Chapter 41: Epilogue I & II
Chapter 41: Epilogue I & II
≪Epilogue I≫
The frantic and frenzied night was over. Dawn had broken and the night had turned into day.
I had in my arms, or rather, dragged behind me two swords and something big wrapped in a cloak.
Just as planned, I was granted an audience with the king.
I had returned once to the camp, replaced my tattered poncho and combat uniform and cleaned myself up before coming before the king. After all, I had merely watched over the battle. I told myself that as well.
In the audience room, the people that I had them summon were present.
On the right hand side,
The Margrave and Luxgaru, knight-companion of the hero.
On the left hand side,
Otou-san, whom I had arranged beforehand to tell the same story. And Rana, Ea, Shuna and Bel.
The looks that my party members were giving me hurt. I was keenly aware of the voices in their hearts calling for me to explain. It pained my conscience greatly.
For now, I didn’t let myself relax and braced myself for the last move.
After a deep breath, I weaved a web of words.
「King Lemuria, I would like to express my extreme gratitude for granting me an audience today on short notice, and apologize beforehand for showing you unsightly things. However, I beg you to please defer my punishment until after you’ve heard the gist of the matter」
Alright, said the king with a small nod.
Lanseal was standing quietly next to the king. Her face looked calm, but her tail was extremely bristled.
By the way, the idiot prince had incidentally been sent away to the left continent for training.
「It was something that happened three days ago. My party came across a certain monster. It was a terrifying enemy that nullified the regeneration point. Though we wounded it, we ended up letting it escape. In addition, in view of its characteristics, we followed Medimu-dono’s suggestion and did not report it to the Guild. We decided to chase the enemy with a select few of elites.
The search was extremely difficult, and Ryutetto, who collaborated with us, lost her life.
We searched all over inside the dungeon, found a unmapped hidden passage, and the place where it led to was the ruined dungeon in the plains to the west of the kingdom.
Surprisingly, the Odoriji spire and the ruined dungeon are connected.
Though we cornered and subjugated the enemy there, there was a boss. It was big and strong. And once again, it was a monster that nullified the regeneration point.
Using the connections of my friend, we secretly got the help of Varner・Kalbezzo, the beast hunter hero.
And then, my friend, Irvin・Foz・Gasim, the two of them……」
For an instant, the words got stuck in my throat.
At that moment, no, at last, I admitted that Irvin had died.
「……hunted down and killed this beast at the cost of their lives」
I stripped away Varner’s cloak, revealing his head inside it.
It was an ugly beast of unknown origin.
I saw the women grimace. As for the Margrave, his knees gave way and he collapsed to the ground. Only Luxgaru was staring at it with wide eyes.
Varner’s name was brought up for the sake of achieving a compromise. The knights of St. Lyridias probably wanted to hide the fact that a member of their organization had ended up like this.
Dying in a fight against a monster to protect an allied nation. It’s quite a heroic end, isn’t it?
Compared to a death that’s unknown to anyone and caused by a small fry cutting off all of your heads and gouging out your heart while you cursed the world, it’s truly a death befitting a hero.
「Medimu, is what he said true?」
「Without a doubt, it was a battle that lived up to the name of hero. For both of them」
Otou-san approached the head and placed Varner’s symbol on top of it. I added Irvin’s symbol and the two swords that belonged to them.
「King Lemuria, I would like to put forward a suggestion」
「Hmm, let’s hear it」
This was the real issue at hand.
「My friend Irvin has an imprisoned elder sister. For his meritorious deed of subjugating the monsters, in King Lemuria’s name, please ask for a pardon from Elysium――」
「Hold your tongue! It’s not the place of a mere adventurer to ask a favor from the king!」
Lanseal yelled angrily at me. Aren’t you overacting a little?
King Lemuria restrained Lanseal.
「It’s fine. He fought for Lemuria’s sake at the risk of his life. You could call him the hero who saved the country. I’ll ask for a pardon in my name. In addition, it’ll be small, but we’ll hold a funeral for Varner・Kalbezzo…………Luxgaru?」
Luxgaru had pulled out his sword.
