Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation

210 – Epilogue: Alpha Prologue

A girl was born with a certain power... though it would be more appropriate to call it a curse.

Since the time of her birth, she was aware of the fate that awaited her. No, even before her birth, she was aware.

Live, die, and live again.

Although death was something that chased every living being, it was especially cruel to her.

A life used as a tool, only to be caught by an enemy country and perishing.

A life cruelly violated and abused.

Another life eaten by beasts. More drowning in water.

Death was not a release. And life was torture.

The only compensation for her misery was her power that allowed rewinding the time of an object 24 hours into the past.

An absolute miracle that restored the lost past into the present. One that even allowed a true resurrection.

But it was a power that could only ever be used on 'others.'

And as such, the girl was only ever able to become a tool.

Live, die, live again.

A life in vain followed by endless reincarnation.

And eventually, her memories were left with nothing but her countless deaths.

At that time, she made a wish for salvation.

'Someone. Anyone... please save me.'

With that wish, the fate of the world changed.

The 'power to change the past' that she held distorted slightly.

And a change emerged in her next life.

In one world, that change resulted in another tragedy. A young man from Earth was summoned, showed her happiness, but then was cruelly slain in a vain attempt to end a war.

Consequently, she strained her power to undo it all and caused the world to loop with herself as the core.

But in this world...

Conflicting fates. Intersecting powers. And time loops within loops that resulted in a spiraling singularity.

The result of that...

-αω-

New Heaven Calendar Year 20.

Following the emergence of the mysterious <Doom Island> and the descent of the False God Being W, the world entered a new era of peace and prosperity.

The Magic Continent was united under the Arcadian Empire and became a utopia where anyone could live in peace and pursue their dreams without discrimination.

The Millis Continent ushered in a new Pope chosen by both the people and the heavens. With his angelic wife at his side, he worked hard to change the discrimination and biases that had been entrenched for hundreds of years.

The Begaritto Continent, once known for its harsh desert climate, became a lush and thriving land of greenery and nature. Although the first few years were hectic due to the changing weather patterns and various natural disasters, ambassadors from both the Milis Church and the Arcadian Empire helped to resolve it all.

The Heaven Continent remained as elusive as ever, though rumors were that ambassadors from the Arcadian Empire had made contact.

And as for the Central Continent...

While the 'world' had entered into an age of peace and prosperity, the Central Continent had entered into war.

Various forces dissatisfied with the new world order had united fragmented kingdoms in the Strife Zone to rebel. And though weak individually, the rapid advances in magic technology flowing from research at the Ranoa Magic Academy allowed them to slowly gain the power to carve out their place.

Still, it was a stalemate.

But today, the New Kingdom of Asura sought to break that stalemate.

In the depths of the palace, dozens of robed magicians had set up a magic formation. In the center of it, a young girl with blank eyes sat, tied up as if a sacrifice to fuel the spell.

"Oh fallen true god, we implore you to accept this sacrifice! Summon a champion that will save us from despair!"

An incantation that sounded like a prayer echoed throughout the room. Each magician, repeating it with religious fervor.

With each repetition, ominous crimson light crackled from the magic formation.

And eventually...

Space broke.

A fracture in space appeared behind the young girl, for a brief moment showing a land with towering buildings of stone and glass, filled with crowds of people.

And then a black-haired young man walked through. His eyes were tired, with black circles underneath them. Still, he looked around with surprise and spoke up in Japanese. "Where is this? I was visiting Shizuka's grave, but..."

Cheers echoed in the room. The magicians hugged each other in joy and jumped around, celebrating.

The young man was confused and then noticed the girl tied up. Eyes widening in shock, he quickly moved to untie her.

And then an explosion rocked the palace.

The magicians panicked.

Some immediately rushed towards the stairs. Others moved towards the black-haired young man and the young girl.

But before any meaningful action could take place, a golden beam of light pierced through the ceiling.

The young man... No, Akito Shinohara instinctively grabbed the young girl as he jumped away, trying to keep her safe. But at that time a golden sword flew down and pierced into the floor.

A heavy impact and wind scattered, causing Akito to fly back, clinging onto the young girl.

"It's the Hero!"

"Quick! Summon the Magic Knight!"

"Activate the warp circles! We can't have them take the Apostles!"

A frantic mess. Magic formations filled the air as the magicians struggled to mount a rapid defense.

Akito noticed all of that, but he didn't move. Instead, he placed the young girl behind him and scanned the room, looking for either a way out, or something to defend with.

Before anything else could happen, someone jumped down from the ceiling and landed on the ground.

