Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race-Chapter 104 - Good News, It’s All About Science

POV: Paul Greyrat

I opened my eyes again, the familiar sensation of pain and burning permeating my tired body.

The ceiling and walls of that ancient castle were already familiar to my eyes. Beside me was my wife, Zenith Greyrat.

She looked worried—after all, it wasn't the first, nor the second time she had to heal me extensively after I returned covered in wounds.

For the past two years, this scene had repeated itself hundreds of times.

And every time, she was there.

She healed me, took care of me, even though I was absolute trash, even though I disappointed her every single time. Even though I was an incompetent fool who couldn't even go out to search for my own daughters because of my own weakness, she always supported me silently.

I could see her suffering, I could feel the crushing weight of responsibility.

I never once thought about resting...

I was exhausted, physically and mentally. But so what? I couldn't stop. Just thinking that my daughters might be in a similar or even worse place, I knew I couldn't stop.

I stood up hastily, my wounds burned, and some reopened. Zenith immediately exclaimed:

"Dear... you need to rest!"

I was furious and responded instantly:

"How could I rest?! Aisha and Norn might be alone somewhere! Rudeus and Lilia could fend for themselves, but those two are just babies! How could I rest knowing they need me?!"

The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.

None of this was her fault. In fact, she was just worried, thinking about my well-being, and yet, this was how I reacted. I really am trash...

Zenith lowered her head. Her eyes were sunken, surrounded by dark circles, and tears fell down her face as she whispered:

"I know... I know! But you're not well! You'll end up dying like this! You won't defeat that demon woman if you don't rest!"

She stood up and looked at me, her eyes filled with tears.

I clenched my teeth, the words stuck in my throat, a truly uncomfortable feeling.

I thought about the last two years, in which I had trained relentlessly to defeat that woman.

After two years, I trained until my blood flowed, until my hands bled, and the blood hardened around the sword.

I trained like never before, because after searching tirelessly for other solutions, another way to escape, we discovered that we had no other way out...

The only 'viable' option was to defeat her.

I had grown stronger and stronger.

I defeated almost all of her guards—only five still surpassed me, and barely.

But even so, whenever I faced her directly, I felt that insurmountable barrier between us—she was on another level.

A knock sounded at the door of our room.

Zenith wiped her tears and said:

"Come in."

And then, he appeared.

It was Moore, the chief of the castle guards.

Moore was an immortal demon who resembled an imposing middle-aged man with white hair and beard and reddish-brown eyes.

He spoke in his affable voice:

"Rotari has just left for his two-year vacation. As promised, since you defeated him in combat, Paul Greyrat, he said he will deliver your letters to the Adventurers' Guild and pay for them."

For the first time in a long while, I felt a flicker of hope.

I had asked Rotari to send three letters: one to the Boreas Greyrat Mansion, asking for Ghislaine's help; another to my father, the head of the Notos family; and one last to the Latreia family, Zenith's relatives.

Additionally, a notice would be left at the main Adventurers' Guilds along the way, informing where I was and asking for help from everyone I knew to find my family, including Rudeus, wherever he might be.

Rotari was a North Saint and one of the fortress guards.

But since he was a demon, he didn't care much about the passage of time, and his tribe lived outside the fortress.

He could use his wife's and children's money to send the letters, and all I had to do was defeat him in combat—that was our bet.

He was the closest thing to a "friend" I could consider in this place.

I quickly stood up and thanked Moore, who was one of the five combatants here I had yet to defeat.

He was always very helpful, but also annoyingly loyal to that crazy demon woman.

"Thank you, Moore."

Moore simply nodded and left.

I looked at Zenith, feeling my mood lift a little.

I walked over to the window, and Zenith followed me.

Before us, the immense dark walls of the fortress loomed.

Further in the distance, an arid and cruel landscape stretched out, desolate and inhospitable. It had already been two years...

Two years since the teleportation.

Two years since we were brought to the Demon Continent, near the Necross Fortress.

And since then, we had become members of the Imperial Guard, enslaved servants of the Immortal Demon King, Atoferatofe Ryback.

We couldn't leave before our "vacation" period, which would only occur in ten years.

