2 months later:
POV: Rudeus Greyrat
My name is Rudeus Greyrat. I was an adult man in my previous life, but now, in my current life, I am a quite handsome eleven-year-old boy. My specialty is magic. I can cast custom spells without the need for an incantation, a trick that has earned me a fair bit of recognition.
About a year and a month ago, I was teleported to a "friendly" place known as the Demon Continent, thanks to a large-scale magical disaster. As luck would have it, the Demon Continent happened to be on the other side of the planet from my home, the Fittoa Region of the Asura Kingdom. Returning was going to require traveling across half the world.
I quickly became an adventurer and started a long, arduous journey back home.
Since then, thirteen months have passed. During that time, I crossed the Demon Continent... and now, I am locked up next to a man. He looked like an adventurer. His clothes were black, with leather protectors reinforced at the joints. Of course, he was unarmed. He had long sideburns, with a monkey face like Lupin the Third.
"What's up, Newbie? See something out of place?" I asked.
"N-no, that's not exactly how I'd describe it." He looked at me, clearly confused.
Suddenly, a guard with a sour look on his face approached.
"Young man... What is your name?"
That threw me off. Since I arrived here a few days ago, no one had asked for my name. He spoke in the Beast God tongue; I was lucky to have studied it.
"Rudeus..." I said simply. Honestly, I didn't know what to tell him. Should I tell him who I really am?
"Rudeus?" He then shifted his gaze to my hair and eyes. Then he looked away, towards where my things were.
"Oh..."
Oh what?!
After several minutes of tension, he adjusted his stance and his expression changed. He didn't say anything, but he left. Seriously, what is up with beast folk? Always leaving things hanging.
"Hey. What did you do to scare the guard? Are you the king's son?" my cellmate said.
"I don't know. I just have a nice magic staff."
He looked at me.
"You're naked, but you still act cocky."
"Hey, Newbie, watch your mouth. I've been here longer than you. That means I'm the master of this cell, your superior. Show some respect," I ordered.
"Y-yes."
"Your answer should be 'Yes, sir!'"
"Yes, sir."
**
It's been seven days since I've been in this cell. I could have escaped, but there are more than ten pairs of eyes watching me from every angle. Besides... I just have to wait for Ruijerd to arrive.
I was calm, until the newbie decided to speak.
"Seems like there's a lot of noise outside."
"Really?" I asked.
"Also, it's a bit hot."
"Now that you mention it, it's true. It's horribly hot today," I admitted.
"And... doesn't it smell a bit like smoke in here?"
"Now that you say it..."
He was right. A thin line of gray smoke was filtering through the air. It was coming in through both the window and the main door.
"Newbie, lift me up on your shoulders."
"Guess I have no choice. Let's go."
Geese lifted me onto his shoulders and, with the slight height advantage next to the window, I looked out.
The forest was on fire.
We decided to use the chaos to get out of the cell and retrieve my stuff. I had helped kill a few, but I couldn't stay there long. I stopped just as I was about to cross the bridge.
"So... Boss."
"What is it?"
"Which side are you going to help?"
I looked at the scene one more time. Another Beast Race warrior fell. The humans were forcing entry into the building that warrior had been defending.
It was obvious which side justice was on. But what was "evil" to me?
I had no idea who those humans were. Given that they were kidnapping children, they were most likely working with slave traders or smugglers... people I owed a favor to. Thanks to them, Ruijerd had been able to cross the sea.
The beast folk had locked me up on false charges. They didn't listen to a word I said. They stripped me naked, doused me with cold water, and then left me to rot in the cell. Emotionally, my impression of them was terrible.
(No, Rudeus... Don't be an idiot, especially not now. Daiki couldn't look you in the face if he knew you left children in the hands of people like that...)
"The beast folk, of course," I said finally.
"Haha! That's what I'm talking about!" Geese said before pulling a sword from the nearest corpse and taking a stance. "Alright, leave the front to me! I might not be great with a sword, but at least I can be a wall to protect you!"
First thing was to put out the fire. I used Squall, an Advanced-rank water spell. I let the mana flow into my right hand and, little by little, the sky began to darken. I carefully adjusted both the range and intensity; I didn't know how far the fire had spread, so I decided to cover the largest area possible.
