Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter 2.3

Rudeus

WHEN I RETURNED from my discussion with Orsted, I found Sylphie’s attitude had changed a bit. She was no more talkative than before, but the light had returned to her eyes. Roxy looked even more determined than usual, so I wondered if she gave Sylphie a pep talk. Man, Roxy was reliable.

I talked a bit with Sylphie, too. I told her Orsted said that Sieg’s health was strong enough to withstand the trip, and that I’d do everything in my power to protect him. I also put in one last apology for forgetting to name him. Her response to that was tepid, so it didn’t seem like she’d forgiven me yet.

I considered telling her that she could rest at home instead of coming along for the trip, but I decided against it. It’d be a huge shock if I had suggested separating mother and child. We’d go on this trip together. She wasn’t fully recovered from giving birth, but I knew it was better this way.

Roxy and Sylphie were traveling to the Divine Continent with us for sure. I figured Eris was a given as well. That left the house with just Aisha, Lilia, Zenith, and the children. Arus and Lara were still small, but they were already a handful.

I unloaded my anxieties about it once I returned home, to which Lilia responded with a heartening, “We’ll be fine.” Aisha was more practical, saying, “We’ll borrow some hands from the Mercenary Band if we need to, so don’t worry about it.” It sounded like they could make it all work, so for now, I relaxed.

We dedicated three days to preparing for the journey.

On the first day, we confirmed our route and schedule with Orsted, learned about the peculiarities of the Divine Continent, put in our orders for equipment, and a few other things. Fortunately, the office was already connected to a series of ancient teleportation circles around the world.

Our plan for the first day was to travel to an ancient circle from the office, soar from the ancient circle to the foot of the Divine Continent, and then scale the cliff face. Once that was cleared, traveling for around a half day to a full day would land us in Aluce.

Aluce was the name of a skyfolk town, with Aluce Hill referring to a hill nearby. After staying a night in the town, we would climb the nearby Aluce Hill and have Sieg receive his baptism. After that, all we’d have to do is set up a teleportation circle somewhere and head home.

At minimum, it’d take three to four days. With some leeway, I’d put it at around six.

Since we’d be climbing to a high altitude, we might need safety gear. The human body wasn’t well adapted to survival in low-oxygen areas. After I brought it up with Orsted, he provided a solution immediately.

Orsted handed me a few necklace-shaped magical implements. Apparently, they’d nullify the harmful effects of thin air. They were originally invented by a race that traversed the miasma-filled valleys of the Demon Continent, so their primary effect was to nullify bodily harm that came from highly toxic areas. It seemed like they’d work for our climb to the Divine Continent as well.

Man, Orsted could really pull anything out of that pocket of his. He might’ve secretly been a robot cat from the 22nd century. Nah, Orsted’s face was too scary for kids’ merch…

Two days before our departure, Lucie became depressed. When I asked her why, she said all her moms were going away and that she already felt lonely.

She hadn’t been getting much attention lately, given Sylphie’s emotional state. I guess this was only natural. I felt guilty over making a child pay the price for her parents’ problems, but parents were human too. We get depressed sometimes.

For the rest of the day, I spent as much time with Lucie as I could afford. She talked about how dealing with the newly born Sieg was a bit tough. I couldn’t tell her to be a big sister and suck it up at her age, and I certainly didn’t want to, but I explained that the other kids would have tough times of their own. I hoped I could count on Lucie’s help when those times came. I also said that if she ever needed help, her dear ol’ dad would do everything he could to provide it.

Lucie pouted at the first half, but she looked like she was fully invested by the end. I’d like to think I reached her.

That evening, I caught Lucie tending to Sieg from the side of the crib he slept in. Considering how often she just stared blankly at him early on, this took me by surprise. I’d figured she must wish he wasn’t here. And yet, she fetched Lilia or Aisha whenever Sieg started crying, and if Lara or Arus got cranky, she’d dash over to comfort them. She’d taken my words to heart.

When I was her age… I mean, my previous life, of course. Back then, I could never have acted the way she was now. I probably made a fuss over how unfair it was that my siblings got all the attention and gave my parents a headache.

