Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Rain in the Forest

(Part 1) 

I T WAS EVENING, but there were still three people in the student conference room. 

The first was a striking beauty who turned heads everywhere she went—Ariel Anemoi Asura. The second was a sharp-faced but handsome young knight who charmed women with ease—Luke Notos Greyrat. 

“…So, what was it you wanted to discuss?” 

Across the desk from them was a young man with white hair, wearing sunglasses and a male school uniform. His name was Fitz. He’d brought his hands to his belly and was fiddling with his fingers anxiously. 

Ariel looked at him for a long moment. But he didn’t seem inclined to speak, so she continued. “The other day, Rudeus ran into us while we were out shopping. He found ‘your’ actions rather suspicious, Fitz.” 

“…” 

“Not long thereafter, he threw you to the floor in the library, after which you ran off, declaring yourself to be a man. Or so the rumors have it.” 

“…” 

“Rudeus probably believes that to be a lie. He did get the chance to touch your body at some length, from the sound of things.” 

“…” 

“However, it seems he has no plans to tell anyone about your secret. He claims to be frightened of antagonizing me, but given his skills, that seems highly unlikely. I believe he’s simply attempting to do right by a friend. Q uite admirable, really.” Ariel shot Fitz a sharp look. “The question at this point is…what are you going to do?” 

Fitz’s shoulders twitched at Ariel’s harsh tone, but he made no reply. 

“I do think it’s all right to take your time with this,” Ariel continued. “However, it’s now been half a year since you made any progress at all. Can you blame me for wanting to say something?” 

She waited for Fitz to reply. Thanks to the large sunglasses he wore, she couldn’t see the look in his eyes. But she recognized the way he was fiddling with his fingertips. It was a tell-tale sign that he was overwhelmed, something he only did when he couldn’t think of anything at all to say. If she let him keep going like this for much longer, he’d probably whimper something like I’m sorry or I need a little more time to try and postpone this conversation. 

And so, Ariel pressed on. “I have to say, I’ve gotten rather sick of watching you dither about like this.” 

This wasn’t actually true. Ariel enjoyed watching Fitz squirm. She was a little jealous of his feelings for Rudeus, but she certainly didn’t oppose them. However, Rudeus was spending less and less time with Fitz as a result of his new friendship with Silent. And Fitz was growing more melancholy by the day. That was rather painful for her to watch. 

“I think it’s about time you found the courage to tell him who you really are, Fitz… or rather, Sylphie .” 

Fitz pressed “his” lips together tightly and raised his head to look at Ariel. And a moment later, he took off his large pair of sunglasses. 

The face underneath them was distinctly feminine. It would have been hard to mistake it for that of a boy, in fact. 

It was the face of Sylphiette, Rudeus’ childhood friend. 

“Princess Ariel, I…” she began, seemingly ready to speak her mind at last… but then stopped almost immediately, looking like she might burst into tears. 

This was enough to tell Ariel something. Something she’d suspected vaguely for a long time. “Sylphie. This is going to be the third time I’ve asked you this, but… Right now, is there something that you want to do?” 

There was. Yet Sylphie shook her head. What she wanted was impossible, for two different reasons. 

First of all, she was too afraid. She felt that Rudeus might have forgotten her entirely. Secondly, she cared too much about the friends in front of her. If she chose to pursue this new goal, it might mean parting ways with Ariel. That would mean betraying her and Luke—these friends who’d fought at her side, struggling to survive and realize their objective. Together, these doubts kept Sylphie silent. 

But this time, Ariel didn’t take no for an answer. “Sylphie… you’ve saved my life many times,” she said, her voice soft and gentle. “If you hadn’t fallen from the sky in the gardens of the Silver Palace, I would have died on the spot. It was you who protected me from the assassins who came for me when I slept, as well. And you fought for me, desperately outnumbered, at the Red Wyrm’s Upper Jaw. You’ve helped me countless times in the last few years.” 

“But I owed you that, Princess Ariel… and more. When I was teleported into the palace, I didn’t have the first idea what was going on. If you hadn’t helped me—” 

Ariel shook her head slowly. “Any debt you owed me was more than repaid when we fled the Kingdom. Since then, we’ve been on equal footing. I’ve simply been manipulating you into serving me.” 

“You aren’t manipulating me!” Sylphie shouted, her eyes wide. “I want to help you, because we’re friends!” 

In response, Ariel smiled in satisfaction and nodded slightly. “I’m sure that’s true, yes. And for the very same reason, I’d like to help you now. Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” 

“What…?” 

