Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Eris Greyrat (Part 1)

I WOKE UP EARLY and accompanied Norn for a run followed by some practice swings, made it back in time to hug Sylphie as she tended Lucie, said good morning to Lilia and Aisha in the living room, combed and braided Roxy’s hair while she struggled to wake up, found Zenith in the garden quietly watching our pet Treant Byt, let her know that breakfast was ready, and then had a big meal with the entire family.

In other words, I was back to my old, peaceful routine.

Of course, it wasn’t like nothing had ever happened. I really had tried to kill the Dragon God Orsted. I’d been utterly defeated… but somehow made it out alive.

I glanced down at my hands. They were a testament to that fact. When I squeezed them into fists, I could feel my fingertips pressing against my palm—on both sides.

On that day, after I bowed to Orsted and swore my loyalty, he’d made good on his promise to use his Healing magic on me. My severed right arm was regenerated in moments, along with an added bonus: the left hand that Manatite Hydra took from me some time earlier.

Orsted proceeded to cast some other spell on me, handed me a bracelet he’d been wearing on his arm, and departed with the words, “I’ll be in touch once you’ve regained your mana.” 

Even now, I was wearing the bracelet in question on my left arm. I wasn’t clear on its function, though. Maybe it would accelerate my mana regeneration, or somehow prevent the Man-God from spying on me.

The latter seemed plausible. Ten days had passed since the battle, but the Man-God hadn’t appeared in my dreams yet. And Orsted had said something about protecting me from his influence.

Then again, for all I knew it was just something he gave out to anyone under his command, like some sort of official Dragon God badge.

In any case… Orsted had defeated me, and I was now his subordinate. I’d betrayed the Man-God and joined forces with his enemy. I would probably be wearing this bracelet for the rest of my life.

I had no regrets about the choice I’d made. To be honest, it felt kind of nice to have betrayed that faceless bastard. At the moment, I was more relieved than anxious.

There was no turning back at this point. Even if Orsted turned out to be a real piece of work himself, I couldn’t double-cross him. The die had been cast. It was always possible that I was just doing exactly what the Man-God wanted, yes… but it was too late to worry about that now.

In all honesty, though, I had a gut feeling that Orsted would prove more trustworthy than the Man-God. Something about him reminded me of Ruijerd, in a way. He didn’t have Ruijerd’s strong sense of pride, or his affection for children. But unlike the Man-God, who just watched events passively from a distance, he seemed like the type who tried to punch his way through his problems.

One way or another, there was a big weight off my shoulders. I was breathing easier these days than I had in months. The road ahead was likely going to be a bumpy one, but it felt as if I’d made it over a steep mountain.

Incidentally, I’d spoken with Roxy and Sylphie after Orsted left. Sylphie was sobbing the entire time, and Roxy gave me a stern talking-to. They both insisted that they would have stopped me if I’d been more honest about how truly dangerous Orsted was, and expressed their fears about my new alliance with him. But I justified it as the only option I had in the short term, and they grudgingly accepted that argument.

After that, we headed straight back home, where I told my family I was fine and then went to bed immediately. Physically exhausted and completely out of mana, I ended up sleeping for an entire day.

When I finally woke, I visited all my friends and allies to let them know that I’d lost to Orsted and joined his service. Of all of them, Perugius looked the most relieved. Understandable, for sure—even with a flying fortress, you wouldn’t want to make an enemy out of that guy.

Everyone looked kind of startled when they saw me, by the way. Eventually, I found out it was because my hair had gone white. According to Perugius, this was a common side effect of using up a massive quantity of mana in a short period of time. I’d never understood why Sylphie’s hair had changed color after the Displacement Incident, but that probably explained it. However, I was already seeing some brown at the roots of my hair. Unlike Sylphie’s, my change would likely be a temporary one. Not that I really minded either way, since we had a matching look going at the moment…

There was no telling how the Man-God might respond to my betrayal, so I’d been on edge at first. So far, though, nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and I was feeling fine. My body was recovering from its ordeal, and I could sense my supply of mana gradually refilling itself.

On that note—it seemed like Orsted knew the secret behind my unusually large mana capacity. He’d mentioned something called a Laplace Aspect, whatever that was… 

Well, he’d probably tell me more at some point if it was important. I’d just have to be patient for now.

Putting all that aside… there was one thing about my routine daily life that had changed considerably.

***

“Refill, please!”

“Sorry, Eris. There’s no more soup left.”

“Really? That wasn’t much at all!”

We had a new regular at our dinner table: a tall, red-headed woman with an appetite. By which I mean Eris Greyrat, naturally. She’d followed us back to Sharia, occupied our guest room on her own initiative, and started living with us.

