Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 181 - The Island — Heartbreak
[One Matter to Request]
[One Matter to Ask]
[Pray Tell, Where Lies the Road to the Underworld]
[I Have Witnessed Villains Run Rampant, the Common Folk Weeping in Anguish]
[If All Things and Deeds Have a Means of Judgment]
[I Shall Petition to Cleanse Evil Myself]
[I Am But a Nameless Swordswoman]
[A Death of Honor Is Not What I Seek]
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My name is Aisha. I'm a swordswoman, and a special investigator of the Asura Kingdom.
Two weeks ago, I received orders from Her Highness Ariel.
A small island. Possible cult activity.
[Aisha, if you find something, write first. If you confirm leads, come back directly.]
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I drove a carriage for an entire week before reaching the island.
The place is nearly all water. One road in, sea on every other side.
The moment I crossed onto the island, a group of islanders surrounded me.
They addressed my carriage.
"Esteemed visitor, your carriage may not set foot on this land without the island lord's permission."
Tsk.
I flashed my investigator's credentials and looked them straight in the eye.
"I am an investigator dispatched by Her Highness Ariel herself!"
The islanders glanced at each other. Then, without a word, a few of them stepped forward and took hold of my carriage.
I climbed down and got straight to the point.
"Does anyone here know Eleanor Montesge?"
They looked at each other and shook their heads.
I kept going.
"Noble girl. Came to this island 2 months ago. Disappeared here."
Still nothing. No recognition, no reaction. Just more head-shaking.
Mm.
"Then what about Ethan Morris? Surely you know that name. He's a child from this island."
That surprised me. Even that name got head-shakes.
Lying?
Almost certainly lying.
That name is on the official registry.
One of the islanders finally spoke up.
"We don't know any Ethan Morris. But we do know an Isa Morris."
"Isa?"
"Yes. There's a cake workshop in town. The owner's surname is Morris. Her daughter's name is Isa." He paused. "Though I'd suggest seeing the lord first — the island's master."
I nodded and ignored the suggestion.
-------
I followed the coastline into town.
Neat, standalone houses on both sides. Most had flower gardens out front. The streets were clean. Orderly, almost unnaturally so.
Here and there, someone peered at me from a window.
The cake workshop's door was wide open. I walked straight in.
The shelves were packed with candy. Rabbit-shaped sweets. Pastries cut in human silhouettes.
"Welcome! You look so distinguished! You're not from around here, are you?"
I didn't match her energy.
"Are you Isa?"
"Oh, no. Isa is my nine-year-old daughter."
"I see. Have you heard the name Ethan?"
Just as I expected, she shook her head and smiled.
"Not at all. Would you like some candy? It's a local specialty. You won't find it anywhere else."
"Fine."
I set a silver coin on the counter.
"May I see your daughter?"
"Of course. She's in the back."
I nodded and headed through.
While the shopkeeper went to wrap the candy, I crouched down beside a little girl who was drawing.
Before I could speak, she turned and gasped.
"Wow! Big sister, you're so beautiful!"
"So I've been told. Everyone says I look like Lady Aisha."
"Lady Aisha? Who's that?"
I frowned.
She doesn't know Lady Aisha.
I tried again.
"Little Isa — do you know Lord Rudeus?"
Isa shook her head.
"Never heard of him."
Not even Lord Rudeus.
This island is part of the Asura Kingdom. Every Asura citizen knows Lord Rudeus. There's no version of the world where they don't.
And nobody on the way in had reacted to my face, either. Not the adults. Not the children.
None of them recognized Lady Aisha. None of them recognized Lord Rudeus.
Tsk.
This is more complicated than I thought.
While I was turning it over, Isa smiled up at me.
"Big sister is really lucky — coming to the island right now."
"Why do you say that?"
"Beautiful big sisters who arrive at this time always end up receiving the god's teachings."
The god's teachings.
"What is your god's name?" I asked.
