05: A Nice, Warm, Delicious Meal! …Or So I Thought, but She Discovered the Plan?!
“Squeak. (Are you still on about that? It is your destiny—your fate bestowed upon you by the heavens—to become the Fen Wolf King. Give up, and reign as their Fenrir. In addition, take me as your wife.)”
No to both of those! I absolutely refuse.
“Arf, arf. (No, not that. The Fen Wolves’ thousand-year-long covenant was created because we came to the past, right? I was just wondering why it existed before we actually went to the past.)”
“…Squeak? (…Hrm? I haven’t the faintest what it is you’re getting at, beloved.)”
“Arwf… (Ugh, once again, the muscle-for-brains, thousand-years-with-no-friends dragon is no help…)”
It looks like it’s still a little early to have the time paradox talk with Len.
“Squeak! (That is because you are speaking nonsense!)”
Hmm. Maybe I am thinking about it too hard. Hecate didn’t say anything in particular, so maybe the covenant was originally formed in this era for a different reason.
“Arf, arf. (Well, whatever. If we defeat the Demon Lord and the future changes, nothing after that will matter.)”
I’ve abandoned my worries. I’m just a dog! There’s no way I’d be able to solve such a difficult problem.
“Arf, arf! (All that thinking is making me hungry. We’ll be back in a jiffy, everyone!)”
With Nahura’s spatial magic, we warp to a spot near where Lady Eili and the others have made camp, and then I dash back to them.
“Arwf, arwf! (I think I smell something tasty!)”
It’s the scent of the soup I had at the elves’ village.
“Welcome back, everyone. I’ve already reheated the food.”
Lady Eili has been stirring a pot over a flame.
“Arf, arf! (Wow! Thanks, Lady Eili!)”
I appreciate warm soup in a completely different way from cold soup. The breads and cheeses have been cooked as well, and their fragrant scents waft through the air.
“Arf, arf! (What awesome smells! Let’s eat it all, quick! Everyone, sit down!)”
And pass me the soup!
“Hee-hee. Here you are.”
When they gave me the souvenirs in the village, they gave me the eating utensils along with them—enough to pass out to everyone.
After having the soup poured into the biggest bowl available, I start wolfing it down, not caring if it burned my tongue.
“Arf, arf! (Oh yes! This is sinking deep into my heart!)”
It’s hard not to describe the soup as “bursting with flavor”—it’s full of umami from the mushrooms and wild vegetables.
“I feel rejuvenated… And these flavors are so nostalgic…”
After taking a sip of her soup, Hecate heaves a sigh.
Well, she is an elf. She must have pretty fond memories of elven village cooking.
The knights don’t say anything so that they don’t cause a commotion, but it’s clear they’re completely absorbed in shoveling the food down with reckless abandon.
“Arf, arf? (Now that I think about it, should we have a flame like this?)”
We didn’t have one going when we went to sleep yesterday; I figured it was to be inconspicuous, to not stand out in the Demon Lord’s territory.
“I have bounded-field magic blocking us off from our surroundings. Unless they come very close, the monsters shouldn’t be able to sense the fire, or the smoke, or the smells.”
But, sheesh, Lady Eili’s incredible. She probably used that magic to get all the way to this forest in the first place.
“I wouldn’t normally have had enough strength to use the spell for cooking. But sealing the demon generals took almost no energy.”
I get it. She’s been conserving her strength for the sealing this whole time, hasn’t she? If the burden on Lady Eili has decreased thanks to us taking it upon ourselves to fight the Five Demon Generals, then that’s fine with me. After all, now we owe her one for this warm meal.
“I’ll only have the field up while we’re eating, but feel free to warm yourselves up as much as you’d like, everyone.”
“Your words honor us, my lady…!”
Lady Eili smiles, and the knights formally bow in response.
“Arf, arf! (Oh, you don’t need to do all that. Let’s just be friendly and eat together. You too, Lady Eili! Eat up!)”
“Oh, yes! It is very good!”
“Woof! (Ain’t it? I’m going back for seconds!)”
And I even thought this enjoyable meal would keep going, just like that, too.
“Not much longer now…” murmurs Hecate, standing up.
“Arwf? (What’s wrong, Hecate? You didn’t finish your food.)”
“Unfortunately, dinnertime is over.”
Hecate directs a sharp stare deeper into the woods.
“Wh-what?! Is something coming?!”
