Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 3.1

Side Story:

Sylphiette

(Part 1) 

IN THE MORNING, I woke to the sound of birds. It was still fairly dark outside when I peered out the window. 

“Mm… Aaah…” 

I pushed myself upright in an attempt to shake off the drowsiness as it clung to me. Then I slipped out of the bed, which was neither luxuriant nor crude, and stretched. 

From beneath my bed, I pulled out a bucket, filled it through magic, and washed my face. Then I began to warm up for my morning exercises. I sat on my haunches and stretched my feet, then spun my arms in circles to loosen my joints and shoulder muscles, and finally took a deep breath. 

My body seemed to be in good condition today. It must’ve been thanks to the good dream I’d had. Rudy had starred in it. He’d made love to me. I didn’t remember why he’d done it, but I did remember how happy it had made me. I was disappointed when I woke to discover it was only a dream. 

I traded my pajamas for clothes that were easy to move about in; a light brown top and pants, made of soft material. Not the least bit sexy. Before stepping out, I put on a giant hat that completely covered my hair and ears. 

The room next to mine was a luxurious suite. It contained a canopied bed, tucked within which was the Princess with her beautiful golden hair. Her face looked angelic as she slept, and there was no indication she’d wake soon. It was still too early for that. 

I crept in quietly, so I didn’t wake her, and went to the room beside hers. Seated there in a chair, looking a bit drowsy, was a young man. He wore an ordinary shirt, but his pants were made of leather and he had a sword hanging at his side. His hair was white, and a large pair of sunglasses hid his face. 

On the table beside him was a bell. If he rang it, the linked bell in the neighboring room would also ring. A signal for the two waiting nearby—the Princess’s Knight and the Princess’s Attendant —to come flying this way. 

“Good morning, Fitz.” 

“Mm… morning, Sylphie.” 

When I greeted him, Fitz smiled softly and returned the gesture. This Fitz was one of the Princess’s Attendants, and my friend. His attendant duties kept him busy, but when we had time off, he studied voiceless casting with me. He was a very studious person. I suppose you could say I was his master, though of course, I would never call myself as such. 

Fitz wouldn’t move from his position until the Princess awoke. He was very dedicated to his job, after all. 

“You’re going running again today?” 

“Yeah. It’s important to be consistent with exercise.” 

“Alright. Have fun.” 

I left, slipping into the deathly-still hallway. I loved this kind of quiet. This place was always bustling and noisy, but during this particular time, it was still. It was silent at night too, but that felt eerie, like something was lurking somewhere. 

I moved stealthily down the hall so as not to wake anyone else, creeping down the central staircase to the first floor and slipping right out the front. A few steps into the faint darkness, I turned back. An enormous building with a red roof filled my horizon. The Ranoa University of Magic’s student dormitory. 

*** 

My daily morning routine was a jog. It was something I’d been doing ever since Rudy and I were separated. Running was important. I hadn’t understood that immediately after Rudy left, but I did now. Being able to continue running when you were at your limit, convinced you couldn’t go any further, became the difference between life and death. No matter how good you were at magic or swordplay, in the end, the most important thing was stamina. 

That aside, I also loved running. There were only two things I could hear during an early morning jog—the sound of my feet and the sound of my breathing. Those two things banished my thoughts and cleared my mind. I was at my sharpest when I was running. 

“Huff… huff…” 

One of my goals for the start of each day was to keep running in the Magic City of Sharia until I couldn’t run anymore. By doing that, I wouldn’t just become familiar with the city’s layout, but also learned my physical limits. No-one had taught me this, but it was something I thought Rudy might do if he were in my position. 

I ran through the Workshop District. It bustled with commerce and with people noisily unloading their goods, but this part of it was quiet. I ran by a corner shop with a strange name, and decided to turn down an unfamiliar narrow back alley. The layout of the Magic City of Sharia wasn’t particularly complex, but it was honeycombed with many small alleys I wasn’t familiar with. I intended to memorize all of them. Rudy would no doubt do the same in my place. 

“Ah, so this is where it leads?” 

The alley opened onto a street I knew. It led from an area in the Workshop District full of artisans’ workshops and dwellings, to a part of the Commerce District where stores were lined up side-by-side, separated by the large, winding main road. I hadn’t realized there was a smaller street connecting them. It was likely a path the artisans used daily. Now that I knew it, I could take a slight shortcut from the school to the Commerce District when I went shopping. 

The accomplishment brought me joy. I continued running. 

