Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as the weakest Sword God

"Ars, the capital of Asura, is also the largest city in the world, named after the legendary hero who led humanity to victory in the Great Human/Demon War."

"When a traveler first sets eyes on this metropolis, his amazement is impossible to conceal.

The imposing castle in the center, known as the Silver Palace, is surrounded by the grand mansions of the high nobles; beyond the walls that surround this area, the city extends in all directions, to the horizon."

"Here lies a huge arena, the splendid training grounds of the Royal Knights, and many beautiful churches of Millis.

Canals run throughout the city, crossed by countless beautiful bridges.

...

gazing at the capital from the top of a high hill, Rudeus and I gasped almost simultaneously

"amazing.." I muttered

The city of Ars spread out before us, far larger than any other city I had ever seen in this world.

The first thing that caught my eye was the castle situated in the center.

It was as large as the one in Perugius, if not larger, and it shone like silver in the sunlight.

Compared to the megacities of my old world, this place was nothing special.

But there was something truly impressive about a medieval city large enough to fill your entire field of vision.

"Well, we're finally back…" Sylphiette muttered.

The other members of our group were also moved by the sight, but in a different way. Their eyes were fixed on the castle in the center of the city, and their faces were stern. Even Ariel had gotten out of her carriage to gaze at it, but after a long moment, she turned around and said, "Let's keep moving forward, everyone."

As impressive as Ars looked from above, it wasn't all that distinctive once you were inside it.

All the cities in this world were pretty similar, at least in their entrances.

They had their street vendors, their stables, and their groups of travelers and adventurers wandering around.

Another thing that caught my attention was how wide the street was, Six normal-sized carriages could fit side by side on this thing.

It reminded me of the highways in my old world.

Apparently, this was one of the main roads leading to the central plaza.

"For now we're heading to my residence in the city," Ariel announced from inside her carriage.

"We'll use it as our initial base, preparations must be made before entering the court."

We set off immediately.

Our destination was the district of the imposing mansions of the high Asurian nobles.

Given the sheer size of the city, getting there could take us half a day.

Luke was at the head of our group, followed by Sylphiette, then Rudeus, and finally me.

We were arranged in single file, the path was large enough for us to split up, but there couldn't be any complications if you met a noble coming in the other direction, normally the lower-ranking aristocrat would be expected to move aside, but Ariel's carriage was unmarked, and getting her off to settle some pointless argument would be a huge waste of time.

Past a certain point, the streets began to change around us.

Businesses aimed at travelers and adventurers gave way to ones aimed at the average residents of the city.

I started to notice people on the street pointing in our direction.

"Huh? Isn't that... Sir Luke? And Silent Fittz?!"

"You're right... Look, they're escorting that carriage! Don't you think..."

"It's Princess Ariel?!"

"She must have run back when she heard of the king's illness!"

One look at Luke and Sylphie was all it took for the people of this city to figure out who was in the carriage.

But at this point there was no need to hide the truth anymore.

For one thing, it was never realistic to think we could travel through this massive city completely undetected.

And in any case, we would have to show ourselves eventually to make our appearance at court.

And we weren't in that much of a hurry, either.

It wasn't the end of the world if we caused a bit of a commotion.

But that being said...

"Mr. Luuuuke! Look over here!"

"Sir Fittz! Sir Fittz!"

"Welcome home Princess Ariel!"

Wow... they're quite popular here, huh?...

"Ready, set... Sir Fiiiiiiitz!!"

Every time Sylphiette received a chorus of cheers, I'd see her scratch behind her ears, that was her gesture to say she's embarrassed.

The cheers increased as we passed through the central plaza. I had a feeling that people were spreading the news of Princess Ariel's return.

Things were getting so boisterous that I started to worry that the city guards would come running to control things.

But thankfully nothing as dramatic as that ended up happening.

Once we reached the noble district, the adoring crowds quickly thinned out.

Maybe Ariel's popularity was limited to the common people.

Or maybe the aristocrats had too much pride to just stand around on the streets yelling and screaming.

It was probably a bit of both.

I also noticed occasional groups of armored people patrolling the streets in formation.

They were wearing full suits of thick silver armor and helmets that completely covered their faces.

But one of the rookie knights was staring at us, through the helmet I couldn't see his expression, I couldn't sense open hostility, but this person's movements seemed unusually... sharp.

I had a feeling that this wasn't just any rookie knight.

After talking to someone who seemed to be her commander, the novice broke away from her group and started running towards us.

"Hmm?!"

Sylphie, Luke, and I quickly drew our weapons.

"Oh, God!"

The armored novice, clearly frightened, immediately stopped, after an uncertain pause, she reached for her cube-shaped helmet and took it off...revealing a very beautiful woman.

She was truly a charmer, her hair was long and silky, somehow, even the sweat on her forehead seemed attractive

"Gino! It's me!" she shouted

It was none other than Isolte.

"I'm glad you're okay! My teacher is very pessimistic knowing that you're already the Sword God! But...in any case, what are you doing in Asura? If you had sent a letter in advance, I..."

"Isolte...I'm glad you're okay...but as you can see I'm a bit busy, we'll talk later okay?..." I murmured

Now that it was obvious that i knew Isolte, Luke sheathed his sword, and Sylphiette looked relieved, but still held her staff in hand.

