Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 11

Extra Chapter:

The Monkey and the Wolf

Geese

MY EYES OPENED.

I rose, cracking my neck and checking all my parts were working. No tingling in my limbs, no indigestion. No weird growths on my skin. Apart from a mild grumble in the belly, I was fit as a fiddle.

I went out of my tent and stretched, feeling my back crack as I yawned. I watched the sun rise. The direction of the sun told me the direction I was facing. I compared that with my map and the ridgeline to confirm my current location. I’d checked yesterday too, before the sun set, but things can look different from morning to evening, y’know? It’s important to check two or three times. It’s mostly the idiots who don’t confirm where they are who get lost.

“West today, huh,” I muttered to myself as I worked out where I needed to go. No one was around to reply. 

Last night the Man-God came into my dreams again. Told me to go west with the rising sun, rest at the roots of the third tree on Fenyl Boulevard, then get on the fifth carriage that passed. I’d ride in the carriage for a while, then get off at the town it arrived in and stay at the New Leaf Inn. That’d keep me out of the hands of Ruquag’s Mercenary Band, he said.

Doesn’t make much sense, does it? Now, if you’re an average guy, you’d probably start to feel a bit suspicious of all that. It’s not like the Man-God ever tells you why you gotta do everything just so. So at some point in the course of your life, you wind up doing something a little different to what He told you, and bam, they got you. I get it, I really do. Back in the day, I used to pull stuff like that myself.

These days though, I live by the Man-God’s words. That’s the right way to live, I reckon. Far as I’m concerned, the Man-God’s word is law. 

Yeah, all right, I hear you. Obviously just because I do what He says doesn’t mean everything always turns out perfect. Sometimes His advice gets me into some pretty gnarly situations. Ain’t even uncommon. But you know what I say to that?

So what? I mean come on, think about it. Whether I do what He says or not, sometimes shit happens. Life’s not all sunshine and roses. One thing I can say for sure though: so long as I obey Him, I don’t die. How do I know that? I’m weak as they come, but I’ve gotten through some majorly dangerous situations and lived to tell the tale. Look, I’ve watched a lot of tough guys way beyond my level slip up and die. It’s pathetic, actually. These guys are always swaggering around like they’re king badass, then when they’re about to die they start blubbering. Help me, I don’t wanna die, save me, Mommy! 

I get it, everyone’s a little pathetic, it’s fine. But the guys who go down like that are always the dudes who go around bragging about how death don’t scare them. Bonafide hero types, every single one of them. Don’t it make ya sick? 

Look, people try to avoid death—that’s nature. Our instincts tell us dying’s bad, that it’s freakin’ scary. And don’t get me wrong, I’m scared. I don’t wanna die. And that’s why so long as the Man-God gives me advice that keeps me alive, that’s all I need. He’s the reason I’ve survived this long. You could say He’s my guardian angel. Or whatever the evil version of that is.

The story of how I got my chance to pay Him back for all this starts a few years ago. I was passed-out drunk in a tavern in Asura like usual when the Man-God spoke to me. Said He had a request. Now, his ‘requests’ pretty much never end well. The last time He had one for me, my hometown got wiped off the map. I wept enough for a lifetime and screamed until my voice gave out. This time, no doubt in my mind, it’d be just as bad. He likes to make you think he’s on your side and then break you. Back when my hometown got destroyed He showed up just to laugh at my stupid shocked face.

I expected all that, but this time something was different. I didn’t get this far in life without knowing how to read people. I could tell the Man-God was in a serious bind, and He’d come looking for help. That’s why I decided to accept. I did think it might be an act, but the dude’s not exactly an actor… Plus, if He really was in a jam, I had no hesitation about lending a hand. A debt’s a debt, after all, and I owed Him big.

The Man-God said that Rudeus had betrayed Him. In reality He’d probably shown up to have a good laugh at Rudeus like He’d done with me, and it hadn’t gone how He’d wanted. Anyway, He said Rudeus was His enemy now. That he’d sided with the Dragon God Orsted, I think it was. Number two out of the Seven Great Powers. A real big shot. The details aren’t important—all I needed to know is that Boss had allied himself with this big-shot god, and now he was making trouble for the Man-God. 

The Man-God can see the future. He can see so far ahead that the Demon Eye of Foresight might as well be blind. You’d think that’d make beating his enemies child’s play…but apparently it wasn’t that simple. He didn’t tell me all the ins and outs, but He did tell me two things.

First, He could only see the futures of three people at a time. Second, He couldn’t see Orsted’s future. If Orsted went and interfered with any of the three people whose future He’d already seen, those futures would change. From the Man-God’s point of view, if Orsted—and only Orsted—messed with their futures, it’d be like absolutely nothing had changed. From His white room He could see the whole wide world, but Orsted was a gaping hole in His vision. 

