Chapter 33:
Her Family, Status Ascertained
I stood there, frozen in place.
Alek remembered that? That time I opened up to him because I had no one else by my side. That was a year ago, too… He… Of course he remembered. Alek's just that type of person. An admirable man bound by his commitments and pride. Undesirable traits in most, but Alek takes them in stride. He's someone who stands strong and independently but isn't afraid of working in a team. And most of all, he's a man who keeps his word no matter how much time has passed.
I couldn't have asked for a better companion–no, friend.
"I-I… thank you! I don't know how I didn't think about that… that's on me," I stammered out, trying desperately to convey my gratitude to Alek.
"There's no problem, Lumina. With this, I'm certain I can reunite you with your family confidently," Alek spoke confidently, a cheery smile on his face.
Kishirika waddled up to the both of us and hummed in agreement. "Mhm! Aleksander, you are quite a wonderful relative, you know that? If I had the power to do so, I'd grant you the title of Demon King!"
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm in no need of that right now," Alek said. "Though I will keep it in mind."
"I see, should've expected that from someone like you. Maybe one day! Well then…" Kishirika craned her neck every which way, twisting her hands into some sort of camera-esque pose. I even noticed her eye shifting around in its socket.
My heart began to race as my mind started thinking of all sorts of possibilities as to what could have become of my family. I prayed with all of my being that they were okay.
"I can see them! The father is near the Blue Wrym Mountains, in some town to the east of Milishion. And oh my, does he look terrible! He's talking to some guy who looks reaaal sketchy!" Kishirika stated.
I breathed a sigh of relief and clutched my heart. My father was alive and wasn't on the brink of death.
Hmm… but sketchy? Well, if it's the Paul I know, he knows his limits. I trust that he isn't doing anything dumb. I'm glad he's in Milis, though. That means I'll be able to see him again soon.
"Her sister, Norn… she's in the harbor city of East Port, which is in the Dragon King Kingdom. She's not alone, though," Kishirika began.
Norn's alive too? Thank god… I figured she was with Lilia, which would spare me some anxiety.
"She's being guarded by… some green-haired man. That'd normally be a cause for concern, but it's almost like he's protecting her while she's sleeping."
"G-Green hair?" I stammered out.
"Isn't that…?" Ares commented, clearly not wanting to suggest the obvious.
No, no. Don't jump to conclusions. Roxas specifically told me about Sylphie's hair color and how she was harmless. Just because someone has green hair doesn't mean they're a member of that genocidal demon tribe.
"Tell me, is this man a Superd, by any chance?" I asked.
"Hmm, I don't have the leeway to tell you that. You see, I can't make out his face clearly, meaning I can't tell if he has a gem in his forehead. But what I can tell you is that it doesn't look like your little sister is in any sort of danger right now," Kishirika assured.
"I-I see," I said, wondering what to make of this.
If it was a Superd, Norn would've been long gone by now. I knew that especially well, given how many tales and stories about the Superd I had heard throughout my life. So, in the end, I concluded that the man that Norn was accompanying was not a Superd; green hair aside.
Of course, that didn't take away from the fact that Norn was being led by a stranger, but the only thing I could do right now was hope that he wasn't a bad person. Worrying about this right now wouldn't get me anywhere.
"Moving on! Her younger brother is in the northern region of the Central Continent–the city of Pipin. He's chatting up some blonde girl who looks about twice his age," Kishirika explained.
"Sirius…"
Kishirika was giving me hope. A painful, stark type of hope that stabbed at my heart. My father and his twins were alive. Living. But, if my mother… wasn't alive, could I handle it? What would I do? If I could never apologize for my outburst, would I be able to live with myself? With the last interaction with my beloved mother being an argument?
"Before you move on, c-could you give me a sec?" I asked Kishirika. She nodded enthusiastically and sat down on the floor.
Throughout the entire journey so far, I've been desperately praying for her to be alive. For our shattered family tobe okay. And now, more than ever, I was begging silently for confirmation that she lived.
I guess it showed on my face because, to my surprise, Ares set his hand on my shoulder. In that moment, I felt myself being pulled out of the murky recesses of my anxiety and overthinking. My heartbeat steadied itself, returning to me a sense of control.
I turned to look over at Ares, startling him and making him let go of my shoulder.
"Sorry! I just felt like that was the right thing to do," he said gingerly.
"Ah, wait," I said, grasping his hand.
"I-I don't really mind that, right now…" I murmured softly, guiding his hand back to my shoulder. The gesture made him flutter his eyes a few times before averting his eyes away from me.
"Okay! You can go ahead, Lady Kishirika," I assured, turning back toward Kishirika to hide my vulnerable expression from Ares.
"Your mother is… hold on," Kishirika hummed. She craned her neck upward and wrinkled her nose. I swallowed up my fear and readied myself to hear whatever Kishirika had to say, whether I was able to accept it or not.
