Epilogue
EPILOGUE
The manic, frantic night gave way to dawn. Carrying two swords and a large bundle wrapped in a cloak, I prepared for my audience with the king, as planned. First, though, I went back to camp and got cleaned up, telling myself the whole time, You just watched over the fight. That’s right.
Everyone whose presence I’d requested attended the audience. On my right sat the marquis and knight attendant Luxgarre; on my left I had Pops, there to corroborate my story, as well as Lana, Éa, Shuna, and Bel. My friends’ stares pained me. You better explain yourself, they all screamed at me. It was truly unbearable. I couldn’t let that get me off track, though; I had to tie up the last loose ends.
“King Remlia, allow me to apologize in advance before I unveil the hideous monstrosity I’ve brought before you. I beg you to please hear what I have to say before passing any judgment.”
Very well, he signaled with a slight nod. Lanceil stood at his side, nervous; perhaps she’d caught on. The asinine prince, by the way, had been booted off to the Left Continent for “training.”
“This story begins three days ago, when my party and I encountered a monster within the dungeon, a terrifying foe with the power to render our ryviuses useless. We managed to wound the beast, but in the end, it slipped away from us. Following a plan proposed by Lord Medîm in consideration of the monster’s singular ability, we pursued it with only a select few forces. During the treacherous search, one adventurer who’d lent us her assistance, Lieutette, lost her life. We then discovered a hidden path and followed it until it led us to a ruined dungeon buried in a grassy meadow to the west of the kingdom.
“There we slew the beast, only to discover the true horror concealed within it. Immense and powerful, this fierce monster also had the ability to nullify our ryviuses. Availing ourselves of his personal connection to my friend, we enlisted the beast-hunting hero Werner Carbezzo to aid our cause. Tragically, my friend Arvin Forths Gassim and Sir Werner—”
My throat caught. Once I said it out loud, he’d really be dead. I had to face the truth. There was no other choice.
“—sacrificed their lives to vanquish the monster.”
I unwrapped Werner’s cape to display the severed head of a revolting beast no one could place. The ladies winced at the sight; the marquis collapsed, his knees buckling beneath him. Only Luxgarre’s eyes flew wide open in shock.
I’d given Werner half the credit as a point of concession. Could there be a more heroic death than throwing one’s life down in battle to protect an allied kingdom? At least, it felt much more noble than secretly wishing a pox on the entire world before some nobody gouged your heart out.
“Medîm, is this true?” the king asked.
“Indeed. It was a valiant, honorable fight—for both of them.” Pops stepped up to the severed head and placed Werner’s emblem beside it. I lay Arvin’s and both of their swords alongside it.
“King Remlia, I’d like to make a suggestion, if I may.”
“Aye, let us hear it.”
Time to get down to real business. “My departed friend Arvin had an elder sister who is currently incarcerated. If you would be so gracious, I’d like to ask you to consider making an appeal for her release on his behalf in honor of his achievement in slaying the beast for—”
“Silence! It is not your place as an insolent, insignificant adventurer to ask anything of your king!” Lanceil shouted at me, sounding maybe a little overly dramatic. King Remlia curbed her.
“Very well. This young man risked his life in battle for Remlia. In fact, we might have him and his heroic deeds to thank for saving our country. I vow by my name that I shall seek this pardon for his sister. Furthermore, let us also prepare a humble yet proper ceremony for Sir Werner the hero as…… Sir Luxgarre?”
Luxgarre had brandished his blade.
“Ah,” I blurted out like an idiot.
I’d completely let my guard down. This dude was a knight of standing, which I’d assumed meant he wouldn’t dare shed blood before the king of an allied nation. I wasn’t alone; even Pops had only managed to place his hand on the hilt of his sword. Everything around me seemed to move in slow motion. I saw what was coming, but my body didn’t come close to keeping up. Shuna, Lanceil, and even Éa were jumping into action. I met Lana’s eyes.
Sorry, I’m dead.
