Epilogue
Satou here. Things often don’t go the way we want them to in life, but I think you can overcome most of those things as long as your loved ones are by your side. It’s better to think positively and keep forging ahead than to sit around feeling downhearted.
“Talk about an evil lair…”
Once the log in my AR display confirmed that I’d defeated the green demon, I could finally take the time to look around his hideout. There was only one way to describe it.
A structure made of metallic materials spread throughout the large space with oddly organic-looking lines.
The giant magic apparatus the demon was hooked up to seemed to have broken when he died. It was rotting and crumbling away, as if it, too, had been a living thing.
“Looks like there are a few lesser demons…”
My “Search Entire Map” skill showed me the locations of enemies in the area. I used the Remote Arrow and Laser spells to wipe them out.
The log in the corner of my vision began scrolling at a rapid rate.
I must have satisfied the conditions for “Automatic Loot” by defeating all the enemies on the map.
Skimming the list, I saw that most of the items were only useful for the purposes of evil: jars and accessories full of miasma, eggs to summon demons, short and long horns to transform humans into demons, and so on. I created a “green demon” folder and stashed them all in there.
When the log stopped filling up, I went outside.
“I’m outside the province, huh?”
I assumed it was in Parion Province because I was able to get there using Return.
Evidently, it was actually in one of the monster territories that bordered Parion Province to the south.
“Guess I better destroy this place.”
Rather than let other demons try to use the place, I drained the magic from some of my mass-produced Holy Swords to use a barrage of the powerful Explosion Magic spell Explode to destroy the underground structure beyond all hope of recovery.
Just in case I needed to reinvestigate the place, I put a marker there on the map.
After quickly checking the map to see if there were any other bases in the area, I decided to go back to my friends.
“…Tama.”
I went to the temporary base where I had evacuated Tama and saw her sitting with her head buried in her knees. She looked up sharply when I approached.
“Masterrrr!”
She stood and trotted over to me.
“Is Mr. Sage…gooone?”
“The sage was captured by a jailer and thrown into the Evil God’s Prison.”
As Tama looked down with tears in her eyes, I patted her head gently and told her the truth.
“Meeew?”
Tama tilted her head.
She didn’t seem to quite understand.
“That means he’s still alive.”
“Mew!” Tama wiped her eyes and gazed up at me. “Can we see him agaaain?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure. We can’t visit him in there, so probably not until he gets released.”
“Too baaad.”
Tama looked disappointed, but at least she recovered her smile.
“Master, Tama went missing. Is she with you?”
I got a World Phone call from Arisa. I guess our Tactical Talk got disconnected during the battle with the demon lord.
“Yes, she’s here. We’re both fine, don’t worry. And I’m done, so I’ll bring her back now.”
“Oh, good. We finished evacuating the holy city, and the Temple Knights are investigating whether there are any demons left in there now. Some of the citizens were injured, but it doesn’t look like anyone was killed.”
“That’s a small mercy, at least.”
“Yeah. They were all saying that the goddess must have protected them for there to be so few casualties despite a demon lord attack. Everyone was giving thanks to Goddess Parion and the hero.”
That sounds about right for a religious nation.
“Oh, right. If you’re coming back to the holy city, could you hide in the cathedral?”
“Um, sure? That’s an odd request.”
“The cardinal and the old Holy Woman lady insisted that they wanted to rescue you, since you saved their lives. They sent a whole squadron of Temple Knights in there.”
I’m guessing the Holy Woman genuinely wanted to return the favor, while the cardinal probably didn’t want to risk damaging the province’s reputation…
“All right. I’ll wait in the cathedral, then.”
I ended the call and used Return several times to get back to the holy city with Tama.
We arrived a short distance away from the cathedral. From there, I put on a transparency cloak from Storage and headed toward the cathedral with “Flashrunning.”
Since there were Temple Knights patrolling around the cathedral, I entered through the broken dome. Then we waited for a good time and walked out together, our clothes and faces dirtied using the “Disguise” skill.
“Sir Pendragon!”
“Master!”
I knew Arisa and the others were here, but I wasn’t expecting the cardinal to show up with them.
“I’m terribly sorry for worrying you.”
“Thank goodness you’re all right! It wouldn’t look good for me if the man who saved my life was buried alive in there,” the cardinal said haughtily.
“Sure, he says that now. He was freaking out earlier, telling his men that they had to rescue you no matter what.”
