Mushoku Tensei

Volume 19 Chapter 1: The Present Situation

Part 1

Dear Paul-sama,

It has been one and a half years.

I will be 20 soon, and my sisters will be turning 14.

I’m still working for Orsted while continuously training.

Orsted is knowledgeable, but it doesn’t appear that he is good at teaching others.

Additionally, because he rarely uses magic, there is no demonstration.

He would teach chants and give pointers, but probably because he is a genius, misunderstandings often happen.

Maybe I'm just a bad student.

I only get about a tenth of what's taught.

Owing to the memories remaining from my previous life, I could understand the principles and reach [Saint] class in the early years, but to surpass the walls of [King] class, that is not enough…

For example, the Fire Saint Magic 『Flash Flame [Flashover]』 is a way to make the flame spread in a vast area instantly.

By using light to generate heat in the air, a bit like Begirama but also somewhat different.

Once I have used a magic with an incantation, I can immediately use the voiceless version of it, which puzzles Orsted.

Orsted does not only teach me about magic, but also other things, such as how to fight other magicians.

Afterwards, he taught me numerous techniques from the Sword God Style, like what to be careful of and what to counter with.

A magician that specializes in fire magic when mixed in with a swordsman is very hard to defend against.

Therefore, many groups of magicians and swordsmen use this tactic a lot, so we must respond accordingly.

Simple PvP tactics.

As one who boasted high offensive ability due to having numerous offensive magics and a foresight eye, I was told that I could reduce the number of opponents by throwing them into confusion and then dealing fatal blows when facing them one by one.

It's not much different from what I had been doing in the past, but somehow, the result is different when I do it consciously.

Training with Eris and Orsted, as well as occasionally teaching Sylphy, Norn, and Aisha, has had some beneficial effects.

Through continuous training, I have attained:

[Saint]-class Fire and Wind magic

[Saint]-class Healing and Detoxification magic

[Intermediate]-class God Barrier magic

It’s very good progress for only a year.

I can see that I have been fooling around too much in the past.

However, despite my other gains, drawing a summoning magic circle is still quite challenging for me, and I can't draw it very well.

I can’t be playing around now if I want to master so many arts.

Anyway, I have grown a little stronger.

Training with Orsted has also helped me do his jobs.

After the uproar in the Asura Kingdom, there weren't many difficult jobs to handle.

For example, helping an adventurer that was trapped inside a labyrinth,

Or helping a merchant stranded inside a forest about to become a demon's meal,

Or going to a slave market, purchasing a slave boy, and selling him somewhere else.

Well, these were odd jobs; my work is mainly helping other people. I also enjoy it.

Basically, those who we help now will become useful to Orsted in the future.

For example, we helped a young female dwarf thief called Tal Qi the other day.

She wasn't important, but her son would become the assassins guild leader in the future.

He would also become a man that would assassinate a certain person, but if that dwarf girl is killed, it will become Orsted's loss.

Of course, it doesn't really matter since Orsted could go to kill that certain person, who would get in his way in the future, himself.

But by helping step-by-step while considering the future is also a way Orsted could preserve his magic.

By changing the past, he saves himself trouble in the future.

It seems the key is to make sure that Orsted is in his best condition for the [decisive battle].

Orsted has learned [what to do for someone who might die young] from his long loops.

Which will lead to [this person will give me an advantage] in the future.

By adding me into his team, he could move more efficiently than in all the loops he previously experienced.

The divergence factors somehow felt seemingly random.

All in all, I'm just mostly setup for making new allies.

That's basically why Orsted doesn't help me.

He has something else to do in another place.

When an important [Flag] has to be set, he will go there himself.

Hitogami also doesn't interfere that much.

At least, he doesn't interfere when I’m moving alone.

If you look at it, it's probably because he's interfering directly with Orsted, as the missions that Orsted does are probably the more critical events for Hitogami.

Although, there were times when I worked directly with Orsted.

When I do, one or two of Hitogami's apostles will definitely appear.

Strangely enough, it was never all three at once. Maybe one has been working behind the scenes?

As of now, we have no way to ascertain the reason, so that makes me nervous.

Can we really leave that aside?

Shouldn't Ofsted be more aggressive?

When I asked him about that, Orsted only shook his head lightly and said,

[According to the future diary, Hitogami is still trying to change the future.]

So, it’s okay with what we're doing right now.

Hitogami is trying to change the future.

…By my prediction, the next big confrontation would involve Cliff.

In the diary, Cliff was dead.

