Chapter 93

EPILOGUE The moment we stepped into the portal, it was like getting washed away by a raging current. Coming back to earth had felt like falling, but this time it was as though gravity had reversed, and we felt ourselves lifted into the air. There was no sensation of my soul being stripped away this time as well. “…Whoooa?!” “…D-dear brother?!” Still, I was the only person in the group who had experienced the trip between worlds before. Yuuto and Mai were about as composed as could be expected. We were bathed in light of a color we had no name for. The first time I came here, I hadn’t known what was happening. The second time, I’d been robbed of my memories. On both occasions, I’d been too distracted to look around, so now that I was finally taking in the eeriness of the place for the first time, it sent a shiver up my spine. “Wh-what the…?!” The void between worlds? But there was surely something here. Something that felt far greater and far more powerful than anything I’d ever encountered. I was terrified, as if just a glimpse of its true nature might undo me. And no sooner did I gulp in horror than I heard a voice, and time came to a sudden stop. “Hmm. So you finally notice my gaze on your third visit. So wonderfully anomalous, in everything you do. Tee-hee-hee. How fascinating.” The voice was accompanied by an oppressive force that made me want to do nothing but cower in fright. The only time I’d felt anything like it was when I’d faced off against the evil dragon. …Rgh. I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. “Since you’ve been so kind as to notice my presence, allow me to gift you a key. And as a reward for breaking my spell, a little bonus. Now go, and live the life you so desperately seek.” I felt something enter my body. Before I could figure out what it was, time started flowing again, and the feeling of something pressing on my skull suddenly vanished. “Wh-what just…?” “Wh-what’s the matter, Kaito?” “Did you make a mistake? Are you a little failure of a brother?” “No!” It seemed neither of them had heard the voice. However, before we could discuss this, we reached the end of our interdimensional leap. “Dwagh!” “Ugh!” “Hyu!” We didn’t exactly stick the landing. I couldn’t keep my balance because I was still holding Mai and Yuuto by the hand, so the three of us fell flat on our faces. “Grh. Well, that was embarrassing…” I rose to my feet, a little disappointed I hadn’t gotten to show off, and looked around to figure out where we were. A forest. But not a very thick one. However, the strangest thing by far was the ground. “Ptoo! Ptoo! Huh, so this is what the other world looks like…” “Ugh… My mouth is full of sand, useless brother. Could you not have magicked us a softer landing or something?” Yuuto and Mai both stood up and brushed the dust off their clothes, before peering around with great interest. “…Dear brother, do trees usually grow in sand in this world?” It was a very good question. The trees before our eyes were blue with red leaves, and their trunks spiraled like springs. And yes, they appeared to be growing straight out of the barren, sandy earth. “Some do,” I said. “It really depends.” Thankfully, we didn’t appear to have teleported inside the demon lord’s castle after all. Judging by the sand and the bizarre flora, we had to be in the beast lands, or at least somewhere close by. I’d leave the theory to the geologists, but for whatever reason, that was the only place where these fantasy plants grew in forests. They existed across the lands, but not in such great numbers as these. “I grow weary, Kaito. I am returning to my slumber,” came Pride’s voice, with just a touch of disappointment. I didn’t know you guys even got tired, I wanted to say, but I doubted it would lead to fruitful conversation, so I opted to keep my mouth shut. Pride raised his hand toward the crown we had just stepped through, and it suddenly shrank down to the size of a ring and jumped into his palm. “Now, it is time to collect what I am owed,” he said. “Sure, sure. So what do you want this time?” I asked. After using his power, Pride would go back to lying dormant within me, and I would be unable to call upon him for a week. Before that, though, he would always collect something from me. One time, he took my arm and didn’t give it back for three months. Another time, it was my eyes. Once, he even stole my MP, so that I couldn’t use any of my soul blades at all. I didn’t know how he decided what to take, but it was always inconvenient. “Hmm, well, I was thinking of taking your left arm for six months. However, I’ve already collected my payment through other means. A bonus, they said. And they were quite insistent about it.” Hmm? Could that be what that voice was talking about? I thought back to the terrifying presence that spoke to me in the gap between worlds. They had said they would give me a “bonus.” “Thus, I have nothing to take from you. This time.” And with that, Pride went back inside me. I had no idea what had just happened, but it seemed I’d gotten off lightly. So then why did it feel like I’d spent all my pocket money on something expensive? “…Anyway, we’d better move. I can’t tell where we are yet, but if we just keep heading west, I bet we’ll reach a road eventually. Then we can follow that to a town