After jogging around the city for a bit, the sky grew light. Watching the sunrise was one of the rewards for rising early. I liked the sunrise. The sight stayed constant no matter what country you were in, which brought comfort. I never tired of seeing it. 

That said, I must’ve been gaining some stamina lately, because the sun was beginning to rise before I was even close to tiring out. I might need to wake a little earlier tomorrow morning. Still, I returned to the school for now. 

When I got back to the dorm, the Princess had just woken up. Still half-asleep, she sat up in bed, sluggishly crawling out of it. 

“Sylphie… morning.” 

“Yes, good morning.” 

That was the cue for my sleepless friend from the next room and I to start dressing the Princess. I’d struggled with the duty at first; her clothes were fundamentally different from what I was familiar with, with masses of bunch of buttons and lace. But last year, the university instituted uniforms that were well-designed but somehow simple to wear, so it was now easy to dress the Princess . All I had to do was unbutton her pajamas, slip them off, put on her undergarments and— 

“Sylphie, I don’t feel like wearing a brassiere today.” 

Occasionally she would make selfish requests, but I didn’t complain. As things stood, I was essentially her servant. I listened to what she said and moved according to her wishes. I didn’t mind—after all, she’d saved me in the aftermath of the Displacement Incident, when I didn’t know up from down—but I’d come to realize that she’d only done it for her own benefit. She took advantage of who and what she could. Still, it was because of her that I’d survived this far, and I wanted to help her as much as I could, considering how painful it was for her to be exiled from her homeland. 

I honestly didn’t know what she really thought of me. I admired her kind demeanor, but I’d begun to understand her true colors. She had a smile that bewitched all who saw it, but it was mostly insincere. It was a smile intended to reassure the other party and move them in a way beneficial to her. She wore that smile frequently. Perhaps all the smiles I’d seen from her had all been lies. I saw them so often it made me wonder. 

Still, she’d saved me. She’d treated me like an equal and been there for me when I was painfully lonely. As such, she was a friend to me. The second one I’d ever made. You might even say she was my best friend. Seeing her true colors hadn’t made me hate her. She was lonely now, too, and struggling in a foreign country, and it was my turn to help her. 

“Sylphie, what’s wrong?” 

“You look more natural when you don’t smile, Princess.” 

“Oh my… you’re the only person who would ever say that to me,” she said with a laugh. Was this one fake, too? 

On another note, the Princess’s skin was beautiful and smooth. I couldn’t hold a candle to her, especially now, all sweaty and covered in flecks of dirt from my jog. 

“Alright. I’m finished, Princess.” 

“Thank you. Now go shower before we eat.” 

I returned to my room as I was told, hauling out the bucket and using magic to fill it with warm water. This country was still cold at this time of the year, so it was nice that I could use magic for things like this. 

“Phew…” 

A brassiere, huh? The Princess had such a variety, and they were all really cute. Most were ones she’d brought with her, but some were purchased at a discount from the Asura Kingdom, through a place called the Remate Company in Sharia, which had a vast assortment of underwear, among other things. 

Meanwhile, my chest was flat even for someone with elf blood. Depressingly flat. Rudy had introduced me to the concept of a genetic throwback, but really, couldn’t I have had one well-endowed ancestor? My originally green hair meant there was demon blood in my family line, and my mother was half-beastfolk, so she’d been blessed in the chest department. 

My unfeminine body hadn’t bothered me in the past, but it might make a difference to my future. It would be devastating to meet someone I liked and be mistaken for a man. 

“Hmm,” I sighed as I wiped my body down and got dressed. I was wearing a brassiere, of course. I didn’t think it was necessary, but the Princess had ordered me to wear one. 

I dumped the dirty water in a bucket in the corner of the room; I’d use it to do the laundry later. “Alright, let’s give it our all again, today.” 

I slapped my cheeks before stepping out of the room. 

*** 

Classes were boring. Most of them were about things Rudy had already taught me, and sitting in on them made me keenly aware of how much he’d known about magic. Even when I asked him questions about things not in the magic textbook, he’d readily answered. 

I was taking a lot of difficult classes on combined magic lately, but they mostly came down to, “If you combine this magic and this magic, this phenomenon occurs, but we’re not quite sure why.” Apparently, no one had yet cracked the code behind how combined magic worked. But Rudy had known about it. Maybe he’d only had his own theories, but he explained them in a way that I could understand, and most of them made more sense to me than the teacher’s. 

“Hey, Sylphie, what’s the operating principle behind this magic?” 

“Oh, that… if you take a stone from a campfire that’s turned red-hot and put it in a pot, the water heats up too, right? It’s the same concept.” 

