“I’m glad you told me how you feel. I really am. So don’t put yourself down like that, okay?” I said.
The tears spilled from her eyes. “Unfair, Kanata…saying something like that now!”
“Pomera’s not a mess! Pomera’s cool! Good job!” said Philia as she poured another drink and held it out to Pomera.
“Thank you, Philia.” Pomera took a swig.
“I never realized you felt that way about me, Pomera-san,” I said.
“Gack!” She choked on her drink. “Th-that can’t be true! I’m not… I don’t think of myself as someone who’s good at hiding their feelings! Why would you still play dumb at this point?!” She grabbed my shoulders again.
“Even Philia saw! Philia!” said Philia as she stepped closer.
“N-no, really…I’m sorry… I’ve never really been good at reading other people… I did think you said some crazy things when you were drunk, though…”
“Oh no…why’d I have to fall for a guy like you?” Pomera plopped her elbows onto the table and hung her head.
“I’m sorry, I really just—”
“It’s fine, Kanata! I don’t even care about you anymore!” she said, grabbing a nearby wine bottle and chugging it. She was going into full drown-your-sorrows mode.
“Pomera, be happy! Philia’s here,” said Philia, then she placed a hand on Pomera’s shoulder.
Pomera wrapped her in a bear hug and said, “Thank you! You’re my everything now, Philia! You’ll turn into Kanata, and we’ll live happily ever after!”
“Hee hee, Philia loves Pomera too!”
Was that really love?
I watched the two of them, then Pomera looked up at me and said, “Are you going to hang around here forever? Kanata, don’t be a good-for-nothing! Just hurry up and run after Lunaère!”
“…Thank you, Pomera-san,” I said, then I bowed to her and ran out the banquet hall.
-3-
“KANATA, IN HERE,” said Noble, showing me to one of the tower’s storage rooms.
“Thanks, Noble. You’re always there to help me out in the most important times.”
“I know, right? I’m the best treasure you know.”
I didn’t know much about treasure chests in general, but there was no doubting that Noble was the best. He’d stuck with Lunaère for this long, and he was there for the assist on the last hit to take Naiarotop down. And now he was exposing Lunaère’s hiding spot for me.
“All right, let’s go—”
“We? Look, Kanata…” Noble let out an exasperated sigh. “This is something you need to do alone.”
“…Thanks, Noble. Really.”
He skillfully twisted his tongue into knots, so it formed a thumbs-up. I flashed one back, using my actual thumb.
“Lunaère-san, are you in there?” I called.
“No.” The response was cold.
“Well, the fact that you replied means that—”
“The person I love deciding to leave to another world without talking to me might as well be the same as not existing. You deciding to go back without me means I don’t exist for you anymore, right?”
“No, this is just a misunderstanding. I do want to go back to Earth, but not forever. I can actually go back and forth between Earth and Locklore.”
“What?” Lunaère slowly opened the door and stared at my face.
The Highest God had put a restriction on my original wish, saying that if I wanted to go back to Earth that I would just go back; I wouldn’t be able to return to Locklore. He also said he wouldn’t accept petty wordplay.
But I still found a loophole.
“Make it so I can use all the magic that a Lower God like Naiarotop would be able to use,” I’d said.
For a moment, the Highest God seemed lost on how to respond, then he burst into laughter.
Included in that set of spells was Space-time Magic Level 28: Dimension Gate. It was the teleportation spell that connected two different worlds together.
By definition, a Lower God could use all spells within the ranked system. My logic was to take my original idea but find a way to avoid getting trapped by the Highest God’s restriction on tricky wishes.
I thought he might be angry about that wish too, since it could be seen as sidestepping his intent, but he seemed satisfied by how interesting my logic was. So he agreed to my wish.
So now, I was able to use any spell within the defined ranking system that a Lower God would be able to use. Dimension Gate was one of those spells, so I could go between Earth and Locklore at will.
Suddenly, I felt a bit bad for Pomera. This meant this wasn’t the last awkward time we’d ever be seeing each other.
“Th-then why did you act so high and mighty?! W-were you making fun of me?!” Lunaère’s face turned beet red and she grabbed my collar.
“N-no! I’m really sorry for not opening up sooner about it, but…there’s something I wanted to talk to you about… I just hadn’t gotten the courage…”
“Something you want to talk to me about?” She blinked in surprise.
I squeezed her hands in mine. “Lunaère-san…will you marry me?”
“Huh? Wh-what… What are you saying?!” Her face turned so red, it looked like it was on fire.
“Lunaère-san, you don’t like going out in the world, so you don’t…and you wanted me to go enjoy a normal human life, not stay in Cocytus forever. But I’ve been around Locklore, and I saved the world! There’s no reason to chase me away now!”
“Th-th-that might be true, but…well! I think we’re going too fast! I would feel bad trapping you in Cocytus forever!”
Her eyes roved around, looking anywhere but into mine.
I’d always known Lunaère was a little paranoid about going out into the world. But now that I knew her past, I couldn’t blame her. She was captured and tortured, her body used to make potions. I couldn’t suggest to her that we go live somewhere, out in the sun of Locklore.
That’s why I had a different suggestion.
“Come with me to Earth for a bit!” I said.
“Why?!”
“This isn’t just a whim! I’ve thought about it for a while. A long time ago, we talked about how I didn’t feel fear when I touched you that much because I came from a world without magic, so I couldn’t sense the unholy impurity very well. You can probably live a normal life on Earth, without feeling guilty. Nobody will believe that you have any magic power, and every little situation won’t turn into a battle!”
“U-uhmm…maybe…that might be true…” Lunaère was in a daze, overwhelmed by my excitement.
“But most of all, Lunaère-san, I want you to see the world I was born in. I want you to meet my family!”
“O-okay…” Lunaère bobbed her head up and down, her face still bright red as she joined in my excitement. But then a moment later she seemed to snap back to her senses and shook her head back and forth. “I-I can’t answer this right away. Kanata, you need to think this through too. I’m a lich, I’ve violated the laws of this world. Our life spans are just too different. I can’t have children. It might be fine now, but someday, I’ll make you sad. There is someone so much better for you than me!”