Epilogue
Satou here. They say you have to take the bad with the good, but I wish lousy things wouldn’t happen right after something positive. Everyone prefers a happy ending, right?
“Is this an aftereffect of using godly energy?”
I stared down at my left hand, which had turned completely black.
If I was still an edgy teen suffering from chuunibyo, I probably would’ve been super excited to say things like “My left arm! I can’t control it!” but now it was nothing but an inconvenience.
Although my fingers could still move just fine, I had no feeling in my hand.
The jet-black color went up to about halfway between my wrist and elbow.
But as I looked at it, the inky border crept higher.
That’s not good.
I tried using a lesser elixir on my arm, but it had no effect.
The high-quality elixirs were a last resort, as I was saving them for Arisa.
“Looks like medicine won’t work…”
How was I supposed to have the full amount of fun if I went to visit the pretty ladies of the night with no feeling in one hand?
I wonder if I’d grow a new arm if I cut this one off?
Possibly out of exhaustion, my thoughts started to stray into stupid directions.
Normally, I would never try something like that, but in that moment, it felt like a divine revelation of an idea.
I produced the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage.
Holding it with my right hand, I tapped the blade against my darkened left hand a few times.
All I felt was a dull metallic thud.
Steeling myself, I aimed for the border on my left arm between the black color and my natural skin and swung Durandal down toward it.
With a clang, it broke right in half.
…The Holy Sword Durandal, that is.
How tough is this arm if it can break a damn Holy Sword now?
I groaned in exhaustion, silently mocking myself.
Magic power flowed out of the broken end of the Holy Sword, becoming a wind that blew through the area.
I used my always-active Magic Hand to grab the other half of the sword and tightened my control on my magic so it wouldn’t flow out through the remaining half in my hand.
Then I put the broken end into the scabbard, followed by what was left of the base.
When I used the scripture before, it was able to fix the small nicks from my fight with the Golden Boar Lord.
I decided it couldn’t hurt to try using it again now.
“<For eternity,> Durandal.”
Blue light flooded out of the scabbard.
Once it died down, I drew Durandal and found that it had returned to its unbroken state.
I can’t say I wasn’t hopeful, but I was amazed that it had actually fixed the broken blade.
That was my dependable backup blade for you. I was glad I’d be able to keep using it in the future.
I decided to try cutting off my arm one more time.
When I touched the area I’d tried to cut before, it felt the same as the black part, even though it still looked normal.
I rolled up the sleeve of my Nanashi outfit and used my left hand to touch the area halfway between my elbow and shoulder, confirming that the upper arm was still soft, then sliced into it with Durandal.
“…Nnngh!”
There was a spray of red blood, and my arm fell to the ground.
It didn’t actually hurt thanks to my “Pain Resistance” skill, but it still wasn’t exactly fun to look at.
I put my falling arm into Storage, then used Magic Hand to put pressure on the wound.
Blood dripped from the stump of my arm and hit the ground.
And then… WHOOSH!
A bundle of thick green vines burst out of the ground and up toward the heavens, shaking the ground and the air alike.
At first I jumped away, thinking it was a plant-type monster, until I realized it was actually just the leaves and vines of a potato plant, extending some ten yards into the air.
It was a perfectly normal plant, aside from the ridiculously large scale.
Had my blood caused this somehow?
Maybe I could experiment with it when I had some free time, but now wasn’t the right moment for that.
I produced a barrel of greater healing potion and plunged my arm into it. I was all out of watered-down vials of the stuff.
The advanced potion mixed with my blood.
I would have to dispose of this barrel afterward. It felt like a bit of a waste, but I could always make more potions.
Finally, my arm began to grow back. Like when Zarigon lost his leg in the Upper Stratum of the labyrinth, it started with the regrowth of bone, then muscles, tendons, and so on.
It reminded me of a scene I saw in an anime a long time ago where a person regenerated from a skeleton.
“Phew, now I’m really beat…”
Bright sunlight shone down on me.
The eclipse was finally over.
“Skyyy…!”
“No response from master.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on voices: Mito, who was flying from the royal capital on her staff, and Homu-Homu, flying with her own wings.
Several sparkles of light flew toward me from their direction.
It was Claidheamh Soluis. It must be returning to me now that it was done guarding Mito.
The Holy Sword formed back into one before my eyes, and I put it away in Storage.
“Sky!”
“<…Nn, nnngh…>”
I heard the sky dragon starting to wake up, grumbling in dragon language.
“Sky, are you okay?”
“Master?”
“<…Ah!>” The sky dragon’s head whipped up. “<Mito! Run away! He’s coming! He’s coming back!>”
I had a weird feeling that she was referring to me, but I’m sure it was my imagination.
“Huh? You okay, Sky?”
The dragon grabbed Mito and Homu-Homu in her front claws.
“<We’ve got to get out of here before he pulls my inverted scale off agaaaaain!>”
“W-wait a minute!”
Screaming, the sky dragon took off into the air with both girls in tow.
“Man, they’re noisy…”
I watched as the sky dragon vanished into the distance.
If Mito was the same person I thought she was, then I wanted to tell her that I was Ichirou Suzuki; we no doubt had a lot to talk about.
But that wasn’t my top priority right now. I put a marker on Mito so I could go find her and talk anytime.
“Masterrrr!”
My group arrived on the airship.
I put the bloodied barrel and strangely grown plant into Storage, then used “Skyrunning” to move toward the deck.
“I-is it over already? Things got really crazy there. Are you okay? You’re not hurt?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
There was probably no reason to tell her things that would only worry her more.
I landed on the deck.