The knights, apparently, also noticing someone’s approach, take their swords in hand and form up to protect Lady Eili.
As they do, the figure appears, mowing down the trees in the forest as it comes.
“Grr, ggghhh…!”
It’s a dark-iron knight, with thick armor encasing its whole body. Gripping a giant halberd in both hands, it stomps deep footprints into the land as it approaches.
Our knights are like matchsticks in comparison. Their armor is nowhere near as thick as that thing’s.
“How…?! The bounded-field spell has been active this whole time…!”
“Eili, it’s not your fault,” Hecate tells her, making sure the knights can’t hear. “It didn’t find us by tracing us physically.”
“Hecate? What do you mean by that? How do you know such a thing?”
It seems Hecate knew from her future knowledge that this dark knight was going to show up. And she also appears to know its identity.
“Hiding…futile…! My nose… It can…smell…your minds…!”
The dark knight speaks, scarlet eyes flashing inside its helmet. His voice sounds like rusted swords scraping together. No person—no creature—could ever produce a voice like that.
“My name…is…! Belgor! Belgor, the ambassador of the underworld!”
The dark knight proudly announces its name.
“Arwf?! (Wait, this thing is Belgor?!)”
In the future, Belgor was a demon who possessed the Hero’s sword. After reappearing and getting beaten down in a fight with me, he was reconfigured into a knife and given to old man James as a gift.
He seemed quite satisfied in his position being used by a super-top-class chef, but I didn’t know he looked like this in the past. His intelligence seems to have taken the same hit as the other demon generals, but given he can still speak, he’s better off than Mircalla was.
If I recall, Belgor exists only mentally, and he can possess any object he wants. When he was possessing the Hero’s sword, he could freely manipulate his chosen vessel to such an extent that ultimately, he became a sword giant and attacked us.
Which means this dark knight’s armor might be completely hollow. Looking more closely, every time the dark knight moves, a purple gas leaks out of its joints. That’s probably Belgor’s actual form.
And I can only sit there, leisurely analyzing him, because I know exactly where this is headed.
“Die, enemies of the Demon Lord!”
The dark knight holds its giant halberd aloft.
“Eeek?!”
“Stand firm! We must defend Lady Eilene!”
The knights, though overcome with fear, step forward to protect Lady Eili.
“He-Hecate! We must fight, too!” insists Lady Eili, but Hecate doesn’t move from behind the knights.
And her gaze is not forward, but on me, off to the side.
“Arf, arf. (Yeah, yeah. I’m up, huh?)”
I wondered if it was a good idea to let Lady Eili know we’ve planned on defeating the demon generals, but Hecate’s the one who knows the plan. If she wants me to do it, there won’t be any issues.
“Arf, arf? (Okay, okay, could you all let me through, please?)”
I push the knights out of the way and step out in front.
Hey, their legs are all shaking! I only pushed them a tiny bit. Some of them can’t even stand up anymore; they’re on their rear ends.
Well, with how intimidating Belgor is, I guess I can’t blame them for being terrified. I peed myself out of fear when I first saw him, too. And there was probably, like, huge puddles of it coming out of me.
But I know something they don’t. To me, this enemy isn’t scary at all.
“Arf, arf! (Bring it on!)”
“Die!”
Successfully provoked, Belgor swings his halberd down from its high, upraised position.
A strike which could very well split and destroy the earth comes plummeting down toward me.
“A-arwf! (A-actually, I’m a little scared!)”
The halberd makes a direct hit on my scared little head…
…and a moment later, the blade snaps at the haft, flying off into the distance.
“Wh-what?!”
“Arf, arf! (Fwa-ha-ha! My name is Routa! Master of weapon-breaking!)”
How many swords of Zenobia’s do you think I’ve broken?
And even when we fought in the future, one of Belgor’s full-force attacks couldn’t damage even a single strand of my fur.
“G-gwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
All I did was break his weapon, and now he’s crying out in agony.
“Squeak. (I believe it’s because he was actually possessing the weapon.)”
Oh, he did possess a sword in the future, too. Maybe it’s a compatibility thing for him.
Purple gas spurts from the armor, and the empty suit, its contents gone, collapses. That gas floating in the air is Belgor’s true form.
“Eili, now! With him this weak, you’ll seal him easily.”
“R-right!”
At Hecate’s signal, Lady Eili places the seal on Belgor.
“Gh-ghhhrrr…!”
