Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 192 - Friends — Words Unspoken

Cliff's wedding came off without a hitch.

Getting married in a church like that, you'd have to be made of stone not to feel something.

After the ceremony, we didn't head straight to the reception. The kids were still curious about the church itself, and since my wives and I had already walked through it yesterday, we tagged along to let them have their look.

The wives ended up taking the kids around and doing most of the explaining, which left Nanahoshi and me to wander on our own.

Nanahoshi stopped in front of one of the stained glass windows and nodded slowly.

"Not bad. Every panel has a whole story in it." She tilted her head. "This is actually made of glass?"

"Magic world."

"Fair point... Oh, speaking of which — I can use magic now."

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm?"

She held out her hand. Flames bloomed from her palm.

Voiceless Casting.

"Impressive."

"That's it? That's your whole reaction? This is Voiceless Casting."

"You've always had the theory down cold. Voiceless Casting was the next logical step."

"Tsk. You are such a buzzkill."

I laughed and we kept walking, taking in the rest of the church at our own pace.

Nanahoshi was genuinely into it. Eyes moving from window to window, pillar to pillar.

In my previous life, I'd never actually been inside a church. Passed by a few Christian ones, but never walked through the doors.

"Hey, Nanahoshi."

"Hmm?"

"Did you follow any religion? Back in your previous life?"

"No. Didn't believe in anything. But I always found churches interesting — read a lot about them."

"What do you think of this one?"

She was quiet for a moment. "Perfect. Not one church from my previous life could touch it. Every time you go a little deeper, it feels like you've stepped into an entirely different world." She shook her head. "It's almost ridiculous."

She wasn't wrong.

The color of the light shifted every few meters. Warm amber gave way to cool blue, then to deep crimson.

According to Cliff's grandfather, each section represented a different chapter of Milis's emotions and history. Specific stories, all of them recorded, all of them passed down.

I wondered, not for the first time, whether Milis had been a real person whose story just got bigger with every retelling. Like how Jesus might have been a historical figure, real enough at the core, but wrapped in centuries of embellishment.

I was still turning that over in my head when Nanahoshi jabbed me in the side with her elbow.

"Rudeus."

"Hmm?"

"You were pretty cool back there."

"Yeah? I thought so too."

"When you agree like that, it kind of ruins it..."

Before she could finish, our wives came around the corner with the kids in tow.

Lara spotted us first and waved both arms.

"Sister Nanahoshi! Papa! Banquet time! I'm hungry!"

Windsor had Lucy's hand on one side and was absentmindedly stroking Pursena's tail with her other hand. Sylphiette drifted toward me, no, wait. She was heading for Nanahoshi.

She slipped her arm through Nanahoshi's and steered her straight into the girls' group without a word.

That left Daibai and me.

I crouched down and scratched behind his ears.

"Just us two, huh."

"Woof!"

Then Eris appeared at my side. She kissed me, quick and clean, scooped Daibai up into her arms, and settled in beside me like nothing had happened.

Walked the rest of the way with a dog tucked under one arm and her shoulder brushing mine.

A brief moment of love.

--------

When we stepped into the banquet hall, the room went quiet.

Cliff spotted us from across the floor and his face broke into a grin.

"Rudeus!"

"Congratulations, Cliff."

The higher-ups who'd been hostile to him not long ago were already moving in his direction, smiles oiled and ready. All that cold opposition, and now this.

Didn't matter. Cliff had already said he was cleaning house. Their flattery had nowhere to land.

After a short, stilted pause, several nuns in full habit came to guide us to a table near the front.

Nun's habits. Maid's work. A strange combination, but this world had always been full of those.

Once we were seated, Windsor turned to Pursena.

"Sit down."

"Ehh... but I'm a maid, so I should be..."

"It's fine. Sit. Papa and Mama won't be upset over something like this."

Wow.

Windsor. That was smooth.

"As expected of big brother's daughter." Aisha was already grinning. "That was very him."

"It really was..."

Pursena shot a glance at Aisha. Aisha gave a small nod, and only then did Pursena lower herself into the chair, head bowed, ears flat, the picture of a well-trained attendant.

Windsor reached over without even looking and started scratching those ears.

Pursena may have displaced Daibai entirely in Windsor's affections. I was fairly sure of it now.

While I was watching them, Aisha appeared at my shoulder and pressed a bite of food to my lips.

"Here you go, big brother. Open wide."

I opened my mouth and accepted it.

Aisha, too, gave me her brief allotment of love, then drifted off to rejoin the girls.