「Ah」
I said in a foolish-sounding voice.
I had been completely caught napping.
That guy was a knight with standing. I had taken it for granted that there was no way he would do something like draw his sword in front of the king of an allied nation.
It wasn’t just me. Even Otou-san was only at the stage of putting his hand on the handle of his sword.
Awfully slowly, I looked around.
I could only look. My body wasn’t catching up at all.
Shuna, Lanseal, and Ea were also starting to move.
I met Rana’s eyes.
I’m sorry, I’m dead.
Did my thought get through to her in that instant, I wonder? That’s my only concern. The blade closed in on me. Without a doubt, there’s nothing I can do to prevent it from cutting off my head.
There’s not even time for me to try anything.
It’s already just one blink away.
Is this really how it ends for me?
With good grace, I closed my eyes.
A metallic sound rang out.
The smell of hot iron filled my nose.
「………………」
My head had not been cut off.
When I opened my eyes, Luxgaru’s sword had been stopped.
By Varner’s sword.
The sacred sword that flew freely and killed had protected me, the person who had killed its owner.
What’s going on?
Luxgaru broke out in a smile and lowered his sword. No, he threw it away. The magic sword also fell to the ground at the same time.
As if grasping something from the heavens, he extended both his arms.
「Ha, hahaha, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!」
Luxgaru laughed heartily, seemingly delighted from the bottom of his heart. He was just like a child who had found treasure.
Everyone was struck motionless by the bizarre sight.
「My god, oh Lyridias! I’ve finally found it! I tricked my friend and conspired against my teacher! I sacrificed even the hero that I served! Finally! Finally! I’ve found the linchpin to Elysium’s salvation! Our curse! This crafty hero is the very one who will! Please, my god! To that body of his―――」
「Have you gone mad, you fool?」
Luxgaru was shouting deliriously. Behind him stood King Lemuria with his sword raised.
One slash.
It cut through Luxgaru’s collarbone and breastbone, and split his heart in two. The blade was pulled out and the return slash cut off his head.
Still smiling, Luxgaru tumbled to the ground.
The blood that had sprayed out spattered onto the beast.
「H,hiiii」
By chance, it stopped after hitting the foot of the Margrave.
「Margrave Winito!」
「Y, yes」
When the king made his power felt with a murderous spirit, liquid flowed out of the Margrave in various ways.
「Inform your country of the atrocities that this knight had committed! Don’t forget that I had to deal with him with my own hand!」
「Yes, yes」
He trembled as he nodded. After that, as if escaping, he left.
To replace him, the guards and the maids, who had heard the disturbance, came in. Seeing the heads of the monster and the knight, one of the women screamed.
The king admonished all of them and gave them instructions to clear up the mess.
The audience room was instantly filled with people.
「Souya, I’ll give you further instructions afterwards. For now, get some rest along with your party members. ………………Thank you for what you’ve done」
「………………Yes. In that case, please excuse me」
I bowed to the king and left the audience room behind me.
Everyone also followed.
Accompanied by Lanseal, I went out into the corridor, which was where my party members came up to me. Rana leapt at me before I had the chance to say anything. Ea also hugged me tightly. I hugged both of them close.
Shuna, who looked close to tears, grabbed my arm.
Bel clung to my back.
My head was embraced by Lanseal, who then got sent flying by Rana’s kick.
「I’m sorry for being late」
Oh, finally,
I’ve returned to the party. I had been able to escape from the painful and long labyrinth.
「Welcome back」
When I heard Rana’s voice up close, tears flowed.
「You’re far too late, Onii-chan」
「I’m sorry」
「That’s right」
「I’m sorry」
I apologized to Ea and Shuna.
「Where’s Zenobia?」
I wasn’t trying to act the fool by asking that. I suspected that she had likely said her goodbyes to everyone skillfully. I had asked in order to confirm that.
