First off huge thanks to the fanbase of mushokutensei on reddit for helping explain why teleportation magic is taboo, specific thanks to Grapefruitwhiskey for adding in some unique theories. I was able to put some more depth into this chapter because of their contribution. I'm hip_davinci on Reddit if anyone wants to ask questions about the story or something like that to me feel free.
And now to the responses.
To SkinnyA: I am full of surprises it would seem hahaha. You guys keep me going and keep me writing faster and faster. And yes I love when people see Rudeus from their perspective and some will discover just how powerful he is.
To Shadow Joestar: Yes :-) his birthday party will be filled with moments of tenderness, along with moments of jealousy and laughter.
To 321Jaz: Glad you loved the PoV they will be infrequent though so that way we will treasure them more. Think of the PoV as kind of like a checkpoint much like how the light novels did things. Sylphy's hair color I will answer later. Lastly involving intimate stories I will write some stuff but that will be later in the story.
To Zairyo: Eris will handle it about as well as shirtless Chris Hemsworth throwing an autographed book of fifty shades of grey into the live audience of the Ellen DeGeneres show. There will be blood. I'm overstating it for comedy sake but you get the picture.
To Uqihana: Yes Sylphy is so pure!
To XaiGRS: Glad to see you on the subreddit for Jobless Reincarnation. It made me smile so much when I saw your review. Sorry to keep you waiting but I bet you wouldn't be waiting this shortly.
To Rollingfire: WOW! This is allot to unpack and I love it! I never expected such passion from you guys about this story and it means the world to me. And to answer your concern, no, the PoVs will not be too common but more like checkpoints giving an update on their lives or how Rudeus is affecting the world from their perspective. But a full disclosure there will be some side stories later on so I hope you don't mind that involve Philip and his wife as well as Sauros, still these chapters will also include Rudeus. Also you aren't misinterpreting smut. I can write lemon for this fanfiction and I have written it for other peoples fanfictions too but like I told 321jaz it won't happen until later when Rudeus has fully matured again. You make a good point too about Rudeus and Ghislaine forming the same relationship as he had with either Lilia or Aisha where they helped him around his house and aided him in his expansion of wealth, maybe Ghislaine can help in that too. Lastly it means everything to me that you believe this is one of the best quality written stories :'-) Glad to have a fan like you.
Icecreampapa: Since it is going to be a while until his 10th birthday because there is the trial arch I am writing, yeah! I can do a PoV for his birthday. We all know how Rudeus will react on his birthday but how others react is the fun juicy part. Also I am not from Canada even though I consider myself quite polite and I love the cold. I'm actually from Washington state and later on in my life about 5 years ago I moved down to Texas.
To doubleblade759: Glad I can scratch that itch. I think I'm scratching allot of peoples itches TBH based on the wonderful feedback I'm getting.
And without any more delay enjoy the chapter!
"Fuck, sometime is wrong. Something is very, very wrong." A man confessed while he crouched down looking at the floor of his plain of existence, there was no floor itself, just a void which was covered by a dense white fog. The being looked all around him and saw only emptiness in the white space.
"Ahhh fuck what the hell is going on!? I can't see anything clearly!?"
"Master, it has been so long and I have told you all of the recent events that have happened up until now. What do you need from me? Do you need me to be your eyes?" Another voice said fearfully.
The Man God turned around and saw a much more obese man than himself.
"Darius, I cannot see the world. Well, I can see it, but there is something interfering with it. I'm positive it's not Orsted but it is someone else, someone who has a connection to the void. The world to me looks like I'm underwater, everything is blurry, and I can't see clearly in front of myself when I look down on the world. It's been that way for a few years now. It took all of my focus just to get you here to talk to you."
"I am honored that you tried so hard to talk to me, your loyal servant." Darius said bowing. "Do you think the family that you told me to assassinate could have caused this?"
"No. Rudeus Greyrat cannot reach my world as of yet and he could make a powerful ally if turned so I command you not to kill him, it was a mistake acting out of fear telling you to assassinate him and now he has the advantage where he knows you were the one who hired Clive to kill his family and the one who hired Narum to kidnap Eris Greyrat. If we make another move against him he will most likely kill you without a moments hesitation, the head of the Notos branch Philemon Greyrat might also try to assassinate Philip and Rudeus when they come to the capital. They are on their way to you because of your fuck up with attempting to turn that Eris girl into your sex slave so be mindful of that."
"So what should I do when it comes to him, to this Rudeus fellow?" Darius needed to redeem himself in the eyes of his god. He had made his god incredibly angry because of his actions so he would do whatever necessary to win Hitogami's favor again.
"Show your belly and pray he doesn't rip out your organs. Before my view of your world became a blur he had created a monstrosity he called Hollow, he connects his soul to the creature somehow and controls it. That thing can wipe out a continent if it wants to so pray no one attempts to kill Rudeus or he will blame you for it and at that point you are good as fucked."
Darius shivered as he looked down at his hands picturing himself trying to hold his own organs from spilling out of his fat belly. "I am pleased you care about my life so much." He said out of fear.
"Let's cut the bullshit I have only a little more time to speak to you, even now my connection with you dwindles and I have two instructions. Reinstate your spy network and double it, it used to be that I was the perfect insight for your goals but now I am crippled from this, this fucking thing, for now a collaboration of human spies will be necessary. Secondly hire several high class mages to scout out magical phenomena, it could be that something in the world is interfering with my own realm of existence. Our priority is finding out what is clouding my vision and eliminating it." Hitogami said, he remained pissed off throughout the whole command.
"Of course my god." Darius said as he gradually faded away back into the world of the living.
Hitogami stood up as he looked into the white sky.
"Who the fuck are you?! Show yourself you coward! You dare interferer with my plans!? I will fucking end you!" He screamed but his voice only echoed back at him.
He held his palms to his face. "Am I…. am I no longer alone in my own plain of existence?" He whispered. If this feeling of his was true for the first time in his life he understood what it felt like to have someone looking at him from the shadows, and he was terrified.
'Today is the day.' Rudeus thought as he packed his bags. So began the journey towards the Capital of the Asura kingdom. Rudeus would also attempt to get into contact with princess Arial and try to make her join his side although she was still a young girl so if he got support from her bodyguards she would go along with their example.
