Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 23 - Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4:

Christening

THE NEXT MORNING, the villagers happily guided us as we departed the village. For some reason, they gave us a set of packed meals for everyone, some bundles of leaves that may have been medicine, and a carved wooden charm figure.

Though I call it a figure, it was nothing complex—just a simple wooden stick with plumage (I think from a skyfolk) stuck to it. Maybe it was the idol of this land’s god, passed down throughout the ages. Like the Sky God. While it may have been simply crafted, its sheer pricelessness would have made Zanoba weep with joy.

“Thank you very much.”

I said my thanks, and while my words weren’t understood, my gratitude appeared to be. They responded to my parting words by folding up their wings and crossing their fists in front of their chests.

Aluce Hill was a tranquil place. The breeze billowing down its gentle incline was chilly, but the weather was clear, and its slope was decorated with a garden of white flowers. Sieg was sleeping soundly, thanks to all, and the rest of us had to fight off a wave of drowsiness ourselves.

“Fwah… Oh, right.”

All of us suddenly getting sleepy despite just waking from a good night’s rest couldn’t have been a coincidence. I gave everyone a Qikara Fruit that I’d prepared beforehand.

I took another look at the garden of white flowers on the slope. The pollen released by those ferocious flowers had a strong soporific effect.

When squinting even further, I could see a single creature lying in wait, camouflaged against the garden. It was a monster called the Heaven’s Glider. It hid among the sleep-inducing white flowers and attacked anyone who fell asleep after venturing too close. It was rather small compared to other monsters, only about two meters long. It looked like a furry lizard. Its forearms were webbed like a bat’s, and its tail had a venomous stinger. It was a more cautious monster than others and was known for never daring to move against prey that wasn’t asleep.

Yeah, you could call it a coward. Sieg was sound asleep, but the Heaven’s Glider didn’t attack. It let us pass.

The sedative effect of the white flowers lasted for about one hour. According to Orsted, you’d never wake up from falling asleep in the garden, but the effects didn’t last long if you got away from them quickly.

Still, Sieg was only a month old. Once we were far enough away, I cast an antidote spell on him for good measure. The Qikara Fruits had a strong stimulant effect, but giving that to an infant sounded dangerous.

“…!”

After a bit more walking, Eris gave us a signal, and we all crouched in response.

Atop the hill, there was a giant bird. I could have mistaken the sight of it stomping about on its two legs for a dinosaur had it not been for the feathers. It must have been around ten meters tall. Enormous.

“That’s a big one…”

“I think that was called…Gigantic Jaw, if I’m not mistaken.”

This was the strongest monster on this hill. In terms of rank, it’d be about an A. The residents of the Divine Continent feared encountering this monster. If it appeared near a town, they’d have to send all hands out to fend it off, or in the case of a smaller village, potentially evacuate the entire population. Travelers were even given charms imbued with the sole prayer of not running across this thing…

Oh. So that’s what the charm was for.

“Oh, Rudy, look.”

At Sylphie’s suggestion, I looked past the monster to see what appeared to be a stone shrine. Our destination, I assumed.

“What should we do? Fight it?”

Good question. For now, the monster hadn’t spotted us, so sneaking past was still an option…but I had a hunch that this was its territory, given that it showed no signs of leaving. A-rank monsters included ones that could reflexively dodge my Stone Cannon, so it wouldn’t be a pushover in a fight.

I glanced at Eris and nodded. She looked like she heard me loud and clear, even though I still hadn’t said a word. Guess we were taking it down. We still hadn’t done anything trial-worthy up here, and I got the feeling we’d get a failing grade if we avoided it.

“Eris will draw its attention, I’ll bind its feet, and once I do, Sylphie and Roxy will attack it together. I don’t know if we can take it down in one hit, so aim for the wings first. If it looks like we can finish it off at that point, Eris will strike the final blow. If it looks like it can escape my Quagmire, Eris will buy some time while I finish it off. Okay?”

“Got it!” Eris confirmed as she leapt into the fray. She was like a dog who was sick of being told to stay put.