Now, he said, Rudeus had inherited this little quirk of Orsted’s. He was under the Dragon God’s protection or something. Orsted had some kind of curse on him that made people fear him and see him as an enemy, so there weren’t too many people like that. No one went calling on him for aid, and he didn’t have any allies. But with Boss as his go-between, all of a sudden he could get loads of people on his side. Now, how do you think that’ll work out for the Man-God?

The funny thing is, the Man-God can see His own death. One day, without warning, His vision flipped. He used to see Himself towering over where Orsted where he lay fallen, kicking him as he lay there. Now it was Orsted doing the laughing and the kicking. 

Why could He only see that moment? Well, probably because at that moment, Orsted and the Man-God were both in the same place. He saw that vision through his own eyes, and that meant He could see Orsted too. Look, I don’t worry about the details of how the Man-God’s powers work. What mattered was that Rudeus was now a threat. The Man-God needed Rudeus taken out quick, and He’d already tried a bunch of plans to kill him. No matter what He tried, though, nothing worked. In the Asura Kingdom, He’d tried pitting the North Emperor and the Water God against him, but neither of them got the job done. Not only did Orsted come out fine, but He couldn’t even take down Rudeus. Rudeus went on his merry way, still recruiting. 

So the Man-God hatched a plan. If three disciples weren’t enough to take down Orsted, He’d just make more. We’d copy Rudeus. Orsted couldn’t build alliances himself, but with Boss as his go-between he rustled up a whole network of helpers. The Man-God could only work through three disciples at a time, but so long as He got one of those disciples to gather allies, He’d end up with a lot more than three followers.

Sweet idea, huh?

And I’d been singled out as the man for the job of wrangling those allies. I did wonder why He went with me… But then, the Man-God’s usual playbook when He finished using someone was to trample on everything they love and throw whatever was left in the trash, so maybe I was the last guy He had left.

Once I was done building our army, He’d wait for the perfect moment, then have them all strike at once. Bye-bye, Rudeus.

And that’s how I ended up here, running my tail off finding people to turn to the Man-God’s cause. My deadline was the Man-God’s “right moment.” Not much time left, but I wasn’t doing bad. Not that finding allies was easy. 

Here’s how we tag-teamed it: the Man-God told me, “That guy!” and then I went and met them, buttered them up with my best smooth-talking, and then told them to be at the “meeting point” for the “right moment.” 

Everyone the Man-God had sent me after so far was sketchy as hell. They could get the job done for sure, but they were all a little cockeyed, or they only seemed to half follow what I was talking about, or they had some weird issues, or I just couldn’t get a read on them at all… I mean hey, that’s probably why they’d sit still while a guy like me was talking.

Main problem was that there weren’t a lot of them. Including me, I could count us all on two hands.

What they lacked in numbers, they made up for in muscle. From world-famous warriors to dudes who’d fit right into Millis fairytales, they were all top of the class. I tried to suggest that maybe we should just hire a couple of hundred generic types who’d work for gold or whatever instead, but that got the thumbs down. The Man-God was nervous about traitors. He wasn’t wild about this business of taking on people whose futures He couldn’t see. 

Fair ’nuff. 

The Man-God isn’t exactly popular. You didn’t have to be a genius to know what would happen if Rudeus showed up to win hearts and minds. Boss might not look it, but he’s got a knack for getting people to follow him. Worried about something? He’ll be there worrying with you. Got a problem? He’ll be there to solve it with you. No matter how much you lag behind, he’ll wait for you to catch up, and even though he’s got crazy power levels he’s nice to guys who don’t.

That’s why we couldn’t rely just on numbers. The Man-God was right. 

Also, sorry to say, I’m not the charismatic type. I can’t work a crowd. 

Every ally was a potential enemy, so we couldn’t take on too many. We’d also be more likely to end up with idiots who didn’t listen to the plan. That was all you needed to turn a winning position into a losing one. So we stuck with a select few. If nothing else, these guys wouldn’t turn traitor. They turned out to be pretty useful, for all their quirks.

With their help, we’d suss out Rudeus and Orsted’s weak points.

Hmmm…

Maybe I’m speaking outta line, but I reckon He could probably be a bit more trusting. Y’know? It wouldn’t even matter who they were, if we had numbers on our side, it’d really increase our options. You don’t get the big money unless you take a few risks. 

At the end of the day though, he’s the boss, I’m the disciple, his word goes. The chief did have a few words for me this time, though. Why didn’t you kill Rudeus when you had the chance? You could’ve poisoned him!