But Belgor tries to resist one final time.
“Eili! Don’t use the land for the seal—use that!”
Hecate points to a sword, belonging to one of the knights still on their rear end.
It got stuck in the ground when he fell.
“Squeak. (I see. Compatibility.)”
“Meow. (Lady Hecate is as smart as ever. By luring him into an easy-to-possess weapon, she’s making the sealing even easier.)”
As Hecate intended, as soon as Lady Eili changes the target of her seal, Belgor’s resistance wanes. And then he gets sucked into the sword and sealed within it.
He was possessing a sword in the future, too. Does that mean this one is going to become the Hero’s holy sword?
I mean, it’s a fake, but still. The sword is evil and misled Allie’s entire clan. I wonder what will happen in this future.
“Sir knight,” says Hecate to the owner of the sword. “Please never touch this sword. It has changed into one that will bestow incredible strength upon its owner, but you are never, under any circumstances, to draw it.”
Wait, wouldn’t that just make him more curious? Like if you give someone a button and tell them not to push it.
“A-all right.”
The knight nods, but his eyes seem drawn to the sword’s eerie glow. I doubt he’s gonna hold out.
We can’t bring the sword back with us—otherwise the future would change too much—so Hecate must actually be after him to draw it.
Which means this young man is going to be Alstera’s ancestor, huh? We got it nice and weak, so please take care not to let it corrupt your heart.
“Routa! Are you all right?!”
Finished with the sealing, Lady Eili runs over to where I am.
“Your head! Does it hurt?!”
And then, frantically, she tries to cast a healing spell on me.
“Arwww… (Ahhh… It feels so light and good…)”
I’m completely unharmed, but lady Eili’s healing magic is as comforting as getting into a warm bath.
“Eili, stop wasting mana. Routa is perfectly fine.”
What do you mean, “wasting”? It felt really good, so it wasn’t a waste!
“If all it did was make you feel good, then it was a waste.”
“B-but Hecate, he was struck by such a powerful attack…”
“Arf, arf. (I’m really fine. Look—it didn’t even scratch me.)”
“It’s true…”
After parting the fur on my forehead and checking to make sure I’m not wounded, she finally gives me some head pats.
“Routa, you really are amazing.”
Well, this Fenrir body is what’s really amazing. Inside, my brain is as mushy as tofu. The only reason I’ve even survived is because my outside is so stupidly strong.
“And how did you know one of the demon generals was coming, Hecate? None of us knew that the bounded-field spell wasn’t going to work…”
Oh no. Lady Eili is starting to doubt us.
“We can have that discussion another time. Other monsters may have heard the noise. For now, we should clear out before anything happens.”
Hecate evades Lady Eili’s question, then makes preparations to move camp.
“……”
Lady Eili watches her from behind with worry in her eyes.
Once dawn broke, we moved to Lich’s graveyard—though it’s in a different order—and sealed him along with his now-small skull.
“You aren’t going to tell me why the demon generals are so weak, are you?”
“…No, and I’m sorry. It’s nothing you could do anything about even if you knew.”
“…I see,” answers Lady Eili, a little crestfallen, before meeting my eyes. “Routa, do you know something?”
“A-arwf?! (Wh-why would you think that?!)”
“You’re always going off with Hecate. But you’re not scouting ahead—you’re defeating the demon generals for us before we get to them, aren’t you? You essentially defeated Belgor, too. And how do you know where they’ll be? We’ve sealed three of them in just two days. It’s going far too well.”
“A-arwrw… (Ahhh, I, err, well…)”
The barrage of questions has me overwhelmed. She’s sharp in unexpected ways—again, just like her descendant, Lady Mary.
“A-arwf. (I, umm, I don’t know anything. And I wish you wouldn’t try to talk about difficult things to a puppy dog whose only talent is being adorable.)”
“Mgh. Are you lying? It isn’t good to lie, you know.” She grabs my ears and starts kneading them from side to side.
“Arwf! (Ahh! Please don’t work them like that! It feels kind of good!)”
“If you want me to do this more, then spit it out!”
“Arwf! (No! I have a right to remain silent! But please scratch my ears more!)”
The battle continues between myself and Lady Eili as I squat and she stands her ground.
“Eili, don’t bother Routa like that. Whoever he is, the fact remains that he’s helping us.”
Hecate throws me a lifeline. Her words were also an announcement to the knights around us who have started setting up camp.