It was a young woman with flowing golden hair and bright green eyes. Grabbing the sword on the ground, she placed it over her shoulder and grinned. "Alright! In the name of justice, the Hero, Stella Notus Greyrat will smite you-"

She suddenly cut herself off when she met Akito's eyes. After that, her gaze shifted to the young girl behind Akito and her expression dimmed.

Akito quickly moved the block the woman's view.

"Get her!"

The magicians took advantage of the brief pause and rushed to attack Stella.

Magic circles filled the air and a barrage of mana shot towards Stella.

But before they struck, the spells suddenly shattered. And after that, someone landed on the ground beside Stella.

It was a red-haired young man, holding a book in his left arm. He brushed off his gray robe and then said, "How many times do we have to tell you, Auntie? You can't run off without us!"

Explosions echoed from above, shaking the chamber.

It was a mess.

Akito didn't know what was going on or who these people were. But he could instinctively tell that the situation was dangerous.

The young girl behind him got up. As she looked around, her previously blank gaze started to regain some emotion... but mostly confusion.

"Argh! Whatever!" Stella pointed at Akito and said, "You! Aki! Sit put and keep that girl safe or whatever! Ares, get them out of here!"

The red-haired young man sighed and flipped open his book. "Why do all my aunts and sisters keep making me their errand boy...?" Even as he grumbled, a crimson magic formation enveloped Akito and the young girl, warping them away.

And then it was just Stella and Ares, along with the remaining magicians.

Silence fell.

And then...

"Pick a god and pray, you bastards!"

"This is why you're still single at 25, Auntie!"

"Shut up, Kid!"

-αω-

When Akito blinked, he was already standing outside in the ball room of a crumbling castle.

People in gleaming white armor were fighting against other people in black armor.

It was hectic. Confusing and dangerous. Even so, Akito pulled himself together.

He couldn't die here. His life wasn't his to give, so...

A slight tug from behind.

Akito looked back to see the young girl holding his sleeve.

She looked up at him with a blank and delicate expression before saying, "Are you going to save me?"

Akito froze.

It was impossible.

A quick look around showed crazy spells and arrows flying through the air. And even as he looked, there were some knights in black armor rushing towards him and the girl.

But...

Hearing the young girl's words and seeing her expression reminded him of another girl. One whose last expression was still seared in his mind.

So, he shoved aside his hesitation and grabbed the girl's hand. "That's right." He gave a serious nod and said, "We'll get out of here, I promise-"

A faint wind.

Akito's eyes widened and he shoved the girl back, moving in front of the wind. He instinctively held up his arms to block whatever it was, bracing himself for pain or worse.

The sound of clashing steel echoed, and then sparks flew.

Akito blinked and then realized that someone had protected him.

A young woman with crimson hair, kept in a neat braid and wearing a suit of white armor.

She kicked away the corpse of the knight attacking Akito and then turned around to look at him. "So you're the Fallen God Worshippers' trump card, huh?"

Akito gulped, especially seeing the bisected corpse slowly bleeding out behind the young woman.

The crimson-haired young woman sighed and said, "Dad was right. People really did try to summon a hero from another world, huh? ...You don't have any weird cheats or anything, right?"

Akito blinked. "E-Excuse me?"

The crimson-haired young woman blinked and said, "Aaand you're talking in that made-up language Dad and Auntie use. Hah... Should've listened to Mom more about studying..."

Wait. Weren't they speaking in Japanese?

How did he understand the young woman if they weren't?

At that time, there was a red flash and the young man from earlier appeared beside the crimson-haired young woman.

That red-haired young man glanced over and said, "Everything good up here, Sis?"

"Yeah. Just a bunch of dumbasses flailing around."

"...Mom's totally going to scold you for cursing."

"What, you gonna tattle or something? Aren't you a grown ass man already?"

"Of course I'm going to tattle. It's the only leverage I get over all these women in my life making me do their bidding."

"Pft. You should be lucky you have some many beauties willing to act as your wingmen when you go on dates, Ares."

Ares turned a bright red and said, "W-Whatever! Anyway!" He turned to look at Akito and then spoke in Japanese. "Auntie said to keep you safe, so just sit back and wait a bit. It's probably going to get a bit hectic, but-"

At that time, a giant portal suddenly appeared in the sky.

Ares froze and looked up. "...No way. Did they really get desperate enough to try and summon monsters from another dimension?"

The crimson-haired young woman clicked her tongue. "This is why Dad needs to get off his ass and-"

Whatever the crimson-haired young woman was cut off as something flew from the portal and knocked her away.

Ares laughed. "That's what you get for- FU-!"

His words were caught off as well when a figure flew from the portal and sent him flying too.

And then Akito was alone with the young woman behind him again.

