Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Ars, the Royal Capital

ARS, THE CAPITAL OF ASURA, is also the single largest city in the world. It takes its name from the legendary hero who led mankind to victory in the Great Human-Demon War.

The first time a traveler lays their eyes upon this metropolis, their astonishment is impossible to disguise. The towering castle at its center, known as the Silver Palace, is surrounded by the great mansions of the high nobles; beyond the fortress-like walls that encircle this area, the city itself sprawls out in every direction, all the way to the horizon.

Here, you will find an enormous arena, the splendid training grounds of the Royal Knights, and many beautiful Millis churches. Canals run throughout the entire city, crossed by countless lovely bridges. Other notable attractions include: the headquarters of the world’s largest businesses; the original training halls of the great Water God Style; the famous playhouses of the theater district; the sensual, seductive women of the pleasure quarter; and the great gate built to commemorate Asura’s victory in the Laplace War…

This is a city that seems truly endless. No one vantage point can offer you a view of it in its entirety. It spreads far beyond even the Alteir River, which gave it life— it sprawls as far as any eye can see.

They say that everything in the world can be found within Ars, the oldest of its cities. And once you’ve seen it for yourself, you may find it difficult to argue.

–EXCERPT FROM “WANDERING THE WORLD” BY THE ADVENTURER BLOODY KANT

***

Staring out at the capital from the top of a tall hill, Eris and I gaped almost simultaneously.

“Whoa.”

The city of Ars spread out before us, larger by far than any city I’d seen in this world.

The castle at its center caught my eye first. It was as large as Perugius’, if not larger, and it gleamed like silver in the sunlight. Grand, thick walls at least twenty meters tall encircled this central structure; they were so imposing that it was hard to imagine anything, even a stray Wyrm, forcing its way past them.

The buildings just outside those walls were also impressive in their own right. On every side, the palace was surrounded by gorgeous, ornate mansions. Maybe this was where the more powerful aristocrats lived? Half of the buildings were big enough to qualify as castles, and the area was encircled by a second ring of walls.

Past that point, the city spilled in every direction, with additional walls at regular intervals. It seems they kept adding new ones as the place had grown over the centuries. I counted five outer rings, after which the city just continued in a great unbroken jumble all the way to the horizon. It must have gotten too expensive to keep making them, and they had the Royal Knights regularly cleaning up any nearby monsters. Not that Asura had that many in the first place.

Compared to the megacities of my old world, this place was nothing special. But there was something really awe-inspiring about a medievalesque city big enough to fill your entire field of vision.

“Well, we’ve finally returned.”

The other members of our party were moved by the sight as well, but in a different way. Their eyes were fixed on the castle at the city’s center, and their faces were stern. Even Ariel had gotten down out of her carriage to stare at it. But after a long moment, she turned and said “Let’s keep moving, everyone.”

Thus we finally made our way into the streets of the royal capital.

As impressive as Ars looked from above, it wasn’t that distinctive once you were inside it.

All the cities of this world were pretty similar, at least around their entrances. You had your street vendors, your stables, and your parties of travelers and adventurers wandering around. There were slightly fewer adventurers here, though, and they tended to be young. The few veterans I did spot mostly looked kind of beat-down and bedraggled.

The other thing that struck me was how wide the street was. You could fit six full-sized carriages next to each other on this thing. Reminded me of the highways from my old world. This was apparently one of the main roads that ran all the way to the central plaza.

“We’re heading to my residence in the city for now,” Ariel announced from inside her carriage. “We’ll use it as our initial base. There are preparations to be made before we can enter the court.”

We got moving immediately. Our destination was the district of towering mansions owned by high Asuran nobles. Given the sheer size of the city, just making it there might take us half a day. Luke was at the head of our group, followed by Sylphie, then Ghislaine, then the carriage, and finally Eris and me. We were arranged in single file. The road was large enough that we could have spread out, but there could be complications if you met a noble coming in the other direction. Normally the lower-ranked aristocrat would be expected to move aside, but Ariel’s carriage was unmarked, and having her get out to resolve some pointless argument would be a major waste of time.