Hitogami is probably involved, but I can't be sure of that yet.

Orsted also hasn't told me much about this matter.

Anyway, I do my job, report back to the office, meet my friends and my family, and then do some training in my spare time.

Such is my life.

Part 2

Oh, and speaking of work.

I also been building up work-related infrastructure.

First is the office--the hut in the Magic City Sharia suburbs.

The place where we made the [Magic Armor] has become our office.

Because it will be inconvenient for us to continue to use it as-is, we renovated it.

It is a one story building, but inside there is a conference room, a sleeping room, and a research room.

It's a good place to carry out strategy meetings and to some extent, sleeping.

I mean… sometimes I need to rest a little because I am too anxious.

Our meeting minutes and action reports are all filed away, which makes me uneasy… But with so much information about who-did-what, who survived, and what kind of impact it will have in the future, there are no other way I can keep track of all that.

Anyway, I also made an arsenal.

That is where I put the [Magic Armor] and other magic tools or Magic ItemsImbued products I often use.

Miniaturizing the [Magic Armor] was a success… but let's not go into the details on that right now.

The armory has large amount of tools that I use for work.

If stolen, it's worth an entire life's fortune.

With that in mind, I used Earth magic to lock it, but the thought that it might be stolen is scary.

Orsted said these trifling equipment are not worth hassling over, but it's something that needs to be done.

I should hire a manager.

But that's not all.

A basement has been added to the main office.

It is a huge basement, basically a labyrinth made with my earth magic.

The basement is divided into 20 rooms, and there is a magic teleport circle in each room.

When you step into one of the rooms, you will be transferred to one of the major places around the world… well that's the plan.

Only five of these rooms have magic teleport circles so far.

Asura Kingdom, Holy Kingdom of Milis, the Great Forest, Kingdom of the Dragon King, and the southern part of the Demon Continent.

Only those so far.

It's because I need to setup magic teleport circles at the destination as well.

Also, Orsted doesn't go to places that have low population, but if there are too many people, Teleport Magic is difficult to set.

Due to this, the number of teleport destinations are few.

Of course, more will be added.

Part 3

Well, Paul-sama.

That’s enough about work, I’m sure you're bored of it by now.

I'm sure you're feeling impatient.

Now let's talk about the children, or rather your grandchildren.

First, my eldest daughter.

Lucy Greyrat.

She is growing up fast.

We celebrated her third birthday just the other day.

She could now walk and runs around the house with a [Dotadota] sound.

After she learned some words, she began to speak loudly- I think it's due to Eris's influence- and the house has become lively.

In addition, Sylphy also began to teach her magic and human language recently.

This girl got a special education from the age of three.

Sylphy is … becoming a teaching mom.

When she puts on the triangle glasses, her night lessons with me suddenly become so intense.

Well, let’s set aside Sylphy for now, and talk about Lucy.

She seldom meets me because of my work.

Sometimes, there are times when her expression is a little surprised when I come back.

It is a face that says [Who is this guy].

It is very sad.

However, if Sylphy says [Greet your Papa], she says [Welcome back, Papa.]

When she says it, she is so cute that I want to eat her, but what immediately follows is [Where is Papa?] as she faces me, and she hides behind Sylphy.

I am very sad.

The way this is going, it looks like I won’t be referred to as a respected father by her in the future.

If it becomes that way, I will be sad.

Once, I brought Lucy to Orsted's place.

This was to test whether Orsted's curse would affect Lucy.

Testing whether what Hitogami said is true or not.

I took her to him thinking that.

As it turns out, the curse did not work on Lucy.

When Lucy met Orsted for the first time she was showing beaming eyes.

Reaching for his silver hair, she shouted [Papa! Papa!]

She said Papa!

It was an attitude that even made me perplexed.

At the time, I thought of killing Orsted on the spot.

That's a lie, I'm sorry.

There is no way I would harbor such strong murderous intent.

Yeah, I didn't have even a bit of interest in that.

This is because Lucy is used to seeing Sylphy's white hair, and Orsted who has a similar hair color might look like a relative.

When I told Orsted's name to her, she remembered the name immediately saying [Osute~tsu, Osute~tsu!]

It's how she pronounces it. (!)

While giving sidelong glances to my bitter face, Orsted went and gave a piggyback to Lucy.

Lucy grabbed hold of Orsted's hair and tried to tear it off.

When I said [Pulling hair is bad],

Orsted gave me an interesting answer [Don't worry, just this much won't hurt my saint dragon touki].

He doesn't seem bothered by my daughter's approach.