"The great god's name can't be spoken aloud." She leaned in conspiratorially, lowering her voice. "But I can tell you in secret. Because you're very beautiful."
Isa set down her drawing pen and leaned close to my ear.
"Lady Shub-Niggurath. The god of harvest and fertility."
A name I had never heard in my life.
And even the children had already been converted.
"Isa — these teachings you mentioned. What exactly do they involve?"
"I don't know yet! Isa has to grow up first before she finds out."
"Alright. Has Isa ever heard the name Ethan?"
"Ethan! I know him!"
"You do?"
"Yes!"
She grabbed my hand and bolted upstairs.
On the balcony, she pulled a cage out from under the sunlight.
"Ethan!"
A rabbit.
She'd named her rabbit Ethan.
"ISA! Where did you run off to?! Get down here RIGHT NOW!"
The warm, amiable shopkeeper from downstairs was screaming herself hoarse.
Isa wasn't scared. She just smiled.
"Okay, I have to go draw. Mom will scold me otherwise."
"Go ahead."
I followed her back downstairs. The shopkeeper was already behind the counter again, all warmth and smiles, as if that shrieking had come from someone else entirely.
She handed me the packaged candy.
"Shopkeeper."
"Hm?"
"Why are all your pastries and candies shaped like animals? Some of them even have human outlines."
She narrowed her eyes. The smile didn't move.
She reached out and rested a hand on my shoulder.
When she spoke, her voice was very soft.
"On this island, you become what you eat. That is the god's blessing."
"What does that mean?"
"Eating a rabbit candy means we take on the rabbit's resilience and fertility."
"Interesting custom. What do you gain from eating a pastry shaped like a person?"
She nodded.
The hand on my shoulder tightened.
She didn't answer the question.
"Miss, you are truly beautiful."
"Your daughter said the same thing."
"When islanders see a beautiful person, that is what they say. Beautiful people are fortunate."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Only beautiful people can receive the god's teachings and blessings."
"So you're saying I qualify?"
"Indeed. Though I wonder if you are sufficiently pure."
"Pure?"
"Have you ever engaged in sexual activity? Have you had a partner?"
I shook my head.
"No."
"Then you are fully qualified." A satisfied hum. "Mm!"
"For the god's teachings — is there something I have to do?"
She didn't answer.
But the hand on my shoulder kept squeezing, harder and harder.
Tsk. Everyone here, from the children to the adults, something is wrong with all of them.
After a long silence, she spoke again. Still not answering the question.
"When a person turns to ash, they become nourishment for this land. On this island, which the god has blessed, death does not exist."
"What exactly does that mean?"
"The body becomes part of nature. The soul is offered to the god. On this island, only those beautiful enough catch the god's eye, and only those pure enough can dance with the flames."
"A rather interesting way to think about death."
"Miss, this is not death." A gentle pause. "You will understand what it means soon enough."
"Heh."
By the time I left the pastry workshop, evening had settled in.
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I found an inn. The only one in town.
The moment I stepped inside, I was hit by a wall of sound, the guests were singing at full volume, belting out songs with lyrics that left nothing to the imagination. Explicit, detailed accounts of what men and women do together.
I got a room and went straight upstairs. Dropped onto the bed.
I'd barely settled when the sounds started from the room next door.
Tsk.
How is there no silencing magic for this?
It's maddening.
By the middle of the night, it was everywhere. Not just next door. Not just two rooms. The sounds rose and fell across what seemed like the entire inn.
Calm down.
Calm down.
Think of Lord Rudeus.
Sacred. Flawless. Radiant Lord Rudeus.
His image took shape in my mind, and then those sounds from every direction kept rising and falling, and,,
[Aisha....... let us.......]
My hand drifted downward without thinking.
No no no no NO!
How could Lord Rudeus possibly be interested in something like this?!
I am defiling Lord Rudeus.
And even if Lord Rudeus were interested in such things, it would never be with someone like me.
I wrapped the pillow around my head and forced myself to sleep.
--------
Noon, the next day.
