Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Workplace Drama

THE TEMPERATURE was dropping steadily week by week, and I started to see the occasional flurry of snow outside the window. It would soon be winter in the Kingdom of Ranoa.

The winters in this region were long, cold, and lean. A typical household needed to start preparing right about now, or risk freezing to death. My family was relatively well off, so we didn’t really have to worry about that. But just to be on the safe side, I made sure to stockpile a mountain of firewood in our backyard and piles of preserved food in our basement.

We were ready for anything at this point. All we had to do now was lock ourselves up in the house to wait out the snows. I could pass the time by enjoying the company of my wives.

But just as I was getting ready to hibernate…a certain someone from my past came back to haunt me.

***

One morning, as we were eating breakfast, Roxy offered me a surprising proposal.

“Rudy, Sylphie and I are going out on a job tomorrow. We might be away for several days. I was wondering if you’d like to come along.”

“To watch you do your thing?”

Roxy gave me a quizzical look. “Uh, no. We’d all be working the job. There might be a bonus in it for us if we perform well.”

Hmm. I would have relished the chance to cheer her on from the sidelines, but apparently that wasn’t the idea here…

“What kind of a job?”

“Well, it seems that a member of the Ranoan royal family’s currently on a pilgrimage…”

Evidently this was a local tradition. When a Ranoan royal approached the age of majority, they were required to make a journey around the country as a sort of training exercise.

The journey itself wasn’t anything too strenuous. They just spent six months or so going around and visiting a laundry list of specific places inside the country. However, they weren’t permitted many guards, and were expected to make their own preparations and arrangements.

It forced them to hire their own people, find their own way around, and see the country with their own eyes. Theoretically, this would help them grow into better rulers. The tradition was well known throughout the country as “The Coming-of-Age Pilgrimage.”

Of course, since it was so well known, the local mayors and governors were perfectly aware they’d have royalty travelling through their towns from time to time. In fact, they kept careful tabs on the age of every royal prince and princess, and made sure to anticipate the timing and itinerary of their journeys.

It sounded a little creepy in a way, but they obviously didn’t want a member of the royal family getting badly injured in their territory. No matter what the circumstances, such an incident would hurt their reputation badly.

The local authorities would have gladly surrounded the royal kids with a hundred bodyguards if they could, but they weren’t permitted to do so. It would have defeated the whole point of the pilgrimage. However, when the royal family itself requested guards, they were allowed to provide them. This time around, a party of adventurers had been hired as an escort, but their mage and healer had both fallen ill simultaneously. They were expected to recover fairly soon, but winter was fast approaching. It was basically impossible to travel in this region once the snows got going, so they needed to finish up the pilgrimage now and hurry back to the capital.

It just so happened that the party had been stopped in its tracks right here, in the Magic City of Sharia. As a result, the royal family had formally requested a handful of bodyguards from the city. 

Our mayor had held a conference with the leaders of the Magic Guild and the University to choose the most suitable candidates for the job. One such candidate had stood out at the head of the list. This individual was a well-travelled former adventurer, with practical skill in offensive magic—and a brand-new member of the University’s faculty, with few responsibilities to be reassigned.

It was Roxy, in other words. The group had quickly decided she was the best option they had. It sounded like a reasonable conclusion to me, given her many talents.

“…Wait a second, though. How did Sylphie end up getting this job too?”

“Well, Princess Ariel’s coming along. She was very eager to establish a connection with a member of the royal family.”

Ariel had an excellent information network. She must have heard about the situation and marked it as an opportunity. It was hard to say how much of a connection she stood to gain here, but the princess always took what she could get.

“Ah, okay. So basically, you two will be guarding both Ariel and this kid?”

“That’s right. Oh, and Luke’s helping too.”

I wasn’t sure if he really counted, but decided not to say so.

“I think we should be all right, since Sylphie’s coming along…but we need to guard two very important people, and the shrine we’re visiting is deep inside a forest. Also, I’ve been known to make some silly mistakes at the worst times…I suppose I’m a little anxious.”

“I think you’re really underestimating yourself, Roxy.”

“Well, maybe so. But I had a talk with Sylphie about how we could ensure this job went off smoothly, and she suggested we ask for your help. You’re the single most powerful mage in this city at the moment, after all…”

Putting aside the question of whether I deserved that title, I could understand why Roxy was nervous. They needed to protect both Princess Ariel and this member of the Ranoan royal family. And their core party was fairly small: one Ranoan knight, Sylphie, Luke, and Roxy.

