Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Duel at Dusk

THE NEXT MORNING, we set out with Ariel for our first trip to the Silver Palace. 

Only six of us were going. Triss was staying behind at the residence to begin the preparations for her big moment, and Ariel’s two attendants weren’t coming, either. That was partly because Ellemoi and Cleane would only slow us down in a fight, but the two of them also came from prestigious families that could be valuable allies. The princess had them rushing around the city, trying to win over their relatives and other houses with close ties. Ariel seemed to be taking that “ten days” deadline very seriously.

The Silver Palace of Asura was just as imposing up close as it seemed at a distance. It was larger even than Perugius’ towering castle, and there were apparently many other structures in the sprawling grounds behind it, including the main residences of the royal family and a number of beautiful gardens.

We wouldn’t be venturing back there this time, of course. I kind of wanted to see the royal harem, but we had other business to attend to. Our trip had two main purposes: Ariel was going to visit her ailing father, and then make a reservation for one of the palace’s halls. My main role was just to follow her and Luke around.

As we made our way through the castle’s hallways, I noticed something surprising. 

Well… maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did make me do a double take.

It was a painting of Perugius, hanging on the wall next to two others.

Dragonfolk tended to have similar faces; their features were even less distinctive in portrait form. This version of Perugius also looked a bit prettified, and several decades younger at least. Honestly, I didn’t even recognize him at first. At first glance, I thought it was just someone who looked kind of similar, and my gaze slid right off his face. But then I saw the plate underneath the painting, and my eyes jumped back to it.

The name “Perugius Dola” was printed on that strip of metal. I blinked in surprise.

I guess the most surprising thing was that the painting was hanging very close to portraits of various Asuran kings and queens. It was a clear signal of just how important and respected the man was in this country.

The paintings to either side of Perugius depicted a human man I didn’t recognize, and a man whose hair was a mix of silver and gold. Their faces weren’t familiar to me, but given their positions next to Perugius, I knew who they were supposed to be. The human man was probably the North God Kalman, and the half-human was the Dragon God Urupen. These were portraits of the Three Godslayers from the Laplace War.

They hadn’t really slayed the god in question, but I wasn’t going to nitpick. From what Orsted told me, they’d fought very hard and ultimately defeated a truly terrifying opponent. The Demonic Dragon King Laplace was probably the most powerful man in the world for many years; sealing away half of him was one hell of an accomplishment. Perugius had earned his place of honor on these walls. To this day, the people of Asura still revered him as a living legend. I felt like I was finally beginning to understand just how hugely important it was that Ariel had earned his support. 

***

For three days, things moved along smoothly enough.

Ariel was making steady progress in arranging for her gathering. The nobles who’d been waiting for her return stepped up to assist. In the course of my duties as a bodyguard, I’d been introduced to what felt like dozens of influential people. To be honest, I didn’t remember any of their names.

I hadn’t formally met High Minister Darius and First Prince Grabel. But I did see them at a distance, just once. 

Darius was a flabby man with drooping jowls and a nasty gleam in his eyes. The very picture of a wily, gluttonous old monster, basically. I felt a bit of a connection to him, mostly based on his physical ugliness.

When he spotted me, though, his face contorted with terror. It was like he was seeing the grim reaper or something. Maybe it was unwise to read too much into that sort of thing, but… the man’s reaction was so blatant that I just didn’t feel the need to second-guess myself anymore. He was obviously one of the Man-God’s three disciples.

First Prince Grabel looked like an ordinary enough man. The title prince made me think of some kid in their teens or twenties with fluffy golden hair, but he was just an average-looking bearded man in his mid-thirties. Still, when you studied his face closely, there was something about it that made you want to work for him. I guess he possessed a quiet kind of charisma.

Come to think of it, we’d heard some rumors about the Second Prince Halfaust as well; apparently he’d been outmaneuvered by Grabel and was currently under house arrest. Maybe Orsted had intervened somehow? Or maybe he’d just known it would play out this way? In any case, many of the nobles who’d backed Halfaust and seen their hopes of victory collapse instead flocked to join Ariel’s cause after her return. She had them helping out with the preparations for her big event.

