Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Objectives Confirmed 

After that, Paul and I spent a long time just talking. We didn’t discuss anything particularly important, deliberately sticking to more trivial topics for the most part. 

First of all, he told me all about how things had gone back in Buena Village during the years I spent in the Citadel of Roa. 

Paul had two wives at this point, but that apparently hadn’t translated into twice the “fun.” Zenith and Lilia had had some secret discussions and worked out an agreement. As a general rule, Paul was expected to keep his hands off Lilia. The one exception would be if Zenith were to get pregnant for the third time, but in that case Paul would be required to get her approval beforehand. 

Zenith was still a bit conflicted about their arrangement, but I guess she’d mostly come to terms with it. That was certainly very convenient for my father. I was a little envious, to be honest. 

“So, do you think I had a third little sister on the way?” 

“Nah. For some reason, it wasn’t happening for us… I dunno why. We made you on our first try.” 

“You took one shot at it and got yourself a son this perfect? What a lucky man you are, Father.” 

“You really think you’re funny, don’t you?” 

This didn’t seem like the sort of conversation an eleven-year-old should be having with his father, but we were both enjoying it anyway. 

One thing we didn’t discuss was whether Zenith and Lilia were even still alive. It was the elephant in the room, but we both knew bringing it up would only put us in a miserable mood. 

“Was Sylphie managing all right without me?” 

“Oh yeah. That girl’s amazing, Rudy. I guess you’ve got some talent as a teacher.” 

From the sound of things, Sylphie had been doing well. She spent her mornings running and practicing basic magical techniques, and in the afternoons, she usually worked on her healing spells with Zenith. 

Incidentally, little Aisha had also started getting lessons from Lilia after a few years, although those mostly covered stuff like etiquette rather than spellcasting. 

“Anyway, that kid’s definitely…uh, I guess earnest is the word. She was always coming over to our place to do something or other in your room.” 

“…Do you know if Sylphie happened to find anything in there?” 

“What? Was there something hidden away you didn’t want her seeing?” 

“No, no! Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous, Father.” 

Ha ha. What a preposterous suggestion. 

“Well, it’s all gone now either way, I guess.” 

From what Paul told me, virtually every object in the Fittoa Region had disappeared in the disaster. That included everything from small things like quill pens and ink bottles to large structures like buildings and bridges. The only exceptions were the items people had on their person in the moment they were teleported. 

“Oh. I see…” 

That was a pity. I couldn’t quite remember why it was a pity, but I felt a definite twinge of melancholy anyway. 

“So what were you up to back then, Rudy?” 

“Oh, you mean in Roa?” 

I obligingly launched into a quick summary of my time as a tutor. 

The story began with my first day on the job, when Eris punched me and I nearly gave up entirely, then moved on to our “unfortunate” kidnapping. I explained that Eris warmed up to me a bit after I got us out of that predicament, but still refused to take my lessons seriously. 

Next, I described how I’d gone crying to Ghislaine for help, and how she’d convinced the little lady to pay attention in class. And after that, I covered how my relationship with Eris had gradually improved, our dance lessons, and the events of my tenth birthday. 

“Ah, right. Your birthday. Sorry about that, kid…” 

“Why are you apologizing?” 

“Well, I couldn’t even be there, you know?” 

To the people of the Kingdom of Asura, a child’s tenth birthday was an event of monumental importance. I still didn’t understand exactly why, but it seemed to be considered some sort of lucky milestone. Your family was supposed to have a big celebration and shower you with gifts. 

“That’s all right. Eris’ family threw me a wonderful party.” 

“Oh yeah? What did they give you?” 

“A very nice staff, although the name’s a bit embarrassing. It’s called Aqua Heartia—Arrogant Water Dragon King.” 

“What’s wrong with that name? Sounds pretty cool to me.” 

Was he serious? Just saying that whole thing out loud made me want to bury myself in a hole. Maybe in this world it was normal to give overblown names to more powerful items. 

“Oh, didn’t they give you one other gift, Rudy? I heard all about it from Alphonse.” 

“Another gift?” Hmm. Now what would that be? Wisdom, courage, and unlimited power? I felt like I was still a little lacking on all those fronts, though… 

“C’mon, I’m talking about Philip’s daughter. Today was the first time I’d ever seen her, but she’s one cute kid. And so devoted, too! That was downright heartwarming, the way she protected you…” 

Nobody really gave Eris to me, though. 

