Author's Notes:

Our favorite murder loli has been screwed over once more.

Thanks to LugawAlchemist for the Beta work. Check out their fanfic "Mushoku Tensei: Reclaiming My Birthright in Another World" for an interesting MT AU.

And also special thanks to Quidopher for co-creating the omake; please check out Mushoku Tensei: Lumina Greyrat; now Quid owes me an omake, too.

The omake at the end is made with Quid.

Chapter 5: The Conflict Zone

K 417, Skies Over Western Conflict Zone

Tanya Norn Greyrat

"No one should long for peace and an idle life more than soldiers."

Just as I was happy to finally see Zenith learn chantless magic, providence kicks me in the ass. At this point, I would go back and blame Being X.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhh!" Paul shouted as he slipped out of my hands. We were about 500 meters in the air, and as my flight magic instinctively kicked it, it only covered me. Paul was falling towards a skirmish and pulled out his sword.

I prepared to match his downward acceleration and rescue him when he shouted.

"Stay in the air and look for a safe zone; I'll clear the area!" Paul's voice trailed as he approached the ground at terminal velocity.

**Thud** **Crash**

Paul easily weathered the fall as he started running away from soldiers left and right; I started looking for a clear area and found a steep mountain range to our west (or so I believed, with the north star visible in the sky). We were slightly south of where we previously were, although I had no idea where we were or how we got there.

Instincts honed by war kept me from reflecting too much during the battle.

I shot flares several miles west of Paul's skirmish on a relatively flat space of land hundreds of feet above a jagged cliff face. I could set up a camp with rudimentary earth magic and easily airlift Paul if he doesn't decide to climb up himself. These were the usual signals Paul and I developed over the last few hunts whenever I detected boars, assault dogs, or even safe clearings deeper in the forest.

I used the "safe clearing" flare over the flat space and flew back towards Paul.

Paul was cutting a swathe through the nearby troops as he raced towards the cliff face; at least twenty soldiers of four different factions had been sliced apart as they attempted to block his path to me. Their brightly colored flags and cloaks indicated their allegiances, and none of them looked familiar at all.

We aren't in Asura at all. Although the mountains to the west were a big hint that we were somewhere else.

I maintained my altitude of 1,500 feet as I approached Paul, only descending to 100 feet when Paul eliminated everyone within the clearing. Fighters aren't trained to look up during battles because only fools and extremely powerful fighters ever attacked from above. Fools forgot how fast, advanced, and stronger fighters are; falling from the air often meant you were slower than their reaction and, thus, more vulnerable to being sliced apart.

Extremely powerful fighters will just kill you in a blink, regardless of whatever direction they come from. Paul told me weeks ago that nobody would pay attention to my flying unless I started firing at them; even the signal flares I developed were often ignored in the heat of the forest hunts until Paul drilled them into our guardsmen in Buena.

Paul signaled me to go straight to the safe zone I found; I flew at a cruising speed of 200 mph as Paul ran after me.

It only took us more than a minute to reach the cliff face and another minute to carry Paul up the cliff face, where I then hosed off all the blood and grime from his body with a hot water spell. I also dried him off with a hot air spell before we talked. It was the same procedure I developed after our hunts, and I did it just to reduce the awful smell of the dead monsters that made me lose my already flagging appetite.

"I recognize this place. I have no idea why we are here, but we are in the conflict zone." Paul said in his "commander mode."

Whenever we had a crisis, such as a massive monster incursion, or whenever he authorized my scorched earth tactics in the forests around Buena, Paul had a look on his face that reminded me a lot of Lieutenant Grantz when he was determined to do his duty.

Determination drawn from undergoing a lot of difficult choices and perilous challenges.

I kept calm and quiet because I had no idea what to do here.

"I normally wouldn't even say this to someone your age, but you and Rudy have shifted whatever notions I had for responsible fatherhood. Even Aisha isn't much of a kid, no matter how often I tell Lilia to loosen up." Paul gave a soft sigh as he looked around the desolate plateau I selected as a safe space.

"First, if my knowledge of flags and coat of arms is correct, we are somewhere near the Eastern Ars Forts, the narrow valley leading to Asura from the western end of the conflict zone. Most people don't take this route unless they are hardened adventurers, exiled nobles, or wealthy merchants transporting valuable goods between Asura and the conflict zone. Only A-rank adventurers or higher take escort missions like these."

Paul was drawing a rough sketch of the region using his sword on the ground as he spoke.

He drew the central continent and split it into three, labeling asura on the left and conflict zone on the right; he left the top part unmarked and drew a large "X" on the western side of the conflict zone.

"Part of the reason we became an S-ranked party so quickly was the fact that we didn't fear crossing the conflict zone or taking part in the relatively unexplored labyrinths there since everyone was too busy fighting to explore them. I can roughly guess that we are on the western side of the continent since we're right at the edge of the Red Dragon mountain range. However, borders and nations change every generation, or even yearly, depending on how frantic the wars are."

Paul started marking the northwest corner with the Dikuto Kingdom and some question marks.

And another part with East Ars Fort.

"So are we going straight to the East Ars Fort? We can travel along the mountains until we reach the fort." I was willing to go as quickly as possible to friendly territory; I was sure Paul would easily find ways to get back to Fittoa and Buena from there.

"No, definitely not. There is a good reason why this area is desolate. Red dragons control this mountain range, and aside from the small passageways kept clear by powerful parties of adventurers, it is risky even for someone like me. Even your flight skills would be a liability, as dragons might see it as a challenge to their dominance and might chase you until one of you dies. The forests along the mountain range are also extremely dangerous; the beasts that survive here have to contend with dragons, after all." Paul drew some finer lines branching off from East Ars Fort and some points along the lines.

"We need to carefully reach the adventurer's guild in either one of these places, the Blue Fork or the Dikuto kings road. Due to a variety of factors, I would be able to avoid conscription into the war and would be able to find us safe passage back to Asura. That way, we wouldn't face the threat of Dragons or other dangerous monsters along the mountains. If push comes to shove, I would rather face a company of beginner and intermediate soldiers led by an advanced swordfighter instead of a stray dragon, let alone a pack of them."

Paul looked around and cut a line on the ground, speaking as he cut it.

"Now go build one of those "trenches" of yours and keep an eye out for dragons. I'll sneak into one of the nearby camps and figure out our location; it's too dangerous for you to go down right now, so make sure you stay warm and dry inside the trench while I scout." Paul stealthily leaped off the plateau while I quietly used earth magic to make a trench.

Once they accepted my scorched earth policy, Paul and the other guardsmen were no strangers to the fire trenches we started digging. They had no use for the trench style I was more familiar with in the great war, but they needed the fire trenches once I started burning the monster-infested forests shortly before the displacement occurred.

It's funny that I'm now dealing with a reversal of roles.

With the threat of dragons and their possible aerial attacks, perhaps I should take a page out of the Vietcong instead, who survived years of heavy bombardment from the Americans. Modifying a little bit to account for the changes in this current context.

I dug a deep trench and created a fake rock on top of it, written on it are instructions for Paul to enter in case he arrives. I doubt a dragon could read in the first place.

I made the hole large enough for Paul to enter, with some supplies and equipment, but small enough that a Dragon would be unlikely to fit their snout inside, at least based on what I imagined them to be.

I dug in about 20 feet deep, which was a ridiculous amount of effort for a normal human, but magic can be wonderful, and I used Earth Magic creatively to shape and harden the tunnel a lot more quickly. And made the chamber high enough that even Paul could stand if necessary.

I even replicated the map inside the small chamber.

I scavenged wood from a bunch of dead trees and created a funnel to exhaust the fumes made from firewood. The cold mountain air and the near winter conditions meant that even underground dwellings weren't enough for my underaged body.

I was safe for the night, although we would need to eat in the morning. I hope we can leave this place by then.

I didn't leave my old life in the trenches to live life like a communist in a Vietcong trench instead.

Ugghh, to think that I died in the middle of a communist invasion in my past life due to a crazy young girl manipulated by Being X.

This is the first time I had a night of peace and isolation all to myself in this life, and it feels different from before.

After graduating college and finding a decent career path, I moved to my own place in Japan, visiting my parents on weekends when I didn't have work activities. When my salary matched my parents at 30, I even took them to nicer restaurants and places once a month. Filial piety and gratitude were an important aspect of society.

And in my second life, I lived on my own, and stayed in my own quarters as a senior officer and also as a relatively rare female officer. Most women do not reach higher ranks in the imperial military since they normally get encouraged to raise children by that point by marrying into junker-dominated senior officers. Or die before reaching said ranks, since they were mostly used for mage duties when they weren't doing clerical and support work.