There was also the band of adventurers, of course. But they were down two people, and it was hard to know if they’d be much use at all.

In terms of actually competent allies, Sylphie was the only person Roxy could definitely rely on…and come to think of it, Roxy hadn’t seen her in combat before. I could understand her uncertainty.

“Is it okay for all three of us to leave the house, though? What about Lucie?”

“She’ll be fine,” said Sylphie, who’d been listening quietly until now. “We have Suzanne, and I’m sure Lilia will take good care of her.”

It was true enough. It wasn’t like I’d be that much use hanging around here without these two, anyway. Lilia and Aisha would be stepping up either way. It was more important to get Sylphie back to Lucie as soon as possible. Which meant the best thing I could do was join the party and make sure the job went off without a hitch.

“Okay then. I’m up for it.”

Having reached my conclusion, I agreed without further delay.

Aside from anything else, Roxy would get a nice boost to her reputation if we pulled this off perfectly. Maybe it would help her move up the career ladder a little faster.

The next day, Roxy and I made our way to a certain inn that mostly catered to S-rank adventurers. It was a very nice place—even nicer than the one I’d taken Roxy and Sylphie to a little earlier.

As training exercises went, this pilgrimage seemed to be a bit on the…luxurious side. Not that I’d expected anything less from royalty.

“Really? They have gardens inside the palace walls in Asura, too?”

“Oh yes. So you have them in Ranoa as well, then?”

“We do! It sounds like they’re rather similar, really! How very interesting.”

By the time Roxy and I arrived, Ariel and her party were already in the inn, having tea with the Ranoans.

A girl who looked maybe twelve years old was sitting across from Princess Ariel. This pilgrimage was supposed to be a coming-of-age thing, so she was presumably fifteen, but she definitely looked younger.

Sylphie was standing behind the two of them, looking poised and intimidating in her work clothes. Luke was there too. There was also an older female knight I didn’t recognize—probably the Ranoan princess’ personal bodyguard.

“Who are you people? State your names at once.”

The instant she laid eyes on us, she stepped forward to place herself between us and her charge. Her gaze was challenging, if not openly hostile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Roxy M. Greyrat, and I’m here to serve as a bodyguard for the princess.”

“I’m Rudeus Greyrat, and I’ll also be helping out. Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“Oh, I see…I heard you would be coming. My name is Grace, and I’m a royal knight. We appreciate your assistance.”

For a moment, the knight studied Roxy dubiously. In the end, though, she stepped back without making any further comments. 

She’d probably wanted to say something like “You’re obviously too young for this. What was the University thinking?” I appreciated that she’d kept that thought to herself, but I wasn’t sure why. Maybe she was just a surprisingly tactful person?

No…judging by that creepy little smile on Ariel’s face, she’d probably given her a warning beforehand.

It was a good thing, too. If the woman had burst out laughing and called my beloved teacher a “child,” I might have exploded on the spot…or caused an explosion. That would have ended Roxy’s career prospects.

“We were told you’d hired a party of adventurers, as well?”

“Yes. They’re out preparing for the journey at the moment. Please wait here for the moment.”

“All right.”

I started to move toward an empty chair, but Roxy headed over to join Sylphie and Luke. The knight returned to her former position, where she stood ramrod straight and perfectly still.

It seemed like the princesses were the only ones permitted to take a seat at the moment. I’d have to stay on my feet as well.

“By the way, Princess Ariel, how long have you been staying in our kingdom?”

“Well, let me see…not counting my journey, it’s been a little less than six years. This country is essentially a second home to me by now.”

“Oh…doesn’t that mean you’ll be graduating next year, then? What a shame… I only just got to know you, and you’ll be leaving so soon…”

“I suppose so, yes. But as long as our countries stay in contact, I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Hmm. On another note, this Ranoan princess was certainly a cutie.

I did remember hearing that the royal family of this country was full of beautiful people. Apparently, it was true. She was almost a match for Ariel—not quite, but almost.

Ariel sure worked fast, though. It seemed like they were already buddies somehow.

For a while, I waited idly, letting the princess’ conversation wash over me without really listening.

“How many times do I have to repeat myself, dammit?!”

The sound of voices at the entrance snapped me abruptly back to reality.

“Look, just deal with it!”

“Are you serious?! Did you forget what happened last time?! Those morons screwed up so badly, they nearly got Tina and Melanie killed! I’m not okay with this!”

