Chapter 44: Final Moments

The next morning, we passed through the gates of the royal capital without issue. I mean, what gatekeeper would have even thought of stopping me? The gatekeepers of the royal capital and royal palace all knew my face, after all. Considering those rumors I’d had spread around, the second prince had to know I was coming, too.

It wasn’t as if we had spread the word about the armies following behind me, but they surely would have known about them by now. They weren’t stupid, and they had to be gathering their own intel. There were thousands of soldiers involved, so there had to be at least one of them leaking info for money or working in cahoots with the enemy.

But there was no sight of the enemy at the city gates. Instead...

“Hurrah! Long live the Lady Angel!!!”

“Whoa!”

They surprised me! The whole city was welcoming our arrival! That word-of-mouth had worked way too well! It would be very hard to publicly arrest me like this. In fact, that could lead to a quarrel between the soldiers and citizens...no, it could start an all-out bloodbath.

Well, it seemed most of the aristocrats and soldiers had abandoned the second prince, but those who had too much to lose or were past the point of no return...like those who were involved in the king’s death...would be betting on their last chance to turn things around.

If Fernand and I were to be killed, the second prince would seize control of the situation and become ruler. The aristocrats, military, and the people had changed sides for now, but things would turn around again if the second prince was suddenly the only rightful heir.

So, their move would be...

Fwsh! Ksh!

Yup, assassination. They’d try to go for Fernand and me. Any idiot could have figured that out.

Not only did Francette have superhuman strength and vitality, but her sight, reflexes, sense of hearing, and reaction speed were off the charts. Deflecting arrows or javelins out of the sky was possible for normal soldiers, so she could practically do it with her eyes closed.

Of course, the Four Walls were capable of this, as well. Not to mention, I had donned chainmail, just in case. Plate mail would have been so heavy that I would have been immobilized, but I can at least manage this much.

Besides, this was...you know. Yes, I created it as a “potion container.” Thus, it was lighter, easier to move in, and more durable than normal chainmail. Stopping an arrow from a distance was no problem at all. But what if someone used a giant composite bow or ballista? Or what if I took a shot to the head? Haha... Hahaha...

I’m counting on you, Francette! I couldn’t rely on the automatic defense mechanism that Celes may or may not have put on me.

I couldn’t deny the possibility that the instance when the ex-bishop attacked me was just a coincidence, and I wasn’t so stupid that I would just risk my life on something that wasn’t even confirmed. So, I decided to consider Celes’s protection unconfirmed for the moment.

Having knocked an arrow out of the air, Francette glared in the direction the projectile came from. But since it had been fired from long-range and the culprit likely hid immediately after taking the shot, there was no one to be found. Though, even if she had seen someone and chased after them, they probably would have gotten away. There would be no finding them if they’d hidden out somewhere or changed outfits and blended into the crowd. Besides, she hadn’t even seen them taking the shot in the first place. It wasn’t as if they had to be dressed as a soldier or anything, so they could have been in civilian clothing.

It would have been foolish to send off one of my five guards to find someone with such little hope of catching them. In fact, separating me from my guards could have been their goal in the first place. They probably assumed I had no fighting ability myself.

The events during the battle with the Aligot Empire’s western invading forces were considered divine punishment for opposing the Goddess’s Angel. I had deliberately set rumors in motion stating that I myself only had the ability to make healing potions.

Yeah, let’s all pretend that the whole explosive potions thing didn’t happen. We could all act like the Goddess made that happen directly. Though, if that had been true, no sane person would try to mess with someone so dangerous... But I mean, they were doing such stupid things because they weren’t normal, I suppose.

Even if I wasn’t here, Fernand would have eventually gathered enough forces to siege the royal capital or otherwise requested aid from other countries. That, or someone would have sacrificed their life to assassinate the second prince, or he would have been eliminated some other way rather quickly. He had already lost at the point when he failed to kill the first prince.

