47

 Chapter 46: Long Goodbye 

Afterward, Kaoru and Reiko quickly returned to their inn. 

Kaoru had ended up getting a little too rowdy. People might have 

come out of their homes and shops to see what was going on if they 

had stayed any longer, so Reiko grabbed her by the arm to make a 

quick retreat. 

Judging by the state of things, it would be easy enough to confirm if 

anyone was still alive, and it was unlikely that they were struggling to 

make ends meet. This gave Kaoru some peace of mind. 

“You can make big money off religion, after all...” Reiko said bluntly. 

She hadn’t changed at all. What happened to the several decades’ 

worth of life experience...? Such thoughts crossed Kaoru’s mind as 

she hung her head. 

The two rested at the inn for the evening and decided to proceed 

onward the next day. 

 

When they got up the next morning, the two decided to go to the 

library instead of going straight to the Eyes of the Goddess 

headquarters. They decided it was smarter to get a better 

understanding of the situation before making their move. 

The library was still in the same spot as before, and the entrance fee 

was still quite expensive. It cost the same number of silver coins, but 

perhaps that was because the monetary value had changed. 

Of course, Kaoru and Reiko headed straight for the history books 

section. The first book Kaoru picked up was “The History of the 

Kingdom of Balmore.” If you want to research a country, pick its 

official history. 

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It would obviously be somewhat skewed to make the royal family 

look good, but it was a far better option than a book written by some 

nobody with limited knowledge or biases, or a book written by some 

aristocrat to make their own house look like heroes. 

And so, Kaoru read the history book. 

She pretended not to see the books in the religion section, all with 

titles like, “All About the Order of the Goddess Kaoru,” “A Goddess or 

an Angel? The Mystery of Lady Kaoru,” “Famous Quotes by Lady 

Kaoru,” “Lady Kaoru’s 99 Secrets,” “The Lady Kaoru Diet,” and “Don’t 

Do It! Lady Kaoru’s Breast Augmentation.” 

...Especially that last one! 

Reiko was also reading books to learn more about what was going on 

in this world. It was pointless for her to learn about things that had 

already happened, and she wasn’t interested in reading about 

history that she’d had no part in making. It was far more useful for 

her to research matters of the present, especially considering she 

didn’t know much about this world at all. 

After learning about the events of around seventy years ago, Kaoru 

went around the various sections of the library to read a collection of 

significant incidents throughout history, mostly from publications 

akin to local newspapers, and various booklets written by people 

who were involved in events as they occurred. 

Her own incident was quite a big deal, so there were many books 

related to it, but they were handwritten in ink with big letters and 

few pages, so she was able to get through them pretty quickly. 

She ended up concentrating on her reading so hard that she found 

herself lost in the pages, and didn’t notice the time until the librarian 

tapped her on the shoulder to let her know they were closing. 

 

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“All we managed to do today was read in the library... But I guess 

that’s fine, considering it was something we needed to do anyway...” 

Kaoru said quietly. 

“So, what did you find out?” Reiko asked, but judging by what they’d 

seen in the so-called Sacred Ground of Brancott’s royal capital and 

her old home in this city, it was clear that Kaoru had been made out 

as some villain. In fact, there was no way that was the case, judging 

by the unified currency and the designs on the coins. 

Of course, Reiko had a good idea of the state of things already. 

“Well, the thing is...” Kaoru began to explain. 

After Kaoru had been dropped into the trap and retreated into the 

Item Box to escape the boulder, the Goddess Celestine had 

descended and furiously declared she intended to destroy the 

continent. But the guardian of the continent, the great hero 

Francette, had prevented this from happening. The Goddess 

Celestine had decreed that the rightful heir of the Kingdom of 

Brancott was to dispose of the culprits. 

Afterward, Brancott’s first prince and rightful ruler took the throne. 

The second prince, who had plotted to usurp the throne and 

murdered his own father, was beheaded, and his wife and children 

were sentenced to death to prevent any incidents in the future. Of 

course, the former bishops of Rueda, who had put the second prince 

up to it, along with the aristocrats and merchants who were 

involved, were all guilty of the same crime. They were also sentenced 

to death, and their houses were wiped out. 

It was the perfect time to rid the country of its corruption, and the 

sentences were understandably harsh, as they were afraid of what 

might happen if they didn’t carry out the Goddess Celestine’s orders. 

Not even the punished parties complained about their punishment. 

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Perhaps even the most wicked of people couldn’t stand the thought 

of the entire continent being destroyed because of them. 

