Early Arrival-A Mushoku Tensei Fanfic Pt 2
Hello, everyone! RJ Writing Ink here and I’m so happy to say that Mushoku Tensei is back for another season. And more importantly, Eris “The Heartbreaker” Greyrat is about to become relevant to the story once more! If you have read my recap of the first season of the show, or the way I mentioned her in season two, then you know my opinion on Eris: her decision to go on an anime training arc for the sake of her boyfriend, while well-intentioned, was horribly executed. And that when she returns to Rudy, she is going to have to work like crazy to make up for the three years of depression she gave him. But what if there was a fanfic that already did that ahead of time? And what if that fanfic was one that I had already brought up?
Some time ago, I put the spotlight on Early Arrival, this canon-divergent fanfic where Rudy ran into Sylphie, Ariel, and Luke as they were fleeing to Ranoa. He and Sylphie spend an entire year dating, helping him heal his trauma, couple, and then tie the knot even sooner than in the canon. I couldn’t talk about the story past a certain point because I didn’t want to spoil something big. However, with the third season now here, and with us already knowing that Eris is going to come back, I’m free to talk about it. Why? Well, while I can’t say when Eris returns in the canon, what I can say is that it happens much earlier in Early Arrival. And the results are pretty cathartic, if I do say so myself.
Name: Early Arrival
Type of Fanfic: AU
Written By: GameGladiator46
Started: April 2024
Status: Ongoing
What if Eris Tried to Stop Nina?
So, if you saw the second episode of the new season, then you’ll know about Nina, that blue-haired girl who showed up during that thing with Badigadi. She had shown up so she could beat Rudy, drag him back to that sword school, and show him off to Eris because she was jealous Eris had a boyfriend. It didn’t work out, and as far as I know, Eris never knew about this in canon. But that changes in Early Arrival.
In this fanfic, Eris hears about what Nina is up to and, rather than let her bother Rudy, she attempts to head her off without him finding out. She shows up just in time to stop her, but unfortunately, they get into a fight that attracts a crowd, including Ariel, Luke, and Sylphie.
I’m not sure if it’s mentioned in the anime, but in the light novels, when Sylphie learns about Eris and how she broke Rudy’s heart and left him depressed, she was mad. She said that she would beat Eris up if they ever ran into each other, leaving Rudy genuinely worried for her safety and asking her not to. In this fanfic, though, we get to see Sylphie try to make good on that threat, because the second she sees Eris, she knew it was her. The heartbreaker. And when she hears that Eris didn’t even plan on seeing him, she snaps. She proudly tells Eris that she’s Rudeus’ wife and that she lost her man because of her own mistake.
After that, Eris was pretty much seeing red until the moment Rudy left his hiding place in the library and sees everything. So he grabs Eris and drags her somewhere to talk in private.
Rudy just tears into Eris, and it is SO CATHARTIC
Now, in this story, Rudy had already figured out Eris’ reason for leaving him thanks to Sylphie. He had thought he could talk to her rationally. But the moment she asks him why he didn’t wait for her, all this resentment and frustration he had burst out. And he goes off on her for everything. For the letter. For leaving him so depressed that he wouldn’t leave his tent for a week. For crippling his self-worth as a man to the point that he got ED for a year. Everything. Eris is brought to tears by the end of it!
I absolutely loved this moment in the story. As a reader, we are supposed to understand the logic behind Eris’ decision to leave. She was traumatized by what happened with Orsted, so she went on a training arc to make sure she could protect Rudy. And I respect her self-awareness of the fact that she was too dependent on her boyfriend and had to get stronger. We are supposed to understand why, but at the same time, we get mad over how she went around doing it. And since I don’t know if anyone ever calls her out on it in the story, we have to rely on fanfics to vent our frustrations at Eris. And the writer manages to do so while keeping Eris and Rudy perfectly in character. I tend to go for the higher-quality fanfics, so the fact that I liked this is a testament to how good I think it is. I would’ve wanted it to spend more time on Sylphie and Eris’ fight so they could get their feelings out, but other than that, it felt great. Incredibly cathartic.
And after this, a lot of things change for the story.
Eris moves in
So, despite everything that’s happened, Eris is still in love with Rudeus, and despite being committed to Sylphie, he’s still in love with her. So, much like what we saw at the end of the second season with Roxy, Rudy asks Sylphie for her permission to eventually marry Eris. And Sylphie, bless her heart, can’t bring herself to be mad at Eris, and lets her join their family. But WITH STIPULATIONS!
Eris can’t sleep with Rudy for a year as punishment for making Sylphie wait that long.
Sylphie calls dibs on their first kid.
And that’s it. Eris starts to live with them, with plans to go back to the sword sanctum later to finish her training. She starts going to school with Rudy and Sylphie, meets their friend group. And most of what happens in the canon still happens. Except for one thing, and I am so glad that it happens.
I always wondered if that would happen
By now, we all know how Paul died saving Rudy from that Hydra. And for the longest time, I have wondered if it was possible to keep that from happening. I concluded that this would have only been possible if Eris and Ghislaine had been a part of the group. With their additional swordsmanship augmenting the Black Wolf Fangs, it stands to reason that the party could take the Hydra down sooner, and thus spare Paul’s life. Thankfully, this fanfic validates that idea. When Rudy and Elinalise set off to help rescue Zenith, Eris and Ghislaine join them, bolstering the overall party’s strength.
This was something that I greatly appreciated about the story. I think that not having Ghislaine present was a missed opportunity for a reunion of Paul’s old adventuring party, which is something that will never happen thanks to his death. And it also gave us a chance to see what the dynamic between Eris and her father-in-law would have been like had he lived. The two butted heads in the brief time they knew each other thanks to Paul’s fight with Rudy, and they do clash a little when they meet again. But they do develop a level of respect for each other.
A wrinkle that Eris’ presence adds to the labyrinth is how Rudeus’ relationship grows with Roxy. The anime was more subtle about it, but it’s meant to be obvious that Roxy had fallen for him. The reason that she was trying so hard to win him over was that she didn’t know until after they found Zenith that Rudy was already married and going to be a dad. Here, though, Roxy has yet to act on her feelings, despite encouragement from the others.
Sadly, I cannot tell you where it goes from here, as the author has only just started to update the story again. It’s a shame, but there are plenty of great fanfics that remain incomplete. But I’ve rambled on enough about it. I just wanted to gush about one of my favorite Isekai some more.