“What do you want me to do? We’re not calling the shots here.”

“That’s not good enough! Are you really okay with this? Do you really trust some random stranger to watch your back out there?”

“It’s not like I want to, okay?”

The new arrivals stomped into the room, arguing loudly with each other. There were four of them, and they were all women.

The one at the front of the group was a big, muscular lady. She reminded me of Ghislaine, but she was even more solidly built. Her body looked like it was chiseled out of rock.

The second was a leaner woman who wore her dark brown hair in a swept-back style, exposing a cross-shaped scar on her forehead. She seemed agile and alert, and her sunken eyes suggested she’d seen her share of battles.

They were both maybe thirty years old, and they both wore swords at their hips. It felt safe to say they were the party’s front-line fighters.

Appearances can sometimes be deceiving, but they sure looked like a pair of wily, skillful veterans. That made sense, given that they’d been chosen to guard a princess.

Incidentally, neither of them were taking part in the ongoing argument. That was coming from the two who followed them in.

“I know, right?! I’d rather do this by myself than with people I can’t even trust!”

The angry one was a younger woman with a sullen look on her face. She was more of a girl, really—maybe fifteen years old.

Compared to the first two, she looked like a fledgling. But if they’d taken her into their party, she had to be good at what she did. The staff she carried suggested she was a mage or a healer, or possibly both.

“Look, you can’t be the only one on the backline. I don’t want to let anything get past me, but it’s going to happen sometimes…”

And then there was the fourth member of the party.

“But more importantly, you’ve got to learn how to work with anyone if you want people to respect you. Adventurers just don’t get the luxury of staying in the same party forever, you know?”

She carried a bow. Not a typical weapon for an adventurer—arrows couldn’t match the power of a sword or spell. I’d spent years as a travelling adventurer, and I’d only met one dedicated archer.

“Gah.”

She was probably the only one in the entire region, come to think of it.

I recognized her immediately, of course. 

The instant she stepped into the room and saw my face, she stopped in her tracks and stared at me with her eyes wide open.

“Oh. It’s you.”

She muttered the words softly, to herself more than me.

The sullen girl she’d been arguing with turned back and spoke to her dubiously. “Uh, Sara? Do you know that guy?”

“Well…yeah.”

It was the same adventurer I’d very nearly slept with some time ago.

***

I hadn’t forgotten Sara, of course. I’m not sure I could have if I tried.

When I met her not long after Eris dumped me, she was the youngest member of the party Counter Arrow. She was a strong-willed, combative girl with a sharp tongue, but a good head on her shoulders.

Suzanne, the leader of her party, took a liking to me and started inviting me along on some of their jobs. Among other things, we’d fought a horde of monsters together, and later ventured into an ancient underground fortress to gather Snow Drake scales.

It took some time, but Sara ended up falling for me. I was fairly sure of that, at least.

It was harder to say exactly how I felt about her.

Things escalated before I could really figure that out, and then my performance issues got in the way. I got drunk, acted like an idiot, and ran off to the nearest brothel for the night. And then I started badmouthing Sara in public. Which she overheard, of course! She dumped me on the spot.

I was fairly confident it was a traumatic experience for both of us. Still, it had been quite a while since then. We’d gone our separate ways and lived our own lives for years now. I’d told myself it was in the past, and that we’d never see each other again anyway. But it turned out fate had different plans.

So now, I found myself in the interesting position of working a job with my ex-girlfriend. At least we were both professionals, right? Hopefully we could just focus on the task at hand. It wasn’t like dredging up the past was going to do either of us much good now, surely.

“All right then! Why don’t we get the food ready before the princess comes back out?”

After some slightly awkward introductions, we’d formed ourselves into a party and headed out to a nearby forest where the shrine was located.

“Phew. Nicely done, girls. This was an easy one!”

“Looks like those rumors about the professor who made it through the Teleportation Labyrinth were true, huh?”

“Sorry, but I have to apologize! I really underestimated you at first… That lesson you gave me about splitting your focus between healing and offensive magic was so amazing, though! It’s such a clean, simple theory, and you actually put it into practice!”

Thanks to my careful efforts, we’d gotten through the job without any uncomfortable incidents to speak of. It was going very, very well, in fact.

The members of “The Amazons,” an all-female S-ranked party, had been openly dubious about Roxy at first. Understandable, perhaps, given her appearance. The brat of the party had gone so far as to declare “I don’t want to work with a kid!” with us right there in the room. 

