Chapter 46: Long Goodbye

Afterward, Kaoru and Reiko quickly returned to their inn.

Kaoru had ended up getting a little too rowdy. People might have come out of their homes and shops to see what was going on if they had stayed any longer, so Reiko grabbed her by the arm to make a quick retreat.

Judging by the state of things, it would be easy enough to confirm if anyone was still alive, and it was unlikely that they were struggling to make ends meet. This gave Kaoru some peace of mind.

“You can make big money off religion, after all...” Reiko said bluntly.

She hadn’t changed at all. What happened to the several decades’ worth of life experience...? Such thoughts crossed Kaoru’s mind as she hung her head.

The two rested at the inn for the evening and decided to proceed onward the next day.

When they got up the next morning, the two decided to go to the library instead of going straight to the Eyes of the Goddess headquarters. They decided it was smarter to get a better understanding of the situation before making their move.

The library was still in the same spot as before, and the entrance fee was still quite expensive. It cost the same number of silver coins, but perhaps that was because the monetary value had changed.

Of course, Kaoru and Reiko headed straight for the history books section. The first book Kaoru picked up was “The History of the Kingdom of Balmore.” If you want to research a country, pick its official history.

It would obviously be somewhat skewed to make the royal family look good, but it was a far better option than a book written by some nobody with limited knowledge or biases, or a book written by some aristocrat to make their own house look like heroes.

And so, Kaoru read the history book.

She pretended not to see the books in the religion section, all with titles like, “All About the Order of the Goddess Kaoru,” “A Goddess or an Angel? The Mystery of Lady Kaoru,” “Famous Quotes by Lady Kaoru,” “Lady Kaoru’s 99 Secrets,” “The Lady Kaoru Diet,” and “Don’t Do It! Lady Kaoru’s Breast Augmentation.”

...Especially that last one!

Reiko was also reading books to learn more about what was going on in this world. It was pointless for her to learn about things that had already happened, and she wasn’t interested in reading about history that she’d had no part in making. It was far more useful for her to research matters of the present, especially considering she didn’t know much about this world at all.

After learning about the events of around seventy years ago, Kaoru went around the various sections of the library to read a collection of significant incidents throughout history, mostly from publications akin to local newspapers, and various booklets written by people who were involved in events as they occurred.

Her own incident was quite a big deal, so there were many books related to it, but they were handwritten in ink with big letters and few pages, so she was able to get through them pretty quickly.

She ended up concentrating on her reading so hard that she found herself lost in the pages, and didn’t notice the time until the librarian tapped her on the shoulder to let her know they were closing.

“All we managed to do today was read in the library... But I guess that’s fine, considering it was something we needed to do anyway...” Kaoru said quietly.

“So, what did you find out?” Reiko asked, but judging by what they’d seen in the so-called Sacred Ground of Brancott’s royal capital and her old home in this city, it was clear that Kaoru had been made out as some villain. In fact, there was no way that was the case, judging by the unified currency and the designs on the coins.

Of course, Reiko had a good idea of the state of things already.

“Well, the thing is...” Kaoru began to explain.

After Kaoru had been dropped into the trap and retreated into the Item Box to escape the boulder, the Goddess Celestine had descended and furiously declared she intended to destroy the continent. But the guardian of the continent, the great hero Francette, had prevented this from happening. The Goddess Celestine had decreed that the rightful heir of the Kingdom of Brancott was to dispose of the culprits.

Afterward, Brancott’s first prince and rightful ruler took the throne. The second prince, who had plotted to usurp the throne and murdered his own father, was beheaded, and his wife and children were sentenced to death to prevent any incidents in the future. Of course, the former bishops of Rueda, who had put the second prince up to it, along with the aristocrats and merchants who were involved, were all guilty of the same crime. They were also sentenced to death, and their houses were wiped out.

It was the perfect time to rid the country of its corruption, and the sentences were understandably harsh, as they were afraid of what might happen if they didn’t carry out the Goddess Celestine’s orders. Not even the punished parties complained about their punishment. Perhaps even the most wicked of people couldn’t stand the thought of the entire continent being destroyed because of them.

