Chapter Text
Rudeus - 10 Years Old
“All right then, what you have all been waiting for I, Rudeus Greyrat, will show you my great, all powerful hidden technique!”
“Yay!” Eris clapped in joy. Ghislaine also seemed deeply interested. I was also feeling excited. Time to show them how cool I was!
“Bwahaha!” I raised my staff toward the sky as I chanted my Saint-tier water magic spell.
“Mana, gather to me! Magnificent Spirit of Water, lift to the heavens uh… something—Cumulonimbus!”
Clouds swelled in the sky above us, gray and heavy turning the land dark. A pelting rain began to fall on the land in front of us, winds roaring against the low rolling hills. I raised my staff once more to the sky, and the gray clouds gave way to… brown, black, purple, yellow… I strained harder to disperse the clouds, but it felt as if they were fighting my efforts. A far cry from how I dispersed the clouds when I graduated from Roxy’s classes.
Had something gone wrong with my magic? Could I have misunderstood the magic amplification of my new staff? No… The clouds swirled in a circle, its epicenter was far south of Fittoa.
“Woah! You could do that?!” Eris’ voice boomed behind me.
“I haven’t practiced so I may have messed up the incantation—-Huh…?” I cut myself off when from within the clouds came a bright flash of light, a ball that in an instant lit up the horizon before disappearing as abruptly as it appeared. The course of the winds changed and drew toward the source of the light, as if the world meant to draw us in.
A long silence settled into the fields around us, when boom! Waves of wind and heat came blowing back out from the epicenter, dust trailing after in the air.
I turned to Ghislaine, who had taken off her eyepatch. Her right eye glowed a bright green, and before I could speak she had already begun to speak.
“The amount of mana! Rudeus, Eris; stay close to me.” Ghislaine ended her words by replacing her eyepatch over her right eye. Approaching us; she lifted us up, one into each arm and ran back to the city.
***
The blast left a lull in town, people stared openly at the swirling mess of colors in the sky. Even the maids at the Boreas manor stopped their work to discuss the events outside.
“Lord Sauros, Lord Philip.” Seems even family members, no matter how long they knew each other, would still make small talk about the weather… Ok but this time it wasn’t small talk . Even Hilda, the butler Alphonse, and the etiquette teacher Edna were participating.
Hilda was the first to approach, checking on Eris and my conditions. Hilda, who seemed to hate me until recently and now wanted me to be her son-in-law, wiped the dust off our faces as a loud voice boomed in the background.
“Ghislaine! Rudeus! Explain!”
Ghislaine got to work explaining what she saw through her magical eye, enormous amounts of mana balling up and devouring the sky. I spoke only to affirm what she saw, sure I was the resident magician but nothing I’ve seen or read spoke of such a spell or side effect of one.
As Sauros quizzed Ghislaine and I on what we saw, Eris went up to him to receive headpats. She really is grandpa's girl…
“And what of the storm that preceded the flash? There was a brief downpour that preceded the mana explosion.” Philip asked.
“Lord Philip, the storm was my Cumulonimbus spell, I… I do not believe it led to what happened after…” Could it? A shockwave like that… Wherever the epicenter is, it sure wouldn’t be pretty.
“No.” Ghislaine spoke up after me, “The mana you channeled disappeared when you canceled your spell. The source of the explosion is further south.”
Philip turned to look out their southern window, if I recall correctly that direction led to the Milbotts region. And the Milbotts region belonged to the Notos Greyrats…
Before long Eris and I were sent away to let the grown-ups talk, I understood Eris but me… Perhaps they still suspected the clouds and the mana explosion were my doing? But my Cumulonimbus spell felt no different from last time, and I’ve never heard of magical tools altering a spell in such a manner. Ghislaine herself was an S-ranked adventurer with a demon eye and she confirmed my lack of involvement, but still… If that mana explosion sent shockwaves all the way here from Millbotts, it makes you wonder what the situation at ground zero would look like.
***
As I slept that evening I found myself in a pure white void. I immediately knew this wasn’t real. It had to be some sort of lucid dream. Yet, for some reason, my body felt oddly heavy.
“…Huh?”
I looked down at myself, and my eyes went wide. I was back in the old, familiar form I’d spent thirty-four years in.
At the sight of it, memories of my previous life came flooding back. I was the same bitter, vile, insecure, and selfish piece of trash I’d always been. The ten years I spent as Rudeus suddenly felt like nothing more than a dream.
A crushing wave of disappointment washed over me. I’d reverted to my pathetic, former self, and I found that fact all too easy to accept.
So it really was just a dream, huh…?
As dreams go, it lasted an awfully long time. But at the end of the day, it was too good to be true. I’d been born into a loving family, and managed to get friendly with some very cute girls. Not a bad ten years by any means. I’d wanted to enjoy that life a little more, though.
Oh well. Guess it’s over now.
I could feel the memories of my time as Rudeus beginning to fade. Once you’ve woken up, even the best of dreams melt away in no time.
Had I really expected anything different? Please. A smooth, happy life like that was never in the cards for a guy like me.
Eventually, I noticed that a weirdo had appeared in front of me. The individual in question had a blank, white face, marked only by a big, wide grin.
Maybe blank wasn’t the right word. I just couldn’t make out any distinguishing features. When I looked at any specific part of that face, it slipped instantly out of my memory; my mind refused to form an image of the larger whole. It almost felt as if this…person was being blurred out by a pixelated mosaic.
