Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Missed Connections, the Prequel 

The next day, I went out and loaded my arms with food from one of the stalls before wandering the back alleys for a bit. The food was all roasted and skewered. There were some scallops similar to the ones we had in Japan, a fish similar to horse mackerel, and a few other sea creatures I couldn’t identify. The stall owner didn’t clarify what his wares were, and the street stalls had a variety of them. So I decided to buy whatever was easiest to carry. 

I overthought things the last time the Man-God gave me advice. Just as an amateur cook adds too many ingredients to a dish, overthinking had landed me in a figurative shit pile. This time I was going to follow his advice exactly. I would brainlessly heed his instructions, buy the food he told me to, then just as brainlessly navigate my way through whatever event was going to happen in the back alley. This was roleplaying. Whatever occurred from here on would be completely unplanned. I wouldn’t overthink anything; I would act as simple-mindedly as possible. That jerk liked entertainment. He was counting on me to overthink things again. As long as I didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be entertained. 

Those thoughts preoccupied me as I wandered aimlessly for several minutes before suddenly realizing something. “Wait, this is exactly what he’s expecting, isn’t it?” 

I’d been deceived! He led me on with his impressive smooth talk and now I was about to do exactly what he wanted me to do. When I realized that, it pissed me off. I was dancing right in the palm of his hand. 

Remember his original intention, I told myself. Remember how you felt the first time you met. The Man-God wasn’t someone I could trust. 

All right then, this would be the last time I did as he told me. I would follow his advice and see how things turned out this time, but there was no way I would obey him next time. There was no way I was going to become his puppet and let him string me along! Period! 

*** 

I marched down the alleyway. By myself, of course. 

Why did I have to be alone, anyway? That was the key part of his advice this time. It must be something that Ruijerd and Eris wouldn’t approve of. No, don’t overthink it, I told myself. If you want to think about something, then just think about how happy you’ll be if it turns out to be something sexy. 

I had told Ruijerd and Eris that I would be off on my own for the day. It was dangerous to leave Eris to her own devices, so I entrusted Ruijerd with her protection. Maybe the two of them were off to see the beach right now. 

“Wait…isn’t that a date?” In my mind I saw the two of them together on the beach just before their silhouettes disappeared behind the shade of a large rock. 

No, no, no! There’s no freakin’ way! J-just, just calm down, okay? This is Eris and Ruijerd we’re talking about, right? This isn’t some kind of sexual fantasy. It’s nothing more than babysitting. Baby. Sitting! 

Ah! But Ruijerd was really strong after all, and Eris seemed to respect him a lot! Lately she had been treating me like nothing more than a Kennel Master. 

No, no, what the hell are you panicking over? I berated myself. Deep breaths, everything is okay. Mister Ruijerd, you wouldn’t steal her away from me, right? I have nothing to worry about, right? When I go back the two of you won’t have mysteriously gotten closer to one another right? I-I trust you guys, okay?! 

In my head I simulated a fight between Ruijerd and myself. There was no way I could win in close-range combat. If I wanted to deal with him, I needed to start somewhere outside of his range of detection. Then I would have to use water to finish him off. He got in the way of our seaside fun, after all. I would attack him with water as retribution for that. If I produced a massive amount of water, I could sweep him all the way into the ocean. The end! He could drift at sea until he drowned. Mwahaha! 

Wait, don’t misunderstand me. I did trust Ruijerd. It was just that, well, you know that saying. Love is a battlefield, right? 

*** 

It was quiet in the back alleys. Even the words “back alley” conjured the negative image of a bunch of unscrupulous characters gathering in one place. In reality, tender and innocent boys like me were liable to get kidnapped for walking around a place like this. In this world, kidnapping was one of the most common forms of crime for earning money. Of course, if anyone was stupid enough to kidnap me, I would crush their arms and legs to torture their address out of them, then I would take everything of value in their homes before finally turning them in to the authorities. 

“Heh heh heh. Little girl, if you come with me I’ll give you enough food to fill you up.” 

As in on cue, a voice came filtering through one of the alleyways. I quickly peeked in its direction and spotted a shady-looking man pulling at the hand of a girl who was slumped against the side of a building. 

It was easy to deduce what was going on. The one who moves first wins, however, so I readied my staff. Then I created a modified stone cannon with the speed and power of a boxer’s jab and aimed it at the man’s back. I had gotten good at limiting the power of my spells this past year. 