The remaining former bishops, who had no political ambition and fled from Rueda with their fortune to live in leisure, ended up getting the short end of the stick. The Goddess Celestine’s orders spread out to the countries of the peninsulas as well, and each of them frantically searched for the former bishops, captured them, then sent their seized assets back to the Rueda region in the Kingdom of Balmore. This involved the lives of everyone on the continent, including themselves, after all.

There was a ghastly air about the search parties that had gone out to find the targets. And considering everyone on the entire continent was cooperating in the search, the former bishops who had been lax about protecting and managing their personal information were caught one by one.

However, it wasn’t as if every one of them were put to death. Those who were unrelated to the incident and not corrupt managed to get away with just getting their funds confiscated.

Then, the first prince and newly crowned king of Balmore negotiated a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Balmore, along with a commercial treaty between the kingdoms of Balmore, Brancott, Aseed, and the Aligot Empire. He also reached out to Brancott’s neighbors, Drisard and the Kingdom of Jusral, and established a foundation for a common trading area among the peninsulas and their proximal countries.

“I had no idea that stalker was such a skilled politician... I’m impressed...” Kaoru said with a rather conflicted look, but this was all ultimately the result of Fernand being acknowledged as someone who Lady Kaoru the Angel had assisted because she deemed him worthy of the throne. Otherwise, he would have been dismissed as the useless youngster who had thrown the kingdom into chaos over his struggle for succession and failed to unify the various countries.

As for Francette, not only was she the hero who had saved the Kingdom of Balmore from the Aligot Empire’s invasion, but she was now known for saving the continent from the evil clutches of the Goddess Celestine. The people treated the so-called guardian of the continent, the great hero Francette, as something akin to a living deity.

Her title was even upgraded two ranks to that of a marquess...

“‘Evil clutches’ of the Goddess, huh...” Reiko said flatly, but Kaoru just shrugged.

Francette and Roland’s massive marriage ceremony was celebrated not only throughout Balmore, but in various other countries on the continent. They had a daughter together, who in turn married the crown prince—in other words, Roland’s younger brother and King Serge’s first son. Serge had cried tears of joy, stating that his older brother’s bloodline had finally returned to the main royal line.

There wasn’t much to be found about the Eyes of the Goddess. They were just a group of orphans who were taken care of by Kaoru, after all, so they must have been deemed too unimportant to be written about. Or perhaps the writers didn’t want to record the fact that orphans were the closest to Kaoru, rather than the royal family, aristocrats, or priests. Such people were quite common, after all.

Still, the Order of the Goddess Kaoru was mentioned in several books.

The mainstream religion known as the Orthodox Order of the Goddess taught that Celestine was the one and only Goddess and that Kaoru was a human who had received her blessing. Meanwhile, the Order of the Goddess Kaoru was a smaller religion that taught that Kaoru was a friend of the Goddess Celestine and was a goddess herself, though it was treated as heresy by some.

Its founder’s name was Emile Nagase.

“Huh? Is that your kid? And are you an aristocrat?”

“I’m still single, and I have ancient and honorable origins as a commoner! Emile is an orphan who lived with me,” Kaoru replied as she scratched the tip of her nose.

“But you said only aristocrats have family names...”

“Usually, yeah, but some people like big-time merchants were allowed to call themselves by their family name or shop name, and these kids, uh...they asked me to adopt them. No girl could refuse a request like that with fourteen innocent eyes staring at them... So, I couldn’t help but agree.

“Then they went on to say, ‘All right, now we’re Lady Kaoru’s kin. We’re her messengers, her tribe, her relatives, and her vassals... In other words, we’re family!’ Everyone knew I lived with those kids, which is probably why no one stopped them from using my family name. They were probably too afraid of angering Celes by saying something they weren’t supposed to...”

“Ah... I guess most people would just look the other way, then. Those kids probably did that because they wanted you to be known by your proper, full name.”

“Yeah...”

Knowing how Emile and the others felt, Kaoru had no intention of complaining about it.

“But I’m surprised they challenged the one and only religion by making their own, and they managed to survive until now. I thought the church had tremendous power in this world...”