...Just what in the world was today?

Was this his fault for reading so many isekai novels and second chance stories recently?

"Ah."

A faint voice echoed from behind him.

Akito blinked and then realized it was that young girl.

Her eyes were blank again, looking like she had given up on life.

Seeing that pissed him off.

...Because he had seen that exact same look in the mirror more than once after Shizuka died.

"Hey." He grabbed her shoulders and said, "Listen. We're getting out of this mess, okay?"

The young girl didn't respond.

"...My name is Akito. Shinohara Akito. What's yours?"

A connection. Something for her to cling onto.

Akito didn't know if it would work, but he needed her to not just give up.

The girl blinked and then looked thoughtful. After a bit, she said, "...Riria."

"Alright. Riria."

Akito grabbed Riria's hand and then took a look around.

It was a hectic mess. The knights had stopped fighting each other and were now fighting creatures that looked just like demons from an RPG or something.

Akito took a deep breath and focused.

This wasn't a game. It was reality. And the first thing he had to do was get himself and Riria to safety.

From what that Ares guy said, there were people out there who wanted to protect him. But from how that guy was swatted away, he couldn't rely on them.

Akito swept his eyes around the surrounding and then grabbed the sword from the dead knight on the ground.

It was eerie, especially since he had to wrench it from the dead man's hands. But he didn't have time to think about it right now.

"Are you going to fight?" Riria's calm voice echoed from behind him.

Akito nodded. "Of course I'm going to fight." He looked around for threats and said, "Even if I can't win, I can't give up. I'm not allowed to."

Until the bitter end. Until the last moment.

Because his life was given to him after making a stupid mistake, and because someone else paid the price, he had to survive.

A monster suddenly fell down from the sky. A tall figure with black scales and pieces of its body dripping like sludge. Staring at Akito with beady red eyes, it suddenly let out a roar and lunged.

Akito roared back and swung his sword.

-But it was too slow.

He didn't know how to fight.

Even though he wasn't scared of death, it didn't mean that he was skilled enough to avoid it.

Still, he focused.

Just a minute more. Just a second longer.

If he could live just that much more, surely, somehow. Someway...!

'That's the spirit!'

A chippy and bright female voice echoed in Akito's head.

It distracted him.

And by the time he realized that it distracted him, the monster was already swinging its clawed hands at his head.

But before it struck, ice suddenly bloomed and froze it in place.

After that, a calm and collected female voice echoed from the side, followed by footsteps.

Akito looked over and saw a silver-haired young woman with slightly pointed ears approaching. Beside her, there was a young woman with light blue hair, smiling despite the chaotic environment.

And both were beautiful.

Akito realized he was staring and then looked away, his face hot.

Seeing that, the silver-haired young woman giggled. "Oh my! Auntie's going to be jealous, Celes."

The blue-haired woman giggled as well and said, "Well, he's pretty brave. And kind of cute? Right, Lucy?"

A faint sigh echoed from behind both of the women. After that, yet another beautiful young woman with shimmering silver hair and silver eyes appeared. "Can you two be serious? You can hunt another guy for double dates AFTER we clean up this mess." Her silver eyes suddenly flashed a light green and then she said, "Also, block."

Purple lightning crashed down from the sky.

But it was frozen in place by a sudden icy wind and then dissolved with a sudden burst of geometric circles.

Seeing all of that...

Akito couldn't help but ask.

"Who are you people?"

The three beautiful young women looked at each other.

And then they shrugged.

Akito blinked at the completely unhelpful response.

The woman with silver eyes let out an apologetic smile and said, "Well..."

A sudden golden beam of light cut through the air, illuminating the land and splitting the portal in the sky.

The silver-eyed woman glanced up at the sight and then smiled. "We're here guest party members helping the Hero on her quest?"

"...What?"

Akito was still confused.

The silver-eyed woman laughed and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Auntie Stella will explain it more after you two catch up."

The other silver-haired woman crossed her arms and said, "Kadi. People don't like it when you play the cryptic prophet."

"Well, people don't like it when you and Celes go around acting horny and soliciting men for threesomes."

"I know a few guys who would beg to differ~"

"THIS IS WHY DAD HAS GRAY HAIR!"

"Puh-lease. He's had gray hair since ever. And so does Mom, you know?"

...Akito still wasn't sure what was going on.

But... it seemed like he was safe now?

Even so, he didn't lower his guard. Especially since none of the women he'd met had even mentioned or commented on Riria.

If it was him they wanted, they might treat her as disposable. So to make sure everything worked out-

A sudden flash of gold. After that, someone landed on the ground in front of Akito.

That young woman they called the Hero, and who some others called Stella.

