She raised her head to look up at the sky and glared defiantly at Ehit. Everyone, including Sharm and the others, looked at her in surprise.
Before anyone could recover from their shock, Miledi added, “Oh, but there is one thing I need to apologize for. I’m sorry I couldn’t kill Ehit.”
The regret in her voice was genuine.
The crowd wasn’t able to keep up with how quickly she went from joking to serious, and the only person with enough presence of mind to say anything was the new dragon king, Shival.
“I’m tired of listening to her prattle! Burn her!” she shouted from the spectator stands set up for the various world leaders, finally bringing the pope back to his senses.
The priests remembered what they were here to do as well, so they launched their fireballs at the pile of wood. In seconds, the fire was at her feet.
Even though she should have been screaming in pain, Miledi looked kindly at the crowd. It wasn’t the kind of expression a witch who’d tried to destroy the world should have been making, so the crowd looked at her in confusion.
“Hey, everyone, is it really a sin for all races to join hands?” she said as her clothes started to burn. The flames were licking her body now.
“Is it so wrong...to open up to others? To laugh...with them?”
The fire was eating up all the nearby oxygen, making it difficult for Miledi to breathe. Her voice came out in faltering gasps as she continued, “Is it so wrong...to say you like...the things you like?”
She was so badly burned now that her face was unrecognizable. But until the very end, Miledi continued speaking to the crowd in an exceedingly gentle voice.
“There’s no way...it could be wrong... We’re not...Ehit’s toys!”
There was so little of her left that it was hard to believe she was still able to talk. Even the members of the church were transfixed by the sight.
“May your futures be free,” Miledi said as she finally succumbed to the flames. She’d been dazzling until the very end.
The crowd stared, dumbfounded, at the charred corpse of the world’s most dangerous heretic.
Suddenly, Miledi’s body was enveloped in sky-blue light. The light slowly rose above the cross and coalesced into a ball, then vanished into the sky.
“Did her soul...return to heaven?” a man muttered, looking up.
It had been such a fantastical moment that the crowd continued looking up long after the execution had ended.
“Miledi really went out with a bang,” Ruth said with a sad smile, which Dylan and the others returned. They then walked through the confused crowd, looking as though a weight had lifted off their shoulders.
“I guess it’s finally time for us to say our goodbyes,” Sharm said, and Ruth nodded to him. They weren’t children anymore, and they each had their own journey to embark on.
“Dylan and Katy, you guys are going to Dastia, right?”
“Yep. It’s going to become a haven for all the people branded as heretics, so I want to go there and protect it.”
“Plus, our teachers, King Alfard and Rasul-san, are over there.”
The wave of madness seven years ago had affected people within the vampire kingdom as well, but Alfard was the kind of guy who prioritized the people he cared about over the needs of the country. He’d quelled any and all uprisings with overwhelming violence, which had prevented the kingdom from falling apart. However, it had been a close call, and he’d realized that he needed strong warriors with no ties to court politics to keep his loved ones safe in Dastia.
Fortunately, it was around that time that Rasul had shown up, together with the demons he’d managed to rescue from his empire and Batlam. Thus, there were now demon villages as well as human villages in Dastia, and Rasul was serving as Alfard’s adviser, as well as the captain of his royal guard. The two of them got along surprisingly well and were good friends.
“Look after Onii-chan for us, Ruth-onii-chan,” Katy said.
“You got it. Though really, he’s gonna be the one looking after me, I think.”
Oscar had chosen Ruth as the one person he could stay in contact with after entering his labyrinth. The details of their contract with Ehit meant that only those who actually cleared Oscar’s labyrinth could take any of the artifacts he made down there. But while Oscar couldn’t send back any of his creations with Ruth, he could still train his younger brother to make artifacts himself.
Laus, of course, had chosen Sharm as his one person. Normally, Sharm would be traveling around the world as a wandering hero, but he would be checking in with Laus periodically. Corrin had also decided to travel with Sharm, and there was a budding romance between the two of them.
