Chapter 16 [Mushoku Tensei]
It was currently Spring in the year K402 on the Armored Dragon Calendar.
Currently in one of the Asura Kingdom's well-known regions, the Fittoa region, Lord Sauros Boreas Greyrat was the fiefdom's lord. News of his potential successor has been rumored and slung around the lower echelons of the denizens of the Citadel of Roa, the Fittoa region's largest settlement. Of the lord's ten sons, there were only three names in the running to claim ownership of the region's lands: James, Gordon, and Philip.
The current state of the land and the Asura Kingdom itself was idyllic to say the least. Monsters were a thing that kept plaguing the people but compared to the other hazardous parts of the Central region, they may as well have been an annoyance at best. The only real news to be had from this kingdom was the political disputes between upper echelons of royalty and that was already something that I wanted no part in.
Its been over five weeks since Irene and I had popped into this world and so far, it's been…underwhelming? Is that the word for it? The nearest settlement just so happened to be the region's largest, the Citadel of Roa, so we spent a day traveling their on foot and another day finding an inn. Of course, I did have to bribe one of the guards with one gold coin just to let us in because the language barrier was getting in the way.
Communication Talent did prove its worth though once we've found ourselves a lovely inn to settle down in. The Innkeeper, Harold, was more than accommodating for the two of us. Once I paid one gold coin for him to allow us a permanent room until our departure from the city along with speaking to us at our request and teaching us the verbal and written human tongue. The talent's ability to make me bilingual as I keep encountering the foreign language required a few days of practice for me to properly speak it while writing/reading it required an additional 3 days of practice.
Irene learned to read and write the language in less than one day. The cheater didn't even have the talent available and just used her Telemetry on the Innkeeper and his family just to glean their memories and instinctively ingrain the language directly into her psyche. I felt so stupid for not asking why she kept purchasing advanced books days into our self-study.
"Ufufu, I thought that it was already obvious by now~." Ugh! That very night I found out, I vowed to make her pay in bed but by the end of it, I ended up getting swept up in the good mood of her success and made to love her as tenderly as I could. Tch, its what I get for let my guard down my natural weakness, bewitching MILFs.
Once we finally got the language down, we immediately gave our thanks to Harold and his family for putting up with our weird requests. So, I volunteered to help out his daughter Mabel with their Inn's errands and had even acted as their tavern's security for any unruly guests who were getting too violent with the bartender or handsy with the waitresses like Mabel. That along with my less than stellar career down at the local Adventurer's Guild seemed to keep us busy while we studied the other languages of this world.
Right now, we're learning the Beast God tongue after just finishing the Demon God and Fighting God languages. We needed to learn the Demon God tongue for understanding the denizens of the Magic Continent once our business on the Central Continent was over. The Fighting God language was sort of connected to our business with someone on the Magic Continent but that was a road we'll cross when it comes to it.
The Beast God tongue was just a fancy of mine. Yep, it was all just for fun. Totally not because I had plans to dip for the Sword Sanctum and snatch up that buxom, tanned cat girl. So, while stockpiling our knowledge with the local books found in libraries and bookstores, I registered myself at the Adventurer's Guild while Irene prepared for her planned trip and enrollment to the Ranoa Magic Academy. Now sending Irene, a master Enchanter, to be taught subpar magic at the school would be redundant if the true purpose wasn't to show her off.
Renown was a critical part in this world alongside having power. Nay, having the power and talent to show off to the world was one key feature that helped Rudeus in canon to be so well-known. So having someone whose literally centuries ahead of your higher tiered mage was bound to get her notoriety and respect. Plus, it'll get her an in with the Mage Guild and the funding to construct and produce the wealth of Magitech knowledge from her world of Fairy Tail to this one.
She particularly felt that the creation of airships would really leave quite the impact on a world currently in its version of the Middle Ages.
