Chapter 25

Epilogue It took a little while for us to get to Retin. Solon could only use his teleportation spell to travel to places he had already been, so he took us near where the Kingdom of Malika had once been, and from there, we struck a course for Retin. “Magic can’t do everything. I can’t pinpoint a location I’ve never been to.” For whatever reason, Solon sounded proud of himself as he said that. But that did imply he had been to Daris Village at some point. When I asked him about it, he hesitated at first. “I went to the area so I could meet Ares’s parents. But I never ended up seeing them,” he answered a little sullenly, his face red. Aha. This fellow looked arrogant, but he was actually kind and bashful. Since he couldn’t bring himself to question Shella, he’d asked me to do it instead. We borrowed some horses at the town we teleported to and headed for Retin. I was a practiced rider, but Solon was surprisingly adept, too. “It’s not my forte, but I had my chance to learn on our journey. Zack taught me. It was one of the many things I learned from him.” Solon beamed with pride. Signs of the Demon Lord’s invasion still lingered in the former Kingdom of Malika. The area was a total wasteland. “The closer you get to the Demon Lord’s territory, the more you find places like this.” Solon didn’t seem particularly emotional. I supposed he was desensitized to this sort of sight from his journey. But it was a huge shock to me, as I’d never left the kingdom in my life. It drove home just how little I understood of the world. My mother must have witnessed this devastation many times over. When we arrived at Retin Village at last, I saw that it was close to the sea. The buildings and fields were still in disarray, but it was in quite good shape compared with the other places we passed through on the way. Several plumes of smoke trailed across the sky—a sure sign of human habitation. When I asked the villagers in the fields about Zack, they immediately told me where he was. Apparently, he’d come to the village two years ago and had been helping with the reconstruction ever since. The villagers appreciated his presence because he put a lot of vigor into his work, and he even slew monsters from time to time. I went where I was directed and found him piling bricks on a roof. I recognized him at once from his slightly curly hair and matching chestnut-brown eyes. Although his appearance had changed to match his age, he was still the same at his core. The villager clothes suited him so well that he didn’t look out of place in the slightest, but that, too, was characteristic of him. Zack noticed our approach right away. With such good instincts on his side, I wasn’t surprised that he was the Hero. “Whoa! Is that you, Solon?!” Zack was stunned. Well, it would have been a letdown if he wasn’t surprised. We had gone through quite some trouble to get here. Solon strode right over to Zack and seized him in a hug. “I was looking for you.” That single sentence contained an incredible weight. “I know,” was all Zack said in return as he hugged Solon back. After a short while, Zack turned his eyes to me. “Are you Princess Alexia, by any chance? What brings you here?” I was happy to see that he remembered me. Solon backed away a few steps, making room for me to approach. “I know about your lie. Shella does, too,” I said. Zack’s expression jolted in surprise. “What a pickle…” He frowned in thought. “I see… I see. But why would the princess come all the way here to tell me that?” “To fulfill my promise.” “What promise?” “To marry the person I love.” “Huh?” Solon was snickering. Zack looked so confused. “Person you love? You mean…uh…me?” He was so very slow on the uptake. I nodded silently. “Uh…” His face turned red, and he scratched his head sheepishly. And then after a slight pause to think, he said: “I know this place in the capital that serves great sweets. If you’re up for it, do you wanna come with me?”