Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Before Traveling to Asura Kingdom

FOR THE THIRD TIME, I met Orsted at the cottage on the outskirts of Sharia.

“…and that is how Ariel wound up convincing Lord Perugius to help her, and how we discovered we wouldn’t be able to access the magic circles located within the Asuran border.”

“Hm.” Orsted grinned.

It looks so sinister when he does that. But I guess it’s probably just his normal smile.

“I see. You did well, then.” If the wrinkle in his brow was any indication, he was plotting something even as he complimented me.

Nah, his face always looks like that.

“But I would advise you to never return to the Library Labyrinth again. That Demon King holds grudges.”

“Urk… Okay, I understand.”

Sadly, I wasn’t spared a reprimand for my failure there. Orsted even scowled at me as he said it. No, actually—I think he was just exasperated with me. His expression seemed to say, “How in the world did you end up causing so much trouble in a library, of all places?” But it wasn’t really my fault now, was it? I had no idea Luke was going to bawl like a baby over a book.

“I don’t suppose there’s any way they would accept an apology?” I asked.

“That would be futile. Demon Kings don’t operate on common sense.”

From my scant interaction with this Demon King, it seemed like they might actually be willing to hear me out, but Orsted didn’t seem to think so. Admittedly, we’d made a bit of a mess. We wrecked a number of bookshelves as we escaped, even though we had no other choice. I wanted to express how sorry I was at least, but I was giving up on ever going back, as Orsted advised. Perhaps never showing my face there again was the best apology I could give.

Nah, in the case of that Demon King, the best thing I can do is probably write in my diary. Daily updates would be impossible, but I would try to do it as much as possible.

Anyway, that aside…

“What do you think about this teleportation circle business?” I asked.

The group had all suspected my involvement for a moment. They came to their senses immediately after, but that was still enough to put a seed of doubt in their heads—to make them think I was hiding something.

“The Man-God’s work, I am sure. Seems like his first attempt to thwart us failed.” Orsted nodded to himself, confident in his explanation. 

He was in unusually good spirits. He kept mumbling something like, “Just one more person…” I had no idea what he meant, but would be grateful for any enlightenment.

“If you don’t mind, could you fill me in on what you mean by the Man-God failing?”

“Hmph. Indeed.” Orsted adjusted his posture and glared at me, eyes molten. If he scowled any harder, they might start glowing and shooting laser beams at me. Pew, pew! “Perugius confirmed that these teleportation circles of his are unusable, yes?” 

“Correct, boss-man sir.”

“Boss-man sir…?” Orsted paused before continuing, “There are not many of these circles within Asura’s borders. Most were placed so that royals and nobles could escape if they ever found themselves backed into a corner. Among them, several are already non-functional, and those are the ones Perugius has made use of.”

Huh, interesting. So they’re like a secret escape route for the royal family.

“Thus, you have your answer,” he said.

I see. So that’s my answer… Like hell it is! That’s no answer at all!

“What do you mean by that?” I demanded, falling on my knees and bowing my head. “Please explain! I need something more concrete to work with here!”

Orsted scowled menacingly.

Okay, not menacingly. That’s just how his face always looks.

“Simply put, these teleportation circles are in places where your average civilian cannot happen upon them. Many are protected by soldiers. Someone who can go in and destroy them must be someone of respectable authority, either a noble or a high-ranking aristocrat.”

“Okay, I get where you’re going with this. And?”

“…Use your head a little.”

“Yes, sir.”

Okay, let’s go over this. The culprit, who was either a royal or high-ranking aristocrat with the authority to enter a restricted area, had suddenly cut off their own lifeline by destroying all the circles that acted as escape routes for them. Not to mention these were already non-functioning circles that Perugius might use to travel. The possibility that the Man-God orchestrated all this seemed astronomically high. A normal citizen had no reason to destroy a magic circle. That meant one of his apostles was either a royal or someone in a position to manipulate the royal family. The most likely candidates for that role were…

“First Prince Grabel or High Minister Darius. One of them is the Man-God’s apostle?”

“Indeed. The spread of those circles across the kingdom implicates the involvement of High Minister Darius, since his private soldiers are scattered throughout the nation.”

Ooh, now I am starting to see the bigger picture! I had no idea he had a private army dispersed throughout Asura, but it makes sense!

“So we can be reasonably sure High Minister Darius is the Man-God’s apostle, then?”

“Yes. There is a possibility it might be the first prince, but that changes nothing. We’ll have to kill them both regardless.”

Well, the first prince is Ariel’s enemy, so that makes sense… But does that justify us murdering a prince? Guess it doesn’t matter. If Orsted says it needs doing, I’ll have to do it.

“That means there is just one apostle left unaccounted for,” said Orsted.

“Just one? That means you are certain Luke is an apostle now?”

“There can be no doubt.”

“What about Ariel?” I asked. “Is she a possibility?”

“No.”

Okay, come on. Enough with the vague answers. Exasperated, I said, “And what do you base that on?”

“There are certain people the Man-God cannot manipulate.”

“Okay, so, uh…how can you tell that she’s one of them?”

“…Intuition. Based on many years of experience,” said Orsted.

Intuition, huh…

He’d paused briefly before he answered, which meant he was certain Ariel wasn’t an apostle but couldn’t tell me his real reasoning. I decided not to pry any further. There were more important questions on my mind.

“What happens if your intuition turns out to be wrong and she is an apostle?”

“If that should happen, I will take responsibility and dispose of her myself.”

“Dispose of,” as in “kill”? That was harsh, especially considering how close we’d grown over the past few weeks, including the incident where I’d walked in on her while she was changing. But if Orsted was willing to stake that much on her not being the Man-God’s apostle, I should probably trust him. 

Hm. In that case, maybe I should share information about him with Ariel? His curse didn’t seem to have as much of an effect on her, and if she wasn’t one of the Man-God’s apostles, it might be better to disclose everything to her. That way, she could work with us to keep an eye on Luke.

Nah, best not to do that. Like Sylphie, she trusted him implicitly. She would never believe that he would work for her destruction. And Luke was only doing what he thought was best for her. Bringing up the Man-God would be kicking the hornet’s nest. Luke wasn’t Ariel’s enemy. Being manipulated by the Man-God hadn’t changed his allegiance. He was only doing things that sounded like a good idea to him, despite the fact that they were anything but.

Right now, Orsted considered him a mere spy who observed my actions and reported them to the Man-God. He wouldn’t do anything to directly harm Ariel. However, he might end up acting on the Man-God’s advice to do something that seemed like it would help Ariel on the surface but would ultimately lead to her doom. That’s what truly made him dangerous. I could understand Orsted’s instinctive desire to kill him.

“Sir Orsted,” I said suddenly.

“What?”

“There is something I would like to clear with you, just to be on the safe side, regarding how I should approach our battle with the Man-God. Do you mind if I pick your brain?”

His forehead wrinkled. “Hm? All right.”

I started outlining his war with the Man-God.

First, we knew the Man-God could see the future. His view of it was both expansive and precise. He also had the ability to manipulate people to change the course of that future. However, he could not see events relating to Orsted. The Dragon God’s secret arts were stronger than the Man-God’s prescient vision. Whenever Orsted got involved in an affair, the Man-God would see a false reflection of the future. Thus, he knew Orsted was involved whenever he sensed something slightly amiss or the future experienced a dramatic shift, but he couldn’t see exactly how Orsted had brought about those changes. All he could do was guess. If he couldn’t work out Orsted’s objectives or what he had planned, the Man-God couldn’t respond accordingly and influence the future in a way that benefited him.

Orsted’s curse meant none of the Man-God’s apostles had been able to get close enough to spy on his activities, so his movements had gone undetected. At the same time, that curse also limited the scope of what he could accomplish. It was only now, after I had joined him, that he had more options at his disposal.

As far as the Man-God was concerned, I was currently an invisible pawn on the chess board. But if I took concrete action, he could suss out what Orsted was planning. That was why I was keeping my movements discreet, so I could avoid showing my hand to Luke, who was acting as the Man-God’s eyes and ears. I also withheld information from Sylphie and Ariel, since I knew how much they trusted him and that they would answer whatever questions he asked.

They say you can’t put doors over people’s mouths, so I’ve tried not to say anything to anyone, far as I can help it.

I planned to keep Orsted’s aims and actions as secret as possible. That might make me look suspicious to the others, as it had this time, but this would lead us to victory for sure. We would keep our intentions under wraps while defeating the Man-God’s apostles as we worked to achieve our objectives. I would serve Orsted for the rest of my life, and a hundred years from now, he would come out on top.

“…and that’s my interpretation of the situation. Is that correct?”

“Yes. It is.” Orsted nodded.

In that case, everything I had done up until now was technically correct. Perugius had called me weak, but we were on the path toward our goal. For now, we knew that Luke and Darius were the most likely candidates to be the Man-God’s apostles. That left one other.

“I wonder who the last person is,” I said.

“I know not. But judging by the Man-God’s past patterns, it is highly likely to be someone extremely skilled at either martial arts or magic.”

“Someone skilled at martial arts or magic…”

Uh, he did say it wouldn’t be anyone in my family, right? Which means Eris and Sylphie are out of the running, fortunately.

Come to think of it, my future self’s diary mentioned a North Emperor and Water God in Asura Kingdom. Ariel also mentioned the first prince was employing a North Emperor.

“Could it be the North Emperor or Water God?” I asked.

“Auber and Reida, hm? Yes, there is a good chance. When you leave for Asura Kingdom, be wary.”

“You won’t be coming along?”

“I will be tailing behind you, of course, but we will not be operating together.”

The way he said “tailing behind you” sounded sinister, as if he was going to shadow me like a puppet master. Well, that means I can consult him if anything crops up. It’s not so bad.

“All right,” I said. “In that case, Luke, Darius, Auber, and Reida are the ones I should watch out for.”

“Indeed. You may kill Darius, Auber, or Reida if you like. As for Luke…keep an eye on the situation and use your judgment. If necessary, dispose of him.”

“You want me to decide whether to kill any of them?” I gaped.

“Yes. I leave it to your discretion.”

Did he seriously think I was someone capable of making those kinds of decisions? Sorry, silly question. Of course he did. I hadn’t shown any hesitation when I attacked him and tried to claim his life, after all.

“Well,” I said, “what shall we do until it’s time to depart?”

Orsted shrugged. “Make preparations.”

Preparations, right… But what does that mean? “What should I be preparing, exactly?”

“First, get your equipment ready. You will likely be facing the Man-God’s apostles in battle while you’re in Asura. With your strength, I am sure you will have no trouble, but it would be wise to bring some form of protection.” He turned and looked out of the cottage, where my Magic Armor lay in shambles. Zanoba was currently repairing it, but there was nowhere for us to store it in the city, so we had left it here. “That thing doesn’t measure up to the armor of the Fighting God, but it is still a spectacular piece of work. I am sure you must have labored hard to create it.”

“Well, yes…but we did get quite a bit of advice from the Man-God on its construction.”

“Oh? Then he dug his own grave. What do you call it?”

I blinked at him. “Call what?”

“The armor.”

“Oh. Magic Armor.”

“I see… What an uninspired name. Shall I give you a new one for it? Let’s see…”

“No,” I said, cutting him off, “but thank you.”

Orsted narrowed his eyes and chuckled. His smile was as unsettling as ever. Our taste in names (or lack thereof) aside, I wondered how Zanoba and Cliff would take it if they knew someone as supremely powerful as the Dragon God Orsted had praised their creation.