My four wives had pulled Nanahoshi into their circle and were deep in something animated. The daughters had sorted themselves out naturally.

Lara was tormenting Daibai.

Lucy was eating with quiet, total focus.

Windsor had apparently moved on from ear-scratching and was now feeding Pursena by hand.

I let it go. Windsor was happy.

-------

Once Cliff and his wife had worked their way through the line of well-wishers, they made it to our table.

His wife greeted me, then excused herself toward the women's side of the room. A moment later, Nanahoshi slipped out of that same group and came to sit with Cliff and me.

The three of us had the table to ourselves.

Cliff didn't waste time.

"Lize is going to meet Sylphiette today. Formally."

"That's sudden."

"Let them have their moment. We'll drink ours."

Nanahoshi snapped her fingers.

"Rudeus."

"What?"

"I heard you hired someone named Aisha as a bodyguard. Someone who looks exactly like Aisha."

"That's right."

"If you make Aisha cry, I'll hit you."

"I won't. Trust me."

Cliff listened to the exchange with a quiet smile, then signaled the nuns for wine.

Nanahoshi watched them approach and raised an eyebrow.

"Cliff. Nuns serving wine?"

"No rule against it."

"It just feels... wrong. In the best possible way."

The nuns poured each glass to the brim and set them in front of us without a word.

Cliff and I lifted ours. Nanahoshi kept talking about the nuns. We ignored her.

She noticed, called us a couple of unflattering things, and then picked up her own glass and drank.

We got to talking. About the first meetings, the ones that mattered, our respective wives, how those early moments had actually felt. Nanahoshi loosened up with the wine and started talking about her previous life. She phrased it carefully, using the word "before" instead of anything more revealing.

She was tipsy. Not drunk.

Cliff listened for a while, then asked, "So why did you break up?"

"I've mostly forgotten. I can't even picture his face anymore."

Cliff smiled. "Then it wasn't true love. If it were, you could never forget him."

Nanahoshi's expression shifted. She set her glass down hard on the table.

"What do you mean true love can't be forgotten? Years have passed. Forgetting someone doesn't mean I didn't love them."

"You loved him then. Do you love him now?"

"No!"

"Then there it is. That wasn't true love. True love doesn't have an expiration date."

Nanahoshi didn't argue. She turned and looked at me instead.

Stared, really. A long, direct look.

I couldn't let that sit.

"What?"

"Rudeus. I'm going to live a very long time. Longer than you. Longer than Cliff."

"Okay."

"After you two are gone — I won't forget you. Not ever."

Cliff gave a small, satisfied nod.

I held her gaze for a moment. "Okay?"

"So what, does that mean I love you? Obviously not. Not forgetting someone and loving them are two different things!"

Cliff took a slow sip of wine.

"You do love us," he said, without any particular urgency. "Love for a friend is its own thing. Love for a partner is another. Love for family is another still. Love is broad — it makes room for all of it. But the one thing all of them share is that you don't forget. That's the only universal measure."

"Ha!?"

I lost it.

I actually laughed out loud.

Nanahoshi had no answer for that. None at all.

The three of us kept at it, trading jabs, talking over each other, until the women came to find us.

Sylphiette came straight to my side.

Her eyes were wet.

"Rudy. You're terrible."

"Hmm?"

"You knew my grandmother was still alive and didn't tell me..."

"She asked me not to."

I pulled her into a hug.

Across the table, Cliff was already holding his own wife, who had buried her face against his shoulder.

After all of that, the reunion, the tears, the laughter, our two families settled in together for the real meal.

Not two families, actually.

One.

-------

After the banquet, things arranged themselves in an unconventional order.

The daughters took one room.

My wives, Nanahoshi, and Cliff's wife took another.

Cliff and I got the last one.

"Rudeus."

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"Do we really need to do this?"

"...You're right." A pause. "How long are you staying in Milis?"

"Depends on the kids. If they want more time, we'll stay."

"Then Lize and I will take care of you. Stay as long as you want."

"Deal."

We kept talking long after we should have been asleep. The factions Cliff needed to dismantle. The plans he was building toward. He laid it all out, piece by piece, including a request he'd need to make eventually, asking me to approach Orsted. The curse-weakening device needed proper testing, and Orsted was the only option.

When the conversation finally wound down, Cliff said it again.

"Thank you. My dearest friend."

I'd spent years not knowing how to respond to that.

"You're welcome." I meant it. "My dearest friend."

➤ Next: Homecoming, Old Friends