I turned my eyes to the other two. Roxy and Sylphie both ran to take positions where they could support Eris from either flank. I’d almost forgotten—Sylphie was fast. I doubted she was fully recovered from giving birth…maybe that sort of recovery was something that healing magic could speed along.

Wait, the monster already noticed Eris.

“Gaaaaaaaaah!”

“Goooooouuuwrhhh!!!”

The monster met Eris’s roar with its own. Its bellowing threatened to rupture a nearby listener’s eardrums, but Eris showed no fear. She would not be stopped. She charged for the monster barreling toward her, then halted for an instant. She’d sidestepped.

The next moment, the monster’s beak was digging into the soil that she was standing on seconds before. It spread its wings and kicked off the ground to charge at an incredible speed.

Eris struck back as she dodged, and a spray of blood suddenly launched from the monster’s maw. It’d noticed her, so that failed to serve as a killing blow. There was another reason it hadn’t done the trick: the monster was simply too big, and its neck too high up. We’d have to stick to the plan and drag it down so we could beat the crap out of it.

“Quagmire.”

The monster swung around to face Eris, and while it lowered its body to charge, a quagmire formed around its feet. They sank beneath the soil in an instant. It tried to flap its wings to escape. However…

“Majestic blade of ice, I summon thee to strike my enemy down! Icicle Break!”

“Sonic Blast!”

The spells from the other two shot forth and crushed the beast’s flailing wings. The monster thrashed about, even with its only means of survival now smashed. The final thing to flash before the creature’s eyes was a single swordswoman—a red-haired warrior who swung her blade high above her head.

“Hmph!”

With one terse breath, she struck. The Sword of Light. The hidden technique of the Sword God Style. Created to defeat not just humans, but any living being in a single blow. This slash was an instant kill in every sense of the word.

There was no sound. Eris’s blade simply cleaved the monster’s head in two, straight down the middle. The monster’s eyes rolled back in its head as its body twitched. It didn’t stop moving. Its body spasmed, its neck twisted every which way like a hose spewing far too much water for it to handle. It mindlessly lashed out at everything within reach.

One hit would have normally done the trick, but monsters start posing problems once they reach a certain size…

“Stone Cannon.”

My Stone Cannon spell slammed into the monster’s cranium. The attack wedged itself into the wound Eris opened, shredding the monster’s brain before exiting through the back of its skull. Bone and gray matter spewed behind the monster with a resounding splat. The monster fell lifelessly, as though the strings pulling it had suddenly been cut. Its neck dropped into the quagmire with a thud.

“…”

Eris watched with caution for a bit, but after deciding the battle was over, she turned to me and started waving. Roxy lifted her staff to signal that she was okay as well. Sylphie was looking toward the monster with great interest, as though she’d never seen one so enormous in her life.

All right, that went well. We ganged up on it and emerged without a scratch. Things sure hadn’t gone this smoothly back when I was traveling through the Demon Continent. Eris and I had grown stronger.

“Mmahhh, waaaah!”

Oops. Sieg woke up from his sleep and he started fussing around on my back. Aww, poor baby. Are you hungry? Or do you not like being on your daddy’s back? Are you cold? If you are, sorry. We’ll be back home safe and sound soon enough.

“Oooh…”

Just then, I realized. That the look on my face had changed dramatically. My wives could tell as they approached me, too. I gritted my teeth as I spaced out in horror, my gaze fixed on the defeated monster. It was lying in the quagmire, lifeless.

“Oh!”

Sylphie noticed it. The problem wasn’t the monster. It was something at my feet. There…yes, a steaming puddle had formed. That steam was wafting from my back as well. Curiously warm.

“Welp. Looks he got ya,” Roxy said, lightening the mood. Yes, she was right; Sieg got me. All over my back, in fact.

“Heh, to think, my own…son…right in the back. I let down…my guard… Sylphie… When you get home, tell Lucy and the others that I love them… I wanted to see them all grow up… But now, they’ll have to look out for each other as siblings to live on… Their old man will be having a cup of tea with Grandpa by the pearly gates…”

“Rudy, quit being dramatic. Let Sieg down and take off your robe and Magic Armor already! We’ve gotta wash them before the odor sticks!”