Past a certain point, the streets began to change around us. The businesses targeting travelers and adventurers gave way to ones aimed at average city residents. I began to notice people on the street pointing in our direction.

“Huh? Isn’t that… Sir Luke? And Silent Fitz?”

“You’re right… Look, they’re escorting that carriage! You don’t think—”

“Is it Princess Ariel?!”

“She must have rushed back when she heard about the king’s illness!”

One look at Luke and Sylphie was all it took for the people of this city to figure out who was in the carriage. But it was no longer necessary for us to hide the truth at this point. For one thing, it was never realistic to think we could travel through this massive city completely undetected. Even if we’d somehow managed to sneak to Ariel’s residence undetected by Darius, the “preparations” she’d mentioned would probably alert him to our presence. And in any case, we’d have to show ourselves eventually to make our appearance at court. And we weren’t in that much of a rush, either. It wasn’t the end of the world if we caused a bit of a commotion.

But, uh, that said…

“Sir Luuuke! Look this waaay!”

“Sir Fitz! Sir Fitz!”

“Welcome home, Princess Ariel!”

Wow. They’re seriously popular around here, huh?

Voices called out to us from all sides, and some people even tossed flowers at us. Of course not everyone on the street was reacting this way, of course, but I’d say it was at least a fifth. Ariel and her companions were clearly all celebrities, and they had more passionate fans than I’d expected. Luke was even waving to his adoring public. Nearly a decade had passed since they fled this city, but they’d retained their popularity nonetheless… that was genuinely impressive. 

Despite the excitement, I noticed that nobody rushed out into the street to mob us. There were probably some strict rules about blocking the path of a noble’s procession. Maybe you could even get murdered on the spot, like in Edo period Japan. 

“Ready, set… Sir Fiiiiiitz!”

Whenever Sylphie got a chorus of cheers, I saw her scratch behind her ears. That was her I’m embarrassed gesture. I made a mental note to tease her ruthlessly about this later.

The cheers only grew louder once we made our way past the central plaza. I had a feeling people were spreading the news about “Princess Ariel’s return”. Things were getting so boisterous that I started to worry that the city guards might come running to get things under control. That kind of chaos would be an ideal opportunity for Auber to show up and stab someone in the back.

Happily, nothing that dramatic ended up happening. I did notice a group of armored men in the crowd at one point, but they were cheering right along with everyone else. The man who looked to be their commanding officer was the most enthusiastic of all.

Ariel seemed to have the common people of this city already on her side, including the lower-ranking soldiers. They didn’t look like they were burning with anti-government sentiment, but they still greeted her like a returning hero. I was starting to feel a little awkward tagging along behind this procession.

“This feels great!”

…Eris seemed to be having the opposite reaction, though. 

***

Once we finally reached the nobles’ district, the adoring crowds quickly thinned out. Maybe Ariel’s popularity was mostly limited to the common people. Or maybe the aristocrats just had too much pride to stand around on the streets hooting and hollering. It was probably a bit of both.

Here, I noticed occasional groups of armored people patrolling the streets in formation. They wore full suits of thick silver plated armor and helmets that covered their faces completely. Something about their movements told me that they took themselves a lot more seriously than the ordinary soldiers I’d spotted earlier. If those guys were like the city guard, these were probably something closer to military units.

“Wonder who those people are…”

“They’re novice knights,” said Eris. 

I turned and blinked, a bit surprised that she knew the answer. 

“Unless you attend a knight academy, you’ve got to start off as a novice until you’ve learned all their ceremonies or rites or whatever.”

“No kidding?”

“Yeah. Patrolling the city like that is one of their duties, too.”

“Huh. I’m kind of impressed you know all this, Eris.”