Now, I'm forced to contemplate in the cool silence of the night, all alone in my cave.

My young body is already feeling the stress of using a lot more magic than usual while also staying awake longer than usual. I had no choice but to fall asleep.

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I woke up on Paul's lap. It was awkward being on a grown man's lap but I was a toddler, so I think it was normal. As sexually promiscuous Paul was, he never did anything inappropriate to me or Aisha.

"You finally woke up; I was worried about your fever and all the work you put into building this very… cozy… trench."

A quick check confirmed that I felt feverish, and an even faster heal spell took the edge off my sickness. Ah, the wonders of magic; it didn't remove my mental fatigue but, it made my body feel much better.

"Aaand once again I get reminded that even my three-year-old daughter is able to take care of herself. Although your old man still has a couple of tricks and tips to help you out."

Paul showed me a sack filled with maps and coins, a lot of silver and gold coins filled the base of the sack while he prepared some preserved meat and rations on the makeshift table I had in the dwelling. At least he had fresh-looking bread and some jam. Just who did he steal these from?

"What you see here are supplies I took from the large mercenary camp downhill, the Senos rats. They're infamous for their professionalism and brutality, and if it wasn't for a crucial piece of information I retrieved, I would've asked you to fly us away to the fort, since I'd rather risk a dragon than this group."

I prepared water in makeshift clay cups I made with my earth magic and shared breakfast with Paul as he briefed me on the situation.

The Senos rats were an elite mercenary band from Senos, the capital of the Milbots region. They were made of hardened mercenaries and lesser third or fourth sons from lords who lacked inheritances. They numbered roughly two hundred strong and were currently led by a Water Saint, Diego. There were a dozen advanced-level fighters, an advanced mage, and at least a hundred intermediate fighters, and the rest were weaker mages and healers.

"They're powerful enough to conquer a small city and hold it until reinforcement arrives, and they have turned the tide of a battle at least several times during my close encounters with them in the Disputed region years ago," Paul explained as he ate a crude sandwich made with preserved meats, and strawberry jam all crammed into half a loaf of bread.

He was just stuffing calories down his throat.

"So why did you want to avoid them? And why can't we avoid them now?" Those numbers and troop composition far exceeded Buena's cumulative power, let alone our duo's capabilities, maybe if we had Rudeus or Ghislaine around we might stand a chance but this group sounded like a nasty one.

Paul marked some parts of the map and wrote an approximate distance, 20 km east of the camp.

"Well… I have some good news… and some bad news…"

"The good news is, I saw reports of two Boreas Greyrats found in one of their smaller camps to their east." Paul pointed at the camp 20 km away. "It might even be Rudeus!" Paul said with a very hopeful smile.

Please don't screw us, Murphy's law.

"The bad news is, not only do I have no idea who these Boreas Greyrats are, the Senos rats are typically extremely hostile to any other Greyrats outside of the Notos line, keeping them hostage for heavy ransom at best, or outright killing them at worst. We could have a week to rescue them if their leader sends a runner to Pilemon asking for instructions, if the Boreas Greyrat in question is important enough, or a single day if the Boreas Greyrat is insignificant, they would be executed." Paul grimaced towards the end.

Damn it, so we have to move very quickly to possibly save Rudeus.

"But why don't the other noble houses protest against the Senos rats? Don't they want to keep themselves alive?" I asked Paul since I assumed that nobles did not want to kill each other senselessly because they would start a chain of events where nobles would die just as easily as the masses.

"Where did you get that idea, Tanya? Almost every mercenary group in the region is hostile to Asuran nobles who do not run them. The nobles who go here are usually the less desirable, less controllable, ones who are useless in the capital or regional events. The nobles in power would like to eliminate the less desirable ones through attrition and hope the survivors get powerful and wealthy enough to be useful to the family again. Sometimes, they do have special targets in particular, especially when their Noble patron has problems with certain families." Paul looked like he was holding his temper just at the thought of the current system.

I assume that means the Notos Greyrats would happily eliminate the other Greyrats for their own dynastic benefit.

"This is another reason why I hate nobles in general, Asura is peaceful, bountiful, and happy and these idiots would rather add more conflict to our neighboring region. I know my father said something about keeping Asura safer in the process but it still causes unnecessary deaths and suffering." Paul said.

"Removing disruptive and violent members of society is a way for a broken system to offload their problems. If they had a better program to rehabilitate them, we wouldn't have this problem in the first place." I told him.

Paul shook his head and went straight to the point.

"As much as I want to rant about nobles while drinking a mug of ale, we're on a tight schedule here. My plan is for us to sneak to the smaller camp, where I locate the Boreas Greyrats in captivity. If they're worth rescuing, I'll call you in and you lift the three of us, flying as fast as you can back here. It would strain your mana for several minutes and take away a large chunk of your reserve, but that would save us from a lot of problems. I doubt the Senos rats would find us here, although we would have hell to pay if they started tracking us down."

Paul was right, we had a few drills where I airlifted several guards at the same time and brought them from the forest to Buena. While I could fly at top speeds for 12 hours if I did nothing else for the day, my top speed capabilities with extra people decreased proportionally with extra weight. Carrying up to 15 times my body weight with gravity, flight and hot air spells at full speed would reduce my flight time to 48 minutes. Although I could reach the camp 20 miles away in just four minutes at my top speed of about 300 mph.

"I could lift up to 15 times my weight for 48 minutes, I wouldn't have a problem flying us and our passengers out of the camp. You know how comfortable I can make the ride now for other passengers." I said.

Paul nodded, he must have been doing some serious math.

Speaking of serious math, I had an idea too.

We could easily infiltrate the support camp and avoid reinforcement or even notice from the main camp if we could cause a sufficiently large distraction.

"How difficult would it be for me to fly over the main camp and cast my strongest Exodus flame spell or stone cannons to distract them. I can fly away from them and meet you at the support camp, and then take us back here." I offered a solution.

"Nope, the sheer number of mages in the camp means that only your first spell or two would damage the camp, and that would only injure or kill the weakest mages and soldiers. You know that your strongest spells couldn't injure me too badly, and the Water Saint at the camp has even stronger defenses than I do. All that would do is make him find you and chase you down, while you might be able to fly away from him, if he decides to chase you for hours, you would get tired and he could eventually kill you, Diego may be an older man now, but he is tenacious and would go through great lengths to settle any slights against him. Plus I wouldn't be able to escape with the other Greyrats as easily." Paul shook his head as he rejected my plan.

I was thinking of using my tactics in Dacia where I shot down an outdated infantry at long range, Then using shock and awe to get what I wanted.

I didn't factor in the extreme physical capabilities of top-tier fighters, nor did I have a battalion, or even a Squad of Aerial mages to make this much easier.

I needed a more creative distraction.

Creating traps was too time-consuming, plus we didn't know the land as much as these mercenaries did.

Sending Paul to attack the main camp through airdrop was also just as useless.

I needed at least one attack that hit as strong as a series of advanced spells, or even a single saint-ranked spell to distract the camp.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to learn the same Saint-ranked spell Rudeus used, cumulonimbus.

If only I could launch projectiles at the base, however, I lacked the ability to create my own artillery.

What did I do in my most important infiltration missions?

Moscow and Dacia were a poor example, they had no means to effectively fight my troops and it was extremely easy to attack from range.

Paul was finishing his breakfast when I remembered something else…

Operation Shock and Awe.

The time we were stuffed inside V1 rockets and sent deep into enemy territory, also used said rocket as a bit of a kinetic impactor upon landing. We had to rely on our reinforcement magic to pilot these insane vehicles as well as survive the flight.

On the other hand, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the magic in this world is far stronger than the one in my previous world. Paul would've easily survived most attacks in the great war aside from perhaps my Type 95 enhanced attacks, Being X's puppet's optical magic spells, and of course, the suicidal explosion we had as I died. Although that latter part was likely the equivalent of a magical nuclear bomb going off.

Paul was fidgeting and scratching his head, he was probably stumped too, and looked desperate for a solution.

"I have a crazy idea, but I think it might work," I told Paul.

I explained the plan for us to ride a 5-ton rock and drop it on the main camp, while we fly away to the support camp and rescue the Boreas Greyrat captives.

I even explained the timing and mechanics needed to make it possible. I'd create a 5-ton hardened shell that Paul and I would ride on, I'd use my gravity magic to counter acceleration due to gravity and Paul would use his Saint-level Touki to kick us off into the sky.

