Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 22 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

Number Four

WE FINISHED MAKING our introductions to all the demon kings. All of them promised to ally with me. I also had them sign contracts, just in case. Atofe’s name was really handy.

Right now, everything was on track. Things were going well—there were so few hiccups that it felt like things were going a little too well. Geese’s continued silence was beginning to creep me out, not to mention the lack of interference from the Man-God. I returned home regularly to check on my family, but there was no indication of him meddling there, either. 

I went through all the information the mercenary company had gathered from all over the world but nothing stirred my doubts. That had to mean that whatever Geese was plotting, nothing I was up to interfered with them. Maybe the letter had been a bluff, and his actual scheme was different… But what that meant in the long term, I had no idea. For the time being, I had no choice but to stay the course I’d set.

Geese’s whereabouts were similarly shrouded in mystery. He was doing a good job of keeping his head down. To tell the truth, I had the feeling that, short of asking Kishirika, we wouldn’t find him. But I had been putting out wanted notices for her all over the Demon Continent. It was just a matter of time until we found her. 

In the meantime, I decided to make inroads with my next target. I was heading to the Sword Sanctum to see Sword God Gall Falion. 

Orsted said he was a good-natured guy whose hobby was collecting rare swords. Eris, however, said he wasn’t the type of man who listened.

I had met Sword King Nina Farion before…but I expected Gall to be cut from a similar mold to Atofe. Depending on how things went, I might end up having to bulldoze my way through negotiations with the Magic Armor again. I wanted people with me who could fight if things wound up like that. However, my destination was full of people comparable to Eris and Ghislaine in skills—they wouldn’t stay on the sidelines like Atofe’s personal guard if they saw their boss taken down. I’d have to fight off a whole horde of swordsmen at once (and they’d be Saint-tier…). That thought didn’t do wonders for my motivation. I felt a stomach ache coming on from considering it. 

I’d bring Eris, at least…but who else? Maybe I could cajole Ariel into letting me take Ghislaine along.

“My dear! If you don’t hurry up and finish, I can’t wash up!”

“Yeah, sorry. I’m eating. Nom nom.” 

Right now, however, I was at home, eating dinner with my “wife.”

“You better not leave the peppers!”

“What, not the peppers too? You know I don’t like them…”

“You will eat them! You’re a grown-up, so you have to be brave and eat things you don’t like!”

My long-suffering “wife” was still only five years old. Our house didn’t have a roof, and our plates were made from rocks. On them were arranged mud dumplings and mud gravy. If only I earned more at work, we could afford better! I’d push myself harder.

“Goo.”

“Oh, Norn! You’re hungry again? Mommy just fed you! I suppose you can have some more.”

Our daughter was fifteen, nearly sixteen. This year, she would graduate from the University of Magic. That meant organizing all kinds of events that kept her perpetually busy, but I guess she still missed her mommy’s milk sometimes. 

“Yaaay, thanks, Mommy,” Norn said.

“No, you’re the baby, so you only speak in baby talk!”

“Oh… Um, goo goo.”

Our daughter hadn’t started talking yet. I guess that was normal, given that she was still breastfeeding.

“Woof woof!”

“Aisha, are you hungry too? Fine, I’ll feed you. Here’s your dinner. It’s a secret, okay?”

Our pet dog was fifteen too. She was a career-focused woman juggling her household duties with her job at the mercenary company. But, in the end, even she was a slave to her stomach. Just like a dog.

“Rrruff!”

“Once you’re finished, you go play with Norn!”

“Ruff ruff, woof!”

“Gagooo…”

“Wah, that tickles!”

The dog, getting overexcited like she was in heat, flung her arms around my wife and daughter and started licking their faces. What a happy family. I wanted to join in too.

“Oooh, let Dada in too!”

“No! Dada doesn’t do that!” my wife said firmly. This felt like an example of domestic discrimination. Perhaps, despite looking like a happy family on the surface, our marriage was actually loveless. We’d fallen out of love into a rut of marital ennui.