“Yowch!!” 

When he looked over his shoulder, I fired off another round. This time I strengthened it a bit. 

“Gah!” 

The spell rammed into his face with a violent thud, where it fragmented and crumbled to the ground. The man staggered and stumbled before collapsing. I was sure he wasn’t dead. I had done a good job of restricting my power. 

“Are you okay, young lady?” I tried to look as cool and collected as possible as I reached out to the girl who had almost been kidnapped. 

“Y-yeah…” She was young and clad in a revealing black leather outfit: knee-high boots, hot pants, and a tube top. The pale skin of her clavicle, slender waist, belly button and thighs were all exposed. On top of all that, she had horns like a goat and voluminous, wavy purple hair. 

With just one look I knew: She was a succubus. A young one at that. There was no question that she was younger than me. Perhaps this was the Man-God’s way of rewarding me for my hard work. Maybe he had some sense in him after all. 

No, wait, this wasn’t a succubus. As far as I knew, there were no succubi among the demon races. If I remembered correctly, succubi inhabited the Begaritt Continent. Paul had had an unusually tense look on his face when he told me, “Our race has no chance against them.” Even I would surely be powerless in the face of a succubus if I actually met one. Succubi were the natural enemy of the Greyrat family. 

That aside, there were no monsters within the city. In other words, she was no succubus. She was just some demon kid in skimpy clothing. 

“Y-you…you there, what have you…?” She was trembling like a fawn. “Th-this man is… He’s…!” She had a look of utter disbelief on her face. A look of oh gosh golly mister, what have you done?! 

“Ah, sorry. Did you know him?” I asked, tilting my head. The look on that middle-aged man’s face didn’t give me the impression that he was acquainted with this kid. If I were to describe it, it was more like the look of a man past his prime getting aroused by a little girl. Look at him, ruddy face contorted into a smile even though he was unconscious. I had no doubt he’d take her home and provide a lavish meal and put her in bed, but in return he’d expect a long, hot night. 

“My belly aches from the hunger…and this man was going to provide me with a meal.” A noisy, gurgling rumble punctuated her sentence, loud enough that it could have been the foreshadowing of an earthquake. When the noise stopped, the girl’s knees gave out from beneath her and she crumpled. 

“A-are you okay?” I knelt down and lifted her into my arms. She wasn’t getting away. Don’t get me wrong, though, the only reason I was there was to follow the Man-God’s advice and save her. I wasn’t of the same ilk as that pervert from a moment ago. 

“Guh…urgh…it’s been three hundred years since I revived. Passing out in a place like this is inconceivable. Laplace can never know about this.” 

It felt like I’d stumbled onto the set of some mini-drama. Was this getup actually a cosplay or something? 

“A-anyway, eat this and get some of your strength back.” I crammed three of the fried skewers I’d bought into her mouth. 

Munch, munch. The moment they entered her mouth, her eyes snapped open and stayed that way as she devoured the meat in seconds. Then she snatched the other skewers from me. I had a total of twelve, but in a snap of the fingers she had already eaten ten of them. 

“Wh-whoa! Delicious! The first thing I’ve had in a year and it’s so tasty!” The girl seemed to have recovered. She leaped into the air from her prone position, making a single rotation before landing on her feet. She was unexpectedly fit. 

“A year? I don’t know what your circumstances are, but that’s a bit extreme.” It wasn’t as if she were a giant isopod that could live years without eating and not starve to death. 

“Hm? Well, it’s not like I counted the rise and fall of the sun, but with how empty my stomach was, it should be a close estimate.” 

Uh-huh. So she probably hadn’t eaten in two days, then. 

“Regardless, you saved me! You! I can surely last another year on this!” The young girl finally met my gaze. She had mismatched eyes, one purple and one green. This had to be another aspect of her cosplay. No, colored contacts didn’t exist in this world, so maybe that was her natural eye color. 

“Oh?” Her right eye spun around and turned blue. G-gross! “Whoa! Whoa! What’s wrong with you, you’re horrifically disgusting! What is this, what is it?! Ahahaha! I’ve never seen this before!” she shouted with far too much excitement as she looked at my face. 

