Mushoku Tensei: A different path

{Rudeus POV}

Here for reporting, Sir.

Mission successful. Luster Grizzlies eliminated. No casualties or wounded. Pelts have been skinned, with the flesh and bones incinerated. Only minor difficulties occurred.

Huh? You want to know what I mean by 'minor'?

Of course, Sir.

After locating the Luster Grizzlies in the cover of the night at lake Cucuru, a thick mist has been created to hinder the enemy from visually locating the magician.

Just like our information said, their white fur makes them easier to see at night.

Extra precautions were made in the form of [Quagmire] below the target and [Earth Wall] to ensure that no survivors escaped.

For the main killing method the King class Water Magic [Lightning] was used.

After hitting the target with said spell, the majority died on the spot.

Only a handful survived but were immobilized due to the paralyzing effects of [Lightning].

The survivors were eliminated from a safe distance on the edge of the wall with [Rock Bullet].

Afterward, the tails were cut off for proof for the guild, as well as the rest skinned to remove the pelt so that they can be cleaned and sanitized for later purposes or sells.

Huh? You are asking what about the mission went wrong, Sir?

Well, there seemed to have been a second pack at another lake close by that was outside the mage's detection perimeter.

The Luster Grizzlies of the second pack covered themselves in mud for camouflage purposes in the dark.

However, even with the dark hiding them, their presence was still detectable.

Unfortunately, the mage was in the middle of skinning when he noticed them approach.

So out of sheer panic he incinerated them in a torrent of fire, making most of the carcass's pelts unusable which made a huge loss of money.

You're asking for the name of the mage who did this?

Well, certainly, his name is not Rudeus Greyrat, that's for sure, he-he.

…

...

...

Alright, fun is over.

Why did I think that was a funny idea?

While the first pack's pelts will bring a fine amount of money, it is a shame that I damaged the second pack's pelts too much.

I'm still not in the need of money, but it sure is better to have a bit of emergency cash stashed up.

You never know when the next calamity happens, and you end up landing in the middle of the most dangerous continent in the world.

Maybe once I have enough, I could get myself a new staff.

Wait, scratch that idea.

I just remembered that my old staff, Arrogant Water Dragon King [Aqua Heartia], costed approximately 100 Asuran gold coins.

Even if I do jobs like these it will take a long time until I could buy myself a staff that is at least as good as my old one.

And it certainly won't be the same as [Aqua Heartia], as it had a special means for me.

It was the best birthday present I got, and now the only thing that remains from it are less than a handful of shards that I gathered before blowing up the mountain where it got destroyed.

Perhaps I could try hiring a craftsman to make these pieces into a necklace, bracelets, rings, or earrings.

I already have two necklaces, so one of the other options has to do.

After what seemed like hours, I finally skinned the last Luster Grizzly, putting the pelt into my pocket dimension and burning the rest into ashes.

After taking some time to replenish my mana pool, I headed back to Rosenburg.

That little skit from before was just something that I created in my head because the battle was so anti-climactic, and to get time passing by faster.

On retrospect, I probably should've concentrated a bit more on my work on the pelts, or even try and sense if a third pack was close by or other monsters approaching me from behind.

My arms, shoulders, back and legs are hurting from all the process work on the carcasses.

Walking to the direction back to Rosenburg, I rubbed my shoulders and arms as they hurt the most out of all my body parts.

Work like this just shows how comfortable I had it with the stamina and centuries long experience from Ruijerd, as well as the joy and enthusiasm from Eris.

"… *Sigh*… I'm doing it again." I said looking up to the cloudy night sky.

Lately, a small sense of loneliness seemed to have developed within me.

This is my first job that I did solo. With only the small information, I got from the gate guard, it went smoothly.

I understand now how lonely this path actually is.

If it came to a real fight, I always had someone with me or had to be saved in the end.

Remembering the day when Ghislaine killed those kidnappers in Roa, I reminded myself just how the real world can be.

Seeing the decapitated heads and sprayed blood of those thugs was a horrific eye-opener.

This world isn't a dream, and I can die at any second.

Orsted helped me remember that again, but I don't want to say that I'm thankful to him for that.

If my name has to be spread around these lands, I need to get more famous, so that Zenith may try to contact me.

Freezing my butt off while walking in the woods, I keep on going.

I wasn't gonna use my [Specter Force] to swing like a jungle man to get back since my arms already hurt too much, even if I lessened my own body weight.

I noticed something that I shouldn't even be surprised about.

"Seriously? They went all the way here to find me?"