“Okay, fiiine.” I didn’t get to finish my monologue.

The shrine was right in front of us. We’d arrived at our destination.

***

It looked to be a bit small to call a shrine. It was about one meter tall and two meters wide. Its stone double doors were half-ajar, wide enough to just barely let a single person through. On the door was an emblem I was familiar with. Yes, that same emblem that I’d been wearing as of late, the one that looked like a dragon from a distance.

The emblem of the dragonfolk.

These were dragonfolk ruins.

I could see some sort of altar beside the ruins, but it was run-down and covered in moss. Perhaps this was some sort of magical implement? Something to hide the ruins from view. Compared to the ancient teleportation circles I’d grown accustomed to seeing, this one had a different air about it. People long ago must have made pilgrimages here.

The altar wasn’t the only difference here. Some details about the shrine itself differed from the ruins that housed those circles. The ancient teleportation circles that I knew were single-story buildings with a basement. From what I could tell through the half-ajar doorway, this shrine had stairs. Stairs that descended into darkness. When I tried knocking on the door with my gauntlet, the sound echoed for quite a while. It must go deep into the earth.

Hmm… I know I was told to get a baptism here…but did a place like this really have anyone living inside? There had been a monster waltzing around right its doorstop, one that the locals dreaded handling.

“Anybody home?” I called out, to no reply. I turned around and gave the others a confused look, as though to suggest that we might have taken a wrong turn. All I got in return was Eris’s curt command: “Get in there already.”

Well, guess I’d peek inside. If we found the wrong place, we could always keep looking.

“Pardon me…” Just in case, I made my entrance known before setting foot inside.

I took out a lantern spirit scroll that I had equipped to a socket of my Magic Armor and illuminated our descent. The stairwell had built up a thin layer of dust, making me wonder if it’d seen much use lately. I also had to wonder if someone was regularly cleaning it, as I found no moss growing anywhere. It might not have been homey, but it still had subtle signs of human life.

One step at a time, slowly but surely, I descended the stairwell. Right behind me were Eris, Roxy, and Sylphie. I was still carrying Sieg on my back, so it might have been best to let Eris take the lead…

Before I finished that thought, the staircase came to an end. There was yet another half-cracked door before me. Once again, it was only wide enough to let a single person through. This time, though, a faint light leaked through. Was there someone inside? Or was there a monster that used light to lure in its prey?

I was getting a little nervous…but I’d have to handle it.

“I’ll scout ahead,” I declared as I gave Sieg to Sylphie.

“I’ll go with you,” said Eris.

I nodded. The two of us slipped through the door into a large, wide-open space. It was almost like a plaza, supported by a handful of thick pillars.

I got a strange feeling, like I was walking into a sacred place. A second feeling, more like a hunch really: this place looked less like the previous dragonfolk ruins I’d seen and more like Perugius’s floating fortress. The thickness and placement of the pillars seemed especially similar to the floating fortress’s audience chamber. This place really must’ve drawn inspiration from Perugius.

Candlestands adorned the walls, dim in the room’s vastness. They weren’t alone; at the opposite end of the room was some sort of fountain, and it cast a pale blue light that illuminated the entire place.

If we approached, would a monster come out and attack us? Or would we inspect it to find that our HP and MP had been restored? Whichever was the case, a pathway that passed the fountain led even further into the shrine.

I didn’t sense any danger in this room, so I decided to call Sylphie and Roxy inside…but just as I thought to do that, I heard a tapping sound.

Footsteps. Multiple sets of feet. They sounded like they came from that pathway next to the fountain.

I took a stance to protect the door behind me. Eris followed by taking a step forward and readying her blade. I really did hope that those footsteps belonged to people who could be reasoned with…but if they looked like trouble, a temporary retreat was always an option.