All I was doing was making the whole process slightly quicker, and slightly decreasing the senseless loss of life. That’s all there was to it. Things might have been different if the second prince was more likeable and had enough supporters to array themselves against the first prince, but that was neither here nor there.

Anyway, we were about to arrive at the royal capital. I had been here before. It was back when that party invitation was forced upon me, so I wore a dress I had “borrowed” at the baron’s house and visited this place, then switched to a maid outfit as soon as I arrived. It was quite eventful. But for some reason, there was no guard standing at the gate this time.

Maybe he had a duty to not let me pass as the gatekeeper, but he had temporarily left his post because was afraid of being struck down by divine punishment... No, no, he was probably in the bathroom or something. Can’t help it if nature calls! And so, the six of us passed through.

But man... it looked like the second prince really had been forsaken by everyone. It’s pretty bad when you’ve even been abandoned by the gatekeeper.

But come to think of it, this should have been expected. The rightful heir to the throne, the first prince, was leading his army to the royal capital. Most of the aristocrats and military had taken his side. The merchants and commoners were all in support of the first prince. Same goes for the Temple of the Goddess.

The only ones supporting the second prince were a few aristocrats with bad reputations, some immoral merchants, and a handful of foreign bishops with dubious origins. Then there was the triple combo of rumors about “the father-killing usurper,” “the wrath of the Goddess,” and “the return of the Angel.” I’d actually respect anyone who could still support the second prince through all that...

And so, I casually strolled farther inside. I came to realize that I was the only one who had been here before out of our party of six. Of course, I had only seen the changing room and party hall. But the others walked on as if they knew where they were going, for some reason, so I was just following them... They all knew the royal palace in their own kingdom well, so maybe they had an idea of the layouts of other palaces, too. I didn’t have any choice but to shut up and follow them, anyway...

“Here.”

Um, Francette? What do you mean, “here”...?

How would she have known where the king (lol) was? He could have been in his office, the bedroom, or even the dining hall. And this was...

“This is the audience chamber. This is the only place the cornered king would face his enemies.”

...Did she hear that from a play or a bard’s song or something? Well, I guess we were going to search every room, anyway. We may as well start with this room...

...

...

...There he is!

We opened the door, and he was actually right there.

In the far end of the room, a young man who looked like he could be the second prince sat on the throne with a crown on his head. Behind him were several bishop-looking guys. And of course, soldiers stood on guard before him. I wasn’t sure if they had missed their chance to run or had some reason they couldn’t leave, or maybe they were actually there out of loyalty to the king.

If they attacked, I had no choice but to beat them down. I would have to be a fool to fuss over not killing anyone at this point. The king’s guards would likely be skilled fighters, but I highly doubted they would be any match for Francette wielding a divine sword, or even the Four Walls. I suppose they’d be lucky if they managed to survive with heavy injuries.

“Ah, you’re finally here! I welcome you, Miss Angel!”

I questioned whether I heard the second prince Ghislain correctly.

“Huh?” I stood there, mouth agape, and he continued.

“I appreciate you bringing Balmore’s army to me to acknowledge my rule. As a reward, I shall accept you as my queen once I emerge victorious over the Kingdom of Balmore!”

...So his despair had driven him right over the edge. On the other hand, it seemed his bishops and soldiers weren’t as delusional as he was, since they all looked pretty anxious and pale in the face. The soldiers were gripping the hilt of their weapons tensely. I didn’t care about the second prince that much, but I decided to proceed as planned for the rest of the audience...

“Your Highness, Prince Ghislain...”

“No, I am king now. Call me Your Majesty or King Ghislain.”

“...”

It was hard dealing with people who weren’t right in the head. But I had no choice but to continue...

“It’s clear that you’ve murdered your own father, the king, attempted to kill your brother to usurp the throne, and betrayed your own ally, the Kingdom of Balmore, by trying to invade them to distract the world from your heinous crimes. What do you have to say for yourself?”

The second prince Ghislain was taken aback.

