Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Return to the Demon Continent

OUR PLAN was simple. First, Perugius would get us to the Demon Continent. We would then start our search for Kishirika and ask her if she knew how to cure Dryne’s Syndrome or, failing that, if she knew anyone who did.

Really, it was simple.

Or at least it would be if she was holed up in some castle somewhere like Perugius. Sadly, Kishirika tended to wander the continent, so it was down to luck if we could find her. I had no idea how long that would take.

The situation wasn’t all bad, at least. Perugius said he would make a teleportation circle that would take us to one of the Demon Continent’s central hubs. Simply put, we could teleport instantly to most of the towns in The Demon Continent from this castle. I’d been most anxious about travel time, so that worry was out of the picture at least. With any luck, we might be able to find Kishirika within the week.

Teleportation circles were a bit terrifying, though. Their power let us instantaneously travel from this castle in the sky to any town in the world. That meant, as a tool of war, they could let armies bypass any terrain or defenses. Not that anyone would try to invade this fortress. Still, I could understand why it was considered forbidden magic and why Orsted and Perugius only used it in secret.

No, I’m sure they’re not the only ones using it. No doubt there were other spells and tools that people used in secret despite it being forbidden. Such was the way of the world. 

I had no qualms cheating and using such magic to speed up my search for Kishirika. We would be using Roxy’s strategy when she came to the Demon Continent looking for me: we would visit each city individually and search them thoroughly before moving on. I wasn’t sure how long that would take, but I guessed we’d be done in maybe a year. After all, travel would only take a day.

The only issue we faced was potentially passing each other by as we moved to the next town and Kishirika rolled into the one we’d just vacated. To counter that, I would take a page from Roxy’s book and put in requests at each Adventurers’ Guild we passed to reduce the chances of that happening. It would be a Kishirika treasure hunt, so to speak. We’d pay a handsome reward to anyone who managed to find and capture the Great Demon Emperor. With the stipulation that they leave her unharmed, of course.

I gathered the others—Ariel, Luke, Cliff, Elinalise, Zanoba, and Sylphie—and explained my plan to them.

Sylphie had regained consciousness while I was speaking with Perugius. However, it was obvious that these treatments had taken a toll on her. She was fairly thin to begin with, but now she looked almost skeletal. I figured she needed at least five days to regain her strength.

“In order to save Nanahoshi, I would like all of you to help,” I said.

Ariel immediately nodded. “If that’s what you wish, I will gladly lend you my magical implements.” She offered up one of the rings she wore. It was one of a pair, and pouring mana into one made the jewel on the other ring light up. It was a secret treasure of the Asura Kingdom, used to alert the person on the other end of danger. I wasn’t sure what I would use it for, but surely it would come in handy at some point. Almost like a pager.

“Zanoba, Miss Elinalise, I would like you to come with me.”

I wanted the two as bodyguards. After all, Zanoba was a Blessed Child. If we happened to face a hydra again, he could surely handle it. I couldn’t create a Battle Aura, so my physical defenses were pretty weak. It was only thanks to Disturb Magic and the Mana Absorption Stone that I had high magical defense. With Zanoba in our vanguard, we’d have a chance if we faced another hydra. Of course, I’d be devastated if my overconfidence led to his death, which was why I added Elinalise for support.

“What about me?” asked Cliff.

“I’d like you to create a magical implement.”

Frankly speaking, there was no guarantee that Kishirika would know anything about this sickness or that we would find a cure. It was possible we were just wasting time. Therefore, I thought we should approach the situation from multiple angles. Nanahoshi’s illness was similar to a curse. If Cliff worked off his existing research, he might be able to make an item capable of extending her life.

“No,” he said. “I’m going with you!”

Cliff was quite opposed to my idea.

“Please, take me along! I want to do something for Nanahoshi, too!”

His research would constitute doing something for her, but he wanted to be more proactive. That was understandable. Doing the same research he always did wouldn’t give the same sense of accomplishment.

Cliff continued, “I implore you, Rudeus. I understand the feeling of wanting to go back home.”