As I listened in on the boring lectures and recalled Rudy’s teachings, the Princess would occasionally ask me questions and I would answer. She was passionate about her studies, even if these things wouldn’t be of much use to her when she returned home. She wasn’t just trying to get good grades, she was trying to understand magic. 

Combined magic was difficult, but despite the fact that many in our year were failing out of this class, the Princess was trying hard. It was endearing seeing her passion. I liked people who were optimistic and passionate about their studies. Rudy had been like that, and I liked people who reminded me of him. 

I was content with my current position partly because I considered the Princess a friend, but also because I didn’t mind serving someone. To put it simply, I liked doing things for other people more than I liked doing things for myself. The Princess and my friend seemed frustrated by this at times, telling me to form my own opinions, recommending that I find things that I liked doing for my own sake. But there was nothing I really wanted to do. My parents had gone missing during the Displacement Incident, but they’d already been found. Or rather, I found out that they’d died. If I found something I wanted to do, I’d turn my attention to it. Until then, I was content assisting someone like the Princess, who had big plans and big ambitions. 

“Sylphie, Sylphie!” 

“What is it, Princess?” 

“The next class is practical skills. What are you spacing out for?” 

“Oh, yes. I understand.” 

The student body of this university was diverse. Many came from the Ranoa Kingdom, the Duchy of Basherant, and the Duchy of Neris, but there were also those humans, like the Princess , that came to study abroad from faraway countries in the Central Continent. There were beastfolk and elves from the distant Great Forest, and demons from the Demon Continent. Aside from the humans, many of the students were of mixed blood, so I blended in. 

The dorm was fully furnished, and as long as you could pay the enrollment fee, you were assured of your daily necessities. On top of that, you could enter the Magicians’ Guild once you graduated. It was easy to become a professor of magic at a school in another country if you were a member of the Magicians’ Guild and held a diploma from the University of Magic. 

The practical skills class was about actually using the magic that you’d learned, but focused mainly on mock battles. Taking this class with former adventurers proved particularly interesting. They might not have the best grades in the lecture-based classes, but they demonstrated their true abilities on the battlefield. They were strong, straightforward, and practical. 

“You’re as strong as ever, Master Frict. If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind giving me some advice?” 

“You’re about a half-step too slow at taking the initiative. You can’t pressure your opponent if your attack doesn’t reach them. Get closer,” he instructed. 

Frict was the oldest in our class. He was about forty-six, I think. He used a long staff reinforced with steel, and during mock battles, he’d chant spells while rapidly moving forward, occasionally pausing incantations to whack his opponent with his staff or kick them. The other students resented him for using melee attacks even though we were supposed to be practicing magic, and avoided him in mock battle. 

Personally, I didn’t see the problem. Frict was the only who took the mock battles seriously. The battles were conducted inside a magic circle, which was large, but still presented a limitation. Given these circumstances, it made more sense to actively engage your opponent and hit them than it did to stop moving and trade magical attacks. 

When we were younger, Rudy had trained as if each battle was real. I was convinced that was the right approach. I wanted to follow Frict’s example, and so, I actively sought him out as an opponent during mock battles. 

Incidentally, Master Frict’s goal was to become a professor at the university. I admired people who knew what they wanted out of life. 

*** 

Once class was finished, I was back to looking after the Princess . She and the others were constantly working toward the fulfillment of her ambitions, and though I didn’t fully understand what was going on, I helped where I could. 

“We’re going shopping today.” 

“Understood.” 

She didn’t have anything particularly conniving planned for today, it seemed. We sometimes took a day to relax after big a group discussion, though such days were few and far between, depending entirely on the Princess’s whims. Well, calling it a whim wasn’t entirely correct—it was something she decided after taking our mental states into account. 

Traveling to such a far-off foreign country had taken its toll on the Princess’s followers. The Princess’s Attendant had something akin to a nervous breakdown, and I’d been terribly sad when I discovered my parents were both dead. These breaks were meant as a change of pace, to ensure we weren’t so overwhelmed by sadness that we became useless. 

“Are you going out dressed like that?” 

“There’s no purpose in wearing fancy clothes when that’s exactly what we’re going to buy.” 

Normally the Princess and her Attendant dressed to the nines, but for some reason they were indifferent about their outfits when they went shopping. Meanwhile, just walking into the Princess’s favorite shop made me incredibly self-conscious about how we looked to those around us. 

“Come on, please hurry.” 