He looked at the carriage party in front of him. Philip had requested a full party of guards to accompany him even though Ghislaine could wipe out a battalion herself and Rudeus could wipe out a mountain. Still, better safe than sorry.
Narum Pincer was safely secured in a separate carriage where he was bound. Meanwhile Hollow would be taking the lead a days trip ahead clearing the path of potential dangers or assassination attempts. The trip would take several days much like how it had been with Buena village however much of the trip would be spent in court and political proceedings that would take an estimated three months.
"Do you really have to go?" Eris asked with her arms folded in protest as Rudeus handed his backpack of materials and supplies to one of the guards to put in his carriage which he and Ghislaine would travel in.
"Yeah, It was my suggestion that we do this so it would be wrong to stay behind while your father does all the hard work." Rudeus said smiling at her.
"Well I promise to get stronger when you come back." Eris said outstretching her arm and flexing her bicep. It was an adorable gesture but she would indeed have impressive biceps when she got older.
'I can't wait to for her to allow me to use her arm as a pillow in this life.' Rudeus thought to himself smiling. 'Oh that's right.'
"I almost forgot to give this to you Eris." Rudeus said smiling at her passing her a small booklet.
"What is this?" Eris said taking it.
"It's a book that I made for you, it's instructions on how to make and use silent spellcasting. It describes the theory behind it, the feeling, and then the casting. I'm sorry I couldn't practice it with you in person but I'm sure that you will get the hang of it if you practice." Rudeus said.
She beamed at him and hugged him. 'This is unexpected.' Rudeus thought. It was a nice pleasant surprise and he returned the hug. Although he felt the death glare that Sauros Greyrat was giving him from here. He looked up on one of the balconies and he saw the older lord folding his arms, not furious, but giving a terrifying stare all the same that anyone would lay a hand on his granddaughter.
Rudeus smiled and was the first to let got from the embrace.
"I will write letters, they may be sloppy compared to your writing but I will try my best."
"I know you will." Rudeus gave her a thumbs up as Philip shouted out to Rudeus to get in his designated carriage. Per Rudeus's request Ghislaine and the boy would be up front ahead of Philip while his elite guard were in the rear and Philip was in the center party protected from both sides. In truth Rudeus's suggested this formation so Ghislaine and Rudeus could talk in private.
"You planned this quite well." Ghislaine staid starting the conversation as the carriage departed.
"It wasn't my intention at first to do this but I figured it would be best to take action when the opportunity revealed itself." Rudeus said lying back and looking up in the carriage.
"And I take it that you also have other motives while we are in the capital?"
Rudeus nodded. "I plan to set up a third base of operations other than the two placed in my hometown of Buena and City of Roa. Teleportation magic however is impossible within the city so long as their sewage network remains intact, the whole thing is one giant magical circle coded to prevent teleportation so I will need my base to be outside of the city."
"Who placed the circle there?" Ghislaine asked.
"Most likely made a few centuries ago by followers of the Millis faith. They believe teleportation magic is taboo."
"Why?"
"Teleportation magic was originally banned by Perugius because people could gain access to his sky castle though that method of transportation. Overtime I believe he spread misinformation that teleportation magic destroyed the original host body of the one teleporting and simply made a copy of the individual on the other side when the spell was complete making many fear and outright make teleportation magic illegal. Within the Millis region teleportation magic is almost as feared and hated at the Superds."
"I see." Ghislaine said nodding.
"Add into the fact assassination attempts can be far more successful or war tactics can change dramatically from such a gamechanger. But a huge downside of teleportation would be transportation of goods which would radically change supply chains and could outright be destroyed by such advancements. Anyone with power in their current field of trade such as shipment of food or supplies by carriage or ship would be utterly useless. For reasons like this those who know how to use teleportation magic do not share the knowledge and those that know of its existence are usually of some high ranking position and keep it a secret to retain their power or because they fear it like the Millis religion."
"How do you know all this?" She said cocking her hand to the side.
"That's a secret. For now take this as a lesson, history is told by the winners and those with power will do anything to keep it, even if it means the suffering of others." Rudeus said pointing a finger at Ghislaine.
"So what else do you think is a lie about this world?"
Rudeus sat back in his seat for a minute contemplating his response.
"The belief that the Superds are evil. So far all I have been told about them is that they will eat me in my sleep or something along those lines. I asked Roxy about them and she told me that during the Laplace war they turned against their fellow demons, slaughtering all who were in their line of sight including the women and children, even going as far as to dismember babies in their cribs."
"Why do you not believe that?"
"Because so far no one has given me a valid reason for the Superds actions. Even if they turned against their fellow comrades I don't see any gain from it. Maybe they just fell into a fit of insanity, or were cursed in some manner. Either way I take superstition with a hint of disbelief even from someone as precious as my goddess Roxy."
"Ho, you sure do put your teacher on a pedestal don't you?" Ghislaine said cracking a coy grin.
"No, not a pedestal, a shrine." Rudeus said cupping his hands together making it look like he was praying to the heavens.
At that point Ghislaine was a little creeped out at the level of weeb she just witness but she tried to change the subject while she still had the chance.
"Where is Hollow?"
"It is a good hour ahead from here. So far I have killed 21 monsters since we got in the carriage."
"You have gotten quite good at multitasking." Ghislaine complimented but Rudeus looked down at his hands and frowned.
"Something feels different lately. I'm barely reaching out to the creature to control it but sometimes it feels like the thing is on autopilot. I can still control it, but yet it feels like it's body is moving on its own. I'm still giving it my mana to fly around and kill monsters so we are safe and in the clear while we travel, but still it is unnerving. Like a hand that compulsively twitches without you giving the command. And this hand can do absolutely brutal things."
"Phrasing." Ghislaine chuckled.
Rudeus looked up at her in shock for a moment. 'Did she seriously just crack a sex joke.'
"Oh what? Just because you think I'm a stone cold swordswoman that doesn't mean I can swipe a piece of low hanging fruit like that." Ghislaine smirked.
Rudeus folded his arms and smiled.
"Well I like that side of you, bring it out more often."
"How bold of you to tell me what to do." Ghislaine laughed with him as they continued down the road.
For now Rudeus pushed his concern about Hollow to the back of his mind as they continued down the road talking along the way and laughing as well. Ghislaine liked to tell of her adventuring stories too which sometimes he had to cut short because of the times Paul would make a move on her and take a bath with her under the moonlight or something like that.