I mean, Philip did say I had his permission to make a move, but I hadn’t actually done much of anything yet. I cared about Eris, and I didn’t want to rush things. Just yesterday, she’d been there for me when I needed her most. I’d never had anyone hug me and stroke my head until I fell asleep like that before. There was no way I’d ever betray her trust. She’d promised me that we could take the next step when I turn fifteen. But even then, I’d hold back if she wasn’t ready yet. 

Of course, I did have a slightly overactive sex drive, which might be even stronger in four years. There was a chance I wouldn’t be able to control myself…but, for the moment, I was planning to try. 

“Eris is important to me, yes. I’d rather not talk about her like she’s some object I received from her parents, though.” 

“Well, I guess you’re marrying into their family, so it’s more like they’re receiving you.” 

“Wha—?” Who’s marrying into what? 

“You’re going to join the nobility with Philip’s support, right?” 

“What are you talking about? When did anyone say anything about that?” 

“Huh? It was a year or so before the disaster, I think. Philip sent me a letter saying you and Eris were really hitting it off, so he wanted you to marry into his family. If you ask me, the Asuran nobility are a bunch of rotten scumbags, but I said you could do what you wanted…” 

Interesting. So Philip had already reached out to Paul about that before our conversation on my tenth birthday. Even if I’d shot down the idea, he was probably planning to spend the next few years trying to push the two of us together. That wasn’t some spontaneous proposal at all. 

In any case, that explained why Paul jumped to a few conclusions about me and Eris. Two young people in love, stranded in an unfamiliar land, all alone and deeply anxious? You’d kind of assume they would “get to know each better” over the course of their journey. 

“From the look on your face, I’m guessing Philip set you up.” 

“It would appear so, yes.” 

The two of us heaved simultaneous sighs. Philip was a devious man, but you probably had to be to survive in the ruthless, cutthroat world of the Asuran high nobility. 

“Either way, it seems like you’re pretty friendly with the little lady. Does that mean Sylphie’s…” Paul hesitated mid-sentence. “Uh, sorry. Forget I said anything.” 

Sylphie remained among the missing, as far as either of us knew. Still, I found myself considering the question Paul had begun to ask. 

I did care about Sylphie, but what I felt for her wasn’t quite the same as what I felt for Eris. She was more like a little sister to me, or maybe even a daughter. It upset me when I saw her getting picked on, and I wanted to help her grow up strong and happy, but we’d parted before those feelings could develop into anything more. 

It wasn’t that different from what I had with Eris, but these days she was supporting me as much I was helping her. If you asked me which of them I was more interested in right now, the answer would have to be Eris. 

But of course, it wasn’t like I’d done a thorough side-by-side comparison. It was all about the amount of time we’d spent together, really. Eris had been a part of my life for years now. People love writing stories about guys reuniting with their childhood friends, but it’s easier to fall for someone when you’ve spent a long time at their side. By now, I’d been with Eris for twice as long as I’d been with Sylphie. And our years together had been eventful, to say the least. 

Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t worried about my missing friend. 

“I hope Sylphie’s all right…” 

“Well, the girl isn’t quite on your level, but she’d been working her butt off. I mean, she can use healing magic without incantations, you know? That’s enough to make a living anywhere you go. Healers are real valuable, at least outside the Millis Continent.” 

“Oh. Right…” Huh? Wait. Did he just say what I think he said? “Hold on. Sylphie can cast healing spells silently?” 

“Hm? Yeah. Zenith was shocked at first. But you can do that too, can’t you?” 

“Not with healing magic, no.” I didn’t understand the underlying principles behind those spells, so I’d never managed to cast them silently. No matter how many times I used them, I couldn’t figure out the mechanisms by which they healed the body. 

“No kidding?” 

“Nope. I can only cast those spells if I use the incantations.” 

“Well, I’m not gonna pretend I know much about magic, but they say everyone’s naturally better with some kinds than others, right? I guess Sylphie’s just got a knack for healing.” 

Maybe Sylphie had gotten way stronger than me since we were separated. Now I was a little afraid of seeing her again. What if she took one look at my magic and said “You haven’t improved at all, Rudy”…? 

