CHAPTER 28

Everything’s Gonna Be Okay

Using torches to light the way, we quickly follow Seiya down the valley until someone calls out to us from behind. I turn to see the dragonewt Lagos who first led us to the Dragon Village.

“Please hurry to that building. I will send you back to the Dragons’ Den.”

Lagos appears flustered, but before I can ask him what’s wrong, he starts explaining as we walk.

“While you may have obtained Igzasion, there are still many who are unhappy that Lady Elulu survived without becoming the sword. I think you should head back to the continent from whence you came before there’s a riot.”

“A-a riot?!”

Seiya glares at me as I nervously fidget.

“Is it really that surprising? Their village leader is dead. Of course there would be a riot.”

“What happened to the win-win situation you were talking about?!”

“Do you honestly believe they would be content with that? I just used a loud noise and powerful words to temporarily hypnotize them.”

“Y-you can even use hypnosis…?”

As fear of the Hero’s powers begins stirring within me, Lagos remorsefully regards Mash and Elulu.

“Please forgive my dishonesty. The Great Mother of Dragons told me to say that your families died of illness.”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Lagos gives Mash a deep bow.

“Perhaps I have no right to say this, but I am so thankful from the bottom of my heart that Lady Elulu didn’t become the sword.”

After walking for a while, there are almost no dragonewts around us anymore. A small white house appears at the edge of my vision. That must be where we teleported from the Dragons’ Den. When we head inside, Lagos shuts the door. Only after guiding us to the magic circle in the middle of the room does he finally smile.

“Lord Mash, Lady Elulu, this is perhaps the last time we will ever meet. However, I will be praying for prosperous futures for you both. May peace and glory be with you.”

They smile back at Lagos.

“Th-thanks, man!”

“Thank you, Lagos!”

“Hero, Goddess, please use Igzasion and save the world.”

I thank Lagos in Seiya’s place.

…After coming to Dragon Village and meeting everyone, I thought they lacked empathy and emotion for the most part. However, it appears there are good dragonewts like Lagos as well. I’m sure Elulu’s and Mash’s parents were great people, too.

As Lagos begins casting the spell…

“Wait.”

Seiya speaks up. He is holding a small dragonewt—er…a small lizard for some reason.

“I picked it up on the way here. Teleport this first.”

Lagos’s face twitches.

“A-again…?”

“Just because we got here safely once doesn’t mean we can do it twice. Besides, for all I know, you could be the angriest that Elulu is still alive.”

“S-Seiya! How rude! Would it kill you to trust someone?!”

However, Lagos simply shakes his head with a serious expression.

“It’s fine. Perhaps that level of caution is one of the Hero’s strengths. It saved Lady Elulu this time, but one day, it may even save the entire world.”

“Uh… Being careful is going to save the world…huh?”

Anyway, I think it’s really mature of Lagos not to get angry. I mean, I have no idea how old he is just by looking at him, but yeah.

“I’m really sorry about this. Could we start with the lizard, then?”

After pointlessly teleporting the lizard back and forth twice, we’re finally able to be teleported to the Dragons’ Den ourselves.

After stepping off the magic circle, we find ourselves in a dimly lit, narrow space with bare rock.

“Phew. We’re finally back, huh?” I mutter to myself when all of a sudden…

“Seiyaaa!”

Elulu suddenly jumps into Seiya’s arms and begins to cry.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I was so scared! I was so scaaared…!”

It appears all her pent-up feelings came bursting out the moment we got back.

“I didn’t want to be a sword! I didn’t want to die! Because if I died, I wouldn’t be able to talk to you all anymore!”

Elulu buries her face in Seiya’s stomach and sobs. Just watching her is making me tear up.

“Elulu…! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I should have been the one to stop you!”

“It’s okay! It’s not your fault, Ristie! You’re a goddess! You were just prioritizing the entire world instead of one person!”

The Hero gives us a reproachful gaze as we blubber together.

“Stop. You’re being loud…and annoying.”

He grabs Elulu’s head with one hand and peels her off. He then takes her confused, crying face and presses it against Mash’s chest. Unlike Seiya, Mash simply holds her in his arms without saying a word. After a few minutes go by, she bashfully offers:

“You know what? When I was told I was gonna be a sword…the hardest thing for me was knowing I’d never be able to talk to you again, Mash.”

“M-me too, Elulu. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”

Splashes of crimson light their cheeks as they gaze into each other’s glistening eyes.

What?! H-hold up! Are these two going to start dating or something?!

Love and adventure go hand in hand. Although we shouldn’t let them get carried away, I don’t think we’ll have anything to worry about.

As a goddess—as a woman, I decide to give them some space.

“Mash, Elulu, could you wait for us outside the cave?”

“Huh? Wh-why?”

“I’m sure you two have things to talk about, right? Plus, Seiya and I need to have a little talk as well.”

“A-all right, that’s cool, I guess.”

“Okay! We’ll be waiting in front of the cave, then!”

Mash and Elulu hold hands as they walk out of the cave. I watch over them while smiling at Seiya.

“Ugh! They’re so innocent—so adorable!”

“Is that why you sent them off together? Ridiculous.”

“Hey, I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to talk to you alone.”

“I have nothing to discuss with you.”