However, once we left the city and got through our first few battles, their opinion of her did a complete 180. Despite the slapdash nature of our temporary party, Roxy played her role as a backliner to perfection. She cast her offensive spells with impeccable timing, and healed her allies just as efficiently.

Thanks to the time she’d spent exploring labyrinths all on her own, she was far more alert and skillful than your average mage. In fact, it sounded like she’d outdone their two missing party members all by herself.

Understandably, they’d been barraging her with compliments for some time now. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes I had to resist the urge to puff out my chest and say That’s my teacher, you know!

“Uh, hey, Rud—”

“Oh, sorry! I’ll get the food going! I wasn’t much use in those battles, but I can handle this. I’m actually pretty good at cooking!”

“…”

The only downside was that I had to dodge Sara from time to time.

She kept glaring at me as I was working on the meal, but it felt pretty clear that striking up a conversation would only make things worse.

Sometimes it’s best to avoid your troubles entirely, right?

Right. I was just doing my part to keep the mood positive. My discretion was the only reason everything had gone so smoothly!

All right, that wasn’t exactly true. 

I hadn’t contributed much of anything to the group. The Amazons were all highly skilled, and Roxy had snapped into their party perfectly. That hadn’t left much for me or Sylphie to do on our way to the shrine.

The Ranoan princess was currently inside the building itself with her personal knight, offering up some sort of formal prayer. Once she was finished, we just had to make it back to the city and our job was done. Everyone would go home happy, and Roxy’s reputation would take a big jump up, pushing her closer to her first promotion at the University of Magic.

“…”

“…”

Of course, Sara wasn’t too pleased about this situation. She’d been staring at me silently for what felt like ten straight minutes now.

I couldn’t blame her. People do tend to get a little surly when you completely ignore them. But I had to assume that dredging up the past would only make things worse.

I was about ready to ask Sylphie, who was sitting next to me, for help…but she’d been awfully quiet for a while as well. In fact, it kind of looked like she was also glaring at me.

Maybe she was just worried about me. Maybe she was worried I was going to cheat on her again. 

Or maybe she didn’t approve of the way I was deliberately ignoring Sara.

One way or the other, the silence was starting to get heavy. Like, painfully heavy. Black-hole heavy. My skin was starting to itch.

Finally, Sylphie leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Why don’t you at least talk to her, Rudy?”

Well, uh…it’s not like I’d mind having a normal conversation with her. I mean, her attitude seemed pretty casual at first, and I’d love to put the past behind us…

I wasn’t sure I could just laugh off those memories, though. The wounds still felt kind of raw. Maybe I should have just introduced her to Sylphie and Roxy right from the get-go. But at this point, she wasn’t even trying to speak to me anymore.

I should have done something before things got this bad. Now I had a hole to climb out of.

Hmm…maybe I do need to say something.

The more I thought about it, the more my policy of completely ignoring Sara seemed like a mistake. All I’d accomplished was to piss her off. I could always have kept the conversation completely businesslike.

That said, it was a little tough for me to try and change my approach now.

The biggest problem was that I basically had nothing I wanted to say to her. The only topics that came to mind were related to our past together, which would inevitably lead to a discussion of our ugly breakup. That would just put us both in a lousy mood. It might not be too pleasant for Sylphie to hear, either.

Staying silent seemed preferable to that.

I could always apologize to her for making things awkward once we made it back to the city. I was willing to endure some suffering for the sake of Roxy’s promotion.

“Miss Roxy, would you mind teaching me a little more about magic before we leave this city? Please? Pretty please?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

“Thank you so much! Hey, is it okay if I call you Elder Sister?!”

“Huh? Er, I…suppose so. If you want to.”

“Yesss! Thank you, Elder Sister!”

Things seemed so nice and happy on the other side of the group. I wanted to be a part of that conversation. Maybe I could convince Roxy to try a little royal roleplay the next time we spent the night together…

“Aah…you know, my throat’s getting awfully dry.”

All of a sudden, Ariel had broken the silence on our side of the group.

I looked over at her, a little confused. We had plenty of water to go around, after all. She stared back at me meaningfully.

“There were some nice yellow fruits growing a little way back, weren’t there? I hate to be a bother, but I’d like to try those,” Ariel continued, turning her gaze to Sara. “Would you mind picking some for me?”

