Mushoku Tensei

Volume 23 Chapter 5: Dark King Vita

Part 1

“Uwahh……!”

I jumped up.

A familiar room leaped into my vision the moment I opened my eyes.

My legs wrapped in the soft blanket.

The door which exited into the hallway from the bedroom.

The gentle breeze blowing in from a partly open window.

When I turn around, I see the pillow made from treant’s material.

Roxy’s figurine is placed on the side-table.

This bed, which I’ve grown accustomed to sleeping in.

Located in the Magic City Sharia, it’s my house.

“Haa……Haa……”

I feel like I had some kind of strange dream.

“Huh……?”

But I couldn’t remember what happened in the dream.

Just that it was unpleasant.

If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t have jumped up like that.

Well, a dream is just a dream.

“Nh……Ngh!”

I got out of bed and stretched.

The weather today is nice as well.

In a little bit, summer will end and autumn will take its place.

I can’t help but look forward to it.

As I walk down the stairs while thinking that, two children noisily ran up to me.

Children with dark brown hair and animal ears.

“Don’t fall down now~.”

“Yeeessss!”

I escort the running children into their room and continue down to the first floor.

Passing the hallway, to the dining room.

In the dining room, one female was preparing breakfast.

A voluptuous body hidden by simple clothing, but the clothing was cut, a tail coming out from behind.

When she noticed that I was in the room, she turned back while twitching her sharp ears.

“Good morning, Rinia.”

“Good morning-nya.”

To be told with a somewhat blunt tone of voice,

I was suddenly overtaken by a vague, uneasy feeling from when I had that unpleasant dream, so I hugged her.

“Rinia!”

“U-nya!?”

Rinia is my wife.

Just why was I married to her?

Right, now that I recall, it was during my days as a student.

I had been worried about my ED, and was trying to cure my son by various means.

At that time, Rinia and Pursena appeared in front of me…

Two people, possessing bodies overflowing with a vibrant youth, throbbing impression, and wild styles.

When I fought them, restrained them, and peeled them naked, my ED was yet to be cured.

But, after one or two years, I kept encountering them in the classroom and cafeteria, and I was gradually becoming more aware of their presence.

Soon, it reached the point where the two of them lewdly tempted me; and at that time my son, little by little, was regaining its response.

It had completely recovered when they reached their 7th year, during autumn.

It was then when the two of them, both excited and unable to control themselves due to the mating season, brought me to their room.

It’s nostalgic.

That night was the best.

After that, on the day of graduation, the two of them dueled and Pursena became the victor.

Pursena went back to the Great Forest and Rinia came to my place.

And then every year, whenever autumn arrived, we made children.

“Fushaa!”

“Owww!”

My hand which was massaging her breasts was hit.

“It’s forbidden until mating season! We decided on that-nya!”

“It should be fine with just a hug……”

“It’s you anyway, it won’t finish with just a hug-nya! A wife is nyot her husband’s sex slave!”

“That wasn’t my intention though………”

While sighing, I sat on the table.

Rinia’s mood is always like that.

According to the rules of the beast race, it’s only allowed during the mating season.

Of course, when the mating season arrives, the opposite side willingly invites you.

The children are cute, and having children with Rinia during the mating season really satisfies my sexual desires.

But still, that’s not it.

Just a little bit of, how should I say this, shouldn’t a little bit of touchy-feely be alright in ensuring our love?

“Hey, Everyone-nya! The meal is ready, get down here-nya!”

“Yeessss!”

Rinia strikes the empty pot with a clanging noise and the children come running down from the second floor.

It’s not just the two children that were going up the stairs a while ago, there were twelve children in all.

The beast race can give birth to two to three children at once, that’s why it’s a large family.

My house is filled with children’s rooms.

“Eat quickly, there is work for you to do-nya! The students are waiting-nya!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Being pestered by Rinia, I began eating my breakfast.

Her cooking is quite delicious.

When we were newlyweds, she was only able to roast meat, stew fish, and boil vegetables.

These past few years, she has learned quite a bit from Sharia’s home cooking.

Seasoning is a bit weak, but that's because the beast race's sense of taste is different, so it can’t be helped.

“Thank you for the food.”