and— Get down!!” “What? Whaah?!” “Whoa?!” I sensed the attack just moments before it came. I grabbed the others and leaped aside, and a tendril of wood stabbed into the ground where we had just been standing. The tentacle itself was nothing short of bizarre. It was formed of black, intertwined branches and was covered in fluffy warts, which in turn contained tiny lipless mouths, gnashing their teeth and taking in mana from the air. As soon as I saw it, a tiny pebble lodged itself in the cogwheels of my mind. Then a humanoid figure approached, with dead eyes like a zombie’s. The wooden tendrils extended from his arms. “Bwubwubwuuuugh…” I recognized the sight immediately. “An Offshoot?!” This couldn’t be. How could they be appearing already? Could the seed within Leticia have started to grow? I felt the blood drain from my face. In the back of my mind tugged a possibility so frightening, I didn’t even want to consider it. If that’s the case, and she’s already lost control… Then everything would turn out to be a repeat of the first time. An Offshoot was a type of monster Leticia had created from human corpses after the Demonlight Tree consumed her and drove her berserk. If they were showing up, that meant that the seed—the core of her strength as the demon lord—had already taken root. The love of my life, reduced to nothing more than an instrument for preserving the status quo. “K-Kaito? Is that…a monster?” Yuuto couldn’t possibly have known any of this. To him, it was just a strange-looking plant-creature. Before my mind had fully caught up, I leaped into action, summoning my soul blade and activating its ability. “O brazier’s light, Gaurandi the Kin-Eaters!” I swung the Flaming Sword of Wheels, and from the sweeping flames emerged a pair of foxes made of fire. The animals latched on to the Offshoot with their jaws, setting it alight. “Bwubwabwubwubwabwuuugh?!” In mere moments, the creature was reduced to a charred lump of coal, which fell to the earth and disintegrated. However, my unease was not abated. “No… No…” “Dear brother?” “Kaito?” My partners in crime turned to me, but I could say nothing to ease their concern. I was gripped by a despair I hadn’t felt for so long, and hoped I never would again, as though something was creeping toward me under cover of darkness. Is it all going to happen again? Then I was swamped by a crushing powerlessness, as if all light had suddenly vanished, and the cliff at my toes began to crumble. I’m going to lose her again, and there’s nothing I can do to— Just as that thought was about to consume me, I heard it. “…OoooooaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!!” “Blurk!” From out of the sky, something landed on me, squashing me flat. Then I heard Yuuto’s voice. “…Wow, we really are in a fantasy world. I think I read a book once where this happened, Kaito. Lucky you.” “Yuuto? I hope you’re not insinuating what I think you’re insinuating. My dear brother is the last man on earth to deserve such a self-indulgent fairy-tale romance. Don’t you think?” “Huh? O-oh, er, of course, Mai. Reality and fiction are two completely separate things, after all.” “I’m glad you agree.” I wasn’t quite able to piece together what Yuuto and Mai were muttering about, but as the dust cleared, I rose to my feet, clutching my head as if to scrape together the wreckage of my train of thought. “What just happened…?” As soon as I realized just what, or, more to the point, who, had landed atop me, my mind went blank, and time ground to a sudden halt. “Peh! Peh! Argh, what damnable luck. How am I ever going to get the dust out of my clothes?” I could never forget that voice. It was the very voice that stole my heart all those years ago. “…” A sudden gust of wind blew, tearing the cloud of dust aside. “Now, who might you be? I’m terribly sorry for using you as my cushion just now.” The sunlight dashed against her scarlet hair, casting a smattering of prismatic light. “L-Leticia!!” “Hmm? Nyagh?!” Before I even knew what was going on, I was holding her in my arms. I’d been waiting to see her for so, so long! Just one look at her swept away the encroaching despair. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’ve missed—” I didn’t care what this meant. I didn’t care how it happened. “H-hey! Unhand me at once! What do you think you’re—?” “No!!” I clutched her slender frame, ignoring her struggles to break free. “I’m never letting you go!” I cried. “Never again!!” For one precious moment, everything else vanished from my mind, and I was alone with her in my arms. For so long, I had regretted abandoning her. In my dreams, all I felt was her warmth leaving my touch. However… “Rgh!! I said hands off, you brain-dead buffoon!!” “Bwuh?!” Her scream and the impact of her mana-strengthened gut punch brought me back to harsh reality. I went flying into a nearby tree, which exploded in a cloud of dust. “Really?” said Leticia, placing her hands on her hips. “Who do you think you are? I’m already in a sour mood because I slipped and fell from that tree while tracking down the one that got away. The last thing I want is to be manhandled by a stinky pervert like you!” Leticia gave an indignant snort and swept her long, pretty hair from her shoulder. Meanwhile, I lay motionless at the base of the tree, arms and legs spread.