Akito tensed.

If he had been summoned to be a hero, it would be fine. But to be summoned when there was another hero, and for this chaotic event to occur... he had to be ready in case things went south.

Because of that, he didn't let go of his sword.

...Or that was his plan.

But then he saw the woman's face.

It was a strange expression.

Hesitation, yearning, affection, fear... Those emotions all flashed across the beautiful blonde woman's face.

Akito didn't understand why. But there was also something else he didn't understand.

The foreign woman standing in front of him was unfamiliar. He would be sure that he would remember meeting such a striking beauty, even if it was just in passing.

But even while he didn't find the woman's face familiar, there was something about her that was.

The way she was looking at him, the way she stood...

Wait.

'You! Aki! Sit put and keep that girl safe or whatever!'

He remembered what she shouted at him before sending them out of that room.

Aki.

The woman had called him Aki.

Akito focused, staring at the woman's face.

She was older than him, and her face was completely different.

But as she stared at him, Akito faintly recalled another face. One that he could never forget.

And although he wasn't sure, he decided he had to make sure.

Because if he managed to get isekai'd. Maybe, just maybe back on that day...

"...Shizuka?"

The blonde woman froze. And then she started to laugh, faint tears spilling from her eyes. She brushed them away and then stepped forward, wrapping him in a hug. "Aki, you idiot...! What took you so long to get here?"

Akito froze as well. And then he started to cry.

"H-Hey!" The blonde woman, Stella- No. Shizuka panicked and said, "You can't cry! O-Only the girl gets to cry in situations like this!"

"I'm sorry, Shizuka! I'm sorry! I'm so, so, so...!"

"...Hah. Idiot."

-αω-

"And that's a wrap, huh?"

Leaning against a nearby pillar, I watched the emotional reunion between my baby sister and her love from her previous life and wrote down some notes in my book.

"...And so, the hero reunited with her lost love after defeating the Demon Lord..." I snapped my book shut and looked at the young girl standing behind Akito. "...Of course, there's still the new love interest to handle. But love triangles always spiced things up a bit, so it should be fun."

A soft sigh echoed from beside me.

He was a young boy, just turning ten years old. Scratching his light brown hair, he looked at me with his golden eyes and said, "Why do you always have to act so weird and eavesdrop on things, Grandpa?"

I shivered as I heard that and then pulled out another book. It was pretty worn-out, but the title 'A Greyrat's Guide for Dummies' was clear on its cover.

Flipping it open, I quickly wrote down a note.

'Being called grandfather when you aren't even past 40 is weird. Don't mess with time travel or have kids when you're super young or you'll regret it.'

The young boy cringed and said, "And you're writing something weird again in that book, aren't you?"

I patted my currently one and only grandson's head before saying, "You'll understand how valuable this is one day, Clive. And when you do, you can teach it to your younger uncles."

My grandson grimaced again and then said, "...Is this why they teach you to just marry one person in the Milis religion? Why is our family tree so confusing?"

"...Yesn't."

"What?"

"Anyway." I reached up to stretch.

It looked like things were wrapping up over there.

My lovely daughters and second oldest son had regrouped and were bullying their aunt about her now much younger boyfriend.

I could confirm that the <Playback Miko> in this timeline was completely powerless... and that it was her powers I had inadvertently assimilated in the distant past by continually expelling my mana into the atmosphere and reassimilating it.

All that was left now was to just clean up this mess and get everyone home.

...And to find yet another excuse to convince Eri and Sylphy that we were getting too old to have more children again when most of our kids were already looking to settle down with their own kids.

Clive furrowed his brow and then said, "You're thinking about something weird again, Grandpa."

I ruffled his hair and said, "And that's why your mom asks me to babysit with you. Learning what not to do is the best form of experience. So if there's anything you disagree with, remember to not do it when you grow up."

Clive nodded. "Okay. Then I'll make sure to not become a pervert who peeps on people while writing things in a book with a creepy smile on his face."

"I do NOT do that!"

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"...Are you really going to argue with a kid, Grandpa?"

"...Let's just go grab everyone and get going."

Hah... Children.

I shook my head and then started walking back towards my kids and baby sister.

Clive walked beside me, holding my right hand. As he did, he said, "Hey, Grandpa."

"Yeah?"

"Are we really going to walk all the way there?"

"Of course."

"..."

"...?"

Clive sighed and said, "I hate you."

"Love you too, pipsqueak."

"...Since it'll be a while, can you at least tell me what story you're writing this time?"

"Hm?" I glanced at him and said, "I thought you didn't like my books?"

Clive blushed and said, "W-Well... a lot of girls at school keep bugging me since they found out I'm related to you..."