Ghislaine was staying at a nearby inn, incidentally. I wasn’t clear on why. Maybe seeing Zenith in her current state was too much of a shock for her. Or maybe she was trying to give us some space. One way or another, it was only Eris who’d moved in.

Eris did wander off every now and then, but in general, she spent most of her time hanging around the house. She watched Sylphie cook, Roxy preparing for her classes, or Aisha and Lilia doing housework; sometimes she’d even stare at Zenith and Lucie for no apparent reason. When she wasn’t out and about, observing members of the family seemed to be her default activity. 

It didn’t escape my notice that she usually had a small, troubled frown on her face while she observed Sylphie and Roxy in particular.

Eris had changed a lot since the last time I’d seen her. I’m not sure how to put this, but… she had a real presence now. She was tall for a woman, for one thing, and she carried herself with confidence.

Her style suited her, too. She wore the same kind of leather jacket as Ghislaine, flexible black pants, and a white top over a dark undershirt—it was an outfit she could fight in, but it also happed to underscore just how fit she was. That’s not to say that she’d turned into a mass of muscle, though. If anything, her body was lean and lithe.

To be honest, once I started looking her, it was a real challenge to stop. 

It didn’t hurt that her breasts were large, her waist was thin, and her butt was curvy. But over the last five years, her once childish face had also acquired a sharp, striking beauty. In every respect, she was obviously a young woman now, rather than the girl I’d known.

Maybe that was part of why I was finding it so hard to start a conversation with her. It might have been easier to catch up with her right after the battle, but I’d missed that window of opportunity while I was going around the city telling everyone about the situation. 

The more basic issue, though, was that my heart started racing every time I looked at her for too long.

I’d told myself a dozen times that I needed to talk to her. But somehow, I just couldn’t seem to find the right moment. Whenever I started to say something, that intense gaze would lock on to me, the pitter-pattering in my chest would kick into overdrive, and I’d find myself averting my eyes. It always took quite some time for my heart to stop pounding afterward.

What a mysterious phenomenon. Was this terror I was feeling?

Okay, yeah, just kidding. I knew exactly what was going on.

I was in love. I’d fallen hard for Eris—for the second time, I guess.

She’d sure won me over quickly, right? In my defense, though, she had dashed in to save me when I thought all hope was lost, held the Dragon God Orsted himself at bay, and risked her life to protect mine. Looked damn good doing it, too. All in all, I couldn’t really blame myself.

Right now, I was basically an infatuated schoolgirl. I was no longer Rudeus—I was Wooed-eus.

Given the way I felt about Eris, the next step seemed to be clear. Sylphie and Roxy had already given me their approval. There was no reason I couldn’t just ask her to marry me.

But… maybe it wasn’t quite that simple.

I’d only learned this from Aisha after returning home, but Eris had spent the last few years undergoing a harsh training regimen in the Sword Sanctum solely so that she could fight Orsted at my side. Our battle against him at the Red Wyrm’s Lower Jaw had left a deep impression on her, and when she’d seen me experimenting with his Disturb Magic spell afterward, she’d assumed that I was planning to defeat him someday in the future.

Personally, I thought Eris and I were pretty closely matched back then. But she decided that she wasn’t strong enough to fight alongside me as an equal, and went off to train with the very best.

From her perspective, I had basically betrayed her. She’d gone off on a long ‘overseas business trip,’ and then returned to find her no-good cheater of a boyfriend shacked up with two other women. 

There had been many misunderstandings involved, of course, and I’d explained all that in my letter. You never knew for sure with Eris, but I assumed she understood the situation. Still, that didn’t mean she was ready to accept it. Considering her personality, I half expected her to charge at me with a kitchen knife one of these days. Under the circumstances, it felt a little wrong to just… ask her to marry me anyway.

Also, she was behaving kind of strangely in general. I couldn’t figure out what she was thinking, to be honest. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Eris I knew was kind of a willful, headstrong brat. She tended charge right into action without a thought for the consequences. I’d sort of been expecting something along these lines: “I love you, Rudeus! That means you get to marry me! Get in my room—we’re making love all night long! You hear that, everyone? Rudeus is mine! Get those other women out of here!”

To my surprise, though, she hadn’t said anything of the kind. She wasn’t really… asserting herself at all, in fact. I’d never seen her this quiet and subdued.

I did have a theory that could explain all this.

