Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 19 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

To Pax’s Side

WE USED THE MAGIC ARMOR as our means of transportation to the capital.

Disassembling it for transport by carriage would have been tedious and time-consuming, and I wanted it for the battles that might await us in the capital. Wearing it along the way seemed like the easiest solution. It would mean wasting a good amount of mana, but I could justify that at the moment.

We considered having Roxy and Zanoba ride on my shoulders, but the experience would be horribly bumpy and uncomfortable. This was no single day’s journey, either. They needed some sort of vehicle to sit in. 

We ended up employing the bed of a wagon for that purpose. After adding stabilizers with my earth magic to reduce the risk of it tipping over, I hooked it securely to the Magic Armor, allowing me to pull it behind me.

Unfortunately, my efforts to improve the ride didn’t work too well. By the time we made it to the capital, Zanoba was puking everywhere; Roxy had her hands clamped over her mouth. Clearly not the sort of transportation we wanted to be using regularly—but we’d managed to make it to the capital in only five days.

I wasn’t sure how much mana I had left. My body felt a little sluggish, so I definitely wasn’t working with a full tank. At least I hadn’t needed to use it in combat, which hopefully meant I hadn’t drained myself too badly.

Our entire mission here was to rescue Pax. In theory, the Death God would be on our side this time, but there was no way to guarantee how things would actually play out. I sure as hell wasn’t going to let down my guard, anyway.

We arrived at Latakia, only to find it tightly sealed.

The gates into the city were closed and barred. Soldiers of the rebel army manned its walls. The surrounding area was crowded with bewildered, anxious people who’d been locked out. I saw merchants, adventurers, mercenaries…and even soldiers in uniform, who camped out at a wary distance from the walls. Maybe they’d marched here from nearby cities, or were out on patrol when the rebellion took place.

“Hrm. I suppose they don’t want anyone interfering until they’ve settled things decisively,” Zanoba observed.

“Well,” I said, “I guess that means Pax is still alive, at least.”

Roughly ten days had passed since the rebellion seized this city. From the looks of things, the royal palace was holding out against their siege. It wasn’t clear exactly how badly Pax was outnumbered, but he was really hanging in there. Probably didn’t hurt to have one of the Seven Great Powers on his side. 

Then again, there was still a chance he was already dead, and the rebels were sealing off the city for some other reason. 

We approached Latakia in a cautious, roundabout way, careful to make sure no one got a good look at us. There would be a commotion if Zanoba was recognized as a prince, and that would probably catch the attention of Jade’s soldiers. Jade had already identified us as allies of King Pax, so it was much safer for us to remain undetected.

We had considered carrying out a frontal assault, but ultimately decided against it.

“This way, Master Rudeus. The entrance to the hidden path lies on the riverbank ahead.”

Following Zanoba’s lead, we made our way along a quiet stretch of riverbank not far from the city’s walls. It felt oddly peaceful here. The river flowed gently, fish shone in the sun as they swam within it, and vaguely duck-like birds paddled around on the surface. You never would have thought there was a battle taking place so close nearby. How well-defined was the border between peace and war, anyway?

“That’s it right there.”

As we rounded a slight turn in the river, a watermill came into view. We’d apparently reached our destination, so I deactivated the Magic Armor and stepped out of it.

“There should be a passage that leads underground somewhere inside that building,” Zanoba remarked. His tone was cheerful enough, but his face was deathly pale. I’d temporarily soothed the symptoms of his motion-sickness with my magic, but all that nausea had left him physically drained.

“How about we take a break first?” I asked.

“I think not,” replied Zanoba. “The situation could be critically urgent. Let us infiltrate the palace at once.”

Yet we had no way of knowing what we’d find waiting for us. This little mill might be the last safe spot for us to take a breather. And this secret passage would probably be too small to accommodate the bulk of my Magic Armor, so I wanted us to go in prepared for anything. Taking a break would allow me to regenerate at least a fraction of my mana, but more importantly, Roxy and Zanoba could use it to recuperate from their miserable wagon ride.

“Slow down and think about this, Zanoba. We should really catch our breath before we go charging in there. You and Roxy both look terrible right now, and I could use a bit more mana in my tank.”

“Hrm…”

“Haste makes waste, as the saying goes.”

After a moment, Zanoba nodded reluctantly. “I’m not familiar with the expression, but…very well.”

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The last thing I needed was us wandering into danger with our eyelids drooping.

“Before that, I think we ought to make sure there really is a passage in there,” said Roxy.