I manipulated the clouds just as I had learned to do when casting Cumulonimbus. I compressed my magic power until it formed a cloud, and then made the cloud bigger and bigger, without letting a single drop of water fall. No one noticed I was standing there, arms raised to the sky. And thanks to the black smoke, they didn't notice the clouds appearing over their heads either.
When I released the rain, the fire gave way instantly. The forest was soaked, and the flames died out. The humans panicked upon seeing me conjure, and I stopped them one by one with Earth spells, knocking them out. I wasn't alone: the beast folk counterattacked furiously, guided by scent now that the rain was clearing the air.
We advanced together to rescue the children. The chase led us into the forest, where I became mobile support, firing Stone Cannons while the warriors finished them off.
In the end, we found the one responsible: Gallus, the smuggler I knew. He held a child hostage and spoke shamelessly of his plan to sell the little Doldias. I understood then that negotiation was impossible. I might owe favors, but that didn't matter.
When it comes to children, there are no excuses.
"Gallus-san... I'm sorry, but when I rescue children, my name isn't 'Dog Master' Ruijerd. I am Ruijerd of the Superd tribe. And Ruijerd never forgives those who sell children as slaves."
"Hah. So Dead End likes to pretend he's on the side of justice?"
I didn't give him time to react.
My brother had taught me this from the moment I understood the shockwave: in combat, never wait.
I propelled my feet with a shockwave and fired a Stone Cannon. Gallus had to block it with his sword. In that very instant, I was already in front of him. I used Shockwave again, blasting him backward, away from the child.
I seized the opening.
I grabbed the child and shot off in the opposite direction. In seconds I was out of his reach. I turned and handed the child to Gimbal, another Doldia warrior.
"What...?" Gallus said, surprised.
Setting that aside, the smile he had was gone now that he knew I wasn't normal.
"Bah, whatever..." Gallus cracked his neck, regaining his composure. "Just because a kid moves fast via magic doesn't mean anything."
He unsheathed his short sword.
"Let's see if you can dodge this."
The Sacred Beast arrived to back me up, but even so, it took a few hits. I launched myself at him, grabbing a sword and employing techniques my brother had taught me. It wasn't perfect, but now I had mobility.
Thanks to that, I managed to prevent the Sacred Beast from being attacked, stopping a blow using a stone wall. Then, he pulled his sword embedded in the wall and lunged at me. Barely, thanks to the shockwave and my Demon Eye, I could match and even surpass his explosive speed.
"Heheh..." I chuckled, though cold sweat ran down my back. "Not bad... But my brother is faster than that."
Gallus didn't waste time. He took advantage of my landing to charge again, looking to cleave me in two.
I used Quagmire. With that, the ground beneath Gallus's feet turned into quicksand. His boots sank, breaking his momentum. He stumbled forward, losing the force of his attack.
"Shit!" he grunted, trying to pull his feet out.
I tried to use that second to...
"Not bad." In a second, Gallus had gotten out of the quagmire and lunged at me. Damn, I hadn't anticipated that.
"North God Style Original Technique: Tear Gas Bomb!"
In that instant, I heard Geese's voice behind me. Something flew over my head... a black bag?
The bag smashed right into Gallus's face and exploded. An ash-like substance dispersed into the air. For a second I thought he missed. That it was useless.
But no.
I seized that exact instant.
Beneath my robe, the spell I had been prepping since earlier was complete. I activated the magic, and a brutal explosion blasted the space between us. The impact threw me backward at absurd speed. For a fraction of a second, my consciousness blacked out completely.
Pain shot through my entire body at once.
I gritted my teeth, forced my muscles to respond, and forced myself to back away, refusing to fall there.
This battle wasn't over yet.
"Huh...?"
Gallus was already lying on the ground, face up. His body wasn't even twitching.
And that was how I put an end to a plan that had been in the works for a long time.
***
Later, I understood that the whole thing had been a carefully planned kidnapping. A smuggler organization had set up a large-scale operation to steal the Doldia Sacred Beast, taking advantage of the approaching rainy season. During that period, the villages were distracted and the warriors divided, which made an effective pursuit almost impossible.