“Yes. It wasn’t much-nya.”

Once the meal is finished, as always, I change into my robe and go to work.

I entered the magic guild once I graduated and am now a teacher at the Magic University.

I’m teaching chantless-magic invocation.

This kind of magic style is extremely high in practical usage; that’s why it’s a fairly popular course.

Like this, my teaching method for chantless-magic invocation is established, and if my students produce results, someday becoming the vice-principal or even principal will no longer be a dream anymore.

“Well then, I’m off.”

“Have a good day-nyan.”

While parting with few words, I headed towards the front door.

For my wife and children, I’ll work hard today and every day.

“Nh?”

I suddenly saw the living room door was slightly ajar.

From inside, I could feel a person’s presence.

It’s an awfully nostalgic presence.

“………”

As if I was being lured in, I opened the door.

There was a man.

Pretending not to see me, with one hand on the back, he’s sitting on the sofa.

The back of his head had bright brown hair that was tied into a ponytail at the base of his neck.

“Nh?”

The man turned around.

“Yo.”

It’s Paul.

Why is he in such place?

Wasn’t he dea-……

Ah, no, he’s not dead.

He gave up on the teleportation labyrinth and came back to my place.

Thereupon, coming to Magic City Sharia, he’s living in the neighborhood.

Yeah, that's definitely what happened.

Lilia, Aisha, and Norn are currently living in Paul’s house.

They condemned me for not going to Paul’s aid, but now we’re on good terms with one another.

Yeah, definitely, I’m sure that was the case.

“She’s a fine wife, eh?”

“A fine wife………it’s not like you're seeing her for the first time, right?”

“No, it’s my first time.”

Paul laughed heartily and waved his hand.

“Are you fine with how things are right now?”

“What’s that? Do you have something that you want to say?”

“No, not really? There’s nothing really. I just asked because I wanted to know whether you have any complaints or not.”

“…………There aren’t any complaints.”

Rinia is a fine wife.

That is, I’m just unhappy that I’m not allowed to touch her except during the restricted period once a year.

Even that, I don’t particularly mind it.

The mating season is soon; when that time comes she’ll become more clingy than usual, and with a level my body is not able to endure, she’ll love me.

And to be able to make kids, as a male, my instinct is satisfied.

If I have to condense a year's worth of 'action' to one season, then it isn't such a big deal.

My work is going smoothly as well.

I’m a popular teacher at the Magic University.

My teaching method is successful and widely known in the top classes of every school.

There are many students who wish to take the class, and the other teachers' trust is great too.

My future is bright.

“I see, so there are no complaints. That’s the best of all.”

“………Right?”

“But, something, are you not forgetting something?”

As if scolding a foolish child with a tender voice but continuing to look down on me.

“For example, look, the work you’re doing right now. Who did you imitate to gain the popularity of your students and teachers?”

“That is obviously………”

Who was it again?

For a moment, I felt like a blue-coloured something flashed in front of my eyes, but I immediately shook my head.

But, the noise in my heart grew.

“Isn’t there a person who taught you that? In this world, the technique to become successful.”

“……From some time ago, just what are you trying to say!? Say it clearly!”

I gave into my irritation and approached the sofa.

I walked to the front of Paul and grabbed him by the collar.

Then, my hand stopped.

“Then, I’ll say it clearly………I’m already dead, ya know?”

The lower half of Paul’s body wasn’t there.

Part 2

“Uwah!”

I jumped out of bed.

“Haa……Haa……”

My breathing was rough, my throat dry, and my back was drenched with sweat.

It was a bad dream.

I saw an impossible dream.

What was that……What was that……

“What a nightmare……”

“……What’s the matter?”

“Aah, no, I just had an odd dream.

“When I came to Magic University……There was someone from the beast race named Rinia, right?

I had a dream where I was married and had children with her.

I had become a teacher, and was teaching chantless magic to our children.”

“That’s a nightmare?”

Was it a nightmare?

When you put it like that, it doesn’t really feel like a nightmare.

Baby-making with Rinia for a short period of time each year while looking after the children, teaching the students each day.

It was a quiet and happy lifestyle.

But—.

“It was a nightmare.”

As I said that, with my sleepy eyes, sitting up on the canopy I saw my wife.