Counter Arrow was within my detection range.

Since it's still just night, they probably are just sleeping.

"*Sigh* Let's just tell them they came here for nothing. This Suzanne should do a better job as a leader."

Nearing their group closer with each step, I sensed something else.

There were a bunch of people approaching them from the opposite side from where I came from.

My gut feeling was telling me that they're up to no good.

All kinds of criminals are here in the Northern Territory who were escaping from the Asura Kingdom.

My senses were telling me now that Counter Arrow is nearly surrounded by those bandits.

"… I should do something or else they…"

I stopped my sentence midway through.

Why do I consider helping them?

I don't know these people good enough to try to help them.

The leader is over-concerned and wouldn't leave me alone, and the archer girl just keeps rebuking me for reason unknown to me.

It's their own fault for getting here in the first place.

Yet, something in my consciousness tells me I should help them.

Thinking hard about what that something was, I remembered.

Paul tried to teach me to always help the weak, and to never abuse my powers.

Even if that sounds very silly, considering it's coming from a flawed person like Paul, he isn't wrong.

And I have already disappointed his expectations of me enough.

".... *Sigh* Whatever. I hope I won't regret this."

Readying myself, I prepared for the incoming battle.

Making sure not to be noticed, I sneaked up on the bandits that are about to attack Counter Arrow.

I can't exactly tell how many of them there are, but they clearly outnumber them.

As a proper party should, two were keeping guard while the others took a rest.

I recognized the archer girl, I believe her name is Sara, but the other person I didn't know the name.

Not wanting to wait any longer, I started attacking first.

To make sure none of the bandits noticed me, I used an overcharged [Rock Bullet] to eliminate the first one from a distance without much noise.

The bullet was small, and had the shape of an actual bullet with a sharp tip.

Lately, whenever I used overcharged Earth Magic, some of the stone turned black.

It's incredibly durable, so I made myself a small dagger out of it when I skinned the Luster Grizzlies.

Aiming for my target's head, I took the shoot and fired.

But because the guy was standing before a tree the shot crashed into a tree and alarmed not only the other bandits, but also Sara and her watching partner.

I used [Specter Force] to get on top of some tree while surveying over my targets.

Swinging between the trees branches, I shot one bandit after another with the same spell.

None of them saw me and I could tell with my senses that panic brewed inside of them.

The feeling of another's fears is making my hair go up. This ability might distract me rather than help.

Let's just hope I can move around without crashing into another tree.

All I need to do is get this over with so that I can go take a rest and hopefully a hot bath.

After about 20 minutes, there were only 6 or 7 bandits left.

But when I tried shooting the next one, he blocked it with his sword and immediately spotted me in the trees.

I swung around the trees again and tried three more times to shot him with the same spell, and he blocked each one of them with ease.

Retreating, I thought about what my next moves should be.

He probably used Water God Style. A style meant to block and counter. Something that I'm in the disadvantage against.

That is, if I didn't have a specific spell that could easily hit him, which he wouldn't be able to block.

But to make sure it really lands, I have to get closer.

I would not only be at risk of getting attacked myself, but I would also cause a commotion and alarm the rest of the bandits.

Taking the risk anyway I swung towards the Water God Style Swordsman and charged up for an [Electric] attack.

Just a few meters away from him, he looked at me while I pointed my hand towards him.

He readied his sword with both hands and waited for my attack.

If I recall correctly, the Water God Style is counteracting towards the Sword God Style.

Instead of attacking first, they attack second while reading their enemy's moves and parry them.

Touki can also be applied on a sword to make it sharper. But let's find out if it can withstand my [Electric].

As an extra precaution, I used Gravity Magic to enable him from moving too fast.

Releasing the mana in my hand, sparks of purple lighting flew towards the swordsman, and he tried to parry my attack but was hit by it with full force.

With his body being too heavy and the speed of the lightning too fast for him to dodge anyway, the spell hit.

His sword actually functioned as a conductor for my spell.

A Light show of a man made of thunder was seen, until his sparks vanished.

His smoking and (hopefully) lifeless body fell to the ground while still holding the hilt of his sword with both hands.

The tree he was behind at was hit by the lightning as well and was now caught on fire.

But there was no time to investigate his gear.

The remaining bandits got alarmed from the loud noise as well as Counter Arrow. I moved towards their direction to warn them.

But when I came close to them, Sara shot an arrow at me that I dodge by a few inches while still swinging in the air.

"You guys need to run! There are bandits around you!"

I screamed from the top of my lungs knowing that I will soon be spotted by the remaining bandits.