Arisa held back a smile as she told me the truth via Telephone.
I guess the cardinal was actually at least somewhat grateful that I’d stepped into his fight with the sage.
“Hey, mister.”
The old Holy Woman showed up on her palanquin.
“Madam Holy Woman! It’s still too dangerous for you to be in the city.”
“Don’t worry, Dobbs. The goddess told me it’d be fine.”
The palanquin was lowered to the ground, and the Holy Woman stepped down with a childish little “Hup!”
“Thanks, mister. The goddess said to say thank you for her, too.”
The old Holy Woman held up her hand, and blue light rained down from the heavens like snow.
It reminded me of the light that Goddess Parion shone on Hayato the Hero when she sent him back to Japan after defeating the demon lord.
“Don’t you dare!”
“Stop.”
Arisa and Mia must have had the same thought; they each latched on tightly to one of my legs.
I patted their heads with a smile. I’m sure the goddess wouldn’t just send me back to Japan without even asking or warning me.
Thank you.
I heard a grateful young voice in my head.
> Title Acquired: Favored by Parion
> Title Acquired: Mark of Parion
> Title Acquired: Parion’s Apostle
> Title Acquired: Blessing: Goddess Parion
Apparently, my mission in Parion Province was completed.
I looked at the titles I’d acquired one by one.
The first one aside, I wasn’t sure what the second one meant; as for the third one, I never agreed to be anyone’s apostle, so I almost wished I could delete that one. As for the final one, I seemed to remember Hayato the Hero having the same “blessing.” Strange that I was able to receive it just fine, considering that the blessing got rejected when I was baptized in Tenion Temple in the old capital.
“Oooh…”
When the blue light faded, the cardinal and other onlookers who had been frozen in silence finally started to stir.
“That was the Goddess Parion’s holy light, no doubt about it!”
“Sir Pendragon received a direct blessing from Goddess Parion, even though he’s not even a hero!”
“A new saint has been born!”
Everyone but the Holy Woman was apparently shocked. The Temple Knights each got down on one knee and prayed to the heavens, while the cardinal and other priests raised their hands to the sky with tears of gratitude.
“Goddess Parion has granted us a blessing firsthand!”
“We must celebrate the birth of the new saint!”
Getting weirdly excited, the cardinal and his pals excused themselves to take care of some business. The Temple Knights followed after the cardinal. The old Holy Woman had fallen asleep from the exhaustion of serving as Goddess Parion’s Oracle in an unusual way; her entourage put her on the palanquin and carried her back to the Holy Woman’s shrine.
Now that no one else was around, my companions and I could finally celebrate each other’s safety.
“Tama! How many times must I tell you not to run off on your own?!”
“Exactly, sir! Pochi was very, very worried, sir.”
“I’m sorryyyy.”
Tama threw herself down on the ground in front of Liza and Pochi.
“Looks like things have finally settled down?”
“I think so.”
The threat of the demon lord was gone, and the demon probably wouldn’t try any more funny business for a while.
Restoring Parion Province was probably going to be a lot of work. I figured I’d provide help in the form of supplies and money and let them figure out the rest.
For the time being, we decided to leave things to the locals and go check on the people we’d rescued from the “Aptitude Transfer” ceremony.
“Ms. Elf! Miss Arisa!”
Jimuza and Abul, the kids from the magic school, were delighted to see Mia and Arisa again.
“Hey, Mr. Noble! It’sa me! Raito!”
Raito waved from across the crowd and came running over.
“…Raito?”
A man nearby reacted to Raito’s name.
His overgrown hair and beard covered most of his face, but the barely visible patches of rough sandy skin suggested that he was sandfolk like Raito.
“Raito!”
The man pushed his way through the crowd to get closer to Raito.
“Huh? Who’re you?”
“It’s me! Raitoooo!”
The man pushed his long hair aside.
“Dad! DAAAAAAD!”
Raito clambered over the rest of the crowd, running toward his dad.
“Dad, it’s really yoooou!”
“Raito! My booooy!”
Raito and his father hugged each other tightly, their faces getting soaked with tears and snot.
I was surprised when I saw Raito’s father’s name in the AR display.
“Mr. Yuusaku?”
“Yeah, s’me. Who’re you? We met before?”
Raito told me his father’s name was Iyusahk, but apparently it was really Yuusaku. He was one of the reincarnations that the demon lord Shizuka mentioned.
