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Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter Pr




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Prologue:

Quagmire, the Adventurer 

IT HAD BEEN FIVE YEARS since the calamity commonly known as the Fittoa Region Displacement Incident. The liege lord of Fittoa, Sauros Boreas Greyrat, was dead, as was his son Philip Boreas Greyrat, the mayor of the Citadel of Roa, and Philip’s wife. Not long after, it was reported that Philip’s daughter, Eris Boreas Greyrat, had died as well. As a result, the high-ranking minister Darius Silva Ganius cut off funding to the Fittoa Region’s efforts to track down its missing citizens. While some individuals continued the search on their own, the Search and Rescue Squad was officially disbanded. The refugee camp switched focus from searching for survivors to reclaiming their livelihoods. 

As far as the Asura Kingdom was concerned, the Displacement Incident was over. Those who’d experienced it first-hand, however, were far from done. 

*** 

Year Four-Hundred and Twenty-Two of the Armored Dragon. 

The Duchy of Basherant, a prominent country in the northwest of the Central Continent, was one of the three Great Magic Nations. Its third largest city was Pipin, and in this city lived an adventurer who had become the talk of the town. He was known on the streets as Q uagmire. 

The man in question had been teleported a great distance during the Displacement Incident, and spent several years trying to return to the Fittoa Region. Upon his return, he—like many others—despaired at the disaster’s aftermath. He traveled to the northern part of the Central Continent, also known as the Northern Territories, in search of a still-missing family member, where he scoured each country in turn while working as an adventurer. 

Q uagmire’s mornings began early. As a deeply religious man, he was up before dawn to offer quiet prayer to a relic of his God, which was tucked away in a small box. But this was no sacrament of the Millis faith. In fact, those of the Millis faith would likely raise an eyebrow at the object of his worship. Regardless, he looked the picture of piety with his head bent in prayer. 

After his morning prayers, Q uagmire would change into athletic attire and run laps around the town. As he would say, “I may be a magician, but before that, I’m an adventurer. And an adventurer has to be able to move when the necessity arises.” After about an hour of running, he would commence on a special training ritual from his hometown, the likes of which had never been seen in the Duchy of Basherant. He would lie prone with his belly on the ground and lift himself up by the arms, and he would do this a hundred times. Then he would lie on his back and lift his upper body toward his knees another hundred times. Once that was finished, he’d crouch and stand yet another hundred times. He did this routine daily, without fail. 

“My muscles get jealous. If I don’t pay attention to them every day, they get all huffy with me. Just like a woman. Although, unlike a woman, they won’t just suddenly go off and disappear on me. Muscles don’t betray you. Isn’t that right, Hulk, Hercules?” 

Q uagmire, a man who named his own body parts, would say this with a laugh—one that seemed a bit lonesome. 

Finishing his morning workout around the time the rest of the town was waking up, Q uagmire headed to the cafeteria on the first floor of his inn for breakfast. Adventurers were said to eat to double or triple the portions of an average person. That said, food was expensive in the Northern Region, so many practiced moderation—but Q uagmire was not one of them. He devoured heaping bowls of cooked rice and bean dishes. 

After breakfast, he headed for the Adventurers’ Guild—a spot in the middle of the town where other rugged types gathered. Eyes turned to him as he entered. Q uagmire didn’t have a party of his own, preferring to team up with others on a case-by-case basis to tackle difficult missions. There was high demand for a magician as exceptional as Q uagmire. 

As usual, the leader of an S-ranked party hit him up today. “Yo, Q uagmire, did you hear? There’s a Red Wyrm straggler up north!” 

This was Soldat Heckler, an S-ranked adventurer. He was a man with deeply chiseled features characteristic of those who lived in the north, who possessed Advanced-tier skills in the Sword God Style and Intermediate-tier skills in the Water God Style, and who was a famous adventurer in these parts. He led a party known as Stepped Leader, one of the many parties controlled by the clan Thunderbolt, which worked all across the lands of Basherant. 

Stepped Leader had six members: two swordsmen, one warrior, two healing magicians, and one offensive magician. They’d had seven people at one point, but a magician had kicked the bucket. They were a bit low on firepower as a result, and Soldat would occasionally solicit Q uagmire to join them for real. “Hey, Q uagmire. Isn’t it about time you became one of us? You’re comfortable working with us, right?” 

However, Q uagmire would simply shake his head. “No. Now that I’ve gotten famous here, I’ll be moving on to the next country soon.” 

Q uagmire was searching for his mother. He knew very well that finding a single person in a world this vast, five years since the Displacement Incident, was going to be a tough challenge. He’d elected to make a name for himself everywhere he went, meticulously scouring his surroundings as he worked from country to country, hoping that if he got famous enough, his mother might be the one to find him instead. 