I mean, I can’t blame them for being suspicious of me. It makes sense that the knights guarding Lady Eili would be cautious around me.
“…All right.”
Lady Eili removes her hands from my ears; they perk straight back up when released.
She doesn’t look very happy about it, but if she knows too much of what’s going on, it could affect the future. Please forgive me.
Out of consideration for the burden on Lady Eili for successively sealing Carmilla, Belgor, and Lich, we’ve stopped our advance for today.
Lady Eili insists she isn’t tired at all—and she probably isn’t lying.
Normally, the burden on her would have been much greater, since she would have had to seal the Five Demon Generals in their most powerful forms. With me defeating them first, it doesn’t put a burden on her anymore. She truly doesn’t look tired.
“Look, just get some rest today.”
“…All right.”
Taking note of Hecate’s commanding tone, Lady Eili reluctantly backs off.
“We’re going to scout out a little bit ahead.”
“…Again?”
“Yes, again.”
Lady Eili certainly doesn’t look convinced, but Hecate starts walking without so much as a glance at her.
It seems a little cold to me, but even this is part of defeating the Demon Lord and changing the future. I’m sorry, Lady Eili.
I follow Hecate and leave the campsite behind.
“We should be far enough now.”
Our spatial magic warping is apparently classified as a grand magic that doesn’t exist in this era. And it is a little too convenient, if you ask me. We’d obviously need to go somewhere we won’t be seen before we use it as a precaution.
Even Hecate, after receiving her future knowledge, doesn’t seem to have mastered it yet.
“Meow! (All right, then! Next we’re going to where Gigas is!)”
Nahura casts her spatial magic. I can’t stand how this dumb cat is able to use such a huge spell, but saying it out loud would come back to hit me right in the face like a boomerang, so I don’t.
The scenery goes white, and a moment later, we’re in front of a large waterfall.
“A-arwf?! (Wh-whoa! I know this place!)”
I totally remember what this place is.
“Squeak! (It’s my nest!)”
A smooth waterfall towers high above us. Like Len says, this is the nest she used to live in. Is Gigas supposed to be somewhere nearby?
“Nahura, you must have gotten the place wrong.”
“M-mewl? (H-huh? That’s strange. Why are the coordinates off?)”
But it seems like Nahura simply messed up.
“Arwf! (Hey, cat next door—you’re a hunk of junk, you homunculus!)”
“M-myaa-myaa?! (Wh-what was that?! Nahura is not a hunk of junk! There must be a good reason for this!)”
“Arf, arf. (Yeah, yeah. That’s what all the homunculi say.)”
Still, this would be the first time I’ve ever seen her mess up her teleportation. I suppose even monkeys fall from trees—or, in this case, even cats mess up their jumps.
“Wh-what is going on here? What is the meaning of this?!”
“Arwf? (Huh?)”
I hear a voice that isn’t supposed to be here.
“Arwf?! (Lady Eili?!)”
Lady Eili, who’s supposed to be minding the campsite, is right next to us for some reason.
“Eili?! What are you doing here?!”
Hecate is shocked, too—even she must not have expected this.
“I used my bounded-field magic to conceal myself and follow you. I knew you were hiding something!”
I didn’t realize we were being tailed. Not only did she make herself invisible, she even hid from our noses and ears to track us? That’s OP…
Belgor’s detection must simply have been unique—normally, she’d be able to act without anyone seeing her, huh? Lady Eili being able to conserve her strength has backfired.
“Meow. (I didn’t include Lady Eili in my calculations, so the warp point got shifted. In other words, it wasn’t my fault. Routa, don’t you think you owe someone an apology?)”
“Arwf! (I’m sorry for calling you a hunk of junk!)”
I fall before Nahura, groveling.
Hecate, watching my terrible performance, puts a hand to her forehead and sighs. “Nahura, send Eili back to the campsite. The knights are probably worried sick now that their saint is missing.”
“I don’t want to. I’m not moving from this spot until you give me an explanation!” says Lady Eili, grabbing hold of me.
“Arwf! (I’m being dog-napped!)”
“That’s right. This is a dog-napping. If you ever want to see Routa again, you’ll tell me the truth!”
Her initiative, her stubbornness… No matter how you slice it, she’s just like Lady Mary.
“Arwf, arwf? (Hey, Hecate, shouldn’t we just spill the beans at this point?)”
Even if we force the issue and drive her off, she’ll just do it again. And she might follow us on foot next time.
