Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation

168 – When you Wish Upon a Star – II

The Greyrat Household manor in Ranoa Kingdom.

However, unlike the one I had just left and the one I remembered, this one was a bit old and quiet.

After the chaos in the courtyard, the red-eyed Sylphy and smaller Roxy led us inside to the dining room so that we could have a more comfortable setting for the discussion.

Although, considering everything that had happened, I found it hard to believe there would be anywhere in the world that could be a comfortable setting for this discussion.

After all, not only were there some people meeting parallel timeline versions of themselves who were clearly different, but there were four women meeting their in-laws for the first time.

Both on their own were recipes for drama. Combining them...

Well. I'd just have to play it by ear.

And the first step to playing it by ear was assessing the situation.

And the situation right now...

The red-eyed Sylphy, smaller Roxy, and the two young women who looked a lot like Roxy sat on one side of the table next to Mom and Mama Lily.

Stella was there too, captured in Mom's arms and experiencing first-hand the 'hug monster' that Norn used to be so scared of.

Fortunately for her, Stella was bigger so she could squirm around for proper breathing room.

On the other side of the table, there was me, Dad, and my four lovely ladies.

Specifically, there was me in the middle, Eri and Rika on my right, and Sylphy and Roxy on my left sitting across from the other Sylphy and Roxy.

Dad was shoved on the far end to my right, sitting directly in front of Mom and Mama Lily.

Now, I would be lying if I said that I didn't expect this would happen at some point.

Considering my baby sister's stellar track record of finding all our family members, I figured something crazy might pop up and rehearsed a few different situations.

But there was that old saying about plans not surviving contact with the enemy. And while I knew that Being W wasn't behind this, someone had it out for me and decided to test my adaptabilty skills.

So, improvising.

The room was quiet. Tense, too.

Since it happened so quickly and abruptly, the other Sylphy and Roxy didn't have time to prepare any refreshments.

And since I didn't know where or when we were, I didn't want to show my cards too soon in case Being W was watching us.

But at this rate, we'd be here all day. And since I didn't know if time marched on in tandem or if I had infinite time to get back to when we were, I decided to get the ball rolling.

I smiled at Mom and Mama Lily and said, "I'm glad to see that you two are safe."

Mom smiled and said, "Of course we're safe. We had our genius son prepare us equipment to protect against the entire world after all."

Mama Lily nodded and said, "As Zenith said, it was inevitable that we would be safe even in that storm of chaos. But Rudy..." She frowned and then glanced over at Dad. After that, she looked at the lovely ladies sitting beside me. "It seems that you've had an... 'interesting' time of things."

I chuckled. "Interesting is putting it lightly."

Even on a casual reflection of everything that had happened since we last saw each other...

Becoming a demon lord. Finding out the multiverse theory was definitely a thing. Raising Stella from a newborn to her cute toddler self right now. Accidentally making two daughters after messing with summoning magic. Accidentally summoning a son from a parallel timeline with the same magic. Accidentally summoning Rika.

Finding Sylphy who had been wandering for countless years in distorted time searching for me.

Meeting up with Eri and Norn after making a utopian kingdom in the Magic Continent.

Then there was the mishap meeting Dad again...

Oh yeah. Then there were all the shenanigans around me and the Milis religion...

"...But there will be plenty of time to catch up on that later. For now..." I looked at the red-eyed Sylphy and the smaller Roxy, as well as the two other girls who looked similar to Roxy. "Should we do introductions? I'm Rudeus Notus Greyrat."

The red-eyed Sylphy frowned and said, "'Notus' Greyrat? Not just Rudeus Greyrat?"

"Well." I glanced at Dad and said, "You're the head now, right Dad?"

Mom paused and narrowed her eyes at Dad.

Dad flinched and started laughing. "Ahaha... Y-Yeah." He looked back at Mom and said, "You know how I was planning to take over from Pilemon, right Honey?"

"...Yes, Dear."

"W-W-Well..." Dad cleared his throat and said, "I... Kind of became a Sword God while roaming around with Norn and our Daughter-in-law, so they ended up just throwing the title at me and running away. Because of that, we can use Notus again..."

"I see."

That's what Mom said, but the look on her face said that she clearly wasn't buying it. Or maybe she was just annoyed thinking about all the other shenanigans Dad had been up to since then.

Either way, I was just glad that he took some of the fire away from me.

So, continuing on with my plan to distract more from the issue with introductions...

I gestured towards Mom and Mama Lily and said, "It seems like you've been acquainted with my mom, Zenith, and Mama Lily... I mean, Lilia, already. And there's my baby sister, Stella... Say hi, Stella."

Stella puffed her cheeks and said, "I already introduced myself! And stop treating me like a kid, Onii-chan!"

I laughed and said, "Yeah, she's a smart cookie, that one... Anyway." I pointed to Dad and said, "This is my Dad, Paul Notus Greyrat. He looks unreliable-"

"Hey!" Dad frowned and said, "I only look unreliable!"

"...And he is unreliable too. Well, about half the time. The other half the time he's alright."