Now that I thought about it, Cliff had been away from his home for quite a while. He was fairly short for his age, so he only looked about fifteen, but in reality, he was already nineteen. I think he said he left the Holy Country of Millis about six or seven years ago.

Cliff’s desire to go home wasn’t exactly the same as Nanahoshi’s, given she was from an entirely different world, but he could empathize with her on some level at least.

“All right,” I said finally.

“Seriously?!”

I was already taking Elinalise with me, and with Nanahoshi frozen in time, there was a limit to how much research Cliff could do here anyway. I didn’t have to force him to stay and work while we went out looking. He could resume his research if we came up empty-handed or failed to find Kishirika altogether, we would support him in whatever way we could. “Yes, Master Cliff, I’d be happy to have you along.”

In that case we needed to shorten our search time in order to make the shift to researching a cure as smooth as possible, assuming our current route of inquiry failed. About six months to a year should be sufficient.

“And…what about me? What…should I do?” Sylphie asked at last, her face pale. She had yet to recover her strength, so there was no way she could come along with us. Besides…

“Sylphie, I want you to rest for the time being.”

“Sure, but after that, then what?”

“When you finish recovering…” I hesitated. Finally, I said, “I’d like you to return home and look after Lucie.”

“What?” Her face clouded over.

I quickly explained, “I might not be able to come home for the foreseeable future. I don’t think it’s good for a child to be away from both of their parents for so long.”

I wasn’t saying a child absolutely needed their parents for proper childhood development, but Paul and Zenith were the reason I grew up the way I did. It was better for a child if they had parents to look after them. It was fine for their mom and dad to leave for a week or two, but not to leave a child without parents for months on end.

“Um, okay,” Sylphie conceded. “I guess you do have a point. If you’re not around, it’s up to me to look after her.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

I had already told her that Nanahoshi’s condition wasn’t her fault, but it was clear that Sylphie still wanted to help. “Sylphie, you have already done more than enough. I’ll take care of the rest. Trust me.”

“I know…” She nodded, even though she still looked disappointed.

It wasn’t like she didn’t love Lucie, but Sylphie had been fending for herself since she was 10, thanks to the Displacement Incident. Her parents had died before they ever had a chance to reunite. Sylphie had largely survived because of luck and the people she met along the way, but she still worked hard at her job and put a lot of effort into our marriage as well. Perhaps she thought a child would be fine without their parents. Or maybe it was a more widespread belief in this world that a child didn’t always need a mother and father watching over them.

Either way, Sylphie was still only 18. People’s way of thinking didn’t suddenly change the moment they had kids. Instead, they matured through the years as they raised said children. The thought of having kids never even occurred to me when I was eighteen in my previous life. In that respect, Sylphie was doing fantastic.

“I do think Roxy will have some words for you if you’re going to the Demon Continent,” Sylphie warned. “There’s none among us more familiar with that place than her.”

“You’re right about that. If I run into any trouble while I’m there, I’ll be sure to consult Roxy when I get back.”

Roxy wasn’t here. I would love to have her advice, but Perugius had no intention of letting a demon aboard. He rebuffed me when I tried asking directly.

At the same time, Roxy had her career as a professor to think about. After going through all that trouble to earn her position, it would be a shame for her to be fired after a year. I did want to save Nanahoshi, but not at the cost of everything we’d built as a family. Our lives were important, too. That was why I needed Sylphie and Roxy to look after everyone else and keep things running smoothly.

Okay, so part of that was probably my ego talking. My words weren’t exactly wisdom for the ages, but all the same, I didn’t want Roxy and Sylphie walking into danger. I never wanted to witness someone I love die ever again. Not after Paul. Nowhere in this world was entirely safe, but the Demon Continent was far more dangerous than the Magic City of Sharia.

“Please don’t lose an arm or anything this time, okay?” Sylphie’s brows knitted with concern.

“I’ll be careful.”

That was precisely why I was bringing Zanoba and Elinalise with me. Although if either of them were in mortal danger, I would readily sacrifice my right arm to save them. Preferably not my own life, though—not if I could help it.