First, they caused chaos: simultaneous kidnappings of women and children in various settlements. While the Doldia sent reinforcements to help other tribes, their own village was left vulnerable. Then, the elite forces went into action and managed to capture both the chief's granddaughter and the Sacred Beast. A quick, precise strike.
While I remained locked in the cell for a week, Ruijerd acted on his own. Using the jewel on his forehead, he located the smugglers' ship before it set sail. He defeated them almost completely and rescued about fifty children. However, that caused a serious political conflict with Zant Port, as the attack happened right before the rainy season and corrupt interests were involved. After tough negotiations, the port conceded and compensated the beast folk, avoiding a war.
It was in the midst of that chaos that Gallus tried to take advantage one last time, attacking the weakened Doldia village to kidnap children and keep the profits. But this time he failed. His plan collapsed, and he ended up handed over to the authorities.
In the end, the children returned to their families and everything was resolved. That was the "happy ending"... though for me, it meant spending a week forgotten in a cell, waiting for Ruijerd to come back for me.
We were welcomed into the Doldia village as heroes for saving the children and protecting the village from Gallus's attack. They wanted us to spend the rainy season living with them.
Right now we were at Gustav's house. It was the largest in the village, located quite high above the ground, among the treetops.
Eris seemed to remember something, as she suddenly showed them the ring on her finger.
"By the way... do any of you know Ghislaine? This ring is hers," Eris said.
Since she didn't understand the Beast God tongue, she spoke in the Human tongue. Among those present, only Gustav, Pursena, Gyes, Ruijerd, and I could understand her.
"Ghislaine...?" Gyes's expression tightened upon hearing that name. "Wait a moment... what did you say your name was, girl?"
"Huh?" replied Eris.
She stood up almost by reflex and, in that movement, something fell from her clothes.
It was a figurine I had made on the road; looks like that's where it ended up... Eris...
"That..." muttered Pursena, grabbing it. "It looks like..."
"It's... it's mine," Eris said, taking a step forward. "Give it back!"
"That's... Daiki?!" said Pursena, her ears and tail perking up.
I froze. Wait... They know him?!
"It's Daiki!" Pursena jumped. "That hair! That beauty! Those eyes! It's him!"
"Beauty?" repeated Eris. "What do you mean by 'beauty'?"
Pursena blinked.
"He's cute. Daiki is cute. He healed us when we got hurt. And he smelled good."
"He's mine! You can't say he's cute! Only I can say that!"
"Yours?" Pursena twitched her ears.
"I-I mean... he owes me a duel, he can't go around 'healing others' and wasting time," Eris stammered, turning red. "He's my rival! My punching bag!"
"Punching bag?" Pursena tilted her head. "He told us he beat you every time. Said you had 'potential but lacked control'."
"WHAT?!" Eris drew her wooden sword. "He said that?! That... that...!"
"He also mentioned you make a lot of noise when you talk," added Pursena.
"I DON'T DO THAT?!"
"Mmm... but he said he prefers it anyway," she continued. "That your shouting is better than that awkward void silence leaves behind."
Eris stopped in her tracks.
"...He said that?"
"Yeah," she confirmed, wagging her tail. "He said silence reminded him of bad things. That you were... loud, but real. That you made him feel awake... and happy."
Eris brought a hand to her chest, clutching the fabric right where she kept the figurine.
"Loud but real... Happy..."
"And that he liked it when you danced. Even if you stepped on his feet at the beginning."
"That was only once!" Eris defended herself automatically. "And then I learned! He told me I was good!"
"Yeah, he said you learned fast when you got motivated," added Pursena. "And that you were the only one who could keep up with him without breaking."
Eris fell silent. She looked down, and I saw a small smile form on her lips. A smile that wasn't arrogant or defiant. It was... happy.
Then she murmured. "I knew you were alive. I never needed confirmation. Yes, I was afraid... afraid of losing you, but I never stopped trusting you." She sighed, relieved by the news.
Even so, we both knew there was still time before we saw each other again, due to the rainy season.
(Brother... you have no idea how much it reassures me to know you're okay.)
"Gyes, can you tell me exactly where my brother is?"
He looked at me, attentive to my request.
"He left via the Holy Sword Highway, towards Millishion."
Millishion wasn't far from here; it was the closest we had ever been.