Landing on the ground and I tried locating the rest of them.

My senses were telling me that they were close by and that Sara and the others are readying themselves too.

"Oh for crying out loud. They should-"

A knife was thrown my way and I evaded it in a blink of an eye by using Wind Magic to push myself sideways.

Looking towards the direction the knife came from, I spotted the swordsman.

And he threw something like a small sack at me, which I gladly incinerated.

Whatever it was, there was some sort of powder in it.

"What a cheap move." But there was more.

Either he decided to copy me, or he actually has been trained to climb and jump from trees.

The good thing is that he doesn't know that I still can spot him. Although he does a decent job at not being seen.

I played dumb and walked through the snow. And as expected, he fell for it.

Something new came flying to me, and it was… spinning.

Activating my Barrier Magic as a safety precaution, I tried to dodge the incoming object, but was too late and was hit against the right kneecap by a sharp edge.

The barrier luckily withstood the weapon, and I came out unscathed.

Looking upon closer, the weapon was-

"A boomerang?"

It's as long as a double-edged short sword bent in a roughly 135 degrees, with one grip on each end.

Knifes, small sacks, tree climbing, and a boomerang. Is he some kind of jungle-hunter?

Pressing both of my palms to the ground, I concentrated on the ground below the hiding the swordsman.

I am not entirely sure, but his main style could possibly be North God Style.

Since Paul dislikes it, he only told me about it without teaching any of its moves.

They have techniques that involve tricks, such as throwing swords and what not.

It was something Gallus used against me when we fought at the Great Forest.

But this time, I won't have to fear of getting other people in danger with my magic.

Boiling lava started to form in the ground and exploded in just a few seconds.

A large amount of lava sprung from the ground and smoldered the jungle-hunter in it.

He probably never expected for me to attack from the ground underneath him while being so far away.

If I were a normal magician, he would have had the time to dodge and perhaps kill me.

But because of my speed in spellcasting he couldn't react fast enough after I dodged his attack.

I could try and loot off his gear later as I need to look for the others. But the current boomerang-sword here, I'll take that into my pocket dimension.

Hiding behind a tree, I tried sensing the other bandits.

In only a few seconds I noticed that some of them are… running away?

Seems like I scared the crap out of them with my sparks of lighting and lava gushing attack.

I soon located the other bandit who was still close by. And I was shocked over where he is.

He is close to Counter Arrow, and they seem to be in a fight.

Running towards the group, I covered my feet with Touki and sprinted as fast as I could.

Once I was close enough, I jumped up to the sky by using Wind and Gravity Magic.

When I had sight of the battle, I flinched.

The bandit and a bleeding Suzanne were in front of each other while Sara was behind, drawing her bow at an anchor point.

Behind her were three men.

One seemed to be severely wounded on the chest while being healed by what seems to be the group's healer.

The third person was cowering on the blood covered snow while holding his right arm. It seems that the bandit cut it off.

My chest was starting to burn as my vision became slightly red.

Aiming my hand at the bandit, I conjured numerous drill shaped rocks that spun at high speed.

Bloodlust clouded my mind as I shot a barrage of stones at the man.

"Suzanne, dodge!"

Although I tried warning her, she didn't react fast enough. The bandit, however, did.

'I warned her, so why didn't she do as I said?'

My spell hit the ground where the bandit once stood and snow and dirt sprang up in the air.

The collision's shockwave was so much that Suzanne was pushed backwards.

I landed on the ground and went between Counter Arrow and the bandit.

"I suggest that you run and take care of your wounded teammates."

My eyes were set on the bandit who was looking at me with wide eyes, but I was actually talking to Suzanne and Sara.

From my senses, I could tell that they weren't doing what I told them.

Turning my head towards them, I looked at them with anger written all over my face.

"LEAVE!"

They were startled at my scream. But soon they did as I said and left while carrying their wounded teammates.

Turning back to the bandit, I glared at him while he looked at me with a smug smile.

He was a swordsman who seemed to be in his late 30s with chestnut brown hair and a mustache.

His unsheathed sword is a single edged slightly curved longsword. Much like a katana.

He was wearing relatively light armor and doesn't seem to wear any other small weapon.

Judging from all of that, I could presume that he is using the Sword God Style, as they tend to wear less to reduce their body weight in order to get their high speed that they are known for.

It's also the reason why Ghislaine is dressed up like she does.

That or she uses her revealing attire to distract her foes in their fight, while the single string is holding together to hide her nipples.