“I know you, Sylphie. You’re probably holding back for my sake, aren’t you? But you aren’t my servant, you’re my friend. There’s no need for you to put my goals first and ignore your own. If there’s something else you want to do, then leave me and prioritize it.” 

Ariel’s kind words were enough to shake Sylphie’s resolve. But even as her heart wavered, she managed to squeak out an objection. “But that would mean…betraying you.” 

“It most certainly would not,” Ariel replied firmly. “In fact, were I to hold you back, I would be betraying you .” 

This claim might not have passed scrutiny if they were still in the Kingdom of Asura. There, Ariel was a princess, and Sylphie merely the daughter of some nameless village hunter. She had earned herself the title of Guardian Mage, true, but they were still far from equal in rank. However, this was the Kingdom of Ranoa, and Ariel was essentially in exile. Because of that, her words had the ring of truth. 

If she’d said something similar to Luke, he would no doubt have objected strongly. He took great pride in his role as Ariel’s retainer, and would have begged her to give him orders, and to use him as she saw fit. 

Sylphie, on the other hand, hadn’t sworn an oath of undying allegiance to Ariel. But she considered the princess a woman worthy of her service. She respected her so strongly that she would have sacrificed herself obediently if Ariel ordered her to do so. 

She couldn’t quite manage to express these thoughts in this moment, though. Mainly because Ariel was speaking to her with such great kindness. 

“Tell me, Sylphie. Do you intend to make a traitor of me, after all that I’ve done for you?” 

“What? No!” Surprised by Ariel’s manipulative words, Sylphie looked up with wide eyes. The princess met her gaze with a stern expression. Sylphie found herself wanting to avert her eyes, but managed to resist the impulse. She couldn’t help swallowing loudly, though. 

“Show some courage and speak your mind. What do you want to do right now?” 

“Well… I…” Sylphie pinched her lips together and squeezed her hands into fists. 

She knew what she wanted to do. All she needed now was the courage to put her feelings into words. At some point, she’d lost that courage altogether. But now, as her good friend waited patiently, she managed to find it once again. “I want to… be with Rudy.” 

“Well done.” Ariel smiled at her friend. For once, it wasn’t artificial. This was her genuine smile—one she used only rarely. “I’m glad you finally came out and said it. Pursue your own goals first, Sylphie. You can always come back to help me out once you’re ready.” 

There was kindness in Luke’s eyes as well. “She’s right. Deal with your personal affairs before worrying about ours.” 

He had somewhat conflicted feelings about this situation, in truth. But he was happy that his friend had finally voiced her real thoughts, and he wanted to trust Ariel’s judgment. 

“But…I don’t think I can take it if Rudy doesn’t remember me.” 

Ariel and Luke exchanged a look and smiled wryly. 

“Let’s think that part over now, shall we?” 

With these gentle words from Ariel, an impromptu strategy conference was convened on the spot. 

*** 

“Perhaps it would be best to keep things simple. Why not just tell him you’re Sylphiette from Buena Village?” 

“I think that’s inadvisable. If he really doesn’t remember her at all after all this time, the name might not ring a bell.” 

Luke and Ariel pondered each other’s words for a moment. To be sure, there was a good chance that Rudeus had forgotten Sylphie. It had been eight years since they parted, which was more than long enough to forget a childhood friend. At the very least, Sylphie hadn’t heard Rudeus mention her name even once in the last year. It was hard to imagine her name alone would suffice to jog his memory. 

What could she do to make him remember her? That was the crucial question. 

Ariel tried to put herself in Rudeus’ shoes. She didn’t remember the names of all the attendants who’d served her eight years in the past, but there were a few she did recall. For example, Lilia, who’d left the court when Ariel was very young. Ariel couldn’t remember the woman’s face clearly, but she remembered the way she’d fought off an assassin to protect her. 

“Sylphie, what kind of memories do you have with him?” 

“Memories?” 

“Yes. People remember us by our skills and the memories we share. That’s the reason that nobles are constantly throwing parties to introduce themselves to each other. They memorize flowery speeches and practice complex dances in order to leave at least some impression in the memories of their peers. There are quite a lot of them, you see, so it’s impossible to remember every single one you meet.” 

Sylphie’s skills were certainly distinctive enough. There weren’t many people in the entire world who could cast spells silently, and none so young as Sylphie or Rudeus. But even with the benefit of that enormous hint, Rudeus hadn’t thought of her. 

There were three reasons for this. 

Firstly, Rudeus’ tendency toward self-deprecation. He instinctively believed that anything he could do was easy enough for anyone else to imitate. 