Paul and I kept on talking for a while. By the end of our conversation, the chasm that had opened up between us disappeared entirely. 

In the early evening, two of Paul’s comrades came over to fetch him. 

Specifically, it was the bikini-armor lady and her magician pal. The former was wearing drab, ordinary clothes today, for whatever reason. It was a dramatic change from that getup she had on yesterday. She had been one of the causes of our fight, though… Maybe she was trying to be considerate? 

“Father.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I do trust you, of course. But after everything that happened yesterday, I just want to formally double-check… You’re not having an affair, are you?” 

“Hell no.” 

That was good to hear. We’d both jumped to conclusions yesterday. Instead of getting the actual facts, we just accused each other of being sex-crazed idiots without… Whoops. No, no. I’d already officially erased those events from history. 

In any case, it didn’t seem like Paul had any time or energy to spare for womanizing right now. He was focused on finding his family, and he wasn’t about to risk breaking it apart. I’d have to learn from his example and cut back on my own perverted antics. 

“Rudy. You’re going to escort Eris back to the Fittoa Region, right?” Before he left, my father apparently wanted to confirm that my mind was made up. 

“Yes,” I replied with a firm nod. “But would you rather I join the Search and Rescue squad as well?” 

“No, that won’t be necessary. We have an obligation to deliver any members of the Boreas family we find back to Asura, either way.” 

“That makes it sound like a very important mission. Are you okay with leaving it in my hands?” 

“I can’t think of anyone better suited for the job. And you’ve already earned her trust, obviously.” 

Evidently Paul had a lot of faith in me. Maybe too much faith, honestly. I felt like he tended to overestimate my capabilities. It didn’t really matter, though. Whatever he thought of me, I was going to try and live up to his expectations this time. 

“Of course,” said Paul with a smirk, “I could always assign her a couple bodyguards if you’d rather stay here in Millishion instead.” 

Oh, please. 

In purely rational terms, splitting up from Eris here was a valid option. Not that I’d stay in Millishion in that event—I could just go off and search another part of the world for my family. Returning to the Demon Continent might be a reasonable approach, for example. 

But that was only true on a purely rational level. I couldn’t just abandon Eris for my own benefit. I had to get her back home safe. 

Also, the idea of leaving my job half-done so I could work on something else brought back a few unpleasant memories. In my previous life, I’d never really finished anything I started. I didn’t want to fall back into that destructive habit. Knowing me, it would probably end up with Eris failing to reach Fittoa safely, and my solo search of the Demon Continent turning up absolutely nothing. 

Better to focus on one thing at a time, then. There was also the whole Ruijerd issue to consider, after all. It was hard to imagine our stubborn friend getting along with some random members of the Search and Rescue Squad, and he’d probably be furious if I tried to drop out of our party now. In his book, that would qualify as conduct unbefitting of a warrior. 

“It’s nice of you to offer, but I do think it would be best for me to escort her back.” 

“Yeah, it’s not like we’ve got anyone stronger than you in the squad, anyway. Not surprised you wouldn’t want to hand the job off.” There was a hint of a grimace on Paul’s face as he said those words. 

Maybe he was a little self-conscious about the fact I’d beaten him in a fight? He was clearly tipsy at the time, so I felt like it didn’t count…but if I said so now, it would probably be more humiliating than anything else. Sometimes the best move is just to keep your mouth shut. 

“Anyway, how long will you be staying in Millishion?” 

“Well, we’re planning to earn money here for the next leg of our journey, so probably about a month.” 

“We can cover your traveling expenses,” said Paul. Turning toward the two young women waiting behind him, he spoke to the meek-looking freckled magician. “We’ve got some set aside, right?” 

“Yes. Mr. Alphonse entrusted us with funds to be used in the event we located any members of the Boreas family.” 

Evidently, the former family butler had left Paul with a lump of money intended to ensure a comfortable journey back home for any member of Eris’ family they found on Millis. 

“Right. So that’s all yours.” 

“I see… Well, I’m glad you didn’t blow it all on booze.” 

“Why do you think I put Shierra in charge of the money?” For some reason, Paul actually sounded proud of himself. Kind of sad, but I wasn’t going to say anything. 