Still, I somehow sensed that I was dealing with someone calm and patient.
“Hey there. Nice to meet you, Rudeus.”
Hm. I’d been so busy feeling sorry for myself, and now I had some weird, censored-porno guy chatting me up.
Actually, that voice was pretty ambiguous. Could be a guy or a girl. Let’s go with girl! That would make the pixelated thing feel kind of sexy, right?
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
Oh. Yeah. Sure. Hi there, nice to meet you.
“Excellent. Nice to see you’re so polite.”
I didn’t actually speak out loud, but it seems like my friend here heard my thoughts just fine. Might as well keep communicating this way.
“Wow. Nothing fazes you, does it?”
Not really.
“Ehehe. Come on, this is you we’re talking about! Be more confident!”
Um… Who or what… are you?
“Why don’t you take a good look and figure that one out?”
I can’t see much of anything with that mosaic. Do you happen to be related to a Shimizu Ken?
Specifically a certain body part of his?
“Shimizu Ken’s… body part? How do I look like someone’s body part?”
Oh for starters you’re totally covered in pixels like his thing is.
“Oh, so there’s something like me in your world too…”
For context, I would be rather depressed if people told me I looked like Shimizu Ken’s… appendage.
“Hmm? Nevermind then, let’s move on. I’m a god. The Man-God, specifically.”
Uh-uh. The Man-God. Right.
“You don’t sound too impressed, I have to say.”
Um… just wondering why a god would be wasting time chatting with me, I guess. Isn’t it a little late for you to be showing up anyway? The god’s supposed to make his appearance way back in the first chapter, right?
“Well, consider this chapter the first chapter.”
Whatever you say Sperman.
“All right. Anyway, I’ve been keeping an eye on you for some time now. You’ve been living quite the interesting life!”
Peeping’s always lots of fun, isn’t it?
“Oh, it’s been a joy. And that’s why I decided to take care of you.”
You’re taking care of me? Gee, thanks. Talk about condescending… What am I, your pet?
“Come now, there’s no need to be so hostile! I’m only talking to you because you’re about to get in some real trouble.”
Well, that’s a red flag. Anybody who pops up offering to fix all your problems when you’re struggling is a conman.
“No, no. I’m on your side, friend.”
Hah! Now we’re friends? Don’t make me laugh.
I met a few people like you in my old life, buddy. People who slithered up to me and said, “Just try your best,” or, “I’ll look out for you.” They were all liars. They didn’t really give a damn. They assumed everything would automatically work out once they lured me out of my room. None of them understood the source of the problem. Everything you say reminds me of them. I’ll never trust you.
“Goodness, that’s a problem. Hmm… Why don’t I just offer you a little advice then?”
Advice, huh…?
“That’s right. Feel free to ignore it completely, if you want.”
Right. Got it. So that’s your angle. I had plenty of that last time as well. People loved giving me advice. Thought they could feed me a bunch of feel-good self-help crap and get me focused on something other than my own misery. Seriously, talk about missing the point. What good is positive thinking going to do me now? I’m way past the stage where my emotional state’s going to make a difference. Getting optimistic only sets me up for more pain down the line.
I mean, this right here’s a case in point! Why even let me dream, damn it? Alternate reality my ass! I got all into this second chance at life, then you just pull the carpet out from under me? Did you have to be so damn sadistic?!
“Wait a second. I think you’re misunderstanding things. I want to help you with your current life, not your old one.”
…Hm? Why do I look like this then?
“That’s your astral form. It’s distinct from your actual body.”
My…astral form…?
“Right. You’re perfectly fine physically, of course.”
So, this is only a dream? When I wake up, I won’t find myself back in this crappy body?
“Exactly. Since you’re dreaming at the moment, you’ll be back to normal once you wake up. Feel better now?”
Phew. Okay. So this is all just some weird dream…
“Well, it’s not just a dream. I’m speaking directly into your mind right now. Hard to believe your mental image of yourself is so different from your body…”
Telepathy, huh? Well, all right. But what do you actually want with me? Do you plan to send me back to my old world? Since I don’t belong here or whatever?
“Don’t be ridiculous. I couldn’t send you anywhere outside the Six-Faced World, obviously. I wasn’t the one who brought you in here either.”
Obvious for you. I’m completely in the dark here.
“And so I come bearing knowledge!”
You seem seriously lousy for a god offering up his knowledge. Give me a fun fact then.
“Hmm… Alright, that little lady Eris of yours will grow up to have hips of xxx cm, a waist of xxx cm, and a chest of xxx cm.”
Come again? Did you say xxx cm, xxx cm, and xxx cm?
“Yes, and if you wish to see them for yourself then my advice to you is simple. Take up Philip’s offer.”
Philips… offer? To marry Eris?
“And help him seize control of the Boreas family!”
And if I don’t?
“Eris will be sent to the capital to marry your cousin, Paul’s nephew.”
No! I can’t let scum like him marry lady Eris!
“Haha! You’ve never even met the guy!”
He’s Paul’s nephew, it’s a given.
“But you're Paul's son?”
…
“Regardless, heed my words. When you wake up, go speak to Philip about his offer.”
As these brief and final words echoed through the void, the blurred-out god abruptly disappeared.