Two weeks ago, Eris had risked her life to protect me from Orsted. But at that point, she was still clinging to some unrealistic fantasies about me. Up till that day, she probably believed that I’d spent the last five years rigorously training the way she had. Of course, that wasn’t even close to being true. I’d put in some effort to grow stronger, but nothing remotely comparable to what she did. Orsted had ruthlessly beaten me down, and Eris had arrived just in time to see me crawling pathetically through the dirt. Just to top things off, I’d also picked up two wives, and there were some less than flattering rumors about me going around in the city. It wouldn’t exactly be surprising if she’d felt a little disillusioned. Maybe she wasn’t saying anything because she was planning to leave soon.

The more I thought about that possibility, the more nervous I got about starting the conversation from my end. I was scared she’d reject me outright, honestly. What if she fixed those steely eyes on me and said “I don’t give a damn about you anymore!” or something? The idea was just depressing. In a sense, it was probably what I deserved, but it would still feel like a punch to the gut.

Then again, if she wanted to say that, wouldn’t she have done so sooner? 

Yeah, but… Hmm. I don’t know… Argggh…

One way or the other, we obviously needed to talk this through. I had to grow a spine and ask her what her plans were. Or so I kept telling myself… but I just couldn’t seem to find the right moment. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, and Eris was keeping quiet too. And so, the days kept slipping by with no progress on that front whatsoever.

If at all possible, I wanted to clear things up between us before Orsted got in touch with me. But I was at a loss as to how to make that happen. It was starting to feel like the two of us were going to just… keep living separately in the same house without ever figuring this out.

As I was preoccupied with these thoughts, Roxy came over to me and asked an unexpected question. 

“So, when were you planning to hold the wedding party for Eris?”

“The… wedding party?”

“Right. I mean, you held one for me, so I assume you’ll do the same for her. I’ll take the day off work for it, so I was hoping you could let me know when it’s going to happen…”

I found myself at a loss for words.

After an awkward pause, Roxy looked me in the eyes and frowned. “Don’t tell me you haven’t even talked to her about this yet. We discussed it at great length before she showed up, didn’t we?”

The expression on my face was probably… uncomfortable, to say the least.

Roxy was right, of course. I’d already settled the matter with my family; everyone was ready to accept Eris. Aisha had been willing from the start, but even Norn was treating her like a part of the family now. In fact, I’d noticed her and Eris chatting happily about Ruijerd a couple times now. They seemed to get along much better than you might have expected.

Nobody was against this marriage. The only thing holding it up was my cowardice.

“Rudy, you can’t put this off forever,” Roxy said, pointing a finger in the air in her best ‘stern big sister’ pose. “And you really shouldn’t keep Eris waiting any longer.”

“Waiting…?”

“Of course. She’s expecting you to say ‘Jump into my arms!’ or what have you.”

Just to emphasize the point, Roxy threw her arms wide open at me. It was extremely cute.

“Hmm. You really think Eris wants to hear that from me? Are you sure you’re not just thinking of your fantasies?”

“Wha— Come on, don’t tease me! You need to take this seriously, Rudy!”

Roxy threw her hands into the air in exasperation, puffing out her cheeks sulkily.

I’d pivoted to teasing her on reflex, but I did need to give this some thought. Was Eris really waiting patiently for me to make the first move? That didn’t really seem like her style…

Then again, Roxy had never led me wrong before. She was the kind of God whose advice you could actually rely on. Now that I had her pushing me forward, I had no justifiable reason to hesitate. It was time for me to show a little courage. I was going to approach Eris, tell her how I felt, and see what she had to say about it. If she laughed in my face, I’d just have to get Sylphie and Roxy to cheer me up.

First things first, though. Throwing my arms open wide, I declared, “Jump into my arms, Roxy!” in my most enthusiastic tone.

“You’re not even listening to me, are you…”

Roxy’s voice trailed off toward the end of her sentence. She looked me in the face, then glanced furtively around, confirming that there was no one around. After a moment, she lowered her hands to shoulder level and took an adorable little hop into my arms. I could feel her slightly conspicuous belly pressing up against my stomach.

“Easy there, Princess. Wouldn’t want to jostle the baby in your belly too much.” 

“Not to worry,” Roxy murmured softly in my ear. “They need a little exercise now and then if they’re going to stay in shape.”

Was that really how it worked? Well, if she said so. I’d have to defer to the expert. Deciding this was a good opportunity for some intimate family bonding time, I lowered myself into a chair and deposited Roxy on my lap. But as I did so… I had the strangest feeling I was being watched.

“…Hm?”

There was someone lurking in the doorway, half-hidden in the crouch of a nosy housekeeper. Someone with eyes that glimmered like an angry tiger’s.

It was Eris.

“Gyaa!”