As for why I'm currently doing jobs at the Adventurer's Guild, well, its mostly because I wanted to get a feel for it and see if I can get my name out there. It was like a test to see if it would yield results so that Irene could join me and get famous that way and get into that Magic Academy as a Special Course student without paying tuition fees. However, the jobs at the Guild sucked. Apart from the occasional odd jobs, there was a severe lack of Monster hunting jobs out there to really spice things up.
After one week, I became E rank after doing menial jobs like killing a rat infestation, babysitting for a single father guardsman, helping an old lady pull out her weeds, patching up a roof, and another 6 F ranked jobs. The second week, I just cut to the chase by doing any D rank jobs I could find, which led me to gathering herbs outside of town for a magician and dealing with a stray Assault Dog monster lingered too close to the homes outside the walls of the Citadel. It actually took me until my third week to get promoted to D rank since the jobs here were already scarce.
After that I've just been focusing on just trying to get a C rank quest just to bump my rank up. I at least wanted to be a B rank before I departed to the Sword Sanctum to train there and collect Ghislaine. Bounty Tracker still shows that she's still in that location, so I needed to hurry before she starts moving off.
Walking through the doors of the guild, I waded my through the sparse crowd of adventurers that filled the hall and approached the still sparse wall of job requests.
Hm…
…
…
…
Ugh, all of these jobs just suck.
"Moving to another region seems like a good idea but I really wanted to just go straight to the Sword Sanctum after this…" Yeah, it seemed pretty redundant to waste too much time here when much of nothing was falling on my lap. "If I can't find anything then I guess I can go back and talk with Irene to move our plans up just a smid-."
"OH, COME ON! I already told you, I'm way too qualified for a job like this so why not just let me take." The whining and moaning of a young boy reached my ears. Looking over my shoulder, I and many of the other adventurers in the guild watched as a young brown-haired adventurer in green get into a tiff with the Guild's receptionist.
"Forgive me, Mr. Greyrat, but this job explicitly requests a party of at least 2 or more adventurers to take on. This is a fairly high C rank job for any one C rank adventurer to take on after all." Miss Olivia the receptionist gave the boy one of her charming smiles, but-wait, Greyrat?
"And like I said! I'm more than enough for it! Hmph, haven't you seen the other losers in here? What makes you think that they'd be able to keep up with me." Smug and sounds a bit like a prick, but I can't say for sure that this kid is who I think he is. Leaning over the counter, the young boy shot the receptionist a wink and a sly smile. "Come on, ma'am. Surely you can make an exception for me this one time. If you do, I'll give you a demonstration of just how well my skills in bed can give my skills with the sword a run for its money."
Ah, there it is. So, this guy was Paul Greyrat after all. He still looked young, but it was expected considering how early into canon we are. Gauging from his birth in 388 to now, he should be at 14 years of age, and already he's soliciting an older woman like Olivia for sex. Well, this time period was in the Middle Ages so I can't really push my modern-day morality here, not like I already lost that privilege by becoming a Contractor for the Company.
"Mr. Greyrat, please for the fifth time." Ah, Olivia's smile didn't quite reach her eyes anymore. She was getting mad. "These are the rules established by the Guild. If you were to take this job then get denied by the giver of said job, then you would automatically have to deem the quest a failure and pay back twice the reward compensation."
"Like I told you, why don't you just look the other way for me this time and say that I went with a party, then when its all over and when I get that sweet reward… I'll pay you back the best way I know how~."
"Sir, please just listen…" Olivia dejectedly sighed as her warning went over the kid's head.
"Poor lass, having to put up with that little shite."
"Yeah, here he comes barging earlier declaring himself as the strongest, but he ain't he even better than the rest of us who're still stuck at the lower ranks."
The adventurers around me muttered and spoke ill of the boy, but I couldn't blame them. Paul was sort of acting like a dunce and dick right about now. Still, that talk of a C rank mission has me sort of interested. I wonder if I can see about getting it.
