Mushoku Tensei: Life and Strife.

Rudeus’s POV:

…

Today was the day we set out and did our respective things. Eris with goblins, Ruijerd with his acquaintance, and I with the groceries… A little incident occurred midway, though.

I bumped into a group of people; two guys in the middle of the group were carrying a burlap sack. And there was a small hand sticking out of it. It seemed like they were carrying off a kid—inside a bag, no less.

Again with the kidnappers?

I decided to follow them to the warehouse. From what I could gather, they had lots of friends drinking in the bar next door, and somebody needed to go inform them that the “job” was taken care of.

Once I felt confident that the group wasn’t just stopping by, I slipped into the building through a relatively high window. I lowered myself to the floor, crept over to a jumbled stack of wooden boxes, and hid inside one.

What was in this thing, anyway? Thanks to the poor lighting, I hadn’t really gotten a good look at its contents.

“Whoa! Hold on, these are panties!”

“Who’s there?!”

O-oh crap, they heard me! Damn it… I never expected them to lay such a devilish trap! While I sat around, they were already calling in the cavalry. Wait, no…they’d see my face. Ah, what was I thinking? I had a perfectly suitable mask right on hand.

Woooo! I’m a burning hunk of ecstasy, baby! Just kidding. All right then. Let’s roll!

“H-he’s wearing panties on his head, man…”

“What a freak…”

The men were momentarily dumbfounded by my sudden, dramatic appearance. I took the opportunity to launch into a monologue.

“Hear me, greedy miscreants! How dare you tear innocent children from their families? Shame on you! Shame! People call this…kidnapping!”

The audience didn’t seem to appreciate my Rom Stol impression. Maybe they weren’t up on their old mecha anime.

“Wh-who the hell are you supposed to be?”

“I am Ruijerd of Dead End!”

“What? Dead End?”

Oh crap! I messed up! Introducing myself that way was pure habit by now, so the words just slipped out of my mouth. This was one case where I really shouldn’t have said anything.

Sorry, Ruijerd! As of today, you’re a creepy weirdo who rescues children while wearing panties on your head! Don’t worry, though. I will save the kid, no matter what the cost!

“Curse you, foul kidnappers! Thanks to you, an innocent man has just been badly slandered! Your villainy won’t go unpunished!”

“Look, kid, go play hero somewhere else! We ain’t— Gurgh!”

I cut the conversation short by firing off a Stone Cannon spell. It was always nice to get a few preemptive attacks in. In the blink of an eye, I knocked out the four men who’d remained in the warehouse.

Once they were all down, I hurried over to check up on their captive. I felt like I’d seen this boy somewhere before. There was something…really familiar about him, actually. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, though. Weird.

“Whoa! What the hell? He took down all four of them!”

“The kid knows how to fight! Get the captain over here, pronto!”

“He’s been dead drunk since yesterday. The new boss, too. I heard he’d overwork yesterday.”

“Shit. Whatever, just get either of them!”

This was not good. This was not good at all. Charging in solo was definitely a mistake. At this point, my only option was to take down the entire gang. Now that I looked more closely, there were actually a few women in the group as well. Sorry, Ruijerd. Seriously… I owe you one.

With one final apology to the man I’d so deeply wronged, I turned my focus to the task at hand. Fortunately, these thugs were nothing special. They kept rushing at me in a straight line, so it was easy enough to fire off a Stone Cannon before they got too close. Everything was going better than expected so far.

“What’s this commotion about?”

… Or so I thought, until my newest challenger barged in, entering with a wind bullet. Had I not seen it coming with my magic eye, I would have been knocked out on the first hit.

“Young lady!”

Young lady? I stared at the person in question. A young girl, the age of four or five, with maroon hair and green eyes and wearing a maid uniform, entered the scene. She somewhat looked familiar, but I couldn’t tell either.

The girl stared at me, and I stared back at her. Silence ensued, and I felt somewhat reluctant to shoot the girl with a Stone Cannon. The girl started moving towards me first.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

“Hello, stranger~ To what wind brought you to us?”

The little girl the age of four or five was walking towards me in a circle. The familiar sensation once gnawed at me once more, but I seriously can’t tell. No. This time I was sure of it, which is why it's more confusing.

Because, like a tiger circling prey, Laurel had said once and circled him in the exact same manner.

“What’s your relationship with Laurel?”

I asked. Laurel was here yesterday, so it wouldn’t be weird that someone might know him. Despite being Chunni, Laurel didn’t seem like a kidnapper, and since she looked this young, it was unlikely she was one either.

To that, the young girl slowed down slightly but continued to reply.

“Hm? Who knows? What’s your relationship with him?”

“I’m his older brother.”

I said frankly. If they were really related to each other, then perhaps we wouldn’t have to fight. And as I had expected, the girl had stopped on her tracks entirely as she stared at me blankly.

… No, wait. It wasn’t just her. Why’s everyone staring at me like that? Was something wrong?