Light Novel Volume 16/Summary

Chapter 1: The First Mission
The next day, Rudeus goes back to the hut to meet Orsted. He comes alone this time. Outside the hut, he sees Zanoba lying face down, still alive. Orsted explains that the previous night Zanoba went to collect the broken magic armor and unexpectedly encountered Orsted. Due to Orsted's curse, Zanoba decided to fight him. Fortunately, Orsted used hyponosis magic to put Zanoba to sleep for a few hours.

Orsted and Rudeus then resume their main discussions. Orsted has finished reading Rudeus' diary. But before discussing that further, he asks Rudeus to recount all his conversations with Hitogami. Rudeus describes each of his encounters and conversations with Hitogami in detail, including the advice given and its consequences. After hearing this, Orsted suggests that Hitogami seems to have manipulated Rudeus to change history, and that given that Rudeus has strong fate, history was originally not supposed to change. Orsted, however, still doesn't understand why Hitogami changed history to this degree. Orsted will therefore try to once again change history to one that is favorable to him. Rudeus wonders if they can collect the hidden treasures and reach Hitogami. Orsted replies that the last treasure is in Laplace's possession, who will revive in about 80 years. Orsted believes that Hitogami has the ability to be trusted by all living beings, and so has difficulty dealing with irregularities such as Rudeus.

Orsted states that their first mission is to readjust history so that Ariel will become Asura Kingdom's queen. In the original timeline, Ariel should have become queen and was in fact protected by a considerably powerful fate. Originally, there were three key people to her rise in power, guardian magician Derrick Redbat, Eris Greyrat, and Tristina Purplehorse. Derrick was a shrewd man and ambitious, and was originally Ariel's guardian magician. He would have persuaded Perugius to assist Ariel. He would have remained as Ariel's advisor and eventually become prime minister. Eris would have married to Luke, and together they would have protected Ariel from assassins. Tristina was a child from Asura's upper aristocracy's family Purplsehorse, but was abducted when she was 8 years old and became a sex slave to senior minister Darius Ganius. Ariel helped Tristina before she could be disposed of in secret. As a result, Darius Ganius lost his position and first prince Gravel lost influence.

Orsted and Rudeus plan to find Tristina to force senior minister's downfall. If they fail, they plan for Rudeus to kill Darius. Orsted reveals that next month, in January, the information that the king has fallen ill will arrive, but until then, they will continue their preparations. They consider using the magic armor that is currently broken, but they need time to miniaturize it, so they shelve that idea for now. Instead, Orsted promises to give Rudeus a robe, since he cannot wear Battle Aura. They discuss Fighting God's armor. It was built by Demon Dragon King Laplace. While it gives you great power, it also controls your mind, similar to the Superd tribe's spears. Orsted also gives Rudeus a magic circle which can summon a guardian magical beast to protect his family. Rudeus plans on summoning the beast tomorrow. Rudeus worries that one of his descendants will become Laplace, but Orsted reassures him that this will not be the case. Rudeus asks Orsted to forgive Nanahoshi for luring him during their fight and to place the blame on himself instead. Orsted agrees to forgive her. Finally, Orsted gives him a ring that works like a compass, allowing Rudeus to contact Orsted in emergencies.

Rudeus then leaves the hut and carries Zanoba back to Ginger's room.

Chapter 2: Guardian Beast
Rudeus reflected on the fact that Orsted implied that there would always be "next time" if they failed. He considers the possibility that Orsted may have time travel abilities similar to his future self. Rudeus pushes these thoughts out of his mind and vows to try his best without relying on do-overs. Rudeus works on improving his combat power by sparring with Eris. Rudeus asks Cliff and Zanoba to repair and improve the magic armor, by making it smaller and more efficient.

Rudeus gathers his family to their garden as he plans to summon the guardian magical beast. Various family members distrust Orsted and are skeptical that Orsted's summoning magic circle is safe, but Rudeus reaffirms his trust in Orsted. Rudeus activates the magic circle and ends up summoning Arumanfi, Perugius' servant. Arumanfi is very annoyed for being separated from his connection with Perugius and demands that Rudeus annuls their new contract. They quickly annul Arumanfi's new contract with Rudeus, with Perugius' help. Rudeus tries the summoning again. This time, he pictures summoning a lion. He ends up summoning a large dog. Eris soon points out that the dog looks similar to the Holy Beast that they met in Dorudia village. Rudeus worries about angering the Dorudia tribe for taking away the Holy Beast, but he decides against once again annulling the contract. They name the animal Leo.