Sara looked a little suspicious about why this request had come to her, but shrugged and got to her feet. “All right. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you. I suppose it wouldn’t be safe for you to walk through the forest all by yourself, though. Rudeus, Fitz…would you escort her, please?”

Oh man. So that’s what this is really about, huh… I suppose the Princess had gotten fed up with our awkwardness. This was her way of saying “go talk it out among yourselves already.”

“I think Rudy can handle it by himself. I’ll stay here with you, Princess Ariel.”

To my surprise, Sylphie had opted out.

“Oh? You think he’ll be all right alone?”

“It’s fine. He’s not the kind of man who hides from danger.”

Was that what I was doing? Hiding? 

Yeah, it was true. I had been hiding—both from Sara, and from our past together.

But there was no need to keep doing so. I had Sylphie and Roxy in my life now. My performance issues were a thing of the past. I had a family now—a daughter, even.

“All right.”

It was time to stop acting like a coward.

Sara and I made our way back through the forest to the spot where we’d passed those yellow fruits. We found them easily enough, and picked a few from the low bushes they were growing on.

It was time to find a way to start the conversation. Sylphie had sent me out here with her blessing; I couldn’t chicken out now.

Okay, let’s reframe the situation. We’re old friends who bumped into each other by random chance. Wouldn’t it be kind of sad if we just did the job without even talking to each other?

Yeah, that works.

“So…you kept going as an adventurer, huh?”

It wasn’t the world’s greatest opening line, to be honest.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sara’s response was understandably curt. I couldn’t let myself get intimidated, though.

Deep breaths, Rudeus.

It wasn’t like I’d meant to imply anything about her abilities as an adventurer. She knew that much herself. This was just the way she was, really.

“Well, Counter Arrow dissolved when Suzanne and Timothy got married, right? I’ve been wondering what you and Patrice were doing with yourselves, that’s all. Do you know what happened to him?”

“He joined a different party when we broke up. Dunno where he is now. He’s probably still an adventurer, assuming he’s not dead or crippled.”

Patrice had been a frontline warrior in Counter Arrow. He was an easy-going guy, but that was basically the only thing I remembered about him.

“What about you, Sara?”

“I bounced around a whole bunch of parties for a while. This group scooped me up right after I hit A-rank, and I’ve been with them ever since.”

She’d spent some time now with the Amazons, from the sound of things.

Now that I thought about it, they were probably the single prettiest party I’d ever encountered. Their muscular leader had a beautiful face, and the subleader made that scar look good. The young mage was kind of a brat, but she was definitely on the cute side.

But none of them could compare to Sylphie or Roxy, of course!

“You know, I don’t think I’ve seen an all-female party before.”

“Yeah, well, there’re a lot of them in the lower ranks, I guess. But once you get past Rank C or so, everyone’s looking for skill more than anything else, so it’s not too common.”

“Huh…”

I didn’t remember seeing any gender-based parties on the Demon Continent, even in the lower ranks. But that place was kind of a special case, given how strong the monsters were there.

“This is my first time in one myself, but it definitely has its plusses, let me tell you. Gets you priority access to some clients, for one thing. Like this one.”

“Ah, yeah. I can see why you’d want a female party to guard a princess.”

It might be a bit risky to entrust a pretty young thing like that to a gang of smelly, aggressive men. A lot of adventurers were one step removed from being street thugs. People did tend to be more professional at the higher ranks, but an all-female party offered some reassurance that things couldn’t go too badly. Not that women are always kind to each other, of course…

“It’s also just less stressful in general. Don’t have to worry about all the romantic drama, you know?”

I smiled awkwardly at that one. If I’d ended up formally joining Counter Arrow and pairing off with Sara, it would have been us making things awkward for the others.

I also found myself thinking about the youngest member of the Amazons, though. Whenever we stopped for a break, she’d throw herself at the party’s leader or subleader with squeals of affection. And once she realized how talented Roxy was, she’d been all over her. She had a habit of sticking her tongue out at me while squeezing my wife in her arms.

“…No romance, huh? Really?”

“Huh? Oh, her. Well, you do get girls like that, but it’s just less of a problem,” said Sara with a shrug of her shoulders. “It helps that nobody gets pregnant or anything, you know?”

Huh. Good to hear the party got along, at least.

The two of us did have some painful memories in our past, but from the sound of things, Sara was enjoying her life just fine.

I was happy for her. And a bit relieved, maybe.

“So anyway, what about you?”

“Um…what about me?”

“I heard you’re married with a kid now, right? Sounds like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“Oh. Who told you that?”