“Ah, yeah. Good idea.”

We made our way inside the little building and began to poke around. It was stacked with wooden boxes and barrels, like some kind of storage shed, and Zanoba and I had to move them out of the way so we could tap at the floors and the walls.

Eventually we found something on the far side of the mill, directly underneath a heavy wooden box. It was a metal plate of some kind. It could be classified as some kind of door, but it completely lacked handles.

“Ah, this must be it!” cried Zanoba.

“Well, let’s not jump to conclusions,” I said, although I honestly felt the same way. “Might be a basement storage room or something.”

Careful scrutiny of the plate revealed no keyholes nor carefully disguised handles. It seemed to be little more than a solid sheet of metal. How were you supposed to open this?

After a moment, I remembered that this passage was intended as an escape route. Maybe they’d deliberately made it impossible to open from here, and so you had to push it up from the other side.

“All right, Zanoba. Can you pry this open?”

“Hrrmph!”

Within moments, Zanoba had ripped the thing out with brute force, revealing a ladder leading down a dark hole. With a bit of fire magic, I illuminated the bottom of the shaft about three or four meters below us. A hole in one wall pointed in the general direction of the capital. 

Still, that didn’t rule out a storage cellar. Just to be sure, I clambered down the ladder and cast light directly into the hole. No boxes. Just an empty, narrow tunnel that vanished into the distance.

“What do you think?” Roxy’s voice resounded.

“This is it all right!” I called back.

“Excellent. Now climb back up here and let’s get some rest.”

“Sounds good!”

***

After a three-hour nap, I headed outside and fetched the Magic Armor Version Two from our wagon. There was no chance of squeezing the Version One through that passage, unfortunately.

The Version Two was highly effective in its own right, unless I happened to be fighting someone on the level of the Seven Great Powers. Given that the Death God Randolph was almost certainly waiting on the other end of this passage, however, I couldn’t help feeling a little anxious.

That said—bringing in the Mark One would probably require blasting my way straight through the palace walls. I wasn’t shy about causing a bit of property damage now and again, but Zanoba didn’t approve of the idea.

The secret passage was so narrow that two people would have found it challenging to walk abreast. There were also no lights whatsoever, so I used one of my Lamplight Spirit scrolls to illuminate our way. It was a dark, empty tunnel, nothing more. About as basic a passage as you could get. The three of us moved through it in single file, with Zanoba in the lead, me behind him, and Roxy bringing up the rear.

“Quite the tight squeeze,” murmured Roxy from behind me. “Brings back some unpleasant memories.”

I tried to think of something comforting or considerate to say in response, but drew a total blank. “Ah. Right.”

Those were the last words anyone spoke for quite some time.

Silently, steadily, we made our way deeper into the darkness. After something like an hour of walking, a door finally came into view. It was a simple metal plate, much like the one back in the mill. Again, there was no doorknob. It wasn’t made to be opened from this side.

“Hrnngh!”

Somehow wedging his fingertips into the tiny gap between the plate and the wall around it, Zanoba violently ripped it out. We’d made the right call having him take the lead, for sure.

“Oh? My goodness…”

As he tried to step forward through the doorway, Zanoba let out a strange little grunt and stopped dead in his tracks. Leaning over so I could peer around him, I saw that the passage ahead was packed solid with something like earth or sand.

We’d hit a dead end. There hadn’t been a single fork in the road along the way. Which meant, uh…

“Either the passage collapsed in an earthquake,” said Roxy, “or General Jade knew about it, and sealed it off well ahead of time.”

Yeah, those seemed like the most plausible possibilities. There was a chance that Pax had done this himself during his coup, but in any case, this was probably a major reason he hadn’t been able to escape.

“Master Rudeus, do you think you could get rid of this dirt for us somehow?” 

“Well…I’ll give it a shot.”

Squeezing past Zanoba, I took his place in front of the open doorway. Fortunately, I was pretty comfortable working with earth and sand at this point. I was the guy who’d dug out a nice little basement under Orsted’s office, after all. My basic approach was to compress the dirt under intense pressure, while simultaneously hardening sections of the walls and ceiling. It was a bit like building a big rock pipe, one segment at a time. The result this time was somewhat rushed, but it was solid enough not to collapse on us. I’d picked up an intuitive feel for that sort of thing now.

After about an hour of slow, steady “digging,” the wall of earth ahead crumbled noisily away all on its own. I’d reached the other side after tunneling about five meters. Could have been worse, I suppose. And it would have taken an absurd amount of time to dig through all that without the use of magic.