“Temple, not church. Normally, you’d be right, but...”

Representative Follower: Francette Balmore.

Head Follower: Roland Balmore.

Main Followers: The Eyes of the Goddess, the House of Adan.

Foreign Branches: Beliscas — Centered around the House of Raphael and the House of Dorivell; Aligot Empire — Centered around the navy and associates of shipping companies.

“Yeah, no one’s messing with a lineup like that...”

“Nope...”

After all, the guardian of the continent, the great hero Francette and her husband, the brother of the king himself, were the principal organizers. Not to mention, they had expanded into the militaries of friendly countries. If they tried to persecute them... No, more importantly, they could have angered the Goddess Celestine.

“Oh, I guess Mariel’s house had their title upgraded... And that boy’s house had a baronial title before...” Indeed, they had respectively been upgraded from viscount to count, and from baron to viscount. The reason wasn’t stated in the records.

“Well, I guess there’s no reason to write about aristocrats from other countries,” Kaoru said and brushed it off. She didn’t even consider that there may have been a reason why they couldn’t write about it in their text...

“So, as far as I could tell from those books, those kids lived relatively normal lives beside the whole starting a weird religion thing, and managed not to get dragged into any conflict that would be in the records. I guess they did pretty well for themselves if they lived normal, happy lives as orphans...”

“...Don’t you think to yourself, ‘What if I could have given them even better lives?’”

“Huh?” Kaoru cocked her head and looked at Reiko blankly.

She didn’t really understand what her friend was saying. There was no point in thinking that way, and it would only do more harm than good now. But...

“What if you could go back in time?”

“What...?” Kaoru froze. She loved reading, too. She had read tons of short stories involving time travel and time machines, along with manga, anime, and movies.

“...You can do that?”

“I haven’t tried, but probably not. That sounds like something that would conflict with the Goddess’s job of stopping this dimension from crumbling. Like, if we caused a divergence by going back through time or something...”

“Ahh, right...”

It seemed Reiko simply wanted to know how Kaoru felt... Or perhaps she suspected her friend could be thinking that she could have given those kids happier lives if she had taken better care of them, and wanted her to say it out loud rather than internally torture herself over the thought.

“...But even if that was possible... I’d pass. If I could go back in time and fix things, all the things that happened to the people of this world over the past seventy years... Their efforts and their results, the fulfilled and unfilled dreams, the people who were born... Not even a god could just wipe all that away as if it never happened.

“And even if I could redo the mistakes of my past, it’s highly likely that it would just create a new world that had diverged from this one, and this one would go on after you and I disappeared from it. Nothing would change in this world if that happened, so it’d be pointless.

“Meanwhile, I’m supposed to take on the responsibility for all the lives and their misfortunes and tragedies in this new world? No thanks! I’ll leave that up to the gods. It’s too heavy for me!”

Kaoru had no intention of taking on such a burden. You only had one shot at life, after all, and there was no starting over or shuffling for a new hand. You had to play the hand you were dealt. It didn’t matter if you got a full house or some random junk.

Kaoru mulled over such thoughts, then...

“Oh, wait, I actually did get to reset my life...”

“I’m replaying mine too, I guess,” Reiko replied.

The two laughed awkwardly.

“Well, I figured you’d say that, Kaoru. I don’t even know if it’s possible to go back in the first place...”

“Yeah. That’s one line humans shouldn’t cross...”

It seemed Reiko asked her the question knowing that Kaoru wouldn’t want to do such a thing. She had said it so her friend could say it out loud and have closure rather than just mulling it over in her head. And of course, Kaoru understood this as well.

“...You really are Reiko, Reiko.”

“What are you going on about now...?”

The next morning...

It was time for Kaoru to check and see how her old acquaintances were doing. However, considering how short the average lifespan was in this world, it was unlikely that many of them were still alive.

Kaoru had been reincarnated in her fifteen-year-old body, and it had been a little less than five years since then. She was just under twenty years old when she vanished, so anyone older than her at that point would be over ninety now.