I had a lot of questions for him, but for now I thought it was best to let him enjoy his reunion with Raito.
“Young master.”
I turned around to find Pippin carrying a large sack on his back and two more under his arms.
“I rescued the people who were being forced to work in the mining area in the Bottom Stratum, too.”
“Thanks, Pippin. Is that the evidence Lord Kuro asked you to collect?”
“Yep, and there’s a ton of it. Right pain in my rear.”
“In that case, you can borrow this.”
I produced a small-capacity Magic Bag from my Garage Bag and handed it to Pippin.
There were still tons of them sitting around in my Storage.
“Oh-ho, much obliged.”
“Don’t worry about it. You helped us out a lot with everything, too.”
If anything, I should have provided him with a Magic Bag via Material Transfer when I gave him the assignment as Kuro.
“What happened with that sage bastard?”
“He went on a rampage in the cathedral. We would’ve been in big trouble if Sir Nanashi the Hero hadn’t come to our rescue.”
“Sir Hero showed up, huh? Guess it musta worked out fine, then.”
I almost got the feeling that Pippin was more loyal to Kuro than to Nanashi.
Not that it matters, since they’re both me anyway.
“By the way, seems like most of the folks who were doing the ‘Aptitude Transfer’ ceremony still trust that sage bastard, y’know.”
He added that even some of the people who were forced to work in the experience factory still believed in the sage.
I’m guessing the sage used a combination of his Psychic Magic and knowledge of manipulation techniques to trick people into admiring him.
For now, we decided to give them food and a place to rest. Then people who had lost their love for the sage or anyone who needed protection would be brought to a nearby town, those who had a place to go would be given travel funds to get there, and we could hire anybody at a loss for what to do at the new Echigoya Company branch in the West Gate Area.
With our plans to make trade points between Shiga Kingdom and Parion Province, there would be plenty of job openings for sure.
As for the people who still believed in the sage, I figured the cardinal and other Parion Province priests could try to help them see reason. Otherwise, they might get deceived again by anyone who showed up claiming to be the sage’s successor.
“…Shizuka.”
Once people were settled into an encampment for the night, we went to the mirage city.
“How is the pontiff doing?”
“He’s resting right now. He hasn’t regained consciousness yet, but his breathing has calmed down, so I think he’ll be fine.”
Demon Lord Shizuka was looking after the pontiff’s health in one of the houses.
“So, who are they?”
Shizuka pointed at the entrance.
My companions were all peeking in through the door, their heads stacked like totem poles.
It was a bit of a strange sight when they were wearing their golden armor. They were supposed to be waiting outside, but they must have been too curious to resist.
“Come on in.”
I beckoned them inside, and the younger girls came in right away, followed by the older ones.
“Is this your harem?”
“They’re my friends. Sort of like a family, really.”
Shizuka must have gotten the wrong idea, because all of them were female. I quickly corrected her.
“For now, why don’t we all introduce ourselves?”
I took off my Nanashi the Hero disguise.
“W-wait, should you be revealing your identity like that?”
Arisa sent me a surprised Telephone message.
“It’s fine.”
Demon Lord Shizuka wasn’t going to side with the sage or some demon lord–worshipping cult, and she didn’t seem like the type to go around spreading rumors.
Besides, since she was a demon lord herself, I thought the best way to earn her trust would be to reveal my identity and give her knowledge of my weaknesses, too.
I turned to face Shizuka.
“I’m Viscount Satou Pendragon, vassal of Count Muno of the Shiga Kingdom. I’m also their Vice-Minister of Tourism.”
“Pendragon? Vice-Minister of…Tourism?”
Demon Lord Shizuka raised an eyebrow at the words that seemed out of place in this world.
“My name is Arisa. I’m a reincarnation, like you.”
Following my example, Arisa removed her veil and blond wig, revealing her purple hair and striking a weird pose as she introduced herself. The others did the same, taking off their helmets or veils to introduce themselves one by one.
For some reason, the younger kids and Nana also imitated Arisa’s weird pose. Even Liza and Lulu struck poses of their own, looking embarrassed as they did so, which was very cute. It’s not every day you get to see Liza looking bashful.
“I’m Shizuka. A demon lord.”
“Demon lord?!”
Liza and Nana reacted dramatically to Shizuka’s introduction. Other than Arisa, the rest of the girls got into battle positions, too.
“Wait, wait! She’s fine, she’s one of ours!”