I'd use gravity magic to keep us up to over 30,000 feet, and then the crazier part happens. Using a combination of gravity magic and wind spells, I would accelerate the rock down to the base at 20g, making it reach the base in a little over 10 seconds at 2,000 meters per second or nearly 4,500 mph. It would drain three-fourths of my mana and require an insane amount of precision, but it would hit with the impact of 500 of my strongest Stone Cannon spells so far. Or two and a half tons of Tnt.

My most powerful Stone Cannon spells merely hit as hard as a modern 21st-century tank round, and it would've been impossible to fire 500 of them at once down at the camp. I was basically dropping 1/3rd of a Grand Slam Bomb on the enemy camp, and while I expect freaks of nature like Paul, Ghislaine, or Diego to survive a direct blast, most weaker people should die, or at least be heavily injured from a surprise attack like that.

If Zenith's tales are right about the damage Rudy caused to the countryside when he did his saint-ranked spell, then this spell was nothing spectacular.

It might be dozens of times stronger than my best Advanced spell, but it lacked the sheer destructive area that Cumulonimbus had, which destroyed kilometers of land, similar to a Violent Typhoon in Japan. Rudeus is a walking weapon of mass destruction. I had a feeling he could already make a kinetic kill weapon with a yield closer to nuclear bombs if he wanted to.

Paul looked like he was shaking with excitement, he couldn't even look at me straight in the eye.

I bet he wished he had Rudeus' firepower instead of mine.

Why was I reincarnated with ambitious, battle-hungry maniacs again?

I had a strange nagging feeling grow inside me.

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After our preparations for the operation, I made a compressed rock shell shaped like an oversized bullet. I was standing on the flat end of the shell when I asked Paul to hold the base of the shell and jump as high as he could.

Under normal circumstances, that would be 500 meters without a 5-ton load on his arms. But with the benefit of my gravity magic, we maintained a constant ascent at 100 m/s for close to two minutes. Paul easily climbed on the 1 square meter platform on the flat side of the oversized shell for us to stand on, making it a somewhat comfortable place for us to observe. Since wind spells can generate air molecules and can provide a barrier against strong winds with enough mana, we had a pretty insulated experience as we flew up.

By the time we reached the point over 30,000 ft above the camp, all I needed to do was reverse the direction of the gravity spell and cast a wind spell to push it down even faster. This world was unused to instantaneous attacks from the sky, and I would use it to my full advantage.

A Grand Slam could injure or even kill a normal human even 500 meters away, or at least the normal ones from my previous lives. I suspect that a hardened mercenary camp would have a higher survival rate, particularly with Advanced fighters and higher-end mages and above. Magical healing also greatly reduced casualties, although I heard even intermediate healers outside the Millis church were rare and worth their weight in copper coins, which was how a young Zenith found her way into an S-ranked party very quickly.

We spent 9 seconds plunging down faster and faster under extreme gravitational stress, but it was something we could tolerate, if only barely on my end. Curse my toddler body.

Half a second before impact and less than 2000 feet above the air, I released the gravity spell from the shell and lifted myself and Paul straight to the support camp.

It was similar to disengaging from the V1 although Paul only gave a small oof as we suddenly shifted directions.

We would reach the camp in three minutes and Paul could rescue the Boreas Greyrats and prepare them for our aerial exfiltration.

**BOOOOM**

I heard the explosion on the camp and remembered just how loud the battlefields were in the great war.

I realized that I suppressed the worst part of my wartime memories in this new life.

I snapped out of those thoughts. Suppress unprofessional distractions, you old salaryman.

It was also very fortunate that the main camp we attacked closely clustered their dwellings, all in the name of making a more defensible fort against monster incursions.

"I'm so sorry for making you go through this, Tanya. I'm such an awful father to make my young child do this, but I hope you'll understand that we had to do anything for a chance to rescue your older brother." Paul told me as he hung on to me.

Or in this case, I was basically his jetpack.

I had to reassure my father before he would get distracted and cause subpar performance in our operations.

"Don't worry Father, you trained me well for this. I'll do anything to help our family, isn't it a duty of a good daughter to obey her father?" I wasn't sure if I mentioned something out of the Etiquette lessons or rote memorization of the Millis church doctrine. I hope it was the former more than the latter, the Millis church reminded me too much of the Being X worshippers from the Orphanage.

"And that's what I'm worried about." Paul said quietly.

Why wasn't he satisfied? Did he want me to be more autonomous with my actions? Maybe I should be more proactive with my action plans, he didn't like my first plan after all.

I need to clear my mind, too many suppressed thoughts and memories are pounding in my head. I need a good cup of coffee from Visha or maybe even a strong drink from my workmates in Japan.

I think the memories I lost due to the Type 95 are coming back…

Why do I have a weird vague memory of giving girl choco to Colonel Lergen.

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Meanwhile in the Camp

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Screams and moans of pain were heard throughout the camp, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something must have struck the camp.

The head mage, Goro was struggling to assist the remaining healer in the camp, utilizing his rarely used Heal spell to the injured people around the camp.

Out of the 117 people in the camp, 27 died, and another 60 were injured with 15 of them in critical condition. A small group was running with whatever funds they still had to get the nearest Millis healers. Some of the injuries needed Advanced heal spells to keep them alive.

Still, this meant that only three dozen people in the camp were anywhere near useful, and that represented the core of the Advanced fighters, a few intermediate mages who instinctively made a wall when they felt a split-second disturbance of mana, and of course, Diego and I.

Shortened spells for anyone but the most powerful mages led to inferior results. Shouting "Earth Wall" without the rest of the spell often resulted in incomplete or shoddy construction even for the battle-hardened mages and that was why everyone used full incantations on a real battle. However, mages were rare and were the first to receive medical attention.

There were some lucky camp members who survived because they were outside the walls of the fort, and they rushed to help fix the debris.

This already caused a bad day to get far worse.

"If I find out who did this, I will kill them, their families, and everyone they love!" The company commander, Diego shouted as he arranged a team of his strongest fighters.

Anyone with Advanced Touki and above survived the strike, although some of them sustained some easily healed injuries.

Diego himself was frustrated since he was busy writing a response to our sponsor about the Boreas Greyrat prisoners we had.

We just received news that the Mayor of Roa, as well as his wife, were inexplicably transported to the outskirts of the first red fort. While they claimed to have a spectacular amount of money in Roa, they were a Greyrat and thus a target for the Senos rats.

Diego himself was a descendant of an illegitimate Notos Greyrat, a common sight since the Greyrats were promiscuous across the branches. Although his ancestors were so far away from the main Greyrat line that he had no right to call himself one.

Diego considered himself doing a great duty to the Greyrat house, wiping off those who didn't deserve to be called one, and keeping the bloodline as small and pure as possible. After all, how would the Greyrats remain an important name if every other vagrant calls themselves a Greyrat.

The worst offender was Paul Notos Greyrat, the disgraced older brother of the Senos Rats sponsor, Pilemon Notos Greyrat. Not only did he throw away his heritage, but he contributed nothing to Asuran society by roaming the central and millis continent as an adventurer with Non-human deviants.

The Senos rats knew of Paul's party due to the several times they've been outwitted by that small, yet powerful S-ranked group.

Speaking of which, the Mayor of Roa said he was guarded by Ghislaine, someone Diego wished to kill but could never defeat.

"I hope Lord Pilemon allows me to execute these two Boreas Greyrats, this is the closest thing I could do to avenge that beast Ghislaine," Diego muttered loudly, catching scared looks from the already terrified fighters around him.

People were scared that another attack would happen again, nobody saw what happened and lived to tell the tale. One second everything was okay, and then another split second, an overwhelming feeling of mana and death filled the air before exploding in the camp. Not even a dragon could attack them and leave without a trace.

Another reason why the fighters were terrified was that one of them recently discovered that the treasury, as well as the maps, had disappeared. And the Quartermaster was more terrified since his building was still in relatively good condition.

Someone stole the treasures and also attacked them.

Goro the court mage guessed that someone must have cast a weaker King-class spell since no advanced spells exist that could do this much damage at once. While his limited knowledge of Saint spells (which he could only do with a group activating seals) made him know that Saint spells affected large areas, while King spells could affect limited areas with far more damage.

It was likely a prepared King spell written up in a scroll and powered by a weaker, perhaps, Saint-ranked mage. It was dangerous underpowering spells of that caliber, but a desperate or a very well-trained mage can punch above their weight class, sometimes.

And somehow, whoever did it escaped with the treasury and maps too.

The Quartermaster was ironically hung, drawn, and quartered, and not in that particular order once Diego found out about the missing treasury.

