the stairs down very slowly and carefully. I made sure to follow exactly in her footsteps. Oddly, the ruins didn’t get any darker as we descended. 

The reason for this became clear when we reached the bottom of the stairs. 

“…Well, there it is.” 

There was a huge magic circle on the floor in front of us—as big as one of the rooms upstairs. In size, at least, it was comparable to the one I’d been trapped in back in the royal palace of Shirone. And it was emitting a steady bluish-white light. 

“This would be the teleportation circle, then?” 

“I’d have to assume so, yes.” 

Just to be sure, I took Nanahoshi’s journal from my bag and reviewed her notes. The thing in front of us looked very similar to her sketch of a two-way teleporting circle. There were some minor differences, but all the major features were there. All we had to do was step into this thing, and we should theoretically find ourselves in the Begaritt Continent. 

Elinalise, however, seemed to be in no hurry to try it out. She was staring at the magic circle with a hesitant expression on her face. 

“Something the matter, Elinalise?” 

“I have some rather painful memories involving teleporting, that’s all.” 

Painful memories? Was she talking about some incident from her days as an adventurer? 

“Yeah, well…you’re not the only one.” 

“Ah. I suppose not.” 

Elinalise shook her head and looked at the magic circle again. This time, there was a grimly determined expression on her face. 

“If this thing drops us in the middle of the ocean,” I added helpfully, “let’s make sure Nanahoshi regrets it.” 

“All right,” said Elinalise. “I’ll hold her down while you jam it in.” 

“Could we go with something less sexual?” 

“Sexual? I didn’t specify what you’d be jamming into where , dear. You could always just stick a finger into her nose or something. You’ve got a rather dirty mind.” 

“Sticking your finger into a girl’s nose still sounds kind of sexual to me, actually.” 

“Does it really? Hmm. I’ll have to see if Cliff wants to try it later.” 

“Don’t blame me if he takes you up on that.” 

Smiling, Elinalise took me by the hand. Her grip was strong, despite her slender fingers. This was the hand of an adventurer. It was also a little warm and sweaty, and it made my heart start to beat a little faster. 

Of course, I had Sylphie, and Elinalise had Cliff. If something happened between us, we’d both be committing adultery. And it wasn’t like we had feelings for each other in that sense, anyway. 

“I hope you’re not misunderstanding, Rudeus. It’s important for us to be in physical contact when we teleport, if we want to make sure it keeps us together.” 

“Oh, right. Yeah. Sorry about that.” Whoops. That’s kind of cringeworthy. 

I wasn’t a virgin anymore, so I had no excuse to keep making these kinds of mistakes. 

“There I go again, seducing my granddaughter’s husband without even trying to,” Elinalise sighed. “It’s simply criminal to be this beautiful, I suppose.” 

“Yeah. Better atone for your misdeeds by filing for divorce.” 

“Hey! Come on, now you’re just being rude.” 

That was better. If we turned the awkwardness into a joke, it defused the sexual tension. Elinalise really knew how to handle these sorts of situations. 

“Okay, then, shall we go?” 

“Let’s do it.” 

The two of us stepped into the teleportation circle together.