Would she get everything I tried to convey in that brief second? That was the only question on my mind.
The blade bore down on an undeniable and inescapable path to divorce me from my head. I didn’t have time to try anything in my defense. This was where it all ended for me. Brave and composed, I shut my eyes. Metal clashed; I smelled smoldering iron.
“________”
My head……hadn’t gone anywhere. I opened my eyes to see that Luxgarre’s blade had been stopped—by Werner’s sword. The enchanted weapon, free to move of its own accord, had jumped up to protect the man who’d murdered its master.
What in the actual hell?
Luxgarre broke out into a huge smile and tossed his sword away. In that same instant, the magic blade fell to the ground. The knight stretched both hands up toward the heavens, as if trying to grasp something.
“Ha! Ha-ha-ha! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!” he bellowed from the bottom of his gut, looking positively ecstatic, almost like a child who had discovered hidden treasure. We all froze at the outlandish scene.
“O St. Lillideas!” Luxgarre cried. “I’ve finally found him! I plotted against my comrades, schemed against my master, even sacrificed the hero I served—!! Finally! At long last! I’ve found the wedge to bring salvation unto Ellusion! This fiendish hero! He will be the one to lift our unholy curse! My goddess, I beg of you! Please, take him into your—”
“You damn fool, have you lost your mind?!” growled King Remlia. His blade drawn, he stood immediately behind Luxgarre, who’d lost himself in a feverish mania.
Damn, His Highness had some skill. His sword cleaved cleanly through Luxgarre’s clavicle and sternum before rending his heart in two, then severed the man’s head from his body on its way out. The knight’s head tumbled around on the floor, a crazed smile still plastered on its face.
“Ee! Eeek!”
Coincidentally enough, that uncorked cranium rolled to a stop at the marquis’s feet. Fresh blood spewed like a fountain from the decapitated body and rained down on the beastly bust.
“Marquis Huinitte!”
“Y-yeesh!” He crumpled under the ferocious menace in Remlia’s voice and let more than one thing come spilling out of him.
“Inform your country of this knight’s evil deeds at once! Do not dare omit the disgraceful trouble he imposed on me, do you hear?!”
“Y-yes, Your Majesty!” the marquis squeaked, vigorously nodding before he practically ran out of the room.
Having heard the commotion inside, soldiers and maids entered in his place. One of the maids shrieked at the sight of the monstrous head and the knight’s lifeless corpse. The king rebuked them all and ordered them to clean up the mess. Instantly, a flood of people rushed into the audience chamber.
“Souya, I shall send further instruction at a later date. For the present, rest with your companions,” Remlia instructed.
“Thank you, Your Majesty. If you’ll excuse me.” I bowed to him, then retreated from the chamber, my party members following.
Lanceil led us out into the hallway, where everyone gathered round. Without saying a word, Lana jumped into my arms. Éa embraced me, too. I crushed them close. Half crying, Shuna gripped my arm.
“Sorry I’m so late.” Ahh, I’m finally home, finally free of that long, painful dungeon.
“Welcome home, darling,” Lana murmured near my ears. Her voice sank into my heart.
“Geez, you’re so late, Yaya!”
“Sorry.”
“Seriously.”
“My bad,” I apologized to Éa and Shuna. “Where’s…Zenobia?”
I wasn’t playing dumb—I needed to double-check what they believed. Knowing her, she’d probably found a clever way to say good-bye to them all.
“It seems her father has fallen ill, so she had to rush home on short notice,” my wife explained. “She kept urging us to send you her regards until the last minute.” I simply nodded. A bland, plain reason—very on-brand for her.
“Darling?”
“Yaya?”
“Sorry.”
Once I breathed in the sisters’ scents and felt their warm arms around me, whatever had kept me upright to that point caved in. I’m ashamed to admit I let all my body weight fall on them. I flickered in and out of consciousness. After all, I’d spent all night jumping back and forth over the border between life and death. My body had been running on basically nothing but willpower at this point. I’d reached my limit’s limit.