While the commander of the first red fort was set on fire and burned after Diego found out the Greyrats were smuggled out to places unknown.

However, a commander like Diego lasted as long as he did by adapting to the changing rules and styles of war. He never wanted to make the same mistake again.

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Back to Tanya

Tanya smirked at the successful exfiltration and laughed inside at the funny workaround to their transportation problem.

Combat clears my mind, and keeps the edge off my suppressed memories. Even my life as a Salaryman is more vivid again. And those strange dreams of a weird high school.

Was Being X's influence disappearing from me? Am I finally free?

Was that why I relished hunting those monsters over the past few months? I didn't have these problems during the first three years of this life.

No, I also knew the value of staying powerful enough to be free.

There was a large carpet in the cabin Philip and Hilda were locked in, it was a lot easier for the four of them to ride the carpet and use a flight spell to bring the group back to the hideout.

It was easy to escape unnoticed since almost everyone from the support camp left the base towards the main camp. It seemed that the Senos Rats had a signal system in case of emergencies and that they wanted to call the troops together after the sudden attack. It was a smart way to fall back in an age with limited communications, although it could backfire when opponents would take advantage of a concentrated retreat and encircle them, or trap the rally point.

While my passengers seemed to enjoy the magic carpet ride, I was a little disappointed.

Too bad nobody else would get the flying carpet reference in this Whole New World.

A whole new world indeed.

-OxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxO-

The Ambitious Younger Brother

K 417, Mountains near the East Ars Fort

Philip Boreas Greyrat

Riding on a flying carpet and entering an underground home was added to the week of unexpected surprises for me.

Perhaps providence is finally siding with me and my wife.

Paul's children are truly wonderful, with unimaginable potential.

I suspect that Rudeus had something to do with the displacement since he went outside the manor with Eris and Ghislaine to demonstrate his Saint-level magic.

While Tanya was able to defy the natural order of the world and make men fly, and not only that, at the tender age of three and a half years old, she figuratively kicked the balls of one of the strongest mercenary companies on this side of the continent. And according to Paul and Tanya, that still paled in comparison to a real Saint-ranked spell.

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We were given a chance to all clean up and bathe in warm water, prepared in a large earth tub made by Tanya. It was a relaxing experience, deep underground with only the torches as the source of light. Cleaning up after a whole day of abuse and stress was what my lazy bones wanted.

Paul cleaned up his act ever since he sent Rudeus to me, he trained his guards more seriously, managed to get acknowledged as a Sword-Saint by Ghislaine, and even managed to train his daughters to match Rudeus' legendary growth.

His plan to cause a diversion in the main camp and rescue us in such a spectacular fashion made me appreciate the steps I took to ensure Rudeus' loyalty to my cause.

Tanya and Hilda bathed already, taking their time and apparently talking a lot to each other, while I would've preferred to talk to all of us together, Hilda didn't appreciate Paul's leery eyes while she was clothed, let alone naked, while Paul would probably kick me in the balls if I suggested bathing with his underaged daughter.

They were making dinner while Paul and I bathed.

Maybe when she's closer to fifteen I could make arrangements for her and one of my sons…

Tying the Boreas and Notos Greyrat houses together would ensure the creation of the strongest power bloc in Asuran history since the four children of the first Greyrat divided themselves into four houses. Sauros and Amarant tried to unite the houses a generation prior but failed when Paul ran away from home. Although they already had more disagreements over how the union would've been managed if ever it was made.

Paul on the other hand was far more lenient and relaxed and wouldn't mind a lot of suggestions I was making.

"So Philip, you told me you had a lot to talk about. What is it that can't wait for dinner?"

I looked at Paul in the eyes as I dropped my most successful move in years.

"Rudeus decided to accept my offer to help reclaim the Notos house in exchange for helping me take over the Boreas house," I said, as I kept my resolve from faltering.

Paul sighed and groaned. I expected this since he rejected my offer every time.

"Philip, if I didn't trust you as my own brother, which I couldn't even say about Pilemon, I would call rank as Rudeus' father, cancel the arrangement, and then send you back to the angry mercenaries in the forest. You know just how much this would lead to a lot of pain and anger, let alone bloodshed as you make Rudy and Ghislaine your henchmen. While Ghislaine can take care of herself, it's dangerous even for someone like her. Rudeus is still a kid, even if he might be the strongest mage in the world since Perugius or Laplace."

I let Paul blow off more steam before I replied.

"If you can swear to me that Rudeus accepted this offer in a sober state, and none of that funny Boreas drugs or women involved, and tell me the reason why he even wanted to do this in the first place, I…. will grudgingly support your cause."

I was about to explain but Paul raised his hand to stop me.

"But first, help me find my family. I know you have enough resources and connections around the Asuran Kingdom and beyond to make a far more effective party than I can. You've always been the schemer between us, and I know as much as you do that you also want your family back together. I can even bet my favorite sword here that Eris and Rudy are together right now."

It was my turn to reply.

"I swear that Rudeus was in a sober state and fully understood the implications of his decision. You do know that he's been growing quite attached to Eris, right? But she wasn't the only reason why Rudy chose to work together with me." I said as Paul choked a laugh at Rudy's decision to be influenced by Eris.

Well, Notos Greyrats have a thing for big boobs and Eris was sure to have a set matching her mother when she grows up. I know Rudeus suspected that too.

"Although I may have told him some unpleasant observations and truths…" I continued as Paul looked at me suspiciously.

"You know that word spreads around of another powerful mage who can cast chantless spells and even fly? When I asked Rudeus about flying he said that the only time he tried in Roa was when he flew with Eris to escape the kidnappers, and even then, it was nowhere near as precise or spectacular as Tanya's casual flight. As much as your soldiers are trustworthy, and your villagers relatively quiet, some merchants have actually looked up and suspect someone flying around Buena. It also isn't difficult to piece together that your family knows how to do chantless magic." I started wrapping up from the bath as the water was turning cold.

I had to press the point without implying just how much of those fears were exaggerated or s

"And Rudy realized that his precious little sisters are at the mercy of powerful nobles who would likely kidnap them and use them to breed magically powerful babies. He even got worried about his future mistress, Sylphie since he assumed that his little apprentice taught Tanya and might be kidnapped herself."

"We talked about it shortly after his tenth birthday, after reading the letters from your family. He realized just how vulnerable the family would be if he didn't have the permanent backing of the Boreas and Notos Greyrats. You know how Pilemon might just kidnap your children, claim them as his own, and imitate the Boreas tradition of taking away children from the losing claimant. You are quite powerless as a village knight under the mayor of Roa, at least compared to a full duke of the Milbots region."

I pressed my explanation even further to my poor cousin as he was sorrowfully taking in the painful truths.

"You know it, Paul, despite your growth as a Sword Saint, and the unbelievable possibility that you might be a triple Saint, there are more dangerous people around you in the Kingdom who wouldn't hesitate to kill you and take your children. Even Rudeus or Tanya can only do so much without being hunted down. The privilege of the High nobility is the biggest shield they, or little Aisha can have against the schemes of the high nobles or the royals themselves."

There was one last factor keeping Paul from being convinced, and I knew what to say to tilt the scales.

"And my father Sauros won't be able to shield us all forever. You know he's been increasingly sidelined in the capital, and despite his access to the massive Boreas Greyrat wealth and connections, other nobles are turning to my brother James with louder and louder plans to fully take over the Duke of Fittoa. You know Sauros plans to hold out only until Eris is fifteen to give me a sporting chance." And that was only because Eris was his favorite grandchild.

Paul caved in.

"Okay, okay, I get your point. You and Rudeus were always a lot smarter than me when it came to things like that. It's just that… I feel like a horrible father to my children. No matter how hard I try, I still can't seem to protect them." Paul paused for a short moment. "Rudeus just turned ten, and Tanya isn't even four yet and now we're plunging them neck deep into this mess. I thought it was bad enough when Rudy saw those kidnappers die to Ghislaine at seven, but we just let Tanya kill dozens of people at the mercenary camp. Even your daughter Eris is only twelve, and I sincerely hope she and Rudeus are together with Ghislaine wherever they are."

I didn't even suppress my shudder at the possibility of Eris being left all alone in god knows where.

"They might be awful people, but they are still people. Tanya might be too young to understand that she just killed all those people and that it is different from killing monsters but I fear for her as she grows up surrounded by blood and war. No matter how peaceful Asura is for the common man, we nobles know how dangerous it is the higher we go. Philip, I will commit to this cause as long as you promise to do your best to break this awful cycle. We need our children and family to love and care for each other, with none of this infighting and backstabbing. The world has more than enough problems as it is." Paul stood out of the bathtub he paused again.