And even if they tried to grab them, they would get their hands cut off from her [Longsword of Light].

The swordsman bandit and I looked at each other for a few seconds. Only the sound of the wind breaking the momentary silence.

Both of us probably did the same thing in mind.

We were trying to buy time while the others ran away.

For me, it may have been a risky move as I couldn't know if the other bandits try a sneak attack on Counter Arrow once they're out of my range of detection.

Honestly, I didn't care whether they survived or not.

They were at the own fault for trying to follow me. They should've just left me alone.

'Gosh, being this strong and yet so young is so irritating.'

"So~…"

The bandit broke off the silence and spoke.

"You're the kid I was hired to kill. Rudeus Greyrat was it?"

".... Huh?"

How does he know he know my name? He was hired to kill me? If that's so, then why did they attack Counter Arrow?

No, calm down. Use your words calmly.

"And might you tell me who that person is?"

"No chance kid." He said, still having a smug smile on his face.

Bummer.

It means I have to use violent methods to get my answers.

Crouching slightly, I prepared myself for any sort of attack from him.

"What? Ain't gonna announce yourself?"

That made me trip a bit.

I forgot how muscle-headed Sword God Style practitioners are.

How could I forget after dealing with two talented swordswomen?

Composing myself, I kept eye-contact while opening my mouth.

"Water King Magician, Rudeus Greyrat."

"Thought you were a Saint, not a King."

Alright, whoever hired this talkative dumbass clearly didn't investigate enough.

Albeit I haven't used my [Electric] often enough for people to know.

Wait a minute, I could've used that to get more fame. Nope, plans for later.

"Eh, doesn't matter. Sword Saint, Jester. One of the [Tri-Daggers]."

Now this has turned into something much more complicated.

I'm not sure if I can deal with a Sword Saint. If I want to come out of here alive, I need to go all out.

But can I? I haven't been able to use my cursed form after that day.

There must be something that I am missing to use it.

But I also shouldn't use [Bright Sky Wave] as I might end up killing Counter Arrow and myself in the progress.

Even if it hurts, I have to use my Touki in full power if necessary.

He readied himself as well, holding his sword above his head.

I prepared a [Quagmire] between us and just to be clear, a [Cumulonimbus] in the sky to get a [Lightning] ready.

There was still the crater my previous spell has caused, so the first one to attack will be a major step.

Half expecting for this silence to go on another while, he moved first. And quick as well.

Using Wind and Gravity Magic, I blasted myself away.

Mid-flight, I shot a [Stone Canon] at him, which he sliced in half.

But to his surprise, the stone exploded. I mixed in some Fire Magic in it to get a secret bomb.

The blast wasn't big since the stone was small, so he didn't take that much damage.

Having gained some distance again I prepare for his next attack.

Jester shook himself up a bit and looked at me with wide eyes, then going back into his stance.

"The hell, kid. The heck are ya? A demon?"

"I'm human, thank you very much."

It's the hair and eyes of me that make him think that.

But there is no time for small talk, we're in a fight.

He came at me again and instead of using magic I used Touki. I attempted to catch his sword and hopefully break it.

But he was too fast when I tried to grab the middle of his sword in my palm, so the tip went across my chest.

Luckily, my Touki withstood the slash and only small sparks ignited.

For a second, Jester was too surprised, and I used that opening to get crush him with my Gravity Magic and blast myself away with Wind Magic.

He recovered fast and was about to stand firm again.

I conjured a long wall close behind Jester to trap him in a corner.

He startled a bit and tried to run forward to me. On his path, he got his foot stuck in the [Quagmire] I conjured earlier.

Using this chance, I launched a wave of overcharged Fire Magic towards him.

He seemed to have been consumed by the flames and the flames hit the stone wall.

The fire was so hot that some of the surrounding snow melted.

Once the fire extinguished his corps was … nowhere to be seen.

"Did I put too much mana into my flames?"

I knew that overcharged magic is powerful, especially Fire Magic since the flames get hotter the more mana you put in, but this seems too much.

There was only the burned wall and the dried up mud.

Out of nowhere, my senses told me that he was actually behind me.

Turning to my right and preparing another fire attack, all I saw was Jester coming towards me with a diagonal cut to the right side of my face.

The very tip of his sword was glowing. Which means that he is using the [Longsword of Light].

That's when something odd happened. Time moved slowly. I could see the slowly approaching sword to my face.

Jester seems to have some burns all over his body and looked at me with another smug smile.

'Is this one of those moment where time moves slower, as your imminent death approaches? This is weird.'

