Things happen suddenly.
Your parents suddenly pass away.
Your siblings suddenly beat the crap out of you.
A truck suddenly runs you over.
You suddenly get reborn in another world.
Your father suddenly attacks you and packs you off to tutor a young noblewoman,
or you're suddenly teleported to another continent.
And sometimes, people suddenly die.
Hey!
Rudeus!
Hurry up!
Yes, yes.
That's right! And then--
Look! Red dragons!
I'd love to hunt at least one!
"Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation"
Eris.
Thanks.
Here, Ruijerd.
Thank you.
Eris.
What?
From this day forth, you may call yourself a warrior.
You mean...?
You've grown up.
B-But I've still never beaten you!
That doesn't matter. You already have the strength of a full-fledged warrior.
Congratulations, Eris.
R-Rudeus.
Maybe I'm dreaming.
Try pinching me!
Will you punch me if I do?
I will not!
Don't pinch me there!
Sorry.
Still, you're not dreaming. I wouldn't be in this much pain if you were.
I see. I'm a warrior.
But don't grow conceited.
That means I won't treat you as a child anymore.
Understand?
Yes!
Hey!
Look at that!
Let's forget about this detour and go over the mountains!
I can't wait to fight those dragons!
Be reasonable.
You could take them, right, Rudeus?!
I doubt it.
I've heard that red dragons are incredibly strong,
and also that they live in flocks.
Isn't that right, Ruijerd?
Yes.
Really?
Even the lesser of the Seven Great Powers would probably be forced to turn back.
Wait, the ones whose names were on that stela on the Holy Sword Highway?
So, fighting red dragons isn't easy, even for people as strong as them?
They could slay one,
but only the stronger among the Seven Great Powers could fight a whole flock.
Wow. Could they really?
If I remember correctly, the Technique God is currently number one,
and the Dragon God is number two.
There sure are strong people out there.
What's gotten into you two?
Rudeus, don't move a muscle.
You, too, Eris.
Is that Ruijerd Superdia I hear?
And you must be Eris Boreas Greyrat.
And... you I don't recognize.
Who are you?! How do you know my name?!
How come you know mine, too?!
I didn't expect to encounter you here, but it's not important.
Isn't it?
I can't do anything about it now.
Excuse us.
Please wait!
Who are you?
Oh, hello. My name is Rudeus Greyrat.
One of the Greyrats?
Well, yes.
Um, to start with, would you tell me your name?
It's Orsted.
Orsted.
Excuse me, but do you know the two of them?
No. I haven't met them yet.
"Yet"? What do you mean?
You don't need to know that.
By the way, which branch of the Greyrats do you come from?
Whose son are you?
Paul Greyrat's.
Paul shouldn't have a son; only two daughters.
How rude.
Paul does have a son, and that son takes after his father.
But how does he know that Paul has two daughters?
Don't come any closer!
I see that you look me in the eyes.
I'd love to stop; the look in your eyes is terrifying.
Oh well.
Now, what do you want?
Oh, well...
I thought you might know something about the mana disaster.
I don't.
I see. I'm sorry I bothered you.
Does the word "Man-God" mean anything to you?
It does! He appears in my dreams and--
So, that's it.
Rudeus!
You're an apostle of the Man-God.
Run, Rudeus!
You've improved considerably.
I always thought you had potential, but you lack polish.
Before you die, give the Man-God a message.
"Dragon God Orsted is going to kill you."
Let the great protection... be on... thou seekest.
I call the bold heat of...
Fireball!
Incantation-less spellcasting?
Did the Man-God give you that power?
That's enough of that.
Disturb Magic.
You're a crafty one.
Open, Front Wyrmgate.
What an incredible quantity of mana.
He might be on par with Laplace.
Why don't you use incantation-less magic to heal your lungs?
It doesn't matter. Die.
Rudeus.
Rudeus!
--Man. This doesn't look good.
--Rudeus! --Man. This doesn't look good.
--I don't want to die.
--Rudeus! --I don't want to die.
--Rudeus! --I haven't gotten to make good on my promise with Eris yet.
--Rudeus! Rudeus! --I haven't gotten to make good on my promise with Eris yet.
--Rudeus! Rudeus! --Just two more years. At least wait two more years.
--Rudeus! Rudeus! --Then I'd be able to die without regrets.
It's okay. I can do this.
I'll slowly build up my mana.
I can't die yet.
Slow and steady. It'll be all right.
