Chapter 44: Final Moments
The next morning, we passed through the gates of the royal capital
without issue. I mean, what gatekeeper would have even thought of
stopping me? The gatekeepers of the royal capital and royal palace
all knew my face, after all. Considering those rumors I’d had spread
around, the second prince had to know I was coming, too.
It wasn’t as if we had spread the word about the armies following
behind me, but they surely would have known about them by now.
They weren’t stupid, and they had to be gathering their own intel.
There were thousands of soldiers involved, so there had to be at
least one of them leaking info for money or working in cahoots with
the enemy.
But there was no sight of the enemy at the city gates. Instead...
“Hurrah! Long live the Lady Angel!!!”
“Whoa!”
They surprised me! The whole city was welcoming our arrival! That
word-of-mouth had worked way too well! It would be very hard to
publicly arrest me like this. In fact, that could lead to a quarrel
between the soldiers and citizens...no, it could start an all-out
bloodbath.
Well, it seemed most of the aristocrats and soldiers had abandoned
the second prince, but those who had too much to lose or were past
the point of no return...like those who were involved in the king’s
death...would be betting on their last chance to turn things around.
If Fernand and I were to be killed, the second prince would seize
control of the situation and become ruler. The aristocrats, military,
and the people had changed sides for now, but things would turn
around again if the second prince was suddenly the only rightful heir.
So, their move would be...
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Fwsh! Ksh!
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Yup, assassination. They’d try to go for Fernand and me. Any idiot
could have figured that out.
Not only did Francette have superhuman strength and vitality, but
her sight, reflexes, sense of hearing, and reaction speed were off the
charts. Deflecting arrows or javelins out of the sky was possible for
normal soldiers, so she could practically do it with her eyes closed.
Of course, the Four Walls were capable of this, as well. Not to
mention, I had donned chainmail, just in case. Plate mail would have
been so heavy that I would have been immobilized, but I can at least
manage this much.
Besides, this was...you know. Yes, I created it as a “potion container.”
Thus, it was lighter, easier to move in, and more durable than normal
chainmail. Stopping an arrow from a distance was no problem at all.
But what if someone used a giant composite bow or ballista? Or
what if I took a shot to the head? Haha... Hahaha...
I’m counting on you, Francette! I couldn’t rely on the automatic
defense mechanism that Celes may or may not have put on me.
I couldn’t deny the possibility that the instance when the ex-bishop
attacked me was just a coincidence, and I wasn’t so stupid that I
would just risk my life on something that wasn’t even confirmed. So,
I decided to consider Celes’s protection unconfirmed for the
moment.
Having knocked an arrow out of the air, Francette glared in the
direction the projectile came from. But since it had been fired from
long-range and the culprit likely hid immediately after taking the
shot, there was no one to be found. Though, even if she had seen
someone and chased after them, they probably would have gotten
away. There would be no finding them if they’d hidden out
somewhere or changed outfits and blended into the crowd. Besides,
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she hadn’t even seen them taking the shot in the first place. It wasn’t
as if they had to be dressed as a soldier or anything, so they could
have been in civilian clothing.
It would have been foolish to send off one of my five guards to find
someone with such little hope of catching them. In fact, separating
me from my guards could have been their goal in the first place. They
probably assumed I had no fighting ability myself.
The events during the battle with the Aligot Empire’s western
invading forces were considered divine punishment for opposing the
Goddess’s Angel. I had deliberately set rumors in motion stating that
I myself only had the ability to make healing potions.
Yeah, let’s all pretend that the whole explosive potions thing didn’t
happen. We could all act like the Goddess made that happen
directly. Though, if that had been true, no sane person would try to
mess with someone so dangerous... But I mean, they were doing
such stupid things because they weren’t normal, I suppose.
Even if I wasn’t here, Fernand would have eventually gathered
enough forces to siege the royal capital or otherwise requested aid
from other countries. That, or someone would have sacrificed their
life to assassinate the second prince, or he would have been
eliminated some other way rather quickly. He had already lost at the
point when he failed to kill the first prince.
All I was doing was making the whole process slightly quicker, and
slightly decreasing the senseless loss of life. That’s all there was to it.
Things might have been different if the second prince was more
likeable and had enough supporters to array themselves against the
first prince, but that was neither here nor there.
Anyway, we were about to arrive at the royal capital. I had been here
before. It was back when that party invitation was forced upon me,
so I wore a dress I had “borrowed” at the baron’s house and visited
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this place, then switched to a maid outfit as soon as I arrived. It was
quite eventful. But for some reason, there was no guard standing at
the gate this time.
Maybe he had a duty to not let me pass as the gatekeeper, but he
had temporarily left his post because was afraid of being struck
down by divine punishment... No, no, he was probably in the
bathroom or something. Can’t help it if nature calls! And so, the six
of us passed through.
But man... it looked like the second prince really had been forsaken
by everyone. It’s pretty bad when you’ve even been abandoned by
the gatekeeper.
But come to think of it, this should have been expected. The rightful
heir to the throne, the first prince, was leading his army to the royal
capital. Most of the aristocrats and military had taken his side. The
merchants and commoners were all in support of the first prince.
Same goes for the Temple of the Goddess.
The only ones supporting the second prince were a few aristocrats
with bad reputations, some immoral merchants, and a handful of
foreign bishops with dubious origins. Then there was the triple
combo of rumors about “the father-killing usurper,” “the wrath of
the Goddess,” and “the return of the Angel.” I’d actually respect
anyone who could still support the second prince through all that...
And so, I casually strolled farther inside. I came to realize that I was
the only one who had been here before out of our party of six. Of
course, I had only seen the changing room and party hall. But the
others walked on as if they knew where they were going, for some
reason, so I was just following them... They all knew the royal palace
in their own kingdom well, so maybe they had an idea of the layouts
of other palaces, too. I didn’t have any choice but to shut up and
follow them, anyway...
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“Here.”
Um, Francette? What do you mean, “here”...?
How would she have known where the king (lol) was? He could have
been in his office, the bedroom, or even the dining hall. And this
was...
“This is the audience chamber. This is the only place the cornered
king would face his enemies.”
...Did she hear that from a play or a bard’s song or something? Well, I
guess we were going to search every room, anyway. We may as well
start with this room...
...
...
...There he is!
We opened the door, and he was actually right there.
In the far end of the room, a young man who looked like he could be
the second prince sat on the throne with a crown on his head.
Behind him were several bishop-looking guys. And of course, soldiers
stood on guard before him. I wasn’t sure if they had missed their
chance to run or had some reason they couldn’t leave, or maybe
they were actually there out of loyalty to the king.
If they attacked, I had no choice but to beat them down. I would
have to be a fool to fuss over not killing anyone at this point. The
king’s guards would likely be skilled fighters, but I highly doubted
they would be any match for Francette wielding a divine sword, or
even the Four Walls. I suppose they’d be lucky if they managed to
survive with heavy injuries.
“Ah, you’re finally here! I welcome you, Miss Angel!”
I questioned whether I heard the second prince Ghislain correctly.
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“Huh?” I stood there, mouth agape, and he continued.
“I appreciate you bringing Balmore’s army to me to acknowledge my
rule. As a reward, I shall accept you as my queen once I emerge
victorious over the Kingdom of Balmore!”
...So his despair had driven him right over the edge. On the other
hand, it seemed his bishops and soldiers weren’t as delusional as he
was, since they all looked pretty anxious and pale in the face. The
soldiers were gripping the hilt of their weapons tensely. I didn’t care
about the second prince that much, but I decided to proceed as
planned for the rest of the audience...