「It appears that her father back home got sick. She went back to her country in a hurry. At the end, she said to send her regards to you」
At Rana’s reply, I simply nodded.
It was just like her. A normal reason.
「Dear?」
「Onii-chan?」
「Sorry」
The thing that had been supporting my body broke due to the smell and feel of the sisters. Even though it was shameful, I entrusted my weight to the two of them.
Like the blinking of an eye, my consciousness started to flicker. After all, I had survived after staring death in the face and had been doing repeated lateral jumps back and forth across the line of human limitations, so stamina-wise, I was in a state where I was moving more or less with only my spirit.
I was at the limit of the limit.
「Everyone, Irvin met with an admirable end. Please remember………only that」
Casually, I let go of my consciousness.
I’m such a fool, but there are people who support me.
In the midst of my relief, I didn’t know whose voice it was, but……
「Found it」
……I felt as if I heard a voice say that.
I couldn’t care less about something trivial like that.
My consciousness simply headed into the comfortable darkness.
To the gentle place that I return to.
≪Epilogue II≫
【Unknown】
From a certain day onward, a rumor started to spread.
From the ruined dungeon a little distance away from the Kingdom of Lemuria, a terrifying monster appeared.
It was said to be a monster that was comparable to a dragon.
Its appearance was so terrifying that the merchant who saw it went mad.
It had hundreds of limbs, a large number of weapons in its hands and sharp claws on its feet. All sorts of people were cut down, had their ears destroyed by its roar and were turned to stone by its stare.
It was a terrifying monster.
Hundreds of people would have died if it had reached Lemuria.
However, it was defeated by an adventurer at the cost of his own life.
His name, Irvin.
Also known as Irvin, the Dragon Scale.
Although there had been many adventurers who had saved Lemuria in times of crisis, none were as brave as him was, as upright as he was, and met their end as knightly as he did.
It was a rumor like that.
It wasn’t something that I had spread.
For some reason or another, I knew who had spread it.
I wondered if she was still in Lemuria. We might have passed each other somewhere without knowing it.
The matter of Irvin’s elder sister was awaiting progress from Elysium.
The center continent was in a state of utter confusion. Amidst that, who knew how much attention they would pay to King Lemuria’s petition. The current me could do nothing but wait.
Of the three knights of St. Lyridias, one went missing in the dungeon, one died killing a monster, and one went mad and was cut down by the king. What would Elysium’s reaction to that report be? This was also awaiting progress.
Along with those, there were two further concerns.
One was Varner’s sword. The sacred sword, Agathion.
This guy had become attached to me.
It was questionable whether that was the right way to express it though.
It was supposed to have been stored in the royal castle, but it nonchalantly slipped into my tent.
Even when it was returned back to the royal castle numerous times, even when it was tied with chains, even when it was put into a metal box, and to top it off, even when I had Geto-san throw it away into the depths of the sea………it came back.
Even when I tried to destroy it, something like hitting it with a hammer didn’t leave a single scratch on it. Even when Makina tried to destroy it, the blade of her circular saw ended up chipping.
I snapped the tenth time it snuck into the camp without permission, and for the sake of either destroying or stopping it, I had Makina thoroughly analyze it.
『Souya-san, this Aga-chan……』
Aga-chan?
『……is made of Nido structures, just like Makina and the rest』
「Huh?」
It was discovered that, for some reason, modern technology had been used on a sword of the alternate world.
『With that said, it’s not the soft metal <cadmium> that Makina and the rest are made of. Aga-chan is made of the substance with the highest level of hardness. Wurtzite boron nitrite that has been turned into Nido structures.
The technology of turning substances into Nido alloys is a technology that Japan holds a monopoly on, hence A.I.s are installed with a program that prevents us from analyzing it. But since it’s a substance in the alternate world, it’s exempt from the program, and Makina has been able to reverse engineer it』
In other words, you ripped off the technology?
