Ending: In a World Watched Over by a Rainbow

Laband was a rich country of humans with a long history to it. The primary god worshiped there was Ahmar, and they paid their laws great respect. That could be seen in the way that they didn’t stand for discrimination against other races or exploitation based on rank, and it had been governed fairly for a long, long time.

And it was a nation that had for a long time carried friendly relations with its neighboring nation of Vassilios, the country of devils.

Vassilios’s Golden King was known for her beauty and wisdom, and she actively invited students from Laband to her country, as well as formed close relationships between the two nations in terms of cultural and both academic and magical studies.

Alongside the highway connecting the two countries, there stood a small town.

It was built right near a magical beast habitat, so there was certainly some concern there in terms of safety, but it was also a place admired by adventurers the world over. After all, it was a town that had been built by adventurers.

And in the inn that had been there since shortly after the town’s founding, the Singing White Cat, you could hear quite a few anecdotes related to a legendary hero who had once been famous the world over.

The one who governed this land wasn’t just a ruler, but also a first rate warrior, as well as quite open-minded towards adventurers. And the harmonious couple who ruled may have retired at present, but their adopted children, in addition to being their disciples, had taken over managing the town, and so that policy hadn’t changed in the least.

Yes, it was a land admired by adventurers. And it was called that for many reasons.

The highway cut right through the middle of magical beast territory, which meant that traveling it unavoidably meant facing danger. As such, the majority of travelers hired adventurers to guard them as they passed through.

The wise Golden King took great pains to always carefully maintain this highway between the nations, and constructed towers at regular intervals for that purpose. For travelers, those towers both served as landmarks for travelers, as well as safe places to rest, as they had barriers cast upon them to repel magical beasts.

The white walled tower that indicated you were nearing Laband was especially magnificent.

Most folks believed that the sun and moon symbols carved into the sides of the tower represented the Golden King and her sister, and were a joint effort to commemorate establishing friendly relations between the two nations.

A noteworthy fact about the tower was that occasionally travelers would bring bouquets as offerings, which gradually led to more and more varieties of flower seeds taking root there, until the place was a beautiful flower field regardless of what season it may be.

The tower kept on watching over the travelers as a great many of them visited to take in the lovely sight.

Beyond that portion of the highway lay the town of Kreuz, which was called the second capital of Laband.

It was surrounded by walls, and just as its name implied it was laid out in the shape of a cross, albeit it a slightly distorted one. And as it was the point of contact for trade with Vassilios, a great many travelers and merchants gathered there.

A great deal of adventurers also came and went there, taking on jobs to guard travelers along the highway or exterminate magical beasts. The town’s welcoming atmosphere towards outsiders had been cultivated over many years, and remained strong to this day.

You could sense how blessed and tranquil the town was from the number of children that could be seen gallivanting around.

A woman in traveling attire watched those children playing, naturally breaking out in a gentle smile.

One of the playing children then tumbled right in front of her.

“Ah! Are you alright?” she reflexively called out, as she saw the child’s knee bleeding. It seemed he had been unfortunate, and a sharp stone ended up cutting it. When the child looked down at his knee, his face started to distort and tears began welling up in his eyes.

“Looks like you cut it... Could you be brave for just a moment?” the woman asked, bending down so she was looking the child in the face.

Hearing her incredibly gentle voice, the child looked back at her. Then, he looked utterly flabbergasted, as if he had even forgotten that he was about to cry.

“The Fairy Princess...”

It was a folk tale that every child in this town knew, as well as an epic that a great many people the world over were familiar with: the legend known as “The Platinum Hero and the Fairy Princess.”

The child had read it countless times in the form of a picture book. This woman was beautiful, just like the princess from that book.

The woman gave an awkward smile at the child’s comment, and then pointed the tip of her finger towards his knee. There was a pale light, and then the throbbing pain suddenly disappeared.

“Are you alright?” the woman asked again in a gentle voice.

“Yeah,” the child replied with a big nod.

With that motion, a small black fragment dangling from the child’s neck came into view and sparkled.

“That’s...”

Noticing that it had caught the woman’s attention, the child held it up proudly for her to see.

“It’s a charm!”

“...I see. A charm...”

“Yeah. My dad gave it to me. And dad got it from grandma, and she had been given it too. It keeps on getting passed down the line.”

“Right... You’re taking good care of it, aren’t you?”

“Yeah!”

The child didn’t know why her grey eyes had teared up just a bit, but he was happy to see that she had smiled.

The woman reached out once again, touching the black shard.

“Yes... This is a charm.”

Feeling the shard seem to give off just a bit of warmth, the child tilted his head. The woman smiled further, finding the childish reaction quite charming.

“There’s a wish imbued in it, that the precious person receiving it will find happiness,” she whispered in an incredibly gentle voice.

The child didn’t quite understand what she meant, but he felt all warm and fuzzy inside.

“Mom!”

“Mama!”

Hearing those two youthful voices, the woman looked up.

What she saw there was a young man in a black coat, as well as a little boy and girl. The children were holding the man’s hands and waving her way with their free hands.

“You got lost!”

“Dad panicked a whole lot again.”

The woman stood up, giving an awkward smile at what the children had said.

“...Ah,” she uttered, seemingly realizing something.

The children looked up in turn, and saw a large rainbow cast across the sky.

“Rainbows appear in the sky when the gods are looking down over the land.”

After saying that with a smile, she took off jogging towards the children who were beckoning her.

The family looked truly happy, gathering underneath the rainbow.