Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 108 - Action 8

The royal capital, Ars.

The largest city in the world.

The city bearing the name of the hero who led humanity to victory in the Human-Demon Wars.

When people first lay eyes on it, they cannot hide their astonishment.

The solemn royal castle perched atop its hill. The Silver Palace.

The vast mansions of high-ranking nobles encircling the city.

Fortress walls surrounding those, standing in contrast with the endlessly sprawling streets beyond.

The colossal arena.

The lavish training grounds of the knight order.

The beautiful temple of the Holy Milis Church.

Overpasses winding through the streets.

The headquarters of the world's largest trading company.

The main dojo of the Water God Style.

The opera district lined with theaters.

The inn district where the fragrance of beautiful women drifts through the air.

The gate built to commemorate the Human-Demon Wars.

The streets stretch on and on into the distance, impossible to take in at a single glance.

Spanning the Altir River, that great, mother-like artery, extending, extending, never ending...

This is what can truly be called a city that possesses everything in the world. The most ancient city of the human race.

Excerpt from Adventurer Bladekond's Travels Across the World

......

Returning here once more, what filled my chest was something closer to quiet reflection.

I turned to look at my escorts. Eris and Ghislaine were staring at the streets with their mouths hanging open.

If my memory serves me correctly, Miss Eris was once a noble herself...

I shook my head with a wry smile.

"Let's go."

Everyone nodded, and we entered the royal capital.

Luke walked at the very front, followed in order by Eris, Ghislaine, Aisha, and the carriage. A single-file column moving through the city.

At some point as we pressed deeper into the streets, the atmosphere around us changed.

The crowds shifted from adventurers to residents. Then, among those residents, people started pointing.

"Ah... isn't that Lord Luke...?"

"It really is... and beside him — that's Miss Eris. Lord Rudeus's wife!"

"So the rumor is true? Lord Rudeus really does support Princess Ariel?"

"Has to be. Princess Ariel must have heard that His Majesty is ill and rushed back."

We hadn't planned to hide our identities. We never thought we could in the first place. Once inside the royal capital, recognition was inevitable.

Still... Miss Eris's popularity is far more staggering than I expected.

Or perhaps it's Rudeus's influence that's staggering. Those subsidies for the commoners...

A helper who cares nothing for nobles. He might be even more useful than I thought.

"Kyaa~ Lord Luke~!"

"Lady Eris! Thank you so much, everything you and your husband have done!"

"Princess Ariel~! Welcome back!"

Cheers rose from all directions. Flowers came sailing in from the crowd.

I've been gone ten years, and I'm still welcomed like this?

I was popular with commoners before I left, but this, this intensification, was Rudeus's doing. His propaganda. His deliberate work.

Drawing a clear line from the nobles entirely... once I become queen, I'll have my hands full.

.....

The moment we crossed into the noble district, the cheering dropped off sharply.

I was never popular among the nobles to begin with. And now, riding alongside the carriage, was one Eris Greyrat.

I could imagine the teeth-grinding happening behind closed doors.

Her and her husband's approach amounted to robbing the rich to feed the poor, scraping the fat off noble houses and redistributing it to commoners. And even that wasn't enough. After the redistribution came the vilification, deliberately reshaping how commoners saw the nobility. What was once indifference had been converted into genuine enmity, as though every hardship the common people had ever suffered was the nobility's fault alone.

I found myself genuinely curious about one thing, though. How did he separate the royal family from the nobility in the minds of the people?

To my eyes, the only difference between royalty and nobility is bloodline. We exploit the commoners equally to sustain our own comfort. Bloodline aside, there is no difference.

I was still turning that over in my mind when the atmosphere outside the carriage shifted.

I looked up. Eris and Ghislaine had their swords drawn.

How? We're inside the royal capital. Even an assassination wouldn't happen here, not now...

Then the woman in armor spoke.

"Eris, Ghislaine, it's me!"

Eris sat mounted on her horse, staring hard at the woman.

"Eris. You're alive. Master said that anyone who fought the Dragon God had no chance of surviving, no matter what..."

"Isolte... is that you?"

"Yes! It's me!"

"Wearing that strange armor, I didn't recognize you for a second."

"What do you mean, strange... isn't it cool?"

Eris shook her head, expression making it clear she had doubts about Isolte's taste.

Isolte cleared her throat.

"Are you serving the person in that carriage right now? Ah, the whole city is buzzing that the Second Princess has returned... could it be... but then why would Eris be here... ah..."

"Well. It's more or less like that."

Eris cut her off.

Isolte pressed on anyway.

"Following Master's recommendation, I'm aiming to become a knight. When I'm formally appointed, I'm set to be granted the title of Water Emperor."

"Is that so? Congratulations."

To the side, Luke looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself, probably remembering Aisha's earlier warning, and stayed out of it.

Aisha rode up alongside Eris and leaned in close, murmuring something in her ear.

"Ah!"

Eris jolted.

"Wh, what is it?"

"Isolte."

"Hm?"

"We might become enemies."

"Huh?"

Aisha pressed a hand to her forehead, laughing softly despite herself.

Isolte pointed at her own chest, a flicker of unease crossing her face.

"What does that mean? Ah... it's not because of me, is it?"

"It's not because of you. It's because of your master."

"My master... but Eris, there's no way you can beat her. Should I go plead for you or something? You only just got married. I don't want you going to your death."

"Don't worry about it. Just don't get in our way."

"Okay, okay... just don't die... sorry, you're in a hurry, aren't you?"

"Yeah!"

"Then when I'm off rotation, I'll show you around. And if you can, bring Rudeus, I want to meet him."

"Got it!"

.....

After a right turn, the road climbed uphill.

Soldiers stood watch on the massive city walls, but one look at Luke's crest and they waved us through without a word.

Past the mid-ranking noble district came another wall, fortress-scaled, the kind that could have enclosed a small country, and the residences it surrounded.

The high-ranking noble district.

My villa sits a fair distance from the royal castle itself.

By the time we arrived, it was dusk. Half a day of travel from the capital gates to here.

I had the servants prepare the rooms, then turned to Aisha.

"Well then, Miss Aisha Greyrat."

"Yes."

"Thanks to your help, we've arrived safely and without incident."

Aisha smiled.

"What's next?"

"Starting tomorrow, I move. Preparations for welcoming Lord Perugius. Setting up the [venue] to bring about Senior Minister Darius's downfall. Confirming which nobles defected while I was gone. Intelligence gathering. Contacting the inside agents we sent ahead. Inspections at multiple locations." I paused. "I'll be swamped."

"Understood."

"To deliver a fatal blow to the Darius faction, the [venue] needs to be in place as early as possible. Fortunately, with my father's illness, the major nobles have all converged on the capital. The decisive battle is nearly here."

"How long do you expect this to take?"

"Ten days at most."

"Understood."

Some of what I was about to say, Aisha already knew. I said it anyway.

"Right now, thanks to Lord Rudeus's propaganda, the commoners are shouting my name. The nobles, too, should be choosing neutrality out of fear of him. From a political standpoint, my victory over Darius is all but certain." I looked at her directly. "But — as you know — within the venue itself, there is every chance it comes to fighting."

Aisha nodded.

"Leave that side of things entirely to us. Focus on your preparations. Sister Eris and I will set traps and hunt down their forces. Ghislaine covers you as a full-time bodyguard."

"You mean...?"

"Before the decisive battle starts, I'll cut down their fighting strength as much as I can."

"Very well. Let's proceed with that."

The plan for the next ten days was set.

Starting tomorrow, the flames of war in the Asura Kingdom would be lit.

➤ Next: Operation 9