The owners of the footsteps revealed themselves. One look told me that these guys were trouble. It also told me that they might be reasoned with.

Across from us was a group of three people in masks. Sylvaril, Arumanfi, and Nanahoshi.

“You arrived rather quickly, Rudeus Greyrat.”

And then…Perugius appeared.

“I heard that a Gigantic Jaw was roaming the area…but I should have known that it would hardly be much of a trial to you.”

Was I on a hidden camera or something? I came here assuming it was a trial, but the guy who told me to do it showed up at the finish line. Was someone going to point to a corner and tell me to smile?

“So… Um?”

“What are you dawdling for? Bring your baby inside already.”

Despite my confusion, Perugius commanded me as though this was no surprise. He stood waiting by the side of the fountain.

What was going on? For now, at least, it didn’t seem like we’d be getting into a fight. Nanahoshi was here, as though she were one of Perugius’s familiars, but he wouldn’t have brought her along if he planned to fight.

Or wait, did I have that backward? Could he have brought Nanahoshi because he intended to fight? Maybe because I wouldn’t want her to get hurt? No, that would be ridiculous. This was the great Lord Perugius. He wouldn’t stoop to such a cowardly trick, right? Right?

I decided I might as well allow Sylphie and Roxy inside. The moment Roxy entered, Perugius furrowed his brow for a moment.

“Lord Perugius, a demon…”

Sylvaril’s tone was disapproving. This was something I’d hoped she could overlook. This wasn’t the floating fortress, after all.

“Hmph, very well.”

Such a magnanimous monarch. A real magmo.

Anyway.

The fountain looked just large enough for a grown adult to bathe in. Actually, after getting right up on it, I saw that it was less a fountain and more of an oval-shaped stone bathtub. A magic circle had been carved into the bottom of the tub, and that was the source of this fountain’s light. The light diffused through the water, lending the entire room an eerie glow. It had the surreal beauty of a nighttime pool, but it was clear that this pool was some sort of magical implement.

Or maybe not quite. This magical implement appeared to be incomplete. There were some more magic circles carved into stones within the tub, but those weren’t lit up. There were also a few recessions around the tub that seemed designed to hold something, but nothing occupied them. It was probably missing a few parts.

“What…is this?”

“This is the baptismal font,” Sylvaril answered.

I see—the fountain for baptizing.

Just then, Sylvaril strode up to Sylphie.

“The baby,” Sylvaril curtly commanded as she offered both hands to Sylphie.

A shiver ran through Sylphie’s body. She looked back and forth between Sylvaril’s hands and me.

“What, is Lord Perugius gonna baptize my son himself?” I asked half-jokingly.

“Yes,” she shot back. “Is that a problem?”

“Oh, not at all! Perish the thought.”

Did that mean Perugius had us come all the way here, beat us, and then made a grand entrance…just so he could perform a baptism?

Well, he had no other backup here. If Perugius wanted to do anything to Sieg, it would have been easier to get away with it back in the flying fortress. I didn’t think he’d choose to strangle him or drown him. Then again, taking me on in the flying fortress would have broken some furniture. so it was possible that he lured me to the Divine Continent so we could metaphorically take this outside…

No. Perugius had done so much for me until now. I had to trust him here.

“Sylphie.”

I gave her a look. Sylphie gasped for a moment, but she soon took a deep, determined breath and handed Sieg to Sylvaril.

Sylvaril gently wrapped Sieg in her arms and wings, walked toward Perugius, and took a knee. She reverently offered Sieg to Perugius. Perugius settled down on the altar, then looked closely at the baby before him.

“Hmm… Green hair, slightly pointed ears. Eyes like a piercing flash of light, yet he appears gentle overall. A good kid.”

I mean, I agreed…but I was getting nervous. Could this baptism show that Sieg was really Laplace, and then get him killed on the spot? It wasn’t like I didn’t trust him, but oooh, this was scary… I couldn’t bear to watch. I had to peer at it through my Demon Eye of Foresight.