“What nonsense is this...? My brother Fernand disrespected and opposed you, Miss Kaoru the Angel. So he should be disinherited, and the throne should naturally belong to me.”

He wasn’t gonna deny he murdered his own father and tried to kill his brother, huh...? And Fernand called me Lady Angel, but this guy refers to me as Miss Angel, eh. Well, I wasn’t sure if the automatic translation in my brain captured the nuances of Japanese honorifics accurately, but I could tell he saw himself as above me.

I mean, he did offer to take me as his queen as a “reward.” Just how much stock did he put in his own worth...? That would be a terrible punishment for me...

“Well, the first prince did displease me, but you waged war on the Kingdom of Balmore, where I was staying, and broke a mutual agreement in the process. This is akin to declaring war on me, and an act of hostility against the Goddess. So much so that the first prince’s actions are nothing at all in comparison.”

“What...?” The second prince stared blankly... No, he wasn’t a prince anymore. But I didn’t want to call him king either, so I guess he was just “Ghislain.”

“Miss Kaoru, I thought you’d forsaken the Kingdom of Balmore...”

Ah, so he really did believe that.

“No, I was just away for a short vacation. My home is still in the Kingdom of Balmore... Perhaps you’ve been tricked by someone?”

“What!” Ghislain’s eyes shot wide open, then he whirled around to face the bishops behind him. “Th-This isn’t what you told me! Y-You all said...”

So, those were the survivors of Rueda who had started all of this. ...Though, really, I already knew that as soon as I entered the room. This was odd, though. The bishops were looking pretty comfortable when they should have been feeling cornered.

True, there were a lot of royal guards standing between us and their side. They would obviously be skilled, considering they were tasked with protecting the royal family. We only had six people on our side, even if we counted me, and I have pretty much zero physical fighting ability.

But I couldn’t imagine they didn’t know about Fearsome Fran and the Four Walls, the guardsmen who had been granted divine swords. Not to mention my “non-physical” fighting ability...

Francette and the others were positioned with a space open in front of me, so I could make my denouncement, but they quickly shifted to a protective formation around me. Their first priority was to protect me from enemy attacks, so this wasn’t surprising. And they just needed to stand in front of me and let our opponents come to us rather than chasing them around, so this was more efficient.

They positioned themselves to form something like a turtle’s head and limbs, with Francette standing at the front as the “head” and me at the center, or the “shell.” This way, she could mow down any enemy who approached us and capture Ghislain and the bishops after all of the soldiers had been taken care of. It would be an easy task with these five and their divine swords.

They needed some space to swing their weapons, so there was some distance between each of them. But they wouldn’t let the enemy rush in between them, so there were no worries there.

And so, I walked behind Francette and toward Ghislain over the carpet laid out in a straight line...

Wham!

...I fell.

“Oww!” I suddenly fell through the floor into a drop of about four meters or so.

I did manage to land on my feet, but my ankles and knees couldn’t absorb the shock all the way. I fell on my butt, and hit my coccyx really hard, damn it! Pretty sure I sprained my ankles and damaged my knees, too... Though, I could heal right up with a potion, anyway.

...But man, a trapdoor?! Going real old-school, aren’t we? Francette didn’t fall when she walked over it, so they must have tripped some sort of switch that had kept it from triggering after she passed through...

Though, really, a hole that was only this deep would only give me bruises and sprains at best. If they really wanted to kill me, they would have set some poisoned spikes or something down here. And there was some water pooled here, but there were also dried branches with leaves on them, some straw, and hay acting as a cushion. Maybe those were put here so I wouldn’t get hurt? Just then...

Vwoosh!

“Gyaaaaaa! Hot, hot, hoooooot!!!”

I was engulfed in flames! This was oil, not water! The branches and hay weren’t there to cushion my fall, but to make the oil burn all at once!

“E-Extinguisher...”

Just as I tried to create a fire extinguishing agent, a shadow fell around me. I instinctively looked up, and...

“Ah.”

A big, round boulder just big enough to fit through the hole came falling onto me.

