Chapter 4: Plus Ultra! Pt. 2

Author's Note:

I don't think I can sustain a pace of one update a day since I made this all from scratch last week and rely on Grammarly to clean up my mess. However, I will still aim for several large updates a week; after all, I still want to make several volumes worth of content, if there is enough interest following it

I will focus on this fiction for several weeks before releasing the first chapter of Mushoku Tensei: The Military Chronicles of a Little Girl, where the perverted NEET wakes up in a little blonde girl's body. His interactions with Being X will be pretty interesting. The first chapters may be out around October 2022. There are more notes below after the chapter

I think Zenith Greyrat was underappreciated throughout the original story. Now we're back to the Salaryman!Rudeus going through the world one misinterpretation at a time

I took out the random bold on the text, while this looked decent on the other website I uploaded it into, it looks horrible on FF . net . Thanks for the quick review on that.

Early K410 , Buena Village

Rudy POV

My head was pounding, and my body was sore everywhere. But, even though I secretly did extra spells at night to increase my mana capacity (I noticed my capacity was increasing every time I spent at least half my mana during the day), I never pushed myself to the limit like I did today; in fact, that was the first time my intermediate spell, water cannon was effective and properly aimed. I guess adversity makes for great motivation.

I was at the clinic and saw Lilia beside me, with her maid outfit removed and down to a simple oversized shirt that Zenith must have dressed her with, Lilia's leg bandaged and doused in the disinfectant Zenith and I made. I guess Mother had already stabilized the situation; I was hearing muffled noises outside and wanted to see what was going on and report to my father about the battle. I hope both he and Laws are okay.

I gingerly strolled towards the door and opened it to see a strange scene; Zenith was tending to Laws' injury while Paul was standing beside her; they were all paling and staring at the figure standing at the door. A beautiful elven woman, holding Laws' child Sylphiette, who was also making a good impression of a fish gasping for air. Sylphie, on the other hand, was red as a tomato and silently looking back and forth.

I read the room and broke the silence accordingly: "Hi! I'm feeling better; thank you, dad, for saving Lilia and me! And you too, Mr. Laws; I'm sorry you got caught up in the fighting. I'm sure we wouldn't have made it home without you. That scary knight looked like he wanted to eat Lilia or something." I said more childishly than usual as I approached Laws and gave him a high-five. I went to my father next, started hugging him, and continued: "I know Lilia is gonna get better now that you're healing her, Mom! You're the best!" I also hugged her and stayed beside her, looking like I was hiding slightly behind her skirts protectively, and then asked the big question: "Hello miss, my parents told me not to talk to strangers, but you're holding Mr. Laws' daughter like family, you look like an elf too. Are you his sister? You look really pretty. Don't worry about Mr. Laws; Mama would take him back to normal," I said with my best impression of puppy dog eyes.

The tension in the room went down a notch as the mysterious elf started crying. She said: "Aren't you a little charmer, I would've thought your father was giving you lines, but you acted just like your mother years ago. While I appreciate the compliment, I'm not Mr. Laws' sister. I'm Elinalise, your parents' party mate and also… Laws' mother." Wait, what? I thought Laws' had religious prudes for parents with his stuck-up conservative attitude that even Paul complained about in his stories. Jokes about him being a priest in disguise made me wonder just who his parents were. Seeing his mother, who dressed more like a young cosplayer from those anime conventions in Tokyo, made me think that maybe he overcompensated for that by being a stuck-up prick. Still, his mom doesn't look a day over 25; in fact, Laws doesn't look a day about 25 either, although I thought he was just around Paul's age; maybe he is. What made me think about this was, are elves ageless and immortal in this world too? Humans aged; I saw old people around town; after all, I needed to discover a way to have that kind of agelessness too.

Back to the topic on hand, I wanted to diffuse the tension even further and said: "Well, hello, Miss Elinalise, that's awesome! I bet you have a ton of nice stories to tell about their party; they told me a few sometimes but never in much detail; they said I needed to be a big boy before they told me more. You must be the elf in the party that dad told me that had the shapely ass; I know ass means donkey, right? Did you bring your donkey to the village? I want to see why it's shapely?" Okay, so I shouldn't have said that but Paul really has to watch his mouth sometimes; while Paul seems to be a fan of body positivity, he doesn't need to use such language to his children. Zenith did a hard hand-chop to Paul's head and sat down beside Laws with a harrumph, pulled me to sit on her lap, and gestured for Elinalise to sit too. I decided to stay silent and watch what they were saying, my mother's warm embrace reassuring me that I didn't screw up this awkward reunion.