Of course, since Lucy is cute.

However, with this, Hitogami's words also increased in credibility.

[Orsted … and my descendants will work together to defeat Hitogami.]

When I told Orsted about it, he responded with,

[Do not trust Hitogami's words.]

And, he stared at me with a scary look on his face.

I didn't mean to trust them of course.

However, I feel that not all of it is a lie.

It is just a convenient way of thinking.

However, recently, I started being able to read Orsted's mood, and Orsted's mood when playing with Lucy is good.

Even I will drop my guard in front of such cuteness. (!)

Not only that, since he experienced the same things over and over again in his loops, of course he's delighted to experience something new.

Considering how many loops he's been through, I can guess that much.

As a subordinate, I want to try to make Orsted's daily life merrier.

And we've gotten sidetracked, haven't we?

Back to the topic, children, Roxy also gave birth.

On that day, there was a heavy snowstorm.

The office had not yet been completed.

Orsted was waiting on me when I returned from a successful mission.

It’s not uncommon that the president meets people directly.

At that time the office only had one room, and I also needed to give a report to Orsted.

Orsted, after finishing his own tasks, often has plenty of downtime until the next task.

When I was reporting in as usual that day, he said.

[Isn’t it about time?]

First thing he said.

What's about time?

That's obvious.

Because I was also quite anxious during work.

I did not think that I would say this to Orsted, but… I am also a father, so I said [I will give my report later], and left the office immediately.

When I was in the street, I ran through the snow like a snow plow and returned home.

After returning Roxy was in her last month of pregnancy.

I was there just before she gave birth.

If I waited two days, I wouldn't have made it back in time for when she give birth.

"Yeah, Rudi…I wonder if it's alright, I wonder if I'll really be able to give birth."

When I got home, Roxy had a worried expression.

Repeating again and again, she asked, [Will it be be all right? It might be impossible], with a pale face. I did not let go of her hand.

During the time when mother Zenith gave birth to me as well, I'm sure it was that kind of feeling.

During that time all I was thinking was, [Roxy really is the worrying type.]

- But, Roxy's worries ended up right on the money.

It was a difficult birth.

The baby's shoulder got caught.

It must be a the so-called shoulder dystocia.

I do not know the cause, but it could be because of Roxy's small body.

She was in the normal birthing age of Migurudo tribe, but because the child is a half-blood child who has a big body, it was like she was giving birth at an early age given the size ratio.

It was more than likely because I'm the father and human.

Roxy … was in a dangerous state for both mother and child.

But, the worst did not happen.

Lilia's skills and experience in this matter are very high and Aisha is a genius.

With me bringing in midwife and Doctor-san through the heavy snow, the party assembled was perfect.

Aisha had experience as midwife from the time with Lucy and settled Roxy down.

Her birth was dealt with smoothly, with no complications.

As for Roxy's child, she gave birth to a girl. Safely.

We didn't have to give a C-section, and both the child and mother survived.

She gave birth safely.

The one who was born is a girl.

She was slightly bigger compared to Lucy when she was born.

It’s not like she was fat, but she has a fearless look.

Who does she resemble…?

[Her eyes are like Roxy, her mouth is just like Rudi], according to Sylphy.

Maybe that fearless look is a mix of Roxy and me.

Well, if you're a child between Roxy and I, you have nothing to fear.

"It was a girl ……so her name is Lara."

She was named Lara.

Lara Greyrat.

We found out that she has the same hair color as Roxy soon after her birth.

She had beautiful blue colored hair.

It is the color that can be called the symbol of Migurudo race.

Seeing that, Sylphy and Roxy both made a complicated face.

I did not know why they made such a face at first.

Roxy's hair color is gorgeous, and Lara is a girl.

You will definitely become a cute girl when you grow up, trust me.

Sylphy then told me why--she might be bullied because her hair color is different.

This city is mixed with a large number of various races other than human; however, most of the population is still human, after all.

If her looks differ from the human race considerably then she might be bullied.

Whether her original hair color might cause problems for Lara, such as whether or not she is bullied, I don't know yet; however, I believe that she will always have love from her family.

As a side note, Elinalise also gave birth along with Roxy.

Probably because she's used to it, hers went without a hitch.

According to Cliff, I heard that his child will be [Born Soon!], but the next time I met Elinalise she had already recovered from giving birth and had her slender body back.

She is a veteran at childbirth.

Her experiences in it is on a whole different level.

Well, the first child of the Grimoire family was a boy, who was named Clive.