“How much money is this, exactly?” I asked. 

“It’s the equivalent of twenty king’s dollars,” Shierra responded instantly. 

King’s dollars were the most valuable currency on the continent of Millis. Using the one yen to one stone coin scale, they were the equivalent of roughly 50,000 yen apiece. So twenty of those would be… 

“One million yen!” 

“…One million what?” said Paul, raising an eyebrow. 

Okay, so maybe my initial reaction was a little too gleeful. Can you really blame me, though? For the last year and a half, I’d been obsessing over every coin we spent, and now they’d dropped a cool million in my lap out of nowhere. 

“Seriously, though?! With that kind of money, you could spend your whole life messing around!” 

“Well, you could probably build yourself a house in the south with that much, I guess. But it’s not gonna last you a lifetime.” 

What? But it’s a million, man! One million yen! That’s like…what, a thousand green ore coins?! You could even buy a Superd passage on a boat with that! 

Oh, that reminds me. 

“Hm. There’s still one other problem we’ll have to deal with, actually.” 

“Seriously? What’s that?” 

“Back in Wind Port, they wanted a ridiculous amount of money to let a Superd on the boat to Millis. I’m not sure how things are in West Port, but I’m assuming they’ll demand some huge fare as well. I don’t know if even twenty king’s coins will be enough…” 

“Ah, right…” Paul folded his arms thoughtfully. Surely he wasn’t going to suggest that I leave Ruijerd behind or anything? 

“Shierra, what do they charge to bring a Superd over to the Central Continent?” 

With a small nod, Shierra promptly replied “One hundred king’s coins.” 

Had she memorized all the fares or something? This girl seemed to be really on top of things. She did kind of look like the ‘quick-witted secretary’ type, come to think of it… 

As I looked in Shierra’s direction, our eyes briefly met. She let out a little scream and instantly looked down at the floor. The ex-bikini lady casually stepped forward to hide her from my view. I couldn’t help feeling hurt. 

“I’m sorry, but she’s a little uncomfortable with eye contact. Could you try not to look at her too much?” 

“Uhm, okay…” 

I’d gotten my relationship with Paul back to normal, but apparently the other members of his squad still weren’t too fond of me. Well, I’d just have to live with that. 

More importantly…a hundred king’s coins, huh? That was roughly five million yen we were talking about. Not really the kind of cash you can scrape together in a hurry. It was enough to make a man sigh. 

“Why’s it always so expensive for the Superd in particular, anyway?” 

“It’s mainly because the rules were established some time ago, back when the persecution of that tribe was at its height,” replied Shierra from somewhere behind the bikini-armor lady. 

From the tone of her voice, you might have thought this was common knowledge, but even the people working at the checkpoint in Wind Port hadn’t been able to tell me that. The girl’s chest was fairly small, but apparently, she had a massive brain. 

“Also, the noble who runs the customs station at West Port is well-known for his hatred of demonkind,” added Paul. “Even if you came up with the money, he might find some reason to deny you passage.” 

“You don’t say. Uhm…could we ask Mother’s family to pull some strings on our behalf, maybe?” 

“Sorry, but as it is, they’re already going out on a limb for us. We can’t drag them into any more trouble right now.” 

In other words, we’d probably need to turn to smugglers again. That hadn’t turned out too well last time, so I’d been hoping to find another way. For one thing, we were still on the same continent as the group we’d attacked. If the local crooks had connections to some larger syndicates, we might be on some sort of blacklist at this point. 

The more I thought about the problem, the more it made my head ache. 

“All right then. We’ll just figure something out ourselves.” 

“Sorry, kiddo,” Paul said, then grinned and turned to the women waiting behind him. “Hey, so what do you think of my little guy? Talk about self-reliant, right?” 

“Uhm, sure.” 

“Err…” 

The two of them looked at each other, smiling awkwardly. Not sure what he was expecting them to say. Did he even remember that whole “fistfight in a bar” thing from yesterday? 

“Father, you really shouldn’t make a habit of asking young ladies to evaluate your ‘little guy.’ It might tarnish the reputation of the Greyrat family.” 

“Your dirty jokes aren’t helping either, kid!” 

Paul and I both burst into laughter. The two women in the room were visibly not amused, but you can’t please everyone. 