“Your Highness, Prince Ghislain...”
“No, I am king now. Call me Your Majesty or King Ghislain.”
“...”
It was hard dealing with people who weren’t right in the head. But I
had no choice but to continue...
“It’s clear that you’ve murdered your own father, the king,
attempted to kill your brother to usurp the throne, and betrayed
your own ally, the Kingdom of Balmore, by trying to invade them to
distract the world from your heinous crimes. What do you have to
say for yourself?”
The second prince Ghislain was taken aback.
“What nonsense is this...? My brother Fernand disrespected and
opposed you, Miss Kaoru the Angel. So he should be disinherited,
and the throne should naturally belong to me.”
He wasn’t gonna deny he murdered his own father and tried to kill
his brother, huh...? And Fernand called me Lady Angel, but this guy
refers to me as Miss Angel, eh. Well, I wasn’t sure if the automatic
translation in my brain captured the nuances of Japanese honorifics
accurately, but I could tell he saw himself as above me.
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I mean, he did offer to take me as his queen as a “reward.” Just how
much stock did he put in his own worth...? That would be a terrible
punishment for me...
“Well, the first prince did displease me, but you waged war on the
Kingdom of Balmore, where I was staying, and broke a mutual
agreement in the process. This is akin to declaring war on me, and an
act of hostility against the Goddess. So much so that the first prince’s
actions are nothing at all in comparison.”
“What...?” The second prince stared blankly... No, he wasn’t a prince
anymore. But I didn’t want to call him king either, so I guess he was
just “Ghislain.”
“Miss Kaoru, I thought you’d forsaken the Kingdom of Balmore...”
Ah, so he really did believe that.
“No, I was just away for a short vacation. My home is still in the
Kingdom of Balmore... Perhaps you’ve been tricked by someone?”
“What!” Ghislain’s eyes shot wide open, then he whirled around to
face the bishops behind him. “Th-This isn’t what you told me! Y-You
all said...”
So, those were the survivors of Rueda who had started all of this.
...Though, really, I already knew that as soon as I entered the room.
This was odd, though. The bishops were looking pretty comfortable
when they should have been feeling cornered.
True, there were a lot of royal guards standing between us and their
side. They would obviously be skilled, considering they were tasked
with protecting the royal family. We only had six people on our side,
even if we counted me, and I have pretty much zero physical fighting
ability.
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But I couldn’t imagine they didn’t know about Fearsome Fran and
the Four Walls, the guardsmen who had been granted divine swords.
Not to mention my “non-physical” fighting ability...
Francette and the others were positioned with a space open in front
of me, so I could make my denouncement, but they quickly shifted to
a protective formation around me. Their first priority was to protect
me from enemy attacks, so this wasn’t surprising. And they just
needed to stand in front of me and let our opponents come to us
rather than chasing them around, so this was more efficient.
They positioned themselves to form something like a turtle’s head
and limbs, with Francette standing at the front as the “head” and me
at the center, or the “shell.” This way, she could mow down any
enemy who approached us and capture Ghislain and the bishops
after all of the soldiers had been taken care of. It would be an easy
task with these five and their divine swords.
They needed some space to swing their weapons, so there was some
distance between each of them. But they wouldn’t let the enemy
rush in between them, so there were no worries there.
And so, I walked behind Francette and toward Ghislain over the
carpet laid out in a straight line...
Wham!
...I fell.
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“Oww!” I suddenly fell through the floor into a drop of about four
meters or so.
I did manage to land on my feet, but my ankles and knees couldn’t
absorb the shock all the way. I fell on my butt, and hit my coccyx
really hard, damn it! Pretty sure I sprained my ankles and damaged
my knees, too... Though, I could heal right up with a potion, anyway.
...But man, a trapdoor?! Going real old-school, aren’t we? Francette
didn’t fall when she walked over it, so they must have tripped some
sort of switch that had kept it from triggering after she passed
through...
Though, really, a hole that was only this deep would only give me
bruises and sprains at best. If they really wanted to kill me, they
would have set some poisoned spikes or something down here. And
there was some water pooled here, but there were also dried
branches with leaves on them, some straw, and hay acting as a
cushion. Maybe those were put here so I wouldn’t get hurt? Just
then...
Vwoosh!
“Gyaaaaaa! Hot, hot, hoooooot!!!”
I was engulfed in flames! This was oil, not water! The branches and
hay weren’t there to cushion my fall, but to make the oil burn all at
once!
“E-Extinguisher...”
Just as I tried to create a fire extinguishing agent, a shadow fell
around me. I instinctively looked up, and...
“Ah.”
A big, round boulder just big enough to fit through the hole came
falling onto me.
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If only I had some time. If I had just a few seconds to think, maybe I
could have come up with a plan. Maybe I could have made a potion
container made of a durable superalloy that could hold up the
boulder. It may have been possible for me to think of something like
that to get me out of my situation.
But it took less than a second for the boulder to fall a mere four
meters or so. Less than a second to react to the sudden turn of
events while panicking and trying to put out the fire. It was far too
little time to think and create a potion container.
And so...
“Yes! We finally defeated the blasphemer! Utterly crushed her into a
pulp!”
“Hahahaha! I heard the knife failed to puncture her four and a half
years ago when our comrade attacked her, but not even blade-proof
clothing will save her from getting crushed by a boulder while
suffocating in fire and being incinerated from the inside out! Even
her bones shall burn to ashes!”
The bishops had been quiet this entire time, but they were now
shouting with glee.
“We opened air holes so the flames won’t even go out until the oil is
done burning. Though, I’m sure she died the moment the boulder fell
on her. Haaahahaha!”
“What...?” Francette and the Four Walls stood there, speechless. But
there was nothing they could do.
A round boulder had fallen right into the square hole in the ground.
There was some space at each of the four corners, but it was too
small for a person to fit through. Even if they managed to get down
there, there was no way to move such a big boulder back through
the hole. Especially not with the fire blazing like that...
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“Hahaha, did you see the tick marks on the sides of the hole? We
used those to measure and make sure there’s only a few centimeters
of space under the boulder, just enough room for the stacks of
branches and hay.
“In other words, your precious ‘Lady Angel,’ — the minion of evil —
was completely flattened. This is divine punishment for her foolish
actions against us, the true servants of the Goddess. How
unfortunate! This is what you get for dragging out the first prince
and trying to seize control of this kingdom, you traitors! Haaahaha!”
“...” “...” “...”
Ggg... Gggggg... Gggrrrkkk...
Francette and the Four Walls gritted their teeth so hard that blood
trickled down their mouths.
“Y-You bastards...” There wasn’t a trace of sanity left in their eyes.
“Kill... I’ll kill you... Diiiiiieeeeee!!!”
Clash!
The moment Francette raised her sword to rush forward, the bishops
leapt into the hidden passageway behind them and activated
something that brought metal bars down at the entrance of their
escape route. The bars sank into the ground beneath them, and a
metallic click sounded, locking them into place.
“These bars are made of steel. There’s no removing them now that
they’re completely locked in. Securing an escape route is a basic
military tactic, is it not? Though, I suppose there’s no sense in a holy
man explaining this to a knight. Farewell now! Haaahaha,
aaahahaha!!!”
No one knew where the escape route led to. The bishops had their
faces obscured with hoods, and they could change into civilian
clothing as they fled. They must have taken their fortunes with them
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already, so they could just live their lives in leisure in some other
country...
That is, if these were just ordinary knights they were facing.
Shwing! Clink.