“W-What’s the matter, Rudy?!”

As I shrieked and clutched Roxy tightly in my arms, Eris turned her eyes away from mine and disappeared into the shadows of the hallway. She hadn’t said a word, but she’d still managed to absolutely terrify me.

O-Okay, maybe I’ll talk to her tomorrow…

***

The next day, I wandered through the house in search of Eris, hoping to finally have the conversation I’d been putting off so long. 

It didn’t take long for me to find her. She was out in the yard, doing practice swings. For some reason, Norn was practicing right beside her. Wasn’t she supposed to be at school? Hmm. Every once in a while, Eris paused to say something like “No, no. Do it like this.” It looked like she was trying to help my little sister with her form.

“I keep telling you, that’s not right! Why aren’t you getting it?!”

“That’s not very helpful. What exactly am I doing wrong?”

“What exactly? Uh…”

Eris had never been too good at putting these things into words, so I was a little skeptical Norn would get anything out of this lesson. Some people with too much natural talent don’t even understand all the things they’re doing instinctively, you know?

But to my surprise—

“Well, you’re not using your left hand enough. If you swing your sword using just your right arm, the blade’s going to slip off target.”

Huh? Wait, am I hearing things?

“Try to focus on the movements of your left hand… Pretend you’re only using that arm. That should make your swings much cleaner.”

Hold on, is this really Eris talking? Maybe she’s just flapping her mouth, and Ghislaine’s dubbing over her?

“Oh, right. I think I get it now!”

“Well, good. I’d hope so.”

Smiling at each other, the two of them got right back to their practice swings. And Norn’s looked just a little better than before.

…Well, I guess she is a Sword King now. 

Ghislaine had told me once that you couldn’t reach that rank on instincts or talent alone. Eris must have learned how to think logically about her technique on her way up the ladder.

In any case… Eris’ swings sure were quick. I couldn’t even see a blur past the very base of her blade.

Her movements were also, well… beautiful. Her blade whispered slightly when she raised it, and cut silently through the air as she brought it down. Only when it stopped, at the very bottom of her swing, could you hear a gentle whoosh.

It was an entrancing sight. Watching her in action made me want to sigh with admiration. Oh man, that look of total concentration on her face… the beads of sweat on her forehead… her taut, lean body… her muscles, rippling with exertion…

Oh! Oh my god. How could I have overlooked this?

Every time Eris swung her sword down, a certain springy part of her anatomy would quiver slightly. This wasn’t swaying or bouncing, to be clear—they were just jiggling a little, very subtly. Probably because her swings were so efficient that her upper body wasn’t moving much at all. That undershirt she was wearing seemed to offer some support, but on closer examination, I had the feeling she wasn’t wearing any ‘chest armor’ underneath it. With every swing, my eyes were glued a little harder to this splendid phenomenon. I couldn’t escape her gravitational field!

“Hm…?”

All of a sudden, Eris’ breasts stopped moving… that is to say, she stopped swinging her sword.

I glanced up and found that she was looking my way. Her legs were spread to shoulder width, her chin was in the air, and there was a nasty frown on her face. All she had to do was fold her arms, and you’d have her signature intimidating pose from back in the day.

Just as this thought occurred to me, I noticed what she was holding: the very real, very sharp sword she’d used to fend off Orsted.

I chose to make a prompt tactical retreat.

You wouldn’t want to start an important discussion with someone carrying a deadly weapon, right? Just wouldn’t be good manners!

Two hours later, when I figured her training regimen should be over for the day, I went looking for Eris once again.

She wasn’t in the yard anymore. When I checked the entrance to our bath, though, I only saw Norn’s clothes folded up in the dressing area. Naturally, I didn’t peep into the bath itself.

After looking all through the house, though, I couldn’t find Eris anywhere. Maybe she’d changed clothes right away and gone out on some errand? Waiting for her to come back was always an option, of course… but then again, there was no reason we had to talk about this inside the house. If she was out and about, I should try to catch up with her.

With that thought in mind, I headed over the bathroom to relieve myself before I left.

Just as I was reaching for the knob, though, the door swung quickly open from the inside.

“Ah!”

“Buh!”

All of a sudden, I found myself mere inches away from a very startled-looking Eris. At point-blank range, her strong facial features were even more strikingly beautiful. Her waves of vivid red hair, slightly damp, flowed over her shoulders and down toward her bust. Her sweat-drenched undershirt clung closely to her body, offering an excellent view of her cleavage. That deep, dark valley drew my gaze with all the force of a black hole. Like all valleys, it was flanked by a pair of hills. And what hills they were! Her sweaty shirt revealed their lovely contours perfectly, right down to the sharp little points at their summits.