“All right then, Rudy. It’s about time for me to get going.” 

“Okay.” 

Finally rising from his seat, Paul rolled his shoulders with an audible pop. I hadn’t even noticed, but we’d apparently been talking for quite a long time. 

When I glanced over at the counter, the barkeep had a somewhat wry smile on his face. We’d taken up one of his tables right through the lunch rush, hadn’t we? I’d have to leave a good tip when I paid up. 

“Once you’ve worked out your plans, get in touch with me. We should least have dinner with Norn before you hit the road.” 

“Sounds good to me.” 

With that, Paul sauntered out of the bar, the two young women following closely in his wake. 

He really did look like a dirty old man sometimes, didn’t he? 

*** 

Not long after Paul left, Eris and Ruijerd came back into the bar. Eris was sporting a black eye, and Ruijerd had a distinctly unhappy expression on his face. 

“What happened, you two?” 

“Nothing,” said Eris, folding her arms with an irritated little snort. “How did things go with that man?” 

“We made up with each other.” 

As soon as those words left my mouth, Eris’ eyebrows creased sharply together.“What?! Why?!” She punctuated her question by slamming her fist down on the table so hard that it loudly broke apart. 

My goodness, what a powerful young lady… 

“I see,” said Ruijerd calmly. “I’m glad to hear that.” 

“Rudeus!” Eris grabbed me forcefully by the shoulders. And I do mean forcefully. The girl’s grip was really something else. “Why would you do that?!” 

“What do you mean, why?” I asked, somewhat taken aback. 

“Don’t you remember how depressed you were yesterday?!” 

“Well, of course. And I appreciate what you did for me. That hug really calmed me down.” 

It was only thanks to Eris that I’d managed to look Paul in the face today. If she hadn’t been there to comfort me, I might have stayed shut up in my room for days. 

“That’s not what I’m talking about! That man didn’t even show up for your tenth birthday, Rudeus. And the way he treated you yesterday was unbelievable! You had to travel all the way across the Demon Continent! You got locked up in a jail cell in the Great Forest, for crying out loud! But when you finally, finally made it back to him, he basically told you to get lost! How can you just forgive that jerk?!” 

Wow. That was quite a rant. 

I understood where Eris was coming from. When you put it in those terms, Paul did sound like a really crappy father. I could even have believed that he hated my guts. If I was an ordinary child, his actions would have been unforgivable. 

But the way I saw things, it was inevitable that he’d make a few mistakes trying to deal with a son like me. I was reincarnated with my memories intact, and I took full advantage of that from the very start. How could anyone be expected to be a “normal” dad to a kid that weird? Paul had had a hard time figuring out how to interact with me, let alone how to raise me. And to be honest, I don’t think he really knew what it meant to be a good father in the first place…not that I did either, of course. 

As his son, all I needed to do was watch his awkward attempts at parenting with warmth, understanding, and just a pinch of condescension. Paul could mess up as many times as he needed to. I’d take his mistakes in stride. They weren’t going to hurt me as deeply as that fight yesterday did. 

But of course, we’d be going our separate ways soon anyway. 

“Eris.” 

“Yeah? What…?” 

I wasn’t sure what to say. Eris was angry because she cared about me. But as far I was concerned, the whole thing was already in the past. “My father’s a human being. Everybody makes mistakes, okay?” 

With that said, I put my hand to her face and got to working healing her bruise. Eris accepted my attentions tamely enough, but the look on her face told me that she wasn’t convinced. Once I’d finished with my spell, she stomped sulkily back to our room at the inn. 

As we watched her walk off, I spoke to the third member of our party. “So, Ruijerd…” 

“What is it?” 

“Where did that bruise on her face come from?” That thing definitely wasn’t there yesterday. 

“I had some trouble stopping her,” Ruijerd replied in a level tone of voice. 

Hmm. Normally, he was the kind of guy who’d explode in righteous anger if he saw someone strike a child, but maybe his principles were more flexible than I thought. Eris must have thrashed around like a lunatic in her fury. And of course, the two of them did spar constantly, so this was hardly the first time he’d given her a bruise or two… 

Looking at his face more closely, though, I realized that wasn’t really relevant. Ruijerd wasn’t calm right now. He wasn’t an expressive man, but I could see something like anguish in his eyes. 