The steel bars were sliced through with ease. This was no surprise to
everyone who knew about Francette’s divine sword.
A divine sword... It wasn’t just a made-up story to inspire people, or
a rumor that had been blown out of proportion. Divine swords were
real, and Francette was wielding one.
“Aaaaaaaaahhh!!!”
As the Four Walls rushed into the secret passageway and captured
the bishops, Francette threw the full brunt of her unbridled rage and
hatred against the enemy.
Four fighters against the bishops, and one against all of the royal
guards. Perhaps their forces were distributed unevenly? No soldier in
Balmore would even consider that. Not if that one warrior was
Fearsome Fran.
She was a deity of the battlefield. A man-eating fiend. A demon
queen. A tempest of rage that couldn’t be described with mere
words. Violence and death. Blood and flesh.
She easily sliced through enemy weapons, armor, marble pillars...and
human bodies...like a hot knife through butter.
“Eeeeeeeeek!”
The lump of flesh atop the throne was making an unpleasant sound,
but Francette would just deal with that later. It didn’t seem to be
going anywhere. No one, and nothing, was going to escape.
Those who had taken the Goddess from her and those who had
blasphemed against her lady would pay.
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Francette didn’t think for a second that Kaoru had died. And why
would she have? Kaoru was a Goddess.
But if Kaoru’s body had perished, her little vacation here was at an
end, and she had thus returned to her own world. That was why
Francette had tried to protect Kaoru so desperately, but these idiots
had ruined everything.
She realized she would probably never see Kaoru in this life again, all
because of these idiots. These absolute fools.
The other soldiers had refused to oppose Kaoru and had made
themselves scarce, but these men stayed with the second prince and
had gotten in the way of Francette and her group. It was their fault
that Kaoru had left this world. So, she would give them the one thing
they deserved...
“...Die!”
Death. They were just following orders? They have wives and kids?
She didn’t give a single damn about any of that.
Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die...
No one could stop Francette as she danced in a swirl of death and
madness.
And just as it had been for Kaoru’s group, no one tried to stop Prince
Fernand as he made his way into the royal palace. When he arrived
in the audience room, the first thing he saw was a pile of lifeless
guards, the former bishops of Rueda — who had been beaten by the
Four Walls within an inch of their lives — the second prince, Ghislain,
curled up and crying on the throne, and Francette standing there
carrying the spotless divine sword Exgram in her hand.
“Kaoru... Where is Kaoru?!”
“...”
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No one replied to Fernand’s question. It was clear that Kaoru’s side
had won convincingly. So why was Kaoru nowhere to be seen? And
why was no one answering Fernand’s question...?
An ominous, sinking feeling grew in his chest. Fernand had opted to
deliberately avoid mentioning the obviously out-of-place sight in his
view. He felt as if there was no turning back once he asked about it.
Indeed, in the center of the floor leading from the entrance of the
audience room to the throne, there was a hole with smoke and heat
coming out of it...
Just then, a ball of light appeared in the space right between Fernand
and Francette, then rapidly expanded and took on a humanoid
shape. It was the being that Francette had met twice already, and
the Four Walls had met once before.
The Goddess Celestine had descended.
“I can’t detect Kaoru’s soul anymore! Where... Where is Kaoru?!”
Celestine had set up Kaoru with an automatically-activated barrier
and a system that would automatically strike back at her assailants.
However, those were specifically designed to deal with surprise
attacks and long-range shots. They were meant to protect Kaoru
from swords, spears, arrows, and other weapons that could suddenly
take her out.
If this had been Earth, Celestine may have granted Kaoru protections
against guns, grenades, rocket launchers, and maybe even things like
cannons, fuel-air explosives, bunker busters, or even a nuke. But
such things didn’t exist in this world. That was why Celestine had set
countermeasures in place to protect Kaoru from realistic surprise
attacks. There was no point in granting her protection from nuclear
weapons that didn’t exist.
As long as she wasn’t killed instantly, she could create a potion
(along with its container) within seconds to deal with the threat and
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heal herself. And since she was more useful alive than dead, there
was no reason for anyone to kill her outright. This was Celestine’s
line of thinking, and thus she underestimated the potential danger
Kaoru could find herself in.
The bishops who had survived the fall of Rueda must have done
research on the incident when one of the other former bishops had
attacked Kaoru with a dagger, and thus learned that she had
somehow protected herself from the weapon. And so, they had
devised a second and third layer of attacks in order to kill her, even if
she was able to protect herself from a dagger or some arrows.
External burns, lung damage through breathing in the heat,
suffocation from the lack of oxygen, and even being crushed by a
giant boulder. Since the bishops assumed Kaoru was a normal human
who had been bestowed with a small blessing from the Goddess
Celestine, and not a goddess herself, they had been confident in
their ability to kill her, and they had been right about that.
One of the Four Walls pointed wordlessly in response to Celestine’s
words of panic. His finger indicated the hole in the ground.
“What...?”
A hole that shouldn’t have been there... Celestine didn’t think it was
anything worth noticing and had ignored it completely, but stared at
it now in a fluster...
“Nothing... I don’t sense Kaoru’s soul or consciousness... Nothing at
all... Not even when I expand my range of detection... Ahhh, I wanted
to drag it out for at least 400 to 500...hopefully 4,000 to 5,000 years!
But five?! She’s gone after less than five measly years?!”
Once a human’s body perished, their immaterial presence dispersed
and vanished. That is, unless a being like Celestine or the other
deities happened to be around to protect them or made
preparations to protect them in anticipation of their death. Celestine
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hadn’t expected Kaoru’s body to be destroyed so abruptly, so it took
her some time to realize what had happened. By the time she
noticed Kaoru’s soul and consciousness had disappeared, it was
already too late.
“My precious Kaoru... He entrusted me with her care... I owed her so
much... And she was my first friend... Unforgivable! This is
unforgivable!!! I’ll destroy this entire kingdom...no, this entire
continent! I’ll burn it to ashes and banish it to the depths of the sea
for all eternity! I’ll make sure I never catch sight of it again, so I can
forget all about this unpleasant emotion welling up inside me...”
Everyone froze, then the despair set in. Not only was the Kingdom in
Brancott in peril, but so was every other country on the continent.
Every human and every lifeform on this vast landmass would meet
their doom. The Goddess herself had announced the execution, a
death sentence that couldn’t be overruled.
“Despair” was the only word that could adequately describe the
emotion within everyone in the room.
If it had been Celestine’s main body, or even an offspring that had
been set to a slightly higher level, she may not have been quite so
enraged. But unfortunately, this Celestine had her ability to think
adjusted to a lower limit to make it possible to communicate with
humans, which also gave her emotions particular to lower life forms,
such as anger and hatred. It was only a little bit...
But that little bit of dark emotion inside her was now going berserk.
There was nothing that could be done...
“Please wait!”
As everyone stood immobilized by the intense pressure emanating
from Celestine’s body, one person recklessly attempted to stop the
Goddess.
“You’re...”
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“Yes, I am Lady Kaoru’s guardian knight, Francette!”
Celestine glared at Francette.
“You’re the one who was acting all high and mighty during that one
distortion incident...”
“Urgh!”
She had been listening quietly with Kaoru there, but she must have
been quite annoyed, considering she still held a grudge over it.
“So, what sort of entertaining lecture does this lowlife who
unashamedly calls herself a ‘guardian knight,’ despite failing to
protect Kaoru, have in store for me?”
She’s really maaad!
