Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria - Volume 24 - Chapter Ep

EPILOGUE

“Son, I’ve decided to take a trip. I probably won’t be back for a few years.”

“What?”

Yuuto’s sudden announcement made Nozomu look up from the stacks of papers on his desk and stare at his father blankly. A year had passed since Nozomu had taken Tarshish back from Babel. Under his rule, things were proceeding smoothly for the most part, no doubt in part due to Arness and Rungr’s exemplary guidance.

“As carefree as ever, huh? Here I am up to my eyeballs in documents concerning the reform of our nation, and you’re going on an extended vacation,” Nozomu said with a pout. He was also apparently extremely busy.

“That’s the burden you chose to bear,” Yuuto said with a wry grin. Anyone who willingly chose to bear that level of responsibility, even if they happened to be his own son, had to be nuts. But in the end, he was grateful for it, because Nozomu’s decision had freed Yuuto up to make his own choices. “But it’s a weight off my shoulders, at least. Now I can finally go back to Japan without any worry.”

All this time, Yuuto had longed to return home. Of course, twenty-first-century Japan wouldn’t be waiting for him when he got there—it would be a completely unfamiliar, primitive Japan that didn’t resemble his home country in the least. Even so, he still wanted to return. To Yuuto, that was his birthplace—his home.

Years ago, he’d been apprehensive to leave. At the time, there’d been no guarantee Babel wouldn’t use modern technology. That said, it turned out that Babel had been using it the whole time without Yuuto even noticing, so it wouldn’t have made much difference, but Yuuto had still considered it his duty to put a stop to any further attempts by Babel to do so. That was what had initially caused him to reconsider leaving the Mediterranean. Having seen Nozomu and his siblings’ aptitude for rulership, he no longer had cause for concern. He had faith in his sons and daughters that they wouldn’t use any knowledge from the modern world. He had no more regrets, no anxieties. He could rest easy as he departed this land.

“Japan, huh? That’s to the far east, right?”

“Yep. I haven’t seen what the terrain’s like over there, but I think I might like to stay there for a while if it’s feasible.”

There was something else that had been on his mind all this time. Mitsuki possessed twin runes, and the twin runes of the divine emperor could be passed on to their descendants. Considering that, the twin runes Rifa had entrusted to Yuuto had likely been passed on continuously throughout the generations, eventually coming to manifest within Mitsuki. For that reason also, it was imperative that he travel back to Japan and enshrine the divine mirror that had whisked him away to Yggdrasil in the first place. Once he did so, the preparations for summoning Yuuto to Yggdrasil thirty-five hundred years later would be complete.

“I see. Well, you know, home is where the heart is, and all that...” Nozomu looked a bit forlorn as he spoke. He probably wanted to remain by his father’s side if at all possible, but he was prioritizing respecting his father’s wishes. Yuuto was reminded again of what a wonderful son he had.

“Well, this isn’t goodbye or anything. I’ll be back after a few years, so take care until then!”

“Sure thing. By the time you return, I’ll have Tarshish so prosperous and full of life that you won’t even recognize it!”

“Oh? Now that sounds like something to look forward to.” The two grinned daringly at each other and bumped fists. Yuuto recalled when Nozomu had been born. It had been over twenty years ago, but he could still remember it like it was yesterday. That infant was now before him, standing on his own two feet, a grown man. It made Yuuto all the more emotional just thinking about it.

“Well, it’s about time for me to leave. See ya, son.” Yuuto turned on his heel and exited Nozomu’s office. Several minutes later, he was boarding his ship. The Suez Canal didn’t exist yet, so his plan was to circle around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and enter Japan by way of India. It’d be a long trip, but he was looking forward to it all the same.

Half a year later of being at sea—

“Oh man, I know this coast! This is the coast of my childhood!” Disembarking from the ship, Yuuto whooped and hollered at the familiar sight as if he were a kid again. Even thirty-five hundred years earlier, it still looked the exact same as he remembered it. In modern times, there had been a bridge connecting this island to the mainland, but there was no such thing here. Gone also were the buildings that had been visible from the coast. Even so, the geography itself was unchanged—it was just as it had been during Yuuto’s childhood.

“Me too, me too! Wooow, I remember this place well! Over there, that’s where my dad used to take me fishing!” Mitsuki’s eyes sparkled with joy as she pointed to a nearby island.

“Tee hee, so this is Big Brother’s homeland?” Felicia said with great interest, holding her hair down to keep it from fluttering in the wind. Her body proportions were just as perfect as when Yuuto first met her.

“I heard there is a hot spring here too, no? I’m very much looking forward to that,” Sigrun said, brimming with anticipation. Once she’d left the front lines, she’d turned her focus to healing her injured arm. Through the course of going to the hot springs to soak her arm, she’d become a hot spring fanatic.

“But man, there’s nothing here. Just a barren wasteland. Looks like I’m gonna have my work cut out for me,” Ingrid said with a frown. As always, they would undoubtedly rely on her expertise and know-how going forward. She would have a tough road ahead.

“I hope we can get along well with the locals...” Linnea said, beset by worry. She was likely considering all sorts of possible outcomes and hardships they could encounter. That attention to detail was something Yuuto could always count on, and over the years, she’d honed her skill even further. As long as she was by his side, Yuuto was certain everything would turn out all right.

“That seems like a tough job by yourself. Allow me to help,” Fagrahvel offered. Once she’d been the Sword Clan patriarch, served as Sigrdrifa’s loyal bodyguard, and had worn male clothing despite being quite the beauty in her own right, but now that she was a mother, she exhibited much more womanly behavior.

“How can I say this. ..? It’s kind of a letdown,” Kristina muttered, unamused. Even though Yuuto had previously warned them that it would only consist of undeveloped, primitive land in this era, it seemed that Kristina had still harbored high expectations for the land beyond the heavens.

“But the wind is so nice. I really like this place.” Albertina, on the other hand, was all smiles. It was thanks to her that they’d gotten here safely.

Truthfully, it wasn’t just because of Albertina. It was thanks to his other wives that were here with him, and most of all, those like Jorgen, Skavidr, and Loptr who were not. Without their support, he never could have made it back here alive. He was grateful from the bottom of his heart to every single one of them. Therefore, he swore an oath to himself to make sure he fulfilled his final duty so he could meet them all again in the future. Under that oath, Yuuto and his wives built a small hermitage and cultivated a rice field, where he continued to live until he finally passed away at age eighty-five in his beloved Japan, surrounded by his children and grandchildren.

After his death, the site of his hermitage came to be known as Tsukimiya Shrine. Time passed, and then finally—

“Y-Yuu-kun, Yuu-kun, Yuu-kuuun! Let’s turn back!”

“Hey, hey, we’ve come this far. It’s too late to say something like that.”

—Fate came full circle.