"That... that makes me happy." I sighed, feeling all the stress accumulated during the journey fade away. I knew he'd be fine, but confirming that nothing bad had actually happened to him was much better.
Eris withdrew, saying something about "wanting to train in secret," but I knew she was actually crying. I didn't blame her; I would too if I didn't have to keep it together in front of the tribe leader.
I also noticed how Ruijerd calmed down upon knowing my brother was nearby.
"Your brother is strong. I hope he doesn't hate me or something, for taking so long to bring you."
"Ruijerd, what are you talking about?" I replied. "My brother doesn't measure time, he measures results. You brought me here safe. For him, that is the only thing that matters. He will respect you because you did what he couldn't do: be there."
He just smiled, calming down.
"I want to meet him already. You've spoken so much about him that I have the right to."
Gyes came over and sat with us.
"Daiki defeated me without even using his full strength... He could have employed his Saint-tier skills, but he held back."
There was a silence. One of those where you don't know what to say, or even where to start. The impact of knowing my brother had been here, that he moved forward and took his own path... still left me paralyzed.
"I spoke ill of Ghislaine to him..." Gyes continued. "He defended her as if she were his sister, and then I understood that, in a sense, she was. Thanks to her he managed to become so strong. I felt like a complete idiot; a ten-year-old boy gave me a lecture much better than I could give. He completely broke my warrior's pride. If the Warrior Chief can't beat a child who didn't even cry... what awaits one?"
"And then I understood that thanks to him, my daughter changed... Daiki managed to teach her and train her. She left with the determination to want to be on your brother's level."
Then Gyes gave a heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry, Rudeus, for locking you up... If I had known, if I had paid more attention to what Daiki said, you wouldn't have gone through all that."
(Big brother... you have a gift for changing people.)
And so, only a few months remained until I saw my brother again. Will I finally be able to see him? Will he have grown more than me, and gotten a cute girl? In Millishion there must be tons... Little brother, I hope you haven't had to worry too much about me... Well, a little bit, because with Eris I needed it.
***
[Diary of an Aerodynamic Mage: Three Months of Rain, Jealousy, and Comparisons]
Three months have passed. Three endless months in which the sky decided to turn the Great Forest into a giant Olympic pool, forcing us to live in the treetops like glorified squirrels.
While my dear brother Daiki is surely enjoying dry sheets and hot food in Millishion, we remain here, trapped in the Doldia Village. Although, to be fair, it wasn't wasted time.
On one hand, Ruijerd found his soulmate in old man Gustav. They spent the nights drinking and complaining about "the youth of today," competing to see who had bloodier war stories. Thanks to us helping exterminate monsters during the rains, the beast folk have stopped looking at Ruijerd with terror and started looking at him with respect.
On the other hand, Eris did the impossible: she made friends. Seeing her teach the Human tongue to Minitona and Tersena was surreal.
But my social life here was... complicated. And my brother's shadow haunted me every day.
It all started with Gyes, the Warrior Chief. That man has a prodigious nose for "smelling arousal," and seems to believe I am a biological threat to his daughter's virtue. One day, after catching me "culturally appreciating" the girls near the river, he gave me a lecture that wounded my pride.
"Rudeus-sama," he told me with a wrinkled nose. "I can smell your desire from here. It is dense and shameful."
I tried to excuse myself, but he cut me off with a painful comparison:
"Your brother, Daiki... he was different," Gyes growled with a tone of respect he never used with me. "When Daiki trained with Linia, when he was close to our women... there was no trace of this scent on him. He smelled of the sword, of clean rain, and absolute concentration. That is why I allowed him to be with my daughter unsupervised."
Ouch. Apparently, my brother's stoic chastity set the bar too high for a simple adolescent mortal like me.
But the worst wasn't Gyes. It was Pursena.
"When Linia and I did things right in training, he would pet our heads," she said, pointing to her ears. "He had big, warm hands. He knew how to do it right, just behind the ears. I miss that."
I stood frozen. What?! My brother dedicated himself to giving headpats to the princesses of the village?! And they enjoyed it!
I felt an absurd pang of jealousy. I don't know if I was jealous of Daiki for being able to touch those fluffy ears, or jealous of Pursena because my brother never patted my head when I did my spells right. Probably both... I just hope Eris doesn't find out.