Elinalise replied with a chuckle: "I sure have a lot of stories about our party, including why Paul thinks I have such a shapely ass. However, he wasn't talking about a donkey; I'll tell you about it next time. "I was sure she was just deflecting an awkward conversation with my mother, but Zenith's eyes seemed to flash a little bit over that statement. Did Paul have a past with Elinalise? That sounds weirdly creepy to me. But, of course, calling Mr. Laws, my brother, would've been awkward and all that. Elinalise continued: "I guess I need to explain what is going on before we waste precious time. I was supposed to go to Vista village when I saw one of my arrow designs fly through the village road; then I heard a pursuit headed towards this village. I was worried Laws would be in trouble since he was the only one I knew that used that particular arrow, and I ended up witnessing a large explosion towards this village. By the time I got to the village, I had asked the guardsmen if they knew an elf named Laws who was an archer, and they told me that he was running off to the clinic and had an arrow sticking out of his back. I was going to run off in that direction until I saw a green-haired elf walking with her mother, who also reacted to Laws's possible injury. She said she was her wife, making her my daughter-in-law and that the green-haired child was their daughter, Sylphie. She told me to watch over her as she ran off to the clinic and visited Laws. I decided to follow her soon after." She held a hand up at Laws gesturing that she had more to say: "Why would I go to Buena, you say? There was an S-ranked quest posted at the Adventurer's guild in the Milbots region saying that there was a noble child together with a royal handmaiden was kidnapped at Buena village and that more details were to be given by a certain Lord Jude of Vista village. The fact that it had Duke Pilemon Notos Greyrat's seal stamped on the request made me even more suspicious about this. In fact, the description given of the child and his maid matches precisely how you would describe your child and the woman on the bed behind the door."

I was shocked to hear that there was a quest involving Lilia and me; what's worse is that a Duke and a Greyrat at it were involved in this mess. Come to think of it, wasn't the lord of the Fittoa region another Greyrat Duke, Sauros Boreas Greyrat? I knew it; our family was in a position to vie for greater power. Does it mean we were related to Duke Sauros? Father's response charged the room: "Those vile bastards! Couldn't they be content with what they have? Sir Jude clearly had backup when he chased down Laws, Lilia and Rudy but to reach out all the way to Milbots? He clearly made the wrong set of friends, and Lord Sauros would punish him horribly. Wait, if Pilemon knows about Buena village, then he would know that we are here, right? Isn't he content with taking the Dukedom over his older brother? I swear that coward is too greedy for his own good." Wait, we're Notos Greyrats? And Pilemon overthrew his brother if I get it right? No wonder Paul is in exile and preparing for a counter-coup. Still, this would get ugly soon, and I am still too young to do anything meaningful. Zenith spoke up: "I don't think Pilemon knows the actual situation at Buena village yet, or else he would've demanded something directly from Uncle Sauros; he probably just threw in some cash and a vague approval on the off chance that he would catch us here. We should go to Roa immediately to settle the issue before it goes out of hand. Plus, I think me and Rudy need a magical tutor. I was supposed to keep his magical skills a surprise from you until he turned three, but I guess the cat's out of the bag." Paul looked like he was going to say something, then shook his head, reconsidering his words. "I think we should go to Roa together in a week to report on this situation and find a magical tutor; we can even get them to be a bodyguard if they are advanced or saint-ranked mages. Lilia should recover in three days, and we can bring the whole household and this party together for the trip. Sir Jude should spend at least a week recovering from his injuries; nobody in Vista is ranked above beginner-level healing, and his touki can only get him so far. Elinalise, I know we left under bad conditions, but could we hire you as a bodyguard? If not for our sake, then for the sake of our children, Sir Jude would have us all killed if we don't get to Roa and have this fiasco settled." Zenith was bowing and pleading to Elinalise.

Paul added: "I know what happened at the end of our adventurer days was my fault, please, I would do anything to help this family stay safe. I will be in your debt if you help us."