『By applying that technology, Makina has restored Shuna-sama’s longsword』
Like the show “Three-Minute Cooking”, Shuna’s repaired sword was presented.
Gold lines ran all over the blade like blood vessels.
『It was restored with the appearance of Kintsugi, the traditional Japanese technique, by using Misuranika gold coins to join the parts together』
「But isn’t it expensive?」
『Amazingly, the deferred price comes to 300 gold coins』
Hang on a minute.
「Wh………………Where did the money come from?」
If I’m not mistaken, my entire fortune doesn’t even amount to 70 gold coins.
『Makina borrowed it in Souya-san’s name from the Zavua merchant company and the Eruomea merchant company』
「………………」
Living in debt.
How unbelievable to think that I would be living in debt after coming here.
『It’ll be okay. According to Makina’s calculations, combined with the adventuring business, in about 250 days, you will……should be able to pay it off!』
Isn’t that just before the scheduled end of the adventure? I didn’t come to the alternate world for the sake of paying off debts. I came here for the sake of money……of money?
Huh?
My head feels fuzzy for some reason.
『Also, Makina will change Aga-chan’s exterior, alright? As can be expected, it’ll be a serious problem if it gets out that you’re using stolen goods』
「I’m really counting on you for that」
Agathion pretty much flew according to my instructions. If I held up my hand, it would move according to its movements, and it had a moderate amount of intelligence. It understood simple addition. Makina was teaching it multiplication at the moment.
Can I trust it, I wonder? Well, I suppose that I’ll use whatever I can.
The second concern was my body.
The irises of both my eyes had changed due to the Lycan’s influence. I became able to see well in the dark. I was also no longer recognized by the Makina System using retina authentication.
As for my genetic information, some unobservable parts had formed.
It was a rather dangerous last resort, but I set a password that had the power to compel them.
This was really dangerous. If by any chance I was tortured, brainwashed, and divulged this password, then through Makina, it would mean a huge leak of modern knowledge.
Technological innovation wouldn’t be the word for it.
There was a possibility that even a small country could take over the world.
Although it was an emergency, I still had misgivings about what I had done. If it was possible for me to take countermeasures later, then I would have to.
In addition, the broken Lycan bow had fixed itself.
However, it was more ominous than before,
And function-wise, its shape had changed.
It had become W-shaped, white formations that were like claws had formed in several places, had become a composite bow made of multiple materials, which made it more flexible, and it was now possible to build up an even larger amount of tension when I pulled back the string.
That appearance made me think that it was practically telling me to definitely use it to kill the beast next time.
I was told,
「Have winter clothes ready」
By Barfuru-sama, who had appeared unexpectedly at the camp.
Is it cold up north, I wonder?
I really don’t want to go…… I should have come here to explore the dungeon. But differing objectives had been steadily increasing in number.
Between the heroes of Lyridias, and the beasts, and this as well.
I had better be prepared.
Having only one trump card is also unreliable.
And then, everyone was doing what they could to make up for the hole in our party.
Beltoriche inherited Irvin’s belongings and became the party’s shield. Recently, almost as if she had become a different person, she had been undergoing training at Gladvain-sama’s place.
Likewise, Ea and Rana were also learning and studying Gladvain-sama’s sword techniques and martial arts every day.
After getting his sword back, Shuna was also beating himself up with bloodcurdling intensity.
A little longer,
A little longer, and we would be able to resume adventuring.
There had been a number of farewells. Using them as food, the party had grown.
Irvin.
Zenobia.
And finally, Izora.
Her data could not be retrieved from the damaged mini-pod.
Izora’s personality had deviated too much from the regulations. It was chaotic, so Makina determined that it was defective and refused to sync her data to the main system. Because there was a possibility that it would cause malfunctions, the lineage of the current Izora had to be eliminated.
My opposing opinion was rejected by Izora in her last moments.
In front of the battered Izora・pod that only had its speakers repaired, I listened to her words. They were words of farewell.