Arisa hurriedly stepped in front of Shizuka and spread her arms.
Shizuka’s only reaction to the sudden hostility was to tilt her head and repeat, “‘One of ours’?”
“But Arisa. Aren’t demon lords enemies who should be defeated?”
“I’m telling you, not this one.”
Liza frowned in confusion as Arisa tried to convince her.
“Actually, I agree. You probably should.”
That comment came from Shizuka herself.
“Come on! Don’t say that like it’s not your problem!”
“Now that I’m a demon lord, I can never go back to normal. He said it was convenient that he got to collect so much miasma, too.”
Demon Lord Shizuka lowered her head gloomily.
Her comment prompted me to look at her with “Miasma Vision.” Sure enough, traces of miasma were seeping out of her body.
Was it because she was turned into a demon lord, or because her soul vessel was broken?
…Hmm?
The pontiff, who drank an elixir earlier, wasn’t leaking any miasma.
“Here, try drinking this, please.”
“All righty.”
Shizuka took the elixir and drained it without a second thought.
She really didn’t hesitate when it came to this sort of thing.
“…Nnngh!”
Several magic circles appeared along Shizuka’s skin and began healing her, body and soul.
The miasma coming off her body slowly faded away.
“Was that an elixir?”
“You got it.”
I kept an eye on Shizuka as she breathed heavily.
Even after a few minutes, it didn’t look like any more miasma was going to come out.
“Mia?”
“Mm, safe.”
Mia, who was extra sensitive to miasma, nodded her head.
Shizuka’s title was still “Demon Lord,” though. Despite my hopes, I guess drinking an elixir wasn’t enough to change that.
“Now you won’t give off miasma anymore. You can live in civilization without worrying about having a negative effect on people or crops.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
Shizuka didn’t look too happy.
“Sorry, should I not have done that?”
“No, I’m glad I won’t affect crops anymore, but I don’t really like living among people. I don’t have very good memories with them… I was born as a changeling in this life, and my previous life wasn’t much better.”
“Pochi is a ‘change-ling,’ too, sir!”
“Tama too?”
Pochi and Tama raised their hands cheerfully.
“Are you really?”
“Aye!” “Sir!”
Demon Lord Shizuka gazed at the pair, looking dazzled. “Well, seeing you two gives me the strength to think that maybe I should try again to live a good life.”
“If there’s somewhere you’d like to go, I’ll gladly take you.”
“I’m still not sure I want to live among people, so I’d like to build a cottage outside some town or other and live by myself. Do you know a good spot for that?”
Shizuka didn’t seem to want to go back to her homeland.
“Secret base,” Mia muttered quietly.
“Ooh! That’s a great idea!”
“Mm. Soothing.”
Arisa and Mia grinned at each other.
“…A secret base?”
“It’s a hideout we have near a spirit pool.”
The Long-Legged Spider Crab there turned into a tamed mythical creature. Maybe Shizuka could get rid of her “Demon Lord” title by spending time there, too.
Shizuka seemed on board with the idea, so I used Return repeatedly until we arrived at the secret base.
“It’s beautiful.”
The demon lord sighed in admiration as she gazed around the base, lit by the morning sun.
I hadn’t really made the secret base itself with livability in mind, so I decided to make a new house near the pond with the composite magic spell Create House.
“Would this be a good spot to build the house?” I asked Shizuka.
“Hmm…maybe a little closer to that big tree over there. I can build a little hut myself, if you’d lend me some tools?”
“I’ll definitely give you some tools for DIY, but I can build the house, don’t worry. How about something like this?”
I used the Light Magic spell Illusion to display a sample of the house, which I tried to model after an English cottage that a witch living in a forest might have in a fairy tale.
“Oh, how cute. Maybe a little more Germanic style? With windows like this, and the entrance like this.”
Shizuka picked up a stick and sketched designs in the dirt. Her drawings were great.
“Tres bieeen?”
“Very good, sir!”
Tama and Pochi lit up when they saw her artwork.
I altered the model house based on Shizuka’s drawings.
“Yeah, that’s perfect! And it’d be nice if the inside was like this.”
She quickly added more sketches on the ground. Her requests were more specific than I expected.
“Were you a manga artist, Shizu?”
“Doujinshi, not professional. But my work was pretty popular in certain circles.”
Shizuka sounded a little proud.
“Looks like we’ve got another fellow fujoshi, Arisa.”