"She's in the Begaritt Continent, somewhere inside the Labyrinth City of Rapan," Kishirika spoke.
As soon as those words reached my ears, my body stiffened involuntarily. I felt a lump forming in my throat as I tried to process what Kishirika just confirmed.
"Ah… Alive? You're sure?" my words escaped my lips as a trembling whisper. My eyes began to sting, forcing me to blink repeatedly before I realized that tears were threatening to spill over.
"She's alive," Kishirika repeated confidently.
A hesitant smile, an expression that I didn't consciously make formed onto my face. I instinctively stepped backward and choked back a sob. My shoulder caught with Ares's, my neck rising to meet his gaze.
"I'm so… glad!" I managed out, my voice breaking in a mix of disbelief and sheer longing. I grasped Ares's hand with my trembling fingers and let him pull me into an embrace. I stopped holding back and began sobbing into his shoulder, sniffling and trying to pull myself together.
"It's okay, Lumina. She's all right," he whispered, supporting my body and keeping me from falling to my knees.
My mother is alive. Oh, how much I prayed for this exact piece of information. After spending so long stumbling in the dark, my prayers had finally, at long last, been answered.
I pulled away from Ares's arms and took in a deep, shuddering breath.
"Thank you for telling me," I said to Kishirika, showing her a smile that reflected what I was feeling at that moment. Gratitude. It was a proper thank-you by itself.
Ares
Her smile. That damned smile. The only way that I could describe it was captivating.
In all of the time that I've known Lumina, she's always been honest with herself. That's something that I admire–partly because I wasn't honest with how I was feeling for the longest time. It took me too long to realize that I hated living in Ars, despite how much deliberation I had on that idea.
But Lumina was headstrong in contrast. Stable, able to understand her motivations, and willing to accept her shortcomings. Despite her capabilities as a magician, she doesn't grow a big head. I know I would have gone parading around with that sort of power.
Lumina is by all means not perfect. She's emotional and weak to compliments, and her priorities are all over the place. But I've never met someone with flaws so surface-level before. Something about her draws me in and I don't want to let go.
It's funny. This mana disaster, or whatever Lumina called it, was heart-breaking at the start. I'd finally built up the courage to leave my home and finally break free from my father's grasp. Yet all of a sudden, that freedom was mercilessly snatched away from me. To add further insult to injury, I was thrown into a slave market and caged like an animal.
Then, a month later, some sarcastic girl whom I'd only met twice before saved me from my predicament. I was swept away by her flow, her energetic yet somehow calm personality comforting my mind. We set out on a journey toward her hometown in the faraway Asura Kingdom.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I might be dead right now if it weren't for Lumina. Or worse, enslaved for life. But by some miracle, she saved me. She, albeit unintentionally, made me a disciple of the North God.
There were some things I didn't know about her, like the strange language she occasionally spoke or the things that she knew that someone like her couldn't possibly know. But that was to be expected–I held secrets myself. I wanted to desperately put my past behind me, to the point that I hadn't opened up to her about it.
But that wasn't what mattered to me at all. For me, I admired the way she took her situation and persevered through it all. It barely felt real, the way she dealt with her predicament. She took her glaring issues stemming from being torn away from her family and made the most of it in a way I never could.
But today, seeing her sobbing and smiling like that has made me realize one crucial thing that I've been holding back all this time.
I wanted to protect that smile of hers.
Lumina
"Listen, I hate to break up this happy moment, but there's a little more to it than your mother just being in Rapan," Kishirika said.
I had managed to compose myself again, having wiped away my tears and downed a cup of water to calm myself down.
"What is it?" I asked, sitting up from my bed and approaching her. "Is she in danger?"
"No, no. Nothing as dire as that!" Kishirika assured me. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up again. "Well, actually…"
"What do you mean? If something's wrong, I need to know," I said, barely containing myself as I gripped her shoulders.
"It's just that I can't see clearly," Kishirika said, pushing my hands off her shoulder.
Alek perked up. "You mean to say that there's something you can't see? Even with Clairvoyance?" he questioned.
"There's plenty of things I can't see normally! Plus, I'm not at my full power right now! Although, I do have some idea of what might be causing this," Kishirika explained.
"And that is…?" I interrogated.
"She might be inside that labyrinth! I can't see inside of it because of the overflowing magical concentration, but that's my best guess," she replied.
Labyrinth? If my memory serves me right, my mother was formerly an S-class adventurer. I wouldn't be surprised if she went back to her roots and began dungeon diving to eke out a living in what's arguably one of the harshest environments in the world. But, strangely, she's still in Begaritt after a whole year.
Hmm. Maybe there's just something I'm missing here.
