Mushoku Tensei: A different path

{Rudeus POV}

'That bastard. How could he do that to his own daughter? And lady Hilda sent her to my room so that I would have my way with her. Do they not care what happens to her?'

I clenched my fist harder the more I thought about it as my hearing senses cancelled.

'They used her as if she is a tool. No, worse. A sex toy they can just give away for their own accord.'

My teeth started to give a loud crunching sound, which started to hurt, but I didn't mind that at all.

'What the hell is this? Did they welcome me in their family, so they could use me as one of their weapons as well? Is this what it means to be a noble? Abandoning one's child for gaining power for themselves? How can they live like that? Manipulating. Deceiving. ROTTEN.'

*Slap*

As I was lost in my own flood of anger, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and another smacked my face. There was barely any pain, yet it still stung slightly.

"Huh?" I was awakened from my fury session and looked around myself, feeling much calmer. Everyone was looking at me with faces full of fear.

I shifted my gaze before me and saw Ruijerd still holding my shoulder.

He was also having a bit of a scared face, and I could see a few drops of sweat on his head.

"Have calmed down Rudeus?"

I was still unsure what happened, but I was already starting to cool down a bit. My body felt hot, and I could hear my own heart beat.

Reaching my left hand to my face, I could see that my bandages on my palm were crimson red.

I must have clenched my fist so hard that I ended up piercing my fingernails into my own flesh.

Steeping backwards, I noticed that the ground beneath my feet was full of cracks in a two-meter radius.

"My apology. I let my temper take over me again." Why does that happen so much lately? Did I always have such a short fuse?

"Temper? Boss, that was such an intense bloodlust that I thought I was gonna choke to death." Geese was a bit panicked, but he wasn't joking, that much I could tell.

I'm astonished over my own actions. I need to think of a way to calm myself down more.

"Rudy?" I looked over and saw Paul with a worried face staring at me.

"I'm sorry. That wasn't aimed at you. You were correct. Phillip planned that engagement without mine or Eris's consent. Probably together with Hilda. I don't know if lord Saurus was in it as well, but I think he did it in secret while anticipating I would take Eris for myself."

Everyone calmed down a bit. But not Eris. I could see her looking at me with shook and disbelief.

"The only indications were when Phillip got a little drunk, asking me if I would like to marry Eris and take over as head of the Boreas household. The other was..."

Should I really tell him about that incident? It might be embarrassing, but Eris deserves the truth. *Sigh* I should have noticed that sooner.

"...was when Hilda sent Eris to my room so that I could have 'fun' with her. Thankfully, Eris was too shy, and we never really started anything at all."

To no surprise, Paul looked astonished, but only for a second. He was a noble himself once, so he could imagine them doing something like that.

Just gives to show how disgraceful noble life can be.

"N-no. They wouldn't...this isn't...why?" Eris looked like her mind was going in shambles. Ruijerd went over and tried to calm her down.

She just found out her parents were using her body for such an unbelievable act, so her reaction was understandable.

'Just you wait, Phillip. Lord Sauros won't be the only one who will beat you black and blue.'

"Well, at least that got settled. I now understand why you were throwing such accusations at me the other time."

"Y-yeah."

"Anyway, I-" My eyes stopped and looked at the bikini armor girl. I looked back at Paul with a blank but serious face.

"Just so I'm certain, there isn't anything going on between you and that nearly naked lady, is there?"

"No." His answer was quick.

"Good. Because I will not consider saving your marriage a second time."

The look on his face looked like he got hit by a truck. I gave him a look, as if saying: 'Sorry, but the truth hurts everyone sometimes.'

Moving on, I looked at the bikini armor girl.

"Is there a reason as to why you are wearing this?"

She looked momentarily stunned, but decided to tell me her story.

Her name is Vierra, and she was a former adventurer. Her sister's name is Shierra.

They are both victims of the teleportation disaster and got teleported to the Millis-continent, where they both got captured and violated by thieves for their amusement.

Paul's party actually saved them, and they joined his group to save more teleportation victims.

However, because of the incident at Millis and her timid nature, like many other girls, Shierra developed a fear for men. I think in my world it was called androphobia.

The only men she didn't feel afraid of are the group members who saved her.

Her sister Vierra tried to protect her and the other girls by putting on revealing gear, as to attract the attention to herself.

She also emphasized that there isn't any physical relationship between her and Paul.

"..." At the end of her explanation, I couldn't help but look blank at her.

"U-um, is there something wrong?" Vierra fidgeted a bit about my odd look at her.

"Yes." quickly, I answered her question. Even her sister had a quizzed look on her face.

"I don't know how to you this nicely enough, but~" I scratch my cheek while looking meek at her.