More to the point, how come I didn’t get to be the pet? I wanted to hug and lick everyone too…

“You hate me…” I sniffled.

“No, I don’t! Dada’s an amazing person! Even though he hardly ever comes home, and he can’t ever cuddle the baby, he still loves them very much! It’s not his fault!”

Amazing is all very well, but I’d rather be here, near you all. My fault or not, I want to cuddle my children too. All that love breeds warmth, and in that warmth, there’s happiness.

“Um, Rudy…?” A voice came from behind me. “Could I have a word?” I turned and saw my mother-in-law peering out of the window of the neighboring house… Ah, forget it. That’s enough of the game.

“Sure,” I said. I went to stand up but felt a tug on my sleeve. Lucie looked up at me, anxiety on her face.

“Are you going back to work already, Dada?” 

This had all started around an hour earlier. I’d been brooding over who to take with me to the Sword Sanctum, or whether I should just get CEO Orsted to make an appearance, as well as how to go about negotiating and whether I should show up prepared for a fight… That was when Lucie showed up with Norn in tow.

She’d hidden behind Norn as she hesitantly asked, “Dada…um, can we play?”

I agreed right away. Gall Falion? The Sword Sanctum? Who cared about trifles like that?

“No, Lucie, I’m just going to talk to Mommy.”

“…I want you to stay.”

“I’ll come back soon as we’re finished, sweetie. You play with your big sisters till then, okay?”

“…Okay,” Lucie said, her little mouth puckered as she looked down at the ground. It took all I had to tear myself away.

If I could, I’d play house with you all day long. But my real wife’s calling me now, so I gotta go.

I washed my hands, then went back to the living room and sat myself down on the couch next to Sylphie.

“Okay, what’s the matter?”

“Well, it’s just… You’re busy at the moment, right, Rudy? So I don’t want to put pressure on you, but I have to ask beforehand…” Sylphie scratched at her cheek, looking down in embarrassment.

What’s with the teasing?

“I mean, you’re about to set off to the Sword Sanctum any day now, right?”

“Yeah, as soon as everything’s ready, so another two or three days…”

All that was left to do was to choose my team. Eris and one other. I wanted someone who spoke the language of the Sword God Style gang. Hey, there was a thought! Ariel had Isolde working for her as well. Isolde had trained at the Sword God’s Sanctum too, so she was a possibility.

“How long will you be gone?” Sylphie asked.

“I’m not sure, but probably somewhere between ten days and a month. We’ll drop in to see a few other people while we’re in the area, I’m guessing.” There were supposed to be renowned swordsmen and smiths in training around the Sword Sanctum, so I intended to make some connections.

“Right… Okay, so I guess you won’t be back in time.”

“In time for what?”

“The baby,” she said. My eyes went to her belly. It was big and swollen. Her breasts were a bit bigger too. Sylphie was so slender that the changes looked strange on her.

“Oh… It’s that time already, huh?”

Look, I hadn’t forgotten. Duh. Sylphie was always in my thoughts. I just didn’t know the due date… But all right. It was coming soon. Time really does fly.

Hesitantly, Sylphie asked, “Do you want to touch my belly?” 

I reached out and laid my hand on her stomach. Even though I was only touching the outside, I felt the pulse of the life inside of her. It was strange, almost like she had two hearts.

Which she did. Right now, Sylphie held two lives within her. And soon, one of them would break away to exist on its own.

“Lucie and the others’ new little brother or sister will be here soon,” Sylphie said, laying her hand on top of mine. “You won’t be here for the birth this time, will you, Rudy?”

“Yes, I will. I’ll be home.”

“But Rudy…”

“I’ll be here,” I said firmly. After being told our baby would be born soon, I couldn’t just say “Well, good luck!” and leave. If I did that, what would be the point of the work I’d been doing?

“Thank you, Rudy. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Sylphie closed her eyes, so I moved my hand up to her shoulder and pulled her close. Times like these were when I felt truly happy.

“There’s one other thing, while I remember,” Sylphie said. “Before the baby’s born, I wondered if you could think of a name. You said you’d think about it before you went to Millis, but you still haven’t told me.”

