Chapter 126

When I open my eyes, I notice the warmth that should be beside me isn’t there. Feeling a wetness on my cheeks, I think to myself that I’ve had a sad dream. This bed is too big to sleep in alone. The one I’m supposed to say good morning to isn’t here. “Routa… You’re a bad dog for being gone a whole month… When you get back, you’ll be punished…” I’ll spank him really hard. That’s a lie. When he comes back, I’ll probably end up spoiling him a lot. It’s been almost a month since Routa disappeared. Snow has piled up outside the window; the scenery is now the perfect picture of winter. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot better. I don’t get fevers or suffer sudden shortness of breath anymore. Dr. Hecate gave me her seal of approval that we don’t have to worry about relapse. But Routa isn’t here to be happy with me. “Lady Mary, are you awake?” There’s a knock at the door, and Toa, the maid, enters with the morning tea. She’s a full-fledged maid now. The tea she makes is just as good as Miranda’s. “Routa didn’t come back yesterday, either, did he…?” “Are you lonely, too, Toa?” “…Yes, just a little.” “Me too. Just a little.” Routa will come back for sure. He’s just having a little too much fun out there. He’s just running late. It’s spring now. Routa hasn’t come home yet. Eliza, my friend, came to visit me today. She brought her ground dragon, Christina, too. My father’s airship is being run officially now, and they come to the mansion to play a lot. “Mary, listen to this! Your artwork won another prize in the Royal Capital! A lot of art dealers are being really noisy about when you’ll make another!” “Well, then I’ll have to do another one of Routa.” “…That was a picture of Routa?” “Yes. They all are, why?” “Ah… Yes. You are a genius, Mary, to be able to express so many different things in a single portrait.” “Hee-hee. Thanks for the compliment,” I say happily. Eliza makes a sad face. I wonder why? “…Mary, won’t you come to the school in the capital with me? If you go there, you’ll be able to make lots of friends. And then you won’t be lonely—” I shake my head. “Routa would probably be shocked if he came back and I wasn’t here.” “Yes… I suppose he would. I swear, where is that dog of yours?” “Yes, he really is a bad boy! When he comes back, I’m not letting him escape anymore.” While I’m miming his punishment, Eliza comes over and hugs me. For some reason, I start to cry. Summer comes. “Without him here, there’s no point in growing my collection of swords.” Zenobia’s room is filled with her vast sword collection. I know she actually slashes Routa with them and gets them broken. I’ve seen her from my window while I’m studying, sneaking away with Routa to do something. At first, I was really worried about him, but then I realized that he’s incredibly strong, and at some point, I started to pity Zenobia. “Stupid thing. When he comes back, I’ll punish him with this new blade smithed by Rouen,” says Zenobia as she happily shows me the sword she just bought. I really do feel bad for her. Autumn comes. I’ve gotten a little taller—taller than Eliza, in fact. She seemed a bit frustrated when I passed her in height. Apparently, she drinks a lot of milk, but I guess I just grow faster. I might be so tall that when Routa comes home, he might not even recognize me. Winter comes. “With him gone, our food supply is constantly packed to the brim. How much was he even eating, all by himself?” The cook, James, gives a hearty laugh. His cooking is really tasty. I never get tired of it, even though I eat it every day. Routa loved his food, too. Mr. James has complained before about there being no point to making it if Routa isn’t here. Miss Alstera came to visit today. Spring comes. Miss Alstera has been doing a lot, going all over the world, to make sure monsters don’t attack humans, while also searching for Routa. Dr. Hecate told me that there’s a slight chance Routa will come back to this time axis. I didn’t understand a lot of what she said, since it was all very complicated, but apparently, Routa fell into a tear in dimensions and went somewhere far away. If we don’t know where he went, it’s possible he might suddenly pop up right next to me. That’s what Dr. Hecate said. I think it’s possible, too. “Heya—sorry, I couldn’t find him this time, either. But you can leave it to me. Next time, I’ll find Routa for certain!” “Okay! I’ll be looking forward to it!” I truly do believe it. And yet Alstera’s face is so sad. Summer comes. “Human, has Lord Routa returned?” “Has he?” “Hiding him will do no one any good.” “Wait, he’s still gone?” “I promise, I’ll tell you when he’s back.” The five elf sisters living in the forest visited us. The elves seem to be waiting eagerly for Routa to come back, too. I know his wolf friends are also watching the mansion from afar. They’re all waiting for you to come home. Please, come home soon, Routa. It’s autumn now. “You’ve become truly beautiful, Lady Mary.” “Mgh. Do you mean I wasn’t pretty before?” “When you make that face, you look just like you used to.” “Mgh! Miranda, you’re mean.” Toa has the day off today, so Miranda is with me. Since I’ve gotten better, Father hasn’t been staying in the mansion much. His work seems to be taking up more and more of his time, but he still visits on occasion. No, that isn’t quite right. He comes to visit Mother. I just happen to be here. They always get along. They keep asking if I want a brother or sister next. I think either would be adorable. …I wonder if I can become someone like that one day. I can’t even imagine it. What do you think, Routa? If you don’t come home soon, I might already be someone’s wife the next time we meet. And so, autumn ends, winter comes, and spring visits once again. “Routa…” I stare vacantly out the window. Father and Mother are watching me with deep concern. I can tell by the reflection in the glass. I have to be energetic, and I’m worrying everyone. But for some reason, I can’t get myself to move much. I’ve forgotten how to smile. I try every now and then, but it’s no use. “……” The trees in the garden are all covered in green leaves. “…Come to think of it, this was around the time when Routa first came to us…” He was such a tiny puppy in the beginning, and he got big really fast. But