...Her hope was slim. Even among the orphans, Emile had been sixteen, Belle twelve, and Layette six at the time. They would all be around eighty or older now. It was pretty rough.

But at least Kaoru could find out if they’d had children or grandchildren, and find whatever mark they had left in the world. After all, they had started up some shops owned by a religious sect, and those were pretty hard to miss.

“Hair and eye color change, check! Makeup that makes the sides of my eyes droop downward, check! Money I borrowed from Reiko, check! Time to go!”

Their first destination was that shop. A customer would naturally walk into a business establishment, after all. There was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary about that. And as a traveler from far away, there was nothing suspicious about me asking a bunch of questions of whoever worked there. It was the perfect cover for gathering intel.

And so...

“I’m going in!”

“R-Right...”

Kaoru made her declaration after deliberating about it in front of the store entrance for some time, and Reiko nodded in turn. The door swung open, and the two entered the shop. They had decided to go into the apothecary rather than the souvenir store. Kaoru figured there would be fewer customers there, giving her more time to chat with the employee.

As the two entered, someone welcomed them from behind the counter. The attendant was about sixty or so, which was pretty old in this world. Well, a souvenir shop was one thing, but a young shop attendant wouldn’t have been a good fit for this type of store. It was pretty much a rule that apothecaries had to be run by old people.

Now, I need to come up with an opener that will make me look like a customer willing to pay, but it has to be a topic that won’t just end with me buying the product... Yes, I need to talk about something expensive that only a specialist would know and is probably unavailable here, then expand on the discussion from there... I know just the thing!

“Do you have hemort seeds, mortgul fruits, and korcul leaves in stock?”

Indeed, those were the ultra-rare and expensive ingredients for Longevity Medicine. Asking for those ingredients indicated that she knew about Longevity Medicine and its ingredients, and that she wasn’t just an average commoner. This would prove Kaoru and Reiko were extraordinary visitors, and set her up to discuss how to obtain expensive ingredients that were unavailable here, as well as other topics. But...

“Yes, we do. The portions needed to make a bottle of Longevity Medicine will be thirty-five gold coins total. We can mix them here, too.”

“You do?!” Kaoru exclaimed.

I had tried to make the apothecary attendant think I was someone special by bluffing with the medicinal knowledge I had gained from that previous incident. I thought I could accomplish this by mentioning the base ingredients for Longevity Medicine, which were rare and expensive, and few knew how to mix it correctly.

But it turned out... They had them ALL in stock!

Haah... Haah...

Well, come to think of it, over seventy years have passed since then. Maybe technology has advanced and they can now harvest rare herbs, like what happened to Asian ginseng in Japan.

...I messed up.

There had been a drastic change in the seventy years between the Showa to Heisei eras, but changes over seventy years in the older eras were negligible. That’s why I had assumed civilization hadn’t changed much over that span in this world. And yet...

No, but if that was the case, it was strange that the price he quoted hadn’t changed much from what it was in the past. That meant the value of the medicine and its ingredients were the same as back then...

Either this shop was unusually well-stocked, this just happened to be the season when these three items were harvested, or Longevity Medicine had become wildly popular since the disappearance of my potions...

In any case, this shop had the three main ingredients for Longevity Medicine, its price was still stupid high, and I had asked if they had it in stock...

But I only asked if they have it in stock and haven’t said I’ll buy it yet! We’re good! We’re good!!! Haah... Haah...

“...” The aged shopkeeper stared at me dubiously as I stood there silently.

“...”

Awkward...

“...”

Ahhhhhh!

“...Well, it is quite a pricey item, and I understand if you don’t want to reveal that you need it. Let us talk in the back for a bit. Someone watch the counter for me!”

Ahhh, I don’t like where this is going! ...Well, I guess I’ll just get some info out of him in the back and get out after buying some less expensive medicine.

Medicine... It had to be the least convenient item for me... I would’ve been better off with some rice crackers from the souvenir shop!

And so, I was led into a small room in the back, where a female employee laid out some tea and snacks, then retreated.

“...So, what’s the meaning of this?”

Huh? Is he mad at me? He seems really upset...

