EPILOGUE
RAINING LIGHT
She heard a ringing that reached up toward the heavens.
She felt like she heard a song of tears sung by someone’s loving voice. A sense of actually claiming victory, the joy of protecting their home, a feeling of accomplishment. The sadness over the comrades lost and the mourning of the victims. All those emotions and thoughts could not be expressed or repaid with a simple word such as victory .
“…”
In the labyrinth where it all ended, Aiz was walking by herself. She did not have any more strength left to swing her sword. Her wounded body was shrieking in pain. If she relaxed for even a moment, her knees would give out. Her body pleaded with her to rest. There were no more enemies. All the demi-spirits had been taken down and the green flesh in the labyrinth had turned a yellowish-brown color, rotting away. The passage that Aiz was walking down was the original stone of Knossos. There was no trace of monsters, either. The vibrantly colored monsters that were like feelers for the spirit had stopped functioning.
But Aiz kept walking. Just a little bit more, as if she was searching for something. She kept moving through a labyrinth that had fallen silent.
“A-Aiz!”
At the end of a winding path, members from Loki Familia appeared. Raul called out to her and ran over.
“Y-you came all the way here? Th-those are some serious injuries! Are you okay?! But if you’re here, that means you won…That’s great!”
Raul’s squad had set up a temporary base in the passage there. A little while before, the order for all squads to retreat had come over the oculus. They were to gather up anyone who could not move and wait for rescue teams to come. Aiz did not have an oculus, but she had been told the order by a Xenos who had kindly stood on the ground, wearing a robe to appear more human. It was the siren who had been flying around, searching for adventurers who had been separated from squads.
This base had been the closest to her, and it also had the person Aiz had wanted to find.
“F-for now, let’s get you healed…! Ah, but we’ve already used up all the items, which means it would probably be faster to just get you out of here…But I guess walking by yourself or getting carried outside would also be rough…I-I’ll go get a healer and a cart!”
It could have been simple exaltation from winning the war, but Raul was a bundle of energy. He kept switching between concern for her wounds and joy at finding out she was safe. As he confirmed the state of her wounds and got ready to head out, Aiz smiled.
“Okay…I’ll be waiting for you.”
Raul’s cheeks flushed, and he stared at her for a second. When she tilted her head a bit, confused by his reaction, he hurriedly stammered, “I-I’ll be right back!” and dashed off.
There were several adventurers there besides just Raul’s squad. They were all wounded and exhausted. There were some celebrating victory, but there were others whose mouths were shut. They must have lost comrades. But there were others, too, who must have been remembering what Finn had said before they set out that night, smiling at their comrades in arms who had been added to the funeral procession in the heavens. And there were those who took out a hip flask stashed away and downed half the alcohol before pouring out the rest on the weapons left behind by those who had been lost.
She dragged her body along, watching the scene after the decisive battle with all its cocktail of emotions. Rakuta and the others were happy to see her safe as they passed each other. And then finally…she found him.
“Bell…”
The boy was sleeping. He was sitting on the ground, his upper body leaning against the wall. He seemed utterly exhausted. There was no indication that he would wake up any time soon.
Aiz smiled and sat down next to him.
“…You…saved me.”
They were words that he would never hear, but she still looked at him as she whispered in his ear.
No one noticed them there. The group was mostly of Loki Familia adventurers, who were already pushing themselves, walking around the encampment, checking on the condition of those who were wounded. Watching all that in the background, she continued to whisper.
“I won…thanks to you.”
Aiz had defeated Levis with his ringing bell. If it were not for that, Aiz would have been consumed by the black flames without ever making it back.
It was always like that. Like when she had found him collapsed in the Dungeon and gotten close to him. Her heart had become clear, like her spirit was being cleansed. The black flames had disappeared. It was as if she had reclaimed just a little bit of something—of her more innocent self. Not realizing that her expression was still softening, Aiz’s lips spread into a wider smile.
“I could hear…your voice.”
Finally, the boy’s head slid to the side, falling against Aiz’s shoulder. But that weight felt comfortable. Letting go of her last bit of strength, Aiz leaned closer to him.