Secondly, he had since run into Ruijerd, Kishirika, Orsted, and Badigadi. His encounters with these overwhelmingly powerful individuals had left him with the impression that the world was full of people much stronger than he was. In his mind, it seemed reasonable for there to be plenty of silent spellcasters out there. 

And finally, there was Ariel herself. Sylphie’s silent spellcasting might have seemed more unusual if she was only an ordinary student, but she was the guardian of a powerful princess. It made sense to Rudeus that any mage who served as a royal bodyguard would be highly capable. 

“Memories, huh? Uhm… I did tell you about how I used to be bullied, didn’t I?” 

“Yes. You told me you were picked on rather ruthlessly about the color of your hair.” 

Incidentally, Sylphie had never revealed to Luke or the princess that her hair was originally green. She’d feared it might cause them to treat her with suspicion. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them. The thought of admitting it was simply frightening, so she’d decided to pretend that her hair had been white all along. Once the lie was out there, it was hard to take back. And her hair showed no signs of changing back to its original color, so she didn’t really have to. 

This was probably the ideal moment to reveal the truth she’d hidden from them until now… but the bullying she’d suffered in childhood had left its mark on her mind, and she couldn’t bring herself to do so. 

“The first time I met Rudy was when he saved me from those bullies. It’s the strongest memory I have of him.” 

“…Hmm, I see.” 

Ariel thought it over. Could they arrange to have Sylphie attacked by a group of ruffians, giving Rudeus the chance to swoop in and save her? 

There was a problem with that plan, unfortunately. Sylphie was a powerful mage. You wouldn’t know it to look at her now, but in real combat, she was decisive, quick, and deadly. Your average pack of thugs wouldn’t last five seconds against her. In all likelihood, Rudeus held his friend Fitz’s strength in some regard as well. Were there any potential attackers available that were skilled enough to put her in real danger? 

…The answer was yes, actually. 

Most of the adventuring clan Thunderbolt, known for its skill in combat, was currently staying in this city. For the right price, they could probably be convinced to pretend to assault Sylphie. However, rumor had it that they were on friendly terms with Rudeus. Someone claimed to have seen “ Q uagmire Rudeus” drinking tea with Soldat of the party Stepped Leader in a café recently. Elinalise Dragonroad and Cliff Grimoire had been there as well. Based on this fact, hiring Thunderbolt wasn’t a suitable option. 

Choosing another random group of adventurers to play that role also didn’t strike Ariel as advisable. Rudeus probably had more acquaintances in that community than Ariel even suspected. Even if she tried to a find a group that didn’t know him, there was a good chance they’d have met somewhere before. 

That might make things complicated. And messy. Someone might even end up getting hurt, and Ariel certainly didn’t want to risk that. 

“Do you have any other memories of him?” 

“Uhhh… Oh, yes. One other thing comes to mind…” 

Sylphie’s face went red, and she paused for a moment before continuing. “At first, Rudy thought I was a boy, you know? One day it started raining while we were outside practicing magic, so I came over to his house to take a bath. But then he, uhm, started tearing off my clothes…” 

Halfway through her story, Sylphie glanced over at Luke. He promptly covered his ears with his hands. Say what you will about the man, but he could take a hint. 

“Uhm, and then… h-he pulled down my panties… and saw my, uh, private parts. That was how he realized I was a girl…” Sylphie went on to explain how Rudeus had been a little depressed for a while after that. 

Ariel had already heard the story of what happened after this incident, actually. It seemed possible to her that these events had something to do with Rudeus’ decision to keep his silence about Fitz’s gender. Even if he didn’t remember Sylphie clearly, he’d learned a lesson then that still stuck with him: you didn’t forcibly expose people without their consent. 

“That’s… quite a nice story,” said Ariel, smiling. On the inside, however, she was thinking This is it. They’d just have to create an identical situation and make Rudeus undress Sylphie with his own hands. With excitement running high on both sides, she could hopefully overcome her anxiety and blurt out the truth. 

“All right. Let’s go with that.” Ariel had made up her mind, and there wasn’t going to be any debate. “Luke, take your hands off your ears. We’re going to discuss our plan now.” 

At this point, however, the princess remembered their second-biggest problem: Sylphie’s penchant for self-sabotage. If they didn’t take some precautions, her cowardice would doom their plan to failure. 

“Before we get into the details, though, there’s one point I want to make sure we’re clear on.” 

“O-Okay…” 

“Sylphie, you told us that you want to be with Rudeus . But I’d like to know what that means to you, specifically.” 