Lucie was still young, but she amazed me.

Before I knew it, it was the day of our departure.

Me, Eris, Roxy, Sylphie, and baby Sieg. The four parents of the family would all be on this journey. I was surprised we hadn’t traveled together already. Well, I suppose it wasn’t our first trip; we all went to see Ariel’s coronation together. Anyway, while I knew it was a bit insensitive to Sylphie and Sieg, I felt a little excited.

“Well, we’ll be off, now,” I said.

“Gotcha!”

“Take care, now.”

“Um… See you later.”

Lilia and Aisha nodded as usual. Only Lucie looked the slightest bit reluctant as she held on to Aisha’s hand. She was doing her best to not let that emotion show on her face.

I really ought to spend a bit more time with her once the situation with Geese settled down.

***

A few hours after our departure, we arrived at the Divine Continent’s border. We were on the furthest northeastern edge of the Central Continent.

A vertical precipice that we strained to see the top of towered in front and over us. On either side, the ocean stretched into the distance.

The cliff face was more than simple bare rock. A number of the local inhabitants believed that gods resided within this cliff, so its surface was dotted with ladders and footholds. According to Orsted, a shrine dedicated to the worship of these gods could be found around two hundred meters up.

Further above that, there were stakes driven into the cliff face to assist with climbing. They’d been installed by someone who’d tried to climb the precipice long ago. It wasn’t clear whether he ever made it all the way in one piece, but most opined that he fell without reaching the top.

There was a road on the right. Calling it a road was a bit generous, as it wasn’t much more than the remains of a barely walkable series of footholds…but hey, if someone walked on it, then it counted as a road. It was patchy, but it continued all the way to the Demon Continent. While it was no doubt a harrowing path, it was apparently a safer bet than trying to climb upward. Quite a few people had traversed it from here to the Demon Continent and vice versa.

“That…sure is high!” said Eris as she looked up at the precipice. There was a hint of excitement in her voice; her arms were crossed, as though declaring that this was no obstacle to a first-rate adventurer. She might have had the bravado of a port-town kid trying to live up to his ancestors, but sadly, this was the end of the Central Continent, not the End of the World.

“…”

Sylphie had a look of incredible unease. Given her current mental state and a fear of heights, I couldn’t blame her.

“Um, Rudy?” asked Roxy in a shaky voice as she looked up at the precipice. “How are we going to climb this?”

Her voice seemed to plead for me to have a plan. Which, of course, I did. Come now, would I really go rock climbing with a newborn baby without a plan?

“This way, everyone,” I said, leading the group toward a part of the wall that was relatively bare of footholds. Not that the presence of footholds would make a difference, but I didn’t want to make life harder for any travelers coming after me.

First, I used earth magic to create a box that could hold about four adults with plenty of breathing space. One that was heavy but sturdy. I then added an entrance, as well as some windows to let some light in and let us check our surroundings.

“All aboard.”

Once I confirmed that everyone was inside, I closed the door.

“The heck is this?” asked Eris, who tilted her head and looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Now, now, let the master do his work,” I assured her. I placed a hand on the ground. The spell I’d readied was called Stone Pillar. I formed four pillars, fixed them firmly to the box, and pumped in some mana.

“Eep!”

The box slowly started moving. Upward.

“Oh! Well, this does seem like a safe way to do it.”

I felt a smug grin coming on at Roxy’s praise. This was an original spell of mine, Elevator. I used it once before, back on the Begaritt Continent.

I’d put even more thought into passenger safety since then. The pillars lifting the box up were kept sturdy with plenty of mana, ensuring they wouldn’t break on us. Creating pillars that could withstand the trip to three thousand meters required a massive amount of mana, so I did a baton pass every fifty meters by creating new pillars. I figured we’d be fine, but in case I got tired or ran low on mana on the way up, I could also make a hole in the cliff face and slot the entire box inside it, giving me a way to safely take a breather.