He wasn't usually this talkative except when things got very serious.

Paul was cleaning up too, gesturing that our private conversation was coming to an end.

"I think we can both agree we could do more for our children, and our families," Paul said, as he remembered the situation of my sons.

"Father! Uncle Philip, Dinner is ready. Aunt Hilda said she managed to prepare your favorite stew with the ingredients Father… found… yesterday night." Tanya said at the edge of the bathroom.

She sounded much more like the adorable little kid a normal uncle would expect, rather than the imposing battlemage she acted like during my rescue.

"Coming Tanya, Philip, and I are just wearing our clothes now. We'll see you in a minute." Paul said as he signaled me to finish my preparations too.

I wasn't just a pretty boy who spent all his time grooming himself, I just happened to have better hygiene than my rough cousin.

I smelled home.

It was a short walk to the "dining room" which Tanya made by expanding the underground dwelling she made.

But I could smell Hilda's cooking, even though we had beast maids who did most of the cooking, she would occasionally make her own meat stew.

"Paul managed to steal some of the best spices and meats from the camp without noticing." My wife's words snapped me out of my stupor.

"And Tanya is such an adorable little helper, Zenith and Lilia must have taught Tanya so well since I'm sure Paul couldn't tell the difference between spices to save his life."

"Hey! I don't know what Ghislaine tells you about my cooking back in the day but I was the only one Geese called to help with his cooking, aside from that one time with Zenith. And of course, Tanya learned how to do outdoor cooking from me. Riiiight?" Paul looked unconvincing to everyone.

"Of course Father, you're the one who taught me how to set up a campfire, choose which wood to light up and how to preserve meat…" Tanya said like a dutiful little girl, although she started smirking.

"Then I remember Father sitting back, drinking a large mug of beer and gossiping with his best friend, the pretty Elf Laws, while me and Sylphie help Mother and Lilia prepare our meals. The only time I saw Father feed someone lately was the time he fed his sword to Laws— Ooomph" Paul put his hand on Tanya's mouth before she could continue her story.

Looks like she has a sense of humor too. Imagine if she understood how that sounded.

"Even your daughter seems to know your true nature, Paul. Aren't you satisfied with your two wives already? Why do you want another one." Hilda asked while slicing a sausage all of a sudden.

Paul cringed visibly but Tanya saved him.

"Of course, my Father said he was training Laws how to do North Advanced skills by building internal resistance. Uncle Laws usually brings a pie or two from his house whenever he eats over at our place." That little smirk as Tanya told the story made me know she knew what she was doing.

It was funny anyway, Rudeus made the same jokes at the expense of his old man too.

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We decided to move fast while the Senos rats were disoriented, by midnight, we would fly as close to the East Ars forts as possible, and look for the main adventurer's guild at the border. We needed information, especially before entering the Milbots side of Asura.

We repeated the cycle of flying on the carpet for 20 minutes, then frantic digging and setting up on the nearest plateau and hiding during the day. Tanya was too tired to work in between all her mana expenditure so the three of us spent that time planning, strategizing, and preparing for the different situations.

Sometimes Tanya would pitch in some ideas, but she was often too exhausted to do more than listen, which was an extraordinary feat for someone turning four in a few months.

"Once we arrive at the East Ars fort, should we reveal our identities or bribe the guards and fake our identities? We have enough proof for the former." I showed the Boreas ring I wore, which I also used to stamp seals on documents.

"And we have enough money to pay the guards to let us appear to be wealthy merchants from the conflict zone who just don't have any documentation worth using." Hilda added.

After some back-and-forth discussion, Tanya suggested some advanced scouting on the town nearest to the fort, to determine the mood of the fort. Tanya and Paul would go ahead since they could pass off as a common father-and-daughter pair and were less suspicious-looking than we would.

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After two weeks of careful flying and hiding, we were at the nearest town to the fort. There was a massive influx of people, refugees from the looks of it. Seems like the war must be going bad for the Dikuto Kingdom for this many refugees to flee south. Paul's stolen map indicated that they were at war with the Markien Mercenary group but were allied with the powerful Broze Empire. Perhaps the latter betrayed the former.

We could've reached this town a week earlier but Paul and Tanya were overly concerned about the dragons and Senos Rats, with Paul having a long history with the mercenary group. I often pushed for a quicker return to our power base in Fittoa but even Hilda was worried for our safety.

While we waited in the nearby Inn, Paul, and Tanya went to the small adventurer's guild to get some gossip. Paul's status as an S-ranked adventurer was sure to turn heads and gain some respect, or at least fear that would keep the local adventurers from outright lying to Paul. Paul also stayed long enough in the Conflict Zone to speak with a bit of their accent, which helped him blend in even more.

Hilda was at her breaking point, she really wanted to see Eris again, and she also had a soft spot for Rudeus which grew even further the moment he agreed to my plan. She was forcing him to call her Mother too after agreeing to the plan. She was thinking of more desperate measures to get the family together and her facade was about to crumble even around Paul and Tanya.

The tension and anxiety also weighed on me, as much as I wanted to help save my family, particularly Eris and my sons, I was worried that I put too much pressure on Paul and his children. They were truly noble souls to not see how I manipulated them for my purposes. Paul was always my muscle to my schemes and the backup to Ghislaine once she started attracting more attention in Fittoa due to her presence.

Although his use was also limited due to his presence in Buena.

Oh well, at least the times I sent Ghislaine over the last two years to help improve Paul to a Sword Saint have paid off with my life.

It was my responsibility now to think of ways to save our families, after all, I need to honor the agreement I made with Rudeus too.

A loud noise surrounded us as Paul entered the inn lobby with Ghislaine, whatever gods of this world exist must be favoring me right now. With her around, we can easily go through the fort and to Fittoa safely.

However, as Hilda called Ghislaine out happily, something else happened.

"Ghislaine! I'm so happy to see you again, with you around we would be a lot safer." Hilda said as she hugged Ghislaine.

People were whispering about the "Army Killer", "Goddess of War", and "Sword King Laine". Paul led us quickly back to our room.

Paul quickly explained the situation inside the room.

"Ghislaine managed to kill the rulers of Dikuto Kingdom and Broze Empire in one battle, and now both realms are about to collapse into more infighting. While nobody has directly attacked her yet, she's been fleeing towards the East Ars fort too, to find you, or maybe even Eris or Rudeus." Paul shook his head while I thought of the possibilities.

"Ghislaine also mentioned that she made a temporary alliance with a saboteur from the Markien Mercenary Country since they were the ones who capitalized on the chaos of their invaders collapsing into infighting. I think both nations accuse each other of backstabbing each other just as often as they accuse Ghislaine of destroying their armies." Tanya pipped up from the side, after two weeks of hard travel and extreme mana usage, a night to refresh herself has given her a lot of her old energy.

"Yeah yeah, I might have killed their rulers but it's not my fault their guards were so weak. Anyway, what's the plan, Philip? Will we go straight to Fittoa from here? I'm sure me and Paul can take on anything along the way, and Tanya doesn't look like much of a slacker too." Ghislaine said.

While I appreciate Ghislaine's faith in my intelligence and leadership skills, I usually worked as an administrator and a spymaster, not a military man.

"First we need to know what happened in Fittoa, if all of us are not in Fittoa, then who is? However, we would have a difficult time splitting our group and risking an ambush once we break up. I also think that our pursuers would hear news of our meeting soon enough, the adventurer's guild and this inn are not the most subtle places in this town. We're running out of time already since we've been out here for two weeks. That would be the time for a courier from the capital to realize we're missing from Roa." I said to the group.

"I can go, I bet I can reach Roa in two days if I keep running straight. Just point the direction and I'll run through anything in the way. Give me a message to give to Lord Sauros and I can do it. I just need to stuff myself with some meat and bring some supplies to eat, drink, and rest every few hours but you know I can move really fast if needed." Ghislaine enthusiastically volunteered.

No, that would be an awful idea, not only did she have a bad sense of direction, she had the subtlety of a brick when she was singleminded, she might literally destroy anything between here and Roa, which included the East Ars Forts and Milbotts itself. She already was a force of nature in the conflict zone and we didn't need more problems leading into Asura.

Sure she could travel what would take over a week on fast horseback and a dedicated supply chain, in less than half the time, but the risk of being left behind while greater threats were behind us might doom us. Besides, if some other party gets Ghislaine if she gets lost, we would be in even worse trouble. It was already a miracle that she somehow found her way to this town.