If only I had some time. If I had just a few seconds to think, maybe I could have come up with a plan. Maybe I could have made a potion container made of a durable superalloy that could hold up the boulder. It may have been possible for me to think of something like that to get me out of my situation.

But it took less than a second for the boulder to fall a mere four meters or so. Less than a second to react to the sudden turn of events while panicking and trying to put out the fire. It was far too little time to think and create a potion container.

And so...

“Yes! We finally defeated the blasphemer! Utterly crushed her into a pulp!”

“Hahahaha! I heard the knife failed to puncture her four and a half years ago when our comrade attacked her, but not even blade-proof clothing will save her from getting crushed by a boulder while suffocating in fire and being incinerated from the inside out! Even her bones shall burn to ashes!”

The bishops had been quiet this entire time, but they were now shouting with glee.

“We opened air holes so the flames won’t even go out until the oil is done burning. Though, I’m sure she died the moment the boulder fell on her. Haaahahaha!”

“What...?” Francette and the Four Walls stood there, speechless. But there was nothing they could do.

A round boulder had fallen right into the square hole in the ground. There was some space at each of the four corners, but it was too small for a person to fit through. Even if they managed to get down there, there was no way to move such a big boulder back through the hole. Especially not with the fire blazing like that...

“Hahaha, did you see the tick marks on the sides of the hole? We used those to measure and make sure there’s only a few centimeters of space under the boulder, just enough room for the stacks of branches and hay.

“In other words, your precious ‘Lady Angel,’ — the minion of evil — was completely flattened. This is divine punishment for her foolish actions against us, the true servants of the Goddess. How unfortunate! This is what you get for dragging out the first prince and trying to seize control of this kingdom, you traitors! Haaahaha!”

“...” “...” “...”

Ggg... Gggggg... Gggrrrkkk...

Francette and the Four Walls gritted their teeth so hard that blood trickled down their mouths.

“Y-You bastards...” There wasn’t a trace of sanity left in their eyes.

“Kill... I’ll kill you... Diiiiiieeeeee!!!”

Clash!

The moment Francette raised her sword to rush forward, the bishops leapt into the hidden passageway behind them and activated something that brought metal bars down at the entrance of their escape route. The bars sank into the ground beneath them, and a metallic click sounded, locking them into place.

“These bars are made of steel. There’s no removing them now that they’re completely locked in. Securing an escape route is a basic military tactic, is it not? Though, I suppose there’s no sense in a holy man explaining this to a knight. Farewell now! Haaahaha, aaahahaha!!!”

No one knew where the escape route led to. The bishops had their faces obscured with hoods, and they could change into civilian clothing as they fled. They must have taken their fortunes with them already, so they could just live their lives in leisure in some other country...

That is, if these were just ordinary knights they were facing.

Shwing! Clink.

The steel bars were sliced through with ease. This was no surprise to everyone who knew about Francette’s divine sword.

A divine sword... It wasn’t just a made-up story to inspire people, or a rumor that had been blown out of proportion. Divine swords were real, and Francette was wielding one.

“Aaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

As the Four Walls rushed into the secret passageway and captured the bishops, Francette threw the full brunt of her unbridled rage and hatred against the enemy.

Four fighters against the bishops, and one against all of the royal guards. Perhaps their forces were distributed unevenly? No soldier in Balmore would even consider that. Not if that one warrior was Fearsome Fran.

She was a deity of the battlefield. A man-eating fiend. A demon queen. A tempest of rage that couldn’t be described with mere words. Violence and death. Blood and flesh.

She easily sliced through enemy weapons, armor, marble pillars...and human bodies...like a hot knife through butter.

“Eeeeeeeeek!”

The lump of flesh atop the throne was making an unpleasant sound, but Francette would just deal with that later. It didn’t seem to be going anywhere. No one, and nothing, was going to escape.

Those who had taken the Goddess from her and those who had blasphemed against her lady would pay.

Francette didn’t think for a second that Kaoru had died. And why would she have? Kaoru was a Goddess.

