Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 29 - The Demon Continent

I had a dream.

In it, I was flying, holding Eris and Aisha.

My consciousness was hazy, but one sensation came through clearly: I was flying. Just that, nothing else.

The scenery blurred past at a staggering speed.

Up, down, left, right, no pattern, no logic. I pitched and lurched through the air as if I'd become sound itself, or light.

I didn't understand how I'd gotten here.

I only knew that the moment I lost focus, no, even if I didn't, I would eventually lose speed and drop.

I focused.

Amid the dizzying rush of landscape, I hunted for somewhere safe. Somewhere to land.

Why? I couldn't have told you.

Only that if I didn't, I would die.

But the speed was impossible. You know that feeling of watching the slots spin, thinking it's too fast to read? This made that look like watching paint dry.

I pushed mana into my eyes and focused harder.

For just an instant, everything slowed.

I'm going to fall.

The thought hit, and then I saw land. Flat ground. Not ocean, not mountain ridges, not a wall of trees. Just flat, open earth.

Maybe.

I aimed for it and dove.

The landing was brutal. I killed my speed by sheer force of will and hit the reddish-brown ground hard.

My consciousness went out like a light.

......

When I came back, it was night.

Stars everywhere above me. A full sky of them.

"Ah —!"

I scrambled upright and whipped my head left and right, searching. Eris. Aisha.

There. Both of them, right beside me. Breathing. Asleep.

I let out a long breath.

When I tried to push myself up properly, a dull ache rolled through my back. I'd been lying on hard ground too long.

I looked around.

Cracked earth. Dry and pale and fractured in every direction, stretching out beneath the night sky without end. Almost no vegetation, no grass, no trees, nothing green. I listened.

No insects. Nothing. Only the soft, slow breathing of Eris and Aisha.

Silence like I'd never heard.

The kind that made me feel like any sound I made would simply be swallowed.

I had never been anywhere like this. The Asura Kingdom was forests and grasslands, all of it. Could that white light really have done this to the land around us?

I stared at the cracked ground and reconsidered. If that light had scorched the earth this badly... there's no way we would have survived it. We'd be ash.

So this wasn't the Asura Kingdom.

I didn't know where we were.

I put that aside and went looking for deadwood. Found enough to get a fire going.

The nights here were cold. The ground was going to be rough to sleep on.

"Just in case."

I activated my earth magic, a detection layer spread out 30 meters in every direction. If anything moved toward us, I'd feel it.

Then I sat down by the fire.

"Alright. Let's think through what we know."

That pillar of light had taken the three of us. Me, Eris, Aisha. Dropped us somewhere without warning or explanation.

Looking at the terrain, the cracked and barren land reminded me of something. Roxy-sensei had described the Demon Continent more than once. The dryness. The emptiness. The hostility of the environment itself.

Working assumption: Demon Continent.

The stories weren't kind about it. Monsters in large numbers, and aggressive. Days that cooked you. Nights that froze you. No place for a person to live long, let alone comfortably, not even hardened soldiers. Not even experienced adventurers.

"The Demon Continent..."

Water wasn't a problem. My magic could handle that. Food was another matter. We'd have to hunt monsters.

I turned and looked at Aisha and Eris sleeping by the fire.

Eris was tough. Advanced-rank swordswoman. She'd adapt.

Aisha.

Four years old.

I brought a 4-year-old child to the Demon Continent.

Can I actually get her out of here?

I shut that thought down before it finished forming. No. I could do this. I would do this. Aisha was going to leave this place safe, unhurt, healthy. That was not a question.

.......

"Rudeus...?"

Some time later, Eris woke up.

I glanced over. Aisha had opened her eyes too.

"Brother... where are we...?"

Aisha's voice was groggy, soft with sleep.

"I'm not entirely sure," I said. "But from what I can see, this is probably the Demon Continent."

Eris sharpened at the words immediately. Aisha just stared at the fire with her mouth slightly open, somewhere far away in her own thoughts.