Yeah, sure. The thing is, I gotta be true to myself. How to put it? Well, betraying Boss would, if you look at it from the right angle, be the same as betraying Paul, right? I could never have betrayed Paul, so how could I murder his son, right? Man’s gotta have a code, y’know?

The Man-God didn’t buy it, but I know myself. Say I’d tried to poison Rudeus or whatever, I reckon I’d have choked before I went through with it. Along the way, I’d have gotten cold feet. But after he turned traitor, there’s no more fear of that. I’ve made my mind up for real now. Rudeus Greyrat is my enemy.

So here I am, present-day, getting ready to set off for yet another day of sniffing out hidden talent to join the case.

How many was I up to now? Three? Four? Every one of them so far was worth an army by themselves. I never thought I’d get to meet this caliber of guy, let alone talk to them. Far as I was concerned, they were all the stuff of legends and way outta my league. When I started talking to them, though, they were surprisingly…I mean, okay, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise. But they were all just…guys. Ordinary guys. Even if they had some personality issues.

Especially the first one. He was famous enough—even you might know him. But damn, he really was just another guy.

***

So here we were, a little while after the Man-God came to me with His request. Before I set off, the Man-God had some busywork for me.

I grabbed a blade of a demon sword lying rotting in the back of a storehouse of old junk in the Asura Kingdom and then a hilt from a burial mound in the King Dragon Realm, then took them to a blacksmith who handled demon weapons and had them reforged. I went and got a hold of this alcohol made by a pretty shifty tribe on the Demon Continent. Few other odds and ends. I didn’t know what any of it was for, mind you. Though I mean, from what the Man-God told me, and imagining what was coming best I could, I could see how that stuff might be handy. Better safe than sorry, as they say. Better to be over-prepared. I also did a little snooping, but I can’t beat the Man-God when it comes to gathering intel so a lot of that work went to waste. 

After all that, I headed north on the Man-God’s instructions.

Unlike Rudeus, I didn’t have any ancient Dragon Tribe displacement relics, so I was limited by travel time. But there were a few other teleportation circles around, funnily enough. I didn’t know if Orsted knew about them or not. He didn’t seem to be using them, so I used them to get around. There are only a few of ’em and they couldn’t get you absolutely everywhere, but they came in handy.

On the Man-God’s say-so, I went to the town closest to my final destination, stocked up on cold weather gear, then plodded out into the snow that was just beginning to pile up.

I was heading for a ravine in the middle of a forest, and the forest was home to monsters. I’d definitely run into some. A guy like me had no business going in alone without any weapons or defense.

But I had a few tricks up my sleeve. The Man-God told me that if I entered the forest at the right time, then did the right thing at the right moment, I could get from A to B without being bothered. For example, He said, “When you reach a cave beneath a great Tournel Tree, stop and count slowly to twenty before moving on.” I did as He told me, checking underneath each Tournel Tree I passed. There was no chance I’d miss it. If the Man-God said there was a cave, it’d be there. 

There’d be no sign it worked and no explanation why I oughta do it. I’d stand there in front of a little hole maybe just big enough for a kid to hide inside in the softly falling snow and count slowly to twenty. I wouldn’t look inside, or pull anything out of it, nothing would come crawling out. If everything went perfect, best-case scenario, nothing would happen. Without a hope in hell of understanding what I was doing, I’d hurry off on my way. 

Oh, but if I hung out just a second longer, something real bad would happen. 

Now I’m no slouch so I could guess what’s what. I’m an S-ranked adventurer. I knew what kind of monster made its nest in this hole. This was where Snowbucks, these beasts kinda like giant deer, lived when they were infants. They spent the winter there, then came out in spring. They holed up to protect themselves against their natural predators…basically every other flesh-eater and monsters. The head honcho in this forest? Well, that’d be the Iceclaw Tiger. They burrow through the snow after their prey, then pounce when you’re least expecting it. I never noticed a thing, but hell, I probably was being stalked by an Iceclaw Tiger. This here, though, was an easier, tastier meal. May the little baby Snowbuck rest in peace. 

Anyway, that’s how it works when you can see the future. Things might be dangerous, but there’s no need to worry about dying. Nothing unexpected happens. You might get a few scrapes, some bruises, but you always get the job done.

I got through the forest that way.

Just outside the forest, I found the ravine. A cold wind cut through it; the cliff walls were all sheeted in ice. Chunks of it floated in the river that ran along the bottom.

“Brrr…” I shivered.

Cold didn’t do it justice. I wanted to get the hell out of here right quick. But I swallowed that feeling and set off. I walked for half a day alongside the icy ravine until I found a path leading down the cliff face. I followed it down, then continued further up the ravine until I found him.