Dad opened his mouth to protest, but then he paused to think about the words and proudly raised his head instead.

Mom rolled her eyes.

Mama Lily sighed.

I kept going and pointed at Rika. "Next to Dad is Rika. Say hi, Rika."

Rika let out a sigh and then said, "Are you going to continue with this charade of treating us as children, Rudy?"

I paused and said, "...Do you want to introduce yourselves instead?"

Rika nodded and then raised her head, putting on a regal air. "This one is Rika nee Arcadia, Empress of the Magic Continent and co-founder of the Kingdom of Arcadia."

I blinked and said, "You just made up like half those titles, Rika."

Rika blushed and she said, "H-Hush, you! Airs are important for times like these!"

Eri sighed and then waved her hand. "Whatever." She glanced back at the red-eyed Sylphy and small Roxy before saying, "Do we even need to introduce ourselves? I don't exactly know what's going on, but it's clear who we all are, isn't it?"

My Sylphy nodded, carefully eyeing her counterpart. "Indeed. Sylphiette. That's your name too, isn't it? And you..." She looked at the small Roxy and said, "Since you look just like she did when I was smaller... I guess you're Miss Roxy?"

The other Sylphy nodded back, frowning. "...Yes. But I don't think you're the same as me."

Sylphy crossed her arms under her chest and smiled. "Isn't it obvious?"

The other Sylphy frowned.

I cleared my throat.

My Sylphy paused and then lowered her arms before putting on an innocent smile. "Teehee... Sorry, Rudy."

The other Sylphy's eyes widened in shock before she shook her head, muttering under her breath.

At that time, the smaller Roxy stared at my Roxy.

My Roxy frowned and said, "...It's rude to stare so much."

The smaller Roxy shook her head and said, "My apologies. But..." Her eyes looked up to my Roxy's chest, then scanned her body, as if doing some mental calculations. "...Are you truly a 'Roxy Migurdia?'"

"No." My Roxy shook her head and smiled. "I am Roxy Greyrat."

Eri slammed her hand against the table and said, "Hey! Not yet! You have to wait in line, Roxy!"

Roxy frowned and said, "It's an inevitable occurrence. Besides." She pointed at the smaller Roxy as well as the other young women that looked like her. "As you can see, Rudy has already chosen me in one universe."

Eri's face turned red and she narrowed her eyes.

Things were clearly getting off track, so I cleared my throat and said, "It looks like most of us know each other, but I don't think I know those two young ladies?"

One of the young women... girls? No, they looked young, but they 'felt' older. So definitely not girls.

Anyway, the one who wore a pointed hat like Roxy used to in the past tilted her head to look at me. And when she did, a wave of light blue mana flew out towards me.

Everyone on my side immediately went on guard, but I waved them down.

When the mana touched me, a calm and young female voice echoed in my head.

*Can you hear me?*

I blinked and said, "Huh. So that's how telepathy works?"

The other Roxy's eyes widened. "You can hear Lara?"

I frowned. "...Can't you?"

"...No." She slowly shook her head and said, "I can't."

"...Okay." I clapped my hands together and said, "We're clearly going to be here all day at this rate if we keep cherry picking things. So... Let's do this one last time. My name is Rudeus Notus Greyrat and for the last ten years I've been trying to defeat this guy calling himself Hitogami..."

-PNG-

"I cannot believe it." Zenith shook her head and paced around the room. "Rudy. Our cute little Rudy... The Rudy who we thought would be smart enough to not be like his father and live a proper life." She paused and then glared at Paul. "How could he turn out to be a worst womanizer than you?!"

Lilia nodded, staring at Paul with cold eyes. "Indeed. And more shameless and arrogant as well."

Paul held up his hands and said, "T-To be fair, it's not my fault. Rudy went through puberty on his own, okay? If anything, blame the Greyrat blood!"

Zenith nodded. "I will. And I do." She paused and then let out a deep sigh. "...Although I suppose it's a small comfort that it wasn't as bad as in this world."

A guest room in the Greyrat Household manor. One that used to belong to that world's Zenith before she passed away, and one that both Zenith and Lilia had been using since they arrived.

There, Paul, Lilia, and Zenith were having a private discussion while Rudy and the others hashed things out themselves.

Paul pulled over a chair and sat down while staring at his wives. "So how bad was the Rudy in this world anyway? I noticed that the other Sylphy and Roxy looked a bit shocked when he started talking, so I guess it's a big difference?"

Lilia nodded. "Indeed." She put on a wry smile and said, "It seems that this world's Rudy looked up to you a great deal, Paul."

Paul's eyes lit up and he said, "Great! That means there's at least one timeline where I'm a great example, right?"

Zenith was quiet.

Paul blinked and then said, "Uh... r-right?"

"...Only because you lost a lot." Zenith looked at Paul and said, "Our selves in this world weren't as lucky as we were."

"...Huh?" Paul blinked and said, "What do you mean?"

Zenith sighed and said, "I guess it'll be better to show you. It was for us, at least."

"???"

-RNG-

Asura Kingdom's <Biography of Rudeus Greyrat>.