Maybe he was angry because I asked about an expensive item I had no intention of buying. But, I mean, wasn’t it normal for someone to hesitate before making a big purchase? It seemed odd that an aged and experienced shopkeeper would get so emotional over something like this. Maybe things were just different here compared to Japan...

“I said, what’s the meaning of this?! Why... Why did you take so long, Lady Kaoru... U-Uu... Uaaaaaah!!!”

The old man leaped forward and embraced me while bawling his eyes out, and I just stood there, dumbfounded and unable to even push him away.

Then a realization came to me, and I asked in a near whisper, “...E...mile...?” It felt like there was a shadow of that young boy’s familiar face when I looked at him. Well, I say familiar, but it had been only a few days from my perspective...

But...

“Sorry... I’m sorry...”

All I could do was apologize, and all I could do was cry. It may have been just a brief moment for me, but it must have been an unfathomably long time for them. A whole lifetime.

He spent his whole life waiting for me...

“Well, I did get married to Belle and had children — down to great-great-grandchildren — made a killing with my business, and lived a life of comfort,” he added.

“Whaaaaaat?!”

After finally calming down, the old man — Emile, rather — explained what had happened after the incident.

With Emile, I knew I could ask anything without holding back, and he was likely to know pretty much everything I wanted to find out. The Emile I had known wouldn’t have sat idly by without investigating every detail of what had happened. He’d had plenty of time, after all. Over seventy years, in fact...

Oh, and although he complained about me showing up so late, I told him it had been only a few days for me, and he backed off after that. That was the truth, after all.

I heard Emile muttering to himself, “Damn, does time flow at a different rate in the realm of gods compared to our world? Or maybe they perceive time differently after living for tens of thousands of years...?” but he seemed to understand. Mhm.

And so...

“What? Seven of the original members of the Eyes of the Goddess, including Belle, are still alive? Layette and Francette, too?”

“Yes. Wally died in a carriage accident, and Ike was attacked by bandits on the way back from stocking up on goods... Everyone else is doing well. We used the you-know-what whenever there was a lethal epidemic or a serious injury...”

Ah... They must have used the three dozen all-purpose special potions, the ones with no expiration date, that were hidden under the floorboards. They must have used them to recover from illnesses and injuries that they wouldn’t have survived otherwise...

Of course they wouldn’t die so easily, unless they had died instantly or perished before they could make it here.

“But you were the oldest of the Eyes of the Goddess, Emile. Aren’t you like ninety now? You don’t look any older than sixty...”

Emile did look incredibly young for his age. That was why I hadn’t noticed who he was at all at first. I may have noticed something if he had been a decrepit old man who looked like he would fall over any minute.

“Yeah, we’re all really lively. Our medicine has a reputation for being effective and blessed by the Goddess, which is one of the reasons our business has been going so well. And we hardly ever get sick, either. Though, even we get sick during major plagues or anything like that...”

Emile still talked like a youngster despite his age. He probably talked more maturely in his everyday life, but was talking to me like he used to. I figured he didn’t want to act differently with me. It probably felt as if we had gone back in time to the good old days.

“Ah.”

Then, I realized something. The reason Emile and the others were so youthful and resistant to disease was probably because of my potions. When I first met them, they had accumulated a bunch of little injuries and illnesses, and were skin and bones from malnutrition, so I had given them potions that would completely heal them. Unlike the potions I made with limited functionality later on, I hadn’t put much thought into those.

Potions that completely cured illnesses... This meant they affected illnesses embedded in their genetics that could have manifested later on, DNA transcription errors, and the repairing of shortened telomeres, so it messed with all sorts of stuff...

It was no wonder people assumed they were blessed by Celes and didn’t want to mess with them... That explained why their business thrived without them being harassed by those in power, local thugs, or competitors.

Hey, that’s cheating!!!

“So, has Layette been with you guys, too?”

“Yeah. The seven of us started a business with that house as our headquarters. We ran the business from the house instead of going out to work, because it was much safer and we could all be together. It was more convenient for us to protect the house and the you-know-what as long as we were there, too.