But if Kaoru’s body had perished, her little vacation here was at an end, and she had thus returned to her own world. That was why Francette had tried to protect Kaoru so desperately, but these idiots had ruined everything.

She realized she would probably never see Kaoru in this life again, all because of these idiots. These absolute fools.

The other soldiers had refused to oppose Kaoru and had made themselves scarce, but these men stayed with the second prince and had gotten in the way of Francette and her group. It was their fault that Kaoru had left this world. So, she would give them the one thing they deserved...

“...Die!”

Death. They were just following orders? They have wives and kids? She didn’t give a single damn about any of that.

Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die...

No one could stop Francette as she danced in a swirl of death and madness.

And just as it had been for Kaoru’s group, no one tried to stop Prince Fernand as he made his way into the royal palace. When he arrived in the audience room, the first thing he saw was a pile of lifeless guards, the former bishops of Rueda — who had been beaten by the Four Walls within an inch of their lives — the second prince, Ghislain, curled up and crying on the throne, and Francette standing there carrying the spotless divine sword Exgram in her hand.

“Kaoru... Where is Kaoru?!”

“...”

No one replied to Fernand’s question. It was clear that Kaoru’s side had won convincingly. So why was Kaoru nowhere to be seen? And why was no one answering Fernand’s question...?

An ominous, sinking feeling grew in his chest. Fernand had opted to deliberately avoid mentioning the obviously out-of-place sight in his view. He felt as if there was no turning back once he asked about it.

Indeed, in the center of the floor leading from the entrance of the audience room to the throne, there was a hole with smoke and heat coming out of it...

Just then, a ball of light appeared in the space right between Fernand and Francette, then rapidly expanded and took on a humanoid shape. It was the being that Francette had met twice already, and the Four Walls had met once before.

The Goddess Celestine had descended.

“I can’t detect Kaoru’s soul anymore! Where... Where is Kaoru?!”

Celestine had set up Kaoru with an automatically-activated barrier and a system that would automatically strike back at her assailants. However, those were specifically designed to deal with surprise attacks and long-range shots. They were meant to protect Kaoru from swords, spears, arrows, and other weapons that could suddenly take her out.

If this had been Earth, Celestine may have granted Kaoru protections against guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and maybe even things like cannons, fuel-air explosives, bunker busters, or even a nuke. But such things didn’t exist in this world. That was why Celestine had set countermeasures in place to protect Kaoru from realistic surprise attacks. There was no point in granting her protection from nuclear weapons that didn’t exist.

As long as she wasn’t killed instantly, she could create a potion (along with its container) within seconds to deal with the threat and heal herself. And since she was more useful alive than dead, there was no reason for anyone to kill her outright. This was Celestine’s line of thinking, and thus she underestimated the potential danger Kaoru could find herself in.

The bishops who had survived the fall of Rueda must have done research on the incident when one of the other former bishops had attacked Kaoru with a dagger, and thus learned that she had somehow protected herself from the weapon. And so, they had devised a second and third layer of attacks in order to kill her, even if she was able to protect herself from a dagger or some arrows.

External burns, lung damage through breathing in the heat, suffocation from the lack of oxygen, and even being crushed by a giant boulder. Since the bishops assumed Kaoru was a normal human who had been bestowed with a small blessing from the Goddess Celestine, and not a goddess herself, they had been confident in their ability to kill her, and they had been right about that.

One of the Four Walls pointed wordlessly in response to Celestine’s words of panic. His finger indicated the hole in the ground.

“What...?”

A hole that shouldn’t have been there... Celestine didn’t think it was anything worth noticing and had ignored it completely, but stared at it now in a fluster...

“Nothing... I don’t sense Kaoru’s soul or consciousness... Nothing at all... Not even when I expand my range of detection... Ahhh, I wanted to drag it out for at least 400 to 500...hopefully 4,000 to 5,000 years! But five?! She’s gone after less than five measly years?!”