Elinalise looked around the room; in between the please of the Greyrat adults and the pained glance of Laws, she was breaking down: "I had half a mind to leave you and Zenith here to pay for the pain you caused the rest of the party, do you know how difficult it was for me the past four years to survive and get by? The party dissolved, and we all went our separate ways; even Ghislaine left me when she said that she wouldn't be a burden on me and my finances anymore. I hope the poor girl doesn't starve to death." Paul and Zenith looked ashamed." But your son and my son, as well as the rest of his family in the village, will die if I don't help you. You put me in a painful dilemma, Paul, you and Zenith owe me one, and we will talk about it after all this is settled. Laws, I know you left because you were ashamed of your mother, and I couldn't fault you for that; my curse turned me into this beautiful beast, and you didn't need to see your best friend in that situation. Could you give your mother another chance? I swear I wouldn't let you or your family down."

"Why don't we settle each other's debts and call it even." Was the pained response from Laws. "I owe Paul and Zenith for saving Sylphie's life; You owe me for screwing my best friend over at his wedding night, and Paul and Zenith owe you for screwing you over with their wedding. I know it won't be easy for any of us, but this situation calls for all of us to work together." Elinalise was teary-eyed but hopeful; Paul and Zenith were also in the same state, and Sylphie and her mother were further away, the young girl cuddling on her mother. The noise must have made her uncomfortable; the drama makes me stuffy too.

"Does it mean everyone is friends now?" Instead, I asked innocently, I needed to steer the conversation into something more productive, and given the crisis outside the village, there was no time for office room antics and drama; that kind of thing was not tolerated in Japan, and we aren't in some American reality TV show after all. "Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Laws, and Granny Elinalise, it's like we're one big family!" I'm sure my parents see the BS in their eyes, but they play along to sell the pitch to Elinalise. This seems to work because she says: "You're lucky your son is such a charmer; I'll do this for the sake of Laws and your kid, but we would have words after this gets resolved. It's getting late, and I know everyone else needs to rest. Is there anyone in this village who I can safely discharge my curse on?" I guess she doesn't want to discuss something with me but a curse? Is she that frustrated to need to curse someone? "This is the only place in the entire village I have no intention of doing so.".

"I'll bring you to the barracks in a few minutes," Paul said. "Meanwhile, let's adjourn the meeting tonight and talk again during lunch. I assume Elinalise will stay with Laws tonight?"

"She will; we also need to talk later. Besides, Sylphie needs to sleep, and I need a good rest to get the soreness out of my back." Laws replied; the aforementioned girl was fast asleep in her mother's arms, and I guess she was a good signal that the conversation ran too long. Paul brought Elinalise out of the house and called one of the levies to escort her to the barracks, and the guard must have feared whatever curse Elinalise was discharging since I saw him go all red from the whispered conversation he had with the two of them, Paul walked back home,

Laws and his family said their farewells and I was left with Paul and Zenith; it was time for a serious conversation.

"Sometimes I wonder if I should even call myself your father, Rudy. You manipulated Elinalise to help us, learned advanced magic behind my back, and even humored my tales when I felt tired after training. I was torn between insecurity over my poor fathering skills and pride that my son had gone so far at a young age. I still have no idea how you can be so talented at your age, but I can assume you might be a Miko blessed with intelligence. But, of course, that would make you an even larger target once Pilemon hears about you." Paul started once the three of us were left alone at home. "As much as I want to call out Zenith for breaking her promise about making our son a knight and our daughter a magician, I guess no three-year-old kid could handle a sword anywhere near as close as you can handle your magic. So I guess that means that Zenith owes me another kid who would be a knight next" Paul tries to add some humor in the end, which makes Zenith roll her eyes.

"Okay, I admit, I tried to pull one over you, but Rudy was irresistible. He asked me if he could learn how to heal after he turned two and even answered almost everything I asked him perfectly, even though he had some weird answers for some of them. I'm sorry I never got to tell you, but he's the reason why I started pushing myself even further; I didn't want to fall behind my son before he even turned three, let alone five." Are my parents trying to be humble in front of me? I know they must be brilliant if they were premiere adventures, and I even saw my dad cut through Sir Jude's troops like a hot knife cutting through butter, something my spells couldn't even handle despite all my efforts. Zenith's reply caught me off guard. Was I pushing myself too hard, or were they trying to comfort me after my poor showing at the skirmish outside? It must be the latter.