"No, you should stay and protect everyone else, we don't need to send you on a two-day journey and utterly exhaust yourself. You wouldn't be able to fully convey the message too since we just met an hour ago too. I can do it, it may take me a week but I can go from adventurer's guild to adventurer's guild and swap guild horses, as an S-ranked adventurer, it wouldn't be hard to rent and bring the horses from branch to branch, I have some money to burn too from the looted Senos Rats camp. I'm a much better horseback rider than anyone else in this group, and you're a stronger protector than I am. I can do it and send the message to Uncle Sauros properly." Paul gave a more reasonable, if conservative option.

Tanya looked like she was about to speak, was she going to offer to fly? As much as that was an attractive option, I knew she had a lot of weight, size, and distance limitations due to flying out party from the southern edge of Dikuto Kingdom to the western borders.

"I can do it in a day and be back in the evening." Tanya nonchalantly said.

Every one of us, aside from Paul, was shocked at the idea.

However, Tanya never let us down so far, so maybe we should go with this.

Paul had a different response.

"No! I won't let you, even if you can fly that far, for that fast and that long, you've never even gone more than an hour's trip away from Buena before this incident. Even if you could read a map, and I know you could, the map isn't perfect and you wouldn't even know the landmarks and features from here to Roa. As much as I could criticize Ghislaine's poor sense of direction, at least she knows the most important features between each place." Paul gave the response every responsible adult would give their young child.

"Ever since I started transporting our group towards the fort, I've noticed my mana endurance increase by 25% in two weeks. I can safely move at my maximum cruising speed, reach Roa in five hours, send a message to whoever is in charge, and get back in the same amount of time. I'll even have enough mana to cast a couple of advanced spells for self-defense." Tanya spoke up.

It was the first time I saw her directly defy her father, and Paul was not amused.

"I think Tanya can do this. She had no problems bringing us here and she showed she can be handy in a fight. And we also need to know how our family is doing back home. Advanced-level mages and fighters are rare outside of large towns and cities in Fittoa so even if she gets lost, she should be safe." Hilda added. "Plus Philip is popular and influential enough that showing a letter marked by his ring should be enough to get any leader in Fittoa to assist Tanya if she couldn't find Roa."

Paul was normally a very tactically sound man when it came to adventuring, security, and battles but Tanya and Hilda have very good points too. Most higher-level fighters and mages avoided Fittoa due to the low-level quests available. They normally went to more dangerous locations on the outskirts of Asura, or outside the country if they wanted more lucrative quests. Luckier ones were hired by wealthy nobles and businessmen as private security, or sometimes tutors, like how Ghislaine was hired for Eris and how the now Water King Mage Roxy was for Rudeus.

Sometimes I wish I asked Roxy to teach me magic instead, her teaching skills are extraordinary to turn a smart three-year-old into a saint-ranked mage by the time he was five.

Unfortunately, I asked her to tutor Eris and Roxy rejected her.

Which made a lot of sense since Eris was a terrible student until Rudeus tamed her. His tolerance for pain and his not-so-subtle lust for my daughter also played a part in his patience towards Eris.

Something I had to use for my plan to take what is rightfully mine.

"Philip! Please talk some sense into your cousin. Tanya is the best hope to find a quick and discreet solution to our lack of contact. Nobody looked up, and she could quickly deliver the message. Philip and I were out in the fields with Ghislaine, Eris, and Rudeus when the incident happened, so there's a chance that Lord Sauros might still be in the castle. The fortified city of Roa has enchantments to protect against most normal spells. And even if it isn't protected, you know how he would find a way to get to Roa regardless of the cost. And that is something we need to worry about since he would do anything to get to Roa or fix the situation." Hilda gave a stage whisper after this. "Remember how he already declared war on the Notos Greyrats and we had to lock him up in the shed last night to keep him from ordering more messengers to announce it around the city? Just because Rudeus agreed with our plan doesn't mean we would move immediately."

"Uncle Sauros did what?! We aren't ready to fight Pilemon and the Milbots region! Especially when we need to cross their lands from the border before reaching Fittoa. Not to mention Buena is close to the Milbots border. If the rest of my family is still around…" Paul panicked at the news.

Should I lie to him and stoke his fears? The more I think about this, the more we need someone to stop Lord Sauros from doing something phenomenally stupid and ruining the whole plan.

"While I think we stopped the news from spreading outside the castle, we've been worried about a potential spy or two among our ranks, James always remained a step ahead of me before Rudeus agreed to help, and I'm worried someone passed the message to the capital. Even Minister Darius wouldn't stop sending spies into the city ever since we killed Thomas the butler." I decided to stoke his fears.

Please forgive me Paul, but I think this is what's best for our family. If Tanya is so willing to help the cause, why should we stop her?

She might look like an adorable little girl, but the way she killed those Karentosaurs chasing us last week showed she was a trained killer. While she lacked the raw power of Rudeus, she knew how to use it.

Paul gave a big sigh and took a deep breath. He was reluctant, but between the confidence Tanya showed, the desperation Hilda had, and the efforts I made… as well as the not-so-subtle nudge from Ghislaine to prompt him to answer quickly.

"Alright, you win. But if Tanya does not make it back in one piece, all of you will pay." Paul said in his darkest voice.

Even Ghislaine flinched and her tail tucked between her legs.

That was a serious spike of Touki.

I wrote a letter addressed to Lord Sauros and gave a brief update on our situation near the East Ars Fort, I also made a letter for Alphonse in case he was around, to manage the household while we were missing.

After provisioning Tanya and checking everything thrice over.

"Yes Father, I know how to read the coordinates through the stars, and I memorized where Buena is through the night sky," Tanya said after Paul quizzed her on the map locations for the fourth time.

Paul visibly cried as he let go of Tanya, who let him go after a prolonged hug. Her tiny frame reminded me of her age, and my suppressed guilt gnawed at me.

I was sending a little child to do a dangerous task.

Tanya flew at sunset, intent on reaching Roa at night at their location. The night sky provides great stealth to hide her flight, as well as stars to assist in her navigation.

I prayed to the gods of this world that Tanya makes it back in perfect health.

-OxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxOOxOxOxOxOxOxOxO-

Omake : Co-created by Quidopher

K 417,

Lumina Greyrat (from Quidopher's Mushoku Tensei: Lumina Greyrat found in AO3) from Turning Point 1

The light expanded further and further, but right before I lost consciousness, I felt like a truck hit me again.

I felt like time passed me by, three hours. Six hours? Was it a whole day that I missed? It was a lot brighter than it was when I was strolling with Ghislaine and was rudely interrupted by Almanfi.

I was falling, and my mind forced me to contend with the immediate need to stop myself from falling to the ground. A shadowy forest and an open plateau flashed in my vision. I was likely looking at my options if that., I chose the latter to increase my chances of survival.

Pouring as much mana as I could around me, I shielded myself from the fall before losing consciousness.

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I felt like I woke up from a deep slumber. I had a strange dream that I met this featureless being who told me I was being sent to the demon continent. He gave me the vibes of a total creep and it even gave me nightmares of my old body. Guess all of that was a lie, then. He didn't come across as the truthful type, so I'm not that surprised.

I groggily opened my eyes only to widen them in response to what I saw.

I was in a cave, with light only coming from a small fireplace at the other end of the bed. Why were we in a cave? I'm the off chance that Mister Man-God wasn't lying, I figured I'd be placed in a much more dangerous place. He'd told me to trust the man who was to be near me, but it looked like I was alone.

I peered down at my body to see if I had any lasting injuries from my fall, only to see the slim, small frame that I was used to.

Someone must have healed me very well. Sylphie, maybe? Or mom?

I sat up, feeling awfully refreshed, and saw my staff on the other side of the room.

I saw a familiar face sleeping on the bed across the room, the hairstyle was different but it was undeniably…

My sweet little sister. I moved to her bed to stroke her disheveled hair. She had a bad fever and looked exhausted so I did a silent healing spell on her.

"Norn."

My adorable little sister slowly opened her eyes and all of a sudden, I was blasted back by a powerful intermediate wind spell.

If my own reflexes and skill in wind magic hadn't saved the day, I would've been knocked unconscious once more on the other side of the cave.

"Who are you? How did you even get here?!" Norn spoke with an unnatural clarity in her voice, she didn't sound like the mumbling and cute sister I know. She sounded like a well-trained stage actress.

"Don't you know your older sister? Lumina? We were only separated for a few days back in Roa. Argh, damn it, where's Paul? I'm sure he can explain things better." I said to her.

"Oh, of course, trust father to have even more children that I don't know about. How old are you?" Norn asked with the assertiveness of an older woman, or even a military officer.