Well, whatever. Things would go much better this time around, I was sure.

***

I returned home once more to explain the situation to Roxy and the rest of my family. When I told them I wouldn’t be coming home for a while, Aisha in particular looked anxious. Fortunately, going back and forth would be much easier this time. I planned to come back and see them every few days. It was more like a business trip than an extended absence. I only told them I might not be back for a while in case the unforeseen happened. There was a possibility our teleportation circle would deactivate, then it would take us a long time to travel home.

“All right, I’m leaving things here to you.”

“Okay. You be careful, Rudy,” said Roxy.

I figured she would insist on coming along, but she agreed to stay behind after hearing all the details. It was a bit anticlimactic, actually.

Anyway, I would be travelling to and fro from the floating fortress, but it was important to prepare for the unexpected; you never knew what might happen. Perugius told us that even if we were unable to use the teleportation circle to return to the fortress, we could use a certain magical implement in front of one of the monuments to the Seven Great Powers and he would send someone to retrieve us. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, but you never knew what could happen. Maybe Laplace would revive the second after we left. If that happened, Perugius would be too preoccupied to worry about us.

With those possibilities in mind, I secured a large sum of money and items we could barter with, as well as a map of the teleportation ruins. We would be able to return here from the Demon Continent in six months as long as we had all of these precautions in place. I also tucked a number of useful items in my luggage, including some Lamplight Spirit scrolls. My preparations were all in order.

***

The teleportation circle in Perugius’s fortress was located below the ground level.

“This way,” said Sylvaril as she guided us to a room on the basement’s third floor. The door had been locked when we came exploring. The interior was unlit, but the pale glow of the circle kept the darkness from swallowing us up.

“Lord Perugius has newly drawn this circle. It is linked to a circle in the Demon Continent that has long gone unused.”

“What do you mean by ‘long gone unused’?”

“There are many teleportation circles in the world whose connecting circles have, for whatever reason, been destroyed, leaving them inactive.”

Teleportation circles only operated so long as both sides were connected. By linking his circle to one that had come decoupled, he could restore its functionality. The circle in question was probably one of many that had met such a fate.

“And Lord Perugius knows of all the teleportation circles out there?”

“He is powerful and great,” Sylvaril answered proudly.

Honestly, it would be useful to set up a bunch of new teleportation circles linking to those old ones. Granted, such magic was forbidden in the first place, and I was sure he wouldn’t teach it to me. Plus, fiddling with such things for selfish reasons would only net me more enemies, and that’s a terrifying thought. No need to be greedy.

Besides, I couldn’t forget that anyone could use those circles—not just me. It was always possible a fearsome monster could stumble onto one of those circles. If I created a bunch without regard for the consequences, it could lead to the destruction of an entire village. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if that happened.

“Lord Perugius said this circle will lead you to a place that is close to the Great Demon Emperor,” said Sylvaril.

“Wait, so he knows where she is?”

“Of course.”

Oh, okay. That’s a surprise. I figured he’d just send us to a big city and we’d have to do everything on our own.

“That said, there is a possibility his calculations are off.”

“Yeah, that’s not surprising,” I muttered. The Demon Emperor I knew was rather unpredictable, after all. Just when you thought you’d find her in one place, she would wander somewhere else. Her fiancé was the same in that regard.

Oh, that’s right. I forgot about Badigadi.

I hadn’t seen him in a while. Maybe he already returned to his own territory. It seemed he had also lived a long time, so asking him about the syndrome might not be a bad idea either.

“All right,” I said. “We’ll check it out anyway.”

“We haven’t checked your destination. There is a possibility that the circle on the other end is located in a place with no exit. Please be cautious.”

“You mean you think it’s closed off?”

“Possibly. In order to conceal its location, someone may have sealed the entrance.”

Well, she had a good point there. If there was no entrance to the place, no one would ever discover it. There were people out there who searched for hidden doors, but few who went around brandishing a pickaxe at walls. The only people who dug that persistently when they found some old ruins were Egyptologists.