“Oh, but I will go with you to eliminate the Red Wyrm.” Q uagmire accepted Soldat’s request. Successfully dispatching a dragon would add to his fame; this lined right up with his objectives. He promptly headed to the counter to register himself with the party. “But it can’t be just us, right??” 

“We’re gonna get some more people together after this. This is our first big job in a long time. Everyone’s all rarin’ to go.” 

Dragon slaying quests were always carried out by multiple parties—it would be tantamount to suicide for a party to attempt it alone. This time, five parties had announced their intent to participate in the raid. They were: 

The S-ranked party Stepped Leader. 

The A-ranked party Rod Knights. 

The A-ranked party Iron Cluster Corps. 

The A-ranked party Cave A Mond. 

The A-ranked party The Drunkard’s Nonsense. 

Twenty-five adventurers in total, a bit short of the seven parties spread out over forty people that was the minimum recommended number for dragon slaying. Soldat was getting flustered. At this rate, the quest was going to slip right through their fingers. 

“Hey, hey, this is a Red Wyrm we’re talkin’ about here! You’re gonna get a thousand gold all in one go for a quest like this, so why aren’t there more people?! Aren’t you all A-ranked?! Where the hell are the other S-ranked parties?!” 

“I heard a labyrinth was recently discovered in the east,” someone volunteered. “They probably all went to check it out.” 

Another man sighed. “We’re going to drop out. There’s no way this is going to work.” 

The four members of Cave A Mond withdrew, leaving them with twenty-one people. It seemed inevitable that the rest would follow suit, but just as everyone was preparing to disband, Soldat spoke up. “Alright, twenty-one people!” he declared with authority. “That just means we each get a bigger cut!” 

The gathered adventurers looked nervous, but none of them dared oppose his words. 

All twenty-one of them walked through the barren, snow-dusted land of the Northern Region. Trees had lost their leaves and their branches were peppered with white. Soon, the long winter would begin. 

“ Q uagmire, do some scouting for us.” 

“Sure.” 

Following Soldat’s orders, Q uagmire conjured a pillar to boost him into the air. Surveying their surroundings from his perch, he relayed what he saw. Red Wyrms were huge. As long as they periodically scanned the area, there was no way they’d miss it. 

“Hm.” It seemed Q uagmire had found something. “Luster Grizzlies coming in at two-o’clock. There’s a swarm of them. They’re kicking up a huge cloud of snow!” 

“How many?” 

“Eight… no, ten of them! They’ve noticed us! They’re headed straight for us, and fast!” 

They weren’t here to kill grizzlies. Their target was a Red Wyrm, and since there were so few of them, they couldn’t afford to waste their energy fighting pointless monsters. Still, when your clothes caught fire, you had no choice but to stop, drop and roll. 

“Everyone, scatter! Q uagmire, come back down. Cover for us!” 

“Got it!” 

At Soldat’s order, the four parties spread out, planning to ambush the herd of monstrous bears as they moved in. 

“ Q uagmire!” 

“Yep!” 

On Soldat’s command, Q uagmire instantaneously conjured an incredibly sticky pool of mud before him. Just as his nickname implied, he was skilled at casting the Q uagmire spell. The herd of grizzlies sloshed into the unexpected bog, and their movements slowed. 

“Now!” 

The adventurers attacked as one. As you’d expect from warriors this highly ranked, they were swift, downing one beast after the other. No mercy was shown. 

However, when just a few of the grizzlies remained, a cry rose up. “Hey, the Red Wyrm! It’s coming!” 

“That’s what the grizzlies were running from! Argh!” 

“Hey, Q uagmire! What the hell is this?! You weren’t slackin’ off, were ya?!” 

“I couldn’t see it through the cloud of snow!” 

Their plan had been to spot the wyrm from afar and launch a surprise attack. Instead, they’d been caught off guard by a surprise attack themselves. They didn’t stand a chance. Red Wyrms were normally flying creatures, but their strong limbs made them lighter on their feet than you might think, and they were powerful foes even on the ground. 

“Shit! Retreat! Retreat!” 

Amid the chaos, Q uagmire sprang into action. “I’m going to cast a smokescreen! Everyone, separate and run! Deep Mist!” 

Q uagmire was calm. He wielded fire magic with practiced ease, melting snow to create a wall of water vapor—an impromptu smokescreen using the natural resources around him. The wyrm, however, was cunning. It was wise enough to identify the primary threat to it and eliminate them first, which meant that Q uagmire was now its target. 

“…gah!” 

He ran in the opposite direction from his comrades. If the enemy was focused on him, then it was his duty to use that to give his comrades time to flee. 

Q uagmire was nimble, light on his feet, as he led the Red Wyrm in circles. His daily training was coming in handy. Fire ignited in the wyrm’s mouth as it ran out of patience, and flames poured forth, bathing their surroundings in fire in the blink of an eye. This was one of the creature’s unique skills: fire breath. A living creature caught in the trajectory would be fried to a crisp. 