I had no idea why Norn was acting so strange, was she possessed by an old soldier or something?

I decided to play along and wait for Paul to come back.

"I just turned ten! Are you okay?" What, did she hit her head or something? "Uncle Philip and Lord Sauros made it for me as a favor to Father," I also pointed at the staff which stood at the other side of the room.

"That Tailwind-Zephyr over there, that was their present to me too. I think it was because I'm a Saint-ranked Wind mage who could do chantless magic. But, more importantly, how did you learn how to do chantless magic? I don't remember teaching you any, and Sylphie was too busy learning from me to teach you that." I returned the question to my increasingly odd sister.

"I don't remember you teaching me anything either, and how are you so familiar with Sylphie? I don't remember you in my neighborhood. While you do look like one of Paul's love children, I never saw you in Buena." Norn replied pointedly.

Love child? As unpleasant as the memory was, I am 100% sure that I came out of Zenith's womb. Besides, what kind of toddler would know what the term even means? What, is she possessed? Isn't that something that can happen here?

"Who are you and what have you done to Norn? She wouldn't know half the things you've talked about." I didn't know how to deal with possessions or illusions but I had to prepare for the worst. I already had enough threats to my life this past week.

"Gaslighting and deflection? Common fallacies by one denying the truth. While you may be a Wind Saint…" Norn appeared to be in a combative stance.

*Crash*

I saw Paul enter the room, carrying a heavy sack that sounded suspiciously like gold. I hope Paul can answer all my questions. I hope Mom is around too, I need to make up with her.

He pointed his sword at me. What's with him? Is this really… Paul? What kind of Father would point his weapon at his own daughter with such malice?

"What have you done to Tanya? And who are you? You look disturbingly similar to Rudeus, even down to his staff. But you make a poor impersonation of him." Paul looked around the messy cave and assumed I started this. I'm well aware he's a shitty father, but has it always been to this extent? God, my head hurts.

"How do you not know your own children? Who's this Tanya you're talking about, that's supposed to be Norn, if she's not possessed by some evil being." I was getting tired of this poor attempt at humor.

"In case you forgot, I'm Lumina, I just turned ten two days ago and I'm your daughter. I was born and raised in Buena and became a Saint-ranked wind mage under Roxas Migurdia. I have two siblings, one of which is Norn, and I was just walking outside Roa with Ghislaine when I was attacked by Almanfi of Lord Perugius, and next thing I knew, I was falling down to wherever this cave is." I huffed out as I was increasingly frustrated.

"You are either delusional or the worst liar I've ever seen. Anyone who would spend at least a little effort to impersonate my family member would at least try to get some facts right. Even I know that my older brother's tutor was Roxy Migurdia and she was a Saint-ranked water mage. My older brother also gave me the name Tanya, and nobody familiar with me would ever call me Norn. If you were one of those infiltrators from the Notos Greyrat family intending to sow discord in the family, you failed." Norn… No, Tanya spoke with a clear mind.

Should I even speak up against this kangaroo court?

Paul harrumphed and took a deep breath.

"Tanya, my gut tells me she isn't trying to lie. Even though she's speaking a whole bunch of nonsense, she doesn't have any tells. As a North God practitioner, I should be able to sense if someone is deceiving me. Unless this girl is secretly some North King or higher, but I don't think North Emperor Auber would do this." That was a remarkable change of heart on Paul's part, but why doesn't he believe me?

"I think we should call a truce. I don't know or trust you, and I didn't have any affairs with women any time near Rudy's birth, but you look like my child. You even have my birthmark on my face. We have a time-sensitive problem on our hands, and if you really are a saint-ranked wind mage, we would need every bit of help you can provide." So after treating me like this, they expect me to help?

I nodded warily as Paul gestured Norn… No, Tanya, I have to call this possessed parody of my sister by a different name, to return my staff.

"Are you really sure? She might kill us when we turn our backs on her." Tanya stage whispered to Paul.

"She doesn't move like a fighter at all, I could stop her before she does anything reckless." I shuddered at the thought. I don't think I can write this off as them being possessed anymore… but what other explanation could there be?

We had an uneasy peace at the table where Paul gave us breakfast from the sack. Tanya casually made cups with earth magic and even summoned cold water.

If there was one thing that remained the same, it was Paul's eating habits. It sounded extremely unlikely, but if it wasn't for the fact that it already happened to me only ten years ago.

"Maybe I got sent to another world?"

"Maybe you come from another world." Tanya and I spoke simultaneously.

"Damn Sonzai X!" Tanya muttered. Was that Japanese I heard?

"So you come from this other world where Paul and Zenith have a daughter named Lumina? And that I was only named Norn? What happened to Aisha? And was your instructor a young boy instead?" Tanya had a rictus of shock and… what was the term? Cynicism? For a toddler, she was far too smart. Again, not that I should be talking.

"Are you the girl I pushed away from the truck before I died in Japan?" If this Norn was the reincarnation of the girl I saved in Japan, this might start making an inkling of sense.

"No, when I died in Japan I was pushed to a speeding train by a crazy man. At least that leaves out the possibility that you were that insane girl I fought over Tiegenhoff." So I wasn't the only person reborn in this world? Or at least in a world like mine. Could there have been someone else reincarnated in my world? Well, the world's too big to say for sure.

But what's Tiegenhoff. That sounds…German? Maybe?

I noticed I replied to her in Japanese and she spoke back the same language, although she had a strange accent like she hadn't spoken it in a while, she must have been a hafu who was attacked by those creepy men around trains. The way she said Japanese words like a man would say it, rather than a woman's intonation makes me think she learned Japanese outside Japan.

"What are you two talking about? I can't understand what you're saying and it sounds just like the gibberish Rudy says sometimes." Paul, the poor man, wait til he finds out his daughters are probably older than he is.

"Second time's the charm?" Tanya looked at me with a strange smirk, maybe she had some epic tale to share in her three years of life here. She looked like the expressive type once you get her to speak.

"I was checking if Lumina was anything like Rudeus, I believe she is Rudeus from another world if Rudeus was born as a girl. According to the letters Rudy sent me secretly, he learned the Demon language from a book Roxy gave him, he sent it to me as a gift for my third birthday, and told me to keep it a surprise until I mastered it. He was supposed to teach me a cool spell once we met, if I could talk to him in Demon language. It seems that Lumina learned from her master too." Tanya said with the smoothest bullshit I've ever seen.

"I never got to learn Demon Language myself but Philip told me the same thing too about Rudy having a knack for languages, I don't even know how Rudeus sent replies to the letters you gave but." *Siigh* Paul did a facepalm.

Roxas had never gotten back to me, for whatever reason. I desperately needed the help learning the language, since my learning material wasn't exactly the best, but I figured that he just didn't get the letter where I asked for help. Was she blatantly manipulating Paul or was she just this theatrical? I could almost believe it myself.

"Now tell us your story." Tanya ordered me "And don't tell Paul about our past lives." while saying this in Japanese.

Did she also encounter that odd being who claimed to be the Man-God of my dreams?

Paul was dumbfounded, but I guess every normal parent would be shocked that their three-year-old could speak Demon language and learn it secretly, on top of whatever talents she had.

While I was reluctant to bring up my unpleasant past, the mood in the room pushed me further. I could skip straight to the part where I was reborn, thankfully. I didn't want to bring up anything specific related to my past life if I could help it.

"I am Paul and Zenith's firstborn child. At least in my world." I explained as Tanya nodded and Paul slowly nodded too.

"I learned chantless magic at three, then studied under Roxas before I graduated as a Saint-class Wind mage. Sometime after, I taught Sylphie how to do magic, and became her tutor for the past four years. She just graduated as a Saint-class Fire mage. I also have two siblings, Norn, who kinda looks like Tanya over here, but is a lot more timid and shy, and her twin, Sirius." I was interrupted by Paul.

"Zenith had twins? What happened to Aisha? And Lilia too? Did Zenith kick out Lilia after she was pregnant in your world? Rudeus pulled off a miracle when he blamed me for everything and saved Lilia and Aisha's life." Paul was about to grieve for Lilia and Aisha.

"Lilia never got pregnant in my world, I stopped her from seducing you and warned you that bad things would happen if you cheated on your wife. Seems like this universe proved me right." I was about to continue my point but Tanya gave a small cough.

"You said we were pressed for time, perhaps we can discuss that urgent matter before going back to our life stories." Tanya sounded like a military officer.

"This is too much for me to think about too, let's get down to business." Paul brought out a map and talked about the situation.