The remaining former bishops, who had no political ambition and 

fled from Rueda with their fortune to live in leisure, ended up getting 

the short end of the stick. The Goddess Celestine’s orders spread out 

to the countries of the peninsulas as well, and each of them 

frantically searched for the former bishops, captured them, then sent 

their seized assets back to the Rueda region in the Kingdom of 

Balmore. This involved the lives of everyone on the continent, 

including themselves, after all. 

There was a ghastly air about the search parties that had gone out to 

find the targets. And considering everyone on the entire continent 

was cooperating in the search, the former bishops who had been lax 

about protecting and managing their personal information were 

caught one by one. 

However, it wasn’t as if every one of them were put to death. Those 

who were unrelated to the incident and not corrupt managed to get 

away with just getting their funds confiscated. 

Then, the first prince and newly crowned king of Balmore negotiated 

a peace treaty with the Kingdom of Balmore, along with a 

commercial treaty between the kingdoms of Balmore, Brancott, 

Aseed, and the Aligot Empire. He also reached out to Brancott’s 

neighbors, Drisard and the Kingdom of Jusral, and established a 

foundation for a common trading area among the peninsulas and 

their proximal countries. 

“I had no idea that stalker was such a skilled politician... I’m 

impressed...” Kaoru said with a rather conflicted look, but this was all 

ultimately the result of Fernand being acknowledged as someone 

who Lady Kaoru the Angel had assisted because she deemed him 

worthy of the throne. Otherwise, he would have been dismissed as 

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the useless youngster who had thrown the kingdom into chaos over 

his struggle for succession and failed to unify the various countries. 

As for Francette, not only was she the hero who had saved the 

Kingdom of Balmore from the Aligot Empire’s invasion, but she was 

now known for saving the continent from the evil clutches of the 

Goddess Celestine. The people treated the so-called guardian of the 

continent, the great hero Francette, as something akin to a living 

deity. 

Her title was even upgraded two ranks to that of a marquess... 

“‘Evil clutches’ of the Goddess, huh...” Reiko said flatly, but Kaoru 

just shrugged. 

Francette and Roland’s massive marriage ceremony was celebrated 

not only throughout Balmore, but in various other countries on the 

continent. They had a daughter together, who in turn married the 

crown prince—in other words, Roland’s younger brother and King 

Serge’s first son. Serge had cried tears of joy, stating that his older 

brother’s bloodline had finally returned to the main royal line. 

There wasn’t much to be found about the Eyes of the Goddess. They 

were just a group of orphans who were taken care of by Kaoru, after 

all, so they must have been deemed too unimportant to be written 

about. Or perhaps the writers didn’t want to record the fact that 

orphans were the closest to Kaoru, rather than the royal family, 

aristocrats, or priests. Such people were quite common, after all. 

Still, the Order of the Goddess Kaoru was mentioned in several 

books. 

The mainstream religion known as the Orthodox Order of the 

Goddess taught that Celestine was the one and only Goddess and 

that Kaoru was a human who had received her blessing. Meanwhile, 

the Order of the Goddess Kaoru was a smaller religion that taught 

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that Kaoru was a friend of the Goddess Celestine and was a goddess 

herself, though it was treated as heresy by some. 

Its founder’s name was Emile Nagase. 

“Huh? Is that your kid? And are you an aristocrat?” 

“I’m still single, and I have ancient and honorable origins as a 

commoner! Emile is an orphan who lived with me,” Kaoru replied as 

she scratched the tip of her nose. 

“But you said only aristocrats have family names...” 

“Usually, yeah, but some people like big-time merchants were 

allowed to call themselves by their family name or shop name, and 

these kids, uh...they asked me to adopt them. No girl could refuse a 

request like that with fourteen innocent eyes staring at them... So, I 

couldn’t help but agree. 

“Then they went on to say, ‘All right, now we’re Lady Kaoru’s kin. 

We’re her messengers, her tribe, her relatives, and her vassals... In 

other words, we’re family!’ Everyone knew I lived with those kids, 

which is probably why no one stopped them from using my family 

name. They were probably too afraid of angering Celes by saying 

something they weren’t supposed to...” 

“Ah... I guess most people would just look the other way, then. Those 

kids probably did that because they wanted you to be known by your 

proper, full name.” 

“Yeah...” 

Knowing how Emile and the others felt, Kaoru had no intention of 

complaining about it. 