“Suzanne. She sent me a letter a little while back, you know?” Sara’s tone was starting to sound a bit accusatory.

The whole reason that we’d broken up was my total inability to perform in bed with her. And here I was, married to two different women whose company I enjoyed on a regular basis. I could see how that would sour someone’s mood. 

I’d been suffering from a serious case of erectile dysfunction back then, but I wasn’t sure Sara even knew that. I didn’t think I’d gone into that much detail with Suzanne. Also, it wasn’t an excuse for my behavior. Whatever the cause, I’d ended up comparing the girl unfavorably to a prostitute in public. That was a hell of a way to treat someone who had feelings for you.

Bumping into a jerk like that on the job would make the nicest person on earth kind of cranky. Especially if they tried to pretend you didn’t exist.

“Well, uh…I’m sorry, Sara.”

“What? I’m not asking you to apologize!”

With those words, Sara jumped to her feet. Her face was flushed; her lips were pursed and trembling.

Crap, now I pissed her off. Maybe this was a bad idea after all… Okay, stop. Too late for that now. What am I supposed to do?

“Err…”

Before I could find anything to say, Sara spun around and sat back down with her back turned to me. 

I got up slowly, trying not to provoke her, and stepped forward so I could see her face.

She was staring down at the ground with a sullen expression. To my surprise, she looked more depressed than angry.

“…Sara?”

“Yeah? What?”

“I know you don’t want me to apologize, but I’m going to anyway. The way we broke up wasn’t, uh…it wasn’t the best, right? So…I didn’t know what to say to you, I guess. That’s no excuse for ignoring you, though. I’m really sorry.”

Sighing wearily, Sara looked up at me. “Look, I just told you I didn’t want an apology, okay?”

If she didn’t want an apology, what did she want? I was starting to regret not asking Sylphie for some advice back there. 

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

“Oh? Won’t your wife get mad at you?”

“Nah. I’ll tell her what happened once we bring the fruit back.”

“…Wait, so that’s her? The sunglasses girl?”

“Didn’t Suzanne describe her in the letter?”

“Nah, just mentioned her name was Sylphiette. And I mean…I didn’t think she’d be a royal bodyguard, you know?”

So Suzanne had neglected to describe her beauty? Sheer negligence, really.

“I guess that explains why you two seemed so friendly, though,” Sara continued.

“It’s not just her, either. The blue-haired demon girl’s my other wife.”

“What, her too?! Hmm. Isn’t that interesting…?”

While Sara pondered this, I gingerly took a seat next to her. As I settled down, I caught a whiff of her scent, still familiar from the brief time we’d spent together years ago.

Neither of us said anything for a moment. This time, it was Sara who broke the silence. 

“To tell you the truth, I was planning to come by your house while we were in town.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I’ve been…meaning to apologize to you. For a really long time.”

“You wanted to apologize? To me?”

“Yep. After you ran off, I found out about your, uh…condition. And I realized what a jerk I’d been. I made you into the bad guy, right? Got all mad and pitched a big fit. Didn’t even stop to think you might be hurting, too…even worse than I was.”

The memories were still uncomfortably fresh. I could hear myself, hopelessly drunk, shouting a bunch of stupid nonsense. I could see the rage and humiliation on Sara’s face as she confronted me.

Those events had hurt me deeply. But I knew I’d hurt her too.

“So when Suzanne wrote me, and I learned you were in Sharia…I told myself I’d go see you. I knew this job was gonna take us here, so I figured…I’d take some time off to apologize. Y’know…for the way I acted back then.”

“…”

“But here I am snapping at you again, right? God. Can’t stand myself sometimes…” 

Sara paused for a moment, then pressed her face against her knees. When she continued, her voice was barely audible.

“Sorry.”

I wanted to put an arm around her shoulders or something, but somehow it didn’t feel appropriate right now. Instead, I hugged my knees to my chest.

“It’s been a while now,” I said, “so I’m going to be honest with you.”

“Hm?”

“I don’t think I was really in love with you back then or anything.”

“Uh. Excuse me?”

“The cause of my condition was…this girl named Eris. We’d travelled across the Demon Continent together, but then she vanished on me all of a sudden. And that’s when I met you, Sara. I could tell you liked me. I didn’t feel that strongly about you, but I guess I wanted to move on. You know…put the past behind me. To be honest, I was just using you.” I paused to swallow, then continued. “So…yeah. You really don’t owe me any apologies.”