Alek stepped in. "At any rate, she is still alive, correct?"
"If she were dead, I wouldn't even be able to detect a trace of her mana. So she's alive, no doubt about it!" Kishirika spoke assuredly.
Alek nodded his head. "I see. Thank you, Lady Kishirika. Now, I'd love to keep hearing your stories, but I'm afraid you should probably be on your way," He spoke.
"You got it! Let's meet again, shall we?" Kishirika announced to everyone in the room.
So this is how I finally can start to pick up the shards of my fractured family. If everything goes right, we could live together again. Me, my mother, Paul, Norn, and Sirius.
I pictured the last day we had together in Buena Village, that day that seemed so far away from us now. Our house in Buena was so far away now, but my memory of the six of us living together there would never go away no matter how far I was from it.
Wait. Six? Aren't I missing…
"One last thing!" I called out.
"What is it?" she piped up.
"Could you find the location of my family's maid, Lilia?" I gingerly requested, hoping that the already generous Empress would grant another request. We were undoubtedly stretching her thin with the amount of things we had her do for us.
"Gurg. I'll do it, sure, but why didn't you mention it earlier?"
"It just slipped my mind, forgive me," I said, bowing my head.
"Whatever! Give me a moment, please," Kishirika said, contorting her limbs into some sorta strange yoga pose. Actually, that might just be her natural posture. I wouldn't be surprised, in honesty…
"She's in the capital of the Shirone Kingdom! Oh, she really does look like a maid! She's cleaning around in the royal chambers dutifully!" Kishirika announced.
"She's cleaning?" I repeated. What would Lilia be doing cleaning in the royal chambers of Shirone one year after being teleported? Wasn't Shirone where Roxas lived? Maybe Lilia contacted him, or something?
"Yup! In some rather pretentious-looking teenager's room, at that. Oh, he's ordering her around! I think it's safe to say your maid just got hired elsewhere!" Kishirika said.
What? Just what on…
"By any chance, does this 'teenager' happen to have blue hair?" I asked, my mind trying to piece things together in any way it could.
"Nope! He's a chubby, brown-haired boy. He's named Pax, too. Might even be a prince, if you squinted," Kishirika replied.
"Hm…" A pretentious prince in Shirone? That seemed a bit too familiar for me to brush it off.
That's right! In Roxas's letters, he mentioned some unwilling prince that he was tutoring as a side-thing while he worked in the Royal Court! But that doesn't explain why he's ordering her around and how Lilia got inside the palace to begin with.
I looked around the quiet room, the four of us standing in silence as I tried to work things out in my head. But then, I made a sudden realization: I didn't need all of the answers right now. As long as I could one day find out what happened, I was satisfied with that.
"That's all I need. Sorry to hold you up, Lady Kishirika," I said, bowing my head slightly.
"Don't worry about it! It's nice to see a youth so worried about her family, after all! Don't forget to cherish them when you see them again!" Kishirika preached.
"Believe me, I will," I replied.
"See you," Ares spoke. She placed her hands on her waist and began strutting toward the door.
"We'll meet again," Alek said to her.
"Thank you so much, Lady Kishirika! I'll repay you for this in some way!" I exclaimed.
"It's no issue! And that payment better be tasty treats!" She remarked, grabbing the door handle and striding out of the room.
I watched as the short, stubby, and purple-haired demon girl departed from the inn with a demeanor truly befitting an Empress.
"Alright, I hereby call an abrupt Dragon King's Odyssey meeting!" I announced.
The redhead with a midnight-colored eyepatch and the raven hair with a golden greatsword strapped to his back peered up at me from their seats.
"One of these again?" Alek remarked, setting aside his sharpening stone and his daggers.
"Of course. Thanks to Kishirika, our plans for the journey have been mostly derailed. So, I wanted to discuss how we're going to change things up," I elaborated.
"Right. Are we even going back to Fittoa anymore?" Ares questioned.
Good question. After I meet up with Paul, where do we go from there? Obviously, we're going to cross to the Central Continent, but from there we have two options. Either A: we cross the archipelago to reach Begaritt toward my mother, or B: we head north to look for my brother and Lilia.
In all honesty, going for Zenith first is probably our best bet. The distance from East Port to the Central Continent's Northern Region is more or less the same as the entirety of the Demon Continent. And, that means it would take us a year to reach Sirius, only to have to scour the region to even have a hope of finding him–and that's not even mentioning the time it would take to retrieve Lilia. And by that time, Zenith might…
No, no, no. That's a flawed logic. This works the other way around, too. If we neglect Sirius, a five-year-old, he might very well end up meeting a fate that he doesn't deserve to meet. Augh, what then? Do we split up, or what? But I don't want to have to leave Paul alone again, especially since he's been on his lonesome for a year by now. Not to mention I want to see his face for longer.