“…”

Sylphie glanced out the window while holding Sieg; a moment later, her face went completely pale. She walked over to me and plopped down by my side. Given how complicated things had gotten in the past few weeks, it warmed my heart to see she still relied on me.

“Man… Talk about boring,” said Eris, who had also sat down—but only because she’d grown bored of the view out the window.

“It’s better this way. We can’t go rock climbing with a baby on board, right?”

“Hmph!”

Eris turned up her nose. I took the fact that she didn’t hit me as a sign that she completely understood. I wouldn’t let myself hurt those two on this journey. Not a scratch. No amount of heroism was gonna make up for forgetting to name Sieg, though.

***

Several hours passed. My plan of swapping out the pillars every fifty meters was making our ascent go without a hitch.

Sylphie kept her eyes on Sieg the whole time. Roxy tried to lighten the mood with a little light conversation. Sylphie wasn’t her usual self, but she managed to respond. It was small talk; Roxy’s grumblings about her work, the latest happenings at school, the last prank Lucie pulled on her, asking about how Arus and Lara were doing. That sort of thing. I would’ve liked to join in, but those pillars weren’t exactly gonna form themselves, so I was stuck with that.

As for Eris, she took position by the window and gazed outside. The scenery was lovely. As the ground steadily slipped away, we got a better view of the flocks of giant creatures flying between the gaps of the clouds. Were those Blue Dragons? I’d never seen Blue Dragons up close…

By the time I replaced the pillars for the twentieth time and put us above the thousand-meter mark, avian monsters started to come into view. They were giant birds—probably around three meters long, with a wingspan exceeding six meters. They were also flying around our box and squawking at us. Their flock circled us, perched above us, pecked at the walls. Generally harassed us. Hard to tell if they were scared of this new object, or territorial and trying to destroy it.

Our box was built to be incredibly tough. It wouldn’t break from a few monsters’ pokes. It did sway a little, though. Each time it did, the color drained from Sylphie’s face, Sieg would start crying, and Roxy would reassure them that everything was fine and that we wouldn’t fall. Not that Roxy knew enough to make that promise.

I knew we wouldn’t fall. If I ever thought we might, I’d have fixed the box to the cliff face and exterminated those monsters. With no reason to think they were a threat, I continued our ascent. The monsters managed to jam their necks through the window every now and then, but Eris would quickly lop them off, and that was the end of that. The soil of the box started to become stained with their blood, but hey, it wasn’t like we’d spent all our lives in the lap of luxury, you know? We weren’t sheltered and could all stand a bit of gore. Nobody complained.

After a while, I slotted the box into the cliff face, rinsed the walls off with a bit of water, and took a break. My somewhat late lunch came in a box that Lilia and Aisha had prepared as we departed. It was a sandwich. Two hardened slices of bread with some meat and vegetables stuck in the middle. It had a simple taste to it, not far off from my usual fare, but having a bite while looking over the vast scenery outside wasn’t half bad.

“It’s nice to chill out like this every now and then,” said Eris. She was gazing out the window while chomping on her sandwich sloppily enough to get crumbs everywhere.

“Really, Eris. Mind your manners,” chided Sylphie.

“Yeah, I get it,” said Eris, who clearly did not get it. It’d been a long time since I’d seen this particular fight.

“Hey widdle Sieg, it’s Daddyyy. Time to get you in the bath, champ!”

I was looking after Sieg while Sylphie ate. I changed his diaper and then made a little tub with earth magic to bathe him in.

This close, his hair really was green, and his ears were maybe just a bit longer than a human’s. His face was the perfect average of mine and Sylphie’s. Naturally. I would’ve been worried if he didn’t have any of my features.

He laughed when I brought my face in close and played peekaboo, and stared off into space when I moved away. When I picked him up, he’d stare deep into my face.

When Lucie was born, she looked incredulous at every movement she made, which made me worry that she might have been a reincarnation. I was on my fourth child now, so I’d stopped having those sorts of doubts. No matter how many children I had, I knew I’d love all of them.

When I offered my index finger to Sieg, he gripped it tight. He was pretty strong. Babies are born pretty strong, huh?