Unless...

Unless I defeated her.

My only goal was to defeat her. No matter the cost!

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POV: Rygar Adoldia

I was running through a dense forest, the vegetation blurring past me as my feet struck firmly against the ground.

The sound of branches snapping beneath me echoed amid the singing birds and growling beasts.

It had only been two days since the ambush by the Prime Minister and the King's brother, which ended in a bloodbath, with all of them being killed.

Right after that came the ambush by the mercenary group that I now knew was called the Tyranny Storm. Led by Larax, they seemed to be quite famous in Begaritt.

He assumed that Milis had hired them, and I couldn't help but admire such determination to eliminate their enemies—it was rare to find such a dedicated group.

Ghislaine and Skoll were seriously injured, especially Ghislaine.

That's why I didn't go after Nighthunter immediately.

Instead, I waited for her recovery before taking action.

Even so, during that time, there were three pieces of good news and one that was neither good nor bad.

The first good news: I had advanced in my path as a swordsman.

Now, even if not officially, I was a Sword God Style King and a Water God Style Saint.

This advancement elevated my strength to a new level, expanding both my offensive and defensive capabilities.

The second good news: my eyes had awakened to a new power.

In truth, it seems more accurate to say that I could finally access their power, as they had always been there, but I simply hadn't used them efficiently.

I quickly tested some of these abilities, but I had yet to fully explore them, as I spent most of my time taking care of Ghislaine and focusing on the third good news.

The third good news was about King Leonard.

After hearing about the ambush and my near-death experience, he made an extremely risky political move.

Through investigations, it was discovered that Milis was indeed involved in the plans for my death.

The Kingdom of Milis supported a coup d'état in which Livandrei Kingdragon, the brother of King Leonard, would take the throne of the Dragon King Kingdom as soon as I was eliminated.

In practice, my survival and the subsequent massacre of almost all their forces dismantled the plan and exposed the conspiracy before it could be realized.

With the deaths of two of his main political rivals and the destruction of a large part of their military forces, Leonard seized the opportunity to consolidate his power.

He declared me a hero who had prevented a rebellion in the kingdom and 'hired' us officially to "contain a rebellion" — a pretext to eradicate the remaining forces of the conspirators and absorb their followers into his faction.

Leonard wanted to exterminate them completely, including their families and descendants, but I was against it. After all, just because I had accepted my wild personality didn't mean I would go around massacring innocents for no reason.

I convinced him to offer surrender to the survivors, which, besides being more lenient, was also a smart political move.

Those who accepted would be grateful that the King spared their lives and, consequently, would be more loyal to Leonard.

With my strength and the presence of the Black Lion, the chief of the royal guard, any resistance was crushed effortlessly.

The King asked me about the Mad Dragon King's Sealing Chain, saying it was an invaluable treasure for the Dragon King Kingdom, but I merely feigned ignorance and said I didn't know where it was.

That chain was too valuable, and he was almost caught by it—it was his to research.

That said, as a 'reward,' Leonard granted me unrestricted access to the royal library and the magical records of the Dragon King Kingdom, along with various benefits for the Iron Legion in gratitude for assisting in the 'containment' of the rebellion.

In exchange, the kingdom would also benefit from an alliance with me.

Although the full transition of power would take months to stabilize, Leonard was now in near-absolute control of the kingdom.

For the first time, I felt that this king truly considered me a long-term ally, and that mutual trust was valuable.

However, with all this movement, I still hadn't had time to properly talk to my group.

Honestly, something else was troubling me—Hitogami had told me not to kill the Minister, and that would have, in a way, prevented the ambush, as they wouldn't have attacked in the city.

This made him constantly question what the goal of this strange God was—was he really helping him? Was he truly doing it because he would need him in the future?

But after thinking for a while, he had survived and even grown stronger because of it. Probably, Larax wouldn't have given up if he didn't get him this time, so it was better that he solved this problem now.

Regardless, he would never let his guard down when dealing with Hitogami. Now, with unlimited access to the kingdom's magic library, one of his objectives was to search for mental barriers.