Chapter 3: Opening Move
Luke comes to Rudeus' house and directly asks for Rudeus' support in Ariel's bid for the throne to Asura Kingdom. Ariel has given up on persuading Perugius to support her. Rudeus suspects that Luke has been influenced by Hitogami as in his future self's timeline. Luke denies knowing Hitogami; he says he is making this request of his own accord. Rudeus tells Luke that he will consider his request to support Ariel and get back to him later. Rudeus thinks to himself that he isn't sure if supporting Ariel would be acting in according with Hitogami's plans, and so he wants to consult with Orsted first.

Chapter 4: Mind Made Up
Rudeus meets with Orsted. They update each other on what has happened on the last 10 days. Rudeus tells Orsted that the Holy Beast Leo was summoned as his guardian magical beast. Orsted is surprised that such a powerful beast was summoned. They feel that the safety of Rudeus' family is now nearly guaranteed. Rudeus informs Orsted that he has asked Cliff to help solve Orsted's curse by developing a magic tool. Orsted has asked Perugius to help Ariel become queen, but Perugius refused, as he isn't certain that Ariel is worthy of becoming queen. Rudeus informs Orsted about Luke's visit with him, about the fact that Luke may be Hitogami's apostle and that Luke asked for Rudeus' support for Ariel. Orsted insists they should still help Ariel. However, Orsted suggests killing Luke, as he is quite certain that Luke is Hitogami's apostle. However, Rudeus is reluctant to kill someone, especially an acquaintance. Rudeus responds that he is concerned that if they kill Luke, they will have taken away a major source of emotional support for Ariel and that he may be vital for her to become queen. And furthermore, Hitogami may have taken into account that Orsted would try to kill Luke. Orsted agrees to hold off on the idea of killing Luke.

Rudeus asks Orsted how many people Hitogami can manipulate. Orsted replies that Hitogami can use future sight on up to three people, although he could manipulate more people without using future sight, he typically limits to manipulating three people. Next, Orsted gives Rudeus a robe, as previously promised, to improve his defense in combat. It has considerable magic resistance and is highly blade resistant. It also reduces the weight of the wearer by half and allows one to move very quickly.

Back at home, Rudeus has a discussion with Sylphy. He confirms that he will be supporting Ariel for queen, as per Orsted's orders. Sylphy remains distrustful of Orsted and asks what Orsted has to gain by doing this. Rudeus replies that Orsted wants political connections. Orsted's plan is to ask Perugius' to support Ariel, as Perugius has political influence. They discuss the fact that Rudeus will be going to Asura Kingdom to support Ariel. Sylphy states that she wants to come as well, to support her friend. Rudeus warns Sylphy to be aware that Hitogami can manipulate anyone, and reveals that Luke is likely being manipulated. Sylphy declares that if Luke ever were to betray Ariel, she would kill Luke. Rudeus thinks to himself that if they were forced to kill Luke, he would take it upon himself to do it.

Chapter 5: Working Together
Rudeus, along with Sylphy, goes to Sky Castle and sees Ariel having tea with Nanahoshi. Ariel looks tired and depressed. They join for Sylphy for tea. Nanahoshi tells Rudeus that Orsted has forgiven her for her betrayal. Ariel notes that while she was afraid of Orsted, she didn't hate him. Rudeus wonders if the Orsted's curse is less effective on her and if Hitogami may be manipulating her. Ariel muses that she had planned to ask for Rudeus' support in the past, but decided against it. She felt Rudeus was too powerful and she wasn't worthy to control that power. Rudeus counters that while he has great magic power, he considers himself an average person with all the worries of an average person. Rudeus tells Ariel that he intends to support her. Ariel is very grateful. She inquires if supporting her was Orsted's idea. Rudeus lies so that he can feed Hitogami false information via Luke; he tells her that it was actually his idea to support her, but that he has Orsted's blessing.

Ariel's group's discuss that their first goal is to gain Perugius' support, given his wide influence. Rudeus brings up Perugius' question: What is the most important factor to a king? Perugius promised that if Ariel came up with the correct answer, he would offer her his support. Rudeus thinks to himself that Ariel's former guardian magician Derrick Redhat would have been the one to tell her the correct answer to the question. So, he asks Ariel about Derrick. Ariel suddenly remembers that Derrick death was what inspired her to become king. She recounts how Derrick sacrificed himself to save her life. Prior to this, she had no interest in being king. She recounts Derrick's final words, which implored her to become the king. Inspired by the sincerity of his dying words, she decided to strive for the throne. Despite Ariel remembering her reason for wanting to be king, she is still unable to answer the question of what is a king's most important factor. (In the Web Novel, she is actually able to come up with the answer to the question at this point, and the story continues on in chapter 8 of this volume).