Then as they entered more forested areas the corpses of the monsters Rudeus spoke of revealed themselves. Philip commanded the caravan to stop as he got out and discussed things with Ghislaine. He was… unnerved by the sight of the corpses to say the least. Many of their bodies were strewn about, one of corpses was a centipede creature that was easily as long as 20 men if they stood one after the other on top of each other. What made Philip concerned wasn't that, it was the fact that 30 rows of trees were also cut down by such an attack effectively deforesting a good portion of land. Such an attack even made the elite guards look around nervously for such a creature that would have caused this.
Hollow did this feat with a combination of water and alteration magic. Diamonds were a formation of carbon atoms, all Rudeus had to do was form the atoms in the correct order and he could make the crystalized stone. Diamonds are the hardest natural materiel in the world, but that simply means it could resist allot of deformation, it's toughness however was fragile compared to steel so while it would cut well the attack Hollow used could only be used once, it took allot of energy to create a strike like that.
While using water magic he formed a long sword which rotated the shards of diamond around and around, effectively making a diamond chainsaw. The blade was so effective and long when Hollow threw it forward that it didn't just cut the intended target it half, it kept going, and it went through stone and wood until the spell dissipated.
To put the sharpness of the blade into perspective a human blood cells width is normally in-between 6,000 to 8,000 nanometers. A diamond can get as sharp as 40 nanometers. This thing could literally perform surgery at the cellular level.
Rudeus used Hollow to do all this to experiment with new spells and combination of said spells. Gravity was useful to enhance an attack but Alteration was the pinnacle of possibility when it came to applicational usage at least as far as Rudeus could tell.
Another example of this was when a monster charged at Hollow, it looked like a minotaur but it had four arms and eyes. Instead of using the famous Quagmire technique to turn the ground into a mud trap Hollow covered the area just underneath the grass with a green liquid called Manganese Heptoxide its formula being Mn2O7 Hollow created a small pocket beneath the earth and formed sulfuric acid H2SO4 and then added on top of the acid potassium permanganate KMnO4.
The chemical concoction rapidly decomposed and when it did it became highly unstable. Organic flesh would burn and anything that was a liquid would explode. When it came to the minotaur like monster it suddenly fell into the patch of ground where its lower torso instantly began to burn as the beast screamed out in pain, as soon as the chemical burned away the flesh and made contact with the blood from the creature it lit up like a Christmas tree as its entire body exploded outward as chunks of its flesh and blood caked the trees and the leaves.
"Well that was graphic." Hollow said as it continued to search and destroy more creatures hiding in the forest.
When science and magic were paired together the sandbox of life became a little bit larger for Rudeus to play in.
Ghislaine convinced Philip that Hollow was on their side and they continued forward into the forest.
"Your friend sure does seem to enjoy its work." Ghislaine said grimly. "Why can't you just kill them normally instead of so grotesquely, sure I'm use to these kind of scenes but Philip only knows comfort and the perks of nobility."
"This isn't just random killing, it's experimentation. The world is broken down into basic fundamentals of elements and when I control those elements they allow for limitless potential. Did you know your body has approximately 7x10^27 atoms in your body."
"You haven't taught me this level of math yet. What is this 7 multiplied by 10 to the power of 27?"
"It is multiplying ten times ten twenty seven times and then putting a seven at the front of it."
Rudeus pulled out a pen and paper and put a seven in the front followed by twenty seven zeros.
"These things called atoms are the basic building blocks of everything, they can be linked together to form different properties."
"You are making my head hurt a little." Ghislaine said rubbing her temples.
"It's kind of hard to grasp I will admit, but here I will show you."
Rudeus outstretched his hand as a ball of shimmering mirror like metal formed and began to grow, its surface was so polished that Ghislaine could see herself in it. Rudeus then shaped the ball into a cube that fit in the palm of his hand. He then tossed the cube to Ghislaine. She grabbed it and inspected every side tossing it up and down feeling the weight.
"It's very light compared to iron or steel." Ghislaine said observing.
"Exactly. This element is called aluminum. It's properties are that it is lightweight compared to some other metals and it is easy to warp and reform. They can be used to create goblets, silverware, or just about any shape you want. It is like the clay of metals. However since it is so easy to distort it shouldn't be used for something meant to be difficult to break such as a knife or plate of armor."
She nodded at this. It was simple enough for her to understand.
"That's enough about atoms though, I feel like my head might break if you keep talking about something so complex." Ghislaine said.
"I understand. In other matters Hollow has cleared a days worth of area by now. I will rest so I can take the first nights watch while you sleep."
Ghislaine nodded and Rudeus laid down on the carriage closing his eyes. Instead of falling asleep he focused once again on his magnum opus using Hollow. He had been working on the project during his nightly activities, the final result would be as large as the Fittoa region itself and have dozens of layers of complexity. His project in preparation for the teleportation event took all his strength these past three months as he soon faded away into unconsciousness once again, there was no rest for the wicked or the hardworking it would seem.
The nights watch began shortly after Rudeus woke up from his blissful oblivion. He stretched as his muscles ached but it was just a reminder that he was alive. Getting out of the carriage while grabbing his backpack he looked and saw some of the soldiers huddled around a fire. Ghislaine was standing guard next to Philips tent on the other side of the encampment as she looked at Rudeus and he looked at her.
Officially some of the guards would keep first watch during the night and rotate out but Rudeus would enjoy the peace and quite of the night, it certainly beat just sitting in the carriage all day. Ghislaine nodded at Rudeus and he nodded at her as he flew up into the air when the guards were not looking. Rudeus would patrol the area for the night and do so every night until they reached the capital.
The night was beautiful as Rudeus soared above the clouds looking down below. He was looking for any lights nearing his encampment which would indicate an approaching party, potentially being a threat to Philip. Being able to fly allowed Rudeus to be an excellent lookout.
Normally during the days of Dead End with Eris and Ruijerd the Superd would be excellent at nights watch, his third ruby eye acting as a radar against anything living. The man barely needed any sleep but would push himself too much to protect the children that he was watching over as he guided them back to Roa from all the way on the other side of the world.
'I wonder if I can make my own artificial Superd ruby? I can use it to detect life for hundreds of meters.' Rudeus thought to himself as he shot above the clouds.