“Owning a house meant we didn’t need to pay rent for our home or shop, and we had seven workers willing to work for free, so we made money for food and necessities pretty easily. Besides, there was no way we weren’t gonna get customers when we were the children Lady Kaoru had taken care of, living in Lady Kaoru’s former home.”

“That’s cheating!”

It was no wonder they were able to make money.

...Wait, seven? Wouldn’t it be eight, including Layette...? Oh, Lolotte must have moved out to be with Achille.

“The first product we started handling was, of course, apothecary related. Our shop was the Angel’s, after all. Since we didn’t want people to expect our goods to be as effective as your potions, we only sold the ingredients instead of the medicine itself. It wasn’t as if we had the necessary knowledge, skills, or credentials to even make our own medicine, after all. Oh, but these days we do have skilled staff, so we mix it in-house now. I’ve also become accredited, myself.”

Emile had dedicated himself to training in swordsmanship, but he’d done it so he could keep me safe. After I had disappeared and he lost the ability to move how he used to, he had his willing descendants take up martial arts so they could be appointed as my bodyguards if I ever returned.

And so, he had taken up handling the desk work. Emile never did like violence or hurting others, after all. He didn’t hate sword training, considering he was doing it so he could protect me, but it likely wasn’t the path he truly wanted to take. With my disappearance and him in his old age, he was finally released from the duty that had bound him...

Maybe if I had never met him, he could have taken the path he wanted to from the start... Nah. It was unlikely that he would never have gotten himself a proper job, and as an orphan, he probably would’ve ended up dead with his head in the gutter somewhere. He did more than well for himself simply by living to this age. So, there was no need for me to feel responsible. Not in the slightest.

...But still... I couldn’t just compartmentalize it like that.

“Lolotte was taken in by Fran as her foster daughter and married Achille to become his lawful wife as a marquise’s daughter. This was before Fran married Roland, so she was still a marquise. Achille became a baron, but although Lolotte was just a foster daughter, she was the foster daughter of the guardian of the continent, the great hero Francette. Not to mention, she was the lawful wife of a duke, and one who was soon to be the brother of His Majesty the King at that. She could have married into the royal family if she wanted...”

He did have a point...

“So, Fran rose up two whole ranks, huh? A commoner suddenly jumped up to a viscountess, then a marquise...” I noted.

“Look, she earned the title of viscountess after saving the kingdom and being lauded as a great hero. It’s more surprising that an aristocrat who saved every living being in the land, the one who became the guardian of the continent, only had their title increased by two ranks! Though, I guess it wouldn’t have been easy to make her a duchess.”

Yup, pretty much only the royals could earn that title. Besides, she was going to be married to a duke soon after, so it probably didn’t matter much. Francette herself didn’t seem to care too much about such things, anyway.

“At the time, Fran also asked Layette if she wanted to become her foster daughter too, but Layette refused and said, ‘The only family name I will go by is Nagase!’ Though, Lolotte still calls herself Lolotte Nagase von Lolotte, and she stops by here pretty often... I remember Achille complaining about it all the time when they were newlyweds.”

I couldn’t blame him...

“Everyone’s pretty free these days, so we’ve been meeting up once a week without fail,” Emile said.

“Hm? What about Achille?”

“...How old do you think he’d be if he was still alive? And do you know the average lifespan of men in this country?”

“...”

...Right. Achille never had one of my super potions, and I had forbidden the children from giving them to anyone who wasn’t a member of the Eyes of the Goddess or telling anyone else about their existence. It was very unlikely for them to disobey a direct order like that from me, even if their lives were under threat.

“Fran is still alive and kicking, of course. As long as she’s around, no kingdom dares oppose ours. Some people don’t like her because of how serious she is, but this is the great hero Fran we’re talking about...”

“Yeah... No one would wanna go against her...”

I felt bad for the royal family...

About Fran saving the continent...it wasn’t as if she had fought her way through the enemy ranks and defeated a demon lord or something, but it was true that the entire land would have been drowned underwater if she hadn’t mustered the courage to talk back to Celes.

In a sense, Fran was indeed a true hero and had definitely saved the continent from the demon lord (Celes).