I need to do something before his sword cuts my head off.

His previous moves were likely less quick, so I was still able to doge them.

Trying to use my Touki, however, was too late.

As the sharp edge of his sword went through my eyes, immeasurable pain coursed through me as my vision went from red and then finally black.

Time seems to have moved normal again, I flew backwards, and rolled on the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH."

The stinging pain and the flood of my own blood coming from my face were so unbearable that I screamed from the top of my lungs.

Wailing on the ground, I could do nothing but scream.

I'm still alive but now blinded.

Composing myself, I pushed as much mana into my Healing Magic as I could while trying to stop my blood from spilling.

Because of my inability to use other types of magic in the process, I anticipated that Jester would try to give me the final blow.

But there was no attack, and I couldn't hear what was going on with the pain.

After a few seconds, I managed to heal my eye and opened them.

I was laying on my back while facing the sky.

My vision was only slightly blurry and there were red spots at the corners of my vision.

But that didn't matter right now. I have to finish Jester.

Promptly standing up, I frantically looked around to see where he was at.

After just a second, I spotted him.

He was kneeling on the ground while using his sword as a support to keep his upper body up. Shaking as if his whole body is in tremor.

'What happened? Did I do that? Wait. Could it be that I used Voice Magic when I screamed?'

I knew that I already perfected it back at my fight with Orsted, but it seems that I used it unconsciously here.

As a result, the effects aren't as great, but still better than my previous Howling Magic.

Still in a tremor, he looked at me with wide eyes.

"That… was… a… clever… move… kid."

Jester seems to have recovered from my magic already a bit and was now standing up.

Using Earth Magic, I jabbed into his body with multiple spikes coming from the ground close to him.

With his body now stabbed and loosing blood quickly, I advanced towards him.

A few steps before him, he looked at me with blood slowly coming out of his mouth.

Although I'm in his range, I knew that the damage was too much for him to still get a good hit done.

"So? Are you going to tell me who send you?"

Jester just laughed a bit and coughed up more blood.

"Now I know... why three Saints..... were hired to..... kill you. *cough*... you're indeed *cough* a monster."

From his occasional coughs, he spit out some blood with his breath getting more haggard.

"Three Saints?"

"I'm talking *cough*..... about my.... brothers. One of them a *cough* a Water Saint and the other *cough* a North Saint."

There were more? And Saint class at each major school?

Wait, it couldn't be the two I murdered in a more unique way, right?

"Just answer the damn question."

"Hehe *cough*… gruesome kid aren't ya."

More blood came out of his body, and I was getting more annoyed.

Killing-intent came out of me and I aimed my right index finger at him.

He looked at me with eyes filled with no remorse.

"I… would be care full…*cough* if I were… you… people are…*cough* aiming for your… head…"

The light in his eyes seems to fade, as well as the strength in his grip as his sword fell to the ground.

"You... seem... *cough* smart... kid..."

Slowly, he looked at me with his palling face, and inhaled deeply.

"Philemon… Notos… Greyrat…"

The name sounded familiar.

And as he was a man close to death, I trusted him that what he said was the truth.

"Thank you…. Now rest."

I conjured a [Rock Bullet], shot it through his head, and ended his life.

Dispelling my spikes, I let his body rest on the ground while it was slowly bleeding out.

Once everything was over, I exhaled deeply.

The sun was starting to rise, and I could see better where we were.

Putting both of my hands on my face, I tried healing my eyes as much as I could.

When I was done, I looked at what I did. Now, with a vision clearer than before.

It took me a minute until I realized what I just committed.

The dead, bloody and impaled body of Sword Saint Jester was now more visual to me.

I killed someone. No. I killed a bunch of people.

My body started to tremble as I stumbled backwards a little. A sour taste came into my mouth.

Soon, I threw up all of my stomach fluid. But even when it got empty, the urge to vomit even more was still there.

"Wha… what have I done?"

Until now, I haven't thought about just how cold-blooded I actually am.

Because of my morals from Japan, the thought about killing someone made me uneasy inside.

But from the beginning of this fight, I chose taking a life without a hint of that past moral.

'Why did I go for the kill instead of immobilizing them? Something has changed. I have changed. No. There is something that is changing me. And it's not a phase.'

Now I'm fully convinced that my curse is making me go through dark changes.

My heart started pounding so hard that I could hear the beats in my ears.

"I need to get control over myself again. There must be something that could help me. There needs to be. There has to be."

Clutching my head, I screamed yet again.

This time, out of regret, and fear over myself and what I have become.

///