She is a goddess of beauty.

Her frame neither too large nor too small, but just right.

Her breasts neither too large nor too small, but just right.

Her butt is slightly small, but it perfectly matches the size of her chest and height.

Overall, her waist is slender but also wide, it’s neither one or the other.

But she is impossible to view as a whole.

It can be said she embodies symmetry, she has the perfect body.

If a flaw must be found, it would be her messy bed-hair.

Her normally beautiful flowing blond hair was somewhat disturbed.

But it does not detract from her charm.

With her messy hair, no human capable of reproduction could resist her charm.

To put it simply, erotic.

The messy hair, most likely caused by the actions with me last night, made her 30% more erotic.

“Being married to such a perfect woman, I have everything I desire in my hands. Why would I be a teacher in a rural town?”

“Is that a compliment? Such flattery.”

My wife.

Ariel Anemoi Asura.

She began to giggle.

“But maybe you wish for such a life.

Lately there have been many parliamentary affairs, right?

Royal life is by no means easy.

Our work, no matter how small, bears huge responsibility, but we’re not guaranteed the same amount of happiness.

The happiness people feel, it’s not that important.

Perhaps teaching in a rural area, spending time surrounded by children, that living as royalty now makes the balance between responsibility and happiness different……

More so than a woman like me, a child like Rinia may be more to your liking?”

Ludicrous.

Ariel is the perfect woman. She doesn’t have a single flaw.

She would indirectly rebuke me for my failings and would even flaunt me in front of people.

She doesn’t have any problem with other female relationships and would even allow concubines.

And on top of that she is great at her work, she is trusted greatly by those around her.

She is the ideal boss and a national idol, she is that kind of woman.

No, perhaps there may be some flaws.

She can be argumentative, and values logic more than feelings.

She also has a somewhat peculiar fetish.

But, for me at least, these are not enough to be called shortcomings.

“Aah, I apologize. Did I say a little too much?”

“No, I was just thinking that it just might be so…”

“If a vacation is needed, please say so.

Lately the kingdom has been calm, so taking a little breather should be fine.

Wherever you go……Why not take a concubine with you?”

“If I got a vacation, I would just want to hold you all day.”

“Geez……nothing but jokes with you.”

“It’s true.”

I wonder how long it has been since I held Ariel like that.

The first time, we welcomed a lot of concubines, it was the sumptuous feast I had always dreamed of, but recently such things don’t appeal to me.

She alone is fine.

If someone were to ask me what currently makes me happiest, it would be that I can love the woman named Ariel Anemoi Asura.

“*giggle* Then let us make that kind of time, next time.”

While she was giggling, a maid dressed Ariel.

I also got out of bed and opened my arms.

A maid immediately rushed to me.

When I saw the two maids dividing the work and quickly dressing me, I felt I had become important.

The time at Magic University seemed very nostalgic.

When I enrolled in Magic University, I met Ariel.

After being chased out of the country after a political loss, Ariel did not give up and began assembling allies.

Being the only one at the school capable of chantless magic, I was scouted.

She was beautiful from the beginning, and possessed charisma.

But as I was suffering from ED, I had an unwelcoming demeanor.

That changed because she fixed my ED.

The approach was a little rough.

She forcibly used an aphrodisiac to get me excited and made me attack her.

Initially, I didn’t realize it was a ploy on her part.

I had done something unthinkable and out of a sense of guilt, I joined her side as a form of atonement.

At first, I was a high powered escort.

I did not have any special authority, I was just to protect Ariel.

That began to change when I became familiar with Ariel.

Ariel, who strived to be royalty.

But occasionally showed an expression appropriate for a girl her age.

Little by little, I became captivated by that girl.

I will not deny that I initially had ulterior motives, but it was not her body, but rather her heart I was attracted to.

I collided against my colleague Luke many times.

He surely loved Ariel as well.

But Luke died in the decisive battle for the Asura Kingdom, leaving Ariel and me behind.

Finally, I confessed to Ariel and obtained everything.

The world’s greatest woman and the world’s largest country.

I became the king of the Asura Kingdom.

Rudeus Anemoi Asura.

That is my current name.

