Mushoku Tensei: Life and Strife.

I left the room to wash my face. I wore the scarf, the boots, and the dagger as well as the rapier… Speaking of… This rapier is way~ too long. I stared at it. The blade itself was taller than I am. It was so long that in fact, the rapier itself couldn’t cut. I mean it.

Look at the design. The hilt was a normal cup-hilt rapier… but the blade was on the whole other level of weirdness. To ensure the length, the blade was made to entirely compromise on cutting. It was made like a steel stick with a leaf blade on top. In other words, only the tip of the blade could do damage. To describe it, whoever the blacksmith was, he was certainly one hell of an ambitious one, not to mention how well balanced it was… Wait, no, why am I focusing on the rapier?

Anyway, I did everything I could, so there’s nothing I could complain about. All that’s left is to accept reality. Right. In the novel, no one in the family had died from the event. And I know where they were teleported to. Given the chance, I could find them by myself.

Despite being pathetic, I was still a B-ranked adventurer; I still can work my way out of this somehow. I know the existence of the hydra. I know how Paul ended up dead. I can fix that. I muttered to myself.

“Right. Everything is going to be—"

A sudden surge of mana, far larger than Eris’s aura and far larger than Rudeus’s own mana appeared. It was without question as to what it was. I swung my body back into the room using telekinesis.

“GRAB EACH OTHER NOW!”

I shouted, but due to the confusion, no one reacted fast enough. Luckily, Paul was holding Norn, and Lilia was holding Aisha at that moment. My eyes darted to two people in opposite directions. Sylphie was holding Lulu in her arms. Then…

“MOM!”

I immediately tossed myself at her. My sudden jump surprised Zenith as she was currently the one holding the knife. She stumbled backward trying to avoid stabbing me.

Zenith. My mother in this life. Honestly, even until now, I still had a difficult time accepting reality. Somewhere in my mind, it still felt like a dream. But at this moment, right here and now, I can’t help but worry.

If I failed. If I couldn’t catch her, she would be sent into the labyrinth. The same cheerful Zenith who hugged me to the point where I got annoyed and gave me more love than I could ever ask for… I didn’t want her to end up in THAT state.

My fingers reached her; I was close, but by the time they grazed her long blonde hair, light had already hit the ground, and the world turned white. There I stood, in the middle of the pure white snow, holding the strand of blonde hair. A hollow laugher inevitably followed.

"Ha. Ahahahahaha... Laurel. Oh, Laurel. You stupid fool. You pathetic piece of garbage. You killed them. You knew that this was going to happen from the very start. You knew it all, and yet you've done nothing. Absolutely nothing. You stood there and watched them die. Just why are you being so giddy and prideful for? You FUCKING STUPID FOOL! WHY THE HELL DID YOU EVEN REACH SAINT RANK MAGIC IF YOU CAN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING? WHY! WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID?"

My screams echoed throughout the cold blizzard, attracting countless monsters. Polar bears. A lot of them. It’s better this way. Right. I don’t need to think so much. I don’t need to think at all. Just kill everything.

In this corner of the cold regions, I was surrounded by enemies from all fronts. I barely had any mana left in me, yet I laughed maniacally. With a rapier in hand, I pounced at the bears, slaughtering every last one of them.

With a wind blast, I scattered the snow, lowering visibility, while running around the battlefield. I had practically emptied my reserves due to all the intermediate magic circles. But I wasn’t out of means.

I barely had an ounce of mana in me, so I could only rely on nothing but my own knowledge of close quarters as well as the ridiculous range of the blade. There was neither telekinesis nor magic. There wasn’t even a single plan. Only me, myself, and the blade at hand.

There was not a single ounce of beauty in the way I fought. Sometimes I stabbed, sometimes I smashed, sometimes I struck with my fits, and sometimes I kicked and bit them. Due to their numbers and my own situation, I practically gave up on defense, avoiding fatal attacks and ones that put me in a disadvantage position.

Normally, I would have died. No, perhaps I should have already been dead. But I didn’t care. I kept swinging without a single care of the blade’s state in mind, mechanically killing everything with every method I could. I wasn’t afraid of dying. Rather, I have so many intermediate defense spells on me right now that even one of them is enough for me to fight.

And the only thing I could do was laugh. Laugh out of fear, laugh out of resentment, and laugh as if tomorrow would never come. I kept on laughing with every swing.

Faster, sharper, stronger… I felt like something about me had changed midway, but I couldn’t describe it. The blade of the rapier swung so fast and constantly that it created an illusion of a silver serpent. Wherever the serpent swiped its body, countless bear heads fell to the floor.

I slaughtered till my whole body was dyed in red; I slaughtered until the blanket of snow was dyed in crimson. As the scent of blood filled the area, more and more monsters were lured into the vicinity, and I slaughtered them too. I slaughtered until there was nothing left to kill. Looking up at the sky, evening had turned into night.

…

Despite using [Cleanse], I was noticeably tired, ragged, and broke. Like a dog soaked in rain, I trudge to a nearby village and knock on the door. Late as it may be, it was still a three-story building that looked normal with its lights on. Pushing the door open, I was washed by the warmth of the place.

The smell of roasted meat, cheap ale, burning firewood, and damp clothes mixed together into a strangely comforting scent. If I were in a better situation, this feeling would be like a siren call. But after hours of blizzard and blood, anything would feel like heaven.

The conversations stopped as the men and the bar waitresses stared at the newcomer. Perhaps it was due to the new face. I paid them no heed as my boots left wet footprints on the wooden floor as I walked towards the counter, using the rapier as a walking stick as I held the scabbard of the blade.

To them, the iron stick was no different from an iron staff or something; its shape was bizarre, just as the wood-carved cat paw dangling on the hilt did. The woman behind the counter looked up.

“Welcome. How can I help you?"

“How much for a room?”

“Five silvers.”

I readily pulled out five. I didn’t really know the price, but I did estimate that a room would cost a silver or two. Five might seem expensive, but considering the inn was in the middle of a blizzard, I’d say it was a matter of location.

For a moment, surprise flashed through her eyes… Should I have haggled? Whatever the case, I trudge into my designated room. Tonight was going to be a rough night.

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