He never wanted to hit her. He must have had no choice. 

I didn’t know exactly what had happened, or what words they’d exchanged. But there was one thing I could say for sure: It was my fault the two of them got in a fight. But I was able to make peace with Paul as a result…which meant I ought to be more grateful than anything. 

“Thank you, Ruijerd. It would have been tricky to make up with my father if she’d murdered him.” 

“There’s no need to thank me.” 

Still, at this point Ruijerd apparently needed to punch Eris to stop her. That girl just got stronger and stronger by the day. 

A little while later, the three of us held a quick team meeting. 

“Okay then. Let’s get our second official meeting in Millishion underway, people!” 

This time, we were conducting our business in the bar rather than our room. Come to think of it, I hadn’t taken a step outside this building all day. It was a cozy place, and it never got too crowded, either…although I’m sure the owner had some mixed feelings about that. 

“Didn’t we just have one of these two days ago?” said Eris. 

She didn’t seem to be angry anymore. I expected her to sulk in the room for at least a couple hours, but she ended up emerging after only about ten minutes. The girl knew how to move on fast. I’d have to try and learn from her example. 

“Yes, but the situation’s changed since then. To be specific, there’s no longer any need for us to earn money in Millishion. I think we should move on relatively soon.” 

With twenty king’s coins in our purse, there wasn’t much point trying to make more money here. And as for gathering information, Paul had already told me basically everything he knew. With our Superd PR campaign on the back burner for now, that didn’t leave much for us to do in this city—as I briefly explained. 

I’d been hesitant to tell Eris about the current state of the Fittoa Region. But ultimately, I took this chance to go ahead and do so. It would probably be best if she knew what awaited us, if only so she could brace herself in advance. 

“Eris, it sounds like our home doesn’t exist anymore.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Also…Philip and Sauros are both still missing.” 

“I’m not surprised.” 

“Nobody knows where Ghislaine is either, so it’s possible—” 

“Listen, Rudeus,” said Eris, folding her arms and sticking her chin into the air. “I was always expecting things to be at least this bad.” 

Her gaze was steady. Her expression was as intense and arrogant as ever. There was no hint of doubt or uncertainty in her eyes. 

Eris hadn’t forgotten about Fittoa. She’d been ready to face the worst. 

With a small snort, she continued. “I’d bet Ghislaine is still out there somewhere, but I knew there was a good chance Father and Grandfather were dead.” 

The two of us had been stranded in the middle of the Demon Continent, after all. I guess she’d realized that many others might have landed in equally dangerous situations. Of course, there was a chance she was just putting on a brave face right now. With Eris, it was hard to tell the difference between actual confidence and bluster. 

“Oh, and I knew you were trying to hide all this from me, by the way.” 

I wasn’t clear on exactly what she thought I’d been “hiding.” From the sound of it, though, this wasn’t just an act. Eris had been thinking things through in her own way. In other words, I was the only one who’d forgotten entirely about the Fittoa Region. 

That was kind of embarrassing. 

“I see. Well, all right then.” 

Eris really was one impressive young lady. Having reached that conclusion, I decided to move on to our next topic. 

“In any case, I was thinking we could depart Millishion about a week from now.” 

“Are you sure?” asked Ruijerd. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Once we leave, you might never see your father again.” 

“Well, that’s a little ominous…” Coming from Ruijerd, those words carried some real weight. But it wasn’t like I was heading out to the frontlines of some war. “The thing is, I’ve also got a few other family members I might never see again. Right now, I think I’ll worry about finding them.” 

“I see. That’s true enough.” 

Since Ruijerd seemed convinced on that point, I moved on to the meat of the matter. “For the rest of our journey, I’d like to prioritize information gathering.” 

We’d still be staying for about a week at every major town we reached. But instead of focusing on earning money, we’d primarily use that time to collect rumors and local gossip. 

First and foremost, we’d be looking to find displaced Fittoans. The route from Millis to Asura was this world’s equivalent of the Silk Road; no other was more traveled, particularly by merchants and traders. The Search and Rescue Squad had no doubt combed every mile of it. Still, there was a chance we might find something they’d overlooked. 

We’d also do what we could to improve the reputation of the Superd while we poked around. But unfortunately, the name Dead End wasn’t that well-known on Millis and the Central Continent. We might have to reconsider our previous approach. 