I slid down onto the floor to sit with my legs folded under me.

***

And so I wound up staying home for a while longer. My sense of urgency was as strong as ever, but now I was worried. I knelt on the floor before Sylphie, bowed my head to the ground, and admitted that I hadn’t thought about the name. She wasn’t angry or even annoyed. Instead, she went quiet and pale. I could see the betrayal on her face.

It vanished again in an instant as she said, “Oh, Rudy. You’d better start thinking now, then,” but I’d seen it. I’d seen the crushing disappointment. Right afterward, the thought came to me that maybe I’d exhausted her patience with me. I think I probably had.

For the past half year, Sylphie had believed in me, sure that, though I might be far away, I couldn’t wait for the birth of our child. That I’d celebrate happily with her after the event. That’s what I thought I’d be doing too, of course. I mean, I’d had every intention of it. Obviously, I hadn’t shown it through my actions.

“Dada, what’s wrong? Does your tummy hurt?”

“No, sweetie. I just hurt Mama’s feelings a little bit.”

“Then you gotta say sorry,” Lucie advised me. Succinct, and the right thing to do. Unfortunately, I didn’t think it was an apology Sylphie wanted. It wasn’t just a surface-level “sorry” she was after, but something more complicated, less clearly defined… Yeah, she wanted peace of mind.

“The thing is, Lucie, even if I say ‘sorry’ to Mama now, she’ll worry that I might hurt her feelings again.”

“But you won’t, will you?”

“I won’t. I’ll do my best not to.”

“Then Mama will forgive you!”

Sylphie understood from the start. She knew with how much time I spent away that every now and then, I’d forget something altogether. That didn’t make it any easier for her to swallow, though.

She’d held back her temper for a long time. The time I’d gone off to find Paul right after she got pregnant, the time I married Roxy, the time I married Eris—she never blew up at me, and she was always understanding. She let me do as I pleased. 

When I said I hadn’t thought of a name, she held back then, too. She must have forced back what she really wanted to say. And she’d keep on doing it. I’d keep making her do it.

We were fine, for now. But one day, she’d reach the limit of what she could put up with. Like a glass of water filled past its brim, one day she wouldn’t be able to hold anymore, and when that happened, I’d lose her. It’d come out of the blue, just like in the future diary. 

I didn’t want that. I wanted to be with Sylphie for as long as I lived. I’d thought that feeling was mutual.

But that was about what I wanted.

Even if she ran out of patience with me in the end, I wanted to at least give her peace of mind here and now. I just had to work out how to do that…

I was still stewing endlessly over the question when Sylphie went into labor a mere week later. The whole time, Sylphie acted as if nothing was wrong. Maybe she really didn’t think something was wrong. She wasn’t the type to hold grudges over things like this. Maybe she’d been a bit disappointed at the time, but hadn’t thought of it as that big a deal. 

I don’t think I’d been acting awkward either. For the past week, I’d been with Sylphie every moment I could as I frantically tried to decide on a name. I noted down every one that came to me and Sylphie and I discussed which ones we liked. Maybe to her, it looked like I was trying too hard. But I really wanted to try as hard as I could. 

Then, her labor pains started. Eris knew what to do and ran for the doctor, while Lilia and Aisha got ready, Roxy stood by ready to provide support with healing magic if necessary, and Leo took the kids to another room. I stayed at Sylphie’s side the whole time. Soon after, Eris came back with the doctor. He looked a bit dazed, clasped under Eris’s arm, but he quickly got deep into the work of preparations for the birth. We were all used to this. It was Sylphie’s second time and my fourth child. Counting Aisha and Norn, I’d been present for five births. If you included my past life, there were a few more. 

The doctor was experienced. No one here was new to this. A rock-solid lineup.

As we stood by, the birth began.