The princess was fighting her own battles. My job was to eliminate the enemies who were trying to stop her by force. 

We had, in fact, come under attack repeatedly. They sent hired killers our way every single day. That said, these assassins were nothing special—we hadn’t baited our larger prey into action yet.

The assassins targeted exclusively Ariel. To be more precise, they went for Sylphie, who was now acting as her body double. They came at her on the streets, while she dined, and while she slept, never giving us a moment to relax.

Of course, the real Ariel wore a maid outfit and a wig, eating simple meals with the household staff (though the food was still better than what a low-ranked knight would get), and sleeping soundly every night in an ordinary servant’s bed.

“They’re actually sending way more at us than last time around, you know?” Sylphie had commented at one point. “It makes a huge difference having you and the others around, Rudy.”

The assassins were well-organized, and weren’t incompetent by any means. But with me, Eris and Ghislaine around, they couldn’t put up much of a fight.

That said… if it were just me on defense, I probably would have struggled a little. Some of the assassins looked to be young boys, and I’d hesitate to kill them. In that sense, having Eris and Ghislaine with me was a great help.

So far, we hadn’t encountered anyone those two couldn’t easily cut down on their own. I had a feeling that the people sending these assassins were other nobles loyal to Grabel, rather than the prince or Darius themselves. 

If Darius was truly determined to hold back all his firepower for the final showdown, we might have a problem on our hands. Assuming Eris and Ghislaine would be occupied with the North Emperor and North King, the next enemy would head straight for me. And if they had enough people, Sylphie might come under attack as well. I wanted to believe that Orsted would intervene before things got out of hand, but we hadn’t been able to speak since our party reached the city. I didn’t even know if he was in Ars at the moment.

In any case… hoping for the best was no strategy. We needed to thin the ranks of our enemies somehow.

Just as I was starting to get antsy, Princess Ariel approached me.

“I’ve made the preparations for the stage,” she said quietly. “Now I think it’s time we bait our trap.”

That day, the princess made particular effort to speak with a noble loyal to the First Prince. During this conversation, she made a few vulgar jokes about how both Eris and Ghislaine were on their period today. The noble looked in Eris’ direction with open interest; Eris answered with a hostile scowl.

Apparently, Ariel had decided to invite an attack by spreading word that her own bodyguards were in poor condition.

It didn’t work, however. Maybe she’d been too obvious about it. From the next day on, even the ordinary assassins stopped showing up.

It was Day Five. The attacks on us had stopped completely.

In exchange, the enemy had begun to target some of the more influential nobles in Ariel’s faction, specifically those who were making the arrangements for her “stage.” These nobles had the means to defend themselves, and the attacks hadn’t amounted to much. But several of them were frightened enough to switch their allegiance to the First Prince.

During this period, I finally met one of the major players in this struggle: Pilemon Notos Greyrat. Just as we’d heard, the man had abandoned Ariel to ally himself with Grabel.

Pilemon looked to be somewhere in his mid-thirties, and he bore a strong resemblance to Paul. But there was no hint of my dad’s breezy confidence on his face. He struck me as a hesitant, fearful person, the kind of man who’d flee from any sign of danger like a mouse.

Personally, I didn’t have a problem with cowards, but he sure looked like the kind of guy old man Sauros would have loathed. I could see why they’d ended up as enemies, and why Pilemon had taken advantage of the Displacement Incident to have Sauros killed. It made sense logically. But in all honesty, it was hard for me to believe that a man like this had been bold enough to murder such a powerful rival. If he had the guts to seize an opportunity like that, Sauros never would have hated him in the first place.

Luke and Pilemon had a long, heated discussion during our meeting. More of a fight than a conversation, really. Luke pressed his father to explain his betrayal, and why he would throw away their years of effort. Pilemon refused to even answer, saying only “You couldn’t hope to understand my reasons.”

Stunned and in disbelief, Luke still forged on, begging his father to rejoin Ariel’s cause before it was too late. But his efforts came to nothing. In the end, a young man who seemed to be Luke’s older brother asked scornfully if he was after their inheritance, then strode out of the room with Pilemon close behind. 