“Heh heh. Well, I just heard about it from this friend of mine.”

Eris… had friends? Now that was really a surprise. It didn’t sound like she was talking about an imaginary person, either.

“Is this someone you met at the Sword Sanctum?”

“That’s right.”

Okay, so she’d bonded with somebody over their shared love of swords. Sword buddies! Yeah, that made a lot more sense. 

“You know, I’m really happy to hear you made a friend there. I’m sure you get into a few fights, but try not to be too stubborn, okay? And make sure you stay in touch!”

“Sure, but she’s…”

Eris trailed off mid-sentence. Her attention darted elsewhere, and her hand was on her sword. 

I followed her gaze. One of the novice knights was staring right at us. Thanks to the full-face helmet, we couldn’t see their expression. Had we just encountered an enemy? I couldn’t sense open hostility, but this person’s movements seemed unusually… crisp. I had a gut feeling that this wasn’t just any novice knight we were dealing with.

After speaking to someone who seemed to be their commander, the novice broke away from their group and began sprinting toward us.

“Hm?!”

Sylphie, Ghislaine, and Luke all drew their weapons. Sylphie actually got her rod out before Ghislaine had unsheathed her sword. She must have been on high alert.

“Oh my!”

The armored novice, clearly startled, came to an immediate halt. After an uncertain pause, they reached up to their bucket-like helmet and pulled it off… revealing a very beautiful woman.

I mean, she really was a stunner. Her hair was long and silky; somehow, even the sweat shining on her forehead looked appealing.

Also, she was gazing in our direction. At Eris, specifically.

“Eris! Ghislaine! It’s me!”

Huh. Guess it’s someone they met on the road?

Eris stared at the woman from her horse, but didn’t immediately reply.

“I’m so glad to see you’re still alive and well, Eris! My master was so pessimistic about your chances against the Dragon God that I rather assumed you were riding off to die… But in any case, what are you doing in Asura? If you’d just sent a letter in advance, I—”

“Who the heck are you?”

The pretty woman in the armor drew a sharp breath, and I saw a hint of sadness on her face. But she didn’t look particularly surprised. I guess she knew what Eris was like.

“I’m just kidding,” said Eris, nimbly getting down off her horse. “Good to see you again, Isolde. I didn’t recognize you for a second in that weird armor.”

“What’s so weird? This is the official armor of the Asuran Royal knights… I thought it was rather impressive.”

“Looks hard to move around in, though.”

“With the Water God Style, you don’t have to move very much. This suits me perfectly.”

Now that it was obvious Eris knew Isolde, Luke sheathed his sword. Sylphie also looked relieved, but still kept her rod handy. Ghislaine let her blade dangle loosely as she scanned the area. They were probably right to stay on alert; the moment everyone relaxes is the best time for your enemies to launch a sneak attack.

“Are you in the service of whoever owns this carriage now? Well, of course you are. You know, there are rumors flying around the city that the Second Princess has returned… is that her in there, by any chance? But why would you be accompanying… oh, of course! The Princess was studying in the Magic City of Sharia, wasn’t she? You must have met her there. Is that right? And then she hired you on as a bodyguard, perhaps?”

This Isolde woman looked like the quiet type, but she seemed to be a bit of a chatterbox.

Eris didn’t try to get a word in edgewise. She just stood there with her arms folded, letting the words hit her like a volley of machine-gun fire. Even when it was over, she took a few seconds before replying.

“…Yeah, something like that.”

I got the feeling she’d stopped listening halfway through Isolde’s monologue. This was probably how their conversations always went.

“After my arrival in this city, I ended up joining the Royal Knights on my master’s recommendation. Once I’m formally appointed as a knight, I should be granted the rank of Water Emperor as well.”

“Oh yeah? Nice going, Isolde.”

“Thank you.”