“Sharm. If you ever make Corrin cry, your life is forfeit,” Katy said in a dangerous voice, and Sharm and Corrin both blushed.
“It would have been nice if Yunfa and Diene could have made it...” Dylan said sadly.
“It would have been hard on Yunfa, since she’s pregnant and all.”
Unsurprisingly, Naiz had chosen Yunfa as his one connection with the outside world. In a way, it was Yunfa who’d grown the most over the past seven years. It was as if she’d inherited Susha’s spirit, as well as her rather extreme attempts at seduction.
As soon as she’d become of age, Naiz had finally given in and agreed to marry her.
“Plus, Diene’s in Andika, so it would have been a long journey for her.”
“I hear she’s taken over Baharl’s position as the city’s don, so she’s probably pretty busy too.”
The conversation naturally died out, but everyone was still reluctant to part.
The crowd had finally recovered from their stupor as well. They were chattering excitedly to each other, completely ignoring the priests who were giving some speech about how the death of the witch proved Ehit’s righteousness.
Sharm smiled a little as he listened in on the conversations, then held his fist out to Ruth and the others.
“Let’s survive and meet again.”
They had made it this far thanks to the sacrifices of others, so it was their duty to keep living and ensure those sacrifices hadn’t been in vain. Ruth and the others smiled and bumped Sharm’s fist with their own.
After a few seconds, they turned around and began walking down their respective paths. They would make sure the truth about the Liberators got passed down, one way or another.
Standing on the plains next to where the old hidden village in the Reisen Gorge had been was a circle of seven people. Or rather, a circle of six people and one golem that was currently being bathed in sky-blue light.
“Miledi-chan’s baaaaaaaaaaaack!” the golem with a smiley-face mask exclaimed and struck a cutesy pose.
This golem had been created with the combined efforts of all seven ancient magic users, and it was Miledi’s new body.
Seven years ago, Miledi’s faith had been rewarded when Oscar and the others had returned. They had been extremely conflicted at first, but after spending time talking with their loved ones, they’d ultimately decided to go along with Miledi’s plan.
They’d spent the past seven years together, cherishing every moment as they worked together to create the labyrinths. However, today was the last day they’d ever see each other.
“My, Miledi-chan! I can’t believe you continue to refer to yourself in the third person even after passing twenty. That’s the most cringe thing I’ve ever seen!”
“Shut up, Meru-nee! I don’t wanna hear that from a thirty-year-old who—”
“Excuse me?” Meiru said with an extremely threatening smile, and Miledi looked away awkwardly.
“This isn’t the time to be fooling around, guys,” Naiz said in an exasperated voice, massaging his temples.
“Hey, you don’t have any right to talk, Nacchan. You’re the one who got a super young wife in your midthirties.”
“Not only that, but he’s been totally henpecked. Isn’t that right, Naiz-kun?”
“Please don’t remind me,” Naiz replied as he squatted down and cradled his head. It seemed he really couldn’t win against his young wife in anything.
“Cut it out. Every time I hear about people’s married lives...I get depressed.”
“Sorry, Lau-chan, I guess that’s still a traumatic event for you. Anyway, I’m impressed your hair still hasn’t grown back.”
“That’s because I shave it regularly! I’m not bald!”
Ignoring Laus’s protests, Miledi turned nostalgically to Vandre and said, “Van-chan...your taste in mufflers has gotten awful.”
“It’s not my fault. Margaretta keeps making them for me.”
Vandre was currently wearing a pink muffler dotted with red hearts. It was obvious who he’d chosen as his one person to stay in contact with.
The Schnee clan had also reclaimed the old village they’d used to inhabit on the border of the Obsidian Tundra. A lot of the dragonmen who’d respected the Schnee family had moved there as well.
“Hey, Lyu-chan. Are you absolutely sure you still want to go through with that cockroach trial? It’s not too late to change it, you know?” Miledi asked, turning to Lyutillis.