Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation - Volume 3

Chapter 2: The Superd

When I woke up, it was already night.

A black sky full of stars stretched above me. Shadows cast by a flame danced across the ground. I could hear the crackling of burning wood. It seemed I was sleeping next to a bonfire, although I didn't remember making one or even setting off on a camping trip.

The last thing I did remember...was the sky abruptly changing colors, and a wave of white light sweeping over us.

Oh, and then there was that dream. Not a very pleasant one...

"Gah!" A jolt of fear ran through me and I looked down at my body. Fortunately, it wasn't the slow, useless lump of flesh I used to inhabit. I was back in the young but strong form of Rudeus. Seeing that, my memories of the past began fading slightly, and a wave of pure relief washed over me.

To hell with that Man-God. For a minute there, I'd felt like I was back in the bad old days. Seemed like I was going to get a bit more time in this world after all. Thank goodness. I had a ton of things I still wanted to do here. Like cast aside my "Wizard" status, for one thing.

When I sat up, my back hurt; I'd been laid on the bare ground. My immediate surroundings were a stretch of dry, cracked earth. From what I could see, there was barely any vegetation at all. Were there even no insects? I heard nothing except the sound of the fire.

It really was quiet out here. I felt like any noise I made would be swallowed up by the total silence of the night. I couldn't remember having been in a place anything like this before; the kingdom of Asura was covered in grasslands and forests after all. Had that wave of white light done this?

No, no. According to the Man-God, I'd been teleported. This was the Demon Continent presumably. A completely new and unfamiliar land. Somehow, that light had sent me... Wait.

What about Ghislaine and Eris?!

My first instinct was to jump to my feet and start looking for them. But just as I began moving...I noticed a girl sleeping on the ground behind me, one hand clutching at my shirt.

Her vivid red hair was unmistakable. It was Eris. Eris Boreas Greyrat—the girl I'd been tutoring back in Fittoa. I'll skip the background story for now, but I'd been teaching her reading and arithmetic for three solid years at this point. She'd been a force of nature at first: spoiled, violent, and totally out of control. But I'd managed to navigate through some tricky events, such as rescuing her from would-be kidnappers and teaching her to dance before her birthday party. Eventually, I'd earned her respect and trust.

Of course, she still punched and kicked me on a daily basis. That was just the way she was.

"Hm." For some reason, Eris had some sort of cloak draped over her. I'd just been laid out in my clothes, but...oh well. The principle of "ladies first" probably applied here.

My staff, Aqua Heartia, was also lying on the ground behind her. Eris had given it to me as a present on my tenth birthday only a few days ago. In any case, she didn't have any obvious external injuries. That was a relief.

Where's Ghislaine, though?

Ghislaine Dedoldia was both our swordplay instructor and Eris's personal bodyguard. She was a fearsomely skilled beastwoman who'd been teaching me the basics of her style in exchange for a rudimentary education. The woman's brain was allegedly "made of muscle," and she was definitely lagging behind Eris in her studies...but in an emergency like this, she'd be far more useful than

the likes of me. It was possible she'd made the fire and put that cloak over Eris.

I turned away from my sleeping student and started looking for my master. Right away, I spotted someone sitting near the fire, whom I hadn't noticed before.