Chapter 6: Orsted's Suggestion
After the reunion with Ariel, Rudeus inform about what happened to Orsted and the possibility to search about the first King of Asura to find the answer. Orsted proposes to go to the Book Labyrinth, a place where exist a copy of every book of the world made by a demon king, this place is located in the demon continent and they need to teleport. Orsted give to Rudeus a sketch of a certain book if he don't find the necessary information

Rudeus now in Chaos breaker he find Ariel, talk a bit and inform the plan to search in the labyrinth, she accepts the plan. The next day in the base of operation of Orsted they find a magic circle in the basement, The person that go are Rudeus, Sylphiette, Luke, Ariel, Eris and Ghislaine Rudeus formarly presents Eris and Ghislaine as escort to Ariel, in the end they use the magic circle.

Chapter 7: Library Labyrinth
They appear in a room similar to the others teleport rooms, Eris excitedly wants to explore but is stopped by Rudeus, when they enter, they find hallways of books, arranged from oldest to newest and in the center of the labyrinth they find the Demon king Betobe, a huge slime with a eyeball that use his tentacles to write the books. They avoid him decide to search a book about the first king of Asura, Gaunis.

They find a book, he was the third prince during the Laplace war, after his older brother and parent were killed he became the next king of Asura, also find that he have many achievements but in the same time he wasn't perfect, and commonly he went to taverns, got drunk and fought. Rudeus also find books about Mikos, one of them is called "the powerless God" a miko that can change the rules of the world and can nullify the power of gods and abilities, Rudeus think how to remove curses and may help Zenith, taking notes of this in his diary.

He realizes that one of the tentacle started a copy of his diary, and Rudeus write in his diary that he want conversation with the demon King and he appear, because the future diary of Rudeus was a interesting experience of a alternative future, the demon king grant to Rudeus a wish, he show him the sketch that Orsted drew and he give him a book, that book is the Diary of Derrick Redbat.

After reading his diary, Ariel find the answer of being king and pass the diary to Luke, crying because the content, when they almost leaving, the demon king becomes angry because a tear of Luke damage the diary and he start to attack.the group start to run way meanwhile they block every attack and they leave the labyrinth.

Chapter 8: The Armored Dragon King and the Second Princess
Ariel arranges an audience with Perugius to once again ask for his support. Perugius reiterates his question: "What is the most important factor of a king?" Ariel's answer is "to inherit wills", that is to be influenced by others. Perugius laughs at this answer and calls her a fool. Ariel stands her ground and admits she may be a fool. She declares that she intends to state her true feelings. She further states that if their ideals aren't compatible, then despite the fact that she wants his assistance, they may not be able to work well together. Perugius is impressed with Ariel's conviction and agrees to lend his support. Ariel thanks Perugius, and leaves.

Rudeus stays behind and asks Perugius if Ariel gave the correct answer. He confirms that Ariel's answer was wrong. However, the way Ariel carries herself reminds Perugius of his old friend from many years ago, Kaunis, who was called the "Ideal King". Rudeus asks Perugius, "what is the ideal king?", which Perugius refuses to answer. Perugius asks why Rudeus didn't bring up Orsted's in Ariel's negotiations with him. Rudeus thinks to himself that it's because he knows that Orsted had already asked Perugius himself to support Ariel and was refused. Rudeus gives a non-committal answer. Perugius calls him out on this and leaves.

Ariel, Luke, Sylphy and Rudeus plan their next steps. Ariel announces that she has heard news of her father's illness. Rudeus is surprised, as according to Orsted, they had expected the news to come later. Rudeus wonders if Ariel may be influenced by Hitogami. They then debate on the best way to travel to Asura Kingdom. Rudeus suggests teleporting to a magic circle just outside the kingdom. The reason he offers up is to better hide the fact that they used teleportation magic. In his mind, the reason for this is to give him an excuse to track down Tris, who will be key to taking down Darius, which will weaken the First Prince's faction. Sylphy, Luke, and Ariel all feel that they should instead directly teleport to Asura Kingdom to avoid the dangers associated with travel, and avoid assassins and mercenaries. Sylvaril, one of Perugius' familiars, announces that all the magic teleportation circles inside Asura Kingdom have been destroyed and so it is impossible to teleport directly into Asura Kingdom. Rudeus wonders who could have done this. Therefore, they are forced into Rudeus' initial proposal, which is to teleport to a magic circle just outside the Asura Kingdom border.

Chapter 9: Before Traveling to Asura Kingdom
Leo integrates himself into Rudeus' family and acts as their guard dog. Ghyslaine confirms that Leo is from the Dorudia tribe.

Rudeus, Cliff, and Zanoba meet to have dinner at a fancy restaurant. Cliff and Zanoba are concerned that Rudeus is now working under Orsted. They feel that Orsted is too dangerous and cannot be trusted. Rudeus tries to tell them the truth at first, that Orsted has a curse that causes others to fear and hate him. Cliff and Zanoba remain unconvinced, however. Rudeus therefore lies and tells them that he actually plans to kill Orsted in the future, and so needs their help to upgrade the magic armor. Rudeus also asks Cliff for help on reducing the power of Orsted's curse; Rudeus lies by saying that the curse is like a barrier that weakens his opponents. Cliff and Zanoba agree to help Rudeus.