Sylphie considered the question. What, specifically, did she want from Rudy? What did she want to do with him? She wanted to be at his side, at least. She’d been in love with him for quite some time, and those feelings had only grown since their reunion. 

But she sometimes indulged in some very specific fantasizing, also. For example, she often daydreamed about what their life would be like after they got married. 

In these fantasies, the house they lived in was the one Rudy’s family owned back in Buena Village, or at least one of the same size. The two of them shared the same bed, naturally. When she woke up every morning, Rudy was lying by her side. He greeted her with a “good morning” and a kiss, then got dressed and went off to do his morning training. 

Heading downstairs, Sylphie made breakfast. This was one of her jobs around the household. It wasn’t anything too fancy, but Rudy always had a solid appetite, so she made plenty of food. By the time everything was ready, Rudy was back. He ate the food and said something like “delicious as always” once he finished. He didn’t talk while he was eating, though. Sylphie just watched him pack it in, serving second helpings when he wanted one. 

Once breakfast was over, Rudy headed off to work. Sylphie handed him a lunch box and waved goodbye, then headed off to meet up with Princess Ariel. They both had jobs, just like Rudy’s parents. She hadn’t come up with a specific job for Rudy, but it was just a fantasy, so that wasn’t too important. 

When Sylphie finished her day at work and came back home, she ran into Rudy at the entrance. He smiled a little at the sight of her, brushed the snow off her shoulders, and pulled her in for a hug. Then they headed inside together and turned on the heating stove. Before too long, they had the bath ready. Once they cleaned themselves off and warmed up, it was time for dinner. While Sylphie worked on that, Rudy was making figurines by the stove or something. 

Dinner was a little different from breakfast. Rudy was much more talkative, for one thing. He told her all about his day, and the things he’d seen at work. All of his stories were amazing… too amazing for her to think up in advance. She giggled at his jokes and felt impressed by his accomplishments. 

Once the meal was over, they spent some quiet time together on the sofa by the heating stove. Sylphie snuggled against Rudy, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Sometimes they talked; sometimes they didn’t even say a word. Before too long, they started gazing into each other’s eyes, and their faces drew closer. Their shadows would overlap as Rudy picked Sylphie up in his arms, turned off the stove, and carried her to the bedroom. 

Rudy’s kind of a pervert sometimes, you know? He might say “How many kids do you want?” or something like that. But then I’ll say, “As many as you want to give me, Rudy!” He’d probably just laugh and say “That might be too many,” then start taking off my clothes… and then I laugh too, and say “Better get started, then!” Hee hee hee! 

“—Hee hee hee!” 

“Ahem.” 

“Gah!” Snapped back to reality by a tactful throat-clearing from Ariel, Sylphie shut off her internal monologue, flushed bright red, and looked at the floor while fiddling with her ears. 

“Now then,” said Ariel gently. “Take that fantasy of yours and imagine another woman in your place.” 

Sylphie tried to picture Nanahoshi taking on the rule of Rudeus’ wife. She imagined herself living in the house next door, watching them through the windows as they went about their day. But when Rudy and Nanahoshi noticed her, they smirked a little and shut the curtains… 

“You don’t like that idea, do you?” 

“N-No! Not one bit!” 

“Very well then.” With a firm nod, Ariel looked Sylphie right in the eyes. “Whether this operation succeeds or fails is entirely dependent on your efforts, Sylphie.” 

“R-Right!” 

In case this wasn’t enough, Ariel chose to hammer the point home. “I won’t allow you to chicken out again. Not this time. If you come back and tell me that you couldn’t find the courage to speak up when it counted, then I’ll never help you with this again. In fact, I’ll do worse than that. By my authority as Ariel Anemoi Asura, Second Princess of the Kingdom of Asura, I’ll forbid you to ever contact Rudeus Greyrat again.” 

Sylphie swallowed loudly. She understood, of course, that Ariel was only trying to push her forward. This was less a literal threat than an order to approach this very, very seriously. 

Seeing the tension on Sylphie’s face, Ariel slowly said her final words on the matter. “Give this everything you’ve got.” 

“Uh… yes, ma’am!” 

“Very good.” Ariel nodded deeply one more time, and proceeded to outline her plan. 

Sylphie 

W E WASTED NO TIME putting our operation into action. 

It was lunchtime on a school day, and I was on the first floor of the dining hall. The room was packed full of “common” students: ex-adventurers, beastfolk, demons, and all sorts of other people. 