Demon eyes were a treasured ability in this world and hard to get, however they varied in rarity depending upon the complexity of the eye. Ghislaine had the most common one out of the twelve other magic demon eyes, her magic eye was kept underneath her eyepatch because for her it was too much information at once when used all the time, it was like if a person could see in infrared and normal vision at the same time. However it was useful to deduce that Rudeus and Hollow were the same person.
Rudeus was given an eye of foresight by the immortal demon empress Kishirika Kishirisu after Rudeus had given the small looking, scantily dressed girl some food and she rewarded him with his eye to see into the future by a few seconds. He was given this in his previous life while trying to figure out how to cross the narrow sea and consequentially using his eye of foresight, had saved a smugglers life from a potted plant falling on his head from a second story window which could have killed him. This allowed Rudeus to smuggle Ruijerd, Eris, and the boy across because of the life dept the smuggler owed him.
'Can I make manipulate my own eyes to replicate a demon eye? I can probably change the lenses in my eyes to create something similar to clairvoyant eyes. Still it wouldn't be as effective. I could see for miles like a hawk does but clairvoyant eyes change the perspective of the user, not enhancing their vision like a telescope. And eyes are fragile… I should experiment on Hollow before I try something like that on myself.' Thoughts like that plagued Rudeus's mind while he flew aimlessly through the clouds as he looked down below.
Rudeus decided to take a break and he outstretched his hand creating condensed water vapor holding the cloud up with gravity magic. The end result was a cloud he could sit on. He threw his backpack onto the cloud as he sat down next to it and reached into his bag pulling out a cup of instant ramen he created using his mechanism kept in the mountainside near Buena village.
He heated up some water and poured it into the ramen bowl after cracking open the top. Pulling out a pair of chopsticks he slapped them together between his hands.
"Itadakimasu (Thank you for the meal in Japanese)" He said while closing his eyes.
'I wonder how amazed people would be if all their hard work to grow the flour, to raise the cattle, and to cultivate the vegetables would be if they knew their meal would be served to someone in another parallel world?' Rudeus humored as he slurped up the noodles.
"Ahhhhh so good!" He shouted out as he shifted himself from side to side in excitement at the flavor. He had been eating food like this during his evening excursions and experiments after he was done with sword practice with Eris. Still he could not get over how good the food tasted. It was absolutely divine.
As he ate he pulled out a manga. Soul Eater vol 1. It was a fun story to pass the time, filled with some fan service here and there of a witch who was in reality a big breasted cat girl as she threw herself on a particular white haired boy with red eyes. He smiled as he read, a moment that he would love to share with someone else.
Nanahoshi had for the most part been solely focused on making it back home to Japan. Rudeus tried to share references with her but there was too much of a generation gap that it was difficult for him. She also never initiated in conversation that wasn't involving her work so making references was one sided and died quickly once Rudeus saw that she wasn't interested in talking about such things. And while he truly did love all of his wives he could never share moments of childhood memories with them from his childhood. Reading and laughing about manga and various anime would just confuse them.
'I kind of understand how Nanahoshi feels a little bit, being more connected to my previous world has made me feel kind of… alone… in this one. It's not that I'm not alone but it is like being in a different country where there is such a large cultural divide I cannot relate to people and they can't relate to me. Maybe that is why she was so distant and the reason why she loved the bath I built and modeled to look as close to Japans culture as possible.' He thought while he took grabbed a slice of beef from the ramen and chewed on the nostalgic texture of the meat.
He took another look down below him and only saw the torches in the distance of the encampment he came from. It was not likely that there would be any attack tonight. Still he would check every minute or so while he continued his reading just to make sure. He then pulled out an old DVD player and put a CD in.
'If I'm doing something as enchanting as sitting on a cloud while eating ramen and reading a manga I might as well play some appropriate music for this moment.' Rudeus thought as he pressed play.
The song Inochi No Namae began to play from the award winning movie Spirited Away by Studio Ghibli. He rocked his legs back and forth which hung over the edge of the cloud as he listened to the pure harmony of the piano that had its own magical charm complimenting the melody.
He looked up at the stary sky.
'According to infinity there are an infinite number of worlds. In one of them is mine, the world I am reaching into and grabbing all these things from in my old life. And there are also worlds that Ghibli created, worlds of pure imagination and wonder where a girl trying to free her parents rides on a train that travels on a great peaceful ocean in the world of the spirits, and another world where a mechanical castle moves and flies in the sky that is powered by a living fire spirit. What joys it would be to see worlds like those for myself.'
Rudeus continued to read multiple chapters in the manga but then moved onto more books about Biology and human physiology in an attempt to get better at healing magic. Soon morning came and after cleaning up Rudeus descended back down into the encampment.
Philip and Ghislaine were just beginning to wake up as Rudeus both greeted them with a good morning. They had some breakfast together which was just plain oatmeal, it was easy to store and had a long date until it expired which made it a perfect meal for travel.
"I hope there wasn't anything eventful last night." Philip said as he finished off his bottle of water which Rudeus promptly refilled with his magic.
"No sir it wasn't. I patrolled ahead as well since your guards were keeping watch and todays trip will be free of monsters." Rudeus said smiling at the man.
"Very good. It brings allot of peace to my mind that I have a saint class water mage and a king class swordswoman with me on this trip." Philip said smiling.
"Oh course." Ghislaine said promptly nodding, she was very formal around her boss.
The second day wasn't any different and neither was the third. It was a cycle of habit where Rudeus would use up his magic using Hollow throughout the day as he both experimented on monsters ahead and at the same time continued working on his ultimate project. Soon he fell into a state of unconsciousness while Ghislaine remained alert during the day. During the night Rudeus would watch from above on a cloud at signs of other people approaching while continuing to read through one manga series after another.
On the fourth night of their travels Rudeus saw a light that was approaching, a good distance from where Ghislaine, Philip, and his men were outposted for the night. He got up and stretched, then finishing off the last of his instant ramen he headed down toward the torch light.
Instead of catching them by surprise he decided to do the unexpected and see if they were friendly or foe.
'I've been using Hollow too often, I want to see this myself.' Rudeus thought begrudgingly. He landed a few minutes ahead of the approaching party so that way they wouldn't see him until they cast their torch light on the boy.