I’m sure of it—because of how well I know Lady Mary. Lady Eili is sure to do it again. If we don’t tell her the circumstances and it leads to a careless act on her part, wouldn’t that have a much worse effect on the future?
“…It seems I was being impatient as well,” says Hecate. “I, of all people, know just what kind of person Eili is.”
“That’s right. You’re a good friend, but you forget things about me far too often.”
“This story will venture deep into the preposterous, and you’ll have no idea whether to believe it. Do you still want to know?”
Hecate accepted us since she received a thousand years’ worth of information from Nahura, but will Lady Eili be all right? I would think the more one knew about magic, the more unbelievable us coming from the future to save them would be.
“I do. I would never disbelieve anything you said in good faith, Hecate.”
“All right. It’ll take a bit, but please, hear me out.”
Hecate tells Lady Eili about the events that will occur soon.
About how she’ll succeed at sealing the Demon Lord, but the burden will be so heavy that it will shorten the lifespans of many generations of Faulks family members.
About how her bloodline will manage to stay connected, the seal’s spell passed down from mother to daughter, but the seal will break in one thousand years and the world will be destroyed by the Demon Lord.
That in the future, Hecate will work out a plan to go back one thousand years to defeat the Demon Lord in this time period, thus saving both the world and the family of her dear friend.
That the plan hinges on me, and that we were acting in secret—intending not to tell even Eili—so that we didn’t change the future aside from defeating the Demon Lord.
We let Lady Eili hear it all.
“But that’s…”
Lady Eili has tears in her eyes.
“Hecate…! I’m sorry…! It’s my fault…! You had to suffer for a thousand years…!”
“Don’t apologize, Eili. It isn’t your fault,” says Hecate, like an older sister to a younger sister, as she gives Lady Eili a hug. “And if the plan succeeds, my own memories of the past millennium will become happy ones.”
“…Okay. Then we must succeed.” Lady Eili wipes her tears and levels a firm gaze at Hecate. “Is there anything I can do, Hecate? I want to be of some help as well.”
“…You’re not counted among the players in this plan. If I had to say, I’d tell you not to do anything except keep sealing the demon generals and seal the Demon Lord, and nothing else.”
“I… I see…”
Everyone would feel exasperated after hearing all that and learning there was still nothing they could do. Maybe Hecate knew that, and that’s why she didn’t tell her.
“Squeak. (That’s strange.)”
“Arf? (Now you’re saying it, Len? What’s strange?)”
I’d thought she was keeping pretty quiet. Apparently, she’s been looking at the waterfall this whole time. Does she still have lingering regrets about her nest?
“Arf, arf. (Look, I’m sorry I put all those holes in your nest. Once we get back, I’ll see if I can’t fix them right up—)”
“Squeak! (Not that! I sense someone who isn’t me from this nest!)”
“Arf? (Really? What does it mean?)”
Wasn’t Len already shut up in this nest a thousand years ago? Why would someone else be living here?
“Squeak. (I sense a dragon, but a different one than me.)”
“Arf, arf? (That makes even less sense. How would a dragon who’s not you be living here?)”
Or maybe Len came in after the fact and stole the nest away from this dragon?
“Squeak! (I’ve done nothing of the sort! This nest has been my home since my birth!)”
In that case, who on earth could the dragon in there be?
“Squeak… (Beloved…)”
Len looks at me imploringly.
“Arwrw. (All right, all right. Let’s check it out.)”
“Squeak! (My love! You are truly too kind!)”
Mice clinging to me doesn’t make me happy in the slightest, but I’d feel weird leaving things as they are.
“Arf, arf? (Hecate, sorry, but could you wait out here? I want to check inside.)”
“…We only came here because I didn’t predict Eili’s actions, so I don’t mind. Just to be sure, though, we should all go. This may not be the exact location, but Gigas is somewhere nearby, so we can’t say for sure it isn’t dangerous.”
“Arwf! (Great! Then let’s all head for the back of that waterfall.)”
Lady Eili, who doesn’t know enough to be aware of Len’s nature, looks at us blankly, but when she sees the waterfall from behind, she starts making gleeful noises.
“Arf, arf. (The inside isn’t much different than a thousand years from now.)”
I take the lead, proceeding into the cave.
“Squeak. (It’s close—the dragon is just up ahead.)”
“Arf… (Right, but maybe we should be really careful.)”