"I guess Gyes is right... everyone thinks I'm a pervert," I murmured, folding a shirt sadly. "Maybe I should live in a cave."
Eris stopped cleaning her sword and looked at me with a frown. To my surprise, she didn't join the mockery.
"Don't say stupid things," she said brusquely, crossing her arms. "Those beast men don't know anything. We've been traveling together a whole year. We sleep in the same tent, eat together..."
She paused.
"You were never like that with me, Rudy. You always respected my privacy. You never tried anything weird or looked at me wrongly in all this time on the Demon Continent."
I stood blinking, genuinely moved. Eris defending my honor. She had noticed I was striving to be a gentleman. My beloved sister-in-law. I was going to thank her, but then... I saw her face. She was so serious, so sure of my integrity...
My suicidal and teasing instinct woke up. I couldn't let pass the opportunity to see her flustered.
I smiled maliciously.
"Ah, that... Well, it has a very simple explanation," I said with a carefree tone.
Eris looked at me confused.
"Huh? What explanation?"
I shrugged, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"It's just that I respect my brother's woman."
The silence that followed lasted exactly two seconds.
Then, Eris's face went from its normal color to a red so intense it could have competed with her own hair. Her eyes opened wide and she started stammering, moving her hands nonsensically.
"W-W-W...?!" she stammered, backing away and stumbling. "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! I AM NOT...! HE IS NOT...! YOU...! RUDEUS!"
"It's a code among men," I continued, enjoying the chaos. "You don't touch what already has an owner. Daiki would get mad."
"SHUT UP!!"
The hit I received sent me flying against the wall, but it was worth it.
Finally, the rain stopped.
Tomorrow we leave for the Holy Sword Highway.
Daiki, I'm heading there. And when I find you, we're going to have a long chat about why you are the "pure brother who gives headpats" and I am the "pervert."
And good luck with "your woman," because right now she is steaming from her ears, muttering your name and punching a tree to vent the embarrassment. You're welcome.
The Holy Sword Highway, a marvel of engineering created by Saint Millis, free of monsters. The Doldia, in a gesture of generosity, provided us with a carriage and supplies.
We were ready to leave for Millishion, the capital, when our trio unexpectedly became a quartet.
Geese, the beast man with the monkey face who had shared a cell with me, hopped into our carriage with the confidence of someone who owns the place.
"Hey, old man! Perfect, I'm going to Millis too!"
Turns out Geese had been making friends behind my back. He had won over Eris and the beast girls with stories, and had drunk with Ruijerd and Gustav, adapting chameleon-like to every group. He was an expert manipulator, but... useful. Especially in the kitchen.
Geese's food was divine. He transformed simple rabbits and herbs into banquets.
"Teach me to cook!" demanded Eris one day, while Geese was preparing a soup.
"Pass," he replied coldly. "A swordsman should only worry about fighting."
Geese had his traumas with teaching cooking (a sad story about an adventurer party broken by a culinary romance), but I knew Eris's insistence wasn't for the love of culinary art. I saw her look toward the horizon, towards where Daiki supposedly was.
"If I could cook... um... well, you know, right?" she had tried to explain clumsily.
Ah, Eris. You want to impress my brother when we get to Millishion, right? You want to arrive and tell him: "Look, Daiki, not only am I strong with the sword, I can also make you a dinner that won't kill you." It's an adorably domestic gesture for someone who usually solves her problems with punches. Too bad Geese, with his "don't teach women" rule, clipped the wings of her romantic fantasy.
The journey continued without incidents (except for some hemorrhoids I secretly cured with magic, thank God for healing magic). We found a monument to the "Seven Great Powers," a list of the strongest beings in the world that looked like something out of a shonen manga, with many of its members missing or sealed. Ruijerd, feeling nostalgic, gave us a history lesson on the Laplace War.
We crossed the Blue Wyrm Mountains through the ravine created by Saint Millis's sword.
In three days, we exited the valley.
The Holy Country of Millis stretched out before us. Finally, we had returned to the domains of humanity. My heart was pounding.
It took us a whole month, but...
Daiki, we are at the gates. I hope you're ready, because we're bringing a Superd, a Tsundere with frustrated chef aspirations, a monkey cook, and your perverted brother. The family reunion is going to be interesting.