So, was Q uagmire dead then? 

No—he was still alive! He’d quickly conjured an enormous wall of water to protect himself, and was still moving, cutting through the curtain of water vapor rising through the air. Ignoring the embers singing the edges of his robe, he created a stone cannon and launched this earthen bullet at high velocity. 

It pierced the wyrm’s scales. “Graaaah!” the creature shrieked. 

Q uagmire lobbed shots at the creature, one after another. The Red Wyrm evaded several, but they were coming hard and fast, and eventually, the creature turned tail and ran. It was a clever beast. It understood quickly there was great power hidden within the small vessel that was Q uagmire. 

Q uagmire didn’t pursue. Was he really going to let such perfect prey get away? For a moment that seemed to be the case, until… 

“Gu-graaah!” the beast roared. 

It had run straight into the pool of goop from before, sinking fast into the sticky mud. Q uagmire channeled more mana into the swampy water, and as the wyrm struggled to break free, the goo clung to it even more firmly than before. 

“Ooh, it got stuck in there,” Q uagmire mumbled, sounding surprised as he finished the dragon with an enormous stone cannon. 

The other adventurers, who had scattered when the chaos began, returned one by one. “Damn, Q uagmire, you really are strong.” 

“Looks like it wasn’t all talk when you said you travelled the Demon Continent.” 

“I always thought you were strong, but I can’t believe you actually beat that thing!” 

Q uagmire, who knew arrogance bred discord, didn’t let the praise go to his head. “Well, it was already hurt. Anyway, help me butcher this thing and divide up the spoils. Everyone, take what you can.” 

“Are you sure? You basically killed it all alone, you know?” 

“Nonsense… Besides, I can’t carry this all alone, and if we leave it here, it’ll attract other monsters. Take what you can, and we’ll burn the rest. We don’t want it turning into a dragon zombie.” 

With that, the quest that should have been a seven-day roundtrip had been completed in a single day. Q uagmire’s share of the loot—scales, bones, and even meat from the Red Wyrm—sold for a small fortune. He returned to the inn with a full coin purse, ate a more modest meal than he usually did for breakfast, and then retired to his room, where the pious man gave thanks to his God for having made it through safely through the day. This ritual of his would look peculiar to the uninitiated, but it was important to him. 

And so, Q uagmire’s day came to an end. Tomorrow, he would resume his search for his family once more. 

Rudeus 

I T HAPPENED when I was eating dinner at the pub one night. By myself, of course. Eating was a one-person affair. I was alone and wealthy. But not lonely, okay, not at all! I mean, if anything, I hated crowds. 

“It was then! Then that the Red Wyrm appeared!” 

Three troubadours performed upon the pub’s stage. One stood in front and told the story in a clear, bell-like tone, while the other two matched their music to his rhythm, throwing in sound effects here and there. 

Troubadour: a career where one stood on a stage, sang, and played music for tips. In bigger towns, troubadours signed exclusive contracts with theaters. Many were adventurers who turned their experiences into song, or composed epics from interesting tales they heard from others. The concept of copyright hadn’t really made it to this world, so troubadours regularly rearranged each other’s songs, and even collaborated with each other on hybrid material. Some went so far as to team up with those who played different instruments, and form a band to travel the world together—of course, the ones who did so had some martial prowess, too. Adventurers who could sing, dance and fight—these were what people called troubadours in this world. 

I’d seen these three on stage before, at the Adventurers’ Guild. They were a C-ranked party called Big Boys Orchestra; a wonderful name that spoke to their desire for popularity. Unfortunately, their skills were a bit lacking. Despite that, they kept churning out new material, and had even quizzed me extensively about the dragon slaying quest I completed several days ago. The song they were singing right now was based on that story. Almost like a YouTuber with a song cover predictably titled ‘My Attempt At ___’. Wait, that’s not quite right. 

Music had never been my thing, even in my previous life. I’d once tried to create a song on Vocaloid, but failed miserably. Since then, I’d told people the only instrument I could play was the ass drum. And by play, I mean slapping my ass with both hands. What these troubadours were doing—creating something new based on what I’d told them, and performing it—was something I could never do. Their skills might need polishing, but I had to acknowledge their creativity. 

Unfortunately, the dry, narrative tone of the song wasn’t going down so well with the rest of the audience. Someone jeered, calling it boring and demanding they play something else. 

That’s cold, bro. Especially when the protagonist of the song is sitting right here. 

Bam! 

The door to the pub swung open. Freezing air came billowing in. Everyone’s gazes turned. My body shook. 

“I’ve finally found you, Rudeus the Q uagmire!” 