Do I tell Alek and Ares to look for Sirius and Lilia together? No, that's way too dependent on them. I don't want to burden them with all of that, especially since Ares just wants to get to the Sword Sanctum. What then?
"Hey, Lumina," Ares's voice called out. "You called the discussion for a reason, right? Why'd you blank out like that?"
"Ah, sorry," I said, scratching the back of my neck. I'd almost let my emotions get the better of me. Standing here in front of the two of them made me realize that this problem wasn't mine alone. There was no use in keeping it to myself since the three of us were a team.
"So… I just wanted to discuss how exactly we're going to alter this journey. My family is scattered throughout the world, but they're mostly along the path we were already planning on heading through," I said, having composed myself.
"If I'm correct, the journey up until East Port should be about the same. The one exception is that your father is not inside Milishion currently," Alek remarked.
"Mhm. I don't think that should be too much of a problem since we could just take a detour after leaving Milishion to find him," I said.
"That sounds good. Ares, what do you think?" Alek questioned. I peered over to him to see him staring at me fervently before breaking eye contact and looking at Alek.
"Hm? About what?" Ares asked.
"Weren't you listening?" I asked.
"Well… yes?" Ares paused for a moment. "No, not at all. Sorry."
Not listening? This guy usually pays attention to the meetings despite his lack of input. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if he were to be taken off-guard by Kishirika's whole information dump. Even I'm finding it hard to keep myself still.
"You're not usually this air-headed. If there's something wrong, there's no better time to say it than right now, you know?" I said.
"N-nah, I just wasn't paying attention," Ares waved me off. "Milishion, right?"
"Yep! We'll decide what to do with meeting up with my father and then from there…" I trailed off.
"From there we can decide whether to find your brother and the maid or to leave you with your father to find your mother. Am I right in assuming that?" Alek interjected.
"Ah, well, yes. I'm not sure how we'll go about deciding that, though…"
"For what it's worth, I think we could just, you know, leave the guy behind. Maybe he could hire a bunch of adventurers and go raid that labyrinth?" Ares suggested.
"No way. I can't just leave my father like that after a year of not seeing him! Plus, Kishirika said that he's in bad shape right now," I said, shutting down that suggestion instantly.
"Which is why I think we should wait until we reach your father to make this decision," Alek remarked.
That's not a bad idea. We don't need some meticulously detailed game plan right now, what we need is to have the leeway to make the decisions without screwing up badly. And now that he mentions it, I think making this decision without Paul isn't the way to go.
"I think he's right, Lumina," Ares agreed.
"Me too," I said after a few moments of silence. I sat down next to Ares and exhaled.
"For now, I think we just should try getting the hang of these things," I said, pointing at my white eyepatch.
"Could you give me a few pointers?" Ares gingerly asked.
"What makes you think I know some pointers?" I said.
"Because you're you, Lumina."
"What's that even supposed to mean? Augh, whatever. It's too dark to practice in here," I said, getting up from the bed and straightening my robe.
"Alek, could we head out for a bit?" Ares asked.
"Sure. Try not to get into any trouble, would you?" Alek asked with a cheery grin on his face.
"I got it!" Ares said, rolling his eyes.
As I watched the two of them, my mind wandered to Mister Man-God. No matter how you looked at it, I would have never found out about my family if it weren't for his advice. At least not this early. So… what are his intentions? He's clearly not a bystander like he says he is–this situation makes that clear enough. But he's not hostile, either.
While I am grateful that he brought me this much closer to returning to my family members, I just can't help but doubt him.
Why would he go this far, is the question I want to be answered.
Author's Notes:
I apologize for the delayed chapter. School is really ramping up and I can't afford to focus entirely on this story. But don't be alarmed! My motivation for Lumina Greyrat has not dwindled in the slightest! About the chapter itself: This chapter was really tough to write. I had to spend a lot of time getting the scene where Lumina reacted to Zenith's status and make it believable. Other than that, it was the usual joy to write!
Volume 4 will be the longest volume by a few chapters. 12~ chapters should be the final count, with more if you count the one Side Story and the 2 Extra Chapters I will write for it. Stay tuned!
Also, Happy birthday Rudeus, and by extension, Lumina! This marks 11 years since the start of the Mushoku Tensei WN, which coincides with the in-universe date for Rudeus's Birthday!
It's been done to death by now, but I'd like to advocate for the Ao3 (Archive of Our Own) version of Mushoku Tensei: Lumina Greyrat, as when the story eventually has mature content inside of the chapters, I will have to cut them out of this website due to the Terms of Service. You don't have to migrate now but do consider it.
The next chapter should be released by November 29th, titled... Chapter 34: Ten Days to Board
I truly, truly appreciate everyone who leaves a comment/review, you make my day even if you leave a single sentence. Thank you.