Another hour of walking followed, bringing us to a total of four hours spent in this tunnel. Zanoba, who didn’t spend a lot of time on his feet, was starting to look a bit worn out by the end. Thankfully, this time we reached the exit.

Initially, we found ourselves in what looked to be a basement. We’d stumbled out of a door that was hidden in this room’s far wall. It was a chamber with a well-built stone ceiling and walls, maybe ten square meters in size. The walls were largely featureless, except for a few candle fixtures; a staircase in the corner spiraled upward.

It didn’t take me long to realize that we were in the royal palace of Shirone. I recognized this chamber, after all. It happened to be an old apartment of mine.

“Uh, Zanoba, isn’t this…”

“Indeed. The very room in which we first met each other.”

When you put it that way, it sounded almost romantic…but this was the place where Pax had held me captive within a magic barrier, in other words. The room seemed weirdly empty at the time, but apparently it did have a purpose. It was the palace’s emergency exit. That explained well enough why it was set up to power magical booby traps…although the circle for that barrier seemed to be gone.

“Ah, what a pleasant memory. On that day, when I met the artisan who’d created that wondrous figurine, I was positive my life had reached its high point. Who could have known that even happier days lay—”

“Let’s save the nostalgia trip for later, please?”

Cutting off Zanoba’s apparent attempt to narrate some strange documentary, I headed over for the staircase in the corner. It led us up into a hallway. We proceeded cautiously. 

The castle was quiet, and darkness lay outside its windows. The sun had apparently set while we were crawling along that secret passage. Not a single light illuminated the hall. Maybe the maids were all gone too. You could have heard a pin drop in this place, seriously. Where were Pax’s troops? Had he positioned them outside or something?

“Any idea where Pax might be?”

“I would expect to find him in our father’s room.”

Which meant…the royal bedchamber or something, probably?

After a quick look around, Zanoba took the lead and set off down the hallway. He clearly knew this place like the back of his hand, but didn’t seem sentimental about it; his eyes were fixed firmly on the path ahead. We followed him silently.

“…Oh.”

Roxy came to a sudden halt. She’d stopped right in front of a specific room.

“You notice something, Roxy?”

“No, not really. I just realized this used to be my room.”

The door to the room was hanging open. There was nobody inside, and little furniture except an ordinary bed and desk. It looked like its occupant left in a hurry not too long ago; the bed was a rumpled mess, and a jumble of personal items were spread across the desk and floor. Someone else had apparently started living in here at some point after Roxy left Shirone—it looked more like an apartment than a hotel room. But even though it was clearly someone else’s space now, the thought that Roxy had once lived here too made me feel weirdly…sentimental, I guess.

So this was the room where Roxy was staying way back when I was tutoring Eris…

“Master Rudeus? Miss Roxy?” Zanoba asked. “Is something the matter?”

I shook my head. “Nah, not really. Roxy just spotted her old room and got a little nostalgic, that’s all…”

“What happened to saving that for later? Good grief…” Zanoba walked back to join us, looking a bit exasperated. He glanced at the room, hummed, and turned to Roxy. “The room you stayed in was the next door over, actually.”

“Huh?!”

Visibly flustered, Roxy rushed over to the next room and threw its door open. After comparing it to the first one, she looked up and down the hallway for a moment…and blushed fiercely in embarrassment.

“I-It was too dark for me to tell, I guess.”

Curse you, Zanoba. You’ll pay for this… No one embarrasses my precious, perfect Roxy like that. If she calls a circle a square, who are we to disagree?

“Master Rudeus,” Zanoba murmured, “why are you stepping on my foot?”

“Oh, sorry! This carpet’s a little slippery, huh?”

“I’m quite aware of your love and admiration for Miss Roxy, but would it truly be right to let her reminisce over the wrong room?”

A reasonable point. I decided to hold off on further foot-stomping.

In any case, it was kind of nice to get a little glimpse into Roxy’s past like this. If it wasn’t for the Teleportation Incident, maybe this place would have ended up as her home.

“Let’s just…keep moving, please,” said Roxy. The three of us resumed our progress down the hallway.

In the end, we didn’t run into anyone as we made our way through the palace. There was nobody in here at all, and it wasn’t clear why. 

“Now, the formal entrance hall of this palace is actually located on its second story, meaning any guests from the outside enter on that floor. The third floor is largely devoted to more practical functions, such as—”

Zanoba was very chatty the whole way, for whatever reason. Maybe he was trying to fill the silence.