It was a book with a story that I mostly knew.

He was born in K407 at Buena Village in the Fittoa Country of the Asura Kingdom to Paul Greyrat and Zenith Greyrat.

He was a genius who could use Intermediate Level magic when he was 3 and was tutored by Roxy Migurdia after his parents discovered that talent.

Moving to the Boreas household to become Eris' private tutor. Returning home only to encounter the Teleport Incident.

A journey across the Magic Continent, becoming famous as an adventurer to search for his family.

Moving to Ranoa Kingdom and marrying Sylphy, who had been serving as Princess Ariel's guard.

Losing his father in exchange for rescuing his mother who had been trapped in the infamous Teleport Labyrinth in the Begaritt Continent after facing a Manatite Hydra.

The story up until then was something that I knew very well.

Rudeus... That is, the Older Rudeus. Although he had rushed through most of it, the info in the book mostly lined up with what that guy told me about his life up until Dad's death. After that though...

Fighting Orsted, joining his side as a subordinate. Marrying Eri- No, 'Eris Boreas Greyrat.'

Establishing a mercenary group, fighting a defensive battle of the Shirone Kingdom, propping Cliff up as an official in the Milis Church, then becoming the Seventh Rank of the Seven Great World Powers...

And finally, dying in K481 after passing away from old age.

I closed my eyes and sighed. "You were more desperate than I was, huh, 'Rudeus Greyrat?'"

I didn't intend to come here, but since we were in this timeline, I thought I'd do a bit of scouting to see if there was anything helpful before we headed back.

After all, if Mom and Mama Lily ended up here, there should be some reason to it. Some connection that led us to this point.

And after reading the book, I understood.

It was a quiet cemetery. Round gravestones lined up end to end.

And in front of me, there was a well-maintained tombstone. Although it was old and the stone was chipped and worn by age, the names could still be read.

Paul Greyrat.

A familiar name.

And beneath it, two more names I recognized.

Zenith Greyrat and Lilia Greyrat.

Dad, Mom, and Mama Lily.

In this world, they had been torn apart. But at least in death, they could be together here at rest.

...But there was one person buried here as well whose name wasn't written on the tombstone.

I closed the biography that I bought and chucked it in my inventory before turning my attention to the grave.

Decades had passed since the people here were buried. As a result, there shouldn't be any traces left of mana. Even the residual amount left in the corpses should have long faded.

...But there was something here after all this time. Mana that didn't scatter even though time ran its course.

"It seems like I wasn't the only one who inherited your will, Rudeus."

A familiar distorted and glitchy mana signature. One that didn't belong and seemed to constantly be on the verge of flickering out.

It was just a trace now, but it was a trace that stood out in a place that had nothing but ambient mana.

Seeing it, I sighed and bowed my head. "You were an edgelord and a jerk, but I guess you helped me out a few times so I'll thank you. Kinda wish you'd have helped me out as much as the Rudy here, but I won't complain too much. After all, you two were the same 'person' at one point."

"So you're here, huh, Kid?" Dad's voice echoed from behind me. Shortly after, he walked over and came to a stop at my side, looking at the tombstone. Seeing it, he frowned and said, "It's still weird to think that I'm buried down there with Zenny and Lili."

I raised my head and said, "That's wrong."

"Oh yeah?" Dad laughed and said, "What? Are you gonna say we're not your parents now that you've grown up, Kid? Finally getting into your rebellious teenage phase?"

"As if. Puberty was already a pain to go through even after I compressed it down to a year. I'm NOT going through that again."

Dad blinked and said, "You- Never mind." He sighed and waved his hand. "I'll get a headache thinking about it, so I'll just believe you. But." He looked at the grave and said, "What do you mean by saying I'm wrong? Doesn't sound like the way you usually disagree or mess with me just to get back for the times when you were a kid."

I glanced at the grave and then said, "Isn't it obvious?" I looked back at Dad and said, "That guy lost everything and couldn't even save his son without dying. Not only that, but his first wife lost her mind while his second suffered having to raise her daughter by herself in a hostile environment. You might be an unreliable idiot, Dad, but I think you're better than that, right?"

"...You know, Kid. You're supposed to be respectful to the deceased."

I laughed. "I think I'm an exception to that rule."

After all, I'd died once before already.

...Huh. Maybe I should use that line on Being W when I smack him in the face.

Dad shook his head and said, "Anyway... You done hanging around here? Stella's been begging me to do the 'Virgil' cut and bring us home." He frowned and said, "I don't know what she means, but I'm guessing she's starting to get impatient. Not to mention that your moms and your fiancees are having long and in-depth conversations with this world's version of your wives. That's probably not something you want to let happen for longer than it needs to, you know?"

I laughed and said, "Fine, fine. Go tell Stella I'll be back in an hour."

Dad blinked. "An hour? Why not now?"

I stared off into the distance, activating my Clairvoyance.

A familiar but unfamiliar world. Familiar but unfamiliar people.

Things that seemed the same, but were different in subtle and important ways.

Like that floating mana signature in the sky.

"...There's someone I need to talk to before we leave."