Seemed like a pretty horrible way to treat your own son after he’d been struggling in a far-off land for nearly a decade. But Paul had been just as bad at one point, and I wasn’t exactly a picture of virtue myself. The Asuran nobility seemed to have their own particular set of values, none of which I understood, so maybe it wasn’t fair for me to judge.

If Ariel triumphed, Luke would lead the Notos family as the man who’d emerged victorious from a dangerous conflict. If Grabel came out on top, that role would fall to his brother. Considering how serious the consequences might be for failure, their harsh attitude might be seen as a way of showing their concern.

There was also a chance they just hated Luke’s guts, of course.

In any case, it seemed like Ghislaine was going to get her chance to kill Pilemon after all. Still… if Luke begged us to treat his family leniently, I’d be tempted to try and help him patch things up somehow. But another part of me didn’t want to take that risk.

It was an ugly situation, any way you looked at it.

Nine days had passed, and our “stage” was finally ready.

Simply put, it was going to be a party. Drinks, dancing, chatting, that kind of thing. Such events were held regularly in the halls of the Silver Palace.

This one was publicly announced as an event to be held by Second Princess Ariel in honor of Prince Grabel. Since the names of both the leading candidates for the throne were on the invitations, all the major and prestigious nobles in Asura were expected to attend.

In the enemy’s shoes, I wouldn’t have bothered showing up for an event that was so obviously a trap, but I guess it wasn’t that simple for members of the Asuran nobility. Appearing at parties of this kind seemed to be more or less their duty.

There had been several attempts to disrupt the preparations, but the princess had dealt with all of them efficiently.

Tomorrow would be the moment of truth.

“Sir Rudeus,” called Ariel, pulling me out of my thoughts. “I’ve just given them one final push.”

“Oh?”

“To be more specific, I’ve leaked some information that should make High Minister Darius very anxious.”

“…Right. I see.”

We were worried about Auber and his friends, but it was ultimately Darius who controlled them. And the disciples of the Man-God didn’t always behave exactly as he wanted. It was possible to make them ignore his words—especially out of fear, or acting in self-preservation. That was how I’d ended up swearing loyalty to Orsted.

Up until now, we’d just been giving them the opportunity to strike. Ariel was trying to convince them that they needed to take that opportunity, if they wanted to come out on top.

“Still, there are no guarantees. And if they don’t take the bait tonight…”

“Yeah. I know.”

In that scenario, we’d have to face their entire force tomorrow. That would make things very difficult. One of us might end up dying. It might be Eris, or Sylphie, or Ghislaine. I wanted to do everything I could to prevent that, but Paul’s face kept flashing through my thoughts.

I had to hope that the plan would work this time.

Later that evening, we made our way back to Ariel’s residence. It was a dark and moonless night. All our preparations were now complete; it was just a matter of waiting until tomorrow. We’d have to relax and get as much rest as we could tonight.

Or so I thought—until I spotted the man standing in middle of the road ahead of us. He had rabbitlike ears, so clearly a beastman. What was the name of this race, again? The Mildett? 

If their women are bunny girls, I guess this would be a bunny boy?

“…”

The beastman wore black, non-reflective armor, and there was a straight sword in his hand. He stood right in the path of Ariel’s carriage.

“Who goes there?!” Luke demanded, moving forward from his place beside the carriage.

The beastman didn’t answer. But that wasn’t surprising. No assassin would ever—

“I am the North King Nucklegard, one of the three blades of the North God! They call me Twinblade!”

He actually gave us his name. Uh… okay.

A second later, our new friend Nucklegard began to split apart—one half of him moving slowly to the left, and the other to the right.

“Hey, Nuckle. I don’t think we’re supposed to tell them our names.”

“Oh, right! I guess things are kinda different this time, huh? You’re so smart, Gard.”

“Heheh! Well, I have been hitting the books lately…”

No, that wasn’t it. “Nucklegard” was actually a pair of twins. I was looking at two swordsmen with identical faces.

“Oh, and we probably shouldn’t tell them that it was Lord Darius who hired us, either!”

“You’re probably right. When we had to fight assassins, they’d never tell us who they worked for.”