The noble-born students tended to mock this group ruthlessly at every chance they got. But most of their insults were based on nothing more than prejudice. Princess Ariel found that attitude absurd; she liked to point out that only four hundred years ago, some of the very tribes they mocked so freely had nearly driven humanity to total defeat. 

Not that any of that was too relevant right now. 

I spotted Rudy sitting at the very back table, chatting casually with a small group of friends. He was with Zanoba, King Badigadi, and Julie, who sat at the far end of their table holding a cup in both hands and shooting glances at the other three. 

“Do explain, Sir Badi. What are the most crucial qualities of a figurine, in your estimation?” 

“They must be cuter than the real thing! And more importantly, they must be sexy enough to excite all those who see them!” 

“Ah yes, the erotic element! Your tastes are truly refined, your Majesty. Here, have another drink…” 

Badigadi was guzzling down large amounts of beer. His dark skin looked slightly flushed. Rudy and Zanoba watched with big smiles on their faces, regularly refilling their mugs. This was strange. This dining hall didn’t even serve alcohol. Had they gone out to buy some beforehand? 

“Incidentally, Sir Badi, what would you think about me making a figure of Empress Kishirika? A very sexy one, of course.” 

“You wish to depict my fiancée? But you don’t even know what she looks like fully-grown, boy.” 

“That’s exactly the point, though. Once she’s back to normal, you won’t get to see the charming miniature version of her any longer! That’s why we need to preserve her current appearance for posterity.” 

“I see! You may have a point there. The woman’s a bit careless at times, though, and she’s been known to get herself killed rather abruptly. I’d expect she’ll be back in her smaller form sooner or later.” 

“But surely the décor of your castle would be much improved by a display of Empress Kishirika at various ages!” 

“You’re a human, boy. You won’t live long enough to see her at all her ages.” 

“That’s the problem, all right. If we’re going to make that dream come true, I’ll have to pass on my figurine-making techniques to future generations. And that’s why I could really use your support, your Majesty! Ehehehe.” 

“Bwahahaha! For all your power, you play the role of a wheedling salesman oddly well! I approve of your naked greed, boy. What is that you desire, then? Money? Men?” 

“Oh, nothing like that. I was merely hoping you could put in a good word for me every now and then…” 

Rudy had his evil smile on again. It really did make him look like a total villain. He didn’t smile very often, but when he did, it tended to turn out like that. That was one thing that hadn’t changed since I met him. 

There’d been someone who smiled like that in the royal court as well—a man I knew as Minister Darius. He was our mortal enemy, and the one who eventually drove us out of the country. But his smile looked like Rudy’s, so I’d never flinched when he turned it on us. Maybe it was just something that came with being a clever person. 

Rudy and Zanoba seemed really devoted to their hobby of using Earth magic to make little sculptures of people. It was hard for me to comment on the quality of their work, but at the very least, the figurines were really detailed and precise. When Rudy showed me a Red Wyrm sculpture they were working on, I’d been seriously impressed. 

They were also training Julie, who’d proven to be a talented young dwarf, to help them out. And now they were trying to rope a Demon King into the business as well. It was obvious they were really serious about this project. I did want to join in and help them out, since I was a pretty good mage myself, but that wasn’t an option. I had to save my mana for protecting Princess Ariel. 

“Hello, Rudeus.” 

“Oh! Hello there, Master Fitz.” When I called out to him, Rudy looked up at me with a pleased expression. I’d been acting a little strangely around him recently, but it didn’t seem like he was wary of me or anything. Honestly, he could be kind of oblivious sometimes. 

Still… it felt like proof that he trusted me completely. That did make me happy. 

“What can I do for you?” 

“Uhm…” I hesitated for a moment. It was kind of hard to broach the subject with Zanoba and the Demon King watching me. “Er, would you mind stepping outside with me for a minute?” 

“Not at all. Zanoba, can you handle the rest?” 

“Of course, Master! Leave all the details to me.” 

Rudy and Zanoba sure were close these days. I couldn’t help feeling just a little jealous. 

I led Rudy out of the dining hall and found a quiet, isolated spot to talk. Now it was time to get to the point. 

“Go right ahead, please,” Rudy said. He looked so handsome when he had that serious expression on his face. It wasn’t even fair. 

“Uhm… actually, I have a pretty big favor to ask of you.” 

“You do? Well, rest assured!” said Rudy, thumping a fist lightly to his chest. “I’ll do everything I can, of course!” 

“Hold on a second. I didn’t even tell you what I’m asking yet…” 

“I’m not going to refuse you, Master Fitz. Well, not unless I absolutely have to.” 