We were all relaxed, and everything was going smoothly, as it should…

“Oof…” The head had just come into view when the doctor let out a troubled sigh. In an instant, my reassurance faded and fear raced through me. Childbirth was still childbirth, no matter how experienced we were. I shouldn’t have gotten complacent. Was it a breech birth? No, I could see the head, so that wasn’t it… Surely it couldn’t be a stillbirth…

Roxy stood up, staff in hand. “Healing magic?” she asked.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” said the doctor, and the birth continued. He carried on with the delivery, speaking to Sylphie only when absolutely necessary. As far as I could tell, nothing had gone wrong.

“…Ah, uwaaah.” A baby’s cry broke the restless silence. A strong little voice. It wasn’t a stillbirth. The doctor didn’t say anything, just held the baby up. It looked fine to me. I honestly didn’t think anything was wrong. But the doctor’s face was still tense, and I knew why. I’d know as soon as I saw the baby. Why the doctor had sighed. Why he was so tense. I genuinely didn’t think there was any problem, but I understood why he did.

It was the baby’s hair. When Lucie was born, her wisps of hair had been light brown. When Lara was born, she’d been bald. I wasn’t there when Arus was born, but when I saw him, his hair looked red.

We all stared in silence. There was Sylphie’s second child, with a head of green hair. Yep, just like Sylphie, back in the day.

“No way…” Sylphie had gone pale. “Oh…oh no…it can’t be…”

Roxy, Eris, Aisha, and Lilia were all totally unperturbed. They had no context for why Sylphie was reacting like this. We weren’t lacking for kids with exciting hair colors in this house. Plus, Ruijerd and everyone else around here had green hair. No one would bat an eye at green hair. 

Sylphie, though. Sylphie…was a different story.

“…Congratulations, it’s a boy,” said the doctor as Sylphie stared despairingly at the baby. He held him out to her and she accepted, but she kept glancing around, at a loss for what to do.

“Sylphie,” I said.

I had to celebrate. There was no reason not to. I needed to express my joy and congratulate Sylphie. Then, I had to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. I smiled to give her peace of mind—or as much as she could have at the moment, anyway.

“You’re okay, it’s all okay. Thank you so much,” I began, but before I could get any further, Sylphie replied.

“Rudy… I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for, look—whoa!” As I started again, her batteries seemed to run out and she slumped. Seeing the baby about to slide off the bed, I dived to grab him.

“Huh?” I said stupidly as Roxy and the doctor rushed forward, pushing me aside.

“Rudy! Get out of the way!” Roxy snapped.

Sylphie had passed out. I stared blankly as the two of them checked her vitals.

“She’s only fainted,” the doctor said, and the whole room relaxed. 

I stood there, dazed, with the naked baby in my arms. Aisha came over with a blanket.

“Here, Big Brother, wrap him in this.”

“O-oh, yeah.” I reached out for the blanket as instructed.

Sylphie had been worried. She’d been wrapped up in an indistinct cloud of anxiety. And now, as if to prove her worries right, her baby had green hair. I wasn’t sure if she’d passed out from relief, or from all that stress reaching its peak.

Had I done more to set her mind at ease, maybe we could have avoided this. Maybe she wouldn’t have been worried about the baby having green hair. 

I felt guilty. But I was also overjoyed. Sure, the baby had green hair. But that wasn’t any big deal. Nothing had changed.

Here was my fourth child. And I’d made sure to think of a name.

All of a sudden, I heard Eris’s voice pipe up from a corner of the room.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

She was talking to me—berating me for being so useless. Feeling like I’d been punched in the gut, I turned.

At least, that’s what I thought was happening. I was wrong.

“Huh?” 

She wasn’t talking to me. There was another, shocking presence in the room. He was blond and wore a white fitted jacket, buttoned at the front like a school uniform, and matching trousers. His face was hidden behind a yellow mask designed like the face of a fox.

“Arumanfi…?”

Behind me stood one of the twelve familiars of Armored Dragon King Perugius, Arumanfi the Bright. His eyes were fixed on me. No—they were on the baby. The baby, with its green hair.

Then, he spoke. “Rudeus Greyrat,” he announced. “Lord Perugius summons you to the Floating Fortress.”