Clive Grimoire.

Elinalise was very pleased, [I gave you an heir!]

Heirs.

I don't think only boys can be heirs.

Lara and Lucy can too.

If they want to follow my footsteps and help Orsted, I won’t stop them.

Also the curse didn’t seem to work on them.

But, there is one person who is inspired by Elinalise's words.

It’s Eris.

She was often going to work with me until then.

Like a part timer of Orsted Corporation?

By my side, as my vanguard, my sword, she cut through all the insects standing in my way.

But in response to Elinalise words, she said [Next is my turn!] and proceeded to suck me dry, even when we’re at work.

As long as there is an opportunity, she won’t let it go and goes commando immediately on me. (!)

I … my maiden heart got crushed, but let's not talk about that.

No matter what, maybe bad luck, but she wasn't blessed with a child.

Eris felt really troubled about this.

I often found her talking with Sylphy night after night after I got home.

She didn’t want her insecurity known to me, so I won't give the details of the conversation, but I might have heard some dreadful remark such as […maybe I need to do it more often].

Anymore than this… I won’t survive with just a nosebleed.

Even though I thought that, it’s a husband's job to help his wife overcome her insecurity.

With that thought, I gave my best.

Using all of my knowledge that I've accumulated, from the basic knowledge to Ougis, whether changing her diet, or having her do some kind of training, I tried everything in my power in order to ease her worries.

Well… I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.

I heard my mother, Zenith, also suffered from infertility for a period of time.

Father must have worked hard to ease that worry once.

Doing your best every night.

And that's how Norn was born, who's currently diligently attending school.

… Let's talk about Norn another time.

Our efforts bore fruit, and Eris got pregnant safely.

The next month, she toned down her training level.

It looks like her intense training every day was the main cause of her infertility.

When one trains hard, it's harder to get pregnant.

But if the child is strong, she could get pregnant, but in Eris's case her training was far more intense than normal training.

Even if the egg already fertilized, if it's not implanted, it’s the same as nothing happening.

That's why Eris took a maternity leave.

Even though she can’t come with me to work, she's still happy.

While stroking her already swollen belly Eris smiles happily while muttering [Mufufu].

As the only one who knows her since she was young, I can tell you it’s her true feeling.

Somehow …… Eris looks like she has become respectable.

The late Sauros-sama and Philip-sama, I wonder if you are sobbing happily on the other side right now.

I learned of Eris's pregnancy about one month ago.

She’s 4 months pregnant now.

If she seems to be quiet these days, it's partly due to morning sickness.

When I came back from the next job, she already entered her fifth month pregnancy.

She might start training hard again once it reached stable period. It worries me.

I've sent a letter to Ghyslaine the moment I found out.

Ghyslaine would be very busy now because Asura's king, who was on sick bed for a long time, passed away.

Ariel will become Queen soon.

First Prince Gravell tried makin his last stand, but that’s already futile.

It’s not likely Ariel will lose to him.

However, with that kind of rival, Ghyslaine won't have any free time for the next 2-3 years.

After Eris's child is born, we will try to visit Asura Kingdom.

By the way, Eris only thought of boy's names for her child.

So, I decided to think up a girl's name in secret.

Whether it’s a girl or boy, as long as the child is healthy, I’m good with it.

So that's the wives and children.

Family life, training, and work.

Besides lacking time for my children, it has been a fulfilling life everyday.

Finally.

It is about Zenith-Okaasan's memory.

There are still no signs of it returning.

At some point her emotions stopped improving as well.

She almost didn’t speak a word.

I tried asking Orsted about her, but didn't find any clues to a cure.

If even he didn’t know… then I can't think of any way to heal her.

Well, maybe this is the first loop for Orsted where Zenith became an invalid, so he doesn't know.

Maybe some Magic ItemsImbued products exists that can cure her.

I won’t give up, I will definitely find a way to cure her.

Anyway, I think for now we'll just be taking it step-by-step without worrying too much.

Dad, once, in Holy Kingdom of Milis, you scolded me.

That I’m ditching my mother and more worried about other women.

Although I didn't intend to, please forgive me, with my current situation for now I have to defer her again.

I will do everything I can.

Sincerely yours,

--- -

And with that I closed my diary like usual.

Rather than a diary entry, more like a letter addressed to no one.

However, by writing these things, there are days when I got a sudden motivation from it.

With such strong motivation, I could move my body better.

"All right, let’s go"

Feeling motivated today, I stood up, and went ahead toward the magic circle.

My work begins.