“But I’m surprised they challenged the one and only religion by 

making their own, and they managed to survive until now. I thought 

the church had tremendous power in this world...” 

“Temple, not church. Normally, you’d be right, but...” 

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Representative Follower: Francette Balmore. 

Head Follower: Roland Balmore. 

Main Followers: The Eyes of the Goddess, the House of Adan. 

Foreign Branches: Beliscas — Centered around the House of Raphael 

and the House of Dorivell; Aligot Empire — Centered around the 

navy and associates of shipping companies. 

“Yeah, no one’s messing with a lineup like that...” 

“Nope...” 

After all, the guardian of the continent, the great hero Francette and 

her husband, the brother of the king himself, were the principal 

organizers. Not to mention, they had expanded into the militaries of 

friendly countries. If they tried to persecute them... No, more 

importantly, they could have angered the Goddess Celestine. 

“Oh, I guess Mariel’s house had their title upgraded... And that boy’s 

house had a baronial title before...” Indeed, they had respectively 

been upgraded from viscount to count, and from baron to viscount. 

The reason wasn’t stated in the records. 

“Well, I guess there’s no reason to write about aristocrats from other 

countries,” Kaoru said and brushed it off. She didn’t even consider 

that there may have been a reason why they couldn’t write about it 

in their text... 

“So, as far as I could tell from those books, those kids lived relatively 

normal lives beside the whole starting a weird religion thing, and 

managed not to get dragged into any conflict that would be in the 

records. I guess they did pretty well for themselves if they lived 

normal, happy lives as orphans...” 

“...Don’t you think to yourself, ‘What if I could have given them even 

better lives?’” 

“Huh?” Kaoru cocked her head and looked at Reiko blankly. 

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She didn’t really understand what her friend was saying. There was 

no point in thinking that way, and it would only do more harm than 

good now. But... 

“What if you could go back in time?” 

“What...?” Kaoru froze. She loved reading, too. She had read tons of 

short stories involving time travel and time machines, along with 

manga, anime, and movies. 

“...You can do that?” 

“I haven’t tried, but probably not. That sounds like something that 

would conflict with the Goddess’s job of stopping this dimension 

from crumbling. Like, if we caused a divergence by going back 

through time or something...” 

“Ahh, right...” 

It seemed Reiko simply wanted to know how Kaoru felt... Or perhaps 

she suspected her friend could be thinking that she could have given 

those kids happier lives if she had taken better care of them, and 

wanted her to say it out loud rather than internally torture herself 

over the thought. 

“...But even if that was possible... I’d pass. If I could go back in time 

and fix things, all the things that happened to the people of this 

world over the past seventy years... Their efforts and their results, 

the fulfilled and unfilled dreams, the people who were born... Not 

even a god could just wipe all that away as if it never happened. 

“And even if I could redo the mistakes of my past, it’s highly likely 

that it would just create a new world that had diverged from this 

one, and this one would go on after you and I disappeared from it. 

Nothing would change in this world if that happened, so it’d be 

pointless. 

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“Meanwhile, I’m supposed to take on the responsibility for all the 

lives and their misfortunes and tragedies in this new world? No 

thanks! I’ll leave that up to the gods. It’s too heavy for me!” 

Kaoru had no intention of taking on such a burden. You only had one 

shot at life, after all, and there was no starting over or shuffling for a 

new hand. You had to play the hand you were dealt. It didn’t matter 

if you got a full house or some random junk. 

Kaoru mulled over such thoughts, then... 

“Oh, wait, I actually did get to reset my life...” 

“I’m replaying mine too, I guess,” Reiko replied. 

The two laughed awkwardly. 

“Well, I figured you’d say that, Kaoru. I don’t even know if it’s 

possible to go back in the first place...” 

“Yeah. That’s one line humans shouldn’t cross...” 

It seemed Reiko asked her the question knowing that Kaoru wouldn’t 

want to do such a thing. She had said it so her friend could say it out 

loud and have closure rather than just mulling it over in her head. 

And of course, Kaoru understood this as well. 

“...You really are Reiko, Reiko.” 

“What are you going on about now...?” 

The next morning... 

It was time for Kaoru to check and see how her old acquaintances 

were doing. However, considering how short the average lifespan 

was in this world, it was unlikely that many of them were still alive. 

Kaoru had been reincarnated in her fifteen-year-old body, and it had 

been a little less than five years since then. She was just under 

twenty years old when she vanished, so anyone older than her at 

that point would be over ninety now. 