he was still so cute, and he was always patient with me, despite how rowdy I was. We would play ball, swim together in the lake, and secretly snatch Mr. James’s cooking. Recalling all those fun memories one after another, I can no longer hold back the tears. I want to see him… I really do… “Mary…” Father and Mother embrace my shoulders. If I don’t stop crying soon, they’ll start to worry about me again. I try to force myself to smile, but I can’t, and I don’t even have the energy to speak. And that was when it happened. A knocking at the window. “Mary, do you have a moment?” It’s Dr. Hecate. “Did you…need something…?” “Come with me.” Dr. Hecate’s smile makes me stop crying for some reason. At her invitation, I go outside. “Over here. Come,” says Hecate, leading me by the hand. We’re headed for the mansion’s front gate. “Ahh, there you are. You’re late, Mary.” Eliza is here. “Lady Mary, please excuse me.” Miranda wipes my tearstained face. “Heya! If you show up looking like that, you’ll make him worry.” Alstera and Zenobia, and everyone I know, are all gathered at the mansion’s front gate. “Dr. Hecate, what is this…?” “Stand right here.” Dr. Hecate pushes me to the fore and turns me so I’m facing out the gate. “Can you see it?” Hecate points, and I can see a small white dot. It seems to be getting closer to here, little by little. “My research finally bore fruit mere hours ago. I hurried to gather his acquaintances together. This is the first time I’ve used spatial magic so many times in a row. Ahh, I’m so tired.” Dr. Hecate’s sigh doesn’t even reach my ears at this point. My feet start moving on their own, and then they get faster and faster, and before I know it, I’m running so hard I’m out of breath. Because I already know who that is up there. “Woof, woof! (Ahh, come on! You guys made us late getting home!)” “Squeak! (You being seduced by your appetite is what caused all this to begin with!)” “Meow! (Who would have thought we’d be warped to another world and end up saving them from their crisis, too?! That’s Routa for you! Worst luck in the multiverse!)” It’s pandemonium as we shout at each other, walking up the path to the mansion. We really are a loud and annoying bunch—though that’s no different. “Arwf! (Shut up! We’re back now, as you can see, so I have at least a little luck!)” What were the chances of this? It would probably be harder to win the lottery a hundred times in a row. “Arf, arf. (I was totally floored when Hecate contacted us in that other world.)” “Squeak. (She didn’t have to research the Demon Lord’s seal anymore, so she spent a thousand years researching a way to bring us back? She’s nothing if not tenacious.)” “Meow. (My mistress is amazing, if I do say so myself—for making it possible to summon us from another world as long as she has the mana!)” “Arf, arf. (Speaking of mana, I’d totally forgotten about this collar.)” Hecate used all my mana that had been slowly accumulating in the collar as a power source to summon us, which is how we made it back to our original world. According to her, she wouldn’t have been able to do it with her own mana alone. “Squeak. (If we’d gone straight to the place at the time she told us to, we would have gotten back a little earlier. But you were so busy basking in the hearty welcome from all the people you saved that we were late.)” “Arf, arf! (It’s that other world’s food’s fault for being so good. That stuff rivaled old man James’s cooking!)” “Meow. (The celebration party was a lot of fun! It was a blast—the drinking and singing went on for days.)” “Arwf. (By the way, I wasn’t the one who kept on eating until the very end—that was you, Nahura.)” “Meow! (What’s that supposed to mean?!)” As we continue to argue, we see someone running straight at us from up ahead. “Arf, arf, arf, arf? (Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, are you serious? This is bad.)” Why, the young lady is all grown up! She must be about the same age as Lady Eili, the one I met in the past. Crap, we were too late! “Squeak. (More importantly, don’t you think you should go to her?)” “Mew. (Lady Mary looks like she’s about to trip and fall.)” Whoops—I can’t keep her waiting. Lady Mary! I’m home! I run to her, light on my feet, and reach her in the blink of an eye. “Arwf! (Oops!)” I hastily slam on the brakes. The lady is right before my eyes now. “Routa!!” “Arwf! (Lady Mary!)” She practically falls into me, and I catch her with my fluffy fur. “Routa… Routa…!” “Arwf, arwf. (Yep, it’s your one-and-only Routa.)” And your face looks awful! It’s all covered in tears and snot. It’s so out of shape that it’s really cute, so I’ll give it some licks. Glancing to where the young lady ran from, I see an array of familiar faces. Whoa, whoa—you all came out for this? Is that what’s going on? A big welcoming party? “Squeak, squeak? (Does nothing move you, beloved?)” “Mrrr. (It truly is impossible.)” What was that? I wanted to see Lady Mary more than anyone else, you know! It’s just that with her being the first to cry, it actually calmed me down. You know how it is. Lady Mary is still bawling into my chest, but she still finds the time to look up and say: “Welcome home, Routa.” “Woof. (It’s good to be back.)” I’m enjoying an afternoon nap under the big tree in the backyard. After the reunion, everyone threw me a huge homecoming party. Old man James put everything he had into cooking the food, everyone burst into tears of joy upon seeing me, and then everyone got really mad at me—especially Drills, who was furious. Zenobia started testing swords on me right away, and even Alstera took a ride on my back, and the office-worker elf lady—the guild leader—got really drunk and rude. Hecate drank all the liquor she wanted, Papa cried a whole lot, Mama’s alive, the maids are all as beautiful as ever, and neither Toa nor Betty has gotten an inch taller. The elf sisters pampered me like they always do, and Garo and the Fen Wolves started howling with joy at my return. The Five Demon Generals are in the same positions they were even in this changed future—Mircalla is still the tsundere maid, Richmond is still the slick butler, Belgor is still the lively knife, Gigas is still asleep in his statue form, and Behemoth still gets into fights with Len about who should be my wife.