"All the times you healed Laws and I after training ended up increasing our physical limits, too; I didn't think that was possible until it happened over the past few months but pushing yourself this far ended up saving Rudy and Lilia's life, and Laws' too, since he held off a dozen knights for half an hour," Paul said. "I guess we should just be happy we made it all alive tonight."

"Rudy, I was supposed to tell this to you on your tenth birthday, but it seems like we need to talk about this sooner. My full name is Paul Notos Greyrat, and I was supposed to be the heir to the Notos Greyrat line, one of the top houses in the Asuran Kingdom; in fact, we usually are one of the houses that rival claimants go to for support when they bid for the throne after the king dies. My younger brother, Pilemon, took the leadership of the household after my father died, ruling it instead of me; however, even your claim is stronger than his own." I guess he was planning to help me regain his birthright; I wonder why he didn't explain how he lost it, but it seems the usurpation was not a child-friendly story. "Now, while Pilemon knows I'm somewhere hidden by uncle Sauros in the Fittoa region, he knows better than the pry and sends his vassals into another Greyrat territory; that kind of action would cause a massive court scandal and loss of face, the most he could do is chase rumors and take advantage of disloyal subjects before risking a big gambit. I don't think he can do anything to kill me or Zenith short of hiring Saint class parties or a large invasion force; however, a drastic move is bound to get the Royal court in arms for destroying the king's peace. But a three-year-old is a prime target for kidnapping, they don't expect you to be able to defend yourself, and if they knew Lilia was with us, Pilemon might even get the queen to order her execution to hide state secrets. We need to do something about Sir Jude before it's too late." Paul took a mug and filled it with some beer; I hope he doesn't become an alcoholic.

"This is a lot to take in, father, but how can I help?" I asked, unfamiliar with the intricacies of noble plots in the kingdom; it isn't something in the books we have, nor did my parents talk about their past in this level of detail before. I was only almost three years old and, under normal circumstances, not supposed to be playing this game; I think they let people mature younger here because of shorter lifespans compared to the modern world; it doesn't help to find out I'm some heir to a dukedom, a kingmaker in the making. "I can keep training; I can heal the troops and help build walls with earth magic?"

Paul gave a small smile and said: " While I appreciate the help, Rudy, we can't face Vista village on our own, their households outnumber us at least a dozen times over, and while we're qualitatively better than them, they would drown us under the sheer weight of numbers. So no, we must learn when to escalate this and call for backup." Paul brought a scroll for us to read. It was a letter from Philip Greyrat, mayor of Roa. It was an offer for me to be fostered at Roa, with the appropriate excuse and, to my surprise, an arrangement to myself and his daughter, Eris, with the condition that Paul would assist Philip in claiming the Boreas Greyrat lordship. It seems like they were both trying to get a beneficial alliance. Is this in exchange for harboring Paul in Fittoa? It looks like my family's safety trumps my personal happiness, but can I hold that off until we're both adults? I didn't even have a wife before I died, and I was about to hit the big 40 when that truck hit me harder. What's next? Finding out Laws is related to some sort of high nobility, and I get caught up with Sylphie too? Political marriages sound even more troublesome than normal ones. However, that makes me more determined not to fool around with just any girl I see if the price for my family's safety is a political marriage unmarred by any superfluous affairs. I must imitate the loyalty and virtue Paul shows to women; I guess this is what happens when I live with a feminist.

"We're going to Roa in a few days after we shore up defenses and prepare the village for a confrontation. Of course, Vista wouldn't dare invade the village, especially with their leader heavily injured, but they might try to harass our farmers or attack our party headed to Roa. Elinalise is a perfect addition to the traveling party because she used to be the shield of our party and a skilled S-rank adventurer in her own right. With Laws and his family and you and Lilia, we'd have a poor man's version of the Fangs of the Black Wolf. I ordered the levies to get the heads, armor, and anything that would identify the knights who attacked you and the others earlier. We're also bringing that to Roa, a copy of the mission Elinalise received from Milbots region; while that isn't enough to get Pilemon in serious trouble, it is enough to get the Notos Greyrats warned off from meddling with Boreas Greyrat affairs, the political fallout should be enough to stall their efforts for a few years. " Wait, was this a complex multi-stage plan? This guy was a total schemer!