“Wh-who’s that?”
Shizuka exclaimed in surprise when Hikaru stepped out of the secret base.
“I’m Hikaru, Satou’s childhood friend. Nice to meet you!”
“Y-you too.”
“I was just a reader myself, so I’m thrilled to have a real artist here!”
Hikaru took Shizuka’s hand and shook it emphatically.
“O-okay, great, just please let go of me…”
Overwhelmed by Hikaru’s enthusiasm, Shizuka staggered toward me and got another shock.
“Wh-what? How is the house we just designed already finished?”
“It’s just the outside. There’s only a bed and the bare minimum of furnishings inside, so Hikaru can help you get everything else in the royal capital.”
Shizuka should be able to handle shopping in the city if Hikaru was with her.
Just to be safe, I set it so that she could only use the teleport mirror to the royal capital if Hikaru was with her, but I was hoping to give her solo access to it eventually, too. If I gave her an emergency contact device to connect to Hikaru, she should be safe even if something happened.
“Satou, just what in the world are you?”
Demon Lord Shizuka stared at me in disbelief. I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I just smiled vaguely like any self-respecting Japanese person.
“Can we go iiin?”
“Pochi wants to see, too, sir!”
“G-go ahead.”
Once Shizuka gave permission, the girls gleefully went inside.
“My dream house…”
Demon Lord Shizuka stayed outside, gazing at the house in awe.
“Am I going to be kept here as a mistress?” My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on her muttering. “A young boy’s lover…definitely a crime, but not a bad forbidden love plot.”
I pretended not to hear any of that, although she and Arisa would probably enjoy discussing it.
Shizuka wound up offering to cook breakfast for us to test out the new house. She let Lulu and Liza help her, but when I tried to come into the kitchen, she told me there were “no boys allowed.” Sounds like gender discrimination, if you ask me.
“Oh, right, Hikaru. Thanks for the spinning wheel. I was able to defeat that green greater demon because of it.”
“What? Really?” Hikaru’s eyes widened. “I’m amazed you were able to chase ‘Green’ down, that speedy coward.”
“It helped that a few things happened to distract him.”
I thanked Hikaru and returned the Dream-Chase Spinning Wheel.
“I’m sure Micchy is happy up in heaven now, too.”
Hikaru nodded, referring to the magic tool artisan who made the spinning wheel.
“Thank you for waiting. Breakfast is ready.”
Lulu and Liza carried large serving platters out of the house and started putting out food on the table I’d made in the garden.
Since the house was built for one person to live in alone, the dining room was too small for this many people.
Arisa gave the usual signal of “thanks for the food” to start the meal.
Which was great and all, except…
“Wow, it seems like the popular genres are pretty similar even across different time lines.”
“The titles are quite different, though. What sort of works were you into, Shizuka?”
“Oh, almost anything, I’d say. I’m not a big fan of the really muscular or violent types. I’m a suit-and-tie kind of girl, so I like office romance and boss-employee BL, that sort of thing. I was just starting to get into the older woman/younger boy dynamic a little bit, too.”
“Mm-hmm, good stuff.”
Hikaru, Shizuka, and Arisa were getting deep into doujinshi talk.
The other members of the group mostly sat there so confused that there were basically question marks floating above their heads.
I prodded them to eat and dug into my own plate. Demon Lord Shizuka’s cooking, while not mind-blowing cuisine, was very impressive for someone without the “Cooking” skill.
“Did you draw in those genres, too?”
“Oh, my work was mostly all-ages. My previous life ended at twenty years old, after all.”
“Aah, gotcha. Did your Japan also have, um…let’s see, what’s the official title…?”
“…Twenty?”
Arisa seemed to be deeply disturbed about something.
Hikaru and Shizuka went on with their hard-core nerd talk, oblivious to her pain.
It looked like they still had a lot to talk about even after breakfast was over, so we left Shizuka and Hikaru to it and headed back to Parion Province.
“People of Parion Province!”
Dressed as Nanashi the Hero, I was giving a speech from the sky above the cathedral.
I brought Pontiff Zarzaris back from the mirage city and left him in the old Holy Woman’s care at the Holy Woman’s shrine. She seemed like a good choice, since she was good-natured and also happened to be close with Cardinal Dobbunaf, Parion Province’s number two.
“I’ve defeated the evil demon that was disguised as Pontiff Zarzaris. Your beloved pontiff is safe and sound!”