"You're just pushing the problem away without actually solving anything, since they will still be afraid of men. You can't protect them forever. And once you actually do get violated by some men, I would imagine your sister will feel guilty for letting you go through that. Besides, I don't think they would stop laying their hands on her even if you retracted their eyes on you. People can be monsters no matter what."

I paused and looked at Vierra with a smile.

"So instead of hiding them, help them get over those fear so that they can grow."

At the end, both of them had a bit of a realization of their actions so far, knowing what I said was true. I looked over and saw that Paul had a deadpan look on his face.

"Why didn't you do something?"

"I, ah...didn't think that would be necessary."

"So you repeated the same mistake again?"

"Huh? Repeated? What mistake?"

I was speechless. He didn't know that he did nothing to help with my fear of leaving the house. Now that I think about it, he might've not even been noticing it at all.

"I guess we are equally dense, huh."

"What are you talking about, Rudy?"

"*sigh* Well, it's my fault for letting you be blinded by my good parts that you neglected my bad parts."

"What 'bad parts'? Explain it, please."

'Alright, I had enough of this. No more mister nice guy.' I then looked him dead in the eyes.

"I was afraid of leaving the house when I was little. It's thanks to master Roxy that I was able to overcome that fear, since she didn't let it slide and dragged me out. Unlike her, you didn't do anything and just let me be. I might still be afraid of going outside if it wasn't for her."

He was flabbergasted and was just standing there gaping his mouth.

My patience came to an end, and I went over to him and grabbed his collar and dragged his face close to mine and whispered something important to him.

"You want to be a better parent? Then be one for Norn's sake. Don't run away from reality by drowning in alcohol and getting your ass kicked by an eleven-year-old. Pay more attention."

His eyes went wide as I let go of his collar. I turned my back to him and went to our carriage.

"Boss, wait. You-" I glared at Geese, the overwhelming feeling rising again from me.

"Shut up. Goodbye to you all." He went silent and closed his mouth.

Ruijerd and Eris were already on it and ready to go. Eris partly calmed down, but was still in a state of shock.

"Let's just get out of here." Ruijerd seemed like he wanted to say something, but he simply complied, and we move on to our destination.

'See? Still the same.' A voice suddenly rang out. But looking around, the owner of the voice wasn't here. Guess he really does only appear in reflections.

I sat down in the carriage and hugged my knees close to my chest, closing my eyes and start concentrating on my mind.

***

{Paul POV}

There he goes. Even though he accepted to listen to me, things actually got worse.

Not only has Phillip tricked us both, he used his daughter's body as a tool. The poor girl.

But how Rudeus reacted was horrifying.

As the air around him got colder and the ground beneath him cracked, he let loose of some massive bloodlust.

I never felt anything like this, and even Ruijerd got panicked by it.

How could an eleven-year-old be capable of something like this? And Rudy nonetheless. He even step towards me so fast that I didn't have time to think.

He must have used Touki. It's weird how he didn't use it in our fight before.

But what shocked me the most was his response to Vierra and Shierra's story.

I never knew that he was afraid to leave the house back then. Guess it's just like he said. I should have paid more attention.

I felt someone tug on my shirt and as I looked down, I saw a worried looking Norn look at me.

"Daddy? What just happened to him?"

My son's last words were echoing in my ears. Have I really been neglecting these things so much?

I looked at my daughter as I lifted her up in my arms.

"Don't worry sweetie. Once we see each other again, we will settle this more calmly."

"...okay." She doesn't sound or look convinced. I'm not even that convinced myself about it.

"Well, I guess that's my cue to leave as well." Geese came over with his own luggage, sounding a bit deprived.

I can't blame him. He was looking up to Rudy as well, since he was boasting about his deeds in the Great Forest.

"You're heading to the Begaritt-continent. Good luck out there."

"Thanks. Maybe you should train a bit more. Otherwise, you might end up being beaten by a child again. He-he."

I was a bit irritated at that comment. But I knew that he was trying to boost my already shambled confidence in my capabilities.

I might not get good results, but picking up on my training doesn't sound like a bad idea.

'Rudy. Please be safe so that we can reunite with our whole family again. And when that happens, let's become son and father again.'

***

(Rudeus POV)

It's been two months since we left Millishion. The ride here was more silent than usual.

Eris was still taken aback by her parent's actions and wasn't as energetic as before.

The only thing I could do right now was to give her some space for her to process all this, since we don't know whether they are alive or not.

Ruijerd even attempted convincing me into going back and talk to Paul again, but I refused.

I still don't know if I could see him as my parent again, so I need some distance from him.

Meanwhile, I tried to clear my mind by doing a little meditation or practicing on getting hold of my oversized magic spellcasting.