"Anyway, we will teach you the basics of court etiquette and family history tomorrow, and for the next few days, we're also waiting for a reply from Roa about the message I sent days ago; if they come with a scouting party, we would have a larger, safer group to travel to Roa." He also looked at Zenith, who was currently holding me in her arms.

"I think Rudy needs to sleep; we can talk about our plans once we put him to bed, but this has been a long day, and a growing young boy needs to rest. I also need to check and clean up Lilia again before midnight." Zenith replied.

With that, she took me to bed and told me to stay in the room without excuses. As much as I wanted to overhear their conversation downstairs, my mana exhaustion and lack of adrenaline finally defeated my young body.

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Mid K410 , Buena Village

Zenith POV

The past three days were agonizing; in between the tension from Vista, training Rudy in all matters related to nobility (and those lessons brought up painful memories of the days my parents forced me to be the perfect Millis Lady, I hope Rudy doesn't imitate us and run away from home), and Lilia's medical treatment.

In the latter situation, Sir Jude's brutal leg stomp apparently spread the formerly dormant poison around her body. It took a Saint-ranked detoxification spell to keep it under control the first time she was attacked. After that, however, it never entirely left her body, leading to her limp and uncontrollable muscle spasms in certain embarrassing places. Rudy's brute force and advanced healing spell casting gave her a fighting chance. Still, it took hourly advanced detoxification spells, lots of detoxification tea (which made bedpan duty depressingly frequent), and consistent monitoring of her injured leg for signs of infection. Her leg wound was slowly closing, and by the third day, it was left with a fresh scar.

However, her blood toxicity levels were still uncomfortably high; when she regained consciousness, she should be on a clear path to recovery. In fact, she might even regain complete control of her legs to her physical prime due to the cycle of detoxification and healing spells aimed at her legs. If Rudy and I didn't have our absurd mana capacity and the desire to spend it all on her, she would never have recovered this fully. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure if I could heal the damage to her other muscles; Rudy thought that it might be poison lodged at the bottom of the spine, but no Saint-level magic or below could deal with injuries and poison of that nature, perhaps we can develop it ourselves in the future, Rudy is a brilliant child if I may say so myself. For now, Lilia and I will have to be content with that minor inconvenience.

I feel horrible for Rudy; how he seems so devoted to the family makes me feel like a terrible mother. Paul and I realized that Rudy had been pushing us further with the way he trained with us;. At the same time, we appreciate the extra effort and skills we've gained; it's almost like our child is being raised with all our hopes and dreams at the tender age of 3, speaking of which he turned three yesterday. While we don't celebrate birthdays until children turn 5,10, and 15, the way he focused on getting more work done instead of celebrating like a kid made me think we should've let him be a child a little longer. Maybe we can set him on play dates with Sylphie; she's around his age and basically a pseudo-niece for me at this point. Rudy doesn't seem disgusted by "girly things" after all the times he joined Lilia and me for errands around the house. In fact, I remember the unbelievable fear Lilia had for Rudy; she thought he would turn out as a sodomite or a transvestite. I'm confident I married a Notos Greyrat, not a Euros Greyrat; I was more surprised that Rudy didn't imitate a Notos Greyrat and touch anyone with large breasts like his perverted old man.

Speaking of Sylphie's family, Laws has been a godsend, smoothing out any arguments between Elinalise and our family before they got out of hand. He was right; we all owed each other our lives, and ruining that fragile connection over multiple grudges would just break our families apart. He was turning into Paul's surrogate brother, more than that coward Pilemon ever was, and his relationship with Paul was something similar to mine with Lilia.

I guess that makes Elinalise our mother-in-law now? She told me she had no intention whatsoever to have sex with Paul or his descendants; the idea disgusts her as much as incest with her descendants. At least that soothed my fears of Paul being tempted to cheat. So while I pity Elinalise and her curse, there were more responsible ways of getting it handled, and it does not mean taking on men with relationships. Perhaps I can set her up with my contacts in Millis to find a way to remove the curse from her; maybe King level or higher magics can solve her condition, and the church would do anything to remove the curse of sex addiction when given a chance. I could offer her that after this issue is settled, at least to call our debts even.