He sat leaning against a huge boulder, cradling his sword. A campfire blazed in front of him, where a hunk of meat on a spit sizzled as it roasted. I didn’t need to ask to know what kind of meat it was. I could see the carcass lying just behind the man and his fire.

It was covered in white scales the color of snow and had enormous talons and fangs: a Snow Dragon. An S-ranked monster. These monsters were sudden mutations of the A-ranked White Drake. They were twice the size of a White Drake, breathed ice, and could use high-level water magic. Their wings weren’t for flying, but for helping them jump. They used their muscular legs to kick off the walls of the ravine and leap down on their prey.

They weren’t technically dragons, but they were still closer to a dragon than a White Drake. They were as strong as dragons, hence that name—Snow Dragon, ya see? They were seriously rare, and tyrannized and devoured whole flocks of White Drakes. Not the kind of monster you went hunting alone.

This guy seemed to have taken this bad boy down all by himself. I wasn’t surprised or anything. I knew he was the sort of guy who could do it. And now we were gonna have a talk.

When I got near enough to him, a shiver shot up my spine. This guy would kill me. He didn’t have to warn me. I knew that past this point I’d be stepping in range of his sword, and I’d best be ready to face the consequences. My face felt like it was going to cramp up, but I forced myself to show a smile. A smile that would hide my fear and radiate confidence. Then, smile fixed in place, I went up to him. It felt kind of wrong for me to be looking down on this guy, but he was sitting down. What was I supposed to do?

“Yes?” he said.

It was a challenge, but his voice was deathly calm. He wasn’t trying to threaten or intimidate me, just asking indifferently after my sudden appearance like you might ask someone’s name.

So I answered, “I’m Geese.”

“I didn’t ask your name,” he replied. 

All right, read that wrong. I wondered where to start. I had a lot to talk to him about. To start off with, though, I decided to just shut up and stand there. Guys like this hate smooth talkers. They had their own method of persuasion.

For y’all following along, that method’s “violence.” You know. That thing that I’m no good at. And this guy in particular—his violence was impeccable. Great stuff, world-class. No need to break that out here, though. I sure wasn’t about to start any. Silence would work fine.

“What the hell’s going on here?” he growled.

See what I mean? I kept my lips zipped and he started talking all by himself. He wasn’t done. “The other night some bastard calling himself god man or whatever showed up in my dreams saying he wants me to help him out. Said if I heard him out, he’d make my dreams come true. He tells me about this place as proof. When I showed up, I found this thing.” He jerked his thumb at the Snow Dragon carcass behind him. 

Hey now, Lord Man-God, You didn’t say nothin’ about calling him here. If I’d been told to show up here then found a beast like that waiting, I’d think I’d been tricked. 

“When I was a lad, I ran up against a Snow Dragon and barely got out with my life,” he said. “I was going to go back and kill it one day, but along the way I forgot about it. Would you believe it? I show up and here it is.”

Ahah, so that’s Your game, I thought. I got it now. The Man-God was a pro at this kind of thing. Making your dreams come true, or close to it. Anyway, this guy didn’t seem to feel like he’d been tricked. Even after having a Snow Dragon set on him.

Oh, right, of course. One of those hero types.

“So I killed it, and now you show up,” he went on, then pointed at me. “A monkey face… Hey, you said you’re called Geese, right?”

Finally, he looked up at me and for the first time, I saw his face. He didn’t look especially strong. I spend all my time trying to read people, so I can usually tell from their faces whether they’re strong or weak. It’s not like I judge it off how rough they look. It’s all in the expression. People who’re strong usually put it all out there. They work hard every day, so they don’t think of it like hardship. It’s normal business to them. They have a clear image of their own capabilities and they don’t waver. That means they don’t usually put up a front.

This dude wasn’t showing off, but he was wavering. Someone had come along and torn everything he thought was true into tiny pieces. Now he was exhausted, out of patience, and at his limit. That was what his face told me. Ohhh, I got it. I see. He’d gotten his ass kicked, and recently. Beaten! Half dead. This is someone who thought that wasn’t possible, or at least thought he had a few years left before he declined to that point.

He’d had his world rocked thoroughly, so that now he didn’t know what to think. Sapped of confidence, he’d come here to lick his wounds. Oh, yeah, I know just what your deal is. I’ve seen it a hundred times before. None of them quite so much a cut above the rest as you, but all strong enough in their own right. The look of a big, unbeatable guy despairing after someone cut them down a notch or two isn’t a sight I’ll soon forget. The thing is, just ’cause you’re feeling down doesn’t mean all’s lost, buddy.

This guy was still a master of his craft. I had no doubt I could use him.