As I approached the front desk, Olivia just kept on arguing with Paul until she perked up at seeing me approach the desk. This had the unintentional effect on Paul to round on the guy stealing her focus, only for him to stagger back upon noticing the tall and muscular 6 foot man towering over most of everyone in the hall. He caught himself and mustered up a petulant glare that I chose to ignore.
"Good morning, Olivia." I waved.
"And good morning to you too, Mr. Abbot." Ah, there was that gracious smile and bow that she loved to give me each morning. "What can I do for you today? Have you found any adequate jobs to take today?"
"Not really, I wanted to try my hand at a C rank job but there aren't many posted today." I sighed. "I overheard you guys talking about one that was available and wanted to hear more about it."
"Well too bad old man becau-!"
"Sure, it will be my pleasure!" Paul deadpanned and fell to the ground as Olivia happily regaled the requirements and specifics of the quest to me in full. A pack of Assault Dogs have been showing recent activity near the settlement Buena Village (huh, how ironic that Paul wanted a mission to go there) and have been terrorizing the farmers that live there. The local knights and guards have faced severe casualties with these growing number of monsters.
The reward was a hefty 10 Silver Asura coins.
Yeesh, this did sound serious if that was the payout for a C rank job.
"If its not too much trouble, can I request for this job and bring some people to party with me." I held up the poster with the request.
"Sure, but I don't believe you have an official party or anyone you've partied with, Mr. Abbot." Olivia frowned, she looked just about ready to slap me with the same rhetoric as she did with Paul. Too bad for her that I'm not an idiot.
"Don't worry about it, I have a dependable partner who can more than easily set me up with a fitting party in no time." Getting Irene to enchant a capable party would be a drag though, so I may have to swipe one of the Mirror Maidens or enchanted maids in my pocket dimension. "However, if there are any others who want to join me…" I subtly looked to Paul who was back on his and glaring at me.
"No. Don't need it so buzz off! I've already claimed this job as mine, old man, and this gorgeous beauty was in the middle of letting me accept it." Paul huffed.
"No I wasn't." Olivia bluntly denied but Paul just ignored her just to jab his finger to my chest.
"Besides, I don't need some old fart, who is a rank below me from holding me back." Paul snorted.
I chuckled. "Wow, lucky guess little man." Paul gritted his teeth at my nickname for him. "I am a D rank, but I'm pretty sure I can handle the job so won't you reconsider?"
"Pfft! Way to prove my point, ya old bastard." Paul clicked his tongue. "I'm not about to do the whole job and let you take half of the earnings…" That was…a valid point to make.
Still didn't mean that he wasn't being less of a dick about it though. "Oh, then won't you reconsider if…" I picked a Gold Asura Coin from my pocket and flipped it into the air. Immediately Paul and everyone's eyes lingered on it before I snatched it mid-air with a grin. "I made you a wager." Paul spat to the side yet kept his gaze on me, his plain interest was clear in those green eyes.
"I'll prove just how capable I am in a spar. If you win, then I'll leave you alone and to repay you for wasting your time, I'll give you this gold coin that I found on the ground." Some of the adventurers dangerously eyeing me up, returned to their business. Good, don't want to seem like I have more than I do around some of these blokes. "If I win, then you'll have to form a party with me, take the job, and accept me as its leader."
"Heh!" Paul snickered then fell into full blown laughter. "Hahahaha! Fine then old man, I'll play along with you." The boy's earlier caution when around me was blowing aside in the wind at mention of a spar. "But don't take it back after I flatten your ass, alright?"
"Wouldn't think of it, kid." I smirked as the clamoring of adventurers who were nearby to hear it joined Paul when evacuating the Guild to head for the nearby courtyard where adventurer's trained and sparred.
Hearing Olivia's life draining sigh, I turned to look at her and she looked massively relieved. "Thanks for that, Mr. Abbot."
"Don't mention it, Olivia. I'm just glad to relieve your burden, after all you do have to put up with the likes of us burly adventurers all the time." I chuckled.