A handful of us accompanied her as we left the university and walked down the main road. It drew the attention of those around when the Princess , her Knight , and her Attendant all moved as a group. The Princess was beautiful, the Knight was dashing, and the Attendant was striking. 

I followed behind, but could tell that everyone’s gazes were glued to the Princess . She’d become infamous in this town. Just as she’d planned. It made me kind of happy to think about how I’d helped that happen. 

“Oh.” I suddenly remembered my jogging path that morning. “If we’re going to the clothing store, I found a good route for us to take. It should be a shortcut.” 

“Truly? Well then, please escort us.” 

The Princess wore a bright smile. I took notice of it as I guided her down the path I’d just newly discovered that morning. 

“Ahh, so there was actually a road here… Not a very convenient one considering how complex and narrow it is, but it does have its appeal.” 

“Considering how old the buildings are, it must be a remnant of the town from when it was first built,” the Knight remarked as he looked around. 

Sharia was an old city. In the modern day, with the university at its center, the city had developed shopping districts that were easy to find. But when the city was first built, it wasn’t as neatly compartmentalized. Long ago, when the Magicians’ Guild had a stronghold here, its streets had been intricate and complex. While part of Ranoa, Sharia sat right on the borders with Basherant and Neris, and its labyrinthine layout had been designed to deter the possibility of invasion from the other countries. 

“And here I was sure you weren’t paying attention in class, Luke.” 

“No, that’s just something I picked up from a girl I went on a date with the other day. Some of them are well-informed.” 

The Knight was gathering info about the city in a different way than I was. I didn’t think much of his methods, but the constant dates with girls were likely a part of his own self-care. 

“Try not to play around so much that you get stabbed in the back.” 

“I’m a man of the Notos household. I make sure to put distance between myself and any troublemakers.” 

A man of the Notos household, huh? Come to think of it, the Notos blood also ran through Rudy, right? He was probably a ladies’ man, too. I remembered how his attitude toward me changed the moment he discovered I was a girl. He’d probably keep skirt-chasing even after he got married to someone. His father certainly had. 

I wasn’t a member of the Millis faith, but if I were going to get married, I wanted my partner to focus on me and only me. Rudy probably wouldn’t like that, though, so I’d have to be open-minded if we got married. If he did bring another girl home, the best course of action for me, as his wife, would to acknowledge her and get along with her. If there were more than three of us, I’d act as a mediator to keep them all from fighting—wait, no, no, no. Wife? Why was I assuming Rudy and I would get married in the first place? 

“Sylphie, what’s wrong?” 

“No, it’s nothing. Uh, this way.” I escaped from my wild delusions when the Princess asked me a question. I couldn’t believe what a fool I was, dreaming about a future that would never come. A sigh trembled upon my lips. 

“Ah, so this is where it leads. It’s definitely a shortcut,” the Attendant said in astonishment as we left the alleyway. Our destination, the clothing store, sat before our very eyes. 

“Indeed. This is quite the achievement, Sylphie.” 

“Ehehe.” I scratched at my cheek when the Princess complimented me, and we stepped into the clothing store. 

*** 

I returned to my room after dinner. When it was time to sleep, I looked at the underwear spread atop my bed. A matching brassiere and panties. 

“Hmm…” 

Earlier, at the store, the Princess had gone straight to the underwear section. Then, after an intense discussion with the Attendant , they bought me underwear. That’s right. Me. 

“You need to have some sexier underwear, Sylphie, in order for you to feel confident and take charge when the right time comes,” she told me. Perhaps she’d heard me mumbling to myself that morning. Still, what the heck did she mean by “when the right time comes”? 

They’d forced me to try the items on in the store. It might sound arrogant to say as much, but I thought the underwear, with its pale green fabric and lace flowers, suited me really well. My body was still so thin I could be mistaken for a boy, so you couldn’t quite say I looked sexy in them, but… maybe if Rudy saw he’d at least think I look cute. 

“Rudy, huh?” 

Perhaps what I wanted was to get along with Rudy. It was thanks to him that my life was like this right now. I wanted to make friends with him and return the favor—no, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t just about that. These feelings surely didn’t come purely from gratitude. Most likely I… yes, I guess I really did… 

“…” 

My face heated up as I reached a conclusion. I dove into bed as if trying to shake it off and hugged the blanket close. I curled into a tight ball, resisting the urge to roll around. 

I knew what it was I wanted to do right now. I finally knew. But then, suddenly I realized something. When I did, I clenched my jaw tight. 

“What should I do…?” 

I closed my eyes after blurting out those words. 

I didn’t sleep very well that night.