“Explain,” he demanded, so at last, I opened my mouth. There was so much I had to say to him. After the Man-God gave me his profile, I’d worked out a bit of a speech. Hence why I stayed mum till now. Guys like him, they really fly off the handle like they’re having a fit when you start jabbering on trying to smooth talk ’em. The art of talking’s all in making sure you’re clear and to the point.

“First off… Right, yeah, so I’m here as a delegate for the Man-God.”

“Dele-what?”

Say what? You ain’t heard ‘delegate’ before? Man, I can’t abide unlearned types… Yeesh, all right, ya got me. I didn’t go to school, either.

“Look, the Man-God will grant your dreams. In return, he’s got a teensy favor to ask. He’s gathering allies. I’m here as I guess what you’d call the errand boy, getting the band together.”

“Hah, dreams, eh…?” he said. “You and your boss know what my dream is, then?” He stroked the hilt of his sword.

Ooh ho ho, that’s scary. He didn’t do anything but stroke it, but if the fancy struck him that sword would be out before I could blink and then my head could kiss bye-bye to my body. Or maybe it’d be my left and right eyes making their farewells. This dude’s body language was telling me loud and clear: if I didn’t talk seriously, I was dead. If I gave an answer he didn’t like, also dead.

Fortunately, I knew what his dream was. The Man-God told me everything ahead of time. I knew why this sad-sack loser was lurking by himself out here. If that info was wrong, though… I mean, it’d be just like him to tell me wrong.

Oh, Holy Man-God, do not forsake me. Even I, Your humble servant, won’t find it funny if I die here.

“The Dragon God Orsted,” I said. It felt like the temperature around us plummeted, but that told me that I was bang on the money. If he had no reaction that I could pick up on, I’d be as good as dead. We were officially in business. I’d told him something I shouldn’t know. While his mind reeled from the shock, I kept talking so he didn’t have a chance to start thinking again.

“You wanna defeat the Dragon God Orsted. He beat you once, long ago, so you trained to become the strongest there is, and after a fashion you got there. But then, you found yourself chained up by the restrictions you set on yourself, no longer even trying to go after your goal. Your ultimate enemy. The Man-God’s going after Orsted too.

“Only, well, He’s not going for glory; he just wants him dead. By any means necessary, eh? And you’re the means, see? Only…sorry, mate, but you don’t have a chance all on your lonesome. I’ll be inviting a few more to the party.

“Whoa there, don’t glare at me like that! Was anything I said just now wrong? You know full well you’re no match against Orsted alone.

“But I reckon you want to try, eh? All this time, you’ve wanted it. Otherwise you’d never have run off from your house where you lived all those years, left behind everything you depended on all that time, ditched your family to come live like a vagabond out here. You coulda had a cushy job in government. You coulda gone wherever you pleased. Am I wrong? Eh?

“So what I’m offering you is the right to challenge Orsted. You could roam around out here till the day you die and you might never run into him. Or he might flat out reject your challenge and send you packing. Stick with me, though, and I’ll get you the best possible stage for your showdown. I’ll make it so that Orsted’ll face you—no running or hiding.

“Easy now, I get it. I get what you’re thinking. You reckon you’re not entitled to take on Orsted. But didn’t you swear an oath to yourself, back when he beat you last time? You said you weren’t gonna ever lose again. Not to Orsted, not to nobody. And you managed it—right up till the other day, you were undefeated.

“And yeah, you lost. You got your second taste of defeat. Even after you swore that oath. You got walked all over like how you usually knock out small timers. And that’s why you came slinking off like a dog to trudge around this ravine. You’re not even looking for Orsted, you’re wandering aimlessly around. Yeah, I get it. You don’t deserve it, right? Now that you’ve been beat, just that once, you’ve lost your right to challenge Orsted.”

There was a sharp glint in his eyes now. Still though, he still didn’t come at me with his sword. He used his words instead.

“That’s wrong,” he said.

“Yeah, you’re right about that! It’s all wrong! Totally wrong!” He caught my drift. My words were getting through to him. “Not deserving? As if! You absolutely deserve it! I mean come on. Who says you’ve gotta be number two before you earn a shot at number one? Just ’cause someone else gotcha, does that mean you can’t take on Orsted? Who says? Nobody! Now, when you think about it like that, you’ve got more of a right than anyone. You spent your whole life working toward it!”

I saw a shadow in his eyes. He was cracking. One more little push.

“You ought to challenge Orsted. Who cares about winning or losing? You might be weak, past your prime—who cares? Heck, maybe that’s better! It might actually be better! Now’s when you get to shake off those chains. You can go and face him without anything hanging over you.

“Now sure, maybe you’ll get crushed. So what? What are you gonna do, wander aimlessly till you get old and frail and die like a stray mutt? You’re really okay with that? You’re not a punk, are you?