Fernand and the Four Walls trembled in fear at her response, but the
continent was already doomed. It wasn’t as if things could get any
worse. Unless Celestine decided to destroy not just this continent,
but the entire world, that is...
But it was hard to believe the Goddess would go that far, no matter
how enraged she was...
As such, no one attempted to stop Francette. After all, they were
both devotees of Kaoru, each lost in their anger. Maybe they could
reach an understanding. It wasn’t completely out of the question.
They all watched with the faintest of hopes in their hearts...
“Lady Kaoru wouldn’t want this! Lady Kaoru may be unforgiving to
those who mean to do her harm, but she has always shown mercy to
the innocent, even if they were from an enemy country. She would
never wish for the deaths of so many innocent people and those who
were close to her! I’m certain she would be very sad if she heard of
this... The entire reason Lady Kaoru came here in the first place was
to try and reduce the number of senseless deaths to a minimum. If
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her efforts are not only nullified, but if even more people were to
die...”
“Urgh...” Celestine recoiled at Francette’s words. She didn’t care at
all for lower lifeforms, but she knew that Kaoru had a special place in
her heart for them Even now that she was dead, she still wanted to
honor Kaoru’s will for being her friend and helping with “that
person” in so many ways.
Celestine knew Kaoru had died — perished completely, in other
words — but Francette thought Kaoru had just lost her temporary,
mortal form in this world and had returned to her own. Due to that
belief, she was able to calm herself from her temporary burst of
anger. Since she was the only one with somewhat of a tolerance built
up against Celestine, she felt a duty and desperate need to calm the
Goddess herself.
After all, the fate of all living creatures in the entire continent rested
on her shoulders...
“Please consider Lady Kaoru’s kindness and have mercy...” Francette
knelt as she made her request, and the others followed in a fluster.
“...Very well. I will be considerate of Kaoru’s will. I won’t hurt
anyone.”
Fernand, the Four Walls, and Francette were filled with absolute joy
at Celestine’s words. Though, rather than let it show outwardly, they
kept their emotions in check...
They had all been prepared to die here today, but now they only
wished for no harm to come to the people of their kingdom and the
other countries. If someone had to die as punishment for what had
taken place, they wanted to be the only ones to pay the price.
“Thank you, O great Goddess! Now, we offer you our lives in hopes
of soothing your anger...” Francette said and switched from a
kneeling to a sitting position, and the others followed suit. It seemed
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they did so to avoid falling into an awkward position after the
Goddess took their lives.
But in response...
“You fool! After all that talk of going against Kaoru’s will and how sad
she would be, you suggest I kill her most trusted allies? ...Are you an
idiot?”
Celestine was right. Francette slumped her shoulders, disappointed
at her own stupidity.
“Enough! I will leave it up to you all to dispose of the cause of all this.
Don’t you dare let a single one of them escape!”
With that, Celestine disappeared. Now that Kaoru was gone, most of
Celestine’s interest in the individuals of this world had vanished with
her. And just as before, she would likely go back to quietly working
on dealing with distortions without getting involved with humans in
general. Just as she had before Kaoru had arrived in this world...
“...”
Francette, the Four Walls, and Fernand all looked rather dreadful.
The ex-bishops of Rueda had been left groaning on the ground, and
Ghislain still sat on the throne, muttering to himself that he had been
saved, despite the fact that he hadn’t been saved at all...
“...I am to report what happened here to Sir Roland, His Majesty, and
the people of the kingdom? And to Emile, Belle, Layette, and the
others... Although the loss of many lives is unavoidable in war, the
price we paid was far too high...”
The Four Walls, Fernand, and his companions just hung their heads,
at a loss for words.
“So I died, huh...”
A place of nothing but whiteness. I had been here once before.
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“It’s been quite a while.”
The young man in white clothing appeared before me. The self-
proclaimed God-like being, who was actually a highly advanced
lifeform that made humans look like water fleas in
comparison...supposedly.
“How is Kyoko doing?”
“She’s well, though she’s getting older and has been spending most
of her time in bed as of late...”
She was my classmate, so I knew her age, even if we hadn’t
contacted each other lately. That was mostly because neither of us
could move from our beds. That was especially true in my case, what
with all the IVs and the oxygen tanks and everything...
So, I would be leaving first...
“How is Kaoru doing?”
The God-like being suddenly lowered his head in response to my
question.
“I’m terribly sorry! Miss Kaoru Nagase has passed away...”
“What...?”
Impossible!
“How?! I thought she had the blessing of the Goddess of that world!
She was supposed to be immune to illnesses, injury, and old age!
What happened?!” I asked for an explanation, and he filled me in on
what had happened.
“So, Kaoru wasn’t able to reincarnate again and vanished
completely... In other words, she’s dead?”
“...Yes. I’m so sorry... I regret to tell you that your reason for
reincarnating in that world is now gone. If you’d like, as a token of
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apology, I could have you choose from any of the other worlds and
reincarnate there...”
“No, I’d like to go to Kaoru’s world as planned. I’m not interested in
any other option.”
“B-But Miss Kaoru is already...”
“Even still!”
I didn’t back down.
“Because I’m Reiko Kuon. I’m Kaoru Nagase’s friend! No matter how
far apart we may be, no matter how many decades have passed...
And even if Kaoru has passed away... There’s only one place for me
to go. To Verny, the world where Kaoru went!”
With that, I mustered a fierce smile. I didn’t believe it for one second.
Kaoru Nagase couldn’t have died twice so easily. Even if I had heard
it directly from God himself.
“Please forgive meeeeee!!!”
I didn’t know where she’d learned it from, but the Goddess
prostrated herself before me in a classic Japanese gesture of
apology.
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Well, I already knew why. That godlike being managing Earth had
already told me everything.
“For starters, I’d like my body to be reincarnated with the same
conditions as Kaoru, along with an Item Box and the ability to
understand every language. That is the basic loadout, right? And for
my bonus cheat power, I’d like to have unlimited magical powers!”
“Gyaaaaaa! She’s completely shameless!!!”
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Chapter 45: Return
“Shameless? You’re calling me shameless when I’m asking for the
minimum required powers to find Kaoru, in your stead, after you lost
sight of her and didn’t even bother to search?”
“Uhh... Wait, what? Find Kaoru? But her soul and presence are
completely gone now...”
“You’re not the one who gets to decide that. It isn’t as if you
confirmed that in the Akashic Records, right?”
“Oh, well, no. A lesser being of my level doesn’t have access to the
Akashic Records... Though, my main body could check them if
absolutely necessary... I can only look up very limited and simple
records pertaining to this specific planet.”
It was just as the Earth God had said.
“Then there’s a chance. The possibility isn’t zero.”
“...”
The Goddess grew silent.
“Can you please tell me what you know and explain how it
happened?”
“...V-Very well...”
Regarding the bonus perks, it seemed like she had vaguely agreed
with my terms...right? Okay, then. I’ll show everyone that the Kuon
family doesn’t know what it means to give up!
“So, this is the alternate world of Verny. The world where Kaoru is...”
Yes, it’s the world where she is, not where she was. We won’t ever
give up, no matter what happens...
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And off in the distance, I could see the capital of the Kingdom of
Brancott, Aras. The place where Kaoru disappeared...
All right, time to test out my powers!
If I tried using magic without practicing first, it could end pretty
badly. Really, though, this so-called “magic” was supposedly just an
explicable phenomenon backed by science. It wasn’t as if magical
fairies were going to appear or anything. I didn’t know how exactly it
was scientific, but you know what they say... “Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
I decided not to think too deeply about it.
“Water Ball...”