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...Her hope was slim. Even among the orphans, Emile had been 

sixteen, Belle twelve, and Layette six at the time. They would all be 

around eighty or older now. It was pretty rough. 

But at least Kaoru could find out if they’d had children or 

grandchildren, and find whatever mark they had left in the world. 

After all, they had started up some shops owned by a religious sect, 

and those were pretty hard to miss. 

“Hair and eye color change, check! Makeup that makes the sides of 

my eyes droop downward, check! Money I borrowed from Reiko, 

check! Time to go!” 

Their first destination was that shop. A customer would naturally 

walk into a business establishment, after all. There was absolutely 

nothing out of the ordinary about that. And as a traveler from far 

away, there was nothing suspicious about me asking a bunch of 

questions of whoever worked there. It was the perfect cover for 

gathering intel. 

And so... 

“I’m going in!” 

“R-Right...” 

Kaoru made her declaration after deliberating about it in front of the 

store entrance for some time, and Reiko nodded in turn. The door 

swung open, and the two entered the shop. They had decided to go 

into the apothecary rather than the souvenir store. Kaoru figured 

there would be fewer customers there, giving her more time to chat 

with the employee. 

As the two entered, someone welcomed them from behind the 

counter. The attendant was about sixty or so, which was pretty old in 

this world. Well, a souvenir shop was one thing, but a young shop 

attendant wouldn’t have been a good fit for this type of store. It was 

pretty much a rule that apothecaries had to be run by old people. 

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Now, I need to come up with an opener that will make me look 

like a customer willing to pay, but it has to be a topic that won’t just 

end with me buying the product... Yes, I need to talk about something 

expensive that only a specialist would know and is probably 

unavailable here, then expand on the discussion from there... I know 

just the thing! 

“Do you have hemort seeds, mortgul fruits, and korcul leaves in 

stock?” 

Indeed, those were the ultra-rare and expensive ingredients for 

Longevity Medicine. Asking for those ingredients indicated that she 

knew about Longevity Medicine and its ingredients, and that she 

wasn’t just an average commoner. This would prove Kaoru and Reiko 

were extraordinary visitors, and set her up to discuss how to obtain 

expensive ingredients that were unavailable here, as well as other 

topics. But... 

“Yes, we do. The portions needed to make a bottle of Longevity 

Medicine will be thirty-five gold coins total. We can mix them here, 

too.” 

“You do?!” Kaoru exclaimed.  

 

I had tried to make the apothecary attendant think I was someone 

special by bluffing with the medicinal knowledge I had gained from 

that previous incident. I thought I could accomplish this by 

mentioning the base ingredients for Longevity Medicine, which were 

rare and expensive, and few knew how to mix it correctly. 

But it turned out... They had them ALL in stock! 

Haah... Haah... 

Well, come to think of it, over seventy years have passed since then. 

Maybe technology has advanced and they can now harvest rare 

herbs, like what happened to Asian ginseng in Japan. 

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...I messed up. 

There had been a drastic change in the seventy years between the 

Showa to Heisei eras, but changes over seventy years in the older 

eras were negligible. That’s why I had assumed civilization hadn’t 

changed much over that span in this world. And yet... 

No, but if that was the case, it was strange that the price he quoted 

hadn’t changed much from what it was in the past. That meant the 

value of the medicine and its ingredients were the same as back 

then... 

Either this shop was unusually well-stocked, this just happened to be 

the season when these three items were harvested, or Longevity 

Medicine had become wildly popular since the disappearance of my 

potions... 

In any case, this shop had the three main ingredients for Longevity 

Medicine, its price was still stupid high, and I had asked if they had it 

in stock... 

But I only asked if they have it in stock and haven’t said I’ll buy it 

yet! We’re good! We’re good!!! Haah... Haah... 

“...” The aged shopkeeper stared at me dubiously as I stood there 

silently. 

“...” 

Awkward... 

“...” 

Ahhhhhh! 

“...Well, it is quite a pricey item, and I understand if you don’t want 

to reveal that you need it. Let us talk in the back for a bit. Someone 

watch the counter for me!” 

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Ahhh, I don’t like where this is going! ...Well, I guess I’ll just get 

some info out of him in the back and get out after buying some less 

expensive medicine. 

Medicine... It had to be the least convenient item for me... I would’ve 

been better off with some rice crackers from the souvenir shop! 

And so, I was led into a small room in the back, where a female 

employee laid out some tea and snacks, then retreated. 

“...So, what’s the meaning of this?” 

Huh? Is he mad at me? He seems really upset... 