At that, the crowd around the cathedral erupted into cheers.
“His Holiness! Where is he?!”
“He’s currently in the care of the goddess, healing his injuries from the demon lord. No doubt he will show himself before you once he is fully recovered.”
The cardinal helped me come up with these carefully chosen words at the Holy Woman’s shrine.
Rather than trying to convey it in Nanashi’s casual tone, I decided to read off the lines that the cardinal wrote for me.
“I heard His Holiness turned into a demon lord!” one person shouted.
But the rest of the crowd ganged up on him indignantly. “How disrespectful!” “Are you a demon lord worshipper?!”
“O faithful believers!”
The cardinal took over with a speech of his own.
I half listened to it as I thought about what would happen next in Parion Province.
There probably wasn’t much hope of the pontiff returning to his post after the effects of the demon lord transformation. Once he recovered, the plan was for him to show his face to everyone to reassure them he was well, then retire and live out his remaining years in a picturesque mansion in the North Gate Area.
The cardinal told me that the new pontiff would be chosen with a vote from all the clergymen ranking as pastor or above. Until then, the cardinal would serve as the pontiff’s stand-in.
Sir Mezzalt, the Holy Sword user who was appointed as the new captain of the Temple Knights, was supporting the cardinal, whose election as the next pontiff was widely regarded as a sure thing.
Incidentally, I firmly rejected the proposal to add the name Satou to the official list of saints. The cardinal hadn’t quite given up yet, but I was determined to respectfully decline.
“The threat of the demon lord is gone! From this day forward, let it be known that His Holiness, and indeed Goddess Parion herself, wills that we all devote ourselves to the restoration of the province!”
With the cardinal’s command, and specific instructions from the priests, the people of Parion Province began the work of rebuilding and restoring the holy city and province.
I waved to the people of Parion Province and headed to the West Gate Area, where my friends were waiting.
“Welcome back, Master!”
Arisa and the others were gathered at a large trading company building.
I waved back at the girls, who were leaning out the window to greet me, and started walking toward the entrance of the trading company when I was met by a familiar face.
“Hey, young master. Took you long enough.”
“Pippin… Then this must be the Echigoya Company branch office?”
I couldn’t help turning my statement into a question. The building was so large and magnificent, the same size as the main office in the royal capital of Shiga Kingdom, that I didn’t believe it at first.
“Viscount! Welcome to Echigoya Company’s Parion Province branch!”
Merina, an executive of the Echigoya Company—no, now the manager of this branch—greeted me with a smile.
Since she was a manager now, she was wearing a similar outfit to the kind Manager Eluterina wore, instead of her usual executive clothes.
“Hello, Ms. Merina. This is quite an impressive building.”
She giggled. “That’s all thanks to you, Viscount! You put in a good word with the cardinal for us, didn’t you? That’s why we were able to set up shop in such a prime location. I can’t stop shaking with excitement!”
Ah, so the cardinal pulled some strings for us. I would have to thank him somehow.
The real estate that Pippin had secured before this was going to be used as a showroom to test out and market new products.
Arisa came down from the second floor.
“Master, they said they’ll hire everyone we brought here to work at the Echigoya Company.”
“Hee-hee. We were planning on hiring locals anyway.”
Despite Merina’s smile, it must have been pretty difficult to hire so many people all at once.
I decided to come back as Kuro tonight and bring some percentage of the trade goods I had accumulated in the Shiga Kingdom trade city Tartumina. If they had enough products, they could probably make deals with West Gate Area merchants, and hopefully not wind up in the red, even after the expense of hiring all that new staff.
“Master, she said the Echigoya Company can take care of the nilbok research, too.”
“Yes, if it goes well, it will reduce our expenses for the soup kitchens.”
Lulu and I thanked Merina, who smiled sheepishly and assured us not to worry about it.
If they figured out a way to make nilbok taste good so that everyone in Parion Province could eat and enjoy plenty of food, maybe I could have them research the gabo fruit next?
Once I wrapped up my conversation with Merina, Pippin approached me. “Are you sticking around this area for a while, young master?”
“Yeah, we’re planning on doing some sightseeing along the inland sea. Are you going back to Shiga Kingdom already?”
“Lord Kuro’s ordered me to tour around the western regions and lay the groundwork for more branch stores. He’s really working me to the bone.”
Despite his complaints, Pippin looked pleased.