'Come to think of it, it would be kind of creepy right now being a small boy in the middle of the forest that is infested with monsters and all manner of heathens. Meh I'm sure they will overlook it, if anything they will be suspicious.'
Rudeus waited, and waited, he twitched at the anticipation.
Soon the party saw him. They were thirty armored men on horseback holding no flag and bearing no sigil some carried staffs while others carried swords. Rudeus walked towards them without a care in the world.
"Hold!" The one in front shouted using his horse to trot in front of the boy.
"Evening gentlemen." Rudeus said smiling up at then.
"What is a small boy like you doing in these woods at this hour?" The soldier asked.
"I am Rudeus Greyrat and was just scouting ahead for Philip Greyrat." Rudeus said pointing in the exact opposite direction of the camp. If this was an assassination attempt and the soldiers lied to him then Rudeus didn't want to lead the soldiers straight to Philips camp.
The soldier looked down at the kid, his eyes showed no emotion. "I see, sorry about this kid." He then reached for his sword and pulled it out attempting to strike Rudeus down but the child side stepped out of the path of the sword and kicked back as he retreated to gain ground.
'Well they aren't lying about their intentions.' He thought. And in that moment he thought of a plan, a spontaneous plan, it wasn't brilliant but it would allow his movement to be unhindered these next few months. He shot up into the air a good hundred meters directly above the men in a matter of seconds, then he outstretched his hands creating a brilliant fire that shined like a blue star in his palms. 'I'm a bit annoyed at the constant interruptions to my plans so I do this to cease those interruptions but for the men down below I will try to make this as painless as possible.'
Ghislaine was just about to wrap up for the night. Rudeus had been on his nights watch for an hour now so it was a good transition. She got up from her seat and left for her tent to go to bed.
Then the night lit up. It was like the sun rose up again in the distance several miles from their current position however unlike the golden light of the sun this light was a blinding blue color. It cast a shadow over all the trees and Ghislaine had to outstretch her hand to keep herself from going temporarily blind. The guards surrounding the camp also covered their eyes. After a brief moment the light subsided.
Seconds pasted. 1….2…..3…..4…..5….6…..7…..8. Everyone continued to stand still. No one dared breath as they listened for any sign of danger.
After 100 seconds it hit.
BOOM.
The shockwave hit like a battering ram that struck the encampment. Leaves were cast aside like confetti and branches were ripped out from the trees as the pillars of wood creaked and moaned trying to stay up using their roots barriered deep beneath the earth to remain standing with every ounce of strength they had. The horses bucked but were tied down so they couldn't escape. Philip scrambled out from his now collapsed tent.
"What is going on?" Philip shouted.
"Don't know, wait here." Ghislaine commanded calmly as she climbed on top of a nearby tree and started leaping from branch to branch like an agile wolf in the night until she reached one of the highest reaching trees which provided a good viewpoint for the beast woman to see what happened.
"What the fuck?" She whispered in terror at the sight before her.
A two hour run from her position was a giant crater that was bathed in scorched earth, it was like a patch of hell was formed on this world and all that remained was a desolate wasteland of fire and brimstone. The crater itself was the size of a city, and it was so deep it was like a giant hammer had struck the earth and smashed the landscape beneath it.
Ghislaine reported what she saw when she descended down to Philip. They decided to pack up and set out immediately making an emergency run out of the forest. Traveling was dangerous at night but Rudeus had already said he cleared a days worth of monsters ahead of them so they could cross that distance if they hurried. They would also leave cut out markings on the trees behind so if Rudeus came back to the now packed up camp he could track them down.
The horses looked eager to leave too as they took off toward the capital. Ghislaine looked back.
"Be safe Rudeus. I pray you are still alive."
Meanwhile Rudeus floated above them. He sighed. He was beginning to regret this already but Ghislaine could protect Philip by herself while Rudeus worked in the shadows to uncover more truth that would help with the trail. But more importantly this would free up more time to work on his prevention of the magical calamity and his failsafe's if he failed. He would still reveal the answer that he was alive to Ghislaine but keep it a secret to everyone else. That way he could come out as a big reveal and testify as the nail in the coffin against Darius. He would have to come up with a good reason for the large crater in the landscape later and why it had taken him so long to arrive in the capital but that could wait for now.
On another note he had already found the floating red sphere that had two rings orbiting around it which was the source of power for the teleportation event. It was such a size that he could wrap his arms around it but he could tell it was slowly growing. The orb itself was a 3 hours ride on horseback from the city of Roa and was floating in the middle of the first layer of atmosphere known as the troposphere. For whatever reason he couldn't interfere with it and yet it continued to grow. He tried to use disruption magic on it the moment he found it however it grew ever so slightly, he stopped out of fear that it would grow some more.
It was clear Rudeus would have some more research to do and time was critical. That was why he committed to his spontaneous idea.
'I hope I didn't make a huge mistake.' Rudeus thought biting his lip as he flew towards the capital.
Post reviews and critiques and I will respond to you guys next chapter. With your encouragement I just can't stop writing! Might take awhile to do another chapter but you never know. My fingers have a will of their own at this point.
Hello again to all fanfictioners and readers alike, it's good to see you all again. Sorry this is going to be a short chapter but I promise to write more after the teleportation calamity. Anyway onto the messages.
To Uqihana: HAHAHA he won't jinx it, at least I don't hope so.
To SkinnyA: I will always try to find time for you guys :)
To 321jax: Glad you liked the chapter. To answer you Hitogami isn't experiencing the blurred effect from either Rudeus or his Friend, and yes I agree a deus ex machina would be rather boring and bland so I will stay away from it. This is the new OC that is coming up and to answer your concerns it does have some connection to the void but that will be explained later, trust me I have worked on balancing this character out as well as creating it's own problems, they also will not have foresight or future vision like Hitogami does. Hahaha.
Glad you like the science aspect of it too. I try to explain it in a way that makes the world bigger, instead of just describing the spell and it's effect I want to explain what is behind the spell to make it happen.
Finally about Hollow…..hmmmm…. I have plans but I'm not going to say anything about it.
To icecreampapa: Brittle bones nickey is one of my favorite songs I listen to when writing or making a sandwich, or driving, it gets me in a fun jumpy mood. Haven't been to Canada but it would be fun to visit someday to go hiking (one of my other passions)
To XaiGRS: No Darius confrontation yet sorry, Rudeus will try to surprise him the trial though.