"Anyway, sacred power, nourishment of the soul. Grant strength to those who have faltered, that they may stand again, [Healing]."

I cast the spell on both of them.

"Thirsty?"

"Mhm!"

"Me too!"

Both at the same time.

I had them open their mouths and guided a stream of water magic in. Clean and cool, enough to satisfy.

After drinking, they stood and looked around quietly, taking in the landscape.

"Don't wander too far."

"Mhm!"

A short while later, they came back and sat beside me.

"Rudeus..." Eris stared into the fire. "Can we get back?"

Aisha leaned against my arm and said nothing.

"Don't worry. I'll get you both home. I promise."

I had nothing to back that up with. I didn't know which direction to head. I didn't know the terrain. I didn't know what was out there.

But I was the adult here. I couldn't let them see that.

Eris nodded slowly at my answer. Her hand drifted to the sword at her hip, fingers resting on the hilt. Like the touch of it steadied her.

"Brother... is this really the Demon Continent?"

"Most likely. What I'm seeing matches what I know of it."

"Oh..."

"You've heard of it?"

"Not really... Actually, I'm not sure. I think I heard it in a dream, maybe."

Aisha pressed her index finger to her chin, head tilted, turning it over. Whatever she was looking for, she didn't find it. She let it go.

"Right — are you two hungry?"

Both of them shook their heads.

Good. One less thing to worry about tonight.

"Alright. Tomorrow we move out. If we run into monsters on the way, I'll try to hunt them, that'll be our food supply. If we hit a large group, we don't fight. We run."

"Rudeus! What about me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to hunt!"

"Eris, this is the Demon Contin—"

She was already moving. She stood, drew her sword in one motion, and crossed the distance to a nearby boulder in three steps. The blade came down. The rock split into two clean halves.

She lowered her sword and shot me a look.

"Rudeus. I'm two years older than you."

I sighed.

"Fine. But you follow my lead. No charging ahead, no recklessness, not here. My healing magic caps out at Advanced rank. If something happens to you out there..."

"I know, I know! Relax, Rudeus!" She planted her hands on her hips, eyes bright. "I've been waiting for an adventure like this my whole life!"

I looked at her, hands on hips, practically glowing, and gave up.

"What about me? What about me?"

Aisha's voice piped up from beside me, small and hopeful.

"You stay hidden. When it comes to a fight, I'll cast an enclosure. You stay inside it."

"Ehh~?"

"You're four years old. I'm not letting you anywhere near danger."

I gave her a light chop on the head with the side of my hand.

"But I can use magic..."

"No. I haven't fallen so far that I need help from a four-year-old."

Aisha was a smart kid. She heard the finality in it and didn't push. But her head dropped, and the light went out of her expression.

"Rudeus, don't be so hard on your little sister!"

"Alright, alright..."

I pulled Aisha into my arms.

She didn't say anything. Just tilted her head up and looked at me with those quiet eyes.

"Aisha. You're still small. Brother doesn't want you to get so much as a scratch. If you were hurt, Paul wouldn't forgive me. And I wouldn't forgive myself."

"I know..."

"Every night from now on, I'll teach you magic. When you're older, we'll go on adventures together. Deal?"

"Mm...!"

Eris, still standing with her hands on her hips, cut in.

"I'll teach Aisha swordsmanship too! You'll need your own sword first, obviously."

"Thank you, Eris-nee."

Aisha said it so properly that I had to smile.

"Alright. Rest for tonight. We move at dawn, the Demon Continent gets brutal once the sun comes up."

Both of them settled down and were asleep before long.

Once I was sure they were under, I extended my detection layer from 30 meters to 50. Then I let my eyes drift half-closed.

I didn't dare sleep all the way. If I did, the magic would fade. So I rested lightly, one foot still on the threshold of waking, and kept my watch through the dark.

➤ Next: Setting Out — Heartbreak