Uh yeah, needless to say that was a shock. It had been a long time since I last had someone look me in the face and call me disgusting. Then again, I’d just thought the same thing when I looked at her. So at least we were even. 

“Could that be it? Were you a twin in the womb, but the other one died when you were born, is that it?” 

…Huh? What the heck was she talking about? “No, I don’t think anything like that happened.” 

“You’re sure?” 

“Yeah.” 

“But your mana pool… It’s larger than Laplace’s.” 

My what was bigger than who? I had no idea what she was talking about. From her weird way of speaking, to her freaky eyes, this kid was quite the disappointment. 

“That aside, state your name!” 

“Rudeus Greyrat.” 

“Very good! I am Kishirika Kishirisu! People call me the Great Emperor of the Demon World!” She proudly thrust her hips forward with her hands perched on her waist. 

Her thighs appeared in front of me so suddenly that I stuck my tongue out without thinking. 

“Aaaaah! What are you doing?! That’s filthy!” She turned her toes inward and vigorously scrubbed her thighs together where I’d licked her, before glaring at me. 

Still, now I understood. The Demon World’s Great Emperor Kishirika Kishirisu was a name I’d heard before: the immortal Demon Emperor who led the demons in the Great Human-Demon War, only to meet a crushing defeat. 

Was she the real thing? I had come here on the Man-God’s advice, after all. There was a possibility that she really was who she claimed. Still, how could the real thing be here in a back alley of a city on the edge of the Demon Continent, on the brink of death from starvation? It just didn’t seem likely, no matter how you spun it. 

Ah, that’s probably it, I realized. Children on this continent loved to pretend they were one of the great heroes of the past. The most popular of these figures was the Demon God Laplace. That was nauseating for me since I knew the truth about him, but he was popular. Even though he lost the war, he successfully subjugated all the tribes on the continent and gave the people a fixed place to call home, thereby bringing them peace. He was regarded as one of the greatest demons in history. Children often played out his stories, particularly the episode where he fought with an immortal Demon King. That was the one I had seen numerous times on the way to Wind Port. 

I supposed that the Great Emperor of the Demon World, Kishirika, was another one of the great people in history, but I’d never seen any children pretending to be her before. This girl had to be one passionate fan of the Great Emperor. And she had no friends to play with, which was why she was here by herself in a back alleyway like this. That was the most logical way to interpret the situation. 

Hm. It was lonely, being all by yourself. I had no other choice, then. I had to play along. “A-ah, yes! How rude of me, Your Majesty!” I responded to her introduction with great exaggeration and took a knee as if I were one of her retainers. 

“Oh? Ooh, yes! Very good, very good! This is the reaction I have been waiting for! Young people these days don’t have any manners anymore, you see!” She nodded her head in satisfaction. 

Yeah, knew it. She really wanted someone to play this out with. 

“What a fool I was for not realizing you had revived. Please forgive me for my poor manners!” 

“Very well. You saved my life. I will grant whatever wish you have, just one.” 

Her life? All I did was give her some food because she was hungry. “Um…how about an abundance of wealth!” 

“Fool! You can see I’m penniless!” 

But she said I could ask for anything! No, wait, maybe that was part of the act. Maybe there was some episode where someone asked the Great Emperor for money only for her to respond that she had none. “All right then, please give me half of the world.” 

“What?! Half of the world, you say?! That’s enormous! Still, that’s half-hearted. Why only half?” 

“Oh, that’s because I don’t need the men.” Oh crap, accidentally let my real feelings slip there. That wasn’t something she was supposed to hear. 

“I see, so that’s it. You may be young, but you’re a lecherous one. Still, my apologies. Even I haven’t managed to take the world for myself.” 

True enough, Kishirika had lost every battle for the demons that she led. “All right, then I’m fine with your body. Please pay me with your body.” 

“Ohh? My body? For you to be that full of lust at your age gives me concern for your future.” 

“Ha ha, of course I’m just jok—” 

As I tried to tell her that I was joking, she reached for her hot pants. “Oh well, I guess there’s no help for it. This is my first time since I revived, so be gentle with me, all right?” Kishirika’s cheeks burned bright as she slowly started to pull her pants down. 

Huh? Seriously? I was just saying that as a joke. No, wait! Now it was too late to tell her that I’d only been joking. I would have to just observe as she revealed herself, and then afterward refuse by claiming that I was unworthy of Her Majesty. 