The new arrival was an elf with long hair bundled up into thick plaits. She had the look of an adventurer, with a backpack and a sword and shield upon her hip, but wore what looked like a dress. Her face was, in one word, beautiful. She had large, narrowed eyes, pointed ears, and radiant blonde hair. She was also incredibly thin, with a flat chest—and did I mention the ears? She was truly the perfect picture of an elf. 

And she was pointing at me. Everyone’s eyes turned my way. 

“Gah! So you were here after all, Q uagmire…” The guy who’d jeered earlier looked disgusted, but I considerately ignored him. I was generous, after all. 

“So you’ve finally found me, eh…” I said nonchalantly to the elf, even though I had no idea who the heck she was. I hadn’t done anything in the past few years that might give someone reason to hold a grudge against me. I’d helped people, avoided fights, and been careful not to attract the wrong kind of attention. This was the first time a beautiful woman had sought me out, but maybe I’d done enough general good that people were now seeking me out to give thanks? 

Somehow, I didn’t think that was it. 

“You stick out like a sore thumb, just like I was told you would. I found you immediately!” 

“Wait, you said ‘finally’ just a second ago, didn’t you?” 

“I thought you would be further east,” she said, her beautiful eyes staring straight at me. For some reason, there was drool trickling from her mouth. She licked it away. 

What, had she fallen for me instantly? Was her mouth watering at the sight of the athletic physique I’d recently built up? Hehehe, well, I had been getting fit lately. Plus I was right in the middle of puberty, and starting to bulk up. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“No, no, nothing at all!” The elf woman cleared her throat and took a seat beside me. 

The pub erupted in oohs and aahs. I heard people whisper, “To think Q uagmire had a woman all this time!” 

I couldn’t believe it, either. It was enough of a shock to bring tears to my eyes. 

“Phew.” She put her backpack down and noisily scooted her chair toward me. She was close. I mean really close. Close enough that if I were a virgin, I might’ve mistakenly thought she liked me. That’s dangerous, Miss. If you fall for me, you’ll get burned. 

“My name is Elinalise, Elinalise Dragonroad. I’m your father Paul’s former party member—” 

“Oh.” So that was it. She’d probably come bearing some kind of message. 

“—and I’m also Roxy’s friend.” 

“What! My teacher! Where is she?” I leaned forward in my seat, excited to hear someone else say Roxy’s name for the first time in a long time. Praying to her had been the only thing keeping me going these past few years. 

“More importantly!” Instead of answering the number-one question on my mind, Elinalise leaned close enough to kiss me, and put her lips to my ear. “I heard you killed a Red Wyrm all by yourself, didn’t you?” 

“Y-yeah, well, it was basically at death’s door, anyway.” 

“Now I understand why Roxy was so proud of you.” 

“I’m tickled pink to hear my teacher’s been boasting about me… No, that actually tickles. What are you doing?” 

“Touching your chest. You’re very strong.” Elinalise was fingering my upper arms and chest. Her finger brushed the pendant Lilia had given me. “My, my, how quaint. Who gave you this?” 

“Our maid.” 

“Maid? Are they an elf?” 

“Huh? No, they’re not. My, my, why are you asking about that?” I said. Oops. Now I was even talking like her. 

“That’s not important.” Elinalise didn’t seem bothered by my slip-up. She showed me the sheath that had been hanging from her hip. It had a pendant attached to it with the same shape as mine, albeit far more elaborately made. An amateur had made mine, while hers was clearly crafted by someone skilled. “We match,” she said, snuggling up against me. 

She’d been awfully touchy since she walked in. “What’s going on here? Do you actually like me?” 

“Yes, you’re a good man. More so than I anticipated. I’m surprised. I thought you’d be more of a child, but… you’re so muscular, it’s wooonderful .” 

She was probably just messing with me, but it kind of got my heart thumping. “Uhhhm… heh, you’re quite beautiful yourself, miss.” 

I wasn’t going to get all flustered, like some kind of virgin. I slipped my finger under her chin and tilted it up. When I did so, she softly closed her eyes, as if she were waiting for a kiss. Just as I started to wonder just what kind of joke this was, her hand slipped around the back of my head. 

Seriously? I was definitely feeling some sexual vibes here, but, uh? Was that okay? Was I really free to give her a big sloppy smooch? 

The moment I thought that, her eyes flew open. “Oh no, I can’t. Shame on me.” 

“Please don’t tease me like that,” I complained. 

“I do not tease men. But I also have no intention of becoming Paul’s daughter, and I want to continue being Roxy’s friend, too.” 

Well, whatever, it didn’t matter; I had no intention of dating anyone, again, any time soon. “So then, Miss Elinalise, do you have some business with me?” 

“Yes. I’ve brought you good news.” 

“Good news?” 

Elinalise grinned at me. 

That was the day I learned that Zenith’s whereabouts had been confirmed. 



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