“If you plan to continue using that thing in the future, you should consider improving it. It currently drains you of all your mana in a single battle.”

I frowned. “But even if we were to make a smaller, more efficient version, it wouldn’t be finished in only two weeks.”

“Then we’ll have to shelve that idea for another time,” Orsted said, stroking his chin.

Wonder if he’d be willing to lend a helping hand. In which case, I guess the Dragon God Society logo will end up being slapped on it.

“Not being able to use Battle Aura certainly is inconvenient,” Orsted murmured. “For now, I’ll see if I can’t prepare a few magic items for you to use.”

“Oh, that would be great. Thank you.”

So Orsted was going to provide me with not just the best working environment and pay, but the best equipment as well? Damn. Makes sense though. He did set me up with this robe too. The difference between him and the Man-God’s inscrutable, completely hands-off approach was day and night.

“Speaking of which… I’ve been hearing a lot about the Fighting God’s armor lately. What is it, exactly?” I asked.

“Demon-Dragon King Laplace’s greatest masterpiece, and also his worst failure.”

Laplace’s masterpiece? So he’s the one who made it, huh?

“The armor itself glows golden with magical power and bestows immeasurable strength upon its wearer. However, the mana it contains is so great that it has given the armor a mind of its own. It assumes control over the wearer, forcing them to fight until they die. It’s a cursed armor.”

Cursed armor, huh? Guess the dragonfolk have a knack for making those kinds of things. Laplace had made all manner of cursed items, from the Superd’s spears to this golden armor… Nothing he’d created was any good.

“Having said that,” Orsted continued, “the armor is currently sleeping deep in the middle of the Ringus Sea.”

Orsted seemed to know anything and everything. It made him a truly convenient resource. Nonetheless, I couldn’t depend on him for everything; I had to find some things I could do independently. Sadly, there was only about two weeks till we were set to leave. There wasn’t much I could do.

I couldn’t get complacent simply because I was Orsted’s subordinate. He was a bit too aloof about matters. Or, more precisely, he seemed to think he could always try again if the first attempt failed. Perhaps he aimed to develop magic that could allow him to return to the past after reading my future self’s dairy. Or maybe he’d already experienced a time slip like that himself.

Come to think of it, he once said something along the lines of “trying again next time”, and as soon as the words left his mouth, he made this awkward face as if he realized he’d slipped up.

Maybe he’d been through these time slips not once, or twice, but a number of times now. I had no idea why he would keep that under wraps, but since he hadn’t mentioned it, he probably wouldn’t answer me even if I asked.

But even if Orsted could simply do things over again next time, there was no next time for me. You only get one life to live…or so I’d like to say, but that probably wasn’t the most convincing coming from me, given my experience with reincarnation. Even so, after talking to my future self, watching his last moments, and reading his diary, I could sense how full of regrets he was. I couldn’t just bank on wiping my slate clean and starting over if I messed up. Or rather, I felt like I would be betraying the person I’d been up till now if I kept up that mentality.

Which is why I need to put everything I have into this.

But how, specifically?

Of course, I could hone my fighting and magical skills, but I didn’t think that more practice would suddenly make me that much stronger. Were that possible, I would happily work out a strict regimen to boost my abilities, but it wasn’t. On top of that, anything new I achieved in only two weeks of preparation would be unreliable and half-baked. It was better to continue building on the abilities I already had.

Aside from that, I decided to set aside time to run some mock battles. I’d felt like something was lacking for a while now. Practice and training were important, but nothing could replace testing the techniques I’d learned in battle. Sparring, as one might say if this was boxing. Or exhibition matches, if you preferred fighting game terminology.

My sparring partner would be Eris. She was now a Sword King and far better than me at melee combat, so she would put up a good fight. If anything, I was more worried that she wouldn’t find me a challenge. At least I could use my Quagmire and Deep Mist spells to give her some new battle experience. As much as she boasted of her battle prowess, she was still vulnerable to traps that targeted her weaknesses.

Also, I would ask Zanoba and Cliff to try repairing and improving my Magic Armor. It needed to be smaller and more fuel-efficient, even if that meant reducing its capabilities. They probably couldn’t get it done in two weeks, but it would serve me in the long run, so I wanted them to start on it now. With Orsted’s help, we could surely finish the project over the next couple of years. It seemed he’d also provide any equipment we needed, so I was set on that front, at least.

So that was how I planned to improve my training and gear. Now I just needed to think about what was left. With so little time left, I needed to plan carefully. So I decided to schedule my next two weeks.

First, I would announce my upcoming long absence to the family. It wasn’t a topic I wanted to broach, in part because I would likely wouldn’t be around when Roxy went into labor, but I couldn’t avoid telling them forever. 

Next, I needed to get in touch with Cliff. In addition to the improvements I wanted him to make on the Magic Armor, I had one other request for him. Namely, I wanted him to conduct experiments on Orsted’s curse.

Come to think of it, I wonder if Orsted knows what’s going on with Zenith.

“By the way, sir…” I started to say.

“What is it?”

I explained Zenith’s condition to him and brought up the book I discovered in the Library Labyrinth that referred to a Blessed Child who could remove curses.

“That Blessed Child doesn’t seem to be among the living now,” I said, “but do you know of any other way I might cure her?”

Orsted fell into silent contemplation. After a bit, he finally spoke, his voice gentler than usual. “It’s true that you may be able to return her to normalcy if you use this Powerless Blessed Child’s abilities. However, their skills are no substitute for an actual cure. If you try to force her mind back to what it was before, it may backfire and things might go in the opposite direction.”

So there’s decent odds it’ll only make her worse, huh?

Then again, after everything she’d been through, it was a miracle she was even alive. If trying to meddle with her mental state meant possibly making it worse, it was probably wiser to just keep an eye on her for now, instead. Her condition wasn’t a health concern at the moment.

Guess I just gotta be patient and watch over her.

“All right. Well, with that out of the way, I will begin preparations to set out for Asura Kingdom,” I said.

I cleared up all the questions I had, so all that’s left is doing the best I can in the time I’ve got!

***

The following day, we had our family meeting as I planned.

In fact, I feel like we’ve been having a lot of these family meetings lately.

This time it was to announce my departure for Asura Kingdom. I told them I would be gone for about three to four months to help Ariel. 

The reaction to that was indifference.

“Okay, well, good luck with that. Oh, but before you go, I’d appreciate it if you could make some soil for the garden,” said Aisha. She was more concerned about her dirt than my well-being.

“So Princess Ariel will be dropping out of the academy then…” Norn muttered. Like Aisha, she didn’t seem too worried about me either. “I wonder if they’ll have a farewell party…?” 

This is…odd. Last time we did this whole song and dance, they seemed a bit more—I don’t know—emotional? I want a tear-filled farewell again. I want to be able to hug my sobbing sisters and console them by doing my best Terminator impression and saying, “I’ll be back!”

“Hey, Aisha,” I said. “You know, uh, I might not be coming home this time…”

“Huh? Every time we do this, you always act like you won’t be coming home, but then you show back up on our doorstep like it’s no big deal.”

I’d barely escaped death each time, but perhaps my little sisters didn’t see it that way. Or perhaps they were trying to be considerate and not make me worry before I left. Whatever the case, I would do my best out there. I would be satisfied if the two of them could live their lives peacefully in the meantime.

“Besides, this means there’ll be another woman joining our household,” said Norn.

“Exactly,” Aisha agreed, “which makes us feel silly for even worrying. And this time, you’ll have Miss Sylphie and Miss Eris going with you. That gives us extra peace of mind.”

As if on cue, Eris retreated to her room to begin packing for the journey. Earlier, when I’d first said where I would be going, she said, “Oh? Then I’m going too.” She hadn’t even hesitated.

“Speaking of,” Aisha said, turning to Norn, “who do you think he’ll bring back this time?”

“Hard to say for sure. Maybe one of the girls serving Princess Ariel? Miss Ellemoi or Miss Cleane perhaps?”

My two sisters were saying some really rude things, but for the record, I didn’t intend to take any more wives. For one, I had hardly ever spoken to either Ellemoi or Cleane. I thought of saying so, but on the other hand, I didn’t really trust the head between my legs.

But I seriously doubt anything like that is going to happen this time. I’ll have Sylphie and Eris with me, after all.

Exactly. I had been alone in the past couple ventures, which had left me emotionally devastated. I drifted with the currents because I had no one to hold onto. I needed a levee to stop the overflow. Sylphie and Eris would make perfect dams. All I had to do was enlist their help and the floodwaters would recede.

“I will pray for your safety,” said Lilia. She and my mother acted no different than normal.

“Miss Lilia, um, about Lucie…please take good care of her.” Sylphie’s expression was heavy with guilt.

“Yes, my lady. I will take care of everything while you’re away.” Lilia bowed her head.

“I know it’s not good to leave her behind like this, but I just…”

Lilia shook her head. “You need not worry. This is the very reason you have a maid like me here.”

Lucie had started to speak simple words, such as names of family members or pets, like: Mama, Asha, Lala, Oxy, Beebee, Dillo. My heart trembled with emotion, watching how hard she worked to get the words out. She had yet to call me “Dada.” She would say “Rudy” sometimes, but not “Dada.” I hadn’t spent much time with her lately, so my name would probably be the last one she learned. And now, Sylphie and I were going to leave her behind to go on a trip. 

I had a feeling the two of us hadn’t quite grasped what it meant to be parents yet. Especially me. I had no idea when that day would come. I did think Lucie was the most adorable angel, but thinking that wasn’t the same thing as actually being a parent, was it?

“So I won’t see you again for four months? It will be lonely,” Roxy said, crestfallen.

I wasn’t just leaving my child behind, but a pregnant wife too. I felt awful about that.

“Well, I’m not sure. I would like to return before you give birth, if possible,” I said.

“Don’t worry. Take your time. As long as I have Miss Lilia and Aisha by my side when it’s time, I don’t need you here. In exchange, I’d like you to bring me back a souvenir. I would love to eat some of Asura Kingdom’s sweet and sour candies—those dried fruits slathered in sugar. Those are delicious.” 

Roxy was back to her usual poker face. She was probably anxious, since this would be her first birth, but she didn’t let any of that inner turmoil show.

“That’s a pitiful look you have on your face, Rudy,” she continued. “I have no idea what you’re worried about, but in the Migurd Tribe, it’s natural for the men to go out hunting while the women stay at home to protect the house and children.” 

She puffed out her chest as she spoke, ever the reliable wife. I knew everything would probably turn out fine if I left it in her hands, but could I really justify leaving her like this?

“It is a bit of a shame, though, since I finally got this long vacation.” Roxy sighed. “I thought I’d be able to spend it quietly with you.”

“Yeah, I wish we could have done that.”

Roxy had taken time off until the baby’s birth. In Ranoa, it was normal for a wife to quit her job when she got pregnant so she could focus on raising her child, but Roxy wanted to continue being a professor, so she persuaded Jenius to give her some maternity leave. I didn’t learn until afterward that she had used my name to get her way, but if that got her what she wanted, then by all means.

There was still a little time left before our departure. I decided to spend the spare minutes and hours I could find with Roxy.

That night, I heard Sylphie and Eris’s heated voices spilling from the latter’s room. Sylphie would say something and Eris would snap back. From the other side of the door, I caught Eris shouting words like “Why?!” and “How come?!” Each time, Sylphie would respond calmly, and gradually, Eris’s tone grew quieter until, at the end, she finally mumbled, “Fine, I get it.”