I made my way to the only school in town.
On the way, I passed a group of girls.
None of them looked older than ten.
They were naked. Dancing around a bonfire.
I want to believe that any faith has the right to exist.
But not this one.
Inside the classroom, the students were singing. Slapping their desks to keep time. The lyrics were about flames and procreation. Outside, the dancing girls matched their movements to the rhythm drifting through the windows. Some unspoken synchronization between them.
The blackboard was covered in terms tied to primitive worship.
The teacher clapped once and let the singing die. Then she began explaining their religious customs.
According to her, girls should be pregnant by thirteen.
Lunatics. Every last one of them.
I knocked on the classroom door from the entrance.
"Teacher. Step out for a moment."
"Students, wait just a moment for me, alright?"
There is no world in which I accept this as education.
But I can't reform cultists on my own. What I need is evidence, enough to bring back to Her Highness Ariel, so she can send someone to deal with these animals properly.
Once the teacher stepped out, I was direct.
"What you're teaching in there is saturated with cult doctrine. I will be writing to Her Highness Ariel to report this."
The female teacher looked me over.
She was unhurried about it.
"Outside administrative forces have no jurisdiction over the education on this island. And simply because our faith is a minority, you label us a cult, isn't that a bit arrogant?"
"I wonder if you've heard a saying attributed to Lord Rudeus."
"Oh?"
"'I think you are guilty. What you should consider is not how to prove your innocence, but how to kill me.'"
Honestly, I can't be certain Lord Rudeus ever said it. But it was printed in the commercially available volume of [Sayings of Lord Rudeus], so it counts.
"Heh. Your Lord Rudeus sounds like quite the arrogant man."
I didn't bother arguing further.
I walked into the classroom and tapped the lectern.
"Students — has anyone heard the name Ethan Morris?"
Every student shook their head in unison.
Tsk.
By all logic, these children should be around the same age as the missing Ethan.
Hm.
"Then — does anyone know when the next day of the god's teachings is?"
The female teacher, who had slipped back in behind me, started to speak.
I drew my sword and pressed it to her throat before she got a word out.
The students flinched.
"Talk. Or I kill your teacher."
A student in the front row answered without missing a beat.
"Beautiful big sister, death doesn't exist. If you stab the teacher, she only stops breathing. She doesn't truly die."
Heh. These children are already seeds of the cult, through and through.
But the children don't understand death. Does this teacher, who planted those seeds, also feel no fear of it?
I kept the blade at her throat and asked her directly.
"When is the ritual?"
Silence.
I pressed the edge down.
Blood ran. Only then did she speak.
"This is no secret. In 3 days, the sacrificial rite will be held at the seaside cliff."
"What does the rite involve?"
"Pleasing the god."
"Who's going to believe that? Tell me the truth."
More pressure. More blood.
The students below watched without expression. Not a sound from any of them. The teacher herself wore the face of someone who did not fear dying.
While I held her, a male voice came from behind me.
Clapping, slow and deliberate. A man walked into the classroom.
"Lady Aisha — isn't this a bit much?"
"Who are you?"
"I am the lord. Master of this island."
"Even better."
I kicked the teacher aside and turned toward him with my sword.
He stayed perfectly composed.
"Lady Aisha, I will explain everything. Please put the sword down first."
"You think I'd believe that?"
I put the sword to his throat anyway.
He spoke calmly.
"What we call a sacrificial rite is not as evil as you're imagining."
"Then tell me exactly what it involves."
"The god-chosen pure maiden wears a wedding dress and walks the sea cliff. Afterward, a bonfire gathering, she dances with the flames and the god. That is all."
"Is the god-chosen maiden Ethan Morris?"
"Ethan was her former name. She is god-chosen now. She has set that name aside."
"And Eleanor Montesge?"
"I don't know who you mean."
"Stop playing dumb."
I drew the blade slowly toward his throat.
"Lady Aisha. I truly don't know."
Tsk.