The latter one wasn't successful at all. A normal-sized spell of mine would still end up many times bigger than before my large area explosion spell.

Speaking of 'large area explosion spells', it seems that people gave it a name. [Bright Sky Wave]. Not very creative, but I don't care.

And as for my meditation, it was a success in another way. Sure, I'm still not calm, but I discovered something new entirely. My senses over things are sharper than ever.

I could sense the movement from others to the point of arms and legs movements. It's not like a radar like Ruijerd jewel, since I can't identify anyone with it...yet.

Once, I could feel how I instinctively put on a thin layer on myself, but it dispersed whenever I try controlling it.

There is also some weird atmosphere running against my skin when I meditate. It's like water, but moves like wind. Could this be mana? This ability will be trained and eventually mastered, for sure.

The progress on my healing magic hasn't shown any development besides ranking up to advanced level.

I'm still learning the incantations while looking through the magic circles.

Maybe making some sort of Magic Healing Tool would be great. I wonder if potions for healing exist. I never even heard of a Mana Potion here.

But there is a big problem we encountered in West Port. The man in charge of the guard in West Port didn't believe that Ruijerds letter was from the real person it was coming from.

Grand Master of the Order of Instructions, one of the three Knight Orders in Millishion, Galgard Nash Venick.

He is a high-ranking person at Millishion that was once saved by Ruijerd when he went to the Demon-continent once. And as a form of gratitude, he wrote a letter so that Ruijerd could enter the Central-continent with us.

However, he was also known to rarely write any letters, so ours was lacking credibility for the man who was reading it just now.

The chief in charge knew this man well, and he knew how suspicious it was for him to write a letter if it wasn't for documentary purposes, so he deemed it a fake. It didn't help that he was discriminating demons, in general.

Not just Ruijerd, but also me. It seems that because of my white hair and different colored eyes, he thought I was a demon as well.

Even when I explained our story, he still hardly believed us. And when he asked me about my last name, he recognized it as Paul's name as the leader of the slave kidnapping group. He sneered over what criminals they were.

I couldn't help but let out an intense glare at the man as the feeling I had back then came rising out of me again.

'How dare he let Paul's hard work be looked down upon like this?' was all I could think while he looked like a piglet about to be slaughtered ruthless.

Just when I was about to launch a spell at him, another Knight came in and asked what the commission was about.

I couldn't help but stare at the woman's face. It was Zenith...or not. Looking more closely, I could tell that she just looked like her.

This would have been embarrassing if I said "Mother?" out loud.

She was a demoted Temple Knight who came here to check up upon the gossip about a Superd being here.

She looked at Eris and then at me. After that, she asked me of my parents names.

When I revealed my father's name, the fat pig was shocked. And when I mentioned Zenith's name, the female Knight smiled and started to check the letter herself.

Thanks to her efforts, the chief let us pass, and the matter got solved peacefully.

Until the female Knight hugged me and revealed herself as Therese Latreia, Zeniths little sister. In other words, my aunt.

Apparently, she was saved by Eris back at Millishion while I had my fight with Paul.

And right now, Eris and I were brought to her designated room while Ruijerd read the mood and stayed outside.

But there is something strange. And I don't mean my lately short fuse. I'm talking about my current predicament.

"My sister was right, you are cute as a button."

Ignoring the fact that Zenith refers to me as cute, I was confused about something else.

Mainly my body's reaction from being hugged and snuggled upon a woman. Or rather, how it doesn't react at all.

'Quite surprising, isn't it? Maybe you actually do have some remorse, knowing that you nearly killed her with everyone in this city.'

I looked over to the window and saw 'him' again. I was thinking of a name for him and simply named him Kagami, as in mirror.

He can be referred to as the reflection of my past self, which is currently haunting me.

But remorse, huh? He isn't wrong about it.

"Um, Miss Therese, I-"

"Just call me Aunt Therese."

"...well, anyway, Aunt Therese, I'm-"

"Alright, could you stop clinging to Rudeus so much?" I looked over and saw Eris being furious.

"Eris, just let her have this. She deserves this for saving us trouble with that fat guy, and also from me destroying the entire Port."

Upon hearing that, she pressed her lips together and looked down.

Why am I being so strict with her? She didn't do anything. Her father that sly fox did.

Therese shifted her embrace on me and looked me in the face.

"Now. You shouldn't be so rude with her. And I know from my sister that you are talented in magic, but you shouldn't say such empty threats."

"It was not an empty threat at all. I have trouble minimizing my magic lately. And It doesn't help that my mood got terrible ever since then."

I didn't look at Therese face, but I could tell that she was astonished.

