Epilogue
The next morning, before sunrise, a single carriage set out from the coastal town.
It carried only one passenger: a female Fencer looking like she’d just taken a whiff of something foul—Amante.
“Like I said! I was at a disadvantage because of incomplete information! I didn’t lose!”
She was shouting into a small magic circle in front of her.
“Which means you lost,” a cold voice replied. “You worthless scum.”
“Are you surpriiiised?” a sweet voice chimed in, drawing out their words. “We aaaall know Amante’s an iiiidiot.”
“I didn’t lose!! And I’m not an idiot! You take that back!”
“I don’t see the need. It’s a fact.”
“If you can’t produce results, you can’t gripe about what we saaaay. Stuuuupid.”
“Grr… A-anyway, I’m headed back to you guys! Wait for me, okay?!”
“Whatever.”
“I suppose we could wait, like…ten more seconds? Wow, I’m soooo nice! Byeee!”
With that uncooperative note, the magic circle vanished.
Amante was fuming.
“Ugh, they piss me off so much! This is all Mamako Oosuki’s fault! …I hate having to ask for help from the other three Lords, but that’s the only way we’re gonna take her down… Um, excuse me! How long till we reach the next town?”
The driver turned back, his smile failing to cover his irritation with her tone or the loud conversation.
“Well, let’s see… We oughta reach Mahweh by evening…”
“Huh? Mahweh? But…but that’s not the right place! Gah… I’m on the wrong carriage! Stop! Pull over, I’m getting out!”
“Can’t, sorry. This carriage is fully automated, so it won’t stop until we reach Mahweh.”
“Huh? …WHAAAAAT?!”
It was going to take Amante an unnecessarily long time to reach her destination.
The carriage raced on through the morning mist without stopping.
Today’s breakfast at the Mom’s Guild Hotel restaurant lounge was just a little bit special: egg over rice using freshly laid eggs.
You could find any of these ingredients at your local grocery store—that’s how special this meal was.
“Sigh… The remains of what was once my wish… This is our reward…?”
Masato heaved a massive sigh as he cracked an egg over a small mixing bowl. The egg was so absurdly fresh that its contents gently oozed out, the luxuriant swell of the yolk ever so prominent. “GRAAAHH!!” Masato was going to pour every last ounce of his strength into beating that egg until it beat the resentment out of him, too!
Staring at Masato as he vented his frustrations was the party’s female contingent. They were tucking into their meals quite peacefully.
“So, see, it turned out just like I’d said, right? And that’s all ’cause of this precognition thing I’ve got as the Ultimate Sage, y’know.”
“Sure, the wish turned out to be eggs, but it was Masato who actually made the wish, so your prediction wasn’t entirely accurate. You should really tone down the vanity just a little.”
“Mama, why did Masato wish for eggs?”
“Hee-hee. Why, that’s because he wanted to give them to me as a present!”
“Personally, I feel that Masato should have just shouted ‘Give me my mom’s panties!’ right then and there… But perhaps I’m just out of touch when it comes to children these days… Regardless, you were all able to prevent the enemy’s wish from seeing the light of day. Now, then,” said the person who had so quickly polished off Amante’s portion of fresh eggs over rice—Shiraaase—before gently laying down her chopsticks and looking around at the group once more. “Everyone, I would like to applaud you for your efforts. Truly magnificent work.”
“Yeah, thanks. At the end of it all, it was Mom’s wish that got granted, and Amante escaped, so in all honesty I’m not particularly pleased with things… Also, what was up with this event anyway…?”
“Oh, come to think of it, you also weren’t sure what was going on, right, Shiraaase?”
“Did you make any headway in your investigation?”
“I’m afraid I was unable to obtain any further information. I contacted each admin department several times with queries but never received a straight answer.”
“Hmmm… Oh! Maybe someone is concealing the information on purpose?”
“That is certainly a possibility… An unexpected change to the event, the sudden appearance of a rebel group, and then that dark item… Given the lack of information regarding these developments, uncovering the truth behind it all will prove quite difficult… In any case, I shall continue on with my investigations… So what is it that you plan to do now, everyone?”
“Now what, huh…?”
What indeed. Any ideas? Masato looked around at his party for a volunteer.
Mamako raised her hand.
“Um, Ma-kun, what about staying in this town awhile?”
“Staying here? Why?”