Maybe he was angry because I asked about an expensive item I had 

no intention of buying. But, I mean, wasn’t it normal for someone to 

hesitate before making a big purchase? It seemed odd that an aged 

and experienced shopkeeper would get so emotional over something 

like this. Maybe things were just different here compared to Japan... 

“I said, what’s the meaning of this?! Why... Why did you take so long, 

Lady Kaoru... U-Uu... Uaaaaaah!!!” 

The old man leaped forward and embraced me while bawling his 

eyes out, and I just stood there, dumbfounded and unable to even 

push him away. 

Then a realization came to me, and I asked in a near whisper, 

“...E...mile...?” It felt like there was a shadow of that young boy’s 

familiar face when I looked at him. Well, I say familiar, but it had 

been only a few days from my perspective... 

But... 

“Sorry... I’m sorry...” 

All I could do was apologize, and all I could do was cry. It may have 

been just a brief moment for me, but it must have been an 

unfathomably long time for them. A whole lifetime. 

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He spent his whole life waiting for me... 

“Well, I did get married to Belle and had children — down to great-

great-grandchildren — made a killing with my business, and lived a 

life of comfort,” he added. 

“Whaaaaaat?!” 

 

After finally calming down, the old man — Emile, rather — explained 

what had happened after the incident. 

With Emile, I knew I could ask anything without holding back, and he 

was likely to know pretty much everything I wanted to find out. The 

Emile I had known wouldn’t have sat idly by without investigating 

every detail of what had happened. He’d had plenty of time, after all. 

Over seventy years, in fact... 

Oh, and although he complained about me showing up so late, I told 

him it had been only a few days for me, and he backed off after that. 

That was the truth, after all. 

I heard Emile muttering to himself, “Damn, does time flow at a 

different rate in the realm of gods compared to our world? Or maybe 

they perceive time differently after living for tens of thousands of 

years...?” but he seemed to understand. Mhm. 

And so... 

“What? Seven of the original members of the Eyes of the Goddess, 

including Belle, are still alive? Layette and Francette, too?” 

“Yes. Wally died in a carriage accident, and Ike was attacked by 

bandits on the way back from stocking up on goods... Everyone else 

is doing well. We used the you-know-what whenever there was a 

lethal epidemic or a serious injury...” 

Ah... They must have used the three dozen all-purpose special 

potions, the ones with no expiration date, that were hidden under 

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the floorboards. They must have used them to recover from illnesses 

and injuries that they wouldn’t have survived otherwise... 

Of course they wouldn’t die so easily, unless they had died instantly 

or perished before they could make it here. 

“But you were the oldest of the Eyes of the Goddess, Emile. Aren’t 

you like ninety now? You don’t look any older than sixty...” 

Emile did look incredibly young for his age. That was why I hadn’t 

noticed who he was at all at first. I may have noticed something if he 

had been a decrepit old man who looked like he would fall over any 

minute. 

“Yeah, we’re all really lively. Our medicine has a reputation for being 

effective and blessed by the Goddess, which is one of the reasons 

our business has been going so well. And we hardly ever get sick, 

either. Though, even we get sick during major plagues or anything 

like that...” 

Emile still talked like a youngster despite his age. He probably talked 

more maturely in his everyday life, but was talking to me like he used 

to. I figured he didn’t want to act differently with me. It probably felt 

as if we had gone back in time to the good old days. 

“Ah.” 

Then, I realized something. The reason Emile and the others were so 

youthful and resistant to disease was probably because of my 

potions. When I first met them, they had accumulated a bunch of 

little injuries and illnesses, and were skin and bones from 

malnutrition, so I had given them potions that would completely heal 

them. Unlike the potions I made with limited functionality later on, I 

hadn’t put much thought into those. 

Potions that completely cured illnesses... This meant they affected 

illnesses embedded in their genetics that could have manifested later 

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on, DNA transcription errors, and the repairing of shortened 

telomeres, so it messed with all sorts of stuff... 

It was no wonder people assumed they were blessed by Celes and 

didn’t want to mess with them... That explained why their business 

thrived without them being harassed by those in power, local thugs, 

or competitors. 

Hey, that’s cheating!!! 

“So, has Layette been with you guys, too?” 

“Yeah. The seven of us started a business with that house as our 

headquarters. We ran the business from the house instead of going 

out to work, because it was much safer and we could all be together. 

It was more convenient for us to protect the house and the you-

know-what as long as we were there, too. 