“So what’s stopping you? Come on. Join me. Then we’ll take on Orsted. What d’ya say?” I finished, then I reached out a hand to him.

He didn’t say anything. His eyes were shadowy, hesitating, faltering, staring straight at me.

Oooh, I overdid it.

It’s always the best policy to dump all the information you’ve got at once, and only give the other guy the chance to think once you’ve set him on a path. The thing with these kind of standoffs is that if you talk too much, they shut down altogether. He was reacting to some of what I was saying, so I thought I was doing all right. But maybe he wasn’t the cerebral type. It’d be unexpected, but this was the kinda risk I had to take. Anyway, you can’t force people to think the way you want by cramming a buncha words into their skulls. So, overwhelm them a little up front, set the tone, let them stew on it. I gave him all the math, he just had to put it together. But something inside of him was stopping him. He needed an excuse to swallow the bait, then I’d have him. That’s my approach.

Actually, if he were smarter, I think he’d already be aboard. Too bad.

He didn’t speak. Real quiet. This ravine was the Snow Dragon’s lair. No other monsters to bother us here. No wind. I couldn’t even hear the sound of water from the frozen stream. Only the sizzling of roasting meat told me that time was passing.

The man was more than just silent. He didn’t move a muscle. He was so still he could’ve been dead. He had no presence at all, like he wasn’t even here. 

Silence gets to me. When everything’s silent, that means I’m alone. I’m nothing on my own. All it would take was one monster lurking about here. I’d be dead meat. I wasn’t gonna roll over with my paws up, but I wasn’t about to kid myself I could win.

All I could do was…

“I’m not interested in becoming any man’s pawn,” said the man suddenly. “Even if that means I rot away out here.”

He didn’t take my hand. Worse, he reached for his sword. I felt sweat prickle all over my body. Every cell was screaming at me to get the hell outta there. But my brain fought back and told me to stay put. It knew I couldn’t get away. This guy could cut me into pieces in a heartbeat. My corpse would be buried in the snow until spring thawed it out and the bugs came to eat me up. 

But I was still in one piece. He wasn’t toying with me. If he wanted to kill me, it’d be over in a second. So why…?

Just then, the man muttered, “Hey, monkey face. Why’re you doing this?”

It felt like he was just giving me a chance to answer before he killed me. “You didn’t think maybe after you came to me, spout some bullshit, I might just cut your head off and leave your sorry corpse here?”

Oh, the thought occurred to me. More than a few times. Every single time I walked up to some raging madman, fighting back the urge to scream, using my tongue and every ounce of my wits to talk ’em down. 

Let me ask you though, you ever think about the pains I’ve gone to so I didn’t piss off guys like you?

“What dream’s your master granting you, eh? What’re you doing this for?” the man asked.

“What for…?” I hadn’t expected that question. But it made sense, now I thought about it. I must be confusing for others looking in.

“I’ll have you know, I’m a faithful servant of the Man-G—”

“Don’t you give that ‘faith’ crap,” he said.

A wave of malice washed over me. My legs started shaking like mad. Something within me was twitching. It was so intense it made everything up till now feel like nothing. I started wondering if maybe I wasn’t already dead.

“I’ve run into my share of devout followers. Maniacs like those Millis Knight Orders that’d do anything for their precious god. I don’t get that sense from you, not one bit.”

Whoa there, don’t stereotype me like that. The Millis Knight Orders are a bunch of bona-fide fanatics. 

But then, maybe challenging Orsted means I am too. Yeah, puttin’ it like that, it makes sense. Number two of the Seven Great Powers, and the opponent this guy gave up his whole life to try and beat, and—

Well, the only one I’m gonna be fighting is Boss. But seeing as it’s me, that doesn’t change much. Why would someone like me risk my skin to fight an opponent I can’t beat, one that’s totally out of my league? That’s all he’s asking.

No one would do that without a good reason.

But, huh. Why, though? Why was I doing this for the Man-God?

Now it was my turn to fall silent. When you’re talking to guys with a temper, clamming up’s tantamount to a death wish. The funny thing was though, he gave me a little time. I guess when you get to the best of the best of all the angry guys, they’ve developed a little patience.

Everything sank into silence again. My thoughts stretched back. Far back. Way back to the time from my own birth to when I became an adventurer. Before I met the Man-God.

I was born in a little village in the south of the Demon Continent. I was the third of five kids of the village chief. It wasn’t much, but we lived a little freer than your average villager. Back then though, I felt plenty restricted. See, my future wife was chosen for me when I was born, as well as my future job. The job of a son of the village chief was to live the life he was told to. So long as I pulled that off, I could do whatever else I wanted.