Whoa, a blob of water appeared! This means I don’t need to carry a
canteen around or worry about dying of thirst!
“Fire Ball...”
Good, I could use this for cooking and prevent myself from freezing
to death! And now...
“Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows...”
...Nope, nothing happened!
Those mountains in the distance had a huge hole gouged out of them
before I got here! Yes, I’m sure that’s it.
Now, off to the royal capital I go!
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I paid the gate guard three silver coins and made it into the royal
capital of Aras safely. This value of three silver coins supposedly
hadn’t changed for a long time, and neither had the price of
admission. And so, I continued straight ahead toward the royal
palace.
Of course, a commoner couldn’t just waltz into the royal palace...
Unless you went through a specific section, that is. Indeed, it was the
area known as the Sacred Ground.
Lady Kaoru the Angel... Also known as the Goddess of another world
by a select few... Sheesh, just what was that girl doing...?
Anyway, the Sacred Ground was the place where Kaoru had
sacrificed herself and ascended to the heavens to prevent a war
between the Kingdoms of Balmore and Brancott. The boulder that
was said to have crushed Kaoru had fit perfectly into the hole in the
ground, making it impossible to remove by lifting it out. They did
manage to open a hole that was about the same size next to it and
roll the boulder aside, but they only found her unrecognizable,
carbonized remains...
Those ashes were still carefully preserved as holy relics.
Only the route leading to the Sacred Ground was open for visitors to
enter freely, though it was surrounded by strong walls. The building
that included the former audience room was now treated like a
temple, and a new building had been constructed next to it to be
used as a new palace, with a replacement audience room.
I slipped in with the general visitors and observed the Sacred Ground
for some time, then left the royal palace. I had to secure an inn and
get some food, of course. My work would come after everyone went
to bed.
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Late into the night...
I quietly left the inn and went into the royal palace. The Sacred
Ground was open during the day, but it was understandably closed
off after dark. Fortunately, such security measures were completely
pointless in the face of magic.
“Invisibility Field!”
A spell that made me vanish...though, there was probably a scientific
explanation for how it worked, like enabling visible light to pass
through my body or bending space somehow. Whatever it did, it
allowed me to be completely undetectable to the naked eye, and I
walked right past the soldiers and into the building.
I used magic to open the locked door, then pushed it open just
enough to slip inside. Once I was inside the empty building, I used
magic to allow myself to see in the dark. Then I continued toward the
“Sacred Room”...
“Let’s see...”
There were no soldiers standing guard inside the building, so I could
get away with making some comments to myself.
The exterior was well-guarded enough, and no one would try to
sneak into the Sacred Ground to steal anything, anyway. This was a
world where the Goddess existed, after all. And a goddess that could
be somewhat harsh against people who annoyed her, at that.
The god of Earth had only heard a second-hand report from the
goddess of this world, Lady Celestine, and she was in such a
depressed and fretful state that she could hardly explain what had
happened. As such, he’d had to piece together bits and pieces of
information that she managed to get out. It seemed the Goddess
Celestine wasn’t the most articulate.
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According to her, Kaoru’s soul and presence had completely
vanished, and couldn’t be detected even after widening her search
range. She had thus concluded that Kaoru was gone for good, but...
This was coming from someone who had only known Kaoru for less
than five years or so. In other words, it was too hasty a decision,
given that it involved Kaoru. She would never die and leave us
behind like that. Just like she had last time...
Kaoru will surely be waiting for us...
I had heard everything. I asked questions over and over, right down
to the finest of details. About the body and powers that Kaoru had
acquired... And the specifics of the situation when the incident had
occurred.
At that moment, what would Kaoru have done? After thinking
through it for so long, I had reached a conclusion.
Where was the spot where it was last opened? It was only natural to
assume that whatever was closest to the spot where it was opened
would be the last thing that was put in there.
So...
“Time-space oscillation magic! Create a tremor through dimensions
to force open dimensional storage (Item Box) synced to someone
else’s psychic waves! Open, dimensional door!”
Vwoom...
A tremble ran through space, causing the world to distort. Then, a
giant dimensional tremor shook reality itself...
“Is this the source of the distortion?!”
A goddess suddenly appeared with an intense look on her face, and...
Poof! A girl appeared.
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She looked to be about twelve years old. (By this world’s standards.)
The girl had remarkably scary-looking eyes. Not to mention...
“Gyaaaaaa! It...it buuuuuurns!!!”
The girl was on fire, her entire body engulfed in the flames.
“Fire extinguishing potion, come ooout!”
“Supersized Water Baaaaaall!”
“Kyaaaaaa! W-W-Waaateeer!!!”
Splaaaaaash!
The girl with the scary eyes was washed away in a massive flood of
water and disappeared somewhere...
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“K-K-Kaoruuuuuu!”
“I knew you’d come for me, Celes! I had no time to think of a way
out, but I was able to escape into the Item Box without hesitation
because I trusted you. Time is frozen in the Item Box, so there was
no way for me to get out on my own...”
It had already been proven that Kaoru’s Item Box could store living
creatures during the Aligot Empire’s invasion, when it stored Belle as
she dove into the well. A bead of sweat rolled down Celestine’s
forehead as she embraced Kaoru and let out a cry of joy. It was likely
that her body didn’t actually produce sweat, but it had such
functions as a medium of expression...
“O-O-Of course! I-I-I would never give up on you so easily and l-leave
you alone...” Celestine said with a tight smile, but she could clearly
see the lip movements of the girl standing behind Kaoru...
“You. Owe. Me. Big. For. This...”
Gyaaaaaa!!!
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Celestine was thus deeply indebted to a girl who had demanded so
many unreasonable perks, and so shamelessly, at that...
But she couldn’t let Kaoru learn that she had actually given up on
finding her, and that she would have been stuck in the Item Box for
all eternity without Reiko’s help. She absolutely couldn’t find out
about this! And so, although it was likely that she would pay greatly
for this debt, Celestine had no choice but to be at the mercy of the
other girl, who was playing along for now.
“I’ll have to do something about these burnt-up, soaking clothes...”
The injuries from when Kaoru had fallen through the hole and gotten
torched had already been healed using potions. Her hair, which had
been singed pretty badly, was already fixed, as well. Normally, her
burns should have been of such severity that she would have been in
critical condition, but the shield that Celestine had bestowed on her
had contained the damage.
Then, Kaoru finally noticed the other person standing there.
“Wait...”
She recognized this girl. It had been a little under a year for her, but
it felt as if it had been over a decade since they last met. But no
matter how many years went by, there was no way she could forget.
She was one of the only two close friends she had. There was no
mistaking her.
“...Reiko...as a high schooler...”
It was Reiko Kuon in her fifteen-year-old body, just like Kaoru. One of
her two best friends. Compared to Kaoru, Reiko’s body was rather
well developed... Particularly certain parts of her body. So, Kaoru
thought Reiko was currently the high school version of herself, but
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since her body was that of a fifteen-year-old, it was technically her
middle school version.
“Hehe... I’m here...”
“Reikoooooo!!!”
Reiko believed she would see Kaoru again, but this was completely
out of the blue for Kaoru. She couldn’t help but scream and embrace
her old friend. And having been hugged by Kaoru in her soaking wet
clothes, Reiko also ended up being drenched.
“I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about, but we should leave this
place. There are many humans on the way.”
“Oh...”
The guards would be rushing over to see what the commotion was
about. Water did just flood out of the building, after all.
“Repair, clean, and dry!”