Wow. That was really sweet, actually. It made me feel terrible about deceiving him like this. It was bad enough that I couldn’t even bring myself to tell him who I was… 

“Okay, so… you remember how I told you Princess Ariel was spending a couple days at the home of a noble she knows? Well, they had this bodyguard there, and apparently she’s really strong.” 

“Ah. You want help fighting this bodyguard, then?” 

“What? No, no!” 

“Oh, I see. That’s good, then. I’m not much for fighting.” 

Not much for fighting…? Is that supposed to be a joke? Should I be laughing right now? Let’s just move on… “Princess Ariel started to get annoyed by how much this noble boasted about this bodyguard. She insisted that ‘her Fitz’ was even stronger.” 

“Ahah. Got it.” 

“So then the noble tells her, ‘My bodyguard braved the Forest of Hail with a party of only four, and brought back the flower that grows in its depths,’ in this really boastful tone…” 

Rudy put a hand on his chin and nodded thoughtfully. “A flower that grows deep inside the Forest of Hail… she must mean the Freeze Fringe, right? Its petals can be used to make a powerful tonic, but it’s well-known for only growing there, and only in the winter.” 

Wow. That’s our Rudy. He knew that off the top of his head? It was a good thing we’d taken the time to do our research and pick a plant that actually existed. 

“The Forest of Hail is dangerous in the winter,” Rudy continued, “But if you head in there with a party of four A-ranked adventurers, it’s not that impressive an accomplishment. As long as everyone moves carefully, you could get the flower and get out without putting yourself in too much risk.” 

He went on to rattle off the names of the various monsters that resided in the Forest of Hail: Snow Hornets, White Cougars, Mustard Treants, and so on. I was a little stunned by how easily he pulled this information out of nowhere. How did he have all of this memorized? 

“Uhm, right. Anyway… Princess Ariel couldn’t bring herself to back down, so she told him ‘Fitz could pull that off with an even smaller group!’ Not that she asked me first.” 

“Now I see. So that’s the issue, is it?” Rudy nodded with a look of satisfaction. “I’ll get in touch with an adventurer friend of mine and have them sell you the flowers at a good price. That noble will never know you didn’t go there yourself.” 

“What?! That would just be cheating, Rudeus! I’m supposed to get the job done myself!” 

“Power comes in many forms. Having connections is one of them. I’ve got tons of adventurer friends, and I’m your friend. You’re just putting the relationships you’ve built to use. That’s a totally valid way to get things done.” 

Oh wow, listen to him playing around with words. What is he even talking about?! 

“Sorry, I just can’t do that. If word got out, I’d end up humiliating Princess Ariel.” 

“Hm, okay then. Let’s go get the flowers ourselves, then.” 

Rudy changed his tune easily enough. The idea of facing that dangerous forest with a party of two didn’t seem to intimidate him in the slightest. 

…Or so I thought, until the next sentence left his mouth. 

“Give me three days, and I’ll round up some guys I know. This should be simple enough with a group of ten or so helping out. Don’t worry, Stepped Leader’s in town right now. I’m sure I can get some of them to come along.” 

Now I was completely lost. “What? Rudeus, no! Ariel said I’d go with a smaller party! Why would we bring ten other people with us?” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that. They’ll just enter the forest a few hours before us coincidentally. Maybe some of them will be gathering materials there, and others hunting monsters for a job. They might happen to wipe out all the threats in our path, but none of them will touch the flowers. We’ll grab those all by ourselves.” 

Uh… wow. Talk about sneaky. Was this just how adventurers did things? 

No, no. Rudy had been an adventurer for years, and he’d learned just how dangerous forests really were. He was just worried about me getting hurt, since I was an amateur at this sort of thing. Yeah, that had to be it. Probably. 

“Look, d-do we really need all those other people? I bet you and me could handle it just fine on our own, Rudeus.” 

“…Oh, wait. Are you just asking me to be your bodyguard, Master Fitz?” 

Wasn’t that what I said at the start? Maybe not, actually… “Y-Yeah, that’s right! Can you help me out, Rudeus?” 

Rudy put one hand on his chin and thought for just a moment before nodding. “Okay then. You’ve helped me out in all sorts of ways, Master Fitz. It wouldn’t be right of me to turn you down.” 

“Th-Thanks, Rudeus! I was a little nervous about going out there alone.” 

Despite a few close shaves, I’d managed to get past the first hurdle. Honestly, though, it felt like he’d come up with a new plan every time I opened my mouth. Rudy really was something else… 

The operation moved on to its second phase. Rudy and I would be heading into the Forest of Hail. It was located about three days’ travel north of Sharia, ending right on the border with Basherant. 