While Rudeus was drinking with his friends, Roxy, Sylphy, and Eris held a meeting. This is the 26th regular meeting between for Roxy and Sylphy, but the first one for Eris. Roxy explains to Eris that the purpose of these meetings is to help their communication and dispel any feelings of envy. They all discuss how they came to meet Rudeus and the history of their relationship with him. Lilia also joins them and reminisces on her past history with Rudeus as well. They all start drinking alcohol. Elinalise joins them and starts drinking as well, despite being pregnant. Only Roxy doesn't drink as she is also pregnant. She casts detoxification magic on everyone once they all finish drinking.

Rudeus meets Orsted. He reports that Ariel successfully persuaded Perugius and the news that the magic circles to Asura Kingdom are broken. Orsted believes that the destruction of the magic teleportation circles were caused by Hitogami. Orsted further deduces that Hitogami's disciple must therefore be First Prince Grabell or Senior Minister Darius. This is because only people with great political influence can access and destroy the magic circles, as they are all well guarded by soldiers. Orsted reiterates that Luke is likely an apostle of Hitogami. He speculates that the third and last apostle is someone talented with the sword or magic. Based on this, he believes that the North Emperor Auber and Water God Reida are likely candidates. Orsted tells Rudeus that all the potential apostles of Hitogami, Darius, Auber, Reida can be killed, while Luke should continue to be observed and killed if necessary.

At home, Rudeus and Sylphy announce to the family that they will be leaving for Asura Kingdom and will be gone for 3-4 months. Eris decided for herself that she would go as well. Norn and Aisha tease Rudeus that he is likely to come back with another wife. Rudeus wants to protest that this won't be the case, but knows he no longer has any credibility on this matter. Rudeus notes that since both he and Sylphy are leaving, they are leaving their daughter Lucy without any parents at home. They leave Lucy for Lilia to raise. Since Roxy is staying behind at home, Rudeus tries to spend more time with her before he leaves. They agree to name their future baby Rolo or Lara if the baby is a boy or girl respectively.

Extra Chapter: The Black Wolf Sword King
Eris and Ghyslaine, accompanied by Rudeus and Sylphy, go to meet Ariel for the first time. Eris and Ghyslaine worry about the fact that they lack knowledge on manners and etiquette in high society. Eris is particularly worried about this as she doesn't want to reflect poorly on Rudeus. Rudeus isn't concerned about himself, but rather on damaging Sylphy's reputation. Eris thinks to herself that she doesn't think of Sylphy as part of her family, but rather considers her to be more of a comrade. Rudeus suggests that Sylphy teach them etiquette until they arrive in Asura Kingdom, to which Sylphy agrees.

Eris introduces herself to Ariel, followed by Ghyslaine. Ghyslaine immediately makes clear that her goal is primarily to exact revenge on Sauros' behalf. Ariel promises Ghyslaine to help her find the perpetrators for Sauros' death. Ariel thinks to herself that it was likely a feudal lord who caused Sauros' execution in order to weaken the forces of the first prince. She considers the possibility that it may have been someone within her own faction, and that this may cause issues with Ghyslaine in the future. Ariel looks at the three in front of her: Eris, Ghyslaine, and Rudeus. Although they are powerful and support her for now, Ariel realizes that they have not sworn fealty to her. Ariel correctly suspects that Rudeus is only supporting her on Orsted's instructions, although Rudeus denied it earlier. Ariel doesn't understand what Orsted is planning, and she remembers the fear she experienced when she first saw Orsted. Nevertheless, Ariel feels secure in the fact that Rudeus only follows Orsted to protect his family. Therefore, Rudeus will not hurt Sylphy, and Sylphy will not hurt Ariel.

Ghyslaine and Elinalise meet in a bar to catch up on each other's lives. They comment on how they wish the rest of their old crew could have been there: Geese, Talhand, Paul, and Zenith. Elinalise describes Paul's final moments and the circumstances that led up to it. They reminisce on how they both used to be sexually interested in Paul. Ghyslaine responds that she was in estrus at that time. Ghyslaine is shocked at how Zenith has lost her memories and personality. They then talk about their past adventurer days as well as things that have happened since the mana calamity and since meeting Rudeus. Ghyslaine muses that her former master Philip died in the mana calamity, but his killer is also dead. Her focus is now on exacting Sauros' killers and she has joined as Ariel's escort for this reason. Before returning home, Elinalise asks Ghyslaine to take care of her grandchild Sylphy and her husband Rudeus. Ghyslaines agrees to do so.