"Oh, its usually not much trouble to get some…simple adventurers to step in line once you've gotten their attention~." Olivia giggled and leaned forward to give a generous view of her lovely cleavage. In the story, both the manga and anime, it never dawned on me about how busty all of the guild receptionists for the Adventurer guild were. I chalked it up to it being because sex sells, but in the context of how rowdy men in this time period could be, it was definitely a nice weapon/motivator to keep them in check.
Still I know when to repress my horndog tendencies to my wives and no one else. "I can see that." I laughed her off much to her consternation.
"Hmph, and here I thought I had you mesmerized that time, Mr. Abbot." She pouted.
"Those certainly are nice, but I'm not going to fall for an obvious trick especially when the seduction being employed is fake as hell." I laughed loudly.
"Who says I'm faking…" Olivia playfully glowered. At that I looked a little closer at her and noticed a bit of red dusting her cheeks as she tried and failed to keep eye contact with me. Huh, I figured that a Tier 1 target like her wouldn't be affected by Dragon Aura, but it would seem that my natural appearance lined up with her tastes.
"…" Scratching my cheek, I sheepishly chuckled to myself and immediately snatched one of the extra feathered pens on the desk with some stray paper. Scribbling over the black spaces, I folded it up and handed it over to Olivia. "That's the name of the Inn where I'm staying and my room number. If Harold, the Innkeeper starts to ask why you're there just tell him Michael sent ya."
"W-What, really?" Flustered, Olivia gaped like a fish at me.
"My wife doesn't mind me being open with our relationship. If you're really interested, then hit me up. I promise to show you a good time." I walked off and waved goodbye over my shoulder. Well, hopefully she will show up and give Irene and I the joy of rocking the world of an uncaptured sexual partner. Already she was giving so many unsubtle hints to bring Emma, the innkeeper's daughter, into our bedroom. I didn't want to do the innkeeper like that, so we were mostly civil around Emma.
But enough about warming our bed for tonight, lets talk about how I beat the arrogance out of Paul!
As expected, Paul was talking major shit before I even walked out to face him. He was making promises left and right to pay for everyone's drinks at the bar once he secured my gold coin and won while flirting with a couple of female adventurers amongst the crowd. I suggested we use wooden swords provided by the bins outside and he took that as me being lily livered not to face him with actual weapons (which would against the point of this being a spar), but he still acquiesced with my decision.
With the two of us prepared, we immediately fell straight into the fight…or well if you can even call it a "fight".
Don't get me wrong, Paul was exceptionally talented as a swordsman. There was no denying that this kid was just straight up born to cut a bitch. He used all styles of this world's swordsmanship like a genius. North God Style was the lynchpin that made him able to even do this with how he can close the gap by running all fours like a dog before either relentlessly focusing on offense with Sword God style or falling back into defense with the fluid parrying and steadfast guarding of Water God style.
Flow.
The Longsword of Silence.
These techniques should be beyond what anyone his age should learn and yet he was capable of executing them so skillfully.
Although, it was a shame really…
*THUNK!*
"Wha-!?" Paul gasped mid-strike as his plotted attempt to strike my head easily guarded by my wooden sword's… "The handle!?" His eyes widened and he stumbled back as I sent him reeling with but a shove of my arm.
He possessed so much talent yet if one looked beyond the spectacle of all three of these sword styles converging into a special blend when in the heat of battle, they'd see that this was simple a happy accident. I began my retaliation by striking the boy's legs while he was busy regaining his footing. This style was whole stitched together with no thought for counterbalancing its weaknesses.
Yes, his getting closer to me on all fours did make him an easy target but fails to account for the fact that such a method could be disrupted if you went for his legs.
"Guagh! Y-You bastard-!" Paul yelped in pain and fell back to a stationary stance with blade at the ready as I slowly encroached into his range. Striking forth, my blade was immediately intercepted by his own and like a stream of water, his form liquidly weaved around my own…
…Then my form weaved in a counter-like manner to his own, following my own flow so to speak. The boy was gobsmacked as mid-movement, he was now stuck following his own stream until it intersected with my own. My blade was mere inches from striking him in the face before he altogether ceased his motion to haphazardly block my attack.