To Shadow Joestar: Glad you liked the chapter!
To Rollingfire: I'm happy to bring something new to the table. I hope to write enough content for you that will immense yourself for hours someday. And no need to apologize for the rambling, it brings me allot of joy that someone is so passionate about my work.
To doubleblade759: Rudeus is easily hundreds of times stronger in terms of magic than his previous version but while he may think he is hundreds of times stronger the reality is it is allot bigger, a section of mana that he cannot access yet which will be revealed by OC later on many, many chapters from now. This scale of magic is only allowed for Rudeus to use certain special abilities which he cannot use otherwise. There is also a downside to this scale of magic in the upcoming teleportation event too.
To apostlelord: Welcome to the fanfiction, glad you are enjoying it :)
To Marco377: WOW! Start to now is like…. 166 pages of work, here is 9 more hahaha. Glad you like it so much.
Enjoy the chapter guys!
Philemon walked through his mansions halls as his butler passed him paper after paper reporting on the court proceedings. The neighboring Greyrat branch, the Boreas families head in line had been in the capital for a month and had come to conduct a trail under the pretense that he was unfit to judge the man that tried to kidnap his daughter.
"What do we know of this Rudeus Greyrat? He is my brothers son and the boy has already achieved the rank of a saint class water mage at such a young age?"
"Yes. The latest report on what we know about this Rudeus was that he departed with the rest of the company but never arrived at the capital. Our trading caravans have notified us of a massive crater that was created on the route to the capital, we believe that the boy was killed in the so far unexplained incident." The butler said handing Philemon a sketch of Rudeus. He definitely had some of Paul's features such as the mole under his left eye.
"And what of the assassins we sent to deal with Philip and Rudeus. I shall not have my line of power challenged, I thought the mayor of Roa had learned that lesson when we took his sons. It is clear Philip will use this court as a farce to gain power and I shall not let that happen." Philemon said angrily.
"They haven't reported back since we sent then. It is to be presumed they died in that large hellfire like explosion along with Rudeus."
They walked down the hallway as they approached Philemon's office. He then noticed that the door was unlocked and cracked open. He instructed the butler to enter first who was a trained swordsman as well as servant. The man obliged drawing his blade and entered.
As soon as his foot entered the room he was flung inside by some invisible force. Philemon turned around to run but his feet floated off the ground. Then he was slammed down onto the hardwood floor and dragged across the hall toward the office. He tried to scream but the unknown force was also keeping his mouth closed. His fingernails scraped and chipped as he tried to crawl away making long lines of splintered wood in his wake. He was at the doorframe now and held onto it with all of his might but the magic was too strong as he was flung inside. The door slammed shut behind him as darkness overtook him.
"Philemon Notos Greyrat. It's a pleasure to meet you." A boys voice said.
Philemon opened his eyes and saw a boy sitting in one of the couches of his office. He looked over and saw his butler knocked out laying down on the other couch parallel to where the boy was sitting.
The lord then took a closer look at the boy.
"You are Rudeus Greyrat aren't you?" Philemon said nervously. At his heart, he was a coward.
"Yes. We have some business to discuss. Tea?" Rudeus said dropping Philemon next to the unconscious butler. Rudeus set some teapots, cups, and crushed herbal tea on the table and began preparing the ingredients.
"Surely you can't be serious." Philemon said. This was unexpected to sure. A random boy with unnatural powers pulling him into his own office and offering him tea with discussions of business.
"On the contrary." Rudeus said passing him a cup. "I am serious and don't call me Shirley. Now like I said before let's get down to business."
Philemon hesitated at the cup offered to him but saw Rudeus sipping his own cup of tea so he assumed it wasn't poisoned. He tasted a little and was surprised at the taste of freshly crushed apples including tastes of cinnamon, honey, brown sugar along with a peach aftertaste.
"Your tea is splendid." Philemon said nervously trying to ease the tension.
Rudeus smiled at him chuckling.
"Narum's trial is underway and I am a lead witness to what he attempted to do. Before I present myself to the court of nobles I want to have your word that you will not send any more assassins to try and take out me and Philip, your seat of power is of no meaning to me. You will also allow Philip and Helga to visit their children, I'm fine if it is just in the capital they are allowed to visit each other. In exchange for this I will offer my help in getting Ariel to be ruler of the Asura kingdom."
"You… you have my word." Philemon said, it was clear to him if he showed any sign of resistance he could very well end up in a worse situation. Not only that since he was a supporter of Ariel having a powerful ally for the princess could be in his favor.
"Thank you for your co-operation, however I know you are a coward. Therefore I only trust you as far as I can kick you down a bottomless pit, so I added in a little extra insurance. I cursed the tea, if you break your promise no food or drink shall enter your mouth until you gradually starve to death. It is…. rather painful."
Philemon dropped the tea from his now limp hands out of fear. He trembled and gripped the bottom of the couch frame to stabilize himself.
"I know you might hate me for this but please, do be honest with yourself. I have extensively looked through your history of dealing with your fellow nobles. Whenever the tables no longer favor you, you flee, whenever a noble who has helped you out and you are called upon in their moments of desperation you either make them indebted to you, or you cut them off. It is a cut throat game you are playing right now, this game of politics, and I shall not have you help Darius in slitting Ariels throat when your own throat is on the line. So I will ask you to be honest with yourself, don't say the answer, think it to yourself over and over again. Are you the type of man to be faithful to his friends?"
Philemon didn't respond. A mere child forced him to think such things. A mere child forced him into a position where all he could do was comply with what was his objective to begin with. Helping Ariel become the ruler of the Asura Kingdom would consequentially lead to him gaining more power but if she lost in the early stages of this fight Rudeus was right and Philemon would switch allegiances on a dime.
"Now that that is out of the way let's discuss details about Ariel and how to keep her safe." Rudeus said pulling out several papers of detailed information.
"How can such a child have such plans?" Philemon asked in disbelief that someone as young as the boy in front of him could comprehend such complicated matters. This boy had plans beyond plans.
"I do this to help the world, knowledge is power, and I happen to have allot of power, with it I shall make the world better for all. Because as Paul, your brother and my father said, the strong protect the weak."
Rudeus stood up and came over to Philemon, putting his tiny hands on the nobles shoulders smiling at him with an innocent smile that belonged on a sweet child.