It seemed that my eyes had died and gone to eyeball heaven.

“Wh-what are you looking at?”

There was an uncertain look on Eris’ face now. It was extremely cute. Reflexively, I reached out and touched the great mounds before me, exploring their gentle slopes and slightly harder peaks.

Ooh. Angel soft…

A split-second later, Eris’ shoulder blurred into motion, and I was knocked unconscious.

When I came to, the back of my head was resting on something slightly firm. It was harder than my usual pillow, but it had a nice warmth to it, and it felt kind of… supple. Also, someone seemed to be stroking me on the head.

I eventually realized this was a ‘lap pillow’ situation. Unfortunately, my mind was still half-asleep at this point.

 “Mm… nom nom… I can’t eat another bite…”

Pretending to be completely asleep, I turned over to bury my face in the triangular space where my human pillow’s legs met her body. Then I took a nice, deep breath, and started groping her backside.

“Hyaaa!”

Hmm? This isn’t Sylphie’s butt. Hers is a lot smaller… almost palm-sized.

This doesn’t smell like Roxy either. She has a nice, comforting scent, but this one is a little sweaty… and for some reason, it’s setting off alarm bells in the back of my head…

It’s not half bad, though. Makes me feel a little nostalgic…

At this point, I snapped fully awake. Slowly opening my eyes, I turned to look at the woman I was lying on. From the other side of two shapely mountains, a pair of intense eyes were glaring down at me. 

Eris reached down and gripped my head firmly with her hand.

Oh god, it’s all over! She’s going to twist my head right off my neck! Goodbye, Sylphie. Goodbye, Roxy. I’m sorry I have to leave you so soon…

To my surprise, though, Eris didn’t actually murder me. Instead, she started stroking my hair with strong but gentle movements.

Making myself as small as possible, I studied her carefully. She was pouting, and her face was red, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. But she didn’t actually seem that angry.

“Uhm… Miss Eris?”

“It’s just Eris.”

“Okay then… I’m sorry, Eris.”

As soon as I apologized, her grip on my head grew noticeably more forceful. Farewell, my beloved family… we’ll meet again someday…

“It’s all right,” Eris said after a moment. “I’m sorry too.”

“Oh… Well, okay then.”

“I read your letter and everything. It wasn’t easy for you after I left, right?”

My head was still firmly in Eris’ grip, but I managed to nod anyway. I wasn’t enough of an adult to add “none of that was your fault.” The two of us had badly misunderstood each other back then; I was hurt at the time, and now she was going through something similar.

“Hey, Rudeus…”

“What is it?”

“…”

Eris fell silent for a long moment. She looked uncertain about how to complete her sentence. We knew there was a lot that needed to be said, but we couldn’t seem to find the right words. The five years we’d spent apart had been very long ones—for both of us.

“You do, uhm… love those two, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I love them both.”

At my quick, clear reply, Eris’ grip on my head tightened slightly.

“You like them more than me, right?”

“Yeah.”

Eris’ face crumpled with sadness.

Shit. I wish I hadn’t said that. I can’t go comparing them to each other. I loved Sylphie and Roxy very much, but I’d fallen for Eris too. There was really no point denying that at this point.

“Do you… hate me now?”

“Of course not! It’s just… been a really long time since we saw each other… Sometimes I feel a little awkward around you, that’s all…” 

“You know, I still like you a lot, Rudeus. And I want you to love me back.”

Eris’ face had gone as red as her hair.

Was I hearing things, or had she just confessed her love to me? Yeah. Surely there wasn’t any other way to interpret that…

The question was how to reply. I knew what my final answer was… but before I could deliver it, I needed to make sure that she really understood what she was getting herself into here.

“You know I have two wives already, right?”

“…”

Scowling, Eris abruptly rose to her feet. Rudely ejected from her lap, my head bounced off the wooden floor.

It seemed we were in the living room. There was no one else around. Sylphie and Norn were both at home, but maybe they were trying to give us some space at the moment.

As I crawled onto my hands and knees, Eris glared at me from above. Her arms were folded, her legs were open to shoulder width, and her chin was in the air. It was the exact same pose she’d used on me the very first time we met.

“Step outside, Rudeus! I want a duel!”

“Huh?!” I squeaked, clambering to my feet as I brushed the dust off my clothes. “A duel?!”

“That’s right! If you win, I’ll leave for good! But if I win…” Eris paused to point a finger straight at my face. “If I win, then you have to love me too!”

Things had taken kind of a strange turn. All I could manage was a nod.