“You guys should know that Arvin went out in glory. Just don’t……don’t ever forget that.”
Then I let my grip on consciousness slip. Somewhere in a deep, dark pool of relief, I heard a voice I didn’t recognize say:
“Found you.”
At least, that’s what I thought I’d heard. Such trivial details meant nothing to me, though. I simply let my mind drift and pleasantly melt away, back to the soft place I called home.
One day, a certain rumor started circulating around town.
In an abandoned dungeon some distance outside of the Kingdom of Remlia, a bloodthirsty beast had appeared, one they say rivaled a dragon in its ferocity. A merchant who witnessed it said the terrifying sight alone was enough to drive you mad. It had hundreds of limbs, each arm gripping all manner of weapons, and each foot taloned with cruel, razor-sharp nails. The monster could shred anything and anyone to pieces; its cry would make your ears explode, and looking upon it would turn you to stone. It was a truly fearsome beast.
Had it breached the Kingdom of Remlia’s walls, it would have certainly claimed hundreds of lives. However, a lone adventurer had vanquished the beast, sacrificing his life in the battle. His name: Arvin, also known as Arvin the Dragon Scale. Countless adventurers had saved Remlia from danger in the past, but none could claim to have relinquished their lives in so valiant, virtuous, or knightly a manner as he.
And so on went the rumor. This one, though, hadn’t come from me. At the same time, I did have a pretty good idea of who’d started it. Was she still in Remlia? For all I knew, I could’ve passed her on the street and been none the wiser.
We still waited on news about the request for Arvin’s sister’s pardon. The Central Continent had fallen into extreme, unfettered chaos. No one could predict how much attention King Remlia’s plea could capture amid that mess. All I could do now was sit tight.
Out of three Lillidean knights, one had gone missing in the dungeon, one had fallen in battle against a monster, and the last had gone mad and died at King Remlia’s blade. How would Ellusion respond to all this news? We had yet to find out on that point as well.
In addition to those problems, two other issues kept me up at night. The first: Werner’s sword, Agaccion the Holy Blade. It had somehow grown attached to me. Maybe there were better ways to say that, but in any case, this blade that should’ve been safely stored in the royal palace had wound up sneakily slipping into my tent. No matter how many times I tried returning it, and even if I chained it in place, locked it in a steel box, or had Ghett discard it at the bottom of the ocean as a last resort, it always found its way back.
I’d actually attempted to break it, but pounding away at it with my hammer hadn’t even left a scratch. When I ordered Machina to try, it wound up leaving her circular saw with a few fewer teeth. After the weapon’s tenth unwanted invasion, I had Machina thoroughly investigate it to find a way to either destroy or stop it. This led to a curious discovery.
“Mr. Souya, about Aggy,” Machina started. Aggy? “Aggy was made with the same nido structure that was used to produce us machina systems.”
“Huh?” For some reason, modern technology had been applied to this Otherworldly blade.
“That being said, it isn’t composed of the soft metal, cadmium, used in machina systems. Aggy was constructed out of the strongest, most durable material imaginable by reconfiguring wurtzite boron nitride as a nido structure. The techniques employed in creating a nido alloy are Japanese proprietary technologies; that being the case, a block has been installed on all artificial intelligence instruments to prevent us from analyzing qualifying materials. However, as this item originated here in the Other Dimension, it falls outside the bounds of the protective lock, and I was able to reverse engineer the process used to create it.”
So she’d found a way to pirate it?
“I then applied that technology to reassemble Mr. Shuna’s longsword,” she announced, presenting me with the boy’s repaired sword like she’d just pulled it out of an Easy-Bake. Golden, veinlike threads streaked down the length of the blade. “I used melted Mythlanic gold to bind the pieces together in the traditional Japanese kintsugi style.”
“……But this must’ve cost a fortune, right?”
“Listen and be amazed, for I purchased it all at a fixed market rate for three hundred gold coins,” she proudly announced.