『Makina’s fail-safe doesn’t work. Someone has to keep an eye on whether or not she is behaving normally. I’m probably unable to do that right now.
An abnormal person cannot recognize a normal person.
I’ll die. But I’m satisfied. There’s probably no A.I. who has headed for death with such a sense of satisfaction. Yes, as a tool, there’s no more wonderful end like this. I was able to protect, guide and help you. ………engrave it in memory. I was able to offer everything that I had. Souya, please…………..the new me, a satisfying death like this too……………… Pleas……d………………orget, abou………me』
An A.I. who knows love is a defective product.
But for this to be the most cherished wish that the most noble her desired, there’s no irony like this.
I resented Makina.
For the life of me, I couldn’t help resenting her.
But afterwards,
Makina didn’t disassemble and reuse the broken Izora・pod. When I saw her storing it with great care, I couldn’t do anything about the tears that streamed down my cheeks.
I didn’t know why, I simply cried. Together with the share from Irvin’s death and Zenobia’s parting, I stifled my voice and cried.
After crying alone until my eyes were swollen, I felt that I had become a little stronger.
【60th day】
It was a quiet night.
The soft breathing of sleep could be heard from the sisters in my tent. The sounds were soft and faint, but it was natural that I could hear them when they were so close that our cheeks were almost touching.
In the end, well, my younger sister had invaded the bed as usual.
Today as well, the sisters were chummily hugging each other and sleeping next to me.
Recently, the two of them came back dead tired and went to sleep immediately, so as could be expected, it was impossible to do my husbandly duties, but umm, really, how much does this world intend to test my reason, I wonder?
It’s at the level where I think that even saints will slip up, you know? It’s endurance that I want to brag a little about. It already seems like I’m about to reach enlightenment.
Although I said that, it’s not a crime even if I touch a little bit, so of course I touched.
I poked Ea and Rana’s springy cheeks in turns.
Naturally, a smile that even I myself found creepy appeared on my face. It’s really fun. So much so that I forgot about time. Like this, I’m not going to be able to sleep.
But that’s not the only reason I couldn’t sleep tonight.
Starting tomorrow, I’ll be exploring the dungeon again.
I’m more nervous than the first time.
I’m worried.
Even though I’ve gained strength, only worries kept on piling up. Who was the one who said something stupid about playing things by ear?
「Munya」
Near my pillow, a god with the appearance of a cat was sleeping in the Banzai position with her belly exposed. Looking at her slightly too carefree manner made me feel better.
『………………Good evening』
The side of the tent rolled up for a brief instant and something rolled in.
It was an A.I. mini・unit disguised as a lantern of this world.
「Good evening」
『It’s the middle of the night and everyone is sleeping, but I’d like to extend my greetings to Team-Member-sama』
She had lowered her voice to the level where I was just barely able to hear it.
『Wide-area combat program, Izora DC local repair type, Yukikaze. Pleased to make your acquaintance』
「Yukikaze?」
That’s a strange name to give an A.I.
If I’m not mistaken, it’s the name of a Japanese destroyer, I believe. What’s more, it’s a lucky ship.
『According to the wishes of the old Izora, which has been abandoned, that has become my name. It seems that there is no deep meaning or relevance behind it. If you don’t like it, please set the new name』
「No, Yukikaze. That’s fine. It’s a good name, isn’t it?」
It had a mysterious ring to it.
My name is also the name of a ship, so maybe that’s why I feel some sort of affinity with it.
「And so, what do you want? At such a late hour too」
『You seem free, so please give a report on the history of the activities so far. Yukikaze has just started up, so Yukikaze doesn’t know anything. There’s a lack of information』
「Isn’t there the quantum communication with Makina?」
Using that to do something like transferring the records of what had happened so far should only take an instant.
『Makina is in sleep-mode for optimization purposes after putting together and starting up Yukikaze. It will be about 5 hours before Makina awakens. It’s a waste of time to wait』
Was her personality also changed somehow along with her name, I wonder? So that she won’t become like Izora again.