Killing the island lord outright would create problems. Her Highness Ariel didn't authorize that.
"A parade and a bonfire dance. That's the whole rite?"
"Yes. That is all. You have my word, Lady Aisha."
I sheathed my sword and gave him a long, cold look.
He exhaled.
"3 days, then?"
"Yes. You are welcome to come and supervise."
"Fine."
3 days.
I could make it back to the Asura Kingdom and return in time. Honestly, whether I watch this rite or not doesn't change much, even if I save this girl, there will be another after her. The right move is to go back, have Her Highness Ariel dispatch a knight order, and suppress this entire island.
The children can be re-educated.
The adults should all be killed.
A cult cannot be undone. Especially not for people who have been raised inside it from birth.
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The next day.
I arrived at the island's entrance.
I looked around.
The carriage. Where was it.
The islanders were all steering clear of me. The carriage was gone.
Tsk.
A letter probably won't reach anyone from here either.
Damned cultists, every last one of them.
I found the lord again and grabbed him by the collar.
"Those little games you're playing — do you really think they matter?"
"Lady Aisha. I don't know what you mean."
"Where is my carriage?"
"The island's residents vary in character. Who was it that led your carriage away? If you can remember, I will find it without fail."
I hit him. A clean punch to the face.
He kept smiling.
"Get me a horse. I'm leaving."
"Lady Aisha. This island only produces fruit. We don't have a single horse."
After all the missions I've run, the audacity of this man ranks among the worst I've ever seen.
"Lady Aisha, here is what I propose. Give me 2 days, and I will absolutely recover your horse. You can supervise our rite in the meantime. And if it's not too much to ask, perhaps you could say a kind word to Her Highness Ariel on our behalf."
"Fine. Pull one more trick and I will kill you."
There was nothing else to do. He clearly didn't want me leaving.
But what did that matter?
If the horse wasn't back in 2 days, I'd kill him first and walk out.
I'm confident in my own strength.
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The day of the rite.
Men, women, children, nearly the whole town turned out. Strange, mismatched clothing on every one of them. Different instruments in every pair of hands. They moved like a parade, blowing and swaying, winding along the coast toward the cliff.
I looked for the main figure.
Where is Ethan Morris.
I watched from a high point, sunlight on my back. At the cliff's edge stood an enormous bonfire, shaped like a person.
The parade continued until the sun began to set.
At the cliff's edge, every instrument stopped.
Then, from a cave opening at the cliff face, a child emerged.
Pure white wedding dress. Couldn't have been older than twelve.
So that's where she was hidden.
This must be Ethan Morris.
Hm?
What,,
Ethan's steps were slow. Very slow. She moved toward the human-shaped bonfire.
She turned her head.
That's when I saw it.
The girl was crying.
I didn't think the lord would dare try anything truly excessive with me watching. I told myself that. But something in my chest was already tightening.
The lord walked to the cliff's edge, back to the sea.
His voice rang out, loud and grave.
"O Goddess! God of harvest and fertility, we offer unto you the purest and most beautiful lamb. May you bless us."
He threw a torch.
The human-shaped bonfire caught.
Ethan Morris walked toward it, step by step.
Something from the shopkeeper's words surfaced in my mind.
[When a person turns to ash, they become nourishment for this land.]
That's what this is.
Burning a girl alive.
Are these people serious?
In front of me?
The heat rolled toward her. Ethan Morris slowed, lifted her head.
Tears streaming down her face.
I watched all of it.
"I....... am proud to have become a god-chosen maiden!"
She finished speaking and stepped forward toward the flames.
Tsk. Am I really going to stand here and watch her die?
That's not how I do things.
I jumped from the high point.
One stroke split the burning bonfire apart. I put myself between Ethan Morris and the fire.
The crowd erupted. Shouting. Condemnation.
These animals. Using a child as a sacrifice.
I turned and looked at the lord, cold and direct.
"Hey. Lord."
"What is it, Lady Aisha?"