“Yep, exactly. So make sure you keep it a secret, Nuckle!”

“Got it!”

They really weren’t very good at this whole being-an-assassin thing, were they? I mean, we already knew who’d hired them, so it didn’t really matter… but seriously.

As I stared at the two beastmen in disbelief, Eris spurred her horse forward, jumped to the ground, and drew her sword in one smooth motion.

“I’m Eris Greyrat,” she called.

The twin swordsmen’s ears twitched as they met her eager, aggressive gaze.

“Ooh! The famous Berserker Sword King!”

“Her skills sharp as a fang, her temper fierce as any monster!”

“We may be but a pair of puny Mildetts…”

“But we will gladly take you on!”

Eris raised her sword over her head, and the twins assumed mirrored stances. 

“Alone, we are only half a man.”

“Together, we are a man complete!”

“We shall fight you two on one—”

“But surely you’ll agree that this is only fair!”

Uh, no. That’s kind of the definition of unfair, actually…

At this point, another silhouette emerged from the darkness—this one in the street behind our carriage. It was a small figure; it wore a full-body suit of jet-black armor, and carried a black sword and shield.

He didn’t bother introducing himself. Not this time. Instead, he simply assumed his stance.

Ghislaine had already turned to face him. Betraying no surprise, she drew her own sword. “This time is going to be very different, halfling.”

“…You Doldia have excellent night vision, don’t you? I suppose I’m at a slight disadvantage tonight.”

It was Wi Taa.

During our battle at the Red Wyrm’s Whiskers, he’d held the upper hand against Ghislaine. But since then, I’d given her a basic rundown of his tricks and how to counteract them. I wasn’t sure how much of that she’d understood or memorized, but just knowing what he might try would make a big difference.

In any case, we were caught in a pincer with the bunnies ahead of us and the halfling behind. Somehow, it was hard to convince yourself that these three were any real threat, but the fact of the matter was that they were all North Kings.

I had to decide what to do. The cleanest option would be for me to support Eris. Sylphie or Luke could help Ghislaine. We’d even our numbers on one side, and have an advantage on the other. Unfortunately, I couldn’t act just yet. Auber was nowhere to be seen; and that was enough to keep me rooted in place.

Princess Ariel wasn’t here this time. She was heading from the palace to her residence using a secure alternate route. That meant that Sylphie could focus entirely on helping Eris, while Luke supported Ghislaine. But if the enemy saw us ignoring the carriage entirely, they would realize the princess wasn’t here—and in the absence of their target, they would retreat. One or two of them might even try to slow us down while the others went for Ariel. The princess was clever enough that they probably wouldn’t find her… but even so, our battle would be postponed until tomorrow. The enemy would be ready and waiting for us, and there would be more of them to deal with.

This was our chance. We had the opportunity to take out two North Kings… or three, I guess. But if we couldn’t take advantage of it, we’d find ourselves in deep trouble tomorrow. At the very least, we needed to one of them out right now.

I could assist Eris while Luke supported Ghislaine. But in that scenario, Sylphie might have to fight Auber, and that was probably a losing battle. I wanted to believe that she could hold her own against him, but Orsted thought she wouldn’t stand a chance.

It seemed like I had no choice but to stand around and—

“…No.”

Think, Rudeus.

On the face of it, the enemy had brought three North Kings against us… or two, depending how you counted. They didn’t have that army of soldiers from last time, either. Would you really ambush your enemy with a force this much smaller? Auber had to be here right now. It was the only way any of this made sense. He was hiding somewhere near the battlefield at this very moment, calmly watching us and waiting for his chance to strike.

All I had to do was find him. Once I uncovered his hiding place, I could take him down with a single deadly spell. After that, there’d be no need to worry about giving the other fights my full attention.

“Don’t worry, Rudeus,” Eris said, her voice ringing through the darkness. “I can handle these two all by myself.”

It did seem like Nuckle and Gard were having trouble getting within range of her. I got the feeling that as individuals, they were North Saint level at best. And Eris was capable of cutting down a swordfighter of that rank in the blink of an eye. In other words, if they stepped into her range, one of them would die immediately. And even then, the other probably wouldn’t be capable of killing her in return.

