Chapter 61

EPILOGUE Un-return to the Future A certain day and time during the Month of the Gryphon, 2099 FE “Thanks to the efforts of a Hero, the Eschaton Demon Lord Veltol, aka the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze Machina from another future, has been defeated, and doom averted.” The detective was speaking from the lounge chair in her empty office. “The only ones to know are me, the Great Detective; my assistant, the Demon Lord; and the dragon girl. None other have a way to know. The whole world should be singing our praises for preventing the end of humanity, but unfortunately, they won’t, since nobody knows it even happened. Perhaps there are more nameless heroes out there than we would think.” The messy desk full of papers was now clean. She was a slovenly detective, but not to the point of making chaos in just a couple of days. She swore to keep her office clean for a while, since they had cleaned it for her. Although there were some empty liquor bins lying around already, but who could blame her? The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it was that she had the Hero, the Demon Lord, and the Black Dragon Duchess clean her office. “And so the curtains fall on the great case surrounding the future of doom without anyone knowing. However.” She raised a finger. “There is still one remaining mystery.” “Interesting. Could you tell me about this unsolved mystery?” a girl’s machinelike voice asked. The detective smiled at the voice. “Of course. Listen.” The unsolved mystery was… “Why did Mom summon the Eschaton Demon Lord?” The detective took a puff of her electronic pipe, releasing smoke. “Emilia collected magi-eyes and used the ritual to summon the Eschaton Demon Lord of the future. That much is certain. But why did she do that?” “Why?” “I think she was telling the truth about collecting the magi-eyes to save the world. Maybe she summoned the Eschaton Demon Lord to this age so we could defeat it…and prevent the future of doom.” Emi’s voice trembled a little. “The following is going to be my hypothesis, adding my own imagination to Mom’s and the Eschaton Demon Lord’s words.” “I understand.” The detective took a deep breath as she organized her thoughts. “To cut to the chase, the Eschaton Demon Lord, aka the Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze, traveled through time somehow and repeated the end of 2099 to the end of 2149. She was looping. Mom committed the murders to stop that loop and, as a result, summoned the Eschaton Demon Lord to Gryphon 4, a different time than normal. To the day we were together. Perhaps the branch to the future changed from the moment Matoi arrived in this age.” The detective took a sip of flat soda before continuing. “Thinking back on it, Mom was saying important things since we first met Matoi. There is a chance she had only been telling the truth since then. I don’t know whether it was true—or is even now—but I know some people would not forgive what she did, no matter what. That’s the thing about the trolley problem.” The detective’s smile turned weak, but her will was strong. “But I want to believe my mom saved the world.” Emi smirked self-derisively. “What do you think, Matoi?” On the desk, next to the six-eyed mithril amulet, was a small box. Its contents, naturally, were not Matoi. It was a memory cube with the OrAcle prototype installed. “Sorry, I don’t have enough information. I do not know.” The cube was connected to a PDA, and that was where the voice came from. “Sheesh, I wish you had a cuter response.” “Understood. I shall study cuteness. Could you give me an example?” “How about you learn this first?” The detective raised two fingers and held them up next to her face. She opened them up while sliding them horizontally. A sideways V-sign. “What is that?” “The newest cutesy pose fifty years in the future.” “Understood. I have configured the newest cutesy pose fifty years in the future.” After that day, she began developing the artificial spirit again. She was originally an artificial spirit researcher. Now she wanted to spare some of her resources for this artificial spirit, little by little. She would not quit being a detective, though. That was fun. Her environment and the technology were different in this era. And even without taking that into account, this artificial spirit wouldn’t be exactly like Matoi. Just like how different the current Duchess of the Dazzling Blaze was from her future self. But still, Emi wanted to leave her will—the proof that she’d saved the world—to the future. “The future keeps going on forever… I never thought I would be saying such a cliché line.” The detective stood up from the lounge chair. “But I have something to do first. Get intel on the Guild like Veltol asked.” The detective left. “I gotta work hard for his future, too.” Month of the Gryphon, Day 5, 2099 FE, 00:00 Shinjuku City. Veltol’s home. The door to the living room opened, and two people set foot inside. One was a tall, beautiful man with long, black hair. The other was a girl with long, black hair tied up in a ponytail. “Oh, Velly and Sihlsy are back.” “Hi! How was everything on your end?” Takahashi and Hizuki welcomed them. They crashed onto the couch, directing only their eyes at the two girls. The delicious smell of curry wafted over from the kitchen. “As for us, well…,” Hizuki began. “A lot happened, but none of it got us anywhere.” “’Twas a grand adventure! Throwing hands and playing tag with the yakuza,” said Takahashi. “Geez! All while making me do all the work!” an apron-clad Machina yelled from the kitchen, sulking as she made curry. “Lady Sihlwald went away with Lord Veltol, and I had to take care of these two rowdy girls. It was awful!” “Wait a second! Takahashi, maybe, but not me! I’m normal! Normal!” “No, you’re just as bad as she is! Takahashi’s the fire and you’re the fuel! Maybe you’re normal when alone, but you go crazy when you’re with her!” “Hey, hey, Machina. Maybe Sihlsy has the fighting skills, but if she’d stayed behind, you would’ve been babysitting three girls instead of two.” “Argh… You’re right… Lord Veltol, I—” Veltol and Sihlwald did not wait for her to finish. “Huh?” They embraced Machina. “Wakyakyakya?! Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wha-wha-wha-what happened?!” “We’re home, Machina.” “Huh? Mmm? Eh? Wh-what?! Welcome home?!” They both hugged her tight, as though to make sure she was still there. “Looks like we’re in the way. Let’s go.” “Roger that.” Hizuki and Takahashi exchanged a few words—not through aether comms, but just their gazes—and tiptoed out of the room. “U-um… What happened…?” Machina froze, ladle in hand. “Don’t say anything,” Veltol told her. “Nothing, all right? Just let us hold you.” Sihlwald added. “H-h-hold…?!” Veltol looked into Machina’s eyes and said, “I vow this to you, Machina.” Veltol thought it was his fault she fell to madness in that future. That he saddened her because of his weakness, and that such a thing would not have happened if he was strong. So he vowed—to never let anyone be sad again. To never let that future happen. To not waste the Hero’s soul. He vowed: “I will be stronger.”