The job they picked was record-keeping. I kept track of the food we grew and caught, the goods we got through trading those with the outside world, the goods we bought. I counted everything in the whole village and wrote it down tidily. That was it.

It was important work, thinking about it. Over the years as I saw shops that keep slipshod books and adventurers who couldn’t manage their gold, I got how important it was. All young Geese thought back then, though, was that it was boring.

There’s so much more I could do, I thought. If I just got a chance to pick up a sword or study magic I’d show everyone: I could be somebody. Or maybe if I could just go into the service of some country you’d all hear about my big heroics. I’d go down in history.

Whenever I started shooting my mouth off like that, my father beat me down.

“Know your place!” was what he liked to say.

Looking back, I reckon my father said it because he saw me for who I really was. My father knew the limits of my potential. I didn’t, obviously. How the hell was I supposed to know my place? I’d never stepped outside it.

So I flew the coop. Abandoned my job, ran away from home, and stowed away in one of the merchant caravans that came to trade with our village. I left my family and my betrothed to run away to the biggest town nearby. 

That was where my legend would begin. I was absolutely convinced of that. But reality caught up with me real fast. Whether it was magic or sword craft, I was a lost cause. I couldn’t even hit average. I guess I managed about as well as anyone else, battle chops aside, but I sure didn’t stand out in any way. I could barely beat the average when I worked my butt off. Mastery, though? Don’t make me laugh.

I tried all kinds of stuff to try and find my talent, but it was no good. I was firmly stuck being average. Mediocre, no matter how you looked at me. Yet I tried to make it as an adventurer even so. That was my dream, see. I’d thrown away everything for it. I couldn’t give up and slink back to my village after all that.

I wasn’t too bad with my hands, so I thought to try out crafting. Managed to complete some F-ranked jobs. As a lone adventurer trying not to freeze to death, I somehow managed to keep myself afloat. It didn’t satisfy me, though. F-ranked adventurer jobs were, when it came down to it, just odd jobs. I was the town handyman, jack-of-all-trades. How was that any different to life back home? I hadn’t run away to do this crap. I wanted thrilling adventures! I wanted to do great deeds that’d fill those who heard my name with awe. That was my dream. 

So I went for it. I clumsily picked up a sword, got myself a second-hand set of armor, scrounged up some teammates, then went out into the wilderness to do gathering and slaying jobs. It was a disaster. We got slaughtered. Just like most beginner adventurer parties on the Demon Continent, the monsters tore us to pieces. The only reason I survived was because of a dream I had right before it happened. 

In an empty space, standing on a white floor that stretched on forever, a man with a face I couldn’t make out gave me a divine message. 

If this happens, He told me, here’s what you should do. It was all so casual, I shook it off as a random dream. No way what He was describing could happen to us.

But, of course, it did. My teammates’ heads were ripped from their bodies and devoured and I was left alone, cornered, snot and tears running down my face. That was when I did what the mysterious man in my dream had told me to do. A dead man will take whatever help he can get.

I survived.

From that day forth, little Geese became a disciple of the Man-God.

And I thought life as a disciple was basically heaven. The Man-God taught me how to fight with a sword and with magic, and while He might not have given me a power on par with a Demon Eye, He readily told me the future. With that at my disposal, I moved up in the world. I breezed through some seriously nasty situations that I’d never have worked out on my own, which got me noticed by some real powerful guys. They became my allies. I used my knowledge of the future to help those guys out and gained their trust. Together with them, I set off on a thrilling adventure.

I loved every minute of it.

“See? Didn’t it happen exactly like I said? Anything apart from fighting, I’ve gotcha covered!” I told them. So long as I could go around bragging, I was happy. I felt like I was one of the best. These real powerful guys treated me as an equal, and all the nobodies around us assumed I was a big shot like my peers. What else could I ask for?

After my hometown got wiped out and I joined Fangs of the Black Wolf, the Man-God didn’t tell me the future as much, but I didn’t pay it any mind. I was having fun running after Paul, anyway. He still popped up a fair bit to save my skin when it counted. The Man-God’s advice was like a part of who I was. It was thanks to Him that I got to be a real adventurer.

Part of me, though, felt empty. That feeling was strongest after the Fangs of the Black Wolf split up and I spent a while wandering around by myself. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was a fraud, that I’d never achieved anything myself. If I weren’t such a pushover, maybe I could’ve believed in myself a little, but the fact remained that I couldn’t fight to save my life. Without my knowledge of the future, my only purpose was to tag along after really strong, really amazing types and cover their weak points.

My whole adventurer persona was just a shell of lies and pride.