"Oho~?"

"It's not like that!" Clive huffed and said, "My friends just want to know what you're writing next!"

"Friends, huh~?"

Clive glared at me.

I laughed and said, "Fine, fine. I'll probably publish a story about my life next. And as for a name... I'm thinking Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation."

"..."

"What?"

"...Grandpa. Now, I won't report you or anything, but could it be that you secretly fluff your sales by buying your books? Because what kind of title IS that?!"

"Hey! It's accurate!"

"Life in Vain? Guys all over the world would kill you in envy! How the heck can you call living a life with so many beautiful wives and children a life in vain?! And Jobless Reincarnation? Dad already praises your name every other word as the reincarnation of Saint Milis! Is your ego that big?!"

"...Tch."

"Did you just click your tongue at me?!"

"...This is why I hate geniuses."

"HAVE YOU LOOKED IN A MIRROR?!"

-αω-

Time flowed, lives intersected, and the story continued.

The beginning of every story comes to an end, but each end also leads to another beginning.

Be it tragedy or comedy, sadness or joy. As the pages close on the end of one book, the pages open at the start of another.

To you, reading this haphazard tale. To 'you' living that chaotic life.

And to the new stages and people awaiting for you there.

Best wishes upon your endless story.

~LIV~

-AFTERWORD-

And so ends the story of Rudeus Notus Greyrat, aka RNG, the cheating bastard who had everything go right in his life.

Hah... lots of stuff I wish I could have done better in this story, but you live and you learn.

Although I showed a bit of the future here, I think we'll bookend this where it stands.

Thanks for everyone who followed me on this crazy train to the bitter end.

Hopefully it was a somewhat satisfying ending.

This was a MONSTER of a story to handle. I didn't realize just how LONG the original web novel was. And that's not even counting in the extra stuff added in the light novels either.

Although fun, I definitely wouldn't do this again. At least, not like this.

I have quite a few grievances with how the story played out, and quite a few plot threads that I had to messily tie up.

If you've read this far, I'm sure you remember the flashforward of Rudy waking up from a coma.

Originally, this story was going to have an arc where Rudy failed because of that and did a timeloop. We'd follow him back in time and see how he set up everything for a 'perfect' ending.

Also originally, this story was a pseudo self-insert where 'I' took the place of Rudy.

Things changed along the way, and Rudy became his own person, but parts of that original story are still meshed throughout this one.

Honestly, after the initial backlash from that chapter, I ended up scrapping everything and writing a different arc.

I think a lot about then though, and I think I should have stuck to my guns. The story was a lot more fun to write then, and I think it would have made this much more satisfying to wrap up since it would have fleshed out a lot of the things I had to quickly close up here.

Still, a finished story is better than infinite hiatus.

Like the original story, the total writing time for this story also ended up being around 2 years. It's substantially shorter though. I think it's also technically the longest story I've completed.

...And it's not even an original work.

orz.

All-in-all, this was definitely a valuable learning experience.

And with this, I can count myself among the few completed Mushoku Tensei fanfictions. Yay!

Now to just wrap up my Second Coming of Gluttony fanfiction, and I can also say I'm among the few who completed a lengthy korean web novel fanfiction...

...And I should also get back to my original stories.

I've been itching to write a Villainess story as well as a Transmigrated into an Academy story. All the ones I like seem to never be complete, so I might as well write one I can enjoy for myself.

Anyway.

Thanks for reading Life in Vain: Jobless Reincarnation.

I enjoyed writing it, and it's been pretty fun seeing all the reactions to it.

Especially how much people hate Paul. By god, some people have a deep-seated hatred towards the guy.

It got pretty messy near the end here, but if there's anything in particular you want me to clear up, I'll make sure to do so after I have time to go back through the comments.

As an abridged version of how the events in this story went though:

OG Mushoku Tensei happens -> 'someone' gets reincarnated into Rudy's shoes and causes timeline shenanigans -> that 'someone' gets a bad ending and looks for someone better -> he finds Rudy's reincarnation in an alternate Earth which is mostly similar to his past life's Earth -> that Rudy gets reincarnated as our lord and savior RNG -> this story.

...Or something.

I had notes once in the past, but now... eh...

Well then.

I guess this is it.

Thanks again for reading, thanks especially to everyone who's left a comment, and best thanks to you.

Yes you, the person reading this.

We haven't met, but the fact that you've read this, even if you haven't interacted with me, makes me glad.

Just don't expect me to rewrite this monster, okay? Time is money as well as a cost-utility analysis, and fanfictions are a net-negative in profits, ahaha...

Bye now, and happy life to you!

-HappyVainGlory