“Owning a house meant we didn’t need to pay rent for our home or 

shop, and we had seven workers willing to work for free, so we made 

money for food and necessities pretty easily. Besides, there was no 

way we weren’t gonna get customers when we were the children 

Lady Kaoru had taken care of, living in Lady Kaoru’s former home.” 

“That’s cheating!” 

It was no wonder they were able to make money. 

...Wait, seven? Wouldn’t it be eight, including Layette...? Oh, 

Lolotte must have moved out to be with Achille. 

“The first product we started handling was, of course, apothecary 

related. Our shop was the Angel’s, after all. Since we didn’t want 

people to expect our goods to be as effective as your potions, we 

only sold the ingredients instead of the medicine itself. It wasn’t as if 

we had the necessary knowledge, skills, or credentials to even make 

our own medicine, after all. Oh, but these days we do have skilled 

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staff, so we mix it in-house now. I’ve also become accredited, 

myself.” 

Emile had dedicated himself to training in swordsmanship, but he’d 

done it so he could keep me safe. After I had disappeared and he lost 

the ability to move how he used to, he had his willing descendants 

take up martial arts so they could be appointed as my bodyguards if I 

ever returned. 

And so, he had taken up handling the desk work. Emile never did like 

violence or hurting others, after all. He didn’t hate sword training, 

considering he was doing it so he could protect me, but it likely 

wasn’t the path he truly wanted to take. With my disappearance and 

him in his old age, he was finally released from the duty that had 

bound him... 

Maybe if I had never met him, he could have taken the path he 

wanted to from the start... Nah. It was unlikely that he would never 

have gotten himself a proper job, and as an orphan, he probably 

would’ve ended up dead with his head in the gutter somewhere. He 

did more than well for himself simply by living to this age. So, there 

was no need for me to feel responsible. Not in the slightest. 

...But still... I couldn’t just compartmentalize it like that. 

“Lolotte was taken in by Fran as her foster daughter and married 

Achille to become his lawful wife as a marquise’s daughter. This was 

before Fran married Roland, so she was still a marquise. Achille 

became a baron, but although Lolotte was just a foster daughter, she 

was the foster daughter of the guardian of the continent, the great 

hero Francette. Not to mention, she was the lawful wife of a duke, 

and one who was soon to be the brother of His Majesty the King at 

that. She could have married into the royal family if she wanted...” 

He did have a point... 

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“So, Fran rose up two whole ranks, huh? A commoner suddenly 

jumped up to a viscountess, then a marquise...” I noted. 

“Look, she earned the title of viscountess after saving the kingdom 

and being lauded as a great hero. It’s more surprising that an 

aristocrat who saved every living being in the land, the one who 

became the guardian of the continent, only had their title increased 

by two ranks! Though, I guess it wouldn’t have been easy to make 

her a duchess.” 

Yup, pretty much only the royals could earn that title. Besides, she 

was going to be married to a duke soon after, so it probably didn’t 

matter much. Francette herself didn’t seem to care too much about 

such things, anyway. 

“At the time, Fran also asked Layette if she wanted to become her 

foster daughter too, but Layette refused and said, ‘The only family 

name I will go by is Nagase!’ Though, Lolotte still calls herself Lolotte 

Nagase von Lolotte, and she stops by here pretty often... I remember 

Achille complaining about it all the time when they were 

newlyweds.” 

I couldn’t blame him... 

“Everyone’s pretty free these days, so we’ve been meeting up once a 

week without fail,” Emile said. 

“Hm? What about Achille?” 

“...How old do you think he’d be if he was still alive? And do you 

know the average lifespan of men in this country?” 

“...” 

...Right. Achille never had one of my super potions, and I had 

forbidden the children from giving them to anyone who wasn’t a 

member of the Eyes of the Goddess or telling anyone else about 

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their existence. It was very unlikely for them to disobey a direct 

order like that from me, even if their lives were under threat. 

“Fran is still alive and kicking, of course. As long as she’s around, no 

kingdom dares oppose ours. Some people don’t like her because of 

how serious she is, but this is the great hero Fran we’re talking 

about...” 

“Yeah... No one would wanna go against her...” 

I felt bad for the royal family... 

About Fran saving the continent...it wasn’t as if she had fought her 

way through the enemy ranks and defeated a demon lord or 

something, but it was true that the entire land would have been 

drowned underwater if she hadn’t mustered the courage to talk back 

to Celes. 

In a sense, Fran was indeed a true hero and had definitely saved the 

continent from the demon lord (Celes). 