The first floor was mostly living quarters for the troops and servants who kept this place functional. The second floor held the entrance hall, the throne room, and various other waiting rooms and chambers where guests might be received. The third floor contained the offices and conference rooms where domestic administrative matters of all kinds were attended to, as well as passages leading to the castle’s ramparts and main defensive tower. The fourth floor was where the princes and princesses of the kingdom resided. Their personal guards also had their quarters here. And finally, the fifth floor was where we’d find the king’s chambers.

There had been no one on the first floor. Or the second. Or the third.

As we came to the fourth floor, I glanced outside the windows once again. There were bonfires burning all around the palace; it was clear the rebel army had it closely surrounded. But I saw no sign of Pax’s own forces whatsoever. It sure didn’t look like there was any fighting going on. I couldn’t see a single silhouette on the ramparts, and I didn’t think the darkness was to blame. This castle was deserted.

Zanoba seemed to have picked up on these ominous signs as well. After we reached the fourth floor, his chattering came to an abrupt halt, and his face grew tight with tension. Something strange was happening in this palace. By the time we reached the final flight of stairs, you could almost feel it in the air.

Finally, we arrived on the fifth floor—the equivalent of this castle’s keep. That was where we found the king’s own bedchambers, the most valuable room in all Shirone in both monetary and symbolic terms.

A single man waited for us in front of its door.

It was the Death God, Randolph Marianne. For some reason, he sat in a chair, casually leaning forward like a man taking a break. Elbows on knees, hands folded together, head tilted to one side. The one uncovered eye in his pallid skull of a face stared fixedly in our direction.

“I don’t get it. I really don’t. Why would a king build his bedroom all the way up here, anyway?” 

The moment he spotted us, Randolph began to speak.

“Seems ridiculous to me. Just makes his own life worse, really. Isn’t it a nuisance, going down all those stairs every time he has to do his duties? Isn’t the food always a little cold by the time it reaches him from the kitchens on the first floor? Isn’t it sure to be a struggle just to make it up here, once he starts getting old and frail? Isn’t he ensuring he will burn to death if this building ever catches fire?”

Randolph cocked his gaunt head as he muttered these thoughts, gazing steadily in our direction. His body language was like that of an exhausted middle-aged office worker’s. And yet, a chill ran down my spine.

“Now, I would have built my chambers right down on the first floor. Attending to my duties would be easier, my food would reach me piping hot, and I could emerge whenever I pleased… But I suppose that’s the logic of a commoner, isn’t it?”

Randolph giggled shrilly to himself as he babbled on. Somehow, the man’s face looked even more skull-like when he was smiling. Roxy swallowed audibly at the sight.

“To be fair, the spot does have its advantages. It’s an ideal place to hole up in if you find yourself under siege like this. They used plenty of magic-resistant brick when they made this place, after all—no need to worry about any long-range spells. And every floor has strong defensive chokepoints, so it would pose challenges for anyone storming their way up here. They built this place for war, to be certain.”

What was Randolph even getting at? He was just…sitting there. Maybe we could walk right around him?

To tell the truth, I didn’t want to take a single step closer.

“Sir Randolph.”

As I hesitated, Zanoba moved forward instead. Randolph didn’t even straighten up, much less rise from his seat, but he did favor Zanoba with another unsettling smile.

I really wished he’d stop doing that. That face of his was even creepier at night.

“Good evening to you, Prince Zanoba,” said Randolph. “What brings you all the way out here?”

“Something odd appears to be taking place in this castle. Do you know anything about the situation?”

“Why, naturally! It’s all my doing, after all.”

Randolph reached up and lifted his eyepatch. Beneath it, his eye glowed with an ominous red light, a star-like symbol clearly visible at its center.

It was a demon eye, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

“On the orders of His Majesty, I made use of my Eye of Severance to produce a makeshift wall around the palace. Thanks to its power, I have kept the enemy’s army at bay.” 

An Eye of Severance? I hadn’t heard of that before. Orsted had never even mentioned its existence. Honestly, that man was always leaving out the most important details…

Still, if Randolph had to wear an eyepatch over that thing, it probably meant he couldn’t control too well, right? Maybe I shouldn’t be worried?

“I see,” said Zanoba. “What of the others?”

“All slain or fled, regrettably.”

“…And where is His Majesty?”

“Within his chambers.”

“Ah. Good. My thanks, Randolph. You’ve done well to keep him safe.” Zanoba stepped forward, trying to make his way past Randolph to the door. 