Ghislaine and Wi Taa were still standing at a distance also. Ghislaine was a tall woman, and Wi Taa was a halfling—her reach was much greater than his. It wouldn’t be easy for him to slip into his attack range, either. The fact that they weren’t just retreating felt like more evidence for my theory: they had another ally hiding somewhere. With Auber here, they had a good reason not to flee.

They had every intention of killing us all right here.

Think. Where the hell is Auber? How many hiding places are there nearby?

This didn’t seem like an ideal spot for an ambush, in all honesty. There was a thick city wall to our left, and nobles’ mansions to our right. At a glance, there could be many hiding places on the right. The mansions all had large gardens encircled by tall fences, and there was a dark alley or two in between the buildings. But this road was wide, and the mansions were all some distance from our carriage. It didn’t seem like an ideal place from which to spring an ambush.

What about the city wall, then? You had to really crane your neck to see the top of it. Was Auber going to rappel down it… or maybe just leap down from the top? Sounded like suicide to me, but maybe a North Emperor could pull it off.

What about the ground? Could he be hiding under the surface somewhere, like he was last time? No, that seemed unlikely. After what happened last time, we’d been keeping a very careful watch on the ground around us. It was hard to think we’d somehow overlooked him.

Damn it, where is he? Do we have any major blind spots?

I was standing behind the carriage and to the left. Luke was positioned in front of it on the right. We had torches on the carriage and my lamplight spirit providing us with illumination. It was enough light that our jet-black enemies were clearly visible. In other words, there wasn’t a single part of the battlefield that none of us could see.

Maybe he really is up on top of that wall. Should I hit it with a blast of magic…? I sent the lamplight spirit up into the air and scanned looming wall beside us again…

“…!”

And spotted him.

I hadn’t noticed anything the first time I looked this way, but there was definitely something odd midway up the surface of the wall. It was covered in cloth the exact same color as the stone. In broad daylight, you would have spotted it immediately. The headlights of a car might have revealed it, too. But the torches on our carriage simply weren’t bright enough to give him away. It was only thanks to my lamplight spirit that I’d seen that small hint of a shadow.

We’d won this fight.

Without a word, I pointed my staff at the cloth.

There was no need for an incantation. Normally, I announced my spells to alert my allies I was using them, but this time I wasn’t going to do that, either. I was convinced that Auber would dodge my spell if I said a single word. But he wasn’t ready for a total sneak attack. When you’re planning to surprise your enemy, you don’t expect them to surprise you instead.

Stone Cannon. Maximum power. Maximum speed… Go!

“Gwooooh?!”

I had not hesitated in the least. I’d fired off my spell as quickly as I could. And yet, Auber had anticipated it somehow. Maybe it was pure animal instinct, or some sixth sense he’d acquired over years of battle. At the very last instant, he’d leapt out of his hiding spot and evaded my attack.

No… he hadn’t it evaded it completely. My stone projectile struck him in the leg, tearing a great hole right through it. Auber tumbled off the wall, barely managing a defensive roll as he hit the ground.

“Gaaah!”

His appearance finally set the battle into motion. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Eris and Ghislaine moving, and Luke had noticed what was going on as well.

Without pausing, I fired off another Stone Cannon at Auber.

“Tch!”

Despite his crouched, awkward position, he deflected it without difficulty.

“Traaah!”

Luke came rushing up behind him; but Auber planted his left hand on the ground, spun his body on that axis, and sharply deflected the strike. He kicked Luke’s unsteady legs out from under him and moved to finish the job immediately.

I put a stop to that with a well-placed Stone Cannon.

“Hnngh!”

Auber bent backward like a spring to avoid the spell, and finally leapt off the ground. The man could still fight, clearly. But with one of his legs disabled, his mobility had to be severely limited. 

He stood on his good leg as steadily as a flamingo, and looked from me to the carriage, then its surroundings. I was compelled to follow his gaze.

The battle had been decided in the seconds since Auber hit the ground. Eris, good as her word, had already cut down both of her opponents, but she’d been badly wounded. Her left shoulder dangled loosely, and blood poured down her arm. Still, she’d turned her attention our way, and her eyes were fixed on Auber.