I gave him plenty of funds this time and sent a few prospective branch managers from the Echigoya Company to travel with him. Hopefully, that would make the preparations for opening branch stores easier than it had been in Parion Province.
“Let’s grab a drink if we run into each other on the road, yeah?”
“Sure, it’ll be my treat.”
Pippin and I shook hands, and he headed out on his journey.
“Master, Raito says he wants to talk to you.”
I parted ways with the busy-looking Merina, and Arisa led me to where Raito and his father were waiting.
“…Hey, Mr. Noble. I think I’mma head back to our hometown.”
Raito’s tone was light. I’d invited him and his reincarnation father, Mr. Yuusaku, to work at the Echigoya Company, but they’d refused.
“Are you sure we shouldn’t stay after all?”
“What are you saying, Dad?! You promised we’d go visit Mom’s grave together!”
It seemed they had lingering business before they could work at the Echigoya Company.
“Well, if you decide to come back, stop by here anytime. I’ll tell the manager Ms. Merina to keep an eye out for you.”
“Got it. Thanks!”
Raito smiled cheerfully, and Yuusaku breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mr. Yuusaku, do you happen to know a Daigo or Chinatsu?”
“Nope, never met ’em. Sounds like Japanese names to me—are they reincarnations, too?”
I guess they were here at a different time from Mr. Yuusaku.
Evidently, he was as hasty as his son. By the next day, they had departed on camels for the West Gate Area.
I eventually learned that Daigo and Chinatsu were being confined in a crumbling monastery in the North Gate Area, so I paid the ghostly pale director a small sum to rescue them and was assured that they would be recorded as having passed away.
Both of them were weakened to the point of death. I healed them with lesser elixirs and brought them to Demon Lord Shizuka’s house to ask her to nurse them back to health. I’ll never forget the look on her face as she embraced the two kids in tears.
As it happens, I still had one last job to do in Parion Province: helping the poor.
At first, I thought I had done my part by putting the Echigoya Company in charge of finding a way to make nilbok taste good. But as I was going to bed, I realized there was a more fundamental solution to the problem.
“I can’t believe you thought of this…”
Arisa looked into a deep pit the size of a manhole.
I’d used the Earth Magic spell Pit to dig a hole that reached the underground water vein I’d found on my map.
“Deeeep?”
“It’d be bad to fall in, sir.”
Tama and Pochi tried to peer into the hole. Liza grabbed their belts to keep them from falling.
“But Master, won’t it be awfully difficult to draw water from such a deep source?”
“Yes, Lulu. It would be hard even with a pump, I concur.”
“Are you going to use a windmill or something?”
“Nope, even better.”
I winked at Arisa and brought over a breezebranch tree I’d found with my map search.
It was a huge tree with a trunk far wider than the pit, its rings suggesting that it was around a thousand years old. The abundant roots were incredibly long.
“A baobab…? No, the trunk is too big.”
“Breezebranch trees can store a massive amount of water inside their trunks.”
I’d learned this property when I was fighting the sage in demon king form and happened to see a breezebranch tree get cut down and produce a big geyser of water.
“Mia, can you help me get the roots to reach the water source below?”
“Mm, got it.”
I gave Mia a Treespirit Pearl from Storage.
Then I poured a big jar of nutrients on and around the breezebranch tree and unleashed my normally sealed spirit light.
That should do it for preparations.
“I, Misanaria of Bolenan Forest, entreat the breezebranch tree of Parion Province. Accept the power of the Treespirit Pearl, and let your roots reach all the way down to the plentiful water source that sleeps deep in the earth.”
Mia used one of her rare lengthy speeches to address the breezebranch tree.
The strength of the Treespirit Pearl and the nutrients filled the tree, and I saw with my Practical Magic spell Clairvoyance that its roots were stretching down toward the water source at an astonishing rate.
“Done.”
When Mia’s magic was around half drained, the breezebranch tree’s roots reached the water below.
“Thank you. Can you ask it to draw the water up next?”
“Got it.”
I restored Mia’s MP with “Mana Transfer.”
“I, Misanaria of Bolenan Forest, entreat the breezebranch tree of Parion Province. Accept the power of the Treespirit Pearl and draw from the plentiful water source that sleeps deep in the earth to restore the parched land.”
Mia held up the Treespirit Pearl and prayed again, and there was a low rumbling from deep in the earth.
“Mew?”
“I hear something, sir.”