Abruptly unfolding his hands, Randolph reached out to bar the way.

“Why do you block my path?” asked Zanoba sharply.

“His Majesty ordered me to allow no one entrance.”

“But I have urgent business with him!”

“However urgent it may be, I’m afraid His Majesty is terribly busy at the moment.”

Busy? Busy doing what? There wasn’t anyone left in this castle for him to be ordering around.

“I must ask you to step aside, Randolph. I came here to rescue His Majesty, and that’s what I intend to do.”

“That’s quite thoughtful of you, but he evidently has no intention of leaving this palace.”

The irritation on Zanoba’s face was growing stronger by the second. Was it just me, or was Randolph being suspiciously vague right now?

“I would hear this from His Majesty’s own mouth!” 

Zanoba moved to push his way past to the door…and Randolph rose to his feet. It was a slow, subtle motion. It almost seemed as if his pale, gaunt face had floated into the air, carrying the rest of him along with it.

“Now, now, let’s all take a few deep breaths,” said the Death God mildly. “King Pax is rather anguished at the moment, you see. He needs a little…space.”

“Anguished? Why?”

“These rooms offer an excellent view of the city around this castle. He can see the hostile soldiers within his own walls, glaring his way with hatred in their eyes. And the soldiers gathering beyond—who simply watch and wait, making no move to save him…” Randolph’s gaze moved behind us for a moment.

I followed his gaze and saw that he was right. A massive window on the landing offered a sweeping, panoramic view of Latakia and her surroundings. The rebel army was camped around the palace, yes. But you could also see the crowds and campfires clustered around the city’s sealed-off outer walls. From up here, it did look like a huge army was sitting out there with no interest in attacking the rebels. But I knew that the majority of those people were simple merchants, adventurers, or ordinary travelers. They were never going to storm the city’s walls. 

“Until His Majesty comes to terms with these events, I won’t move from this spot,” concluded Randolph.

“And how long will that take?” asked Zanoba through gritted teeth.

“Ah, how I wish I had the answer to that question. I do expect it won’t take too much longer…”

“Enough of this! I have no time for your obstinacy!” Zanoba had finally reached his breaking point. He reached out for Randolph’s shoulder to shove him physically out of the way—

“Huh?!”

—and was instantly sent tumbling back down the hallway.

The momentum carried him all the way down the stairs behind us. The back of his head slammed against the far wall, dislodging a sizable chunk of masonry.

“My sincere apologies for the hackneyed line, but—you shall not pass. Unless it’s over my dead body.”

As he spoke, Randolph drew the sword at his waist halfway from its sheath. The blade glowed a sickly shade of green, casting an eerie light into the darkness of the hallway. There was no doubt it was enchanted somehow.

Ah, shit. This is very, very bad. I don’t have the Version One…we really shouldn’t be fighting him.

“Calm down, Zanoba! Picking a fight is not a good idea right now,” I warned him.

“But Master Rudeus…!” he protested. 

Based on what Randolph said, he was simply protecting Pax and following his orders. Zanoba had come here to help Pax as well. We had no reason to be enemies. Of course, that logic wouldn’t apply if he was a disciple of the Man-God, but the odds of that were low. This was way too convoluted to be a trap designed to kill me. And if the objective was to murder Pax and prevent Shirone’s transformation into a republic, the Death God could have accomplished it a long time ago. Like…back when Pax was staying in the King Dragon Realm.

It couldn’t hurt to ask, though. Just to be sure.

“Sir Randolph, we’re willing to wait if you really think it’s necessary,” I said. “But I do have just one question for you first.”

“By all means, go right ahead.”

“Does the name Man-God mean anything to you?”

Randolph grinned at my question. It was a spine-chilling smile, worthy of the dark and silent castle that he stood in.

“Yes, I’m familiar with the name. What of it, might I ask?” 

With a harsh, rattling chuckle, he admitted it. He admitted it.

We had a reason to fight now.

Randolph was a disciple of the Man-God—acting on his orders, furthering his schemes. I didn’t know what that scheme was yet, but Randolph had caused this situation, and its outcome would work to the Man-God’s benefit somehow. That made him my enemy. An enemy I had to defeat while I still had the chance.

I had to kill him—and I think he saw it in my eyes.

“So it comes to this after all? What a pity.”

Randolph drew his sword, illuminating the hallway with its greenish glow. Zanoba took up his club in response; Roxy raised her staff as well.

And so, without further ado, it began. Our battle against one of the Seven Great Powers was underway.