At this point, Luke turned his horse around and came trotting toward us. After dismounting, he approached Eris and Isolde with a gentle smile on his face. “I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation… Eris, I assume this woman is an acquaintance of yours?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“I see. I’m sure you have a great deal to catch up on, but it would be best for you to wrap this conversation up relatively quickly.”

“Sure.”

Luke turned to Isolde and offered her a polite, graceful bow. “My apologies, miss. I’m afraid we’re on duty at the moment. Perhaps you’ll be able to stop by later, at a more opportune time? By way of apology, we’d be pleased to—”

“There’s no need for that, thank you,” Isolde interrupted coldly.

“I see. Very well then, miss. Good day to you.”

Somehow maintaining his friendly, apologetic smile, Luke quickly got on his horse and returned to the front of our procession.

Isolde watched him go with a scowl on her face. I looked on in mild surprise. It wasn’t every day you saw a woman react to Luke that negatively.

“So that’s the famous Rudeus, I expect,” she said, lowering her voice almost to a whisper. “He’s exactly as irritating as I imagined… And what’s a magician doing carrying a sword, anyway? Does he think it makes him look impressive? I hope you didn’t actually marry that man, Eris.”

“…Uhm. I’m married to Rudeus now, yeah.”

“Really? He’s handsome enough, I’ll grant you that… but what kind of person flirts with another woman right in front of his wife? You’ve got terrible taste in men, Eris.”

“Hm…?”

Eris just looked confused.

It seemed Isolde had mistaken Luke for me. It wasn’t great hearing someone badmouthing me in my presence, even accidentally. And I did practice with a wooden sword when I was training, although I wasn’t really trying to show off or anything…

“Anyway, we’ve got to go, Isolde.”

“Of course. I’m sorry for delaying you in the course of your duties. Will you be staying in this city for a while, then?”

Eris glanced at me uncertainly. I nodded slightly in return. We’d be here until Princess Ariel managed to seize the throne, at the very least.

For the first time since her arrival, Isolde noticed me as well. She looked a bit nonplussed. “Er… and who is this gentleman?”

Well, this is awkward. Do I admit I’m Rudeus?

I had no real reason to use a false name… but she’d probably be embarrassed to realize she’d been insulting me where I could hear her.

“Neeeigh!”

As I was considering my options, Matsukaze stepped forward on his own initiative and pushed Eris in the back with his head.

Whoa there, calm down… I’ll give you some cabbage later, boy…

“Oh, my apologies. You’re in a hurry, of course.” 

Hmm. Isolde seemed to have interpreted this as a sign that we were antsy to get going. 

“All right then, Eris,” she continued. “I’ll have to show you around the city when you do get some time off… You can introduce me to your friend as well, perhaps.”

She glanced in my direction again, but I opted to say nothing. Maybe this wouldn’t be quite as awkward if she found out I was Rudeus a few days from now?

“I don’t think I understand, but okay,” Eris replied.

“What is there to understand? You never change, Eris… Well then—may the blessings of Saint Millis be upon you all.”

With a clean, smooth bow, Isolde trotted back toward her unit. It seemed she was a faithful member of the Millis Church. That would explain why she didn’t think too highly of me.

Eris watched her go, then turned abruptly and hopped back onto her horse. Once Luke saw her mounted, he immediately got our procession moving again.

“That girl’s Isolde. She’s a Water King. We got to know each other back at the Sword Sanctum.”

Isolde was probably the sword buddy we’d been talking about earlier, then. That was quite a coincidence. “You two really get along, don’t you? That’s nice.”

“Yeah, I guess we do. But…” Eris paused for a moment and glanced over in Isolde’s direction. Her group of silver-armored knights were just disappearing down a side street in tight formation. “She might end up on the other side this time.”

Oh. Right.

Orsted had actually listed the Water King Isolde Cluel as one of the swordmasters who might fight for the other side. Eris already knew that the Water God Reida was probably among our enemies. Based on that, she must have guessed that Isolde might be working for them too.