"Didn't you tell me it was absolutely not what I imagined? What exactly is this?"
"What was it that Lady Aisha imagined?"
"You dare use an underage girl for a sacrifice?! This kind of evil rite?! When I get back, no cultist on this island is walking away!"
"You misunderstand, Lady Aisha." His tone didn't waver. "The offering is not this girl. She is not beautiful enough."
"What?"
What,,?
Something punched through the back of my body.
A short blade. All the way through.
What the hell.
I turned. The girl who had been crying a moment ago was smiling.
"Beautiful big sister. The god will surely love you."
Even the children. Completely converted.
I kicked her away and pulled the blade out of my own body.
Poisoned.
Healing magic first. Then detoxification.
"Sacred power is rich nourishment, grant the strength to rise again to one who has lost all vigor. [Healing],, "
Why.
Nothing happened.
The lord spoke.
"Lady Aisha. There is an anti-magic array in place here."
"......"
"We couldn't find a suitable offering this year. And then you appeared. Everything fell into place perfectly. That is the god's will."
"Whatever false god this is."
"Lady Aisha. You are so beautiful. So moving. So pure. Your kindness, your integrity, every noble quality is present in you. The god will love you. After you die, we will dress you in a wedding gown and perform a reproductive act upon your body. Only then can you pass into the divine realm."
"Heh. Didn't you say you needed a pure maiden? Strip it down and it's nothing but the selfish desires of cultists."
The poison was making everything heavier. I swung my sword anyway.
Two of the lord's men drew throwing weapons from inside their bizarre clothing.
North God Style?
I sidestepped one, split the other with my blade.
My body is so heavy.
What is this poison?
Aphrodisiac. Monster venom. Something synthesized. All of it blended together.
"Ha."
The moment those two emptied their hands, 2 swordsmen came at me from the side.
Garbage technique.
One stroke each. Both heads hit the ground.
The cultists didn't react. No fear. No hesitation. People with no combat ability at all pressed forward alongside the rest, as if the concept of death simply hadn't occurred to them.
------
The second time.
The 2nd time in my life I've felt myself actually dying.
My body was a dead weight. My mind was starting to slip. The sword was close to falling from my hand.
The first time was when I was a slave, starving.
When I chose to stand with Her Highness Ariel in the Asura Kingdom, I had one thought I kept coming back to: get stronger, then go see Lord Rudeus. Just once. Not to ask for anything. Just to thank him properly.
And, if I was being honest with myself, one small hope I'd never voiced out loud.
[If Lord Rudeus ever needed capable hands, could I be one of them?]
Now here I was, dying, having never even seen his face.
What have I been doing with my life.
A sword drove straight into my chest.
In the haze that followed, I tried to picture him.
I had never actually seen Lord Rudeus.
Rumor has it he is gentle.
Rumor has it he is decisive.
Rumor has it he is brutal.
It doesn't matter anymore.
If I had known, I would have gone to the Ranoa Kingdom. People there apparently see Lord Rudeus and his wives walking through town every day, plain as anything.
Why did I think I needed to be stronger first?
Lord Rudeus is so powerful. What level of strength would even make me useful to someone like him?
I was still regretting it when the hallucinations started.
I was on the ground. Staring up at the sky.
Lord Rudeus was there.
Looking down at me, like a god.
I'm sorry. I was so useless.
But something was wrong with the hallucination.
I was on the ground. The noise was gone. All of it. The crowd, the chanting, everything, silent.
Am I already dead?
The Lord Rudeus I had taken for a dying dream opened his mouth.
"She does resemble Aisha."
Such a beautiful voice.
"Your name is Aisha?"
I nodded without thinking.
This was exactly the voice I had always imagined Lord Rudeus would have.
"Then everything else here is cultists."
He cast something, some kind of healing magic, I think. I felt it move through me.
Then I was lifting. Rising off the ground. Floating in midair.
Is this a dream?
My consciousness was fading.
[Rudeus Illustration]
➤ Next: Island 2