In the vision my Demon Eye showed me, Perugius scoops some water with one hand. A second later, that came to pass. Perugius lifted the water between tightly cupped hands. He proceeded to cross his arms, push his fists into his shoulders, and hold that pose in silence for a few seconds. Then, slowly, he opened his hands and brushed Sieg’s cheek.

“In the name of the Dragon King Perugius, I grant my blessings to this baby, this egg of mankind. By my hand, I baptize thee, and in my name, I christen thee. So that this child may break out of his shell and grow strong, wise, and gentle, I bestow upon him the name…Saladin.”

Perugius’s hand—or rather, the water than Perugius’s hand was drenched in—glowed a faint yellow. The water continued to glow for some time. Once Perugius saw that the light had faded, he lifted the baby up and handed him back to Sylvaril.

The kneeling Sylvaril reverently accepted him and carried him gently as she stood. Slowly, Sylvaril returned to Sylphie and offered her the baby. Sylphie looked a bit dazed as she accepted Sieg into her arms.

I tried peering into Sieg’s face, but he didn’t seem any different. He looked at Sylphie and me with a blank expression, just like a month-old baby normally would. His hair was still green, too. What just happened?

“So… Um?”

“Hmph.”

Perugius rose with a grunt and casually walked toward me. He uttered something right to my face that shook me to my core.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into your head, but I’ve long known that that baby isn’t Laplace.”

It took me five full seconds to understand the words that came out of his mouth.

“Uh… Y-you have?”

“Arumanfi is my eyes. I would never mistake the sight of Laplace. The hue of green in his hair is entirely different. His eye color differs, too. His mana fails to impress. And he lacks that abominable curse, that which makes one shudder from the bottom of their heart.”

Did that mean…Perugius knew from the moment Sieg was born that he wasn’t Laplace?

“You seemed to pay it too much heed, so I called you to this shrine. This water is made to change color if certain people make contact with it. If that person had been Laplace, it would have glowed red.”

“But it changed to yellow, right?”

“He’s no Blessed Child, but the Laplace Factor he carries is strong. Have you not noticed his vigor or his unusual strength?”

“I have.”

Huh, I did think it was strange how strong he was. That explained it. And hey, good health is hardly a bad thing.

Still, he wasn’t Laplace. What a relief… But wait.

“Doesn’t that mean you had Arumanfi crash Sieg’s birth for absolutely no reason?”

“For that, I apologize. Though by coincidence, it appears I summoned you at a poor time. Though it would have been an excellent time if your child really had been Laplace.”

Uhhh. Really wish you could’ve mentioned that earlier. Seriously, what the heck?

“So, what did we come all this way for…?”

“For the baptism. Long ago, Asura Kingdom had a tradition in which the person tasked with granting a child their name would give that child a baptism and christening in the land of their birth. In addition, the parents would journey with their newborn to that land…though it’s a long-forgotten tradition by now.”

“Uh… Granting their name?”

“Don’t give me that dumbstruck look. You once promised me, did you not? That you would bring your son for me to name. You may henceforth call this child Saladin.”

I did?

Actually, wait, I got the feeling that I might have. When he told me to bring him, I think something to that effect did indeed get said by…someone. Me, maybe. I meant it as a joke, though…

“But, um, this child…”

“No need to thank me,” Perugius declared as he stood up. “It is but a small gift that I grant you.”

But, uh, this kid kind of already had a perfectly good name. Sieghart. Uh… I was at a loss. Talk about an offer I couldn’t refuse.

Oh, well. Sieghart Saladin Greyrat, then. It kinda rolled off the tongue. Sounded tough, too. Knowing the name came from Perugius himself gave it a real punch. Yep, not bad. About as not bad as not bad got. That was about how I felt about it.

Sieg gained a new name, and our baptism journey came to an end.

***

Well…not quite.

We returned to the floating fortress via teleportation magic. Just when we felt like we could finally relax and go home, Perugius commanded us to come to the throne room one last time.

Roxy wasn’t permitted due to being a demon, so she went home early. I considered sending Sylphie home as well, but she apparently had other ideas, so she stuck with me. Eris stood behind me with her arms crossed. She’d be there no matter what.

