Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 35 - The Transaction

"Brother! Sister Eris! Welcome back!"

The moment I opened the inn room door, Aisha launched herself at me and Eris.

I caught her and ruffled her hair.

"Shall we eat?"

"Mm!"

The three of us ate together, bathed, and got ready for bed.

Aisha settled into my lap, reaching out with her senses toward the magic.

I was still teaching her. Swordsmanship was out, we were in an inn, and Eris had no way to run her through drills here.

"'Sacred power is mellow grain, grant the strength to rise again to those who have lost their vigor — Healing.' How was that, Brother?"

"Mm... very good."

I sat with it for a moment, feeling the healing magic wash through me.

Aisha had to be an Intermediate Magic user by now. Growing fast, too, her total mana was visibly increasing every time I checked. Magic genius, clearly.

Wait. Eris had mentioned her swordsmanship was coming along too. So my little sister was a genius in both?

"Hehe, I want to sleep with Brother tonight!"

Aisha tilted her head up at me from my lap. That look. Nobody alive could turn that down.

I pinched her cheek without thinking.

"Alright. And it's about time we slept anyway."

"Mm!"

I glanced over at the other bed. Eris was lying on her side, facing away. Couldn't tell if she was asleep.

But yesterday she'd crawled into my bed on her own...

"Eris, want to sleep together?"

A few seconds passed. Then she turned over.

Her face was red all the way to her ears. She looked up at me, and in a small voice with just a trace of a pout, she said,

"...Yes."

What is... what is happening...

I took a breath, steadied myself, and managed to sound like an adult.

"Mm... come on over, then."

When did it start?

When did this side of Eris, this side of her, get its hooks into me?

"Brother~ your face is red, you know."

"...Uh."

Anyway. The three of us slept together, and it was another good night.

...

Early morning. Eris and I headed to the meeting point we'd arranged with the party.

They were faster than us. By the time we got close, we could already see them waiting.

"Are we late?"

"We just got here too. Let's do introductions. My name is Urax — swordsman, as you can see."

She extended a hand. I shook it.

"Rudeus Greyrat, magician. This is my older sister, Eris Greyrat, swordswoman."

Eris's family was high nobility. Her full name getting recognized out here would be a problem. And it wasn't a false name, so no harm done.

The dwarf patted his sword and shield.

"Thaurissan. Damage absorption and tanking."

The demon girl, the one who'd been hovering at the edge of the group, clearly not comfortable around strangers, spoke up after him.

"Polina... magician..."

"Introductions done. Move out."

That was the lizardman.

"Mm. No objections."

The B-rank mission they'd accepted: slay a lone two-headed troll.

One troll, B-rank...

Two-headed trolls were pack animals, supposedly. Wiping out a full den would probably rate S-rank. Made sense.

Regeneration, inhuman strength, around 4 meters tall, intelligence roughly on par with a seven-year-old human child. Fire magic would be the play here.

"Ex... excuse me... is that a magic staff you're carrying...?"

I was still running through the numbers when Polina drifted over to my side and asked in a small voice.

I glanced down at my Arrogant Water Dragon King. I had it wrapped in cloth strips, it was too valuable to let people get a good look at it.

"Yes."

"Oh... uh... could I maybe see it...? Ah, purely as one magician's curiosity about another's staff!"

"I'm sorry, but no. It doesn't like meeting people."

"I... I see... sorry..."

The moment the conversation ended, I noticed Eris was boring a hole through me with her eyes.

When she realized I'd noticed, she turned away.

"Hmph!"

Jealous. Adorable.

"Alright. The mission area is somewhere around here. Since we don't have a scout, we search on foot."

I didn't want to burn time.

"I'll handle it. I specialize in survey-type magic."

"Really? That's a huge help."

The lizardman sounded genuinely pleased. Polina looked faintly surprised.

Technically, I had no idea if "survey magic" was a recognized discipline in this world. What I was actually doing was using earth magic to sweep the area, I just had enough mana to push it far enough to be useful.

Same as always. I reached down through the ground with earth magic and let it expand outward.

A few minutes later, I had something. A massive humanoid shape.

"This way."

"That's... all it took? You're a voiceless-casting magician?"

"Mm."

"That really is rare..."

True enough. So far, Sylphie was the only other person I knew who could do it.

I didn't think it was anything special, personally. If I ran into someone like Ghislaine, with or without incantations, getting caught off-guard meant dying before I could do anything.

We walked for about 10 minutes and found the troll.

It matched what I'd pictured. Just bigger. A lot bigger.

We crouched in the underbrush and watched it for a moment.

"Let's set up a plan first..."

The lizardman didn't even finish the sentence. Eris had already drawn her sword and was sprinting out.

Of course she had.

She still hadn't shaken those habits from the northeastern Demon Continent.

"Change of plans — support her!"

Credit to the lizardman: his reaction was fast.

The rest of us barely made it out of the underbrush before we saw that the troll had already lost both arms. Eris had taken them off in the opening seconds.

They froze, staring as she worked. Arms. Legs. Gone. The troll's regeneration wasn't even close to keeping pace with her sword.

I activated fire magic and sealed the wounds. Just as I'd expected: once the stumps were burned, regeneration stopped.

Part of me genuinely wanted to capture one alive someday. Study the regeneration mechanism. Find its limits. Figure out what it actually was.

Not today, though. That was a problem for home.

Eris took the head off with the last few strokes. She stood over the body, drenched in troll blood, sword resting on her shoulder.

"How was that! Rudeus!"

"Very impressive."

"My clothes are ruined! Wash them when we get back!"

"Got it."

...

Back at the Adventurer's Guild. Commission turned in.

They split the fee with us. 40 silver coins. Total payout for the mission was 60 silver.

They knew they hadn't done anything. At least they were sensible about it.

"What's the plan for tomorrow?"

"Your call. Starting tomorrow, I want at least one gold coin per mission we finish. Find us commissions that pay that."

"That's... generally A-rank work..."

"Haven't you seen enough today? My older sister is very strong."

"...Understood."

Apparently it's adventurer tradition to go get thoroughly drunk after finishing a job. They weren't looking for another mission.

Not that they'd done anything to earn a celebration anyway.

Eris was watching the other adventurers with that restless look she gets.

I knocked her on the head.

"You can't understand their language. Sneaking in to drink with strangers you can't talk to, what's the point?"

"Hmph... fine, I get it!"

"Besides, you smell a little right now."

"Huh?! R-really?!"

Eris raised her arm and sniffed herself. Thoroughly. Several times.

"Though, I don't mind it."

"What is Rudeus even saying right now! I'm going back first! I'm bathing!"

She bolted back toward the inn, face red.

I still had something to take care of.

Specifically: finding people to handle missions on our behalf.

Our income was steady now. But if my adventurer rank didn't climb, it would become a problem, there were cities ahead where I'd need the credentials.

I tracked down a D-rank party and laid it out for them.

"So you're saying: we do F-rank missions for you, the commission fee goes to us, and on top of that you'll pay us an additional F-rank commission fee. Double pay per job?"

"That's right. Whatever mission you want to take, tell me, I'll accept it through my registration, you do the work, and I'll pay you."

"Th... there's actually a deal this good...?"

"I want my rank to go up. I don't have time for F-rank missions myself. That said, if you make a mistake and my adventurer registration becomes unusable in the next city, I will kill you."

"Th-this... yeah... deal!"

➤ Next: Aisha's Dream 2