Philemon looked down and smiled in defeat. "Through one simple sentence my brother has already created someone who can defeat me. I am at a loss."
"No, I shall play to your advantage, you shall defeat Darius. But in order to do that the Boreas and Notos branches must stop their petty squabble. Make the first move and help Philip, and should it be required, help someone like Sauros, even going as far as to protect him from execution should it be necessary."
"So what is the first major move?"
"That will happen in a few years, for now Ariel will continue to gain favor with the common people in this capital while at the same time evade and eliminate numerous assassination attempts. You don't need to do much other than your current level of support for now, anything else will tip off Darius to our moves. A few years from now she will most likely need to flee to the magical university in order to maintain her safety, secure her travel while at the same time continue to gain favor with both nobles and commoners alike to increase her popularity. That is your first move."
Rudeus pulled out a paper map displaying the Asura kingdom which had small villages marked with Red dots and the population of the villages.
"Small villages close to the capital and in the middle of the kingdom like the Milbotts Region see a good amount of foot traffic throughout the year. If you protect those villages using hired adventures and knights corresponding with the local lords and their people then your popularity and consequentially Ariels shall increase dramatically."
"Your second move should be establishing connections in the Ranoa Kingdom for her safe transition when she needs to flee."
Philemon nodded.
"When Ariel flees pretend to change loyalties to Darius and the Prince, making people think you are joining the winning side but continue to secretly supply information and goods to Ariel. Finally there is your payment."
"Payment?" Philemon said cocking his head confused.
Rudeus laughed, "Of course! It is rude to barge into another mans home, scare him, then make so many demands without some form of immediate compensation."
The boy then walked behind the couch and hefted up a sack. He opened it at Philemons feet and the man gasped at the sight before him.
"I give you enough diamonds, gems, and bars of gold to last several lifetimes at your current level of expenses. This isn't for you to spend fruitfully, people will notice if your spending has increased without explanation. My advice is to use this within reason for things that are underhanded, away from the public eye. That should be fine for now. Or you can store it away so your family members never have to work another day in their lives, either way as long as you stay out of sight with this gift I don't really care."
"Thank… thank you lord Rudeus." Philemon whispered in awe.
"Just Rudeus is fine."
"Where did you gain all this wealth?" The lord asked.
"Irrelevant to the objectives at hand. This is simply me buying your co-operation so don't think on how I achieved this wealth. I shall keep in contact with you in a few months, but for now enjoy your reward."
With those final words Rudeus walked out of the room.
The boy smiled. The tea was a bluff but Philemon didn't know what the child was capable of so he would trust the boys threat that he would starve to death if he betrayed Rudeus's wishes.
'Another failsafe has been created. Sauros Greyrat now has a higher chance of living if he is blamed for the destruction of the Fetoa region because of the teleportation event. Not only that I shall also gain favor from Philip and Hilda now that they are free to visit their children.'
Rudeus pulled out a notepad written in Japanese as he checked off two more thing on his list of failsafe's. Ensure Sauros lives, and help Ariel using Philemon. Two birds through one coward.
The bonus part of this was that if Philemon kept his word in supplying more villages with added security then many people would be saved from monster attacks. This included the family of Sara (from volume 7), the girl who hated nobles because she blamed them for her parents death in withholding guards from her village. She later fell in love with Rudeus after he saved her life but he made too many mistakes when dealing with her so she left him.
He smiled sadly thinking of another mistake in his past life.
Then looking into the night sky he put on a cloak and went toward the Blue crown inn, a hotel that was in the inner circles of the city where Philip was staying. He walked toward the alleyway next to the inn and waited. A moment later he heard footsteps and looked in the direction of the noise. Ghislaine was approaching him, she leaned against the wall looking straight at Rudeus.
"Any attempts at Philip recently?" he asked.
"None. And the trial is set up to have it's first hearing next week."
"That's good. I just had a delightful conversation with Philemon, it would seem he was the one who hired the assassins to intercept us in the woods and try to kill us."
"How did you deal with him? Is he dead?" Ghislaine said biting her lip in anger, she always did this when she was angry.
"No, I struck a deal with him. He will stop any future assassination attempts, he will also lend his full support to the Boreas branch while I help him in getting Ariel onto the thrown but that will take a few years."
"I still think you should have just killed the bastard."
"A corpse cannot shake your hand to lend you it's support. Beside he will die if he betrays me but he is a coward at heart, and he just realized that I can turn any piece of land into a baron hellscape if I want to so I don't think he would dare to make a move against us. Still, as extra insurance I convinced him I had cursed the cup of tea I served him which would not allow him to drink or eat should he go behind our backs or abandon his alliance with princess Ariel. This should be good enough for now."
"Why the alliance with the princess of the asura kingdom though?" The beast woman said looking curiously at the boy.
"Darius, the bastard that wanted Eris to be his concubine, is in direct support of the prince becoming king while at the same time hiring hitmen to try and kill the princess Ariel. I am going to tear his world down piece by piece from the inside until he is finally on the chopping block, and to do that I will support the people he is against while at the same time removing the people that support him." Rudeus said gripping his fists tightly together making the knuckles turn white.
"Speaking of the fat bastard he came here on a visit looking for you a few days ago."
"Oh? Interesting."
Ghislaine nodded. "He wanted to speak to you but he smelled of relief when Philip told him you were missing. Philip reeked of bloodlust like he wanted to stab Darius then and there but he held himself back. As for me, Darius tried to touch my breast."
"And is his hand gone?"
"No, but the wall a few millimeters from his head is."
Rudeus chuckled to himself at the image of a pissed off Ghislaine punching a hole through a wall.
"How my father managed to sleep with someone so scary I really don't know."
"The beast race are passionate creatures when it comes to battle and bedding, and I made Paul my bitch in both." Ghislaine smiled perversely.
"hmm hmm, well, anyway thanks for the report. I will see you the same time next week to see if anything changes. For now I have some more work to do." Rudeus said getting up trying to avoid the topic of his fathers hentai protagonist tendencies.
"I still hate this sneaking around. I was really worried about you too."
'I still have that giant bruise she gave me on my shoulder when I revealed I was alright shortly after they got to the capital.' He thought rubbing his shoulder. He didn't heal it, he deserved it after all and it would be wrong in his mind to try and heal it unnaturally.