Ghislaine had overwhelmed Wi Taa as well. The halfling had lost one of his arms and his shield while Ghislaine didn’t have a scratch on her. By the time I’d looked in their direction, she was moving forward to finish him.

Wi Taa screamed “Auberrrr!” at the top of his lungs and threw something to the ground. It hit the stones with a dull fwump, and a huge cloud of black smoke billowed out in all directions. 

Orsted had warned me that Wi Taa used smokescreens at night, but I hadn’t pictured anything like this. This smoke was seriously thick. He had to be using some kind of magic item or implement.

As I stared into the deep, black fog, I could hear Wi Taa running, with Ghislaine in hot pursuit.

A sword suddenly slices through the darkness in front of me.

I quickly hopped out of the way; a split-second later, Wi Taa came barreling past me. Was he after me? No, he was going for the carriage!

“I’ve got this!”

In the next instant, the carriage door swung open, and Sylphie rolled out while firing off a spell She’d chosen Flame Tornado, a combination wind and fire spell. It dispersed the black smoke instantly, and lit the whole area with a brief flash of light.

I took in the situation. Ghislaine, Luke, Sylphie, and Eris were all relatively fine. I caught a glimpse of Wi Taa disappearing into a nearby alley. Was he fleeing? Well… that wasn’t the end of the world, as long as we could take down Auber.

But by the time I turned my attention back to the North Emperor, he’d vanished as well.

Where is he?!

“Rudeus!” shouted Eris, pointing upward.

I followed her gaze and spotted Auber scuttling up the city wall with his metallic claws like a cockroach. He moved with remarkable speed, reaching the top and disappearing entirely. I’d only looked away for an instant, but there was no chance we’d ever catch up with him now.

There was no time to beat myself up about it, though. Not right now. “Follow Wi Taa!” I shouted, sprinting for the alley.

It was a snap judgment call, and I doubted myself as I ran. Could we even catch him at this point? Should I have followed him the moment I saw him duck into that alley? The man had lost one of his arms. He couldn’t be running that quickly in that condition, with his body so unbalanced… but then again, you never knew what these North God people might have trained themselves to do…

As I rounded the corner into the alley, I came to an abrupt halt.

Wi Taa was already dead.

He lay in a pool of blood with a gaping hole in his midsection. It was a very…familiar cause of death. I’d lost my own life this way, quite some time ago.

I sensed no one nearby. But clearly, someone had been here just moments ago.

Someone named Orsted.

“Rudeus! You got him, huh?”

I turned around. Eris stood behind me. Blood poured from that horrific gash in her shoulder, but she had a satisfied smile on her face.

“Uh… yeah…”

Before saying anything else, I reached out to touch her upper arm and murmured the incantation for a healing spell. It really was a terrible injury. Deep enough it could have severed a tendon. I knew Eris didn’t hesitate taking hits in battle, but this wasn’t good for my nerves.

“Thanks,” she said casually, then turned around and yelled into the main street. “That was Rudeus earlier! He took Wi Taa out for us!” 

With that announcement, everyone finally exhaled in relief.

“My apologies. I only slowed the rest of you down.”

“No, I’m to blame for this. If I’d only finished Wi Taa off, Rudeus could have kept his focus on Auber…”

“I probably should have jumped out of the carriage a little earlier, huh?”

“Hey, c’mon! One of them got away, but we did all right!”

As we bantered about what went down, we got to work cleaning up the bodies of our enemies. I had some regrets. Maybe I could have prevented Auber’s escape if I’d been a bit more creative with my choice of spells. If I hadn’t just assumed his mobility was gone, I could have thrown down a Quagmire right away.

Still, there was no point dwelling on it. The battle had been very brief, and somewhat chaotic. Dissecting every little choice we’d made wasn’t particularly helpful. In the end, we’d killed the North King Wi Taa and the North King Nucklegard. That was two… or three, really… fewer enemies to worry about. Auber might have managed to escape, but we’d achieved our goal of thinning the enemy’s ranks. It felt safe to call this a success.

Now we just had to win the final showdown, too.