I assumed Sara would be angry with me. I was fine with that. She’d told me the whole truth. She’d been as honest as she could. I felt like it was only fair to return the favor.

For some reason, though, she wasn’t angry. She was just staring at me with a look of surprise on her face. 

“Wow. You’ve really changed.”

“Uh…have I?”

“Yeah. Back in the day, you never opened up to me like that. Never even pretended to.”

“I guess not.”

“You never talked to anyone this casually, either. Or if you did, it was kind of forced and awkward.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. You seem so much more…natural now.”

Come to think of it, I wasn’t speaking to her as formally as I used to. That probably had something to do with the way my mindset had changed. Back then, convinced that Eris had abandoned me, I was terrified of conflict and rejection. I was careful to speak as politely as possible. That way, I wouldn’t offend anyone—and I’d keep them at a distance, too.

It was simple enough. I didn’t want to risk getting hurt.

But now I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“…Someone gave me a bit of confidence, I guess.”

“Your wife, you mean?”

“Yeah. After that night with you, I, uh…had that same problem for a couple years. Consistently.”

“…”

“Sylphie was the one who cured me. It was her first time, but…she did everything she could. Even used an aphrodisiac on me. And she got it working again.”

I went into some specific detail. Sara’s face went red, but she listened to every word, even leaning forward slightly. It got a little embarrassing after a while. Maybe there was such a thing as being too open.

“So if she did all that for you, why’d you go and grab a second one?”

“Well…Roxy did just as much for me, in her own way.”

As I proceeded to tell that story, Sara listened with open curiosity, holding a hand over her mouth. From time to time, I thought I saw her nostrils flaring.

When I got to the end, though, she looked a little sad.

“You know…I don’t think I could have done anything like that for you. Even if you’d told me everything back then.”

“…”

“Maybe that’s the reason you never really fell for me.”

Maybe it was. Sylphie and Roxy both loved me. But I loved them even more. They’d changed my life for the better, and I’d fallen for them because of it.

On the face of it, that sounded almost transactional. It was just a fact, though—they’d won me over by being there for me when I needed them. Maybe that was what distinguished them from Sara.

“Gah!”

All of a sudden, Sara jumped to her feet with a yelp of aggravation. Putting both hands on her hips, she glared down at me.

“Look, let’s get one thing straight right now. I might have loved you back then, but that ended the day you ran off! I mean, I did want to apologize for being such a jerk to you, but that’s all. I’m not remotely interested in giving it another shot after all this time!”

Having spit all that out with some real vigor, she snorted and turned her head to one side before continuing.

“And on that note, stop looking at me all apologetically! We’re just old adventuring buddies, right? Try acting like it!”

There was a hint of embarrassment on her face. But at the same time, she looked relieved. It had taken quite a while, but we’d finally gotten some closure. It was a little bittersweet, but I found myself smiling anyway.

***

After our talk, I managed to interact normally with Sara.

My approach was a mixture of my “Linia and Pursena” mode with my “Nanahoshi” mode, with the overall intensity dialed down a bit. It seemed just about right. Sara’s performance also improved noticeably. She supported the party with remarkable skill, firing off arrows exactly where they were needed most.

In general, her role was to stand slightly back from the action and calmly direct the flow of battle. It reminded me of the way Suzanne used to shout out friendly orders to the members of Counter Arrow; Sara had a different style, but she always kept their young mage on target and in the right position.

It was quite a contrast with the impulsive but talented kid I remembered from the old days. Maybe having someone younger to look after had helped her grow more mature? Whatever the case, she was the very picture of a veteran adventurer by now.

In the end, the princess’ pilgrimage went off without a hitch. We had to fight off groups of monsters several times along the way, but none of them gave us any trouble. We made it back to Sharia without any injuries to speak of.

Just like that, our job was complete.

The Ranoan Princess and her guards stayed overnight at their inn in Sharia, picked up the two recuperating adventurers, and then departed for the capital in the morning. They needed to make it back before the snows started to fall in earnest, so they couldn’t afford to waste any time.

The rest of us went out to the city wall to see them off.

“I don’t wanna goooo! I still have so much to learn about magic from my dear Miss Roxy!”

“Control yourself, kid.”

“Oh, I know! Why don’t you just join our party, Miss Roxy? Don’t worry, I’m sure everyone would be thrilled to have you!”