Paul finished our preparations to leave Buena for Fittoa, and we would leave as soon as both Lilia woke up, and the messenger from Roa arrived, both of which should happen within the next two days.

I heard a commotion at the clinic; it was Rudy's turn to pour mana for a detoxification spell, Paul was sobbing, and I went inside to see what was going on. A faint trickle could be heard, and the leg wound entirely disappeared. Both of Lilia's legs looked whole and hale; just how much mana did Rudy pour out in the last hour? Paul was crying about how useless he felt, that he couldn't heal Lilia and that all he could do was destroy and cut things down with his Swordsman skills. I sat between Rudy and Paul and told Paul that while he couldn't heal people, he protects those who couldn't protect themselves and that every person he saves is one less person for me to heal. We were about to talk move until Rudy shook me from the side.

Lilia was awake again; she looked around the room and saw she was on the clinic bed, "I failed you, young master, master Paul, lady Zenith, I failed in my duty to protect Rudy, let me recover and pack for a few days, and I would travel home in shame." She was crying as she set herself on the bed while protecting her modesty (from Paul, I guess, I'm professional enough not to care, and Rudy is too young and a budding healer himself)

I had to quash those words before they got out of hand: "Lilia, I insist you stay with us." I went closer and wiped the tears from her face. "You're family at this point! I am not letting you do something as foolish as leave!"

And that seemed to be the final word on the matter. Paul's eyes went wide; Lilia brought her hand to her mouth, holding back her tears.

I told Paul to leave the room as I would conduct a few tests on Lilia to see how far she had recovered and get her dressed up. I told Rudy to stay behind so that he could learn how to deal with these types of patients, but he turned red and promptly got a nosebleed and fainted as soon as I took off Lilia's clinical gown to help her change her clothes. I guess Rudy overexerted himself again with his magic; I set him on the clinic bed as Lilia patted him on the head.

We conducted a few tests and had a few exercises; Lilia confirmed my guesses and happily exclaimed that she could fully move her leg again; while it's still weak over the lack of proper usage for the last few years, she can finally have the full range of motions needed to improve her skills and prowess once more. Although her excitement led her to realize that her other problem was not yet resolved, thankfully, no one else was around to witness that; I guess we both still have that problem, as the exhaustion from the spell casting of the past few days has been hitting me hard. Thankfully Paul was busy with night-shift patrols and slept in the afternoon the past few days. Someday, Rudy and I will advance past Saint-level healing and detoxification and solve her problems for good, even though we are currently limited to reliably casting advanced-level healing and detoxification spells at the moment.

We had a happy late lunch together as I prepared a hearty stew for the family; I told Lilia that I'll take care of the household duties today and that she should prepare to leave for Roa with the rest of the family in the next two days.

Paul was about to call it a day when we had a group knock at our doors; Paul was supposed to sleep by Sunset to compensate for the lost hours he had the past few days but made an exception when he saw the group enter the house.

Laws, Elinalise, and Ghislaine entered; while I knew from Paul that the Roa Greyrats recently hired Ghislaine, I never expected to see the majority of the party back together. At this rate, Geese and Talhand might pop out of the forest and drag us to the next labyrinth for an adventure with Rudy in tow.

Ghislaine and Elinalise looked comfortable with each other, while Laws looked like he lost a century of his near-immortal life just staying between the two impossible women. If they were talking about stories that would make Laws blush up a storm, I hope it wasn't at the expense of Paul. She came in, and Paul greeted her with an awkward hi; she went closer to him and did a fist chop to his head; of course, with her King-ranked strength, that means even an enhanced Paul sank a few feet down into the living room floor. I was about to protest when she pulled him back up and then hugged him, saying: " After being scammed endlessly for two years and nearly starving to death in the last one, you should be lucky this is all I did to you. When you broke the party, you broke my heart. Elinalise and Laws talked me down." She continued, "Your child doesn't deserve such an awful fate that your brother would promise if he has his hands on little Rudy. He looks too adorable to die." She went on to pinch Rudy's doll-like face. She then looked at me and said: "While I should be angry that you married him and ran off from the party, I think being married to Paul is enough punishment." Okay, she might be right about that; I love Paul, but his immaturity and laziness at the start of the marriage gave me no end to the stress.

