So, if you’ve been watching the new season of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, you’ll know that Rudeus’ going to school. He’s got a free ride into the best magic school in the world, and he doesn’t have to attend classes if he doesn’t want to. The only mandatory course is homeroom with the other special students, and he’s either met or has indirect connections to them. One classmate, though, makes it clear from the get-go that he doesn’t like him: Cliff Grimoire. And the crazy thing is that Rudeus hasn’t done anything wrong to him; he’s never met the guy. Yet Cliff hates him anyway.

There are several reasons why Cliff’s got an axe to grind with Rudeus. However, All of them stem back to an incident several years ago that I didn’t cover in my first season recap. An incident covered in a 2022 OVA starring the resident tsundere, Eris. Since Cliff will be a VIP in Rudeus’ life from here on out, it seems fitting that I backtrack and recap this in full. Gather around, and you shall hear the tale of “Goblin Slayer Eris Greyrat or: How I Pulled Up on an Arrogant Brat and Gave Him a Reality Check.”

From the Streets Did He Emerge 

So, backstory time. Cliff was born to a loving family in Milis, only for them to get murdered by bandits. Thus, he wandered the streets of Millishon as an orphan, alone and sad. Then one day, the Pope of the Millis Church, AKA this world’s version of the Catholic Church, found and adopted him. And before you question how that can happen, there’s no rule about Catholic Priests and Nuns adopting kids. So, that’s good for him.

Now that he’s the grandson of religious royalty, Cliff gets the finest things life offers. He’s got the best clothes, food, tutors, the works. So he starts learning how to magic, and he’s good at it. Everyone’s telling him that he’s a magical genius. It has nothing to do with the fact that he’s the Pope’s grandson and a likely candidate to become Pope in the future!

So, since he’s a kid, Cliff lets this praise go to his head. This becomes a problem when he sets out to try adventuring for the first time.

You Shouldn’t Have Made Eris Mad, Cliff!

So, you might recall when Dead End made it to Millishon. While Rudeus was dealing with all that stuff with his Dad, Eris went on a solo adventure. Ever since she was little, she had this dream of hunting goblins. And now that she was older and more robust, she wanted to scratch this item off her bucket list. So she goes to the local guild and takes up the goblin-slaying quest when she notices Cliff arguing with this adventuring party. He keeps trying to get them to let him join their party, and, remember, he’s got an attitude. He thinks he’s hot stuff, and they should feel honored he’s offering to help them. That only makes them mad, and they’re about to fight when Eris steps in and talks them down.

Does Cliff thank Eris for helping him out? No, the ungrateful kid snaps at her for butting in and tells her not to stick her ugly face in stuff that doesn’t concern her. Big mistake. Eris, being Eris, responds the same way she does to anyone who makes her mad: punching their lights out! Even Rudeus, one of the people she listens to, isn’t safe from this mad dog!

Eris Tells Cliff, “You not that guy, Pal.”

So, for whatever reason, Cliff does a total 180 after getting punched by Eris and starts following her around, saying he’s sorry and how impressed he was with that punch. So he keeps trying to talk her into letting him join her on her mission and bragging about how great he is. Eris, barely pays attention to him, though, since she’s not impressed. She can tell from a glance that Rudeus is more potent than this guy. But since he keeps following her like a stray puppy, she relents.

She soon regrets this because Cliff proves he’s weaker than he thinks. He is strong; it’s just that she knows Rudeus is stronger and wiser, so she’s not impressed. And all his attempts to prove otherwise backfire. He burns the goblins, so they can’t bring back proof. He gets them lost in the woods. He’s not that guy, and Eris lets him know it. 

So, eventually, they come across this group in the woods. On one side is this knight of the Millis church and this little shrine girl she’s guarding. On the other side are these Papal assassins. Eris doesn’t know this, but there’s a power struggle in the Millis Church. The side the night and girl are on is anti-Demon and Beastmen, while the Pope’s side promotes co-existence. However, Eris doesn’t know this, so while Cliff watches, she jumps in and wastes the assassins. Who also happen to be some of Cliff’s teachers. Cliff just watched his teachers die!

Again, Cliff is not that guy!

So, after getting punched, talked down to, and watching this girl kill his teachers without realizing it, is Cliff mad? Does he swear revenge for everything that happened? No; as soon as they get back to town with that knight and girl, the first thing that Cliff says is :

“Will you please marry me?”

Yes, that’s right! Despite hitting him in the face with a hard dose of reality, Cliff doesn’t hate Eris. He’s got a crush on her! Eris’ response? “Absolutely not!” And poor Cliff can’t understand why. He doesn’t get why she’d reject a genius like him. She responds that he’s not that guy; Rudeus is that guy.

Eris then goes into this whole spiel about how amazing Rudeus is. He might be younger and smaller than her, but he’s smarter, can do magic without incantations, and is just an all-around badass and future CHAD. She probably throws in a remark saying he’s better-looking than Cliff, too, and will likely be a total chick magnet when he’s older. 

Hearing all of this, it doesn’t take too long for Cliff to realize that Eris is in love with Rudeus. And compared to someone like him, he’s got no chance in Hell. Thus, Cliff heads home to sulk and think about the heavy dose of reality he just got.

Cliff Grimoire Be Hating Rudeus

So, in a single day, Cliff realized that there was someone better at magic than him, got rejected by his crush, and had three of his teachers die. In other words, he got hit with a heavy dose of reality. But the one thing that Cliff can’t stop thinking about is Rudeus, this guy he’s never even met. He’s jealous of him, not just because of Eris, but because he’s better at magic than him. And that resentment stays with him for years.

Now, the bad news. Thanks to Eris’ meddling and saving that shrine girl, the anti-Demon faction in the Millis Church got stronger. Power struggles ensue, and since he’s the Pope’s grandson, Cliff’s a target. Thus, his grandfather sends him to Ranoa University to train and learn in peace. And that’s when Rudeus shows up in their classroom one day. 

And that’s why Cliff hates Rudeus from the get-go. However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to hate him forever. Cliff Grimoire will become one of Rudeus’ most significant allies in life. You’ll just have to wait and see what happens, though.