"What do you mean you can't minimize your magic? Does it have something to do with your bandages?"

"It does. A large spell that I launched that nearly took my life, broke my body and caused my arms to be permanently damaged."

I lifted my hand and brushed my hair a bit.

"My hair and eyes are also the result of my mistake. They both used to be the same color as Paul's."

The roots of my hair actually stopped turning back to their original color and now are mostly white.

"If that's the case, then you shouldn't do something like this."

Not being able to hear her reprimands anymore, I escaped her grip on me, stoop up and turned around and glared at her.

"Well, it's his fault for saying all of those things. I will not let that fat piece of shit look down on Paul's work and hardship, even if it means causing another [Bright Sky Wave]."

"Wait, you mean...you caused that God-class spell."

She was shocked, nonetheless. But as soon as she looked at my bandages again, something clicked in her.

"Well, no wonder you nearly died. It is still being speculated how far that explosion went."

"Wait. Speculated? Just how far did that tantrum of mine go?"

"Tantrum? What do you mean tantrum? And how could you speak the incantations in the meanwhile?"

"I'm a chantless Spellcaster. Did she not tell you about this?"

"Well, I think she did. But what has that to do with this?"

Sitting down between her and Eris, I told her about everything with me and Eris getting teleported to the Demon-continent and our journey through it.

She looked a bit astonished over the next part from the Great Forest. But when I told her about the incident between me and Paul, she frowned as if in anger.

Zenith probably told her about the incident between him and Lilia, so her opinion about him is already broken.

However, when I was telling her about my tantrum at the field, she had a sympathetic face. I didn't dare to watch that any longer and looked away.

"Paul didn't do anything wrong. He had any reason to be mad at me for just playing around in this situation."

Therese tried to reach her hand to me, but I just smacked it away.

"I saw the state he was in. He worked his butt off to get his family back together. And when he did find one of them, he found out that the person did nothing to support him. I don't care what others say. I still failed him."

"Well, if you say so." Her tone gives off that she won't pry into it any further.

""...""

As everyone got silent, the air in the room seemed to get colder.

'Nothing but a bad influence to everyone.'

'Shut up.' I can't take this guy anymore.

***

Our necessities for the ship ride got taken care of by Therese.

She even provided us with medicine for seasickness, which Eris suffers allot from.

I was honestly anticipating her to get all defenseless again, so I could practice my Healing Magic.

But knowing that medicine isn't well-developed in this world thanks to detoxification Magic, it's safe to say that it's expensive.

Once I said my goodbyes with Therese, she advised me against spreading the of 'Ruijerd of the Dead End' anymore.

As I suspected, the old Millis-religion thinks that all demons should be exterminated.

I made sure to tell her that none of them have any chance against him anyway so that there wouldn't be a one-sided slaughtering.

My fears were unneeded, however. She just had one stern look at him and could immediately tell that.

Must be her instinct as a Temple Knight telling her that.

Anyway, we got onto the ship and there weren't any more complications during the trip.

***

"I think I'm gonna be sick. Ugh."

"Please~. Heal me Rudeus."

"H-hold on. I can't speak clear enou-Urg."

Nothing goes easy in life, no matter how optimistic you are.

An unexpected storm made the ship sway a lot, making the medicine Therese gave us not enough for Eris, or me.

At this point, I got motion sick and can't help but throw up. I can't even put my newly acquired upgraded Healing Magic to use, as my mouth was swirling all my words.

"What are you waiting for~? Just-" Her sentences were cut off by another throw up session.

"Dammit, I need to concentrate. Think and concentrate. Get it together."

I said these words of encouragement as I tried tapping into my body while slowly saying the incantations of Healing Magic.

I kept using [Healing] on myself and tried to tap the similar feeling I get when using Attack Magic.

There must be some flow of mana. Since I haven't found it with my usual method at the first try, I need to be more aware of what's happening within AND outside me.

The ship was still swaying a lot from all the waves, so I messed up the incantation more than a dozen of times.

At first, I couldn't tell anything at all, but after what seemed like more than half an hour, there was something. It may have been faint, but it was there.

Another hour went by, and even though Eris was basically out of stomach fluid now, I still concentrated. I didn't want to let this opportunity go to waste.

Then suddenly the feeling got intenser and I could manipulate it back.

All of a sudden, I made it. I cast Healing Magic without the incantations.

"I did it...? I did it. I DID IT. YES." I was jumping in joy. This was the same feeling I got when I got a new spell done with Roxy, only a thousand times better.

"Rudeus~"

I looked over and saw Eris being a sickened mess. How long has she been like that?

As I rushed over to her, I couldn't help but plaster a smirk on my face while using my brand new and handy ability on her.

///