Only as an extra to Ariel, my existence is something like a puppet.

Ariel reigns as queen, but it’s easier to call me the ruler, that’s the only reason.

From the start, my lineage was pretty high profile in the Asura Kingdom, so there were no complaints.

Magic King Rudeus.

The world has taken to calling me that.

When I power up, I might just become Super Rudeus.

Whether or not Ariel loves me is unknown.

I can’t say for sure that I’m not being used only for my power and position.

The wedding may have only been to help smoothly govern the kingdom.

That causes my feelings to waver; there is also the large amount of concubines.

However, recently I've come to think that whatever she thinks is irrelevant to her true feelings.

After I married Ariel, she has been continuously maintaining the attitude that she loves me.

She is a hard worker.

She will possibly commit herself to love me.

This act might be a lie, but at least I feel satisfied enough.

Even if I am being deceived, I can say that it felt good to be tricked.

If I cause more harm than benefit, Ariel will probably betray me.

That depends whether or not I work hard.

Let’s try harder.

“Well then, shall we go? We have a mountain of work today.”

“Yes.”

I left the bedroom by Ariel’s side.

The two knights guarding the entrance bow their heads.

As we walk down the hallway, no matter who we meet, they bow their head.

This is power.

If I, for example, said I didn’t like the way one of these people bowed, that person would go pallid and fall down to their knees.

If I told them to lick my feet, they just might do it.

Fufu, of course, I wouldn’t do something like that, but knowing I have the position to do so is an excellent feeling.

Well then, the first job is any incident that may have occurred during the night.

There was no major emergency last night, so there shouldn’t be any pressing jobs.

From experience, that should take two hours, and just before noon we have a meeting with the Knight Captain.

After a meal, we have an appointment with some nobles.

We also need to finish up with the petitions from the afternoon, was it?

I hope we can make plans for the vacation; I want to make children with Ariel soon.

Since one of my roles is that of a stallion.

“Your Majesty!”

As I was thinking that, the Knight Captain came running.

He immediately kneeled in front of me and raised his voice.

“The knight sent to exterminate a demonic beast in the forest to the east has come back on the brink of death! He wants your Majesty to hear his last words directly!”

“Huh!”

A demonic beast in the east forest?

So that happened……

“I have not received this report.”

Aah, that makes sense.

“This is the last request of the knight that have fought for your Majesty! Please, please hear out his last request!”

“Dear. There is no need.”

Ariel is cold.

But today isn’t especially busy.

“Why not meet him?”

It is the wish of the knight that fought for this country.

Just hearing him out should be fine.

Listen to his name and remember it.

With those feelings, I hurried to the audience room.

Ariel seemed unhappy, but followed without excuse.

In the room of the audience, subordinates had gathered.

Notos house, Boreas house, Euros house, and Zephyrus house.

Along with those were many VIPs of the Asura Kingdom aristocracy.

And so surrounded by those people, a single man was waiting on the red velvet carpet.

Resting on a stretcher, he is covered with a blanket.

He had a familiar face.

“Father…”

Paul.

Why is Paul here?

Aah, I know.

Paul heard that I became king and joined the knights.

And so, even though his relationship with the Notos was bad, he bowed his head.

As a knight, he wanted to protect me.

“Yo, Rudy.”

Paul raised his hand to greet me as if he wasn’t injured at all.

“Father……the demonic beast, exterminating it, I heard from the Knight Captain……”

“Demon? What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

I tilted my head as Paul shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

“That’s not why I came here.”

“As I said, what are you saying……ngh!”

While I was talking, Paul removed the blanket.

He had no lower body.

With injuries that would cause instant death, Paul was speaking.

“Continuing from what I said earlier.”

Part 3

“Uwah!”

I woke up

I had a bad dream.

A nightmare.

“What’s wrong, dear?”

The woman next to me asked while wiping the sweat from my forehead.

She had a curvy body and a youthful smile.

My wife Aisha.

She is, umm, how did we end up married again?

Yes, that’s how it is.

Errr, I could no longer put up with her getting in the bath with me.

Aisha, every day, came to tempt me, and each year her body……Wait, but?

“Hey~ what is it……? Do you still want me to call you Onii-chan even after we got married? Geez, it can’t be helped, Onii-chan is a pervert after all.”