“There is one problem, though. I’m not sure how we can afford to cross the sea.” 

This was definitely the single biggest issue right now. In this world, even “routine” sea travel was serious business. There were plenty of ways to sneak your way across national borders on land, but when it came to boats your options were severely limited…especially if you happened to be a Superd. 

“About that, Rudeus… Take a look at this.” 

Ruijerd pulled out an envelope. It was the same one he was about to show me yesterday, before he’d noticed my condition. 

I took it from him and examined it. The words “To Duke Bakshiel” were scribbled on the front. On the back, I found a red wax seal, roughly imprinted with something that looked like a family crest. 

“What’s this?” 

“A letter. An acquaintance of mine wrote it for me yesterday.” 

Oh, right… Come to think of it, he’d mentioned he was going to go say hello to someone he knew in this city. 

“Can you tell us who this acquaintance is, Ruijerd?” 

“A man named Gash Broche.” 

“What’s his occupation?” 

“I wouldn’t know. It seems he has some status here, though.” 

Ruijerd went on to explain that he’d met Gash on the Demon Continent some forty years ago, after rescuing his traveling party from a group of monsters that very nearly wiped them out. Gash was only a child at the time, and he’d initially looked at Ruijerd with a mixture of terror and hostility. After spending some time together, though, they parted on relatively friendly terms. Ruijerd delivered his party safely to the nearest town, and Gash told him to stop by if he ever happened to visit Millishion. 

Since he never left the Demon Continent, Ruijerd had forgotten about that offer entirely. But then he happened to spot the man with his “third eye” as we circled around the city’s outer walls, and it all came back to him. Interested to see how the years had treated Gash, if also somewhat anxious that the man might have forgotten him entirely, Ruijerd headed over to pay a visit. 

To his surprise, Gash recognized him instantly and showered him with hospitality. At first, Ruijerd had just intended to say hello, but apparently the two of them really hit it off. He ended up recounting the whole story of our journey so far, and once he was finished, Gash wrote him up a letter on the spot and told him to give it to the man in charge at West Port. 

It was an interesting story. For one thing, Ruijerd didn’t usually make friends that easily. Maybe this guy was something like Gustav of the beastfolk? Judging from the way he’d dashed off a casual letter to a duke, he presumably had some real clout around here… 

I wanted to take a peek at the letter inside, honestly. But as I recalled, breaking this sort of seal would invalidate its contents. 

“Sounds like this Gash guy is probably some sort of noble, huh?” 

“I couldn’t say, but he did have many men.” 

Whatever that meant. Was he talking about servants or something? The word “many” was really vague, too… 

Well, in any case, the man was a friend of Ruijerd’s. I wouldn’t be too surprised if he turned out to be a kindhearted contender for the role of Mamodo King. “Were you at his house?” 

“Yes.” 

“Was it large?” 

“It was indeed.” 

“Uhm, how large?” 

“Not so large as Kishirisu Castle.” 

Kishirisu Castle? Okay, so that ruled out the big palace in the middle of the lake. Not that I was really expecting the guy to be a member of the royal family. Still, this building had to be pretty damn big if Ruijerd was using a castle as a point of comparison. 

Hmm… 

We were talking about a friend of Ruijerd here. He probably wasn’t a bad guy. But from what Paul told me earlier, the noble in charge of the customs station at West Port hated demons with a passion. If our friend Gash was only moderately influential, handing over this letter might backfire badly. Maybe we should take some time to find out exactly who he was? 

Ruijerd looked so proud when he took out that letter, though. If I voiced any suspicions about his new buddy, he’d probably give me an earful about trust and honor. 

Well, whatever. It wasn’t like I had any better ideas. For now, I might as well go with the flow and keep Ruijerd happy. I could secretly ask Paul about the name Gash Broche later. 

“Okay then,” I said. “Let’s hope that letter does the trick.” 

Ruijerd responded with a small nod of approval. 

That basically wrapped things up for now. We’d be setting out from Millishion in one week. Until then, we’d accomplish what we could inside the city. 

“Personally, I wouldn’t mind leaving first thing tomorrow morning!” 

With a small smile at Eris’ proposal, I declared our team meeting officially adjourned.