Although we’re finally alone together in a narrow space, my smile does a one-eighty as I tightly knit my brows and give Seiya a dirty look.

“About the Dragon Killers you synthesized…you said you pulled the hairs directly out of my head, right?”

“Yes. And?”

“What do you mean, ‘and’?! What are you going to do if I go bald?! And I can’t believe you sneaked into my room when I was asleep! This is criminal stuff here, you know!”

“If I hadn’t had one hundred strands of your hair, then I wouldn’t have been able to make the Dragon Killer. You can’t blame me for that.”

As always, he has a point, but that’s not what I wish to discuss.

“…You didn’t do anything else, right?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Y-you know… L-like, uh… I’m asking if you took advantage of me while I was sleeping!”

“All I did was pluck one hundred hairs off your head. Nothing else.”

R-really?! …Wait. “All I did was pluck one hundred hairs off your head”? Is this just a thing people are supposed to be okay with now? Who even says that?! He should be arrested!

Seiya begins to turn on his heel when…

“Seiya! Stop right there! I’m not done with you yet!”

“Tsk. What now?”

I point at the sheath on Seiya’s hip, then with a serious expression…

“That sword isn’t Igzasion, is it?”

Seiya’s paying attention now.

“…What did you say?”

Seiya stares at me with a distant, almost chilling look in his eyes. I gulp.

“I-I’m a g-goddess, you know! I admit, that sword is strong! But I don’t sense any kind of holy aura from it that’s going to help us defeat the Demon Lord!”

After glaring at me with a scary look on his face for a few moments, his expression returns to normal.

“I underestimated you. It seems you’re more than a walking health potion.”

“I seriously hope that’s a joke…”

“You’re right, though. This isn’t Igzasion. This is a platinum sword-plus that I synthesized.”

“I knew it. You used that to fool the dragonewts, huh? To save Elulu…”

“She’s my bag carrier. I don’t like it when others try to override my decisions. That’s all.”

Seiya begins to walk before saying, “Listen, this conversation is just between you and me. If the little one hears, she’ll start crying and making noise again.”

“Y-yeah, I know. I won’t say anything.”

Following Seiya, I ask:

“Hey, Seiya, what will you do if the Great Mother was right? What if Igzasion is the only way to defeat the Demon Lord?”

“I’ll just find another way to defeat him. Didn’t you tell the Great Mother that yourself?”

“I—I just said that in the heat of the moment, though… I don’t know if there really is another way.”

After a few moments of silence, Seiya murmurs…

“Everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Huh?”

Something feels very off about what he just said. Without giving a reason, without evidence, he just said that everything was going to be okay. That’s not the Seiya I know.

“…What’s wrong, Rista?”

Seiya’s staring at me now, likely because I stopped short without saying anything. His intense gaze makes me gasp.

“N-nothing at all! My head just went blank for a second because you said something out of character!”

“Your empty head went blank? We need to get you to the hospital.”

“Who are you calling empty-headed?! I’m not afraid to smack a Hero, you know!”

“Come on—let’s go. They’re waiting for us.”

Seiya looks at the cave exit and squints. A blinding light peeks through the small entrance.

And just like that, we walk forward, slowly heading into the light.

…In the long run, not getting Igzasion is probably going to be a huge pain when it comes to saving this S-ranked world Gaeabrande. However…I’m sure that this Hero—that Seiya—will be able to pull it off. That’s what I truly believe in this moment.

After deciding to go forward without looking back, I suddenly feel unbelievably exhausted. So much happened at Dragon Village. Mash, Elulu, and Seiya won’t say it, but they must be really tired as well. Maybe we should head back to Izale village’s inn and sleep for a day? …Yeah! Let’s do that! Sometimes we need to forget about saving the world to rest and relax a little together! I’m never going to forgive him for plucking a hundred hairs off my head while I was sleeping, but he did say something that really made me happy: “I only eat what she makes me.” Tee-hee! Once we’re back at the village, I’m going to buy some ingredients and make him a feast! Of course, I’m going to treat Mash and Elulu as well.

But though I walk out of the cave with a spring in my step, what awaits us is less than ideal. A dozen or so armored soldiers surround Mash and Elulu on the rocky expanse by the cave entrance.

“M-master!”

“Ristie!”

Before they can explain, a group of soldiers rushes over to us and takes a knee. When I look closely, I see they have cuts all over their bodies. They’re filthy, and the scratches on their armor stand out. They look battle worn.

A soldier struggles to speak. It’s as if his exhausted body is being lashed with a whip.

“We are the Roseguard Imperial Knights! We heard that the Hero headed toward this cave, so we immediately came here from Olga Fortress!”

“O-oh… And what would the imperial knights want with us?”

I have an idea of what they want, but I ask just in case. They wear deeply troubled looks.

“Captain Rosalie’s imperial knights are currently in battle with the Demon Lord’s special forces north-northeast from here! The battle is not going in our favor! Hero, please come with us!”

Their expressions alone tell of the imminent danger.

I give them a smile brimming with the compassion of a goddess.

“All right, let’s go.”

The soldiers’ faces light up. Some even cry. But hidden behind the kindness, I inwardly scream:

Why can’t I catch a breeeeeeeeeak?!

The S-ranked world of Gaeabrande doesn’t even give us a moment’s rest.