“………”

……On the other side of Aisha was Paul.

Having lost the lower half of his body, he was sitting in a chair.

He’s looking here and laughing.

“It’s useless. You understand that too, right?”

Paul murmured that.

I know.

Aah.

Well yeah.

I should get it by now.

The reason the nightmare continues.

Why I’ve been feeling nothing but discomfort.

For a while now, I have been constantly waking up.

It was all a dream.

And so, this is also a dream.

“I finally noticed.『Dark King』Vita. The farce is over.”

Dark King

That’s right.

The Dark King Vita.

I remembered.

Part 4

Before I noticed, I was in a room without a door.

The room without a door had three chairs.

There was no other furniture, but it gave off a feeling similar to my room.

The room from my previous life and my current bedroom.

It feels like a mix of both rooms.

And in that room I was sitting in one of those chairs.

In front of me are two people.

No, two creatures?

One was a skeleton.

Wearing a crown, it was a dirty, blackish skeleton.

The other was a slime.

It’s most likely a slime.

An object shaped like blue jelly was sitting on the chair.

At least it appeared to be sitting.

“Nice to meet you. I am the the『Dark King』Vita.”

Is what the slime said.

The translucent blue slime.

That is the true identity of the Dark King Vita.

Then I wonder what the skeleton is?

It’s not Paul, is it……?

I don’t remember what Paul’s skeleton looked like, but that crown wouldn’t suit Paul.

“This fight is my loss.”

The slime made a seriously rotten face and……no, I don’t know where its face is.

He said it in a seriously rotten voice.

Defeated, as in this battle.

He showed me dreams.

It was a very happy dream.

If I hadn’t noticed, I would have continued forever in that happy dream.

“…You used some kind of illusion technique on me and showed me that vision.”

“Yes. Using your memories, I predicted the future that might have occurred, and blended it with your desire. The finest of illusions.”

Illusion techniques, eh?

It seems those kinds of things exist as well.

The unusualness of……the future that might have happened… now that I recall, I feel as if it had a lot of defects.

A world without Sylphy, Roxy, and Eris.

“Your sexual desire is very strong, it was quite easy.”

“Abstinence does that to you.”

Oh dear me! That’s embarrassing.

And being with Rinia, Ariel, and Aisha is also…

I probably am a little……

Although it would probably be a lie to say I had absolutely none of those feelings.

No, nothing, I have no feelings of that kind for Aisha, no means no!

“But my feelings towards my wives and my memories of Paul were the catalyst that broke the illusion, right?”

I had seen this type of illusion countless times in my previous life.

Although it was mainly in manga……anyhow, I knew how to defeat it.

I probably put that into practice unconsciously and it led to this result.

“……No, that’s not it. I had you completely under the illusion. Certainly, the effect was shallow because of your special spiritual body……but that much would never break the illusion.”

Huh?

“Then how did I escape?”

“That would be……this.”

Vita pointed to the skeleton from earlier.

The skeleton which assumed a proper posture.

“This is?”

“Quit playing the fool……You already foresaw the fight with me and prepared this in advance, didn’t you? My natural enemy, 『The Bone Ring of Laxus』”

“………”

“And now that I think about it, you dramatically removed the disguise ring in front of Ruijerd to hide the ring on your left hand.”

The Bone Ring of Laxus.

I have no memory of preparing something like that……

“The Bone Ring of Laxus was a ring made by the Death God Laxus in order to kill me.

It uses the death of the person you most relied on to break the illusion, prevent the escape of the practitioner, and corners them.

Although, if you hadn’t experienced such a death, the ring wouldn’t activate.”

Death God Laxus……The Death God’s ring!

The one I got from Randolph.

I put it on! It’s true that I had it on!

“I seemed to have made light of you a bit too much.”

I didn’t see this far ahead.

I also didn’t mean to hide the ring.

“I failed.

If it was going to turn out like this I should have controlled Ruijerd and threatened you.

Ruijerd was resolved in the destruction of the village, but then you showed up and I got impatient.

And because you didn’t look particularly vigilant, I thought I could take care of you easily.