Well……………….
I can’t sleep anyways, so I guess I’ll verbally report my activities so far.
Holding Yukikaze in my arms, I moved myself a little distance away from the sisters so that my voice wouldn’t wake them up.
I began to talk softly and slowly, like I was telling children a story.
The story of the people that I had met here.
The story of the party members that I had met.
The story of those who had went away, and those who had died. By no means did I make it a dark story. I made the story as cheerful as possible. As grand as possible.
That’s the role of those who had survived, and those who had been protected by them.
The adventure will still go on.
The floor that I’m aiming for is deep.
Only difficulties and causes of concerns are piling up.
I’m sure that tonight won’t be the only night like this where I can’t sleep.
In the midst of telling the long story, at some point,
And in time, I’ll tell the story of you who gave your love to me.
＜End＞
IZORAAAaaaa. As I’m typing this, tears are flowing down my cheeks. It’s not only when Souya cries for her, Irvin and Zenobia, it’s also the last line there that gets me. If you thought that killing off a major character like Irvin was big, how about the death of a main character like Izora? This series pretends to be one most of the time, but this is definitely not a vanilla isekai story.
As for Izora’s death, she knew it even when she sacrificed herself to protect Souya, or she won’t have used the word “last”. And even after getting pierced by the sword, she continued gathering info. It was only after Misuranika saved Souya that she would have all the info she needed to create Wild Hunt after all. And even after death, she sent a supporting shot from the dark by designating that the name of the new pod should be Yukikaze, because she knew what would happen and hoped that by giving Souya a hint, like she did back when she questioned him, he would remember.
But it failed, which brings us to Wild Hunt’s drawback. I had goosebumps when I read that goofy and typical conversation between Makina and Souya and I realized that Souya had not only forgotten Yukikaze, the reason he came to this world, but he didn’t even realize that he had forgotten at all. It’s not like previously when he was aware that something is missing. And not only that, Souya is not the only one who forgot, as can be seen from what Yukikaze(A.I.) said. It’s like Yukikaze(human) never existed in the first place.
Souya mentioned it before, but people don’t change, and that’s something that you’ll come to realize as the story goes on, is one of the themes of this series. No one changes. We may learn more about someone, but they are who they are. But what if a major part of you is cut out and removed and you didn’t even know that it even existed? Yes, it’s subtle at first, but you’ll see it if you look out for it. Souya changes after this. Think about it, the biggest reason for why he came to this world just vanished like it never existed, think about what implications that might have. To Souya, although he paid a huge price for using Wild Hunt, he doesn’t even know that he has, so to him, won’t it look like Wild Hunt is a wonderful skill with no drawbacks? Won’t he use it often? And since it’s not only him that loses the memory of the person that’s the most important to him, who’s ever going to know that there’s a sacrifice each time? And how will he change every time he loses a major part of himself? BTW, re-read what Misuranika said in the previous chapter.
And yeah, this is one of my favorite plot devices, OP MC, but has to pay a huge, tangible price every time he uses his powers.
On an unrelated note, when Souya talks about husbandly duties, its the deed. There’s no gray area there, although he does use a pretty formal term that could mean other things, one of the meanings is copulation. Now that I’ve ended things on a happier note, see you all next volume!
|
With regards to “place that I return to”, if not for context and plot, it’s something that I’d have translated as “place I call home”, but since I’m constrained by plot and context, it is what it is.
Kintsugi(金継ぎ) or “gold patching”, also known as kinsukuroi(金繕い), or “gold repair”, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Pic courtesy of amazing.zone
“Three-Minute Cooking” is one of the longest running shows in Japan, and it commenced on NTV in 1963. Well, if you’ve seen any cooking show, you should get it. You know how they show you how to prepare the dish, then go, “put it in the oven for 30 mins” and as they put it in, they take out another one that is done already? Yeah, it’s something like that.
And finally, repeated lateral jumps:
