✦ ✦ ✦
Her gaze drifted to Satan and Anzu.
“Fill him in, will you? He needs to know just how great this accomplishment is. I can’t rest easy until that’s done.”
“We will,” Satan said.
Eve’s weathered lips formed another smile.
“Can I really trust a man who spent all night in the cabarets and rolled into work without a wink of sleep?”
“Urp.”
That silenced Satan. His old boss knew all his foibles and could easily turn the screws.
Eve smiled at the ground, talking to no one in particular.
“And do take care. A life too fulfilling is a poison all its own. Once it gets to you, you’ll give in to the pleasures and spend all your time on things that don’t matter. You’ll wind yourself all up until you have no friends and nothing you really want to do. Just rationalizations for your own actions. But—”
Having uttered the moral of the story, she turned to Anzu.
“But be friendly with them anyway, Anzy. I went too far; it’s too late for me. I wish I’d found someone like you sooner—that’s my one regret.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re simplistic, none too bright, and weirdly bashful, but nothing you did was calculated, and it never ceased to entertain me.”
“Yo, shit talking me on your deathbed?!” Anzu had tried to be stoic about this, but Eve kept poking until she had to snap back.
“See? Adorable,” Eve said, mustering a chuckle. “If we’d met earlier, a few centuries back… Let’s visit the hot springs again. This time I won’t be in a mascot costume.”
Her mind seemed to be drifting in and out now. Scenes were flashing before her eyes. And—
“”
She drifted into slumber.
As peaceful as an old lady drifting off in the sun at a windowsill.
Anzu moved over to her, speaking softly.
“I’m sure she was always putting on a brave face. She went through a whole life without anyone she could really trust, then became immortal before she’d faced the shields she’d built around her mind.”
“Her heart is long since broken, and without death—she went too far.”
“And then once she knew it was over, she could finally admit it and do what she should have done in the first place.”
“She was exhausted from an eternal life making excuses for why she was so lonely.”
Satan put his hands together. “Rest in peace. Lloyd, can you yank the Holy Sword out for us?”
“Oh, sure!”
He grabbed the handle and pulled—and the liquid blade re-formed.
“Well done. Okay, everything’s wrapped up here, but there’s still a ton of work to do.”
Anzu was a ruler herself and already focusing on the politics. They had to deal with the Profen Kingdom now and mop up everywhere else.
“It’ll work out,” Satan said with conviction, lending her a shoulder. “I mean, this boy can turn any bad end into a happy one.”
“Too true. Even gave Eve a moment of peace.”
Anzu turned her smile toward the old woman’s prone form, like she was looking at an old friend.
✦ ✦ ✦
In Kunlun village…
The flames of war raged on, the land scarred after the slaughter.
The pastoral landscape was now a war zone. Shambling rabbit costumes were destroying everything, held back only by Sou and the Azami forces.
“Hmm,” Sou growled. “We’re losing ground. Mm?”
Mid-sentence, all the rabbit costumes began to writhe—and vanished without a trace.
Eve had made them with runes, so this could mean only one thing.
“Lloyd stopped her.”
“No signs of any demon lords escaping. It’s over,” Riho said, with a sigh of relief.
“Inevitable!” Selen declared. “My future husband was on the job!”
“……Not happening, not ever happening… Issue a correction…”
Selen wheeled around to accost Phyllo.
“Grrr! Sir Lloyd and my possibilities are infinite! Eternal! Through the cycle of reincarnation—”
She was even more wound up than she’d been in the heat of battle.
“Now, now, future husbands aside—” Marie said.
“What now, Marie?”
“Lloyd’s become a hero. They’ll sing about him for ages to come.”
She looked a little sad—like he’d gone somewhere far away.
“Don’t be absurd!” Selen snapped. “Sir Lloyd’s accomplished all of this without even noticing! Becoming a hero will hardly change him in any meaningful way.”
She was so firm on this point, both Riho and Phyllo reeled.
“……I envy her.”
“Yeah, gotta give her this one.”
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Sou joined them here, dusting his hands and gleefully pointing the camera to capture Lloyd’s return.
“Nothing will ever change his core. Lloyd can do anything for his friends, for other people—unlike me, being a hero will never be a prison for him. Thankfully the lens isn’t broken.”
“Exactly,” Merthophan said, tugging at his loincloth. “He was a bit weak-willed, but he was always moving forward, from the moment we met. Just like how I’m spreading appreciation for traditional farming attire!”
That was an unfortunate comparison.
The girls all thought Merthophan had changed too much, but they decided this wasn’t the time to argue with him.
“Mwa-ha-ha! But Lloyd has filled out! His hamstrings have far more volume than when I first met the lad!” Nexamic said, focusing on the thing you’d expect him to focus on.
“Your perspective lacks elegance, Nexamic,” Renge scolded. “But it is true you’d hardly recognize him.”
“Lloyd certainly changed me,” Allan mumbled next to her. “Lying to yourself and being something you’re not isn’t courage. Real courage means admitting your weakness and striving to be the man you want to be!”
“Allan…”
“To that end, Renge—I’m not used to women, and this marriage thing is still a lot for me. But I want to summon my own courage, take it one step at a time, and be a good husband.”
“A-Allan!”
Maybe this marriage would work out.
“Good on ya,” Mena teased. “Big difference from when that whole Dragon Slayer thing left your head spinning. Man, I had my narrator voice ready and everything—‘Their happiness proved short-lived.’ But guess I can’t do that now!”
“M-Mena…”
“That aside, Lloyd beating me turned out to be a pretty good memory. He came right at me, and it felt pretty good to lose like that. He helped me a lot later on, and…yeah. I’m grateful.”
He’d helped with Phyllo and their parents.
“……He helped clear my mind. Even if he’d been weak, I’d have respected him.”
“Mwa-ha-ha! That’s when your hand blades shaved my clothes away, yes?”
“……Phrasing.”
Peace was restored.
The hero was coming back, a pleasant smile on his face as if he’d just been out running errands. No trace of the feat he’d accomplished.
“Thanks for waiting! I stopped Eve.”
He was just as modest as ever, but he’d just saved the world.
Here he was, waving like any other day—and that brought a smile to everyone.