“It’s very kind of you to offer, but I’m happy with my job here. And I’m a married woman…”

“That’s no big deal! If you wander off for a while, he’ll treat you like a goddess when you show up again!”

“That’s enough, Alisa! Put a sock in it.”

“Awww. Okay…”

Before they left, the Amazons made a half-serious effort to recruit Roxy, but she gently declined. It was a good thing, too. If she’d showed any interest at all, I would have launched straight into my patented “clinging and blubbering” defense. Dignity was a secondary concern here. I needed my Roxy right where she was.

“All right, Rudeus. Guess this is goodbye.”

Sara was leaving too, of course. At first, I’d been horrified to see her here, but by now I was glad she’d come. I thought that talk had done both of us some good.

“Yeah. Stay safe out there.”

“You take care of yourself too. Don’t make your wives cry, all right?”

“Well, I’ll do my best.”

“It seems like they get along okay, but don’t you ever start comparing them out loud. If you put one of them down to compliment the other, they’ll remember it forever.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay. I’ll make a mental note of that…”

“You better. See you around!”

With that, Sara punched me lightly in the chest and walked off. Pretty casual, as farewells go.

Sylphie, Roxy and I stood just outside the city walls for a while, watching as the party made it way down the road.

Just as they disappeared from view, Sylphie finally spoke up.

“Um, Rudy. Are you sure you want to let her go like that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…you used to be in love with her, right?”

Oh my. It seems there’s been a slight misunderstanding here, Miss Sylphiette…

“Nah, we weren’t in love. We were a little awkward and confused together, that’s all.”

“Hmm. Okay…” Looking somewhat less than convinced, Sylphie leaned over to study my face. “Tell me something, Rudy. What is your type, anyway?”

Roxy’s ears perked up at this, and she drew in close as well. It seemed they were both rather interested in the question. Would they be happy if I just said girls with small breasts? I felt like that might backfire badly…

“Hmm, good question. I used to have all these details worked out…like, a girl this tall, with that haircut, and this body. I don’t think I had it right, though.”

I paused for a moment to study Sylphie, then Roxy. It took a moment, but then an answer popped into my head.

“It seems like girls who help me out when I’m in trouble get a special place in my heart.”

That put a big, goofy smile on Sylphie’s face. “Ooh. Does that mean I’m special, Rudy?”

“Obviously. You cured me of something I’d been suffering for years. I’m very happy right now, and I think you’re the one who made that possible.”

“Oh yeah? Hee hee hee… Good thing I worked up the courage back then.”

Roxy was looking up at me a bit uncertainly. Her expression read: What about me?

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug. Of course you’re special too, Roxy. She’d pulled me out of that house that I was hiding in, and she’d pieced me back together when Paul’s death left me broken. I owed everything to her.

“Anyway, I guess that means there aren’t many special girls out there for me. No need to get too anxious, Sylphie. I won’t be picking up any more wives, I promise.”

At this, Sylphie reached out to take my hand. “Okay…but I’m just going to repeat myself for a second, Rudy. As long as they’re special to you, and you’re special to them, I’m all right with it. I guess Sara wasn’t quite in that category, though.”

All of a sudden, I found myself remembering a red-headed girl who had been special to me once. I remembered her smile. How we’d struggled our way home from a far-off land. How she’d wept when I nearly died. And I remembered that last night we’d spent together.

Eris had abandoned me. Or so I’d thought for years.

But a man who I’d traveled with, and who I trusted deeply, was convinced I was mistaken.

What if he was right? What would happen then?

“Uh, Sylphie?”

“Yes?”

“I’m not entirely sure about this, but…I might end up breaking that promise again.”

“…That’s all right. I didn’t accept it in the first place, remember? Just make sure you bring her to meet me first. I’m not going to tie you down, but I’m not about to let you marry some girl who doesn’t even love you, either.”

“Got it.”

“That is a promise, okay? No mistresses or secret children. Don’t hide things from me…unless you want to make me mad.”

“U-uh… Right.”

“Okay, then! I’ll be very interested to see what number three is like, assuming you manage to catch her.”

Hmm. My sweet little Sylphie was starting to develop something of a commanding aura. Not so long ago, she was modestly claiming that she’d “just been lucky,” but it seemed she’d found some self-confidence.

That was a good sign. The girl had seemed a little anxious ever since she married me, and it worried me at times.

All right then. I’ll have to make damn sure I keep that second promise, at the very least…

 Legends of the University #10: The Boss is a hopeless womanizer.