Tama and Pochi backed away from the breezebranch tree, while the rest of us watched over it with Mia.
“There.”
Just as Mia spoke, the ground near the breezebranch tree grew dark with moisture, and soon droplets of water were trickling from the leaves of the tree.
“Master, look at the branches, I declare.”
“The water!”
Nana pointed at the water flowing down from the top of the breezebranch tree. There was so much of it that Liza exclaimed in surprise.
Before long, it spilled onto the earth and began dampening the dried-up soil, eventually forming a pool of water big enough to be called a pond.
Once the Treespirit Pearl’s effects ran out, it didn’t produce such an extreme amount of water, but the droplets from the leaves didn’t slow down. Even in the harsh sunlight of Parion Province, the amount of water in the pond didn’t shrink.
This should be more than sufficient to serve as a water source for people to draw from.
Before the sun set, I discussed the matter with the cardinal in my Nanashi disguise and went around creating oases of breezebranch trees near the poorest towns and around the city.
Mia got exhausted partway through, so I did the rest of the Treespirit Pearl work by myself.
As tiring as it was, I think it was well worth the hard work.
“Now we can finally get back to sightseeing.”
Once we’d taken care of all our concerns in Parion Province, we went to a restaurant in the West Gate Area where branch manager Merina had helped us get reservations.
“It’s about time. Where do you all want to go next?”
While we waited for our food, I asked everyone about our upcoming plans.
I had an arrangement to study the hero summoning magic circles in Saga Empire, but there was no particular rush to get there.
I’d also taken a look through the materials Pippin had collected the day before when we’d picked up the delivery of trade goods. While there was plenty of proof of evil deeds, there was unfortunately no information on how to undo a chimera transformation.
I made arrangements for the evidence to be delivered to the cardinal, and happily accepted the rest of the research materials and spellbooks, planning to use them to help people whenever possible.
“Pochi wants to meet the samurai general, sir!”
“The samurai general, hmm? I’m more interested in meeting the master swordsman.”
“I’d love to try the cooking of that ‘Kaleidoscopic Chef’ person.”
Pochi, Liza, and Lulu each wanted to meet famous people we’d heard stories about.
The “Kaleidoscopic Chef” Lulu mentioned was also known as the “Deviant Chef.” I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted her to meet someone like that.
“I think I’d like to check out the Sage’s Tower. I bet there’d be lots of spellbooks there, don’t you think?”
I was curious about that place, too. The Sage’s Tower was a nickname for the City-State of Kalisork, which was built around a tower that a sage had built in ancient times—no connection to Sorijeyro the Sage. It was also known to locals as the “Tower of Wisdom.”
“What about you, Mia?”
“Great concert hall.”
“That’s in Myusia Kingdom, right?”
“Mm. Island.”
The great concert hall was built by a music-loving emperor in the Flue Empire era. It was said to be a place where you could hear heavenly music that couldn’t be recreated with any modern technology.
“I would like to see the Land of Dolls, I declare.”
“Curious,” Mia agreed.
Nana was referring to Lodolork, a small nation famous for making dolls, stuffed animals, and so on.
It was close to Parion Province, so we’d seen some of their products in the bazaar.
“Meeew…”
Tama grumbled quietly, looking somewhat listless.
Noticing everyone’s concerned expressions, she quickly exclaimed, “Meat!” then added, “A place with lots of yummy meeeat?”
“Pochi, too, sir! Pochi wants to go somewhere with lots and lots of meat, sir!”
“I’ve heard that there are many kinds of nations along the inland sea. Perhaps one of them has meat that will satisfy our appetites.”
“I can’t wait to see what kind of cuisine they make.”
Pochi quickly backed up Tama’s words, and Liza and Lulu joined in on the topic, until everyone was happily discussing what kinds of meat dishes they wanted to try.
“Thank you for waiting. I’m afraid it’s not meat, but it’s still quite delicious, I assure you.”
The waitress brought out tasty-looking seafood dishes and began placing them on the table.
“Yummyyyy?”
“Pochi is hungry in her tummy, sir!”
Tama’s and Pochi’s smiles spread to the rest of the group.
“All right, then, let’s eat.”
“Thanks for the food!”
A chorus of cheerful voices rang out into the Parion Province skies.
The meal really was delicious. Tasty food and smiling friends are the best part of any journey.
There were supposed to be all kinds of delicious dishes in the western regions, too. I couldn’t wait to try them all together.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login