This time he was sent tumbling backwards onto his back, dazed and infuriated that he of all people was getting pushed back by some random "old guy" (little bastard, I'm not that old…Those 10 years in the Time Chamber don't count).
"You're skilled but…you could do better."
"No one asked you!" Paul snarled and fell into a deep stance that had him lower his body closer to the ground. His body tensed up yet relaxed at the same time. His legs were damaged so North God style wasn't an option. Water God style nearly ended up with him getting knocked the fuck out. So, Sword God style was his only remaining option.
A poor decision honestly because he was just wide open (I hope appreciates I'm letting him do this) and no matter just how fast he was…
The ground at Paul's feet slightly gave away as he shunted himself straight for me, his sword reeled back eliciting no sound whatsoever despite his body basically becoming a blur.
He would have hit had I not already struck back with my own Longsword of Silence just as he was seconds from grazing me.
"Thanks for the match, kiddo." I dusted myself and yawned as I walked past the stiff young man who just taken an enhanced wooden sword to the jaw. There was no sound of my weapon even hitting Paul, the only thing that could be heard from my opponent was his body limply hitting the ground.
It truly was a shame. If the kid would really train his ass of right now, he'd be more than just an Advanced level swordsman who needed to coast off his talent alone to get by. That was one reason why this match up was just horrid in Paul's favor. The other reason being that I'm too broken of a fighter for him to ever defeat.
Martial Talent along with having the prodigy martial artists of Son Goku and Sun Wukong as my templates have virtually made learning any new style of combat trivial. Had Paul not decide to show Longsword of Light or Flow when the began, I may have come out of this fight empty handed. But no, I managed to learn one advanced moves from the Sword God style and a basic technique from the Water God style just by beating up a 14 year old kid…
…
…Okay, I really did not like the sound of the way I said that sentence.
The crowd was silent and while some saw me in a new, intrigued light, many just looked unsettled with how casually I dismantled my opponent without breaking a sweat. Sighing to myself, I pulled out the golden asura coin and grunted, "Thanks for watching guys, all drinks and meals are on me!" Their cheers alleviated the tension as I barreled the wooden swords and carried Paul's limp body over my shoulder as the crowd and I went to the first tavern by us.
Paying for literally the whole day, I spent a while just hanging out with the adventurers and bar denizens before parting ways to revisit Olivia at the Guild. She was a little creeped out that I was carrying Paul like a sack of potatoes but happily complied in assigning him to my newly formed party, [Banner of the Crimson Wryms].
The name was bound to get attention so after I grabbed this kid's things (huh, guess he really did just stroll into town), I promised to take him to the inn where I'm staying at. I walked a good while before swiftly ducking into a dark alleyway to mask my Instant Transmission just to teleport to Irene's side in the Inn.
Popping up in front of her, I found my wife still in her night gown reading through a very thick tome that was joined by the many others stacked by our bedside.
"Welcome back, beloved." She put her book aside to walk over and give me a peck on the lips. "I take it you're morning at the guild has been busy?" She slyly nudged her head at Paul's unconscious form on my shoulder.
"Yup." Without a care, I dropped the boy onto our bed. "Don't let him touch you, he has a thing for busty women like you."
"Ufufu, thanks for the warning but aren't you the same, dear?"
"Yeah, but I know you won't turn me into a mouse if I suddenly decide to feel you up." I retorted.
"True but a mouse though?" Irene playfully tapped her chin. "I'm more partial to frogs as of late, especially after seeing that…erm…"Disney" film with Paimon." I'm not even surprised that Paimon's watching Disney. Well, at least she's watching some good old movies with actual taste.
"Preference aside, I'm just going to capture him." And soon my shroud sucked up Paul's prone form and in no time at all, my will through the shroud then superseded his own (which lacking due to his lack of consciousness) and now I was up a retinue member, a Familiar.