Hitogami always gave him a bad feeling when they spoke, and his instincts had never betrayed him. As an example, the one time recently when he ignored his danger instincts because he thought he had the situation under control, a nuclear explosion hit him not long after.

Either way, Hitogami's goal remained a mystery.

Now, there was one last piece of news, neither good nor bad—my sword, Nighthunter, had stopped moving.

Before losing it, I had prepared a small magic circle, invisible to the naked eye, programmed to release a small amount of mana every twelve hours.

This allowed me to track its location with my mana sense and keen sixth sense.

The good news was that I wouldn't have to hunt down the group for long and might not have to cross the continent to recover it.

The bad news was that the enemies had probably noticed this tracking and gotten rid of the sword.

The helmeted mage and the silver-haired mage were still alive and well, and I knew they were dangerous.

Especially the helmeted mage.

Deducing from the way he reacted during combat, I was almost certain he was a child, which would explain his fear.

In other words, both were just children. He didn't know why they were in such a group, but that didn't change their danger.

They might be afraid now, but that fear wouldn't last forever.

When it disappeared, it could be replaced by hatred and a desire for revenge.

That's why I sent a letter to Tinaver, warning them about the situation.

I ordered them to avoid direct confrontations with anyone matching their description unless they had a clear advantage.

I also asked them to look for any information about their location, in case they were already in Milis, and, if possible, to contain them.

In the letter, I highlighted the abilities of these enemies and possible strategies to combat them.

As I thought about this, I was getting closer to recovering my sword.

Finally, a scent of blood and the familiar trace of Nighthunter reached my sharpened senses.

The whole way there, my perception and my magic eyes hadn't detected anything, as if a void surrounded that place. But now, there it was: a lone gravestone, embedded in the ground.

I approached with slow, cautious steps, allowing myself to read the inscription on the stone:

Larax, the Tyrant of the Desert

Leader of the Mercenary Group Storm of Tyranny

Emperor of the North

The Eye of a Thousand Miles

The Scorpion of Begaritt

Died in battle against the Red Wolf.

I looked at the titles and couldn't help but think, 'That's a lot...'

With a controlled movement, I manipulated the earth around the gravestone, shifting it effortlessly.

The soil gave way to my will, revealing an improvised stone coffin.

The lid moved heavily until, finally, I saw what was inside.

There was Nighthunter, resting beside Larax's body.

But what truly surprised me was the expression of the deceased—a mocking smile, his fingers stiffened in death, forming an obscene gesture.

Even in death, he seemed to be mocking me.

I remained silent for a moment, evaluating my next action.

First, I recovered Nighthunter, sliding my fingers along the blade to ensure nothing had changed.

It was still the same sword—lethal and loyal.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips.

Then, I looked at Larax once more.

"This is for science..." I murmured to myself.

"Defiling a dead man isn't so bad... He's already dead, he won't need this."

With careful movements, I reached for Larax's face.

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My fingers moved with surgical precision, opening his eye socket.

Seconds later, I removed Larax's Demon Eye—the Clairvoyant Eye.

It was similar to my own eyes, an eye with immense power.

With a touch of magic, I froze the eyeball and stored it inside a small stone box, sealing it with a magic barrier.

It was a shame he didn't have the pharaohs' custom of being buried with his treasures—I would've liked that sword and that gravity ring... Well, at least I got the Sealing Chain.

Now that I had everything I needed, I took a moment to examine Larax's body.

His chest was almost completely turned to stone.

The venom had stopped spreading when his blood ceased to circulate.

Then, I lowered my head slightly and murmured:

"Thank you. I'll make sure you are the last person to successfully ambush me in this life. That, I promise, Tyrant of the Desert."

I replaced the gravestone, sealing Larax's tomb.

With Nighthunter in my possession and the Clairvoyant Eye secured, I turned on my heels and began running back to the capital at a fast pace.

The wind cut against my face, adrenaline still coursing through my veins—and this time, it was for an imminent battle.

But this time, there was something else waiting for me.

A slow smile spread across my face as I thought:

'Now that Ghislaine is fully recovered, it's time to challenge her to a fight.'

It's time to make her my first wife.

Deep down, I thought Verdia would be the first, but... who could predict this ever-changing world, right?

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