Celestine repaired the damage caused by the flood, cleaned up all
the dirt, and dried everything off, erasing all trace of what had just
happened here. Kaoru’s clothes were blessed with the same effect,
leaving her clothes looking good as new. Reiko’s clothes, which had
gotten wet from Kaoru, were dried as well.
But there wasn’t enough time to deal with the water that had
flooded out of the building, so that was left as it was.
“Transporting!”
Then they were gone.
When the guards arrived on the scene, they were puzzled to find the
Sacred Ground unchanged despite having so much water around the
building. Afterward, the priests surmised that Lady Celestine, who
hadn’t made an appearance since the incident, had cried tears of
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anguish for her late friend, and everyone agreed with that theory.
“Well, I’m off to give him the good news!” Celestine vanished, having
transported Kaoru and Reiko outside of the city, then to an inn as per
Reiko’s request.
No time had passed at all since the incident from Kaoru’s point of
view, and Celestine had no intention of talking about what had
happened during her absence. And so, the most important thing for
Celestine now was to see “him” again and fill him in on the events.
Kaoru and Reiko were left alone together. They also had a room for
two, so they could talk until morning without interruption.
“R-Reiko, why are you here...? And you look...” Kaoru asked, and
Reiko responded rather casually.
“I’m in the same boat as you. I died, then that godlike manager of
Earth reincarnated me.”
“What...?”
Kaoru had suspected that this was the case ever since she saw Reiko
in her younger form. There was simply no other explanation. But...
“That guy said he only makes mistakes once every several thousand
years, and he made another one already?! And with my friend, of all
people...” Kaoru said through gritted teeth.
“Oh, no, no! He didn’t make a mistake or anything. I got to live a full
life!”
“Huh? But how’d you die so quickly...? Did you get in an accident or
something? Or was it fate?”
“No, I died of old age.”
“...Huh? What? Whaaaaaaaaat?!”
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“...So that much time has already passed on Earth... Maybe time
flows differently there compared to this world...”
“Huh? No, the god of Earth said time passes at the same rate.”
“Huh?”
“I’m saying the same amount of time should have passed since you
reincarnated here, Kaoru...”
“Whaaat?”
“Lady Celestine said herself that it’s been over seventy years since
you disappeared...”
“Whaaaaaaaaat?!” Kaoru was dumbfounded. “H-H-How did this
happen... That Celes... I thought she rescued me from the Item Box
right away... Wait. When I was freed, you were there. And decades
had already passed. That means... Celes. Celeeeeees!!!”
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The cat was out of the bag. She knew everything. But it couldn’t be
helped. It would have been impossible to keep it a secret forever...
The next day, the two girls left the royal capital. Their destination
was Grua, the royal capital of Balmore. There were many things
Kaoru had to confirm there...
All the people she wanted to protect and take care of... What could
have happened to them in her absence? She had to see the truth
with her own eyes. She also wanted to know what had happened
after the incident.
But all of that had happened in the distant past, over seventy years
ago. Most of those involved were likely dead already. Through being
executed, or perhaps due to old age...
So, those things could wait. The average human lifespan was very
short in this world. It wasn’t just infants and mothers giving birth
who had high death rates, but adult males died pretty often, too.
And that was without counting the massive deaths caused during
war.
Therefore, the chances of Kaoru’s acquaintances being alive were
rather slim. If even a tenth of them were still alive, that would have
been quite impressive.
But she had to know. What sort of life had they led since her
disappearance? So many children she wanted to protect but
couldn’t... So many people she had helped who never got the chance
to repay her... She had to know what had happened to them...
“Let’s set up camp,” Kaoru said to Reiko.
“Right. We should go somewhere that can’t be seen from the road,
then.”
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And so, the two moved away from the road, toward a spot where
they wouldn’t be targeted by any dubious strangers, and...
Poof! Kaoru popped a tent out from the Item Box.
“Oh, I haven’t put anything in mine yet. I should stock up on water,
food, and other essentials while I can...”
“Huh?” Kaoru looked surprised by Reiko’s comment. “...You have an
Item Box, too?”
“Yeah. Oh, I can make water, but it’s kind of a pain to use magic each
time. It’d be more convenient if I could pop it out of my Item Box in a
container already...”
“Yeah, I know what you...wait, you can make potions too?! You
totally copied me!”
Kaoru looked rather sullen, considering she had put a lot of thought
into her ability. Besides, that would mean they had the same exact
schtick. It wasn’t as if it would cause her any inconvenience, but...
“Oh, no, I got a different ability. I can use magic, without any
limits...”
“That’s cheating!”
“Look who’s talking, Kaoru!”
And so, Kaoru learned through Reiko about what had happened on
Earth since she had departed...
However, Kaoru had made sure first to tell her friend not to mention
anything about the Nagase family. She would never get to see them
again. If they were in distress, there was nothing she could do. It was
too late to help, no matter what misfortune awaited them. She could
have healed any of their injuries or illnesses if she was able to see
them now, but they were all so far away...
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And so, it was much better to remain ignorant and assume that they
had lived happy lives. Besides, if they were ever in real danger, there
was a chance that the Earth God had given them a bit of a helping
hand to atone for his mistake. It was best to believe that was true.
To those who lived in that world, Kaoru was someone who was long
deceased. She had already said her goodbyes. The image of her
family in her mind was better left untouched. It was completely
normal for Kaoru to think this way.
“...So why did you come chasing after me...?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Reiko objected to Kaoru’s
comment.
“Isn’t it obvious? Because...”
“Because what?”
“Because I, Reiko Kuon, am Kaoru Nagase’s best friend!”
“...Dummy.”
And so, they went on to exchange more information.
“Whaaaaaat?! Kyo is coming too?!”
“Yeah. You can’t keep the trio separated, ya know?”
Kyoko was your average modern girl. Kaoru was a considerate quick-
thinker, but was often thought to be scary-looking because of her
eyes. And then there was Reiko, who could be quite cutting and
sharp-tongued, despite her seemingly gentle and nerdy appearance.
No obnoxious boys, con-artists, perverted teachers, or bullying
upperclassmen stood a chance when the three of them were
together. Their classmates and younger female students relied on
them, and they crushed all evil in their path!
“We are KKR, the guardians of our academy!”
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As an aside, the name “KKR” came from combining the first letters
from Kaoru, Kyoko, and Reiko’s names.
“Gyaaaaaa!!!”
The catchphrase was from a few years ago for Kaoru, and a few
decades ago for Reiko, and they rolled around with their heads in
their hands as they remembered it with embarrassment.
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“...Haah...haah... That was pretty brutal...”
“I thought I was gonna die...
Kaoru and Reiko finally managed to compose themselves after taking
massive psychic damage.
“...But Reiko, you’re an old lady, aren’t you? I can see why your
appearance changed, but why do you still act and sound like your
younger self?” Kaoru asked.
Reiko responded in a casual tone, “Oh, that? I was wondering the
same thing, so I asked the Earth God. According to him, a presence
can become exhausted from deterioration due to wear and tear on
the body and mind. In other words, it gets weaker when your heart
gets worn down, or as your body and brain degrade over time.
And when you die, you’re removed from your physical body.
Normally, your soul and presence disperse right away, but...”
“We were salvaged before that happened?”
“Yup. And they refueled our discarnate entity with some sort of
energy, which is why we’re so lively! It’s kind of like when you take
the CPU out of an older PC, clean it up, then move it into a new
build... Though, Kaoru, I guess in your case, that wasn’t really
necessary, so you got reincarnated directly.