I’ve been picking up a certain scent for a while now.
The scent of blood.
Did the dragon spill it…? Or does it belong to the dragon itself? I don’t know, but there’s quite a lot of it.
We turn a corner in the cave and come out into a large cavern. This is where Len slept, wasn’t it?
In the center lies an enormous creature. A dragon with the same azure scales as Len. Its body appeared to be several times bigger than even hers.
Having sensed our arrival, the dragon slowly lifts its head.
“GURORO… (Come no closer… I wish only to spend my final moments with my child… Please leave here in peace…)”
The dragon’s eyes hold no hostility, but they do hold the resolve to fight to the bitter end if we were to get any closer.
“Arf. (Everyone, stop.)”
It happened right as I said that.
“Squeak! (Mother!)”
Len jumps down from my head and runs up to the dragon.
“Arf…? (Mother…? What?)”
“GURORO… (Little one. Why do you call me mother? This egg is my only child…)”
The large dragon is cradling a small egg near its belly. I call it small, but only compared to the size of the dragon. It’s easily at least as tall as Lady Eili. The dragon is protecting the egg tenderly, with love.
“GURORO… (My mate was killed by that wicked Demon Lord. This egg is my only family… I do not recall having any small children like you… If you are here to berate the dying, then cease…)”
“Squeak! (No, I am your daughter! I am Lenowyrm! Daughter of the fierce red dragon Vritra and the quiet blue dragon Meliowyrm!)”
“GURORO…?! (How do you know my name, and my husband’s name…?! And this faint scent coming from you… Are you truly my daughter, Lenowyrm…?!)”
“Squeak! (Look upon me, Mother!)”
Len dispels her transformation.
Before us now stands a beautiful blue dragon.
“GURORO…! (Ohhh, that is the very image of the daughter in my mind’s eye…!)” Meliowyrm’s eyes goggle. “GURORO… (But how…? Do I have two daughters…?)”
“I’ll explain that for you.”
Hecate tells Meliowyrm an abridged version of the story of us coming from the future.
“GURORO… (So that is what happened… To think I would be able to see my grown daughter as I die… What a splendid end to have, what good fortune to visit me…)”
Meliowyrm closes her eyes.
She’s nearing the end.
“GARORO! (Mother! Don’t die! Please, don’t die, Mother!)”
Len, having returned to her dragon form, clings to Meliowyrm, but the wounds are too deep, and it appears that she can’t move anymore.
“GARO… (Mother…)”
Lady Eili passes underneath the crying Len.
“It’ll be all right.”
She touches the tip of Meliowyrm’s nose, then incants a healing spell.
When she does, the deep wound starts rapidly healing.
“GARO? (Mother?)” says Len.
Meliowyrm opens her eyes again. “GURORO… (I cannot believe it… Such grievous wounds, gone without a trace…! I had no idea such a powerful user of magic existed among the humans…!)”
Seeing her mother’s life saved before her eyes, Len leaps onto her.
“GARORO! (Mother! Oh, Mother!)”
I’m really happy for you, Len. But please be careful you don’t stomp all over us when you move.
Also, the egg! The egg is about to fall over…!
Did we change the future?
Len’s mother was originally supposed to die here, but I no longer know what kind of effects it will have now that Lady Eili saved her.
“GURORO. (Then I shall go into hiding for a time. Fortunately, my child is yet to hatch from this egg. If you come back again in one thousand years, I believe there should be no discord with the future.)”
Yeah, that would make all the same things happen.
Though I do feel bad that Len will have to be alone for a millennium again.
“GURORO. (Don’t be. It’s unfortunate that I will be unable to watch over my child as she grows, but a mere thousand years is not a major issue for the dragons.)”
As to be expected from “the dragons”—they have a totally different sense of scale when it comes to time.
And so, we bid farewell to Meliowyrm, then return to our original goal: slaying Gigas, the giant commander.
“GARORO. (Hmm-hmm-hmm. Once we return to our original time, I will be able to see Mother again…! Happy day, oh, happy day…!)”
“Meow. (I’m so happy for you, Lady Len.)”
“Arwf, arwf. (I’m glad you’re happy, but you’ll stick out like a sore thumb in that form. Go back to being a mouse before other monsters spot us.)”
“GARORO… (I’ve told you many times that this form is my true one…)”
As Len is about to reluctantly change back into a mouse, Hecate stops her.