Once a human’s body perished, their immaterial presence dispersed and vanished. That is, unless a being like Celestine or the other deities happened to be around to protect them or made preparations to protect them in anticipation of their death. Celestine hadn’t expected Kaoru’s body to be destroyed so abruptly, so it took her some time to realize what had happened. By the time she noticed Kaoru’s soul and consciousness had disappeared, it was already too late.

“My precious Kaoru... He entrusted me with her care... I owed her so much... And she was my first friend... Unforgivable! This is unforgivable!!! I’ll destroy this entire kingdom...no, this entire continent! I’ll burn it to ashes and banish it to the depths of the sea for all eternity! I’ll make sure I never catch sight of it again, so I can forget all about this unpleasant emotion welling up inside me...”

Everyone froze, then the despair set in. Not only was the Kingdom in Brancott in peril, but so was every other country on the continent. Every human and every lifeform on this vast landmass would meet their doom. The Goddess herself had announced the execution, a death sentence that couldn’t be overruled.

“Despair” was the only word that could adequately describe the emotion within everyone in the room.

If it had been Celestine’s main body, or even an offspring that had been set to a slightly higher level, she may not have been quite so enraged. But unfortunately, this Celestine had her ability to think adjusted to a lower limit to make it possible to communicate with humans, which also gave her emotions particular to lower life forms, such as anger and hatred. It was only a little bit...

But that little bit of dark emotion inside her was now going berserk. There was nothing that could be done...

“Please wait!”

As everyone stood immobilized by the intense pressure emanating from Celestine’s body, one person recklessly attempted to stop the Goddess.

“You’re...”

“Yes, I am Lady Kaoru’s guardian knight, Francette!”

Celestine glared at Francette.

“You’re the one who was acting all high and mighty during that one distortion incident...”

“Urgh!”

She had been listening quietly with Kaoru there, but she must have been quite annoyed, considering she still held a grudge over it.

“So, what sort of entertaining lecture does this lowlife who unashamedly calls herself a ‘guardian knight,’ despite failing to protect Kaoru, have in store for me?”

She’s really maaad!

Fernand and the Four Walls trembled in fear at her response, but the continent was already doomed. It wasn’t as if things could get any worse. Unless Celestine decided to destroy not just this continent, but the entire world, that is...

But it was hard to believe the Goddess would go that far, no matter how enraged she was...

As such, no one attempted to stop Francette. After all, they were both devotees of Kaoru, each lost in their anger. Maybe they could reach an understanding. It wasn’t completely out of the question. They all watched with the faintest of hopes in their hearts...

“Lady Kaoru wouldn’t want this! Lady Kaoru may be unforgiving to those who mean to do her harm, but she has always shown mercy to the innocent, even if they were from an enemy country. She would never wish for the deaths of so many innocent people and those who were close to her! I’m certain she would be very sad if she heard of this... The entire reason Lady Kaoru came here in the first place was to try and reduce the number of senseless deaths to a minimum. If her efforts are not only nullified, but if even more people were to die...”

“Urgh...” Celestine recoiled at Francette’s words. She didn’t care at all for lower lifeforms, but she knew that Kaoru had a special place in her heart for them Even now that she was dead, she still wanted to honor Kaoru’s will for being her friend and helping with “that person” in so many ways.

Celestine knew Kaoru had died — perished completely, in other words — but Francette thought Kaoru had just lost her temporary, mortal form in this world and had returned to her own. Due to that belief, she was able to calm herself from her temporary burst of anger. Since she was the only one with somewhat of a tolerance built up against Celestine, she felt a duty and desperate need to calm the Goddess herself.

After all, the fate of all living creatures in the entire continent rested on her shoulders...

“Please consider Lady Kaoru’s kindness and have mercy...” Francette knelt as she made her request, and the others followed in a fluster.

“...Very well. I will be considerate of Kaoru’s will. I won’t hurt anyone.”

Fernand, the Four Walls, and Francette were filled with absolute joy at Celestine’s words. Though, rather than let it show outwardly, they kept their emotions in check...