Who knows, maybe there are grave robbers and archaeologists here that go pilfering teleportation ruins and I just don’t know about it.

I shrugged. “Well, if it looks like we can’t get through at all, we’ll just come back here.”

“I wish you good fortune.”

Sylvaril remained in the room as our party jumped onto the magic circle and teleported away.

***

How many times had I teleported like this now? Once during the Displacement Incident, twice going to and from Begaritt, and then once using magical implements to visit Perugius’s castle. This excursion was jaunt number five. I was finally getting accustomed to the sensation, which was like waking up from a dream.

“Phew.”

The place we teleported to was a dark room. The stench of mold and dust hung heavy in the air. Whatever this place was, it had long been abandoned. There was no light and no candles we could use. It really was like an old ruin.

Come to think of it, I forgot to ask where exactly the circle was going to take us.

“Achoo!” Cliff sneezed behind me.

I glanced back as the other three stepped out of the circle. Elinalise was entirely unfazed. Zanoba also strode confidently. Cliff was the only one who seemed intrigued by the teleportation process.

“The air here sure is stale. Let us leave this place quickly.” Zanoba kickstarted our search for a way out.

“Hm.” I scanned the walls. There were no doors, stairs, or holes in the ceiling we could crawl out of. To my chagrin, studying the floor also turned up nothing. We were in a locked room.

So this was what she meant by ‘closed off.’ Sylvaril was right on the money.

“Hey. So, uh, how do you figure we get out of here?” I asked.

“Hm.”

Our group split up and began searching for ways out. We looked up, down, left, right, left, right, from B to A… Basically, we looked everywhere and then some.

“This is it,” Elinalise announced after minutes of searching. She had found a wall adjacent to another room. She’d knocked on it and heard the echo, meaning it led somewhere. The walls were so thick that I couldn’t hear anything. Guess it’s no surprise that elves have superior hearing.

“Okay! It’s punching time, Zanoba!”

“Hmph!” He slammed his fist into the wall. Despite being about 50 centimeters thick, it still gave way, leaving a small opening. Zanoba continued to widen it, jabbing his fist through the wall with the same ease as a child toppling a sandcastle. Once it was wide enough for someone to slip through, Elinalise stepped through. “I’ll take the lead.”

This new opening led to another open space, also pitch-black. That was expected, given this structure was made entirely of stone, but there was little else we knew about the place. We had no idea whether we were above ground or below it.

“Rudeus, give me some light,” said Elinalise.

I followed her command and used one of the Lamplight Spirit scrolls. It illuminated our surroundings, revealing a square room about ten meters across.

“Ugh…” Cliff groaned as he glanced around. Shadows danced across a number of bleached white bones on the floor. As we were on the Demon Continent, it was perhaps unsurprising that the skeletons varied in shape and size, making them seem almost artificial.

“It appears this place was once a prison,” said Elinalise after examining the remains. Indeed, there were rusted metal cuffs on the skeletons’ hands.

Cliff’s expression turned sorrowful as he clasped his hands. “Khh… May Lord Millis grant them salvation in death.”

I followed his example, placing my own hands together. Hail to Amitābhā Buddha, hail to Amitābhā Buddha. Rest in peace. I’m afraid we will disturb you for the moment, but we will leave as soon as we can.

“All right, let’s be off.”

This place was covered in bones. Just how many people had they locked up in here? I bet none of them realized that just on the other side of that wall, there was a teleportation circle. Wait, but Perugius mentioned that the circle wasn’t connected to anything anymore. Maybe these people were teleported here and sealed in with magic. If that were the case, whoever did it was awfully cruel.

“I found some stairs,” said Elinalise. “We can go up from there.”

The steps were in the corner of the room. From the look of it, these prisoners weren’t even kept in cells. Or so I thought, until I approached the stairs and spotted some old rusty hinges on the floor. Maybe there had once been wooden bars to hold these people in, but they rotted away over the millennia.

At the top of the stairs was a metal hatch that opened upward. Elinalise carefully checked it for traps and tried to open it, but no luck. There was something heavy on top of it, locking it in place.