We stood before the twelve spirits and Perugius.

“I believe we’ve gotten sidetracked enough. Let us broach the real issue,” Perugius spoke while seated imperiously in the throne of the floating fortress.

Real issue? We had a real issue?

Ah, I see. Perugius must have had business beyond just my kid. Guess he wanted something else.

“Rudeus Greyrat.”

He looked down on me with a stern glare, completely unlike what he’d shown before. What was the deal? What’d I do?

“I hear you’ve formed an alliance with Atofe.”

Oh, that… Yeah, Perugius wasn’t on great terms with Atofe. Maybe I should’ve given him a heads-up before asking her.

“Regardless of the forthcoming battle with Laplace, why would you speak to a woman such as her without so much as consulting me?”

“Well, you see, uh—”

“But that, I shall let pass. I can stomach the indignation in light of the determination you showed earlier. It is water under the bridge. After all, I always intended to fight Laplace on my own.”

So, we’re cool?

“There is one more matter.”

Perugius signaled something with a jerk of his chin, and a single girl stepped forward. She was a girl of about sixteen in a white mask. She was a girl who, as time passed, didn’t age. She now looked younger than both Sylphie and me.

Nanahoshi Shizuka. The girl among twelve vassals stepped forward and removed her mask. Then, with a conflicted expression, said, “I completed the magic circle to return home.”

“I see. Finally, huh?”

The response came from Orsted behind me, who seemed to materialize from nowhere. Nanahoshi looked at Orsted as she clenched a fist in front of her chest.

“Yes. Orsted. After all this time… Though it might not be perfect.”

“Well done.”

Orsted spoke warmly. They were just a couple of short words, but their brevity emphasized how they clearly came from his heart.

“Yeah… Yeah!”

Nanahoshi’s voice wavered. Her face screwed up to stop the tears that were on the verge of flowing; she looked up ever so slightly to hold them back. Heck, she almost had me crying, too.

The home teleportation circle. The thing that Nanahoshi had dreamed of for all this time.

Returning home was the one thing she strove for. She was immensely homesick. She’d gone from an idea to a theory, to failure, and then yet another idea. Once she finally had the theory nailed, she had to make the technology a reality, sharpening her engineering skills with experiment after experiment.

It was nearing five years since she first began her apprenticeship under Perugius. A long time, indeed. And now, she finally completed it…

“Rudeus, I’m sorry to bug you when you’ve got so much on your plate,” Nanahoshi said.

“Oh, no. If anything, I should apologize for making you wait all that time…”

So, Nanahoshi was the one who called me here? And she waited this whole time without a single gripe? Even though she’d just finished her life’s work?

“It’s fine. Also, um, congrats. On the baby.”

“Thank you very much.”

“I was kinda surprised, actually. Guess you had a lot of stuff to consider…”

“Consider,” huh…? I wasn’t so sure I was the considering type. Not much that ran through my head qualified as a thought.

“I’m gonna need a bunch of mana for the final experiment. I know you have plenty of stuff to do, but would you please lend a hand?”

With that, Nanahoshi bowed to me. There was a fire in her eyes; she knew that this was the last step, that the goal was within reach.

“Of course.”

“This might take a month or two. Is that all right?”

“It…should be.”

A month, huh? I had reasons to refuse, but not a right to. I wanted to ask if it could wait until we defeated Geese, but I wasn’t enough of a jerk to say that out loud. Nanahoshi had waited long enough.

“Thank you so much,” Nanahoshi said, bowing yet again.

Just then, she happened to look Sylphie’s way. The mother whose face was still clouded with unease. Nanahoshi hopped over to her and whispered something in her ear. A jolt ran through Sylphie’s body, after which she turned to Nanahoshi with a stunned look on her face. Nanahoshi nodded. Sylphie glanced at me and then nodded back.

“All right then, let’s move to the teleportation circle.”

I had no idea what they’d discussed, but Nanahoshi declared that we were moving on.