You know how goldfish poop clings to them while they swim? That was me. All I had going for me were cheap tricks and a quick tongue. There wasn’t anything, not one thing I was really good at. Was I okay living like this? When it came down to it, what did I even want? Who did I wanna be? Those feelings had always been lurking deep inside of me.

What I told the gruff guy in front of me was simple. “You probably won’t understand, but in my whole life I’ve never been ahead,” I said. I wasn’t trying to talk him into anything. Right now, I was giving voice to what lay in my heart. “I got by on scraps, always trying to get an edge on people, lying and sweet-talking and riding around on other people’s coattails. I never ever achieved a single thing independently.”

I’d never had anything I wanted. I had a dream. I wanted to go on an awesome adventure and go down in history. It wasn’t so much to ask, was it? Who actually cares about history?

That was my one desire, y’know, to be special. I got to go adventuring, but I was always tagging after my teammates. I never had them follow me somewhere I wanted to go. I reckon I knew, deep down. I knew I was borrowing all my power, and anything I achieved with it would be hollow. At any moment, a little gesture from the Man-God could take it all away. 

So I tried not to want anything. If I set my sights on something, I thought, I’d never get it. Just relax, have fun, go with the flow of whatever life threw at me. Then everything would work out just fine. Now there’s a jinx to live by, I thought.

…It’s a bit different now, though. The Man-God came to me for help. An all-powerful god lowered Himself down to ask me. He needed me. I wasn’t trash. I was somebody who mattered. If we won this fight, in other words, that’d prove that I was special. I’d always been on my guard around everyone, layering up lies upon lies, thinking I was useless. What if this was my chance to be strong, just like I always wanted?

“That’s why, how should I put it…” Was that an answer I’d stake my life on, though? Something inside me told me I shouldn’t. That all of it was crap. That I already knew what I was worth. I knew it. I knew I was nothing special. Can’t swing a sword, can’t use magic. There was the odd thing I could do better than your guy on the street, but I never mastered anything. I’d always be a jack of all trades and a master of none. A monkey-faced nobody.

But…

“I can’t let it end like this,” I said, and then I shut up. I was surprised at how right those words sounded to me.

That there, that’s it. That’s how I always felt. 

All this time I thought I was having a good enough time with life, enjoying myself, and one day I’d die in a ditch and that’d be that. But deep down, I felt different.

“You can’t, huh…?” said the man. He took his hand off his sword. His eyes were dull now, the gleam from before gone. “Hah, if that ain’t the truth. You’re exactly right.”

I’d blurted out what came into my head, but thinking it over, what I said fit this guy’s situation pretty perfectly.

I can’t let it end like this. I couldn’t, and neither could he.

“All right,” he said with a savage grin, then reached out and took my still-outstretched hand. “I’ll come be your pawn.” It was all so quick, it felt a bit anticlimactic. But what I’d said just now had brought this guy around. This guy, the greatest swordsman in the world, so powerful all humankind knew his name.

“So what do I do now? Do I guard you?” he asked.

“Uh, no…”

I felt a smile coming and forced it down. Maybe I didn’t need to, but it’s not good practice to go around smirking at people. It drives ’em off. That’s another jinx, write it down.

“For now, you’re to go here,” I said, handing him a map. “Once you get there I’ll tell you what comes next. One more thing—if we run into each other, act like you don’t know me. This is all top-secret.”

The location of the final showdown was already set. When I wasn’t off making invitations to guys like this, I was getting it ready. I was being careful, taking my time to shore everything up. I wasn’t gonna lose.

“Fair enough,” he said after he took the map. “One thing, though. I’m no actor. You don’t want to get caught, you’d best stay out of my way.” He started to walk away. It was like he didn’t give a damn about me—like I wasn’t even here.

I liked that. You could tell he’d lived his whole life by his sword. No pointless actions, no wasted words. When he decided something, he just did it. Not the easiest person to maneuver, but insanely powerful. And now…he was my pawn.

I watched his back retreat until he faded from sight. Then, with a whoop, I punched my fist up in the air.

***

That first guy was the easiest. He was a big enough deal to need no introduction and sure as hell didn’t act like he had time for a nobody like me, but in the end all we had to do was talk. He came around to what I was saying and joined me of his own accord. Timing probably had something to do with it. After all my plotting and worrying, in the end it was something I hadn’t even meant as persuasion that conveniently happened to resonate with him. People will always open up about whatever’s troubling them if someone comes to them with the perfect words. 

In the end, that’s all it was. I done good, right? Some bits I got lucky, but still, I talked him around.

Here’s the thing, though, oh, holy Man-God. Ever since talking with that guy, something’s sat wrong with my spirit. Maybe we’ve missed a trick, y’know? I just get this feeling somewhere along the way we’re gonna fall into a trap.

Well, my god—any idea what that’s about?