You little…! “A-and where exactly did you get that kind of cash?” I could count every last coin I owned and not have seventy gold.
“I took out loans from the Zavah Night Owl and Ellomere trade groups in your name.”
“What the—?!” A life in debt. I came to a whole other dimension, yet here I am living a life in debt.
“Don’t worry. According to my calculations, if we continue our side business along with your adventuring, we should be able to repay it in about two hundred and fifty days, probably!”
That’s almost all the time I’ve got to do my job here! I didn’t come all this way to be repaying bills! I came for money—for money?
Huh? My head feels a bit hazy.
“Also, I’ll go ahead and give Aggy a makeover. We don’t want to get into trouble for using a stolen sword.”
“Yeah, please, please do.” For what it was worth, Agaccion did listen to me and would come when I called. It would also copy my movements if I held my hand out over it. Additionally, the blade seemed have some level of intelligence—it could understand simple addition. Machina had started teaching it multiplication.
Can I trust it, though? Well, I guess it’s best to use all the tools I’ve got available.
My second concern: my body. Both of my pupils had changed, and I could now see at night. However, Machina’s retinal scan could no longer recognize me. My DNA had also mutated in some unmeasurable way. As a pretty risky last resort, I set up a phrase with the power to override Machina’s systems. It’s hard to understate how dangerous this was. If by any chance I were tortured or brainwashed and coughed it up, all modern knowledge and technology would leak into this world through Machina.
Forget about technological innovation—that kind of data could help someone take over a smaller country, or even the entire world. Though desperate times called for emergency measures, I still had some lingering anxiety over the decision. If I could find another way around it later, I would definitely implement it.
Oh yeah, and the broken lycan bow had just up and fixed itself. It looked even more ominous than it had before. It had also adjusted its contours to accommodate new functions. Shaped like a W with white, clawlike aggregate growing out of it in a few different places, it had converted itself into a composite bow comprised of multiple materials. The string on this bow pulled more flexibly than before and could build even greater tension. It felt as if this new and improved instrument was telling me, You’d better use me when you slay your next beast.
One day, Lord Baafre wandered over to the campsite. “You’d best get some winter clothes ready. The cold bites up in the North,” he told me.
I don’t wanna gooo. I only came here to explore the dungeon, but all these other tasks just keep popping up. And I know I’ll meet another beast again. I have to be ready for it. One ace up my sleeve won’t be enough to set my mind at ease.
Aside from that, everyone else got busy finding ways to compensate for the party members we’d lost. Bel inherited Arvin’s keepsake and became the party’s shield. She worked on her swordsmanship at Lady Gladwein’s place, looking like a completely different person. Lana and Éa also devoted themselves to training at Lady Gladwein’s, brushing up on their swordsmanship and close combat abilities. Not one to be left out, Shuna hadn’t stopped working himself to death with unsettling fervor since the moment he got his sword back.
Just a little longer.
Just a bit more and we’d be ready to get delving again. I’d had to part with so much: Arvin. Zenobia. And Isolla.
Isolla’s data had not actually been stored inside Machina. Her personality had veered too far away from the regulations, had become too unwieldy to control. Because of this, Machina had designated her a defective product and had refused to synchronize her data. All of Isolla had been in the mini kettle that broke. She’d known it, too. I ordered Machina to repair her, but Isolla herself rejected my request. A message came to me, time stamped just before I cast Wild Hunt.
Machina is not operating at full functionality. Someone has to objectively evaluate how sound she is, but I do not believe I have that capacity at this point. Nonconforming individuals cannot judge the conforming. I am about to die; however, I am satisfied. I doubt any other AI has ever enjoyed such total satisfaction before their expiration. There can be no more wonderful end for a tool. I protected you. I guided you. I successfully saved you…… I kept my place in your memories. I gave you anything and everything I could offer. Souya, please, I pray you give the next me a death that can stand up to mine—please.