It was hard to guess how much a novice knight could influence events… but despite her current rank, she was still a fearsomely powerful swordswoman. There was a good chance she might show up on the battlefield at some point.

“…Could you handle that, Eris? If it happened?”

“She’d be a good challenge. Maybe we’d finally get to settle which of us is stronger.”

“Right…”

Eris said it with no hesitation. It seemed strange to me, but those were obviously her genuine feelings. The two of them were rivals. That made sense. But if they were comfortable with the idea of killing each other, it wasn’t the kind of rivalry I could ever really understand.

I had to hope it wouldn’t come to that, and they could keep competing with each other for many years. 

Death tends to be a pretty final thing, you know?

***

A little further down the road, our procession took a right turn and began to climb uphill. We soon reached a thick, imposing wall guarded by soldiers, but Luke showed them some sort of emblem he was carrying, and they let us through the gate immediately. After cutting across the district where the mid-rank nobles lived, we passed through another wall… and emerged into an area where the houses were as big as the fortresses of minor nations.

This was the high nobles’ district.

Ariel’s residence turned out to be a decent distance away from the Silver Palace. Although it stood on an ordinary city block, the thing had to be five times larger than my house back in Ranoa. It wasn’t as enormous as the mansion Eris and her family had once lived in, but it was far too large to be a practical house for any one person.

It was evening by the time we reached its gates. We’d entered Ars a little after noon, so it really had taken half our day just to move through the city’s streets.

When we entered the mansion’s grounds, a man who looked to be a butler emerged from within. After spotting Luke, he ran off in a great hurry and gathered all the maids to receive us. 

There were only five of them, as it turned out. Apparently, this small household staff had been keeping the mansion well-maintained during the years of Ariel’s absence. After a few formalities, they showed us into the building itself.

The interior was luxurious. It couldn’t match Perugius’ castle for sheer splendor, but every point of importance was occupied with pricey-looking works of art. The decor was just slightly fancier than what I remembered seeing in Eris’ childhood home. That seemed about right for the second residence of an Asuran princess.

Once we were assigned our individual rooms, we headed to the bath to wash off the dust of the road. Even the buckets we used to rinse ourselves were richly ornamented works of art. The mansion apparently had a larger bathroom with a tub and a larger bath, but it was presumably reserved for Princess Ariel.

After we’d all freshened up a little, it was time for dinner. I dined with Ariel, Eris, and Sylphie that night. Ariel’s official subordinates apparently ate in a different room.

“Now then, Sir Rudeus…”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“First, let me express my gratitude. Thanks in no small part to you, we’ve made it safely to our destination.”

We’d only just finished our meal, but it seemed the princess was ready to get down to business.

“I’m going to begin making my arrangements tomorrow. I will prepare a suitable stage for the arrival of Lord Perugius, and the downfall of High Minister Darius. This will involve sounding out the nobles who’ve switched sides in my absence, gathering information, contacting the allies I had waiting for me in the city, and taking certain other measures. I’m going to be quite busy.”

“Right.”

“I intend to set the stage promptly, before Darius can move against us. Fortunately, the news of my father’s illness has already brought the Kingdom’s most powerful nobles to the city.”

So it won’t be long until the showdown, then. “How long are you planning to spend on these preparations?”

“It should take about ten days.”

“Got it.” That was honestly faster than I’d expected.

“We’ve already secured the cards we need to play,” Ariel continued. “I’ll take other steps as well, but in essence, I believe our victory is already guaranteed—so long as we have our stage. For that reason, it seems possible that the enemy will attempt to destroy that stage by force.”

Made sense. Instead of competing in a hopeless chess match, Darius might just try to overturn the board. Our enemies had been holding back their firepower so far; this seemed like a very plausible time for them to use it.

“We’ve assembled a competent force in our own right, but I’d like to increase the odds in our favor. It would be best to chip away at our enemy’s threats in advance.”

“That makes sense…”

“I would like to ask you, Eris, and Sylphie to take on this particular role.”