We're leaving, Nanahoshi.
A-All right.
Ruijerd! Ghislaine!
Grandfather! Father! Mother!
Anyone!
Someone, help! I don't care who!
Rudeus is going to die!
Eris...
No!
--I'm sorry.
--Someone, save Rudeus! --I'm sorry.
--Someone, save Rudeus! --Listen, Orsted. Something's been bothering me.
--I don't... want to... die. --Listen, Orsted. Something's been bothering me.
Maybe he's...
Hey there!
Well, you know...
That was a shame.
Yeah. It really was.
You seem different today.
Are you okay? Are you not feeling well?
As you can see, I've got a gaping hole in my chest.
Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?
What?
Why did that Orsted guy attack me the second he heard your name?
He's the wicked Dragon God and I'm good, so he's got it in for me.
"Good," huh?
Well, I bet you make a lot of enemies.
But in that case, couldn't you have warned me
that I'd be running into him?
Sorry. I can't see anything to do with the Dragon God now.
Not his present or his future.
So, I had no idea you'd be bumping into him.
Really? How come?
Because that's what the curse on him does.
A curse? Curses are real, too?
Yeah. There are these weirdos called "Cursed Children."
Orsted is one of them.
Well, he's got about three other curses, too.
Huh.
You saw how scared Ruijerd and Eris were of him, right?
That's another one of his curses.
He's hated or feared by every living creature in this world.
Everyone hates him?
That sounds like...
It must suck.
Hang on. I didn't hate or fear him.
Maybe that's because you came from another world.
The curse doesn't affect people from other worlds?
Wasn't it the same way when you met Ruijerd?
Oh, yeah.
Huh?
Wait a second. Is Ruijerd a Cursed Child, too?
No, that's the curse of the spears.
Laplace transferred his curse of fear to the spears and passed it on to the Superd.
He had a curse? And he passed it on?
What do you mean?
Did you know all this all along?
Did you tell me to help Ruijerd knowing it wouldn't do any good?!
Oh, don't get the wrong idea.
The curse on the Superd is almost gone by now.
There's still a little on Ruijerd himself,
but it's been fading rapidly since he shaved his head.
Why?
Because Laplace had green hair, too.
Huh.
Is that how curses work? I don't really get it.
Well, anyway,
the curse on him is fading because he met you.
The deep-rooted prejudice against him isn't,
but he can overcome that with enough hard work.
So it wasn't all for nothing?
Thank goodness.
Still, I never thought I'd see Ruijerd get taken out so easily.
Ruijerd's no match for that guy.
Well, he is one of the Seven Great Powers. How could we have beaten him?
You couldn't.
Orsted is the strongest there is, even with his curses holding him back.
He is?
But I thought the Dragon God was ranked number two? What about number one?
The Technique God is number one, but if they really fought, Orsted would win.
His full power is enough to destroy this whole world.
Of course, his curses stop him from ever using it.
You know,
you know a lot about this guy, considering you can't see him.
Oh, well...
Oh well. I don't really care what you're hiding.
You seem to like Ruijerd,
and I managed to rescue Lilia and Aisha thanks to your help.
What are a few lies next to all that?
I'll never see you again, anyway.
You won't?
No, I won't.
I mean, I died, right?
Oh, so that's why you've given up on everything.
Just the opposite of our first meeting.
That time, I thought I'd died without any clue what was going on.
This time, well, I guess that's life.
I just got unlucky.
Actually, I should consider myself lucky that I got a second life at all.
Even if I do still have unfinished business.
Yeah.
I guess so.
Oh, it looks like this is goodbye.
I wonder how I'm supposed to pass on at a time like this.
Is that so?
In that case, I've got good news for you.
Huh?
You're not dead.
What?
R-Rudeus?
Rudeus!
Are you all right?
How am I alive?
Well, that woman said something,
and that guy, Orsted, cast a healing spell.
What woman?
He called her Nanahoshi.
Nanahoshi?
That masked woman?
Why would he heal someone he'd just killed?
Don't worry. They said he's just knocked out.
I see.
You seem awfully cheerful, Rudeus.
Well, I feel like I've got more than enough of all kinds of things.
So you won't mind if I punch you?
Not a bit.
I'm sorry I made you worry.
You should be, dummy.
I'm glad.
I'm so...
...so glad.
"Episode 21:" "Turning Point 2"
"Next time:"
"Dreams and Reality"