“Nana, bring the airship back to the royal capital. We still have lives to save!”
“Yes, master.”
We would need to fix the fields, too, but saving people who were trapped under rubble or seriously injured came first. Once everyone was safe, I figured I could use my new Earth Magic spell Cultivation to fix up the farmland in one go.
On our way to the royal capital, I used two volleys of Remote Arrows to destroy any remaining red-rope monsters and informed the king that I’d defeated the Evil God’s Spawn.
I’d already used my map search to track down the sky dragon’s broken fangs, scales, and so on that had flown off in the battle, since I didn’t want them to cause any new trouble.
“Master, look!”
In the sky above the royal capital, the projection of the king had reappeared, announcing that Nanashi the Hero had resolved the peril threatening the city.
So when we landed in the royal capital to continue rescuing people, many of the citizens waved at us and raised cheers of thanks and celebration.
“Ni-hee-hee…?”
“They’re all smiling, sir.”
“That’s because all of you worked so hard.”
I patted Tama and Pochi on the head, praising the group’s efforts.
It’s important to make sure they get lots of appreciation as a good motivator.
“All right, back to work! There’s still lots of people who need our help.”
“Aye-aye!”
“Roger, sir!”
Arisa clapped her hands, and the other girls struck poses to get into the mood.
While I used Magic Hand to help people from the deck, Mia was giving directions to her sand sprites below when she paused to call out to me.
“Satou.”
She pointed out some people slumped in the corners of alleys or staring at the ground darkly.
“Not everyone’s going to be excited to see us.”
Mia shook her head. “Miasma.”
“…Wow, you’re right.”
Using my “Miasma Vision,” I saw that the miasma in the area was as dense as in the depths of a labyrinth.
Was it because of the Evil God’s Spawn?
At this rate, some people might get miasma poisoning.
I unleashed my normally suppressed spirit light, and it began slowly evaporating all the miasma it touched.
This way, I could clear out the miasma while still helping people.
“Sergeant Tama, injured person spotted at two o’clock!”
“Aye-aye, sir…”
“Sergeant Pochi, there are people still trapped in the broken-down building up ahead.”
“Roger, sir!”
“Nana, there’s a child crying near a fallen carriage at eleven o’clock!”
“Yes, Arisa.”
“Mia, have your sand sprites clear out the rubble blocking the road. Liza and Lulu, help them with that, please.”
“Mm, got it.”
“Understood!”
“I’ll do my best.”
Arisa’s directions quickly and effectively put the group to work.
I took over steering the airship for her, still using Magic Hand to help people who my group wouldn’t be able to reach.
“Master, isn’t that Neru over there?”
“Ms. Tifaleeza and the others, too.”
“Looks like the Echigoya Company is giving out food.”
Looking at my map, I saw that the company was running soup kitchens in about a dozen different areas of the royal capital. I was glad I could count on them to take action without my needing to direct them.
We took turns taking breaks to eat, too, while we continued our work.
The airship went around the capital from the outer wall toward the center in a slow spiral. By the time we arrived at the nobles’ district, the sun had already set.
“Ah! It’s Karina, sir!”
“Looks like the Muno manor is safe.”
Lady Karina was helping clear out the rubble at some neighboring houses that had evidently been ravaged by red-rope monsters, along with her maids Erina and the newbie.
I used Magic Hand to help them out a little and waved at Lady Karina when she excitedly cried out “Sir Hero!” before moving on to the next area.
The mansions of Duke Ougoch and Duke Vistall were close to the royal capital, so while they’d still taken some damage, no one needed treatment.
When we arrived at the royal castle, I gave a cheerful wave to the king and prime minister as they thanked me profusely in the castle keep, then set about saving people nearby.
About one chime later, we’d taken care of most of the rescue work and started taking breaks in shifts.
It occurred to me that the cardinal’s Brace of Stolen Divinity was still buried in some rubble. I recovered three golden bracelets in total, each reading Brace of Stolen Divinity (Counterfeit). Tripling the effect must have been how he fooled my AR.
“Satou.” Mia toddled over to me. “Sakura Pearl.”
She produced the pink pearl from her Fairy Pack and handed it to me.
It was the item she’d received from the sakura dryad.
“Bloom.”
“It won’t be a burden on the tree?”
“It’s fine. Buds.”
Apparently, it would work without a problem because the buds were already growing.
I brought the airship close to the Royal Sakura and produced my own Sakura Pearl as well.
“Let’s do it together.”
“Mm.”
We both filled our Sakura Pearls with magic.
“I, Misanaria of Bolenan Forest, entreat the sakura of the Shiga Kingdom. Let your beautiful flowers bloom and bring smiles to the people whose hearts have been darkened by calamity.”
A pink glow emitted from both of us and lit up the Royal Sakura Tree.
Then it whirled up into the air in a spiral, spreading across the sky over the royal capital.
“Oooh!”
“Byooti-full…”
“Let the flowers bloom, sir!”
When the light faded, the enormous sakura tree was in full bloom with cherry blossoms.
“Master, look! It’s amazing!”
Lulu called out to me from where she was making rice balls for the soup kitchen.
“Master.”
“Look, master!”
Nana and Liza called out to me, too, then gazed up at the sakura.
After that, none of them said a word.
I knew exactly how they felt. The sight of the Royal Sakura Tree blossoming in the sunlight was beautiful enough to take anyone’s breath away.
“Satou.”
Entranced, Mia leaned her head against my arm.
“What gorgeous flowers…”
I joined the rest of my friends in staring up at the sakura contentedly.
Maybe tonight we can throw a big flower-viewing party to admire the sakura and the moon.
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