"I know, but these things require delicacy for people not to hate the Boreas family. Politics must be defeated with bringing things to light professionally, not heads on pikes, otherwise we are just another tyrant."
Rudeus and Ghislaine said their goodbyes and the boy flew into the night sky towards his hideout.
Mountains were not that common in this area of land so he built the entrance in an abandoned shack outside of the city which was located in some discarded fields of wheat, the field itself had not seen use in decades. The entrance inside of the rotting shack was covered with earth magic and when he opened the hole he descended several hundred feet below the earth.
Since his magic had expanded far beyond his expectations he was able to make large structures or areas with little effort. When he flew through the end of the hole the area opened up around him to a size equivalent to a large football stadium. It was like a dwarven city beneath his feet. Carved around the circumference of the cave were living quarters, libraries, laboratories, gardens, Hollows ice coffin, and storage rooms for more of Rudeus's batteries that he had to continually make throughout the day in order to stay ahead of his ever growing mana capacity. He had also built a second, much larger, summoning chamber to replicate more objects from Earth. Most of it was books but other pieces were electronics such as the stadium lights used to cast light throughout the cavern.
At the bottom of the cave was a small grass covered island with a single tree, it was illuminated using several large sets of lights at the ceiling of the cave. The stadium sized lights themselves were ones Rudeus had altered to replicate the sunlight and moonlight to indicate the time above ground.
The tree was one that Rudeus had brought into this world. It was a cherry blossom tree. He had summoned the seed and artificially grown it into a fully developed tree using magic. Its branches reaching up three stories tall as its trunk twisted at an angle beautifully like a precious bonsai tree.
Surrounding the tree was an artificial lake that was encompassing the bottom of the cave. The depth of the water was made to look bottomless, it wasn't really, it just went down for another hundred feet but it produced an eerie feeling when looking down in the crystal clear depths only to see darkness. At the bottom the lake was the teleportation circle itself, the water would give off a golden light whenever the teleportation circle was being used. The point of teleportation to and from the cave was underneath the shade of tree where a small stone platform was erected. The platform had a small globe of the world floating in the center and it showed three glowing lights on it. One for the capital, another for Roa, and the final one for Buena village where every other teleportation circle was set up. Rudeus would continue to set up more and more bases of operation throughout the continent and then hopefully the world.
He even went so far as to increase the density of the water allowing him to walk on it. That much water required most of his energy to make it but he still managed to do it without collapsing into unconsciousness. He had made himself pass out so many times now he had lost count in the pursuit of his growth and he just kept going.
He then teleported back to Roa to continue his work on his magnum opus. The project itself wasn't even close to being complete in line for his tenth birthday when the teleportation event would happen and every day counted.
Philip hadn't yet revealed to the rest of his family that Rudeus was missing so that made things allot easier, he would be spared from Eris's punches because of this. Rudeus intercepted Eris's letters and responded to them, putting the letter by her bedroom door when she was asleep. Most of the time her letters were boasting about how quickly she was growing in her education and sword skills and how she was practicing everyday to try and learn voiceless incantation magic. Rudeus was extremely proud of her for that.
He read through her latest letter addressed to him.
Dear Rudeus. Today I beat up the 5th knight in a row, Ghislaine is a way better swordswoman than any of these guys but they are still a challenge sometimes. My other lessons include what you have been teaching me but the other tutors trying to teach me still suck at trying to get me to understand the words.
Below are several pages of the homework they have me doing, can you explain this in a way I can understand?
Rudeus stopped reading for a second and looked through the homework and saw several simple multiplication tables and began to correct most of the notes and add his own knowing that it would help Eris understand. When he was finished he continued reading the letter.
The book you gave me called "game of thrones" is getting really interesting, it's sad there is not as much fighting I was hoping for in the book and more to do with the stupid politics that father keeps rambling on about but the way the book phrases it makes it sound interesting.
Silent spellcating magic that you do is more difficult than I was expecting, I can still do intermediate magic with fire and water, earth and wind is a little hard though to get to that level by saying the words but whenever I try to cast a silent spell I just get tired and frustrated. You are amazing at it. Do you have anything to help with my work on this?
Sincerely Eris
p.s can you bring back a souvenir from the capital when you get back?
Rudeus thought about this for a second and had a few good ideas other than what he had instructed to Sylphy in order for her to cast voiceless magic.
He wrote his response, promising Eris a gift soon that would help with her magic and a souvenir when Philip and Rudeus returned to Roa, but for now she would need to keep practicing until they came back.
' On a different note I wonder how Hilda will react to the fact that she can see her sons now? She will probably embrace me.' Rudeus thought chuckling to himself.
He continued his work well through the night.
When he fell into unconsciousness from mana depletion he dreamt of a figure in world of grey fog. It was nothing but a silhouette which was looking around furiously, it screamed out into the ether thrusting its hands through the fog disturbing the particles of air as if it was trying to dig for something, then its eyes wandered over to Rudeus, it looked at him in shock. It stopped for a moment, not moving at all. And then it began to walk slowly, outstretching it's hand toward Rudeus in an attempt to grab him as pure joy radiated from the being but the world around him began to fade as Rudeus was beginning to wake up, the figure noticed this too and started to run as fast as it could but it was too late as it screamed out in anger.
Rudeus woke up in his bed underneath the city of Roa in the sewage system. He panted and kept panting as he splashed water on his face to calm himself.
"Who the hell was that?" He whispered. It certainly wasn't Hitogami. The figure wasn't the same size as the mosaic figure that the man god possessed, this figure was larger and more built. He could also feel the being had a ridiculous level of magic behind it.
He shook his head and splashed more water on himself and got ready for the day, pushing his dream to the back of his mind. He teleported himself back to the capital base and then flew out of the cave back to his projects at hand.
Not by best chapter (pretty short) but I felt it covered some important topics and helped explain more of the fail safes Rudeus is setting up without saying something stupid like "Rudeus had prepared for this moment." And then not explaining how he had prepared for this moment. And before anyone asks yes that is the OC coming up but it will probably be another 100k words before it is introduced and you discover who it really is. As always, review or PM any questions you have and I will try to make a new chapter by next week.
p.s I'm kind of in a ditch on how to handle the court proceeding coming up. Any ideas are welcome. Thanks! Love you guys.