I healed the bump forming on Paul's head as she continued.

"Anyway, I have some important news from Roa; I couldn't read the letter but can Paul read it aloud? After the letter ends, I will say what wasn't written on it". Ghislaine said. No wonder she kept getting scammed, she couldn't read contracts to save her life, and the Human language is different when written compared to its spoken version. Maybe I can get someone to teach her someday; it's the least I can do for her.

Paul looked at the letter and determined everyone in the room could hear it and read it aloud.

"To my bastard son Paul, if you're reading this letter, it means that I'm no longer in this world." Paul's jaw dropped, and the collective room temperature chilled. "Wait, what? I'm not his bastard son! I like my women busty, not beastly." Oh, Paul is going to sleep on the couch tonight.

"Peel that page off carefully, and you will see a letter underneath that one; the one on top was a decoy just in case someone steals it." Ghislaine suppressed her annoyance from Paul's last statement.

"Oh, I see." Paul expertly separated the pages using his sword; I guess he can do anything with that sword.

"To my dear nephew Paul, I hope you enjoyed the decoy; I wanted to see our enemies think we were talking about getting you several beast women in exchange for your current servant. While I have my suspicions, I believe we are due for a face-to-face discussion at Roa."

"You are not the only person complaining about Vista Village; I've been hearing reports that women are being kidnapped and sold to slavery in nearby villages and that bandit activities are spiking throughout the area. Jude of Fittoa thought he could play a fast one on me by pretending to be raided too, but the only victims he ever reported were those who sent appeals or complaints against his rule in Vista."

"It is highly likely that he is redirecting the Vista monsters towards Buena; the winds blow westwards at this time of the year, and with Vista east of Buena, their forest burning efforts supposedly to clear the area for farmland look nothing more than cheap attempts to drive the monsters west, towards your village. While Vista has 500 households, they burned enough land to support a whole thousand households, an excessive amount, and grossly irresponsible use of Boreas Greyrat forests."

"There was also a suspicious increase in Milbot-based merchants crossing through Roa towards Vista Village; while they claimed it was due to the increased demands in preparation for a feast, no other food-based orders were detected towards the direction of Vista; what's more, the merchants appear to be too heavily armed for a mere beer caravan that Milbots would export to Fittoa. I believe something is amiss with that fool knight Jude; his pitiful attempts at wooing friends in the high court would get him nowhere beneficial for himself."

"I am sending Ghislaine to deliver the message because of the increased risk between Roa and Buena village; as a Sword King, nobody in Fittoa should be able to stop her. I instructed her to escort you, your family, and even your maid to Roa where we should have a far more secure meeting. Yes, I know your maid is far more than she appears. I would be blind to let someone as valuable as her slip away to just anyone; I would be a poor Lord of Fittoa if I was so blind. " Lilia shifted uncomfortably on her seat; it seemed that more people knew her than I expected; just what did she do to get this noticed?

"Due to the urgency needed to deliver the message, I order you to leave within the hour of receiving this message; a hundred troops are half a day's travel behind Ghislaine's full speed; you would meet them halfway, close to the outskirts of Vista Village. If we are fortunate enough to avoid any encounters, I would be happy. However, those troops are around to pound Vista Village into submission if they or their liege do anything as much as sneeze in the wrong direction. Sir Jude would be summoned to Roa to explain his many failings and accusations, but only after you arrive and get welcomed."

"Well, that's a wrap." Ghislaine said, " I'll just sit here and wait for you to be packed up and ready to go; I ran all the way here and would appreciate a little break."

I offered Ghislaine the rest of our stew; she looked at it with hungry eyes and hugged me. She felt like a statue; how on earth can every part of her body feel as hard as chiseled marble? On the other hand, maybe she sparkles under the sun with that marbled skin. Paul had a different sheet of paper that he discreetly placed inside his robes; I guess Philip or Sauros had secret instructions for him. Will he tell me later? I hope it isn't a nasty surprise.