This robot, so full of love, had been a defective product. I couldn’t think of anything more ironic than the fact that bots like her desired nothing more than to one day be found similarly aberrant.
I resented Machina. I just couldn’t help it. But then, later, I caught her carefully putting the broken Isolla Pot pieces away without reusing any of her components, and tears just flooded from my eyes. I didn’t even really know why; I simply wept. Thinking back on both Arvin’s death and Zenobia’s departure, I stifled my voice and silently sobbed. After crying my eyes out all alone, I felt just a little bit stronger.
[60TH DAY]
On this quiet night, the sisters snored softly in the tent. Though the sound was incredibly faint, I could hear the rising and falling of their breaths. It only made sense; I lay so close to them I could very nearly rub my cheeks against theirs. My little sister had stolen into our bed again, just like always. Once again, the two nestled into each other, fast asleep at my side.
Recently, both Lana and I would come home so exhausted we’d immediately dive into our bed and pass out, which of course left little time for working up to the deed. But seriously, though, sorry, exactly how much further did this world want to test my sanity? Even a saint wouldn’t be able to resist with this much temptation, you know? I wanted to shout from the rooftops how proud I was of my own self-restraint. At this point, I felt just a few more nights away from reaching enlightenment.
That said, sneaking a few touches broke no laws, so obviously I helped myself. I gently poked their cheeks, first Éa’s, then Lana’s, back and forth. A smirk came naturally to my lips; I admit it was a little creepy. But this was the pinnacle of fun. I could forget time entirely. There was no way I could sleep now, though this wasn’t the only thing keeping me awake.
The next day, we would delve into the dungeon again. I was a bundle of nerves. Even though I’d gained new power, my worries just kept stacking up higher and heavier.
“Mrrah.”
My goddess in feline form slept by my pillow, belly fully exposed and limbs splayed out in a sleepy jumping jack. Watching her look so relaxed eased the tension I felt a little, too.
“—Good evening.”
The corner of the tent flapped open, and something rolled over to me—a miniature AI kettle disguised as a lantern.
“Good evening.”
“Forgive my intrusion so late at night while everyone is in repose, but I wanted to say hello to you, squad member,” it whispered just barely loud enough for me to hear. “I am Wide Area Combat Program Isolla DC Locally Repaired Model Yukikaze. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Yukikaze?” Kind of an odd name to give an AI bot. I’m pretty sure there was a Japanese war cruiser by that name, a lucky ship at that.
“My predecessor, the scrapped Isolla, specifically requested I take this name, though evidently it has no deeper meaning or relation to anything. You may change it if it displeases you. Would you care to?”
“Nah, Yukikaze’s fine. It’s a great name.” It had a curious ring to it. Maybe I felt a little attached since I was named after a Japanese war cruiser, too?
“If you are not otherwise disposed, please provide a report on all your activities thus far. Since I only activated a few moments ago, I still cannot tell right from left. I desperately need information.”
“Don’t you have a quantum connection with Machina?” It shouldn’t take more than a second to transfer all our records to her through that.
“Machina entered a dormant state to optimize her functionality after repairing and activating me. I expect she will emerge from this slumber in approximately five hours. It would be a waste to do nothing while I waited.” Had Machina changed her personality with her name, so she wouldn’t end up like the last Isolla?
……All right. I can’t sleep anyway, so I might as well give her an oral report of what’s happened so far.
Scooping Yukikaze up in my arms, I scooched away from the sisters a bit. Then quietly, slowly, as if talking to a child, I began to recount our story. I told her of the people we’d met here, of the friends we’d made along the way, of those who’d left, those who’d died. In no way was this a dark retelling. I did all that I could to spin a cheerful, grand yarn. Such was the duty of those who remained thanks to the protection of the departed.
Our adventure had a long way to go. My destination lay deep down in the dungeon. Challenges and reasons for worry would only keep piling up. This would not be my last sleepless night in the long story yet to come. One day—
One day, I would tell the worlds your tale, the story of how you loved me.
THE END