Later, Eris came to my room, just as I had crawled into bed and was about to fall asleep. She sullenly burrowed under the covers and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me close as one would a body pillow. Her soft, ample breasts pressed against me.

Oho, not very chivalrous of you to sneak in here in the middle of the night and tempt me with these.

Not that I minded; I was a gentleman of the night myself. As far as sex was concerned, anyway. But before we got into that, there was one thing I needed to ask her.

“Did you have a fight with Sylphie?”

“No,” she huffed.

“Okay.”

I hadn’t heard any fists flying. It was possible that if I slipped from bed and went to Eris’s room, I might find Sylphie passed out on the floor, but I decided to take her word for it.

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll be tagging along with Sylphie,” Eris said. “We’re going to meet with Ghislaine and help get things ready.”

Ariel had already begun making preparations. She was going to pull out of the academy to return home, and the short notice meant packing was a nightmare. She also had to make calls to various people in the region, which was probably why Eris had been asked to help out as a bodyguard.

“So in the meantime,” Eris continued, “she wants you to spend as much time as you can with Roxy.”

“‘She’? You mean Sylphie?” I asked, surprised.

“Yep.”

So that was why the two were having a row. Sylphie was trying to be considerate of Roxy, and if I had less on my plate to deal with, then I could spend more time with her. She’d really thought this through. Still, I was shocked she’d managed to persuade Eris without having to throw down. Eris sure had matured. She was no longer the same girl who pummeled people indiscriminately. If you made a well-reasoned argument, she would actually hear you out.

“And that’s why she said I could have you tonight,” Eris said.

Perhaps I spoke too soon—apparently, Eris had set her own conditions. Even so, it was still impressive that she agreed to Sylphie’s proposal. She had mellowed out. She had been so self-centered all those years ago. Now, that was gone. Her raging passion had cooled, and her clenched fists would no longer find their way to faces. The berserker princess was dead, the wild monkey silenced, the mad wolf claimed by eternal sleep. The Eris who had bared her teeth at everyone was gone forever…

Nah, this is probably an exception.

It was just like Sylphie to give up her turn with me as part of their agreement, setting aside her own desires. I would have to do my best to shower her with kindness while we were on our trip.

Preoccupied with those thoughts, I wrapped my arms around Eris. Almost immediately, she began tearing my clothes off.

“You know,” I said, “it’d be awful timing if you found out you were pregnant on the trip, so maybe we should take today easy and—”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!”

And she had her way with me that night, just like she always did. Family planning were clearly words that did not exist in her dictionary.

The following day, Cliff happened to come by for a visit.

“Hey, Rudeus, if you’re free tonight, want to go out to eat?”

It was a dinner invitation, and the only people going were Cliff, Zanoba, and I. I’d never had a boy’s night out; normally when we did this, Sylphie, Elinalise, and a number of others would tag along. Maybe this time, the other lads planned on going somewhere too raunchy for the girls. Or maybe they wanted to discuss something that would be too awkward to bring up with women present.

“All right,” I said.

Whatever the case, I instantly agreed. I had no reason to turn him down, and more importantly, I had a favor I wanted to ask of him anyway. So this was perfect timing.

***

The sun was beginning to set when I met Cliff and Zanoba at the agreed-upon spot. The restaurant they brought me to was more posh than the places we usually frequented. As we entered, I paused to check the sign out front, which read The Red Sea Eagle. 

This was a naming trend in the Three Magic Nations: places with eagle in the name were typically restaurants, while falcon was for bars and pubs, bat for brothels, and horse for inns. Granted, not every establishment followed this nomenclature. Some places would start out serving excellent alcohol, but then the proprietor improved their cooking skills and food became their mainstay. It was surprisingly common, in fact. So the naming trend was more like a general guideline.

The Red Sea Eagle was exactly the kind of place Cliff would select, sophisticated and luxurious. The customers were mostly minor nobility or rich merchants. One of the staff guided us to a stylish room. According to them, this was the third best room they had to offer.

“Had we known Lord Rudeus would be paying us a visit, we would have prepared one of the better rooms,” they said. But there was no need to apologize on my account.

So this is what a luxury restaurant looks like, huh? When Cliff said we would be going out to dinner, I figured we’d be getting some casual chow, but this place actually had dinner courses.

The four of us took our seats at a square table.

“Now, then, Rudeus, do you know why we came here—why we specially reserved a room to speak with you?” Cliff asked, brow furrowed. 

He seemed sort of angry, and I had a feeling I knew why. “Is today…your birthday?” I asked.

“My birthday has already passed,” Cliff replied dryly, unamused by my joke.

Hold on, is he twenty now? Or twenty-one? He was baby-faced, so he looked five years younger than he actually was, but by this world’s standards, he’d long reached adulthood. Some people already had two or three children by his age.

“We are here for something else,” Cliff said.

“All right.” I sat up straighter. Apparently, we were about to have a serious conversation.

“You see…”

Knowing Cliff, it was probably about Orsted. I had sworn I would fill him in on the details about what happened with Orsted when I returned home after getting beaten to a pulp, but I never did make good on that promise. I figured he’d called me here to give me an earful.

“Regarding the child Elinalise and I are having… I have been thinking of calling it Clive if it’s a boy and Elleclarisse if it’s a girl. What do you guys think?”

Wait. A name? That’s what we came here for today? So I had the completely wrong idea?

“Basically, we will be going with a Millis-style name if it’s a boy, and an elf-style name if it’s a girl. What are your thoughts, Rudeus?” Cliff turned toward me.

“Uh… Well, Clive sounds like the name of a clever man with good odds of making it as a politician, but it also sounds like a name someone with a fussy personality would have. Elleclarisse is a pretty name and has a nice ring to it. Although I can’t help feeling she might have a bad encounter with a thief in her future, one who will steal something important from her. Like her heart.”

“That was about what I figured you would say,” Cliff replied as he leaned back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling. After a moment, he looked back at me, his expression tight. “Actually, that was a joke. We’ve already decided on the names. While I do appreciate your input, that isn’t why I brought you here today.”

Oh, so he was just pulling my leg. Couldn’t have done it with a straighter face. If you’re gonna mess around, at least smile a bit. Both you and Zanoba look stiff as statues, you know?

“Surely, you have already guessed what it’s about by now, Rudeus. It’s related to your actions as of late.” Cliff jabbed a finger in my direction. 

Zanoba nodded in agreement. He also seemed a bit irate. “Master, no matter what you decide to do, I have every intention of following you to the bitter end. That said, do you not think you have been a bit too secretive with us lately?”

“Uh, you think so?” I shrugged.

“Out of nowhere, you asked us to start building this insanely powerful armor for you. Midway through creating it, you began giving us extremely specific advice. You wouldn’t even share who you were going up against, and then we find out it’s one of the Seven Great—”

Zanoba was interrupted mid-sentence by the door swinging open. A staff member entered, carrying our drinks. Zanoba flinched and snapped his mouth shut, quietly waiting for them to finish distributing the beverages. Once they left, he resumed the conversation. While I suspected they had reserved this room to keep our conversation private, their attitudes made it clear it was partly out of fear of Orsted.

“We find out your opponent is one of the Seven Great Powers, the Dragon God Orsted,” Zanoba finished. “And not only that, since you went all-out in battle, you completely decimated an entire forest!”

“Nah, it’s still there. Well, half of it is, anyway,” I said.

Zanoba ignored my defense and continued, “And after all that, you capitulated.”

“I had no other choice.”

“For him to bring you to your knees without killing you after you wore that armor and threw everything you had at him…the man must be a monster. It’s the only explanation.”

Well, in a sense, Orsted was a type of monster. It was bad enough that he could nullify spells from a distance, but I didn’t stand a chance against him in melee, or combat either. Not that I was particularly skilled myself, but I’d still thought I could put up a decent fight.

“Since you didn’t seem too torn up about it, I assumed the Dragon God must be a decent man, but he…” Zanoba paused, shivering as he dropped his gaze. After a moment, his head shot up again and he loudly declared, “That man…is a demon in the flesh! A few days ago, I saw him with my own eyes, and I knew in an instant he was our enemy!”

The two of them had a little scrap last week where Orsted completely knocked Zanoba out. That brief meeting was enough for him to be hit with Orsted’s curse.

Hm, but wait a minute. Until that point, he hadn’t thought that poorly of Orsted. Which must mean the curse doesn’t activate until someone actually meets him. Come to think of it, Aisha and Norn don’t seem as repulsed by him as everyone else. Guess the curse won’t affect them as long as they only know of him indirectly.

“I have to assume you have lost your sanity to serve a man like that.” Zanoba shook his head, unable to fathom it. The curse had to be extremely potent for him to have such a strong reaction simply from seeing Orsted once.

“Personally, I have yet to meet this Orsted myself, so I don’t know what Zanoba means, exactly,” Cliff chimed in. “But Zanoba, Sylphie, and Roxy all seem to consider him dangerous. If they’re all on the same page about him, he must be an evil man.”

That was a shocking statement coming from a man who never seemed to listen to what other people were saying. However, from the sound of it, Cliff wasn’t yet affected by the curse.

“Agreeing to work under a man like that doesn’t sound like the wise Rudeus I know,” Cliff said.

Yeah, well, I’m not particularly wise.

Still, this posed a problem. It would be hard to keep going when so many of those closest to me disapproved of Orsted.

“But…when you asked us to repair the Magic Armor, I finally realized.” Cliff grinned smugly. “You plan to fight him again, don’t you? Dragon God Orsted, I mean.”

“…Huh?” My jaw dropped.

“You’re only pretending to work under him so you can wait for an opening and pounce. That’s your strategy, right?”

“Uh, no, Orsted and I—”

Cliff held up a hand to stop me. “You don’t have to say anything to me. The whole reason you asked us to improve the mana efficiency of the armor…is because you want to make it accessible to Zanoba and me, right? In other words, you plan to have us fight with you eventually…” He smirked triumphantly. “Well? Am I wrong?”

Yes, you’re absolutely wrong.

It almost felt silly to argue the matter at this point. It was better to shrug it off and say sure, they’d eventually fight with me and this was merely preparation for the battle to come. That way, they would eventually see for themselves (albeit gradually) that Orsted wasn’t such a bad guy. 

So I started: “Master Cliff…” 

Then I paused. Given how close we were, I didn’t think it was right to sugarcoat things and lie to suit my own self-interests. They might not believe the truth, but I had to at least try telling them.

“What is it?”

“Actually,” I explained, “Orsted has a curse placed on him that makes everyone around him hate him. Would you believe me if I told you that?”

“What? Seriously?”

“An evil god tricked me, which is why I got stuck fighting Orsted in the first place. Would you believe that too?”

“An evil god? Uh, you mean the one you worship with the panties and the blood-stained cloth?”

I glared at him. “I’ll murder you right where you sit if you dare say that again.”

“Uh…huh? Err, sorry. I guess not that god then. Right, I get what you’re saying. Keep going.”

Whoops, I accidentally let my anger slip for a second there. Even so, it wasn’t right to deride another person’s religion. Roxy was a righteous goddess.

Anyway, that’s beside the point…

“That was how I wound up meeting Orsted. For whatever reason, his curse doesn’t work on me, so the two of us were able to talk and work things out. In exchange for his forgiveness, I agreed to work alongside him to combat this evil god. Would you believe that as well?”