[Paul Greyrat (Tier 6): Captured – 60 credits]
"And now I have a companion and skilled warrior to prepare for the fight against Hitogami." I grunted and tossed Paul's form onto the bed. "We'll discuss his training at a later point in time but for now, I'm going to be off to the Sword Sanctum today."
"Oh? So soon?" Irene tittered.
"Yep." I plucked my hair and created an identical clone of myself. "I'll leave one clone here to advance the ranks of the Guild, see if they can gather some canon characters along the way into their party, kill Geese, and gain notoriety." Gathering my things, I opened the window in our room and summoned for a cloud (my ride) to gravitate next to it. "With the power of Company bullshit, I was able to learn the basic stances of Sword God just battling Paul alone, so I'm technically at an Advanced Rank now. It'll make integrating myself at Gal's place more tolerable."
"Hm."
I spun on my heel to give my wife a hug and smile, "Good luck at Ranoa and be safe, okay?"
"And you be sure to enjoy yourself with your…feline prize, dear." Irene smirked.
I laughed. "Oh, you know I will…" I mentally began to cross off her name off the list just below Mirko and just above Caenis. "Also…" I shot a glance at Paul's direction. "I know its sort of a stupid way to use your enchantment but could you perhaps create a partner for Paul that'll keep his…third leg in check?"
Irene blinked in confusion. "You want an enchanted human that will seal this young man's pride?"
"N-No, no! I don't know why but I feel like it'll kill the bastard if we don't let him…rut." I shrugged.
"Well, if it's for the sake of the mission, then I won't have any objections. Now what are his prefere-?"
"As long as she has big tits and a nice ass, he'll fuck it." I groaned and rolled my eyes.
"Huh, what a simple boy…reminds me of you, dear." Irene snickered.
"That comparison physically hurt me, Irene." I grimaced then sight. "But when you're right, you're right." Sure, Paul did do questionable things in the series, the offensive one raping Lilia and being scummy playboy, but I'm not much better.
In fact, I'm worse, I literally enslave gals and dudes to become the lifeblood of the Company so compared to me, Paul is…still a huge dick but not as big as me though.
"Mwah!" I kissed Irene's forehead and waved. "Love you and see you in hopefully a year or two!" I hopped out the window onto my cloudy steed and zoomed off into the horizon with speeds so fast that no one managed to keep track of me or even know that someone had just flown through the sky at high speeds.
The Holy Land of the Sword wasn't too far of a trip from the Fittoa region, it was just all the way up North. So, my flight took me at most a good minute or two to fly over the Red Dragon's Upperjaw and reach the snowy wilds that lead to the towering monastery in the distance. Once my feet sunk into the knigh-high layer of snow, I took in my surroundings before looking up at my destination.
"Finally, I get to capture one of the best girls that this world has to offer." I mentally recounted my list of goals as I took my first step forward.
-Become an S-ranked Adventurer
-Become a Sword Emperor of the Sword God Style
-Capture Ghislaine Dedoldia and make her Ghislaine Abbot
-Capture Elinalise/Rostelina Dragonroad, and cure her curse
-Find and recruit Kalman III
-If all else fails, beat him into submission until he joins
-Explore the depths of the Ringus Sea for the Fighting God Armor
-Recruit Ruijerd and help clear the Superd Tribe's name
-Conquer the Magic Continent and unify the Demon Lords under my banner
-Defeat Atofe and capture her as new wife (Should I throw Imoya and Chirei at her?)
-Identify if a Mana Catastrophe will even happen in this timeline
-Ally with the Dragon God
-If all negotiations fail, defeat and capture Orsted
Spoiler: Grand Mission: "Death of the Man God"
Well, its going to be a long road to reach that point but I have plenty of time on my side to get it done.
"Alright, lets do this!" I vigorously nodded to myself and began my quest for strength and feline coochie.