Rudeus was also holding his staff as he looked around while scanning the area.

Are you in the service of whoever owns this carriage now? Of course you are. You know, there are rumors around town that the Second Princess has returned... is she the one there, by any chance? But why would she be accompanying... oh, of course! The Princess must have contacted you for a good sum of money, right? That must have convinced you, is that true? "And then he hired you as a bodyguard, perhaps?" she asked.

It didn't look like it, but she was quite the talkative girl.

"...yeah, something like that," I muttered.

After my arrival in this city, I ended up joining the Royal Knights on the recommendation of my teacher. Once I am formally knighted, I should also be granted the rank of Water Emperor," she said.

"Oh yeah? Well, congratulations," I said as I patted her on the shoulder.

"Thank you," she said with a smile.

At that moment, Luke turned his horse around and came trotting towards us.

After dismounting, he approached me.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation... Gino, I assume this woman is an acquaintance of yours" he said

"Yes, that's right" I replied

"I see, I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on, but it would be best if you finished this conversation relatively quickly" he said

"Sure" I replied

I turned to Isolte and gave her an apologetic smile.

Somehow maintaining his friendly and apologetic smile, Luke quickly climbed onto his horse and returned to the front of our entourage

Isolte looked sad but still returned to her group of knights and so we continued our journey.

...

A little further on, our entourage turned right and began to climb.

We soon came to a thick, imposing wall guarded by soldiers, but Luke showed them some sort of emblem he was wearing, and they let us through the gate immediately.

After passing through the district where the mid-ranking nobles lived, we passed through another wall… and came out into an area where the houses were as large as the fortresses of minor nations.

Ariel's residence turned out to be a decent distance from the Silver Palace, and though it stood on an ordinary city block, the thing had to be five times larger than Rudeus's house in Sharia.

It was nighttime when we reached its gates.

We had entered Ars shortly after noon, so it had actually taken us half the day to navigate the city streets.

As we entered the compound of the mansion, a man who appeared to be a butler emerged from within.

After seeing Luke, he hurriedly ran out and gathered all the maids to greet us.

It turned out that there were only five of them.

Apparently, this small household staff had kept

the mansion in good order during the years of Ariel's absence. After a few formalities, we were ushered into the building.

Once we were assigned to our individual rooms, we headed to the bathroom to wash off the dust of the road.

Even the buckets we used to rinse ourselves were richly ornamented works of art.

The mansion apparently had a larger bathroom with a bathtub, but it was presumably reserved for Princess Ariel.

After freshening up a bit, it was time for dinner, that night I dined with Ariel, Rudeus, and Sylphiette, Ariel's official subordinates apparently ate in a different room.

"Now then, Sir Gino..." Ariel murmured

"Yes, your highness?" I replied

"First, allow me to express my gratitude, thanks in large part to you, we have safely arrived at our destination" she said.

"We had just finished our meal, but it seemed like Ariel was ready to get down to business

"I will begin making my arrangements tomorrow, I will prepare a suitable scenario for the arrival of Lord Peragius, and the fall of High Minister Darius, this will involve sounding out the nobles who have switched sides in my absence, gathering information, contacting the allies waiting for me in the city, and taking other measures, I will be quite busy" she explained

"Fine" I replied simply.

"I intend to prepare the stage promptly, before Darius can move against us. Fortunately, the news of my father's illness has already attracted the Kingdom's most powerful nobles to the city." She continued.

"How much time do you plan to spend on these preparations?" I asked.

"It should take about ten days." She replied.

"Understood." I replied.

"We've already secured the cards we need to play. I'll take other steps as well, but in essence, I think our victory is already guaranteed as long as we have our stage. Therefore, it seems possible that the enemy will try to destroy that stage by force." She said.

"We've gathered a competent force in our own right, but I'd like to increase the odds in our favor. It would be best to splinter our enemy's threats in advance." She continued.

"That makes sense..." I muttered.

"I'd like to ask you, Rudeus, and Sylphie to take on this particular role." She said.

"Do you want us to go out and hunt down the enemy?" I asked.

"No, I imagine that would be very difficult, the capital is a huge place, and if you spend too much time wandering its streets, they might launch an attack on you first" she said

"Instead, I think we can lure them out, we'll deliberately present them with a golden opportunity to pounce, I have a magic item that should make this possible" she continued.

"Do you think they'll actually take the bait?" I asked quietly

"I'd say... it's a fifty-fifty chance, if they bite we'll be in good shape, but if they don't..."

"...I suppose we'll have to settle things in a big battle" I continued for her.

"Indeed, I think we'd have to count on you quite a bit in that scenario, Sir Gino" Ariel said.

I suppose you're right, let's try that if all else fails" I said

Sylphiette and Rudeus seemed somewhat taken aback by this exchange, but I expected them to shrug.

"Very well then, proceed with the initial plan for now" I said

The next morning, we set out with Ariel for our trip to the Silver Palace.

There were only five of us, Triss was staying at the residence to begin preparations for her big moment, and Ariel's two attendants weren't coming either, they were running around the city trying to win over other noble houses to Ariel's cause

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Please give me power stones...we are losing rankings...