They had all been prepared to die here today, but now they only wished for no harm to come to the people of their kingdom and the other countries. If someone had to die as punishment for what had taken place, they wanted to be the only ones to pay the price.

“Thank you, O great Goddess! Now, we offer you our lives in hopes of soothing your anger...” Francette said and switched from a kneeling to a sitting position, and the others followed suit. It seemed they did so to avoid falling into an awkward position after the Goddess took their lives.

But in response...

“You fool! After all that talk of going against Kaoru’s will and how sad she would be, you suggest I kill her most trusted allies? ...Are you an idiot?”

Celestine was right. Francette slumped her shoulders, disappointed at her own stupidity.

“Enough! I will leave it up to you all to dispose of the cause of all this. Don’t you dare let a single one of them escape!”

With that, Celestine disappeared. Now that Kaoru was gone, most of Celestine’s interest in the individuals of this world had vanished with her. And just as before, she would likely go back to quietly working on dealing with distortions without getting involved with humans in general. Just as she had before Kaoru had arrived in this world...

“...”

Francette, the Four Walls, and Fernand all looked rather dreadful. The ex-bishops of Rueda had been left groaning on the ground, and Ghislain still sat on the throne, muttering to himself that he had been saved, despite the fact that he hadn’t been saved at all...

“...I am to report what happened here to Sir Roland, His Majesty, and the people of the kingdom? And to Emile, Belle, Layette, and the others... Although the loss of many lives is unavoidable in war, the price we paid was far too high...”

The Four Walls, Fernand, and his companions just hung their heads, at a loss for words.

“So I died, huh...”

A place of nothing but whiteness. I had been here once before.

“It’s been quite a while.”

The young man in white clothing appeared before me. The self-proclaimed God-like being, who was actually a highly advanced lifeform that made humans look like water fleas in comparison...supposedly.

“How is Kyoko doing?”

“She’s well, though she’s getting older and has been spending most of her time in bed as of late...”

She was my classmate, so I knew her age, even if we hadn’t contacted each other lately. That was mostly because neither of us could move from our beds. That was especially true in my case, what with all the IVs and the oxygen tanks and everything...

So, I would be leaving first...

“How is Kaoru doing?”

The God-like being suddenly lowered his head in response to my question.

“I’m terribly sorry! Miss Kaoru Nagase has passed away...”

“What...?”

Impossible!

“How?! I thought she had the blessing of the Goddess of that world! She was supposed to be immune to illnesses, injury, and old age! What happened?!” I asked for an explanation, and he filled me in on what had happened.

“So, Kaoru wasn’t able to reincarnate again and vanished completely... In other words, she’s dead?”

“...Yes. I’m so sorry... I regret to tell you that your reason for reincarnating in that world is now gone. If you’d like, as a token of apology, I could have you choose from any of the other worlds and reincarnate there...”

“No, I’d like to go to Kaoru’s world as planned. I’m not interested in any other option.”

“B-But Miss Kaoru is already...”

“Even still!”

I didn’t back down.

“Because I’m Reiko Kuon. I’m Kaoru Nagase’s friend! No matter how far apart we may be, no matter how many decades have passed... And even if Kaoru has passed away... There’s only one place for me to go. To Verny, the world where Kaoru went!”

With that, I mustered a fierce smile. I didn’t believe it for one second. Kaoru Nagase couldn’t have died twice so easily. Even if I had heard it directly from God himself.

“Please forgive meeeeee!!!”

I didn’t know where she’d learned it from, but the Goddess prostrated herself before me in a classic Japanese gesture of apology.

Well, I already knew why. That godlike being managing Earth had already told me everything.

“For starters, I’d like my body to be reincarnated with the same conditions as Kaoru, along with an Item Box and the ability to understand every language. That is the basic loadout, right? And for my bonus cheat power, I’d like to have unlimited magical powers!”

“Gyaaaaaa! She’s completely shameless!!!”