“Hmm…”

“I certainly won’t,” said Zanoba, his glasses gleaming in the light. “I am skeptical that a man like that would ever volunteer to fight alongside anyone else.”

“Huh, surprising to hear someone like Zanoba take that kind of stance,” Cliff said. He crossed his arms in contemplation.

“Think about it this way,” I said, “Zanoba is only interested in dolls and figures, yet he’s strangely insistent about his distaste for Orsted. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? It has to be an effect from the curse.”

“Well, now that you mention it…” Cliff paused. “No, when I think about it, Zanoba does care a lot about matters concerning you. If Orsted really is that untrustworthy, it only makes sense for him to worry.”

Perhaps that was true. Maybe Zanoba really was worried for my well-being. I was grateful that he cared so much…but at the same time, this was one instance where I wished he didn’t. Yes, Orsted was hiding some things from me, and I didn’t yet know if I could trust him completely. Even so, I wasn’t foolish enough to bounce between Orsted and the Man-God and risk making enemies of both.

Well, guess I have no other choice. I’ll just have to lie, then.

“All right, I understand. In that case, we’ll go with Cliff’s explanation.”

“My explanation? What do you mean?”

I cleared my throat. “Ahem, it’s as you said, Master Cliff. I plan to eventually take Orsted down. But it’s too early to make a move right now. I’ll have to bide my time and do as he asks.”

“What? Are you sure about that? Then what about the conversation we just had?”

I shrugged. “Wishful thinking aloud. It’d be nice if that were the truth.” Once Cliff saw Orsted in person, he would likely be in the same boat as Zanoba. It was better to play along with his little theory. “With that in mind,” I continued, “I would appreciate your continued cooperation in the future.”

“I will have your back, Master. In preparation for the next battle with Orsted, I will make armor that even Julie could wear.”

“Great. Looking forward to it.” I had no intention of making Julie fight, of course, but knowing he was motivated to go that far was enough.

“With that out of the way, there is something else I would like to ask of you,” I said, turning to Cliff.

“Yeah?”

I had originally planned to ask him for help combating Orsted’s curse, but now I would have to explain it in a way that aligned better with his theory.

“You see, Orsted is actually protected by a sort of barrier,” I said.

“A barrier? Like a magical one?”

“No, more like a curse.”

Cliff furrowed his brow.

“The curse makes it so that when you gaze upon Orsted, you automatically pull back, too intimidated to fight at full strength,” I explained.

“Really? He has a curse like that?”

“Yes. That is the whole reason I lost to him. I assume it must have been the same for you, Zanoba?” I asked, turning to him.

“It did seem as though I had been defeated out of nowhere. I couldn’t understand what had happened. Now that you mention it, I got the sense that my body wasn’t moving the way it normally does.”

Yeah, that’s just your imagination…but I’ll keep that to myself.

Cliff nodded. “I see, well, a curse like that would be bothersome indeed…”

“Yes, extremely bothersome,” I agreed. “And for that very reason, I would like you to see if you can’t do something about this curse of his.”

“But all my research has been centered specifically on Elinalise. I have no idea if it would work for Orsted…”

“Well, if it doesn’t, then we’ll just have to counter it some other way. But you can’t work on your research on Elinalise’s curse while she is pregnant, right? So I’d like you to test how much you can weaken the effects of other curses in the meantime.”

Cliff was trying to become a specialist in curses. While he hadn’t managed to completely suppress Elinalise’s curse, he had managed to significantly reduce its potency. I hoped that he could next look into weakening Orsted’s curse, so he wouldn’t strike fear into everyone who looked upon him (or at least not as much as he did now).

“But are you sure Orsted would agree to participate in such research? How are you going to trick him into it?” Cliff asked skeptically.

“Orsted is like a wolf starving for prey; he hungers for battle. In reality, he’s displeased by the effects of the curse as well.”

Cliff’s eyes widened. “Really? But it’s thanks to that curse that he’s got an advantage over his opponents, right?”

“He said it himself. For once he would like to face an opponent and fight them at full power without them cowering before him.”

That was a bald-faced lie. I would have to ask Orsted to play along and maintain this farce in front of Cliff.

Time to set up my dominoes and let everything fall into place.

“You mean it…?” Cliff stared at me in disbelief.

“Yep. That’s why I need you to dive headfirst into researching him, no holds barred.”

“Hm… All right. I don’t like deceiving people, but if you’re sure about this, I’ll give it a shot.”

Woohoo! You’re the best ever, Master Cliff! Miss Elinalise, be sure to give him some good loving!

With that out of the way, I could slowly start talking Sylphie and the others into seeing my side. Victory would be mine if I found a way to deal with Orsted’s curse. 

On the other hand, phew… The guilt I felt was no laughing matter. Why did I have to lie like this to everyone around me? It wasn’t the morality of it that bothered me—sometimes lies were just necessary. Even so, Cliff, Zanoba, Sylphie, Roxy, and Eris were all seriously worried about me. Lying to them made me feel like I was betraying them. I hoped we could all laugh about it later, once we managed to lift Orsted’s curse.

“Well, that’s that, then. I look forward to your continued assistance, Zanoba, Master Cliff.”

“Yes. I am relieved that you had something up your sleeve after all, Master.”

“It’s no small task you’ve given me, but I’ll take care of it.”

With that, we all nodded. 

Not long later, our food finally arrived. Exquisite dishes lined the table, and we all had alcohol in our cups, which meant the banquet was ready to commence. I lifted my brimming glass and said, “All right, now that we’ve finished with the serious discussions, why don’t we say cheers and dig in?”

“Yes, that’s a good idea.” Zanoba mirrored my actions. “What shall we raise our glasses to?”

Cliff lifted his own cup and said, “Well, there are no girls with us today, so I guess we can toast to male friendship… What do you think?”

That’s a little too sentimental, isn’t it?

Sentimental or not, I knew that neither Zanoba nor Cliff would ever betray me when it came down to it. That much was clear from my future self’s diary. Cliff had helped me even at the risk of his entire country turning against him. Zanoba had stuck with me even when I became a real piece of shit. They were true, irreplaceable friends.

Admittedly, I had lied to them today, but come what may, ’til death did us part, I wanted to be there for them. That thought alone made my eyes misty. So what if we were being too sentimental? In between my life in Japan and my time here, I had lived long enough to be a mushy old fart anyway. This suited me perfectly.

“In that case, to our friendship!”

“Yes, to friendship!”

“Cheers!”

We clinked our glasses, spilling alcohol everywhere.

“But speaking of male friendship…what kind of things do men even talk about in times like this?” Cliff asked, puzzled.

“Raunchy, sexy stuff?” I suggested.

“Sexy stuff? Ah, come to think of it, I heard you have a new wife now.”

I grinned. “Yep, her name is Eris. She was actually a childhood friend.”

“Lady Eris? Now, that name brings back memories,” said Zanoba, narrowing his eyes as he recalled our first meeting. “I wondered how the woman once referred to as the Mad Dog had turned out. I shall be sure to pay her my respects soon.”

Zanoba and Eris hadn’t really spoken much back in Shirone Kingdom, but I guess he still remembered her nonetheless. She was rather intense, so it would be hard to forget her.

Huh. I paused. “Wait a minute. Now that I think about it, Master Cliff, you knew about Eris before too, right? Didn’t you say something about meeting her a long time ago?”

“W-we had a brief interaction a long time ago,” he mumbled. “I don’t feel anything for her now.”

Ah, so he’d had a small encounter with her years ago… Odds were she had completely forgotten he existed. That wouldn’t be surprising, knowing Eris.

“The more important matter here is you, Rudeus. I told you this before, but women aren’t collectibles.” Cliff launched into a long, drawn-out sermon. “You can’t just bring in a bunch of them to wait on you hand and foot…” 

Once the three of us were sufficiently drunk, Zanoba was the one who launched into sexy talk. The conversation started about the wife that he’d married years before, but turned into a horror story midway before finally transitioning into a series of complaints about how she couldn’t understand his dolls. Cliff and I joined in with anecdotes about Eris and Elinalise. Both were monsters in bed, so we could sympathize with one another’s plight. 

Sadly, Zanoba quickly grew bored with this conversation, so we switched over to discussing my Magic Armor instead. When I began relaying the details of how I wore it in my fight with Orsted, the two of them listened eagerly, eyes alight with fascination. Apparently giant robot versus super monster was a universally entertaining trope.

In the course of this, I mentioned how Orsted had restored my missing arm. Without the prosthetic, I could feel up my wives’ chests to my heart’s content, but on the flipside, my strength had taken a serious hit. I could no longer do the same strenuous work that I could when I used the prosthetic arm.

“We’ll make another one right now!” Cliff declared, reaching over to grab Zanoba and myself by the arm.

“Mm? Right now?” Zanoba grunted.

“That’s right. This restaurant should be closing soon. We can knock back a few drinks in my room while we work on creating a new prosthetic hand!”

“Sounds good! Let’s go!” I agreed eagerly, leaping out of my chair.

Zanoba chuckled. “Hahaha, I suppose I have no other choice but to accompany you, then!” 

The three of us left the restaurant as they closed for the night. On the way back to Cliff’s room, we stopped to buy some drinks. Elinalise, who should have been waiting at home, was nowhere to be seen when we arrived. We found a note saying she had left to visit my house, so at least there was no reason to worry.

We carried our beverages into Cliff’s study and began constructing a brand-new prosthetic hand while nursing our drinks and babbling back and forth.

“I’m telling you, if you make it that light, it won’t have any strength to it! Ah, see! See! It broke! That’s why I kept telling you. It’s gotta be thicker!” Cliff grumbled.

Zanoba huffed. “Nonsense, with Master’s earth magic, we can do this! I swear to you!”

“Okay, hand it over here then!” I thrust out my hand. “I’ll show ya what my magic can really do! Oooooh, how’s this!”

“Dummy, it’s no different than it was a second ago!” Cliff barked at me.

“Hah, your eyes fail to see the truth. But I swear to you, it’s twice as strong as it was before. Try it for yourself.”

“…it broke instantly.”

“Uh, whoops?”

“In that case, let us revise our design,” said Zanoba. “As long as one can insert their fingers into it, that’s good enough, so if we alter where the palm is supposed to be here…”

“Hey, Zanoba, hold it just a moment,” I interrupted.

“Come now, Master, everyone fails sometimes.”

I shook my head. “Let me try again. Just give me one more chance!”

“Ha ha, all right, but this is the last!”

Making a prosthetic hand was proving extremely difficult. Probably because we were all in a drunken stupor. No one had enough sense to make the right calls, so we were all getting too bold. Yet somehow, our work was surprisingly precise…or at least, I thought it was.

Regardless, drinking with the boys and bantering while trying to make something turned out to be insanely fun. I was in high spirits. 

If another opportunity presents itself, I’d like to do this again, I thought to myself as we drank the night away.

***

While the boys were busy getting hammered, shouting, “Ain’t scared of no mama tonight!” three pajama-clad girls sat on an enormous bed on the second floor of Rudeus’s estate.

“Today marks the twenty-sixth session of our regularly scheduled Greyrat House meetings. Could we have a round of applause?” asked the white-haired girl.

The blue-haired girl promptly clapped her hands. The red-haired girl sat with her legs folded under her, a serious expression on her face as she obeyed the command. One among them was old enough not to be called a “girl” anymore, but if anyone said as much, the master of the house would roar in anger like a demon possessed, so everyone was careful to keep their mouths shut. As the master would argue, she looked young enough to be a middle-schooler, so what was the problem with calling her a girl? Although a person from the master’s previous world would be perfectly justified in pointing out that that was precisely the problem.

Digressions aside, the red-haired girl, Eris, stared blankly at the other two in her company. She had been training in the yard when Sylphie dragged her inside to this bedroom without explanation. She felt a bit lost.

The white-haired girl, Sylphie, cleared her throat. She was wearing her usual soft, two-piece pajama set—the kind Rudeus liked. “Ahem, since Eris joined us recently, allow me to explain—”

“I will take care of the explanation.” The blue-haired girl, Roxy, interrupted. She had on a nightgown with an adorable design on it. Anyone who didn’t know better would think it was made for a child. “These meetings are something Sylphie came up with as a way for us to bond. We each have our own expectations and feelings of jealousy and possessiveness, but if we succumb to that and compete amongst ourselves, it will only hurt Rudy. As members of this household, our duty is to do all we can to make this a safe haven for him.”

Eris glanced down at her own attire. It was plain and casual. She inwardly swore that she would go shopping tomorrow to find some proper pajamas.

“Eris, are you listening?” Roxy asked.

“Y-yeah!” Eris bobbed her head. But she was honestly still a bit confused, since she’d never imagined they held meetings like this.

“At any rate,” said Roxy, “if there’s anything you want to say to us, please do so here. Let’s try not to do any bickering in front of Rudy. Especially since he’s been so busy lately. We’d like to keep from adding to his burdens as much as we can.”

“Got it.” Eris nodded solemnly.

No fighting inside the house. No causing trouble for Rudeus.

Eris was born in the Asura Kingdom, and although her father, Philip, took only one wife, many houses in the kingdom had multiple wives. It was especially common in high-ranking noble houses who were eager to produce as many offspring as possible, since their line risked dying out otherwise. Even Eris’s beloved grandfather had taken multiple partners.

Eris recalled something her grandfather told her long ago: “You can tell the caliber of a nobleman by how well his many wives get along with one another.” 

The better the three of them got along, the more positively it would reflect on Rudeus.

“With that out of the way… today’s topic has to do with us. See, the two of us don’t know you very well, Eris, and you don’t know us very well either. That’s why we’d like to take this opportunity to deepen our friendship.” 

As Sylphie spoke, she reached under the bed and pulled out a bottle of strong liquor that one could find just about anywhere. Roxy retrieved some cups and a tray of assorted snacks, and placed it in the middle of the bed. 

Almost like a swordsman stabbing their blade into the ground, Sylphie set the bottle in the middle of their circle and declared, “For today, we’re going to spill our guts, no holds barred. We’ll each recount how we first met Rudeus and what brought us to where we are now. In the process, we’ll demonstrate how deep our feelings for Rudy are.”

“Bring it on!” Eris puffed out her chest. She was confident that her love for Rudeus was second to none.

“In that case, I’ll begin,” said Sylphie. “Rudeus and I first met when he was still living in Buena Village. We were about five at the time…”

Thus began the girls-only gathering at Rudeus’s estate, a meeting which continued well into the night. Since Roxy was pregnant, she held off on the alcohol. Eris only got a little tipsy, perhaps due to a strong natural resistance. This meant Sylphie was the only one that got absolutely hammered.

“Y’know, Rudy was the first friend I ever made. I’ve loved him eeeeever since. Oh, it brings back so many memories. He squeezed me in his arms back then too. Didn’t say a word, just put his arms around me like this and squeezed… Ehehe.” The stench of booze thickened Sylphie’s breath as she latched onto Eris.

Although Eris was a bit annoyed by Sylphie’s clinginess, it didn’t repulse her. She merely curled her lips, pouting. “So what? Rudeus hugged me when we were younger too.”

“Yeah, you already told us,” Sylphie whined. “I’m so jealous. You got to be with Rudy during the best period of his life. You even got to be his first. How was it, by the way? Our first time together was incredible.”

“I-It was no big deal,” Eris huffed. “Pretty normal, I guess? Besides, y-you got to have his first kid and marry him first… I’m more jealous of that.”

The conversation was turning sour, which was why Roxy took the opportunity to cut in. “Now, now, there’s nothing wrong with not being his first. I haven’t been his first for anything, but I am still perfectly happy.”

“Boo!” Sylphie jeered. “You don’t get to talk, Roxy! You’re his number one. You’re the one he respects the most.” 

“Respect…? I honestly don’t understand why he seems to revere me so much.”

“Rudy told me it’s because you taught him the most precious thing in the world. Something really special! I bet it’s something pervy—something he’s really into!”

Roxy shook her head. “He was plenty perverted by the time I came along. I had nothing to teach him in those matters. When he was younger, he even spied on me when I was showering. All I ever taught him was normal stuff… Hmm.” She fell into thought.

Honestly, what did Rudeus see in her? From what Roxy could remember, he’d been pretty attached to her from the start. But what could she have possibly taught him back then that was so special? Nothing stood out in her mind.

“Well, your special circumstances aside, even Eris has her own distinct charms. I’m really losing confidence over here…” Sylphie hung her head.

“Distinct charms? What’s that supposed to mean?” Eris demanded.

“I mean, you know. You’re strong, right? I’m jealous you get to fight by Rudy’s side. I worked hard to get where I am and have grown a lot, but I’ll never compare to him. You saw it in the Library Labyrinth. Rudy’s always trying to protect me. I appreciate that, but…” Sylphie fidgeted in place, having drunk way more than she should have.

Despite seeing how anxious the other woman was, Eris didn’t let those words swell her ego. She went to the Sword Sanctum precisely to train herself to be his equal. Her goal was to rival him in strength, and she had achieved that; she was confident she could beat him even if he whipped out his magic in battle. That brought her great satisfaction, but she still couldn’t help feeling a little envious of the relationship between Sylphie and Rudeus. Especially because she was strong enough to protect herself and could never be the woman Rudeus had to look out for.

While Sylphie agonized over the issue, Roxy cocked her head, and Eris crossed her arms. Out of the blue, the door to the room swung open.

“Pardon me, mistresses.”

“Oh, it’s you, Miss Lilia,” said Roxy.

In walked a middle-aged woman in a maid outfit. Wisps of steam rose from a bowl of boiled potatoes and other assorted vegetables.

“I brought you an extra late-night snack,” said Lilia.

Roxy smiled. “I apologize for inconveniencing you like this.”

“Not at all, Lady Roxy. Looking after you and the other mistresses of the house are a part of my duties as a maid.”

Roxy bowed her head in thanks, and Lilia dipped her chin in turn.

“Uh, um…well, I am most humbled and deeply…uh, thankful…” Eris stammered, unused to using such polite turns of phrase.

“Not at all, Lady Eris. You needn’t thank me. Now that you are one of Rudeus’s wives, that means I consider you my mistress as well.”

Eris was still struggling on how to interact with Lilia. Her family’s estate in the Fittoa Region had employed a number of maids, but Eris got the feeling she shouldn’t treat Lilia the same way. She was the mother of Rudeus’s younger sister, after all. In a way, she was like a wet nurse or second mother to him. The last thing Eris wanted was to make Rudeus’s mother hate her.

“Also, you needn’t use such polite language with me. I heard much of you when I lived in Buena Village.”

“Uh, wh-what did you hear?”

“Well…” Lilia hesitated. Eris already knew it was nothing good if it was something Lilia had heard way back when she was still a child. “I heard that you were so violent no one could get you under control and that it would be difficult for you to ever live the life of a proper noblewoman…”

Eris scowled, sticking out her bottom lip. Despite the development in her sword skills, she wasn’t so different now. There was a period where she’d tried her best to fulfill the role given to her, but she’d thrown all that away.

“But now look at you. You have turned into a stunning young lady. The Sword God—and even the lord of the Fittoa Region—would be proud to see the woman you are now.”

“I guess…” Eris dropped her gaze. “But my dad and grandpa are already…”

“Ah, I apologize.” Lilia’s eyes filled with sadness, and she lowered her head.

“It’s fine. That disaster affected everyone. I’m not the only one who lost someone. Rudeus’s mom and dad were also…”

Silence fell. In that brief exchange, the atmosphere in the room had turned gloomy. Steam continued to rise from the hot food Lilia had brought in. 

Uncomfortable with the change of mood, Sylphie piped up, “C-come to think of it, Miss Lilia, you’ve been with Rudy since infancy, right?”

After a pause, the maid answered, “Yes. I was hired to be his wet nurse, after all.”

“That means you knew him before Roxy and I ever met him. What was he like back then?”

“As an infant?” Lilia went quiet for a moment as she thought back. “Hm, I must confess, I found him a bit disturbing at first.”

“Huh? Why?”

“It’s difficult to put into words… Lord Rudeus was as elusive as a ghost. He’d disappear suddenly and just when you thought you’d found him, he’d have this creepy grin on his face. Perhaps that’s why.” 

She smiled as she remembered the past. Why had she avoided Rudeus so much back then, even though he was such an adorable child? Lilia remembered feeling disgusted by him, but she had forgotten those emotions with time, and all that remained were happy memories.

“But honestly, that’s not any different from how he is now, right?”

“Yes, true,” Lilia admitted. “Back then, whenever I picked him up, he would have this lecherous grin on his face as he groped my chest…”

“I don’t think that has changed at all either, has it?” Sylphie asked.

“Now that you mention it, no, it hasn’t.”

Rudeus had been a pervert from the moment he was born, apparently.

Lilia’s stories left an awkward air in the room. And yet, there was one girl among them who snorted triumphantly. 

“If he liked Lilia’s chest that much, then he should be plenty happy with mine,” Eris declared. She did indeed have an impressive bosom. “I was kinda worried, actually. Sylphie and Roxy are so tiny, I thought maybe my body wasn’t his type.”

“R-Rudy isn’t the type to judge a girl by her curves,” Sylphie said, a tremor in her voice.

“Now that I think about it, while we were traveling together, he did stare at girls’ chests all the time,” Eris mumbled to herself.

“What, even while you were traveling?” Sylphie stroked her chin. “Although, now that I think about it, he did find every excuse he could to touch my chest right after we got married. On my days off, he’d spend the whole day doing that.”

“He hasn’t really touched mine that much… I wonder if he’s just not interested in my chest…” Roxy’s shoulders sagged as she squeezed at her breasts. Sadly, there wasn’t much to grab.

“Well, at any rate, I should excuse myself…” said Lilia.

Sylphie called after her, “Miss Lilia, you should drink with us. It couldn’t hurt to do so occasionally.”

Roxy nodded. “Yes, now that you mention it, I don’t remember you drinking much while we were in Buena Village either. As you well know, I can’t have any right now, but since you’re already here, why don’t you join us?”

“I…but I have to look after Mistress Zenith…”

“Then bring her along too,” said Sylphie.

Eris nodded. “Yeah. We’re all adult women here. We can drink together!”

The one thing a drunkard didn’t lack for was gusto, and these girls had that in spades right now. It took Sylphie no time at all to cajole Lilia into dragging Zenith into their drunken merrymaking.

Elinalise was lonely that evening without Cliff. He had gone out earlier, insisting he had something to talk to Rudeus about—man to man. Not wanting to dampen his pride, Elinalise wished him farewell while lauding herself for being such a virtuous and forgiving wife.

However, she quickly enough found herself bored with nothing to do. She and Cliff had been having sex regularly despite her swollen belly, but with him gone, there was no way for her to satisfy her carnal urges. In fact, since she was pregnant, they were no worse than normal. She figured she would be fine skipping a day, and so she left their abode to visit the Greyrat Residence in order to check in on Sylphie and Roxy. 

She arrived to find a group of five ladies throwing their own drinking party. “Oh, dear me, seems you girls are up to something fun.”

“Ah, Grandma!” Sylphie beamed. “Your tummy sure has gotten big. Is my little brother in there? Or will I get a little sister? Oh, wait… If Cliff is basically my father, then that makes Rudy… Uh, um…”

When Elinalise walked in, Sylphie was in the midst of feeling up Eris’s boobs from behind. For her part, Eris ignored Sylphie, eyes glued to the food she was silently shoving into her mouth as she nursed her drink. Zenith was sitting nearby, acting as Eris’s personal drink refiller. Beside her, Lilia was chugging away from her own mug, with Roxy topping off her glass whenever it grew empty.

“Miss Roxy,” said Lilia, “why…why is it that my daughter can’t earn Lord Rudeus’s love as well?!”

“He does love her.” Disappointed as she was that she couldn’t join in because of her pregnancy, Roxy still humored Lilia with an earnest response.

“I wonder if that’s really true…”

“Well, admittedly, he does only see her as a younger sister,” Roxy said.

“But doesn’t a woman’s true happiness come from being loved by a man?!”

“Well, I definitely am happy, but I don’t think that’s the only form of happiness one can have. Besides, Aisha is a talented girl. I am sure she will find a wonderful partner eventually.”

Lilia shot up straighter. “Someone even better than Lord Rudeus?!”

“Well, it would be difficult to find a man better than Rudy… When you put it like that, I really hit it big, didn’t I? Like buying up a prime spot of land for pocket change before everyone realizes its value and the price shoots up…”

Watching them, Elinalise remembered how single girls from the Adventurers’ Guild would gather to throw parties. Those lamenting how they couldn’t snag a good man would regularly meet up to get drunk and make merry before ultimately getting told off by the bartender and ending up on the streets after closing hour, where they’d nod off till morning.

Elinalise would eagerly join those girls from the Adventurers’ Guild when she could. She had nothing to fear; unlike them, she never lacked for male partners. The only reason she participated was so she could enjoy some alcohol with a group of people. 

“Rudeus would weep if he could see you girls like this. The only time a girl is supposed to get this inebriated is in her partner’s company, when it’s just the two of them,” she said.

“Aw, don’t say stuff like that, Grandma,” said Sylphie. “Oh, hey. You’re always teaching Roxy how to do stuff in bed, right? Why won’t you teach me anything, huh? How come?”

“Oh, Sylphie, honestly…you are completely wasted. But as for why I have never taught you anything, it’s because Rudeus will be more turned on by you if he thinks you’re an innocent girl who doesn’t know anything about sex.”

“All the more reason for you to teach me all kinda stuff! I’m tired of letting Rudy do whatever he wants to me in bed. It’s ’bout time I made him squeal for a change!”

It took only a few seconds for Elinalise to abandon all good sense on seeing her granddaughter drunk as a skunk. She was a good talker, which was precisely why she decided it best to join the girls by drinking alongside them.

“At any rate,” Elinalise said, “I’m going to get me a glass.” She barely managed to grab an empty one before Sylphie’s hand shot out to stop her.

“You can’t! Girls with big tummies can’t have alcohol!”

“Tell that to Roxy.”

“I don’t gotta! Roxy isn’t drinking, so there’s no problems there! Plus, even if she did drink, she can use detoxification magic, so I don’t gotta worry!” A sober Sylphie would never have said something like that, but she was already three sheets to the wind.

Elinalise sighed, exasperated, and found an empty chair to flounce into. “You know, I learned how to use that magic too at the academy.”

“Well I can do it without chanting an incantation!” Sylphie huffed.

“Yes, yes, how incredible. I would expect no less from my granddaughter.”

“And that’s exactly why you can’t drink! It’s a no-no!”

“Yes, yes. I understand.” Elinalise laughed off Sylphie’s triumphant bragging and gave up on the idea of alcohol, opting to snack instead.

“It’s not ’cause I’m your granddaughter. It’s thanks to Rudy teaching me,” said Sylphie. “I do whatever he tells me to—whether it comes to magic or sex.”

“And it’s because you’re that kind of woman that you tempt him so,” Elinalise pointed out.

“Yeah! He acts way more motivated the morning after we’ve slept together. Ehehe!”

It took Elinalise about an hour to catch up with Sylphie’s high energy.

That night, four of the women drank themselves into oblivion, guzzling down drinks as they let out all the negative feelings they’d built up. Their anxiety around Rudeus doing so many things in secret lately. Their suspicions about the Man-God and Orsted. And yet, they were all optimistic that it would somehow work out. It was with that whirlwind of emotions that they knocked back their drinks and enjoyed themselves in drunken bliss.

Roxy and Elinalise, who remained sober, were kind enough to humor the others and their numerous complaints until they eventually nodded off. It was they who cast detoxification magic on the others. When all was done at last, Elinalise returned to her home while Roxy retreated to her room. The latter made preparations for school tomorrow before slipping into bed.

There was only one girl in the household who couldn’t participate in their little party and sulkily slept the night away, but Roxy wouldn’t even realize they’d left her out until the following morning.

***

When my eyes cracked open, I found myself clinging to Zanoba. It should go without saying, but no homo—I only did this because I got totally smashed last night. That was some good alcohol we’d had. Honestly, I never got the point of drinking with a bunch of other men in my previous life, but it turned out that hanging with a bunch of guys I liked made the alcohol taste that much better.

“Ugh, but my head is killing me…” Since my head was pounding something fierce, I cast healing and detoxification magic on myself. The throbbing immediately receded. It was like taking a super strength aspirin that kicked in immediately, washing away both the pain and its source.

I did the same for Zanoba and Cliff, even though they were still sleeping like a couple of logs. The former had his foot resting on Cliff’s face, which was probably why Cliff seemed to be having such a bad time sleeping.

Sorry, buddy, but healing and detoxification magic can’t take away the source of the stench.

While my magic did an excellent job of easing the pain of a hangover, it didn’t help with the dehydration. I decided to get a drink of water before my headache returned, using earth magic to conjure a cup and then water magic to fill—

“Hm?” I paused as I noticed something in the middle of the room. Whatever it was, it was shaped like an arm, but numerous metal plates had been layered together, making it slightly larger and thicker than a normal arm, and unwieldy besides.

“Uh, what was this thing supposed to be again?” I wracked my brain, trying to recall the happenings of the previous night. “In fact, where the heck am I anyway?” I scanned the room, but I didn’t recognize my surroundings. I was pretty sure that I had been here before, and I could tell it was Cliff’s room at least, but other than that…

“Um, let’s see, I think we drank a bunch at the restaurant… Oh, yeah, we got on the topic of remaking my prosthetic hand. Cliff said he had the materials here to draw magic circles for it, so that’s why we came here to his place…”

That was where my recollection ended. Everything after that was murky. Judging by the evidence, we’d guzzled alcohol while working on making this new version of the prosthetic.

“Huh.”

Fuzzy as my brain was on the details, I did remember bits and pieces about our attempts not going to plan at all. I reached down and picked up the prosthetic—or gauntlet, rather—and inspected it. The thing was heavy, probably weighing about ten kilograms, which meant I’d made it with my earth magic. I had even left a perfect slot in the palm where a magic stone could be embedded. It struggled to fit it on my hand while holding it, so I set it down and slipped my hand in. It fit like a glove.

“Earth, be thou my hand,” I muttered. Mana started pooling in my arm, feeding into the gauntlet, and gradually, it became lighter and lighter. My sense of touch was less sensitive when wearing it, but I could easily pick up whatever I wanted, giving me fond nostalgia for the time I spent with my prosthetic. There was no mistaking it—this was the Zaliff Prosthesis. Or the Zaliff Gauntlet, rather, if we were going for a more accurate term.

“We actually finished it!”

Indeed, we had successfully created the Zaliff Gauntlet.

After that, the three of us groggily sat around and enjoyed the breakfast Elinalise made. She had come home at some early hour this morning.

“We did it.”

“Yeah.”

“Let’s be sure to inscribe a clean blueprint for it later.”

While we celebrated the completion of the gauntlet, we lacked the energy to show much enthusiasm. No amount of healing or detoxification magic could restore the hours of sleep lost to partying ’til the wee hours.

“Well, see you.”

“Yep, let’s drink again some time.”

“Indeed! It was a pleasure.”

We bid our quiet, reserved goodbyes, promising to do this again. 

My feet dragged as I made my way home. It was already almost noon, and the sun beat down on me. The summer heat was inescapable. This also meant the snow was long gone, and soon enough, the beastfolk would enter mating season. Personally, I was eager to mate year-round, so the seasons didn’t have much of an impact on me, but seeing how antsy everyone else was made me restless as well.

Roxy’s belly had begun to swell. I was looking forward to deciding on a name for our baby, but in just two weeks I would have to leave with Ariel for Asura Kingdom. I could instantly return home with teleportation magic, but we had no idea how many months we would be spending there.

I hated the idea that I wouldn’t be there for the birth. After all, by the time Roxy went into labor, she would have spent over nine months with uncomfortable pregnancy symptoms, all so she could give birth to my child. There was little I could do for her in return, but I needed to show how grateful I was through my actions, at least.

Wonder if it’ll be a boy or girl…

Since Lucie was a girl, I kind of wanted a boy this time, but honestly, it didn’t matter either way.

Come to think of it, Eris mentioned she wants to have a boy.

Back in Japan, there were tips and tricks for determining the sex of your baby, but what were they again? Like, if you did thing A then it would be easier to have a boy and if you did thing B it would be easier to have a girl, or something like that. I recalled vinegar being used at some point too…

I wonder if you can change a baby’s sex through magic in this world…

Well, it didn’t matter either way. We would lovingly raise our baby regardless of their sex.

Eris would likely also wind up pregnant in no time. My concern with her was whether or not she would settle down and behave while pregnant. On top of that, she seemed to be in a rush to have a baby. In the middle of intimacy, she would pause numerous times to ask, “Can I get pregnant this way?” and “Are you sure this is right?” 

Part of it was because she naturally had a high libido, but maybe part of it was that she felt a step behind the other girls, since Sylphie had already had Lucie and Roxy was currently pregnant. In Asura Kingdom, there was a strong sense that one couldn’t openly declare themselves a man’s wife until they had their child. I had no idea what Eris thought about that, but if she wanted to have a baby quickly so she could feel more secure, I would oblige her.

Finally, I saw my house in the distance. Since I hadn’t told the girls I would be staying out for the night, I figured they would probably be upset with me. Not that our household was strict about that kinda stuff. 

Perhaps it would be wise to make a concrete rule regarding curfew and staying out. Kidnappings were a common problem in this world, and there was no telling what the Man-God might do. Lucie was growing up, so making a rule now would serve to protect her and our other future children.

“I’m home!” I declared as I walked in.

“Oh, Big Brother, welcome home!” Aisha said. I saw neither hair nor hide of the rest of my family.

“Huh? Where is everyone? Did they all go out?”

“They were up late into the night,” Aisha explained. “They’re still asleep!”

What, they were partying it up? Without little ol’ me? Does that mean I was left out of all the fun?

In other words, while I was out knocking back drinks with the boys, the girls had a celebration of their own. I could only hope they hadn’t spent the time badmouthing me.

“Can you believe them? They were so cold to me!” Aisha groused. “While I was sleeping, they got together to have drinks and chat!”

“Oh, so you weren’t a part of the festivities?”

“Nope. Leo and I slept together the whole night. Speaking of Leo… When I woke up this morning, I noticed the bed felt cold and wet. Leo apparently had an accident. I got onto him, and he looked all dejected. He may look like a big dog, but he’s still just a little pup.”

Aisha sure seems to be enjoying her days here.

“So? What did you do? Did you wash your bedding?” I asked.

“Of course I did. Oh, and Miss Eris helped me out. She promised she wouldn’t tell anyone since she used to wet the bed as well. I told her it wasn’t me, but she wouldn’t believe me, no matter what I said. Please tell her the truth. I swear, I have never once wet the bed since I was born.”

“I don’t know. You sure about that?” I teased.

“Ugh, not you too! You guys are cruel!”

We moved to the living room as we bantered.

I wonder if Eris took part in this drinking party. It left me a little anxious, but it was good she seemed to be getting along with the other girls.

“Oh, Rudeus, welcome home.”

As I was lost in thought, Eris came down the stairs. She was wearing light, flexible clothing and carrying a wooden sword, even though her real weapons still rested at her hips.

“Good to be home,” I said. “Going out for training now?”

“Yep! I have to train even harder!”

I had no idea what they had discussed during their party, but she seemed to be in high spirits.

Which reminds me, I have a favor to ask of her.

“Eris.”

“What?”

Perhaps it was thanks to the sun on the walk back, but my head was clearer than before and my body felt lighter too. All I needed was another glass of water and I’d be good to go. One big glass! And while I was in the mood, it was the perfect time to ask.

“If you’re going to do some training, how about having a mock battle with me? You know, like you and Ruijerd used to do while we were traveling together. Haven’t done that in a long time.”

For a moment, she stared vacantly at me, but she soon recovered and flashed a grin. “Sounds good! I’ll pound you into the ground like I used to!”

“Ulp… Well, I’ll try my best to keep up.”

Since this was a mock battle, I hoped she’d at least hold enough back not to kill me.

This is going to be okay, right? Right? I mean, she is a Sword King now, so she can hold herself back…right?

“Well, I’m gonna head out to the garden first then!” Eris declared, before hurrying off.

With that promise made, I left to change clothes. Eris had become quite the badass since I last saw her, and I couldn’t let myself look too pathetic in front of her.

Time to get my game face on!

The two of us stood apart, facing one another.

“It’s been a really long time since I sparred with you like this,” said Eris.

“Sure has.” How many years had it been since we traveled with Ruijerd? About five, if my approximation was correct.

“I won’t lose to you anymore!” Eris bellowed.

“Don’t worry. I don’t have any illusions about being able to win.”

I used to defeat her after I received my Eye of Foresight, but by the end of our journey, the advantage that gave me was negligible at best. The two of us had gone on to live different lives after we parted. Eris had spent all of her time studying the sword, doing nothing but fighting. Having seen her face-off with Orsted, I could already tell I didn’t stand a chance of beating her.

“That said, you don’t have much experience fighting a mage, do you?” I asked.

“Nope.”

“And I’ve never faced off with anyone skilled enough to use something like the Sword of Light. Mock battles like these will help us prepare to face off against opponents of a similar skill level.”

Eris huffed, grinning from ear to ear.

What’s with her? I didn’t really compliment her that much. Did I say something funny?

“It really has been forever since we did this, too!” she said. 

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Eris wasn’t just referring to the sparring—she was recalling when I was her tutor and used to logically analyze what we were doing as we trained. 

“Well, with that out of the way, it’s time to battle! Just like before when we were traveling.”

“Yep, got it!” 

She lifted her wooden sword, holding it high above her head, her favorite pose since childhood. However, things were different now. The moment she took that pose, the air around her settled. The tense, cocky aura about her disappeared in an instant. Panicked, I dropped into a fighting stance and gripped my staff, unleashing my Eye of Foresight.

“Whenever you’re r—”

Before I could get the word out, Eris’s figure blurred. By the time I finished the sentence, a force struck my right shoulder. I dropped my staff before I could register what had happened and went sprawling. The next thing I knew, I was staring at the sky. There was a delay before the pain hit, shooting through my shoulder.

“Agh… Urk…”

I couldn’t move my right arm at all, which made me suspect she’d shattered my shoulder blade. I managed to reach my left hand over and started chanting, “Let this divine power be as satisfying nourishment, giving one who has lost their strength the strength to rise again! Healing!” Slowly, the pain subsided.

Eris appeared in my field of vision, still holding her sword above her head with a confused look on her face, as if to say, “What now? Can I strike you again?”

“Hold it. Stop! I give!” I thrust my hand out to stay her, and she finally lowered her weapon.

I took a breath and lifted myself off the ground. “Eris, was that the Sword of Light just now?”

“Yep.”

Aha, so that’s the secret technique of the Sword God style. I had seen it once before, and Orsted had even hit me with the technique, but seeing it once again reinforced how ungodly fast it was. I hadn’t had time to blink, let alone react. “So that’s what it was…” I mumbled. “Amazing. I didn’t see it coming.”

“Right?! I put everything I had into it!” Eris nodded, pleased by my compliment.

“Guess I’ll have to work hard and find a way to counter it.”

Eris huffed. “It won’t be that easy!” 

“Yeah, I don’t expect I’ll be able to do it today…”

Still, I couldn’t look like a complete loser in front of her. I needed to make sure she could learn something from these mock battles.

Well, to sum up the results of our battles… I lost miserably. Eris won nine out of ten of our matches.

I frowned. I already knew Eris was strong. In fact, I’d already figured I would be no match for her before we started. The point of these mock battles was not for me to win, but to get stronger. Experiencing the best of the Sword God style was a valuable lesson in itself. 

Yet, as much as I appreciated that, I couldn’t help feeling utterly dejected after having the snot kicked out of me again and again. I really did try everything: Quagmire, Deep Mist, Earth Fortress, Vacuum Wave, and Sonic Boom. I even tried using wind and sand to obscure her vision. I thought getting cornered would be her weakness—and it certainly was—but her Sword of Light was so fast it could overcome that.

Even if we managed to strike each other at the same time, I still lost. I thought Electric would be enough to knock us both out of the fight, but Eris kept a firm grip on her sword even as it shot through her, and kept charging at me. She didn’t lack guts, for sure. Meanwhile, all it took was one hit and I was out of the game. The ridiculous gap between her stamina and mine made me worry whether she’d feel disillusioned after all of this.

“I really am a loser, aren’t I?” I sighed.

“Why do you think that?”

“I mean, look at you. You worked hard and became this powerful as a result, while this is all my efforts have amounted to. I feel like I can’t look you in the eye, especially with how many hours of training you put in compared to me.”

The one time I managed to snatch a win was when I managed to stop her sword with my Zaliff Gauntlet. Eris was thrown off by the abnormal resistance she felt through my sleeve, which left her gaping in surprise. I couldn’t blame her—she thought she would break my arm with her swing, only to be met with steel that deflected her attack. The Zaliff Gauntlet had a sleeker design than its predecessor, though the two weighed about the same.

Without thinking, Eris had blurted, “What? So you can make your arm hard too?” The sexual implications made had her cheeks flush brightly. Alas, there was only one part of my body I could harden like that, and it generally remained flaccid until night time.

In any case, I might have won, but it wasn’t because of my strength. Luck had favored me, and the same tactic wouldn’t work twice. If she’d used a real sword instead of a wooden one, there was a good chance she would have lopped off my hand along with the gauntlet. As far as I was concerned, that win didn’t count. My win rate, then, was zero percent.

Yep, just call me Big Loser Rudeus.

“That’s not true at all,” Eris said. “We’re talking swordplay versus magic here. In melee combat, it’s only natural you’d lose.”

Honestly, that was not the reaction I expected. In my mind I had only imagined two scenarios. In one, she would sniff, puff out her chest, and say, “Of course! Because I’m stronger!” And then she would lose her temper and snap, “Rudeus, you need to train harder!” In the other one she would sigh, be disgusted and say, “You bore me.” Her response was so different that I was left gawking.

Seriously, did I just hear the word “melee” come out of Eris’s mouth?

“We start within my preferred attack range, so you’re at a disadvantage from the beginning. In fact, I’m the one who should be ashamed that you won even once.” Eris said all of that with a completely earnest look on her face.

Am I hearing things? Is this really my Eris?

I had to remind myself that she was a Sword King now. Of course she would be knowledgeable about combat. It would be odd if she wasn’t. She had spoken this analytically when she taught Norn swordsmanship, too. 

I knew that, and yet I couldn’t stop myself from asking. “Eris, I have one question…”

“What?”

“Who, uh, taught you all that?”

Was it the Sword King? A Sword Emperor? I suspected it was one of those two. I wasn’t really asking because I wanted to know who specifically taught her. Maybe I just wanted to reassure myself by confirming that she hadn’t come up with all that on her own.

If that’s the case, I’m a hateful bastard.

But I couldn’t really help it. On the outside, it looked as though she hadn’t changed at all, but so much about her was different and it left me a little…well, gobsmacked.

“Auber was the one who taught me about melee!” Eris declared.

Ah, as I figured, someone did teach her. But the name Auber gave me pause. I was pretty sure I had heard it somewhere before. “Wait… The North Emperor? North Emperor Auber?”

“That’s the one!”

“From what I understand, you were the Sword God’s apprentice, but you’re saying you also learned from the North Emperor?”

“And a bit from the Water God too, yeah!”

Water God Reida too, huh?

Of course, it wasn’t surprising that she would pick up on other swordplay styles in the Sword Sanctum. It was in the place’s very name. Or maybe those warriors had happened to swing by, and she had received unofficial lessons from them that way. 

Regardless, North Emperor Auber and Water God Reida were big names. Orsted mentioned there was a good chance we would be fighting those two in Asura, and lo and behold, they were the ones who taught Eris what she knew. I wondered if this was a trap. I wanted to believe it was a simple coincidence, but…

“Eris, to tell you the truth, there’s a good chance we might be facing those two when we go to Asura.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They’re on the enemy’s side.”

I thought that even Eris would find it difficult to face her former teachers. I’d tried to word it diplomatically, but she simply crossed her arms and grinned like she was ready to walk into battle.

“Yeah? That gets me itching to fight!”

She looked like she would gladly throw down with them right here and now. Apparently, she hadn’t built the same kind of relationship with them as the one she had with Ghislaine. In fact, I wondered if she’d even made any friends at the Sword Sanctum. It worried me.

“Well, if you’re raring to go, then I won’t hold back when fighting them either.”

“Of course! You better not hold anything back with them,” she said.

I stared at her. “Because you think it would be disrespectful?”

“Because they’ll cut you in two in an instant.” Her expression made it clear she wasn’t kidding. “But don’t worry, you have me to protect you!”

“R-right…”

Reassuring as that should have been, being told they’d cut me in two was honestly terrifying. I definitely didn’t want to face them head-on. Maybe we could lure them into a trap or rig things so the conditions favored us. I’d have to bank on that. 

“Well, thank you for doing this mock battle with me regardless.”

“No need to thank me. As your wife, it’s my duty!”

Oh, goodness. You’re going to make me blush.

“Well, then, as your husband, I’d better work hard so I can stand toe to toe with you,” I said.

“You’re fine as you are!”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Everyone has their own role to play! In fact, if I know you have my back in battle, it’ll put me at ease.”

Huh. Five years ago, Eris would never have said something like that. The skills she had picked up during the time she spent training were certainly the most notable thing, but she had matured mentally as well.

I am really going to have to work hard, so she doesn’t feel disillusioned by me.

***

I continued sparring with Eris as I made preparations for our departure. That included making improvements to my Magic Armor, working on a way to combat Orsted’s curse, as well as packing for the trip. I did all of this while trying to spend more time with Roxy. 

Of course, I wasn’t with her all the time. I had several meetings with Orsted where we discussed what abilities North Emperor Auber and Water God Reida might use, as well as how to counter them. We also worked out how to contact the band of thieves Triss was involved with. Just to be on the safe side, I brushed up on my geographical knowledge of Asura’s Capital, Ars, as well as the layout of the Silver Palace where the royals resided. I also introduced Cliff and Orsted so the former could begin studying Orsted’s curse. 

I was pulling out all stops to do whatever I could, all while trying to set aside extra time to spend with Roxy.

I wasn’t stalking her, to be clear. Yeah, maybe I loitered in front of her door sometimes and snuck into her peripheral vision to get her attention, but most of the time I was pretty direct in asking for her time. 

Perhaps because she was pregnant, she was more willing than usual to accept my company. Not that she had ever refused it before, of course, but she was making a more concerted effort to approach me. It warmed my heart. 

She had always been a little aloof with me. If I was sitting on the couch, she would opt for one of the armchairs, or take a seat directly across from me, rather than settle in beside me. That had changed as of late. She would either cozy up beside me or plop herself in my lap. Can you believe that? In my lap! This was the same Roxy that hated being treated like a kid, but she was willingly perching herself on my legs. If that wasn’t enough, her cheeks would light up, as if she was embarrassed to be doing it. No doubt it took more courage to do this than simply take a seat by my side.

That was why I made sure to offer prayers of gratitude to my altar every night.

My Goddesses, thank you for letting me have such a happy life.

One evening Roxy and I found ourselves sitting on the living room couch, side-by-side. We would often sit together and chat like this as the day drew to a close. We never ran out of things to talk about. Roxy would discuss how things were at school or news about the latest magical implements. Sometimes we would talk about our adventures following the Displacement Incident. None of the subjects were terribly important, but chatting with her always put me at ease. Hearing her voice alone was enough to make me happy. Roxy’s words always carried deep nuance, filled with wisdom and enlightenment. I never spent a dull minute with her.

“You’re being too insecure,” said Roxy. “While a mage should keep their distance while attacking, if they get too far away, that means a greater delay before their attack hits.”

“But when I’m fighting someone with a sword, shouldn’t I put some distance between myself and them?”

The subject of today’s discussion was my match with Eris. Most people would judge me, saying it was wrong to bring up another woman when I was spending time with Roxy, but it was actually Roxy who broached the subject. She had watched our match—watched me get my butt handed to me.

Roxy agreed. “True. If you’re a magician facing a swordsman, the more distance you can get, the better position you’ll be in. Your spell’s impact may be delayed, but at least your opponent’s attacks won’t hit you either.”

“See, like I was saying.”

“However, that all changes the moment you enter your opponent’s attack range.”

My shoulders slumped. “Really?”

“Once you’re within their reach, they have the complete upper hand. After all, they’re fast. Trying to put distance between yourself and them at that point is futile; you won’t be able to move fast enough to get out of their range. They’re going to come straight for you if you try that, and their attacks are like a cone-shaped wave that moves outward, meaning you’re more likely to get hit by it the further you move away.”

“Yeah, I figured.”

I had experienced that numerous times in my practice battles against Eris. She usually charged at me as she attacked, but she also often kept me barely within range. From that position, she could counter any magic I tried to sling at her, and if I tried to fall back, she would chase me down. I had lost almost thirty times before realizing what she was doing.

“Allow me to quiz you. When you’re up against an opponent whose area of attack is in front of them, where is the most advantageous position on the field?”

“Behind the enemy?” I guessed.

Roxy nodded. “Precisely. They’re going to lunge forward with their attack, so their center of balance is going to be tilted forward. Even if they try to defend their rear with an attack, its power will be severely reduced. If you can withstand that, you’ll have a chance to counter them. Thus, the key is to slip out of their attack range and flank them!”

“Hm, makes sense.”

So it was better to charge forward instead of falling back. The most dangerous move was actually the best path to survival. Roxy’s brilliance didn’t surprise me; she wasn’t my teacher for nothing. As an adventurer, she had probably seen her fair share of such situations. She’d probably taken down a number of powerful, demon-like beasts at close range. Calling her a god was no exaggeration.

My eyes sparkled as I stared at my wife, and she awkwardly averted her gaze. “Ahem, well, I’m sure it will be difficult with Eris as your opponent. I certainly couldn’t do it. So please don’t ask me to demonstrate for you.”

“No, I am certain that if anyone could do it, you could!” I gushed.

“No, I really couldn’t! So stop looking at me like you think I’m some kind of invincible superhuman!”

I’m not looking at you like that. My eyes are just sparkling because you’re a goddess.

Regardless, I finally had my answer. I shouldn’t try to escape my opponent by falling back every time. I needed to charge forward at least occasionally, get the drop on my opponent, and halt their momentum with a counter of my own. That would force them to second-guess themself, to make them doubt their usual method of charging in for the kill and give me the advantage instead. If I could make them think it was a risk to close too much distance between us, that would actually make it so I could fall back and gain the upper hand. Granted, it wouldn’t be that simple with Eris. I would just have to keep losing to her while cautiously testing my options.

“Ahem.” Roxy cleared her throat, interrupting my thoughts. “Well, Rudy, since your departure is fast approaching, I think it’s about time you decided on a name for the baby.”

“Isn’t thinking up a baby’s name before going off on an adventure kind of an ill omen?” I said.

“That’s a superstition born of a human hero’s story, right? It has nothing to do with the Migurd Tribe.”

Oof, she’d rejected that outright. But an ill omen was still an ill omen. Still, if my goddess said it was nothing to worry about, there was no need to buy into the superstition. I would do as my goddess bid me.

“In our village, it’s the tribe leader’s job to pick a name,” said Roxy. “And you’re the leader of our household, right? So hurry up and make your decision.”

“Are you sure you want me to make that choice all on my own?”

“Of course. While you’re gone, I’ll be lovingly stroking my belly and calling our baby by whatever name you give it. That will bring me some happiness in your absence.” 

As she spoke, she caressed her stomach. I cupped my hand over hers and followed her motions. It was strange, thinking how this girl I had known for over a decade now held my baby within her. I’d experienced this same puzzling sensation before with Sylphie, and now I was again with Roxy. Happiness swelled in the depths of my chest. It was such a pleasant feeling, one I wanted to enjoy again and again.

“Ehehe,” I snickered.

“What is it, Rudy? That laugh sounds just like Sylphie.”

Just like Sylphie, huh?

“Nothing, really. Thinking about how much I like your tummy.”

“I’m not as slender as Sylphie, nor as fit and muscular as Eris…but if you still like my body, then you’re welcome to touch it as much as you want.”

“Really?” I asked, although I’d already been doing just that for the past few minutes.

“Half of the baby inside me belongs to you after all.”

“What about you? How much of you belongs to me?”

Roxy paused before saying, “Everything, at least on the outside.”

“But I can’t claim the baby inside too?”

She shook her head. “Half of the baby belongs to me. I won’t budge on that.”

Hm, makes sense. I knew she was wise. That’s right, a child belongs to both of its parents. And Roxy belongs to me.

“Let’s see, what should we do about the name…” I mumbled.

“Hm, well, a Migurdian name would be something like… Lola?”

The Migurd sure did seem to like names that started with Ro or Lo, but since our child was only half-Migurdian, there was no reason we had to stick to tradition. “I think it would be best if we took something from our names, Rudeus and Roxy, and combined them,” I said.

“That’s a good idea. Then… Rodeus? Or Luxy… I don’t think our names pair up very well.”

“Nonsense,” I insisted, “we are a perfect match for one another.”

We couldn’t simply slap our names together like that, though. Maybe we could change a vowel. Start the name off with, say… Re or Le instead.

Re… Rerere…

Oh, crap. That sounded just like old man Rerere from Tensai Bakabon. I could imagine our child humming “Rerere” to themselves as they swept the floor with their bamboo broom. There was nothing wrong with wanting things clean, but that was definitely not what we needed right now.

I liked the sound of the name that Roxy recommended a moment ago—Lola. It made me picture a young woman who was anxious to experience the feverish passion of love. But that wouldn’t work either. I wanted something more…more Roxy-like. Something that sounded wise and yet endearing at the same time. I loved the way she turned when I called her name, and how she peered up at me, wearing a perfect poker face as she asked, “Yes? What do you need?” And that was exactly the kinda name I wanted for our child.

Hmm, hmm… Hmm.

La, Li, Lu, Le, Lo…which of them would be the best fitting for her baby?

I got it!

“If it’s a boy, we’ll call him Loro, and if it’s a girl, we’ll call her Lara. How’s that?” I proposed.

“A fine idea. Loro and Lara. I like the sound of those names.”

Of course you do! I practically ripped those names straight out of Adventurers of Lolo, after all. With some slight alteration.

“Doesn’t that make you happy, Loro? Or Lara? Your father was kind enough to decide on a name for you.” Despite having the appearance of a middle schooler, the expression Roxy wore as she cooed at her stomach was like that of the holy mother.

Divine! She’s utterly divine! Which means our baby will be a goddess’s child!

“Rudy,” Roxy said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yes?”

“I know I acted like I wasn’t worried at all a few days ago, but…I expect you to come home safe and sound, okay? I want both of us to be able to hold this child together.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

She didn’t have to tell me twice.

Those indulgent days passed by quickly, and soon enough, we had to depart for the kingdom. There were eight of us in the party. Ariel’s group consisted of Luke, Sylphie, Ellemoi, and Cleane. Then there was Eris, Ghislaine, and me. We had a single carriage, which required two of our five horses to pull it. Ariel’s trappings were rather modest for the second princess of a country as great as Asura.

To the outside world, it would look like we were gearing up to sneak into the country. In reality, we planned to access a forbidden teleportation circle to transport ourselves in. Despite the secretive nature of our mission, there was a whole crowd at the entrance of the city waiting to see us off. This group included the vice principal, officers of the student council, the general manager of the Magicians’ Guild, the leader of the magical implement workshop, and a handful of other heads of organizations, along with representatives for nobility and royalty from the Three Magic Nations. They all swooped in one after the other to bid Ariel farewell.

These guys don’t understand the definition of covert, do they? Just because you’re not throwing a party doesn’t mean it’s okay to gather en masse.

Well, regardless, their presence here was proof that Ariel’s efforts to make connections in Ranoa had borne fruit. Perhaps a day would come when I would need to make use of those connections myself. Orsted was insanely powerful, but he didn’t have very good relations with others. I was on my own on that front. I decided to mingle with the others and pay my respects to them.

And thus, we set off for Asura Kingdom.