“What about Ed and the others?” I asked.

“We didn’t have the money to take care of horses at the time, so Fran took in all three of them. She looked after them along with her and Roland’s horses, but all five of the horses had an abnormal amount of stamina, so they were treated well as the divine horses who had served the Angel, and lived long lives as breeding horses. Those five left a bunch of descendants, which are generally known as Silvers. They’re pretty much a brand name these days.”

Ah...

Yeah, I knew this might happen. I had given them a bunch of potions in the past, but seventy years was too long for a horse to live. But if he lived a long life and left a bunch of offspring, I guess he got what they wanted as animals... Wait, did I really lose to a horse?! And if he was a breeding horse, that means he was a stud, right? Was he cheating, then? He had a wife and daughter... Though, I guess human logic didn’t really apply to animals.

It wasn’t uncommon for human men to have multiple wives, even certain countries on Earth to this day. Not to mention, it was incredibly hard for a female to give birth to a hundred children, but it wasn’t impossible for a male to have a hundred kids.

In fact, there’s a man named Mitsumasa Kido who fathered a hundred boys... Wait, that was from a manga, so I guess that didn’t count.

But...

“Ed never found out why I didn’t come back, huh... He probably thought I died...”

“Oh, no, Ed and the others knew everything,” Emile replied.

“Huh?”

“About two months after the incident, a female aristocrat arrived from a distant country. She explained everything to Ed and the others after looking into the facts. Your body hadn’t been found, even after the boulder was moved, so she said that you erased the damaged physical form that you’d taken on in this world and returned to your own.”

“What? You mean...”

A female aristocrat who could talk to Ed besides me...

“Yeah, it was Countess Raphael of the Order of the Goddess Kaoru’s Beliscas branch. Though, she was still a viscountess at the time. She claimed only she could explain the situation to Ed, brushed the aristocrats and royal family aside as they tried to stop her, and showed up with Carlos. She said it was because she owed a great debt to Ed...”

I see...

Mariel came all this way for Ed... Giving Mariel a potion that allowed her to communicate with animals wasn’t a waste after all...

I had found out everything I wanted to know. It seemed everyone lived relatively fruitful and happy lives. There was no need for me anymore. It was time for us to depart on our journey. A journey for two with just me and Reiko. We were always a trio along with Kyoko, so it felt kind of fresh with just us two.

And so...

“Sorry for the wait, Reiko. Let’s get going, then!”

“Right,” Reiko replied.

“...Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, waaaiiit! I’ll be killed if I let you leave now! By Belle and Layette, especially!”

Not my problem...

“No, it’s better for me to leave like this. Everyone’s living good lives now. If I showed up suddenly, they’d all be bound by their pasts again. Besides, I want to remember everyone the way I knew them back then...”

“...”

There must have been a lot he wanted to say, but Emile just hung his head in silence in response. With his unnaturally youthful appearance compared to his peers, and having lived far longer than the average lifespan of this world, Emile must have understood the pain of not aging or dying, and the sorrow of seeing others pass away around him. Knowing that we couldn’t spend time together as we once had even if we were to reunite, it was better to confirm that everyone was still doing well, and to remember them the way they were during our happiest times together.

Emile must have understood how I felt. He had to. He was nearly ninety years old himself. He must have seen many people die before him. Close friends, others who weren’t so close... So many people... Emile still had Belle and his friends from the Eyes of the Goddess, those who had walked the same path as him. But if he had been all alone...

“...Okay. You’re a goddess, and it’s not as if I never considered that you staying with us humans for so long could go against the ways of the gods. I have had plenty of time to think, after all... So I think you should do as you please. We had no right to bind you in the first place, nor do we want to.

“I just want you to do what you want and enjoy what this world has to offer. That’s why you took some time off from your duties as a goddess and came to visit this world run by your friend, the Goddess Celestine, right? And if there are people you happen to save along the way... I mean, you’ve already saved us. So there’s no need for you to stay here any longer. But...”

“But?”

“When the others find out I got to talk to you, they’re gonna beat me half to death...or kill me outright! So, please, leave me a potion! I can’t use the ones we keep underground for something like this...”