“Well, it’s such a lovely place! The view of the sea is delightful, the seafood is so good, and we know so many people here… Plus, we have a place to live!”
“Oh, right… Other than Porta, we’re all registered as combatants, so it’s pretty unusual for us to have a place to live like this.”
“Normally, it’s only possible for noncombatant players to create lodgings and live in them… Right, Porta?”
“That’s right! But I’m a Traveling Merchant, which means I’m supposed to be traveling all the time, so it would pretty hard for me to have a shop of my own!”
“So this is a rare opportunity… Hmm… Then I guess we could stay awhile… I’ve got things I could do here, too…”
They might have cleared the tower, but it wasn’t like they’d explored every inch of it. They’d skipped a bunch of floors. There might be items in there they hadn’t found. Could be worth working their way slowly through it.
But as he considered this, a bell rang. “Is that—?” “Oh, the doorbell!” A magic one, at that.
Visitors? In the middle of breakfast?
They all headed to the entrance.
Pocchi and a crowd of adventurers were waiting there, dressed for construction work.
“Yo! Sorry to pop by so early! We got somethin’ to show ya! Come with us!”
“Huh? Show us…what?”
Waved forward, they stepped outside and found a wagon parked in front with a huge stone monument on it.
There were letters carved into it, the largest of which read MOM’S GUILD, and next to that was the guild master’s name, MAMAKO.
Then came Masato’s name, about the same size as Mamako’s, followed by a ton of footnotes:
*MAMAKO OOSUKI’S SON.
*OWNER OF THE HOLY SWORD OF THE HEAVENS.
*ABOUT 5' 6".
*HAS A SPECIAL POWER THAT LETS HIM KNOW IF SOMEONE IS A MOTHER.
And finally: *CALLS HIS MOTHER “MOM.”
All these tidbits seemed entirely unnecessary to carve into anything.
“Uh… Pocchi… What is this…?”
“Awesome, right?! To celebrate you clearing the tower and to thank you for saving us, we’re gonna put this up in the town square! …And we gave you special treatment, Masato, completely on the house. Be grateful.”
“Gee, thaaanks… Wait… Uh, what? The town square?”
“Yeah! Our moms have been talking you up all over town, so everyone knows about you now! There’s even talk of holdin’ some kinda ceremony!”
“W-wooow… You don’t say…”
Everyone in town would know about them and come to stare at the monument.
*THIS BOY IS THE HERO, IN THE SENSE THAT HE WILLINGLY JOINED A GUILD CALLED MOM’S GUILD COMPOSED PRIMARILY OF MOMS.
They would read that footnote and then turn to look at Masato.
That’s the hero? Mom’s Guild? That takes courage, all right. He’s his mother’s hero!
Yep. There was no way he could live here.
“W-well, we’ve got a long journey ahead of us! …Time we got going!”
They had to leave now and never ever return to Thermo.
His mind made up, Masato immediately set to persuading Mamako.
“Right, Mom? We don’t wanna stay here. Let’s leave today! Okay!”
“Aw, but why so soon? You agreed to it just a moment ago.”
“Y-yeah, I did, but… Uh…”
Should he admit he wanted to leave before rumors started spreading about him?
But then Mamako clapped her hands together.
“Oh, I understand! Ma-kun, you said you want to keep moving forward with Mommy! You want to go on adventures with Mommy!”
True, he had said that—back when they were facing Amante.
But that was mostly something he’d let slip because he wanted to take her on.
It wasn’t that he wanted to be with his mom. It was that he’d managed to convince himself that the true adventure was surviving this despite having his mom there.
But it wasn’t like it was completely wrong.
“Uh, sure, that’s more or less right, I guess.”
“I knew it! …Oh, I’m so happy to hear you actually say so, Ma-kun! It’s like a dream come true! …But this is no time for dreaming, is it? I understand! Let’s get ready to leave at once! I’ll go tell the others!” Mamako was practically sparkling.
All he had to do was agree with her and she was all smiles, running to tell the others, A Mother’s Light shining as bright as her mood.
Masato stared after her.
“…What am I saying?”
He’d surprised himself by how positive he’d sounded. “Look, I’m just telling her what she wants to hear, okay? That’s all.” Excuses, excuses.
“But, well… This is our adventure, after all.”
Masato let the words roll off his tongue, feeling like they weren’t that bad.
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