“Anyway, I guess I have the same energy as I did when I was young,
but with several decades worth of knowledge. I knew I’d be coming
to this world, so I did a lot of studying to prepare, too. Chemistry,
physics, mechanical engineering, political economy, agriculture, and
more... So...now, I guess I’m...”
“...A loli hag?” Kaoru asked.
“Look who’s talking...” Reiko shot back.
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“Urrrgh...”
“...Aha.”
“Haha.”
“Ahahahahaha!!!”
No matter how many years went by, Reiko was still Reiko. One of
Kaoru’s only two best friends...
“Oh, you still have your glasses?”
“Yeah. But I had my vision fixed, of course, so these don’t have any
prescription in them.”
“Huh? Then why are you wearing them?”
“Because...”
“Because?”
“Because I look cooler with them on!” Reiko exclaimed.
“...”
But Kaoru had a feeling this was for her sake. Things had been like
this for over ten years, ever since middle school. Reiko wore her
glasses, and Kaoru had her scary eyes. That was probably why she
was still wearing them for their reunion...
Kaoru’s eyes were probably as scary-looking as ever, too.
“Shaddap!!!” Kaoru suddenly burst out, and Reiko smiled warmly.
She could tell what her old friend was thinking. They had been so
close for so long, after all.
And so, their conversation went on.
“About what we talked about earlier...” Reiko began.
“Huh? Which one?”
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“The incident about the Goddess leaving you alone.”
“Ah...”
“Think you could not bring that up with her?”
“What? Why? I was gonna give her an earful when I see her next...”
Kaoru asked in confusion.
“Well, I could use it as leverage for future negotiations...”
“I see... Oh, you’re bad.”
“Heheheh...”
These two were dangerous together. They were relatively harmless
individually, but they were a recipe for disaster when combined.
Such was the nature of KKR, the guardians of the academy...
“First, I wanna go back to Grua and check if everyone is...no, that
might be a bit difficult. I just want to check if the people I know that
are still alive aren’t in some horrible situation, then go to the library
and look up what happened in my absence. Then...”
“Then?” Reiko asked.
Kaoru grinned.
“If anyone used the chaos of the situation to try anything funny...
Well, most of them are probably dead or have pretty much lived a
full life by now... Damn, they would’ve gotten away with it by now... I
guess the best I could do is demolish their houses, denounce their
family names, and turn their descendants into penniless
commoners...
“Aristocrats and royalty really seem to care about the reputation and
continuation of their family names, and bloodlines and all that jazz,
so I’ll just drag them through the mud — no, through the manure —
for what they’ve done...”
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“Agreed... Some might argue that their children and grandchildren
had nothing to do with it, but it’s not like they’re being punished that
much. We’d just be taking back what their ancestors took through
unjust means. They never deserved their fortune and reputation in
the first place...”
Kaoru had always hated those who trampled upon the weak or lied
and stole from others. She didn’t mind lying to protect others or to
make them happy, but malicious and hurtful lies and lies told to
profit oneself were out of the question.
Though, she didn’t often directly reproach those who did tell such
lies. Instead, she classified them as enemies in her mind, and when it
came to dealing with enemies, anything was fair game. Of course,
that included lying to them without mercy, just as they had done.
Kaoru had learned to hold back somewhat by the time she became a
working adult. She hadn’t been a child anymore, after all. But when
she was a student, a child who could still get away with things due to
her youth, she went all out along with Reiko and Kyoko...
And from Reiko’s point-of-view, the Kaoru she knew was 99%
composed of Kaoru as a student.
“If your friends are still alive, are you going to reveal yourself?”
“No...” Kaoru shook her head. “In the end, I failed to protect them...
And now that they’re finally free from being bound by their Goddess
and are off living their own lives, I don’t think showing myself will do
them any good...”
In this world, the average lifespan was quite short. Kaoru figured that
if any of them were still alive, it would likely just be the members of
the Eyes of the Goddess, who were younger than her. Besides, the
others were adults, all of them older than Kaoru, so it wasn’t as if
they needed her to take care of them. Those children were the only
people Kaoru felt responsible for. She had given Francette more than
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enough in the way of blessings, so if she had lived an unfortunate
life, it was her own fault. Kaoru couldn’t do everything for her.
Though, it could also be said that most of the orphans would have
died within a few years if they hadn’t met Kaoru, considering their
health and general circumstances at the time. One could say that
they should have been grateful for being able to live happily for the
few years they had before Kaoru’s disappearance, but she couldn’t
see it that way. Since she had gotten involved with them and decided
to protect them, she intended to watch over them until the end.
But if she was to watch over them until “the end,” it could be said
that she had fulfilled her duty already...
“I’ll sneak a peek at them from hiding and leave if they look happy,”
Kaoru decided.
Reiko didn’t ask what Kaoru was going to do if they didn’t look
happy. She already knew the answer.
“Come to think of it, there is one unanswered question...”
“Huh? What is it?” Reiko asked, but most of what she had asked
Celestine involved Kaoru’s disappearance, so she didn’t know much
relating to the kingdom of Kaoru’s acquaintances.
“About the hole I fell through and the boulder that was dropped on
top of me... I guess you could have dug four meters or so if you got a
bunch of people to dig all day and night, then switch out people as
they got exhausted... But that boulder! That thing was almost
perfectly round! It must’ve been pretty hard to shave down such a
big boulder so it fitted that hole perfectly in such a short time. I
wonder how they did it...”
“Oh, I know how.”
“What?!”
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Kaoru had voiced her question out loud, but didn’t actually expect
Reiko to know the answer.
“Around noon yesterday, I went on the Sacred Ground tour as a
tourist and the tour guide answered that very question. Supposedly,
that boulder was already at the Temple of the Goddess, next to the
Goddess statue. Someone who understood that this world is round
put it there to represent the world being watched over by the
Goddess. Either the culprits decided to use it by sheer chance, or
maybe they wanted to kill the Angel with something from the
Temple of the Goddess out of a twisted sense of irony.”
“What? But how could it fit the hole so perfectly by coincidence...?”
“It’s the other way around. They dug the hole to fit the size of the
boulder. Duh!”
“Ah...” Kaoru had judged it completely wrong. “But that huge
boulder was so smooth, like a perfect sphere... It must have taken a
bunch of stonemasons or those bishops themselves a lot of manual
labor. Can’t you just picture them...?”
“Scrubbing it?”
Gyahahaha!!!
In the darkness, two young girls (by appearance, at least) could be
heard laughing. How wonderful it was to have someone who shared
the same sense of humor...
It warmed Kaoru’s heart to be able to joke around in Japanese for
the first time in many years. Of course, since she had mastery over
the language of this world, she could crack jokes in the native tongue
here, too...
But no one found those jokes amusing. At all. Even the orphans just
looked at her as if they were troubled. As if they were asking
themselves, “Do I really have to laugh...?” As if to say, “A Goddess
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shouldn’t say such senseless things.” Their tight expressions made it
clear they were forcing themselves to try to laugh.
And so, Kaoru had shouted, “...Urgh, just kill me!!!”
Differences in culture were quite difficult to overcome...
The two headed for Grua, the capital of Balmore, on foot. There
were quite a lot of stagecoaches going around, but they wouldn’t be
able to speak freely while riding one.
Their topics of conversation involved events in Japan, things that
happened before Kaoru entered the Item Box, Celestine, and the
direction they would be taking from here on... None of which could
be discussed in front of others.
Having just recently reunited in this world, it was impossible for
them to fill several days’ worth of entertaining conversation with
topics that would be fine for others to hear.