“What about Ed and the others?” I asked. 

“We didn’t have the money to take care of horses at the time, so 

Fran took in all three of them. She looked after them along with her 

and Roland’s horses, but all five of the horses had an abnormal 

amount of stamina, so they were treated well as the divine horses 

who had served the Angel, and lived long lives as breeding horses. 

Those five left a bunch of descendants, which are generally known as 

Silvers. They’re pretty much a brand name these days.” 

Ah... 

Yeah, I knew this might happen. I had given them a bunch of potions 

in the past, but seventy years was too long for a horse to live. But if 

he lived a long life and left a bunch of offspring, I guess he got what 

they wanted as animals... Wait, did I really lose to a horse?! And if he 

was a breeding horse, that means he was a stud, right? Was he 

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cheating, then? He had a wife and daughter... Though, I guess human 

logic didn’t really apply to animals. 

It wasn’t uncommon for human men to have multiple wives, even 

certain countries on Earth to this day. Not to mention, it was 

incredibly hard for a female to give birth to a hundred children, but it 

wasn’t impossible for a male to have a hundred kids. 

In fact, there’s a man named Mitsumasa Kido who fathered a 

hundred boys... Wait, that was from a manga, so I guess that didn’t 

count. 

But... 

“Ed never found out why I didn’t come back, huh... He probably 

thought I died...” 

“Oh, no, Ed and the others knew everything,” Emile replied. 

“Huh?” 

“About two months after the incident, a female aristocrat arrived 

from a distant country. She explained everything to Ed and the 

others after looking into the facts. Your body hadn’t been found, 

even after the boulder was moved, so she said that you erased the 

damaged physical form that you’d taken on in this world and 

returned to your own.” 

“What? You mean...” 

A female aristocrat who could talk to Ed besides me... 

“Yeah, it was Countess Raphael of the Order of the Goddess Kaoru’s 

Beliscas branch. Though, she was still a viscountess at the time. She 

claimed only she could explain the situation to Ed, brushed the 

aristocrats and royal family aside as they tried to stop her, and 

showed up with Carlos. She said it was because she owed a great 

debt to Ed...” 

I see... 

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Mariel came all this way for Ed... Giving Mariel a potion that allowed 

her to communicate with animals wasn’t a waste after all... 

I had found out everything I wanted to know. It seemed everyone 

lived relatively fruitful and happy lives. There was no need for me 

anymore. It was time for us to depart on our journey. A journey for 

two with just me and Reiko. We were always a trio along with Kyoko, 

so it felt kind of fresh with just us two. 

And so... 

“Sorry for the wait, Reiko. Let’s get going, then!” 

“Right,” Reiko replied. 

“...Wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait, waaaiiit! I’ll be killed if I let you leave 

now! By Belle and Layette, especially!” 

Not my problem... 

“No, it’s better for me to leave like this. Everyone’s living good lives 

now. If I showed up suddenly, they’d all be bound by their pasts 

again. Besides, I want to remember everyone the way I knew them 

back then...” 

“...” 

There must have been a lot he wanted to say, but Emile just hung his 

head in silence in response. With his unnaturally youthful 

appearance compared to his peers, and having lived far longer than 

the average lifespan of this world, Emile must have understood the 

pain of not aging or dying, and the sorrow of seeing others pass away 

around him. Knowing that we couldn’t spend time together as we 

once had even if we were to reunite, it was better to confirm that 

everyone was still doing well, and to remember them the way they 

were during our happiest times together. 

Emile must have understood how I felt. He had to. He was nearly 

ninety years old himself. He must have seen many people die before 

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him. Close friends, others who weren’t so close... So many people... 

Emile still had Belle and his friends from the Eyes of the Goddess, 

those who had walked the same path as him. But if he had been all 

alone... 

“...Okay. You’re a goddess, and it’s not as if I never considered that 

you staying with us humans for so long could go against the ways of 

the gods. I have had plenty of time to think, after all... So I think you 

should do as you please. We had no right to bind you in the first 

place, nor do we want to. 

“I just want you to do what you want and enjoy what this world has 

to offer. That’s why you took some time off from your duties as a 

goddess and came to visit this world run by your friend, the Goddess 

Celestine, right? And if there are people you happen to save along 

the way... I mean, you’ve already saved us. So there’s no need for 

you to stay here any longer. But...” 

“But?” 