I didn’t think that a plan to take care of me had been prepared……I could not have predicted a trap to hunt me down……”

It wasn’t a trap.

Somehow, I’m sorry.

But Orsted or Randolph might have predicted such a situation.

Although I wish Orsted would tell me about these things in advance……

No, now that I think about it, he did say to take the ring.

That might be why he kept quiet about it.

By simply wearing the ring, it renders the Dark King powerless, that sort of thing.

Words without worth.

Well, this wouldn’t be the first time Orsted has left out important information.

This also isn’t the first time I didn’t need to hear important information.

“……Well there is the saying that overconfidence leads to defeat.”

“Yes, truly.”

As Vita regretfully says that, he shrinks.

It’s as if he’s rapidly losing power.

And at the same time, the skeleton also begins to collapse.

“To think that I, the history’s strongest king of the Glutinous race, will be finished off in a place like this and in this way, I had never even dreamt of that. Rudeus of the『Quagmire』. Splendid work.”

……I wonder how I’ll get back.

I hadn’t predicted these turns of events.

Luck, I wonder if I can chalk it up to that.

I went to see Randolph myself, so I wouldn’t call that luck.

Then, would it be better if I told him not to call himself the history’s strongest?

No, there’s still something left that I need to hear from him.

“There’s one thing I want to hear. Are you an apostle of Hitogami?”

“That’s right. I am greatly indebted to that God.

He set me free from the demonic hands of Death God Laxus and told me about the route to the Heaven Continent’s Hell.

Thanks to him I have lived a long time……

And this is the result that came of that.

Is it cause and effect, or fate?”

Vita continued to shrink rapidly.

When I first entered the room, he was as big as an average human, but now he’s no bigger than a fist.

“Rudeus, let me say one last thing.”

“……”

“The Human God is a bad God, but there are those, although few in number, like me that he saved.”

As he said that, he had shrunk to the size of a fingertip.

At the same time, the skeleton was disappearing into sand.

“Wait! Tell me who the other apostles might be………!”

My consciousness also began to fade.

Part 5

I awoke.

My consciousness was clearing up.

I remember the contents of the dream and the last conversation in that room.

“Uuh……”

There was an abrupt pain in my stomach followed by nausea.

“Blughgh……”

I dropped to all fours and the liquid was vomited out from my mouth.

A blue liquid.

A blue, slime-like substance, mixed with bile and dinner, spread on the ground.

Is it……the corpse of Dark King Vita?

As I thought that, a sense of discomfort began radiating from the ring on my left finger.

When I took my gauntlet off, the Death God’s ring broke and fell to the ground.

The ring sank into the vomit with a plop.

“……”

The fact that the ring is broken,

it means that the conversation with Vita earlier was real.

…Basically, Vita entered me and the ring caused him to self-destruct.

Pitiful.

That said, it wasn’t that Vita miscalculated.

If I had been manipulated, Hitogami’s victory would have been assured.

And I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing……

A coincidence.

Or should I say inevitable.

The bone ring of the Death God Laxus.

It wasn’t just used to have Kishirika listen to its wearer.

It’s possible that Randolph didn’t even knew what it could really do.

“Aah, I wonder where Ruijerd went?”

I scan the surroundings.

I’m inside a building.

The floor, walls, and layout……all seem familiar.

It’s Ruijerd’s house.

From the turn of events, after Vita transferred to me, Ruijerd brought me here……?

“………”

It’s bright outside.

I wonder how many hours have passed.

It seems to already be dawn.

I’ll clean up the vomit later.

“Ruijerd-san?”

There was no reply from the landlord.

Did he go outside?

Or is it something else?

For now, I stood up and started looking around.

I have to confirm the situation.

No, there he is.

Ruijerd was lying on the other side of the hearth.

“Ruije-”

He was lying there, pale faced with wheezing breath.

Holding his own trembling body.

The moment I saw that, I was at a loss for words.

This was clearly not normal.

『Vita was halting the progression of the disease. The moment Vita is killed, his fissions will die and the plague will spread again』

I remembered him saying that.

In other words, Ruijerd’s current state is……

“The plague……”

It didn’t seem like the Dark King Vita had only died.

His self-destruction might have destroyed himself, but………

It was suicide bombing.