Kaoru still had her chariot in her Item Box, but she didn’t feel like
buying a horse, nor did she want to ride through the city streets in
that distinctive carriage. It stood out like nothing else, and there was
a chance that someone was still alive to recognize it. But, really, the
main reason she didn’t want to use it was sentimental in nature.
Ed isn’t around anymore...
Indeed, horses lived rather short lives. Kaoru’s beloved horse, Ed,
must have passed away, still waiting for Kaoru without ever knowing
why she had left.
Ed, her old partner and brother-in-arms. He was gone forever...
“So, we made it to the royal capital...”
The two had arrived at the royal capital, Grua. Of course, Kaoru had
changed her hair and eye color with potions and switched over to a
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less conspicuous outfit. It wasn’t as if she only had her favorite outfit,
which had become a trademark of sorts. Her more normal clothes
were stored in the Item Box, so they hadn’t degraded a bit.
...The style was a bit dated, by seventy years or so, but that wasn’t a
big issue. Probably.
Most of the people who had met Kaoru were gone by now. She just
needed to look out for particularly old people, and if they had only
seen her a couple times, over seventy years ago, it was unlikely that
anyone would recognize her face.
Plus, Kaoru was generally understood to not be a goddess, but rather
a human who had received the blessing of the Goddess, also known
as the Angel. Despite her nickname, she wasn’t thought of as a literal
angel or spirit, something in the same realm as the Goddess.
Therefore, the only people who might have thought that Kaoru’s
appearance would remain the same throughout all these years were
the ones who thought she was a goddess, like Francette or the Eyes
of the Goddess. The likelihood of being recognized was slim to none.
“Call me Kaoru from now on, okay? I’m not Nagase Kaoru or Kaoru
from Japan, but Kaoru, a resident of this world. The girl you knew
named Kaoru doesn’t exist anymore... Besides, people will think I’m
an aristocrat if you refer to me by my family name.”
“...Got it. Then I’ll be just Reiko, too. I’ll live in this new world with
my new name and life!”
That was the Reiko she’d always known. She was quick to catch on.
The name Kaoru had spread far and wide by the time she had put
herself in the Item Box. It had become quite common for people to
name their daughters Kaoru, after the girl who was loved by the
Goddess. As such, that name was already popular, having been
bestowed upon girls ranging from newborn children to ladies in their
mid-seventies, so it wouldn’t have at all been suspicious for her to
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call herself Kaoru. In other words, there was no need to go by an
alias.
“First, let’s find ourselves an inn. Camping out in a tent while
traveling is one thing, but it’s not like we can do that in the middle of
the royal capital. We’ll be in trouble if we end up with no good place
to stay.”
Reiko agreed, and the two set out to find an inn.
Reiko had already procured funds from Celestine. It was completely
legitimate currency, rather than some fake money that Celestine had
created. According to Celestine, it had been “completely removed
from human ownership.”
...Probably taken from a chest in a sunken ship, or something like
that.
It was likely that she could have created money out of thin air, but
that probably went against her own personal policy. Of course,
Kaoru’s Item Box was still full of money that she had earned a long
time ago, but to her surprise, the currency had changed during the
past seventy years. Plus, several neighboring countries were now
using the same unified coinage...
It couldn’t be used throughout the entire continent, but it was
accepted in the Kingdoms of Balmore, Brancott, Aseed, and the
Aligot Empire. Someone could even use it for pretty much the same
value in Drisard and the Kingdom of Jusral, which bordered the
Kingdom of Brancott.
Coins were minted in their own respective countries, of course, but
the composition of gold or silver, along with their weight, were
strictly regulated and standardized, so they could be used across
regions with the same value.
Normally, in Kaoru’s world, currency fluctuated in value based on the
credit of the country where it was minted, rather than by the gold
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and silver content. This world hadn’t reached that point yet in most
places, but these four countries had established a stable commercial
sphere, which was quite a feat.
“...So, this is the currency they use now...” Reiko said after they
secured their inn and produced a drawstring pouch.
She pulled out a bronze coin, a small silver coin, a silver coin, a small
gold coin, and a gold coin, the five types that were commonly used.
Other coins did exist, but they were used in large transactions
between merchants or in international trade, and most commoners
never saw them in person.
Kaoru stared at the coins Reiko laid out in front of her. It seemed all
of them had the same design, with someone’s face on the front. But
the angle and expression were different on each coin, and the
material and size were also different, so it was unlikely to mistake
one for the other.
“Wait, this face...” Kaoru had a bad feeling about this.
“...They don’t count currency by saying ‘this many gold coins and this
many silver coins’ anymore, but by monetary units. Like yen or
dollars. Though, I hear some people still count them the old-
fashioned way. So, the units they use for currency now...is called
‘kaorun.’ Named after the old saint, the Lady Angel...”
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“Gyaaaaaa! I knew iiit!!!”
Sure enough, the face carved into the coin had quite a scary look in
its eyes. Though, this was probably after they had made a bunch of
adjustments, likely out of consideration for her image...
“W-Well, it isn’t as if we can’t use your old coins at all. I hear they’re
still accepted. It’s a good thing that coins are valued based on the
metals used instead of on a pure credit system. Though, they’re
worth about three percent less, so the shopkeeper might get
annoyed trying to calculate their worth, and you’ll stand out. It might
be a good idea to find a place to exchange them as soon as
possible...” Reiko said consolingly, but she knew that wasn’t what
Kaoru was shocked about. Unfortunately, there was nothing else she
could really say in this situation...
It was still quite early when they secured their inn. Therefore, Kaoru
couldn’t let her day end already, having finally arrived in the royal
capital. She and Reiko set out right away. Their destination was the
house that Kaoru had bought for the orphans of the Eyes of the
Goddess. Kaoru had read far too many stories where the character
regretted putting off important things for later.
She didn’t expect the house to still be there after over seventy years.
And yet, she wanted to check to see if the building was still there
now, then find out later whether the orphans were still alive. But...
“Why is it still there... And it’s still being used...” It would have been
one thing if it had been built out of bricks, but it was an average
house made of wood. She had originally rented it out, then
purchased it later, but it was already quite old at that point. There
was no way it could have been used for seventy more years. It wasn’t
as if it was made with particularly good materials and construction...
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The house looked just as it did before...though, it obviously showed
signs of wear, but it had been repaired and cared for. However, its
surroundings had changed significantly.
Large shops stood on either side of the building, with several large
multi-family dwellings behind it. Moreover, there were a variety of
residences, ranging from what seemed to be dormitories for single
workers to individual family homes.
“They must have preserved this place even as its surrounding land
was developed and sold off... I told them to sell the house and split
up the funds so they could go off into the world... Those idiots...”
Those kids must have married and had children and grandchildren
since, with one of them living in the house so they could keep
managing it, believing that Kaoru could return again some day...
Even though the chances of that happening were pretty much zero.
As Kaoru thought about it, she couldn’t help hot tears from pouring
down her cheeks.
“Huh? What the...”
Kaoru calmed down after some time, then noticed a sign next to the
entrance of the building. She approached it and read the text...
“Chief Temple of the Order of the Goddess Kaoru.”
“What the heck is thaaaaaat?!”
Reiko quickly covered Kaoru’s mouth to stifle her outburst. Once she
confirmed that her friend had settled down, she pointed at the signs
at the shops on either side of the building.
The Eyes of the Goddess Apothecary
The Eyes of the Goddess Souvenir Store
“Get your Lady Kaoru rice crackers here!”
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“They own all these shops?! And why rice crackers instead of
manju?! Is it to spite me? Huh?!”
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