Thirty minutes later, we had everything packed and ready for the trip; laws and his family were a few minutes away from being fully prepared since they had to load their belongings on a wagon we rented for them from Mr. Eto. Paul pulled me away and whispered: "Philip is offering two plans to protect Rudy; the first option is that he directly fosters Rudy as soon as we go to Roa and get him trained alongside Eris under Ghislaine. He would pretend that Rudy is a bastard son of his and isn't part of the Boreas succession for James to take away. However, that means we won't be able to see Rudy until his tenth birthday aside from yearly visits." That option was heartbreaking; I was tearing up until Paul continued saying: "The second option is that we hire a certain Saint-ranked mage that turned up in Roa recently to train and guard Rudy; we would also be obliged to train Rudy in all forms of noble etiquette and conduct, and we must not leave Buena village until Rudy turns eight. At that point, he should then be introduced to Eris and work together with her for several weeks leading to her tenth birthday, where he would be subtly revealed alongside Eris."

That second option was very close to what I wanted; that Saint-ranked mage sounds precisely like the type of tutor Rudy and I needed to hire for our intensified training. I wonder how they look. Would it be a grizzled old mentor? I hope he won't be pervertedly leering at me.

It was apparent which option we would take; once we talked to Philip, we would hire that Saint-ranked mage as a tutor and a bodyguard. I wonder if we can get Philip to pay for this; tutoring services at that level would probably cost five silver coins a month, mixing it with bodyguard duties, and we might need to pay them a whole gold coin a month, a strain on our budget considering the incoming political and economic crisis, but we wouldn't want to be in too much debt to Philip. I'm sure we can find a happy middle.

We left the village with no further issues; Paul left Mr. Eto in charge of the village watch and Rolle, the baker, in charge of other village matters for the time we were out.

As we left, the party composed of Myself, Paul, Rudy, Lilia, Laws, his wife(Nymphie), Sylphie, Elinalise, and Ghislaine took off towards the direction of Vista, where we would meet the Roa knights. Rudy and Lilia (who just got restored to consciousness only half a day ago) were inside our carriage while Nymphie and Sylphie rode in their own carriage. Paul and Elinalise took point while Lilia and Nymphie were driving their respective carriages. I was at the back with Ghislaine; her keep senses ready to sense an ambush and my mage skills ready for some long ranged damage. Rudy could also help with mage skills in a desperate enough situation; while he wasn't Talhand, at least he can heal me if I get injured. Laws makes a better substitute for Geese under these circumstances anyway.

We had an uneasy feeling about this two-hour trip to Vista, this would be the last chance Sir Jude had to do anything to us, and we felt he might take it.

Our gut instincts saved the day.

Author's Note:

1. I have no idea why Laws left Elinalise, but in this universe, Elinalise raised Laws as a child until he was a young adult. While they moved from village to village after several years, or when the townspeople couldn't tolerate Elinalise anymore, his last village together with her was during his teenage years; he had a best friend who eventually made the stupid decision to go for his MILF mother. Laws had a big fight with Elinalise and ran away. Laws DOES NOT know what happened between Paul and Elinalise

2. I assume that Paul and Zenith should know about the curse; Elinalise stayed with them for several years. Laws should definitely know the curse, being the poor woman's son. Everyone assumes Rudy and Sylphie are too young to understand the significance of the curse, but they are only half-correct.

3. Between Paul's incomplete explanations and Salaryman!Rudy's tendency to jump to conclusions, you can see that they're going on the wrong tangents here. Some tidbits from the LN dialogues are still around. If you look closely, the different situations could also result from multiple things just happening slightly differently until it came to blows like this.

4. Ghislaine came into service under the Boreas Greyrat household at Roa sometime in K410, around three to four years before Rudy started training Eris. It was mentioned in LN Vol 2. I know I mentioned it in the previous chapter but LN Vol 2 is also the reason I believe Ghislaine knew how to read Beast God Language, since she helped Rudy learn it, and the language is not as convoluted as the English-Basque consonant swap with Japanese spoken grammar that makes Human Language so hard to properly learn.

5. I have no idea what Sylphie's mom is called in the LN/Anime so I'll call her Nymphie, since Nymphs and Sylphs have possible similar origins

Excerpts From

Rifujin na Magonote Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Light Novel) Vol. 1