Ah... Those must have been treasures for the Eyes of the Goddess. Not for how effective they were, but because they were gifts from me. He couldn’t just use one for something like this. There must have been so many times when they had thought about using a potion but refrained. Those potions wouldn’t still be here otherwise. But if they did kill Emile outright, he’d perish before being able to drink my potion...

So...

And...there.

“If you feel like you’re in danger, drink this. This potion will heal your wounds for some time after you drink it.”

“Thank you!!!” Emile tucked the potion bottle into his pocket with a gleeful expression.

...There was something I didn’t realize at the time. I didn’t imagine what the others, especially Belle, Layette, and Francette, would do — with terrifying smiles on their faces — when they realized Emile would heal immediately even when they punished him. He’d be the traitor who had gotten to talk to Lady Kaoru by himself and even received a gift from her, after all. Of course things would escalate if he recovered after getting beaten up...

“Anyway, farewell!” I said, and as I turned to leave...

“...Well, even if I suddenly drop dead, I lived a good life already. And I think it’s about time I passed my authority on to the younger generation... Maybe I’ll retire and become the keeper of the Order of the Goddess Kaoru Head Temple or something...” Emile muttered to himself.

The “Head Temple” was probably the house I had given them. Well, he was already pretty old, so maybe living a quiet life in retirement wasn’t a bad idea.

...Ah.

“Hey, is the Order of the Goddess Kaoru in opposition with the Orthodox Order of the Goddess? Have there been any troubles between the two? I couldn’t find any specifics on sensitive topics like that in any books at the library...”

I had to find out about this, or I might accidentally let slip a no-no word and unintentionally cause problems. It was common knowledge that talking about curry, ramen, your favorite baseball team, politics, and religion was asking for trouble. ...Though, those first three didn’t exist in this world.

“Nope,” Emile replied.

...It was that simple?

“The Order of the Goddess Kaoru is considered to be a sect that branched off from Lady Celestine’s Orthodox Order of the Goddess. The Orthodox Order of the Goddess considers you a saint, known as the Angel, but still an ordinary human who was blessed by the Goddess Celestine. Meanwhile, we treat you as a goddess who is on the same level as the Goddess Celestine. Both orders worship you and the Goddess Celestine, so we’re the same in that sense. When you became a martyr and ascended to the heavens, even the Orthodox Order of the Goddess started treating you with reverence at a level just below Lady Celestine.”

That sounded kinda like two religions back on Earth...

“Besides, we don’t try to spread our religion. It’s just us, who were directly helped by you, and those who know that you’re a goddess, doing this on our own. That’s because we couldn’t accept that you were just a human that was a sort of messenger for the Goddess Celestine. Besides, it’s not like anyone can try to mess with us when Fran, Roland, and other powerful people are involved. We aren’t trying to expand our influence or threaten other religions... Whatever earnings we make are just from genuine business activity. I mean, we did get a huge boost from using your name, but making money was pretty easy when we used what you taught us about economics and running businesses...”

...

......

.........

Th-These kids...

They grew up so strong...

There really was nothing left for me to do here.

...Wait, what can a little brat like me be able to do for a nearly ninety-year-old senior?!

It was time to say goodbye for real this time.

“Hey, on second thought, maybe just once... Maybe you could join us for dinner tonight, together...” Emile said, still unable to give up on the idea, but...

I shook my head in silence. I guess this was our very own The Long Goodbye. The title sounded pretty lame in Japanese. It was a shame, because the translated title for Farewell, My Lovely was wonderful...

In any case, it was time to depart gracefully.

“Oh, wait a second!” Emile stopped me once again.

“Here, take this as a souvenir. It’s our specialty, Lady Kaoru Rice Crackers. We designed it based on our collective memories. We’re pretty proud of it!”

“Why is it a rice cracker instead of manju?! Are you saying my form can be replicated on a completely flat surface?!”

I have some curves too, damn it!!!

“Kaoru, how much longer are we delaying this...?” Reiko said in an exasperated tone from beside me.

Shaddap!