“Ah, no, I mustn’t do this.” Before I could do that, Kishirika stopped herself. “I already have a fiancé. So sorry, but I can’t do this.” The skin she had exposed vanished as she pulled her pants up. It felt like she’d been toying with my poor, pure heart. 

Anyway, so it was a no to money, no to the world, and no to her body. 

“All right, then what can you do?” I asked. 

“Fool! I am Kishirika, Great Emperor of the Demon World! It’s obvious what I can bestow upon you! Demon eyes!” 

So that was it. Well, I wasn’t well-versed in the heroic mythology of this world. Come to think of it though, didn’t Ghislaine also have a demon eye? 

“By ‘demon eyes,’ do you mean eyes that can see a person’s lifeline? A line that, if cut, will kill the person with absolute certainty?” 

“How horrific! What in the world is that power?! I don’t have anything as terrifying as that!” 

So that wasn’t it. The only other sort of demon eye I knew of was the kind that turned the person you looked at to stone. I figured eyes which shot beams or lasers couldn’t be considered demon eyes. 

“For you to covet such a dangerous power… Tell me, do you hold that deep a grudge against someone?” she asked. 

“No, not really.” 

“Nothing good comes of revenge. I’ve been killed twice, but I don’t begrudge those who killed me now. A grudge is a chain that weighs you down. That’s what started the Great Human-Demon War.” 

I was getting lectured by a little girl! Oh well, it’s not like I had plans to target some vampire somewhere and slice them up. “To be honest, I don’t really know much about demon eyes,” I said. “What types are there?” 

“Hm, as I’ve only recently revived myself, I don’t possess any that significant, but there are Eyes of Magical Power, Eyes of Identification, Eyes of X-ray Vision, Eyes of Distant Sight, Eyes of Foresight and Eyes of Absorption… Things like that.” 

Those were just names. “Can you explain to me what each of them do?” 

“Hm? You mean you don’t know? Honestly, young people these days don’t spend enough time on their studies…” Despite these complaints, she proceeded to explain. “First, you have Eyes of Magical Power. With these you can see mana directly. These are the most common. One in ten thousand people possess one of these.” 

“Ah, the most popular then, huh.” 

“Eyes of Identification. You can use these to identify objects and their details. However, they can only give you information that I know. Anything I don’t know will come up as unknown.” 

“I get it. Kind of like a dictionary, then.” 

She continued. “Eyes of X-ray Vision. These eyes can see straight through objects like walls. You can’t see through living creatures or places with high mana concentration. But you could have your fill of seeing every girl naked. Perfect for a pervert like you, no?” 

“As long as I’m not just seeing bones,” I deadpanned. 

“Eyes of Distant Sight. These can see things a great distance away. It’s difficult to focus on things, though. While you can see things far away, you can’t actually do anything to influence what’s happening, so I wouldn’t recommend these for you.” 

“No point in looking if you can’t touch,” I agreed. 

“Eyes of Foresight. These can see things that will happen moments in advance. These are also difficult to focus, but these I would recommend.” 

“Businesses that like to stay one step ahead would love something like that.” 

“Eyes of Absorption. These eyes can consume mana. This includes mana that you use, so I don’t really recommend them.” 

“Rinse and repeat, eh?” 

Kishirika was very knowledgeable. She must have learned all of this somewhere. Perhaps her parents were well-educated. Or maybe there was a book about all the types of demon eyes out there. 

“All right, then I’ll take two so both my eyes can be demon eyes.” 

“You want two right from the start?” she asked. “You’re greedier than you look.” 

“Come on, I’ll give you another meat skewer.” 

I held out my last two skewers and she took them with a wide grin. “Yaay! Nom, nom…. You know, I don’t mind giving you two demon eyes, but I don’t recommend it.” 

“Why not?” I asked. 

“You won’t want to use them constantly. Most people generally cover their demon eye with an eyepatch. If you have two demon eyes, you won’t be able to see at all.” 

“Ahh, now that you mention it, I know someone who uses an eyepatch.” My sword master Ghislaine wore one. I later found out it wasn’t because she had lost an eye, but because she had a demon eye. 

“Also, a person who lives several hundred years might be able to control two demon eyes at once, but a child like you would lose your mind trying.” 