We had to rescue some Boreas hostages at a camp 30 km away, there was even a large chance that my male counterpart, Rudeus was held hostage too. I wonder if he was a reincarnated NEET too, the achievements he made were just too similar to mine. That was also complicated by a large camp led by a Sword Saint who had a grudge against Paul.

It wasn't my world, so I did not feel as invested to help my alternate universe relatives. I kept quiet during the whole planning process but I reacted to Tanya's casual suggestion to destroy the large camp.

"While my Advanced spells wouldn't damage the camp enough to make a first strike, Lumina can cast her Saint-class wind spell at the camp while we fly over them from 10,000 meters. I can cast the usual flight and air spell and make a mobile platform for Lumina to destroy the camp. That would give us enough distraction to save the hostages from the secondary camp." Did Tanya just ask me to kill dozens of people and destroy a camp as easily as my sister would order KFC in my first life?

"W-Wai—" I was cut off before I could voice my hesitation.

"If she wasn't around, I would've used a desperate attack where we'd ride a Kinetic projectile I can accelerate to several thousand meters per second and fly away at the last second, your Sword Saint skills and touki should shrug off the worst of the impact in case you fall off the platform. It would still be weaker than a Saint-class spell but it would've been stronger than my strongest Exodus flame." Tanya said with no regret.

What was worse was Paul seemed like he was excited more than concerned that his little girl was suggesting this. Perhaps he thinks of Tanya as a comrade more than his daughter now, he must be used to fighting with Tanya in this world. My head was hurting too much.

Tanya seemed to sense my doubt about the plan and promised me something.

"If we work together, we might find a way to return you to your world, you seem attached to your family and I think you would go to great lengths to fix things in your world." Those piercing green eyes glowed as she managed to convince me to give it a try.

"We might even send you to Japan if you'd like," Tanya added in Japanese.

.

.

.

.

Tanya fashioned a carriage, with enough room for half a dozen people. She was dismayed by my lack of gravity magic because she assumed Rudeus could do it since he taught Sylphie how to fly.

We had a hovercar, lifted by her gravity magic, and propelled by my wind magic. Unbelievably, we flew kilometers above the camp.

It was time to cast a Saint-ranked spell when I tried to stall Tanya once more.

"Tanya, isn't it a terrible idea for me to use a Violent Storm while we're in the air? The winds might blow us away. I've only ever seen Sylphie do it before, so who knows if I can even pull it off!" Maybe this would convince Tanya to see some sense before starting this attack.

"Don't you know Fire magic? You taught Sylphie until she graduated as a Fire saint. That means you can cast that magic too." Tanya had a point.

"Wind magic is more of my cup of tea, so I'm not so confident in casting the Saint-class Fire spell." Was I desperate enough to kill people to find a way to go home?

Those were people. People with family, friends, lovers. If I go through with this, I'd be snuffing out god knows how many of their lives. There has to be another way. My entire being was repulsed at the thought of going through with this.

"Do it, we need the help and connections of Rudeus and the Boreas Greyrats to find a way to get you home. If we don't strike now, they will notice us soon, and we will die." Tanya spoke like a drill sergeant.

The words reverberated around my skull. We'd die if I didn't end the lives of other people. My gut lurched at the realization. I had to do this. But was there any world where I could?

"Do it! It doesn't matter since this isn't even your world!" Tanya commanded.

The wind rushing past my eyes and ears blocked out my senses, and the only thing on my mind was to follow through. I thoughtlessly reached out my hand and pushed a disgustingly thick flow of mana into my veins, blossoming into a sick spark of raw power that needed a place to be released. And so, I let it.

*BOOOM*

I used the Flash-Over spell and watched as the entire expanse before it erupted into a hellish landscape of flame and smoke plumes.

My vision blurred as my stomach revolted against me, forcing me to double over and throw up the remains of my breakfast over the carriage.

Paul was speechless, while Tanya was coldly comforting me.

She may look like an angel, but she's a devil in disguise.

XXXXXXXXX

Author's Notes:

I am using the higher-end projections of the Mushoku Tensei feats since the Author himself is very inconsistent. I'll try to be consistent with the upper-end feats, to keep this from being a cakewalk for Tanya.

If it isn't clear yet, Tanya has Touki (or else her combat style is gonna get her killed fast) but less mana than Rudeus, plus she's not even four years old yet. Let her grow.

Terminal velocity is around 45 m/s in normal atmospheric conditions, to someone like Paul, it honestly shouldn't bother him at all. Advanced-level Touki makes things like falling from the sky a little more than an annoying bump, it makes sense when they can strike things hard enough to split trees casually or absorb spells that can destroy rooms. (At least where Paul is concerned even in LN 1/ Season 1 early episodes.) This stronger Paul can probably enjoy a freefall from the edge of the Stratosphere and only get pissed off by the lack of air to breathe and the extremely cold winds for the first few minutes, but it's nothing Tanya or Zenith can't fix upon landing.

Although you'd need to be something closer to Ghislaine if you want to survive atmospheric freefall (if she can move in kilometers per second or hypersonic speeds to stop Arumanfi, atmospheric freefall isn't an issue for her.)

A good scale of how strong I think Sword Saint Paul is would be somewhere between MCU Iron Spiderman and DCEU Wonder Woman Pre-awakening (Wonder Woman before the Ares fight) note, this is NOT comic WW or Post-awakening Wonder Woman who scales MUCH higher.

Tanya the Evil uses meters in the anime version when it comes to altitude, LN and Manga use ft. I'm just using whatever value, rounded up to make for power levels from the previous verse, Mushoku Tensei just has some super OP beings anyway.

I had to dig in very deep and found out Shine Healing is advanced level healing and that the chant was "Angel of miracles, bestow thy holy breath unto the pulsing heart before thee. O heavens blessed with sunlight, servants who despise crimson, swoop down into the ocean of light, the pure white of thy wings spread wide. Drive away the blood thou seest before thee! Shine Healing!" oh well, I'll shift that to Saint-level healing in this universe.

I forgot where it was but it's canon that the Salaryman matched his parents' salaries at 30, which means he's a bit older than that. I have my own headcanon about the Salaryman's origins but that's a whole other story.

Tanya is still overestimating Paul in some aspects, but Rudy did the same too.

While the Kinetic Energy attack is extremely OP, it takes a lot of time, a stationary and vulnerable target, and surprise for it to work. Once other factions figure out what Tanya is doing, they will take far more active measures to stop her attacks. Plus it still isn't too OP when compared to higher-end MT spells, it's just far more efficient for destruction. As it is, Tanya is spending a Saint-ranked spell worth of mana, using a Sword Saint to power it up only to cause a spell that only causes more damage than an average Advanced spell, but lacks the area effect of a Saint-spell.

While Tanya could've technically made a Stone Cannon from a high altitude, it wouldn't cause as much damage yet since she doesn't have the mana reserves to make Rudy-level attacks with it, her Stone Cannon attacks right now are similar to a modern tank round. Tanya's Kinetic Attack is over 500 times more powerful.

I'm using the old computations of my other fanfic where the six-faced world has 4.4x the surface area of the earth, that the world is flat, and that some parts of the north and a large part of the south are missing. It also makes distance computation very easy since the official MT map is divided into roughly 42 panels wide and 30 panels tall. Making a square flat world would mean the world is roughly 42 panels wide and 42 panels tall, which makes computation for distance easy. Earth's circumference is 40,075 km. Antipodes (points from end to end are roughly 20,000 km from each other). With the SFW having a 4.4 x larger surface area, that means distances from edge to edge are 2.1 x more than the antipode, which means the world is 42,000 km x 42,000 km.

That makes each square a 1,000 km x 1,000 km square which makes computation so much easier for distance

Horses in Mushoku Tensei move very fast and can sustain it for 8-10 hours. Any intermediate-level human and creature and above could also move much faster and farther than even the fittest humans when prepared for a trip. I had to go for the larger world in order to account for their travel limitations despite their ungodly speed.

So with the right horses and carriages, a normal trip can travel 200-400 km a day comfortably while someone on a fast horse can go 800 km in a day. However, that would be very tiring for a normal rider.

Traveling from East Ars Fort to Roa is roughly a 5,000 km trip through established paths and roads, saving any traveler the hassle of staying in dangerous fields and forests filled with monsters.

However, a direct Aerial route would only be slightly less than 4,000 km.

Excerpts From

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

Rifujin na Magonote Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Light Novel) Vol. 2

Rifujin na Magonote Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation (Light Novel) Vol. 9

Carlo Zen Youjo Senki Vol. 1 (Deus Lo Vult)