Unlike the emotional rollercoaster of the previous volumes, *Mushoku Tensei* Volume 16 offers a more focused narrative, revolving around Orsted’s first mission for Rudeus: to help Princess Ariel become Queen of Asura. The subsequent story follows Rudeus’s efforts to uncover what makes a true king, so that Perugius might back Ariel’s claim to the throne. The way Rudeus navigates this is fascinating, as he needs to deploy different strategies and constantly struggles with how much of his knowledge to share and with whom. He knows that Derrick Redbat convinced Perugius to support Ariel but can’t reveal this directly, so he's forced to take a roundabout approach. First, he has Ariel recount the losses of her allies, then subtly nudges her toward thinking of Derrick. When that doesn’t work, he shifts focus to King Gaunis, a friend of Perugius, in hopes of finding something useful in the library. In the end, it’s Derrick’s journal after all that holds the key—though Ariel doesn’t give the exact answer Perugius was looking for, he still accepts it because she reminds him so much of Gaunis.
The plot doesn’t unfold in a straight line but branches out in various directions before eventually coming together to resolve the issue, which adds a sense of realism to the story. I also loved the library setting and found it incredibly creative how the Slime Demon King is depicted, communicating with Rudeus only through writing, and retrieving the journal simply because Rudeus is the first person to bring a book from the future and paradoxically continue its story. However, the escape sequence that follows felt a bit anticlimactic, especially since it comes right after an emotional moment between Ariel and Luke. The fight choreography was odd too—Eris, for instance, suddenly seems to disapear, while Ariel is left unprotected several times without any explanation as to why Eris wasn’t covering her. I can understand though that these events were important to keep Rudeus away from that location for the rest of the plot, and in that sense, the moment worked.
What truly struck me most in this volume is how Rudeus is now actively shaping his own story—through lies, manipulation, and deceit. Now, since the very first volume, Rudeus has always narrated events with a certain distance, almost as if he were roleplaying a character. But there was always a gap between his narration and the character in the story. He consistently portrayed the character of Rudeus Greyrat, and his thoughts, despite their manipulative tendencies, seemed like an elaborate representation of the mental processes that usually run automatically in our minds, guiding our reactions to specific events. Thus, he still came across as fundamentally honest in how he presented himself. However, this gap is now breaking down as he deliberately plays the role of a manipulator in the world around him—carefully selecting what knowledge to share. Orsted is the only one to whom he’s told everything, while he deliberately deceives and manipulates everyone else—starting with Ariel. He knows that Derrick is probably the key to Perugius’s answer, but he withholds this information and instead tries to subtly steer Ariel toward the topic. This wouldn’t be so noteworthy in isolation if he didn’t give every person involved in the conversation only a selective amount of information: Sylphie knows that Orsted gave him the mission, but not why Derrick is important; Luke doesn’t know about Orsted’s mission but knows that Rudeus is familiar with the Human God; and Ariel only knows that Rudeus wants to help her, without any background information whatsoever. This pattern extends to other parts of the story as well—for instance, when he lies to Cliff and Zanoba about needing his armor to fight Orsted again, or when he tells his wives varying amounts of information, depending on whose support he currently needs, leaving them mostly in the dark. The Man God’s influence somewhat explains this behavior, but it’s still a striking development that makes it seem as if Rudeus’s façade is slowly starting to crack.
What makes this part of the story particularly thrilling, though, is the uncertainty surrounding the Man God’s influence. The fact that the Man God can no longer speak directly to Rudeus or threaten him makes the atmosphere even more eerie, as he now lurks in the shadows, influencing events in ways that aren’t immediately visible and can only be inferred from characters’ actions. This creates a constant sense of unease, stemming from the fact that we can only understand events from Rudeus’s perspective—probably most strikingly in the moment when Luke, during an emotional scene, cries over Derrick’s journal, triggering the alarm mechanism, and Rudeus is left wondering whether Luke did it intentionally or not. And because Rudeus, as a character, doesn’t just brush aside such thoughts but often draws the same conclusions as the reader, his own uncertainty is shared by us effectively.
Yet, I did feel that the farewell at the end was a bit abrupt, which left the conclusion feeling somewhat anticlimactic. I understand that there were narrative reasons for this, but we’ve been following Ariel’s journey to Ranoa since Volume 5—how she fled there, became the student council president, dealt with the bullying issue involving Linia and Pursena, built up Fitz as her bodyguard, gathered support from Rudeus, various guilds, Nanahoshi, Perugius—and now, to leave the place so hastily without revisiting all the connections and everything she’s built over the years felt a bit unsatisfying. However, perhaps the next volume will build on this more. Those are my thoughts so far. Since this volume does a lot of setup for what will likely unfold in Volume 17, I’m really excited to see where the story goes and how Ariel’s long journey will finally conclude.