“All right, Zanoba Robo, time for you to blast it open!” I declared.

“Master, what is this ‘Robo’ thing you speak of?”

“Oh, uh, in one of the regions I’ve been to, that’s what they call men with bodies of steel who possess monstrous strength.”

“Hahaha, so that’s what it means. Hmph!”

Zanoba pressed his hands against the door and began heaving. It creaked as it started to open. Sand came falling down on us. “Guh!”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’ll take care of the sand.”

“Y-yes, all right, Master.”

I used my magic to block the falling sand as Zanoba continued lifting, heaving the cumbersome hatch with all his might. Soon, rays of light punched through the cracks. Apparently, this was the way outside. Once Zanoba had forced the lid up far enough that someone could climb through, Elinalise slipped past us and headed out first.

“It’s all clear.”

With this assurance, we clambered after her.

Outside, we found ourselves on a steep incline. The sharp slope was covered with reddish-brown dirt, with boulders strewn about as far as the eye could see. In the distance lay a forest that resembled the bones of a fish, a unique sight only found on the Demon Continent. I also spotted what appeared to be a Great Tortoise far off on the horizon.

“So this is the Demon Continent!” Cliff gulped, cautiously gazing down the incline.

There was no city nearby, at least not that I could see. I wondered how close we really were to Kishirika. Did we need to seek the closest city? And where in the world were we anyway? Perhaps it would be best for us to return to the fortress and ask.

No, before we do that, we should search the area.

“Master Cliff, the Demon Continent is enormous and dangerous. Worse, many of the monsters here cluster together, so please be careful.”

“Yeah, I know.” Cliff’s expression was entirely serious as he nodded.

I meant what I said about this place being perilous. Even a skilled warrior would lose his life if he wandered around thinking it was as safe as the Central Continent or the Millis Continent.

“There are no monsters in our vicinity. We’re safe for the moment,” said Elinalise. 

She wasn’t letting her guard down. I wanted to think I hadn’t either, but the last time I was here, Ruijerd was with me. Perhaps that had softened my sense of danger, but I could at least make use of my experiences in Begaritt now.

“Also, I should warn you that there aren’t many Millis faithful here. Their way of thinking is much different from yours, so try not to start any unnecessary fights,” I said.

“I already know…” Cliff cut himself off and cleared his throat before continuing. “No, you’re right. I understand.”

Maybe I sounded a bit too condescending, but Cliff had never been anywhere with this many demon folk. Picking fights over insignificant differences in opinion would only cause problems. This wasn’t like when I was travelling with Eris. I wanted to avoid conflict as much as possible.

“Cliff doesn’t know Demon Tongue,” said Elinalise. “So you won’t have to worry.”

True, and Elinalise didn’t know how to speak it either. She and her party had traveled this continent for nearly two years, but apparently, they let Roxy do most of the talking. Although Elinalise seemed to know some sexual terms. If Cliff heard about her daily life here, he’d probably faint. But that was because of her curse.

“Master!”

Zanoba had crested the slope and was bellowing down at me. The concept of being careful was probably entirely lost on him. Not surprising. He could fall from a cliff and come out unscathed.

“Do you see something?” I climbed up after him. 

“Whoa.” The edge of the slope abruptly dropped off to sheer cliff. My eyes widened in surprise at the sight that lay beyond.

“Ooh, this is amazing. So this is what cities here look like.” Cliff’s voice was full of wonder.

This was no ordinary cliff we were standing on—it was an enormous one. A whole city sprawled below us, nestled inside a crater. In the middle were the ruins of an iron castle.

“Wait, so this is where he thinks she is?” I mumbled to myself sullenly. 

I knew this city. The crater acted as natural protection, preventing monsters from invading. At night, the magic stones embedded in the inner walls would light up, illuminating the city.

I also knew the origin of the castle. It was once the headquarters of the Demon World’s Great Emperor, Kishirika Kishirisu. The place was badly damaged in a conflict during Laplace’s War. It was now known as the Old Kishirika Castle.

This city, Rikarisu, had left me with nothing but bad memories the last time I was here.