“Wait a moment, Len. We may as well fly through the sky like this.”
It seems Hecate has a plan of some sort.
“Huh?! This time we’re flying through the sky?!”
Lady Eili is pleased with that. She must intend to come with us to defeat Gigas.
“GARORO! (You are the benefactor of both my mother and myself! You will have the best seat!)”
“Hooray! Thank you!”
We climb onto Len’s back, and she flies north with Hecate’s guidance.
There we find the mountain renowned as a sacred landmark in the future—now, however, it is a demon mountain, stained with the Demon Lord’s miasma.
Len rapidly accelerates, and after we pass through the thick fog, we’re greeted by the bright blue sky and a sea of clouds expanding below us.
“Wow, it’s so pretty!”
“Arf, arf. (I’d like to show this to the young lady, too. I’ll have to do that once I get back to the future.)”
For a time, we gaze at the beautiful scenery in awe. Meanwhile, Hecate is talking to Nahura about something.
“Around here, yes?”
“Mew. (Yes. The coordinates point directly below us, too.)”
“All right, then. Routa?”
“Arf? (Oh, what is it? Are we going to do something?)”
I never heard anything about what we’re going to do.
“You can go back to your original form now.”
My original form? What’s that? This is my exact form.
“Yes, yes, you’ve made your point, so just do it.”
Hecate starts pushing against me repeatedly.
“Arf, arf! (Hey—stop that! I’ll lose my balance up here!)”
“Off you go, now.”
For real? She actually intends to push me off.
“Recall how you defeated Gigas.”
Then, finally, I remember. “Arwf… (Oh, that’s right… My actual size.)”
It was such a detestable memory that I’d blocked it out. But it’s probably the only way to defeat Gigas, who is under these clouds.
I dispel the transformation technique I’ve very strictly kept active.
In a moment, my body explodes in size. With my vision still up in the sky, my body and my limbs pierce the clouds by themselves, growing enormous.
“Arwf! (Oh! I heard a squish.)”
Feeling an awful sensation underfoot, like I just squished a bug, I know that Gigas has been crushed.
With that, the battle is over, having lasted no more than an instant.
From Gigas’s point of view, there would have been a huge dog foot suddenly dropping from the sky and squashing him. How pitiful, to be defeated and sealed before he has any idea what’s going on.
You can sleep as long as you want, a thousand years from now.
After sealing Gigas, we return to the camp for a bit, then order the knights to remain on standby. We won’t need to sneak around anymore, now that Lady Eili—the one we wanted to keep this a secret from—knows about it. We immediately set off to seal the last of the Five Demon Generals: Behemoth, the war demon and king of beasts.
“There’s a high possibility everyone knows about us now that Routa has used his giant form. Before the Demon Lord does anything, we need to take care of her quickly.”
Hecate seems to have planned for this all along.
“Arf, arf. (But Behemoth and I never fought.)”
And I’m not sure I’ll be able to do it. During that single moment we confronted each other in the future, she felt stronger even than me. If that miracle of her falling head over heels for me and abandoning her power hadn’t happened, it might have been me who lost.
To make things worse, she’ll be brainwashed right now from the miasma. Will I be able to win in a fair fight?
As I’m worrying about it, Nahura’s spatial magic activates, and we warp to where Behemoth is.
“Arwf?! (Wait! We’re right in front of her?!)”
Lying sprawled on a big rock shelf is a golden lion. Her build is a little bit bigger than my current size, but the power radiating from her is stronger than that from Gigas.
“Grrrrr…”
Oh, shit. My bark woke her up.
Behemoth’s eyes are glowing crimson, telling me that she, too, has been brainwashed by the Demon Lord.
Has the time finally come for me to fight at my full strength?
It’s not the time to start saying things like I don’t wanna. I lower myself, watching Behemoth’s movements carefully so I can react whenever I need to.
“Grrrrrrr…”
With a groan, Behemoth slowly picks herself up, then gazes at me.
It seems I’ve been identified as an enemy. Behemoth draws in a breath, taking an offensive posture.
And then…
“Grrrraaaaaaahhhh!! (I’m in loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove!!)”
There’s the shrill sound of shattering glass, and then her crimson eyes return to their regular blue.
“A-arwf?! (D-did she just break the brainwashing on her own?!)”
“Grrr! (The power of love doth exceed all else! I am in love! Yea, I have fallen for thee!)”
You’ve been like this for a thousand years?!