“You want us to go out and hunt down the enemy?”

“No. I imagine that would be very difficult indeed. The capital is an enormous place, and if you spend too long wandering its streets, they may launch an attack on me first.”

Ariel had allies in this city, but none of them were powerful fighters capable of going head-to-head with the likes of a North Emperor. In other words, her actual fighting force was limited to the small group she’d brought with her. And if Sylphie, Eris, and I all wandered off, that would only leave Luke and Ghislaine to protect her. Ghislaine was one hell of a fighter, but she’d probably be overwhelmed if the enemy sent multiple swordmasters on the level of a North King. 

“Instead,” Ariel continued, “I think we can lure them out into the open.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ll deliberately present them with a golden opportunity so that they’ll pounce. I have a magic item that should make this possible.”

Was she talking about that appearance-altering ring, maybe? With that thing, we could disguise someone as Ariel, and put them in a situation where they’d be vulnerable. Then we could strike at the enemy when they showed themselves.

Staging the “opportunity” wouldn’t be that hard. Ariel could even work it into the schedule she had in mind. We’d give the enemy chances to attack her on the way back from her meetings with the nobles. If they didn’t come in the morning, we’d try it again at night, and change things up slightly. By having them come to us, we wouldn’t have to waste time looking for them, and it would be easier to keep Ariel safe during the operation. The real princess would be close by, after all.

“This would involve placing you in some amount of danger, Sylphie. However—”

“That won’t be a problem,” Sylphie interrupted. “This is the moment of truth, right? Let’s do everything we possibly can.”

It sounded like she’d be acting as the decoy. Which worried me a little… but it wasn’t like she’d be “safe” anywhere on the battlefield, really. We’d come too far to back down now. As long as she was willing, I’d just have to make damn sure I protected her.

“Do you think they’ll actually take the bait?” I asked quietly.

“I would say… it’s about a fifty-fifty chance,” Ariel replied.

Honestly, we hadn’t been attacked a single time since slipping past Auber into Asuran territory. We’d been cautious and alert, of course, but the journey here had taken nearly a month. Surely there were moments when they could have ambushed us. To me, that suggested they’d anticipated Ariel’s plan for a dramatic showdown, and chose to gather their forces here to overwhelm us at the crucial moment. In that case, it was very possible they had more than enough firepower to do the job. The Man-God had given them a good sense of our party’s size and strength, after all. It was the kind of forceful, bloody strategy that might lead to ugly complications down the road. But with the throne of Asura on the line, that was probably a risk they were prepared to take.

“If they do bite, we’ll be in good shape,” said Ariel. “But if they don’t…”

“…I guess we’ll have to settle things in one big battle.”

“Indeed. I think we’d have to rely on you quite heavily in that scenario, Sir Rudeus.”

Yeah, I guess so. Not a super reassuring thought. “Can we call in any sort of reinforcements?”

“We do have a number of allies I found in Ranoa and sent here in advance, but even the best of them are only Advanced-class swordsmen or magicians. I intend to deploy them on the day of our performance, but they wouldn’t be much use against a North King, much less an Emperor.”

Oh well. Never hurts to ask, I guess…

“If it’s absolutely necessary, we could perhaps ask our… other ally for assistance.”

“Our other ally…”

That had to mean Orsted. At this point, I wasn’t even sure if he was in the city yet. I’d kept up my regular reports, but there hadn’t been much to tell him lately, and he wasn’t saying much either. Ariel hadn’t seen him face-to-face since that first encounter. Luke was too wary of me to let me wander off alone with her.

“I guess you’re right. Let’s try that if all else fails.”

Sylphie looked somewhat puzzled by this exchange, but hopefully she’d shrug it off.

“Very well then. We’ll proceed with the initial plan for now.”

“Understood.”

We had our general strategy for the next ten days worked out.

The battle for control of Asura would begin tomorrow.