I set out in my normal travelling gear, but Rudy showed up heavily equipped. He was carrying an enormous knapsack, which was apparently stuffed full of emergency supplies and rations. I said I’d expected him to come along empty-handed, given how strong he was… but he replied “You shouldn’t underestimate the dangers of any forest. There are some monsters out there that can dodge a Stone Cannon in mid-air.” 

That sounded totally absurd to me, but when I pressed him on the point, he said there were tons of creatures like that in the forests of the Demon Continent. I’d assumed it was some kind of joke at first, but his face was totally serious. 

The monsters known to appear in the Forest of Hail were B-ranked threats at worst, though. I could probably handle them just fine… “Sorry, Rudeus. It feels like I made you do all the prep work.” 

“No need to apologize. That’s part of the job when you’re on a bodyguard mission.” 

Wait. If that was how he was thinking about this… was he going to ask me for money at the end or something? “Uhm… should I be paying you for your services, then?” 

“Don’t be silly. I’m doing this because we’re friends. I don’t want anything from you.” 

For some reason, Rudy really emphasized the word “friends.” I wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean. “I mean, I could afford to pay you, if you want. It’s no big deal.” Ariel did pay me a regular salary, if not a large one. I didn’t have much to spend the money on, so my savings had been accumulating for a while. I could afford to rent Rudy for a couple days, at least. 

Oh, but… he’s supposed to be a King-tier magician now, right? D-Do I actually have enough? 

“Heh. I don’t come cheap, you know.” 

“W-Well, I guess you wouldn’t, but…” For some reason, I found myself remembering the slave market, and picturing Rudy climbing onto a stage naked. Buying Rudy… might be kind of fun… 

A funny feeling rushed through my lower half. I felt my face growing hot with embarrassment. “Uh, anyway! Let’s get started!” 

“Right.” 

Together, we stepped forward into the Forest of Hail. 

At first glance, it looked like a perfectly ordinary wood of the sort found all across the Northern Territories. We were surrounded by tall trees packed with snow. However, there was some sort of magical abnormality in this area that caused hail to fall very regularly. When you stepped on the snow here, it made a distinctive crunching sound. 

“The flowers bloom on a cliff on the far side of the forest. We’ll head straight there while clearing the snow in our path. Follow me and keep an eye on our surroundings, please.” 

With this announcement, Rudy started to march steadily forward, melting the snow in front of him as he went. I tried to help out as well, but I couldn’t get the hang of it. I had to assume he was using Fire magic, given the limited range of effect… but it wasn’t easy to continuously generate enough heat to melt a thick bed of snow. I could have done it if I wanted to, but it would have cost me way too much mana. Rudy spent his reserves of magic really lavishly. 

The snow here was deep enough to reach our shoulders, but he just kept clearing it as we moved along. At first, I was worried that the clouds of water vapor might attract monsters, but somehow, he wasn’t making any. When I asked him how he was doing it, he said that if you carefully controlled the temperature, you could get it just hot enough to make the snow melt without producing any clouds of steam. How much practice would it even take before you could do something like that? 

Focus, Sylphie. That’s not really important right now. 

It was time to get started with the plan. Taking a deep breath, I pointed to the staff that Rudy carried. “I remember bringing you this the other day, Rudeus. It’s an amazing staff. I’ve never seen a custom-made one with a colored magic stone outside the royal court before.” 

“Yeah. The young lady I was tutoring gave it to me as a gift on my tenth birthday.” 

Rudy looked a little sad for some reason. Come to think of it, he’d never told me much about this young lady he’d spent years tutoring. It felt like he didn’t want to talk about her. From everything I heard, she sounded like a really violent girl… maybe he had some bad memories from that time in his life. 

“Do you think I could try holding it for a while? All I have is my beginner’s wand, you know. I’ve always wanted to use a staff like that.” 

“Really? I assumed they’d give the bodyguard of a princess a nice staff if they wanted one.” 

“They said I didn’t need one, since I could cast spells silently anyway. Talk about cheap, huh?” 

Of course, this wasn’t the real reason I’d stuck with my little wand for so long. Rudy had given it to me as a gift, so it meant a lot to me. It was a common kind of rod, want. I couldn’t blame him for not recognizing it. 

“Well, go ahead. Get a nice good grip on the shaft, there.” 

For some reason, Rudy had a strange smirk on his face as he said this. Was there something funny about this that I wasn’t seeing? Feeling slightly nonplussed, I squeezed Rudy’s staff in my hands. It was a little awkward holding onto this thing. My hands were too small for it. 