Lose my mind? So using them did have an impact on your brain. Scary. “All right, then let’s not do two after all.” 

“That’s for the best. Well, which will it be? I do recommend the foresight eye.” 

Demon eyes, huh? If I really were to obtain one, which would I rather have? I thought hard about each one of them, but they all had their uses. An eye for magical power seemed like a bit of a waste. It might come in handy, but then again, quite a few people seemed to have them. If I was going to get one, I wanted one that felt more unique. 

I didn’t really need an eye of identification. Not knowing what things are wasn’t such a great inconvenience. Besides, anything the Great Demon Emperor didn’t know would be listed as unknown, anyway. I could imagine it being useless just when I really needed it. 

I didn’t really need an Eye of X-ray Vision, either. It would take a while until I could properly control it, and I imagined having to see Ruijerd naked all that time. 

The Eye of Distant Sight might be beneficial, but at the moment I had no desire for one. I could already guess what Ruijerd and Eris were up to without an Eye of Distant Sight, but if I had one I would probably see Eris threatening someone while Ruijerd tried to stop her. 

As for the Eye of Foresight, I could certainly see why she recommended it. It was true that I couldn’t beat Eris or Ruijerd in close combat right now. The creatures (and people) of this world were quick, after all. Being able to see into the future even for a few seconds would be a huge advantage to me. 

The Eye of Absorption was completely out of the question. That would just kill the advantages I had as a magician. Still, it was good to know that such a demon eye existed. Otherwise I would have panicked if I came up against someone who could render my magic completely ineffective. 

Oh well, it didn’t matter which one I picked. We were just playing around, anyway. “All right, give me the one you recommended, the Eye of Foresight.” 

“Are you sure? Most people ignore my recommendations and choose something else for themselves, saying ‘what’s so great about being able to see a few moments into the future?’” 

“If you can see even one second into the future, you can control the world.” Even so, the swordsmen in this world were quick. I might not be able to beat them even with the power of foresight. There was the Longsword of Light, after all. 

“Not the Eye of X-ray Vision, hm? No to seeing all the naked girls you want?” 

This little girl sure didn’t get it, did she? Sure, I could see the naked body of any beautiful girl or woman who walked by on the street and it would probably turn me on. But that was it. I would get fed up with that quickly. The process of imagining them undressing was what I enjoyed, anyway. 

“I see, I see. All right, bring your face over here.” 

“All right.” 

“Here goes!” Squelch. She jammed her finger into my right eye. 

A sharp jolt of pain shot through me. “Gyaaah!” 

Instinctively I tried to retreat, but Kishirika caught hold of me. I couldn’t move. She was stronger than I expected. 

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, my brain screamed. “Gaaaah! Wh-what the hell are you doing, you brat?!” 

“Oh shut up. You’re a man, aren’t you? Bear with the pain a little!” She ground her fingers around in my eye socket as if she were tinkering with it, then pulled them out with a pop! I was left completely blind in that eye. 

“The iris of the Eye of Foresight is a bit different than your normal color, but people won’t be able to tell the difference from afar.” 

“You absolute moron! There’s a difference between what is and what is not okay to do when you’re playing around!” 

“I’m the Demon World’s Great Emperor. I wouldn’t ‘play around’ about giving you a demon eye.” 

Dammit, my eye… My eye is… Aaaaaaah—wait, what? I paused in confusion. I could see. Everything looked like it was doubled, though…? What the heck was going on? It was nauseating. 

“Depending on how you supply mana to it, you should be able to make it as thin as possible. Well, do your best to learn how to use it.” 

“Huh? What? What are you talking about?” 

“I’m saying it all depends on you.” Kishirika seemed pleased with herself, no matter how confused her words left me. I saw an afterimage of her nodding, and within that afterimage was a thick shadow. What was it? 

“Very good—so you can see it after all. Well then, I’ll be on my way. I need to search out Badigadi. Much appreciation for the food.” 

Once she finished talking, she leaped through the air and landed on the roof above with a thud. “Fare thee well, Rudeus! Bwahahaha! Bwahahahah—gah!” 

There was a doppler effect as she left, the sound of her high laughter gradually fading. I listened to it in blank amazement. 

“Wait… She was the real thing?” 

And that was how I obtained the Eye of Foresight.