The moment after that thought crossed my mind…

“Owwwchgggh!”

I heard a snap accompanied by a sudden rush of pain. My instincts told me to yank my hand away from Sieg, but I took a breath, and then calmly used my left hand to peel Sieg’s hand off of my finger.

When I took a look at the index finger that the pain was coming from…

“No way…”

It was broken. Come on, seriously?

“Sieg?” shouted Sylphie as she sprang over in the next instant. When she saw my finger, her eyes widened. “Huh? Rudy, your finger…”

“Yep. It’s broken.”

“…”

Sylphie was at a loss for words. Eventually, she lifted her hands to mine and wrapped them around my index finger. A faint light glowed from within her cupped hands and the pain disappeared.

A silently cast healing spell. Bravo.

“Thank you, Sylphie.”

“Don’t mention it…”

“He’s a strong one.”

“Yeah. He got me, too.”

With that, Sylphie showed me her wrist. There was a vivid hand-shaped scar on it.

Hmm. Did this boy strangle any serpents while we weren’t looking? I was pretty sure that he hadn’t left our sight over the past month.

“If he’s this strong as a kid, then he’s got a bright future as a swordsman.”

He might even set out to slay a hydra or something… Wait, did his dad die in that story? I’d be another Paul.

“You never know,” Sylphie chuckled. “After seeing Zanoba, I feel like it’s not a guarantee…”

Despite Zanoba being a little wild when he was young, he grew up to have a perfectly healthy obsession with dolls. That’s probably what Sylphie was referring to. She might not have known, however, that he was a capable man on the battlefield. In raw force, sure, but also in courage and cunning.

“I can teach him to use a sword!” Eris chimed in, having finished wolfing her sandwich down.

There was once a time where I doubted if Eris could possibly be a teacher. I couldn’t deny that Norn and the other University of Magic students were learning plenty about swordsmanship from her. I wouldn’t refer to the things she taught as “classes,” but from what I heard, the expertise she passed on was valuable. 

Still, compared to Ruijerd’s “Do you understand?” or Paul’s onomatopoeic grunts, she was leagues more helpful. I’d say her teaching style was close to Ghislaine’s. Common sense.

Eris considered it her duty to teach swordsmanship to the children, so she even prepared kid-sized wooden swords for them. Lucie was already swinging a sword under her tutelage. My kids were getting their extracurricular education in early.

“Looks like our children will all know how to handle both swords and sorcery,” said Roxy, who planned to teach them magic. Lucie had started practicing spell incantations little by little. When it came to learning magic, the sooner you started, the better. Kids that age had more mana than they knew what to do with.

We wouldn’t have any problems if I left the magic education to Roxy. The whole brood was bound to be Saint-tier magicians by the time they were adults.

“I can’t wait to see how everyone grows up,” I said to Sylphie. She broke out into a smile and agreed. It was a relief to see a smile on her face after so long.

***

We resumed our long ascent.

We stopped seeing the avian monsters at around two thousand meters. In their place, we saw monsters that looked like winged goats and snake-necked lizards. The lizards lived in the crevices of the cliff face. They popped their heads in through the window that faced the cliff and startled us all. Their long necks allowed them to maneuver their heads with an alarming precision, and they were coming for us. Or they would have been, had we not separated their heads from their bodies in five seconds flat.

They must have evolved necks like that to drag prey into the crevices of the precipice. Excluding those guys, our trip was uneventful. We bagged one of the goats for dinner and ignored the rest as we continued our climb.

***

I had now swapped the pillars over sixty times.

The world outside was blanketed in a thick fog. We had to be poking into the clouds by now.

It was already night. Our box was illuminated by my lamplight spirit, but I was fatigued, and conflicted as to whether I should stop for a nap or if I should continue climbing. Given our elevation, we should be close to our destination…

As that thought crossed my mind, the fog happened to clear, and with it, the view outside the window. Not just the one facing away from the precipice, but the one facing toward it, as well.

I stopped raising the pillars. Outside, a grassy field shimmered in the moonlight.

It was the Divine Continent.