“Yeah, it’s super thick. Are you supposed to hold this in both hands?” 

“…Maybe. I think they wanted to make sure I could still use it once I grew up.” 

“Hmm…” 

Smiling to himself, Rudy resumed his forward march and snow-clearing duties. I followed closely after him, still holding his staff. 

Okay. So far so good. Time for the next step… 

Bringing the ring I wore on my pinky to my mouth, I whispered the keyword, “Red tower,” as softly as I could. The small stone embedded in it changed from blue to red. 

This ring was one of the magical implements that Princess Ariel always wore on her person. When you spoke the keyword, its stone changed color—and so did the stone in its companion ring. The effect didn’t work over very large distances. But right now, the other ring in the set was waiting for my signal just outside this forest. 

Is this really going to work? 

I glanced nervously at the sky, and waited for the next stage of our plan to begin. 

Despite my anxiety, it happened soon enough. The sky began to grow cloudy with unnatural speed. Everything was going well so far. 

“Hm?” It didn’t take long for Rudy to notice the change in the weather. Looking up, he murmured “Rainclouds? That’s strange,” to himself. 

Rain almost never fell at this time of year in the Northern Territories. As a result, the protective gear most people wore wasn’t much good against it. The heavy stuff we had on was made of Snow Hedgehog fur. You could brush snow right off it before it melted, so it was really useful in the winter. Rain would soak right into it, though. And once it got drenched through, a single gust of arctic wind would basically freeze you solid. 

“It looks like it’s going to rain, Master Fitz,” Rudy called back to me, frowning. 

When something like this did happen, your only real options were to create a makeshift shelter on the spot or take refuge in a cave. The latter option was considered somewhat safer and more reliable. Rudy was very good at Earth magic, of course, but he wouldn’t want to keep spending mana just to keep us dry until the rain stopped. That was seriously tedious work. And so, I had an alternative proposal to offer. “Uhm, let’s see. Looking at the map, I think—” 

…there’s a cave just ahead, so let’s take shelter there. 

But before I could get the words out, Rudy shook his head and interrupted. “Don’t worry. I’ll scatter those clouds in no time.” He then lifted his hands toward the sky. 

Oh crap! 

In that instant, I realized I’d made a serious mistake. Rudy was a Saint-tier Water magician; manipulating the weather was second nature to him. Princess Ariel had told me that she’d hired two Advanced-tier Water magicians for this job, but they’d be no match for Rudy. He’d probably get rid of those clouds in no time at all. 

What do I do? What do I do? If it doesn’t start raining, the whole plan falls apart! 

Acting on reflex, I started to channel mana into the staff I held in my hands. I could feel it amplifying my power to a remarkable degree. Maybe I could do this after all… 

“Hmmm?” Still pointing his hands upward, Rudy tilted his head in puzzlement. He was probably confused by the clouds’ stubborn refusal to dissipate. What he didn’t know was that I was fighting to keep them together. I don’t know if Rudy wasn’t giving it his all, or if the staff gave me an edge, but the two of us were basically cancelling each other out. Which meant the two Advanced-tier magicians outside the forest could maintain control. 

Whispering silent prayers to no one in particular, I channeled more and more mana upward. I visualized the rain clouds growing fatter and spreading across the sky. I did it just like Rudy had taught me—gathering moisture, cooling it until it condensed, and letting it fall! 

“Hmm…” Rudy frowned again. A moment later, the first cold drops of rain fell upon us. “…Sorry, Master Fitz. Looks like I’m not performing well today.” He looked a little upset at this development, understandably. 

“Th-That’s okay, Rudeus. It’s probably because I was holding your staff.” 

“Even without my staff, I should have been able to scatter those easily enough,” he muttered, studying his hands. “I guess I haven’t done this much lately… am I just rusty? Or maybe…” 

I got the idea he suspected those rainclouds might have been intentionally created. Still, it probably hadn’t even occurred to him that I might have actively interfered with his attempt to dispel them. 

“Oh well. There’s not much we can do now that it’s coming down. There’s a cave up ahead, isn’t there? Let’s take shelter there.” 

“Y-Yeah! Good idea!” 

I nodded forcefully, and we started moving again at once. Our Snow Hedgehog gear sucked up the water like a sponge. Before too long at all, we were both freezing cold. 

All according to plan. 

“There it is!” Finally, shivering and soaking wet, we stumbled into our shelter. It was a small, natural cave, no more than ten meters deep. And it was also our real destination.