“When the others find out I got to talk to you, they’re gonna beat me 

half to death...or kill me outright! So, please, leave me a potion! I 

can’t use the ones we keep underground for something like this...” 

Ah... Those must have been treasures for the Eyes of the Goddess. 

Not for how effective they were, but because they were gifts from 

me. He couldn’t just use one for something like this. There must have 

been so many times when they had thought about using a potion but 

refrained. Those potions wouldn’t still be here otherwise. But if they 

did kill Emile outright, he’d perish before being able to drink my 

potion... 

So... 

And...there. 

“If you feel like you’re in danger, drink this. This potion will heal your 

wounds for some time after you drink it.” 

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“Thank you!!!” Emile tucked the potion bottle into his pocket with a 

gleeful expression. 

...There was something I didn’t realize at the time. I didn’t imagine 

what the others, especially Belle, Layette, and Francette, would do — 

with terrifying smiles on their faces — when they realized Emile 

would heal immediately even when they punished him. He’d be the 

traitor who had gotten to talk to Lady Kaoru by himself and even 

received a gift from her, after all. Of course things would escalate if 

he recovered after getting beaten up... 

“Anyway, farewell!” I said, and as I turned to leave... 

“...Well, even if I suddenly drop dead, I lived a good life already. And I 

think it’s about time I passed my authority on to the younger 

generation... Maybe I’ll retire and become the keeper of the Order of 

the Goddess Kaoru Head Temple or something...” Emile muttered to 

himself. 

The “Head Temple” was probably the house I had given them. Well, 

he was already pretty old, so maybe living a quiet life in retirement 

wasn’t a bad idea. 

...Ah. 

“Hey, is the Order of the Goddess Kaoru in opposition with the 

Orthodox Order of the Goddess? Have there been any troubles 

between the two? I couldn’t find any specifics on sensitive topics like 

that in any books at the library...” 

I had to find out about this, or I might accidentally let slip a no-no 

word and unintentionally cause problems. It was common 

knowledge that talking about curry, ramen, your favorite baseball 

team, politics, and religion was asking for trouble. ...Though, those 

first three didn’t exist in this world. 

“Nope,” Emile replied. 

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...It was that simple? 

“The Order of the Goddess Kaoru is considered to be a sect that 

branched off from Lady Celestine’s Orthodox Order of the Goddess. 

The Orthodox Order of the Goddess considers you a saint, known as 

the Angel, but still an ordinary human who was blessed by the 

Goddess Celestine. Meanwhile, we treat you as a goddess who is on 

the same level as the Goddess Celestine. Both orders worship you 

and the Goddess Celestine, so we’re the same in that sense. When 

you became a martyr and ascended to the heavens, even the 

Orthodox Order of the Goddess started treating you with reverence 

at a level just below Lady Celestine.” 

That sounded kinda like two religions back on Earth... 

“Besides, we don’t try to spread our religion. It’s just us, who were 

directly helped by you, and those who know that you’re a goddess, 

doing this on our own. That’s because we couldn’t accept that you 

were just a human that was a sort of messenger for the Goddess 

Celestine. Besides, it’s not like anyone can try to mess with us when 

Fran, Roland, and other powerful people are involved. We aren’t 

trying to expand our influence or threaten other religions... 

Whatever earnings we make are just from genuine business activity. I 

mean, we did get a huge boost from using your name, but making 

money was pretty easy when we used what you taught us about 

economics and running businesses...” 

... 

...... 

......... 

Th-These kids... 

They grew up so strong... 

There really was nothing left for me to do here. 

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...Wait, what can a little brat like me be able to do for a nearly 

ninety-year-old senior?! 

It was time to say goodbye for real this time. 

“Hey, on second thought, maybe just once... Maybe you could join us 

for dinner tonight, together...” Emile said, still unable to give up on 

the idea, but... 

I shook my head in silence. I guess this was our very own The Long 

Goodbye. The title sounded pretty lame in Japanese. It was a shame, 

because the translated title for Farewell, My Lovely was wonderful... 

In any case, it was time to depart gracefully. 

“Oh, wait a second!” Emile stopped me once again. 

“Here, take this as a souvenir. It’s our specialty, Lady Kaoru Rice 

Crackers. We designed it based on our collective memories. We’re 

pretty proud of it!” 

“Why is it a rice cracker instead of manju?! Are you saying my form 

can be replicated on a completely flat surface?!” 

I have some curves too, damn it!!! 

“Kaoru, how much longer are we delaying this...?” Reiko said in an 

exasperated tone from beside me. 

Shaddap!