Book 9 Chapter 2
Chapter 201
On a sea cliff overlooking the southeastern coast of Ringkland's main island, where Link's ruins were located, a small stone cairn stood.
It was the spot where Miria had buried her deceased stepfather. She buried him in the ground, and in her heart as well.
After all the residents of the main island were driven to other islands, it was a graveyard they could not visit without the Slayers' permission.
Now, that permission was no longer needed.
That's why Miria could spend the night embracing both her knees in front of the stone cairn.
As the sea wind, chillingly announcing the dawn, ruffled her hair, Miria recalled her past, which had been nothing but darkness.
- Mom, I want to be a Goblin Slayer.
She remembered crying in the same spot, in the same posture, 11 years ago.
“Uncle Gin was right.”
Yet, 11 years later, now, she was gazing at the horizon with a long band of dawn, a faint smile on her face. She could smile.
“Because I lived like Uncle, living that way, someone else really did come to help me.”
Miria held up Gin's memento, the Shaman Sword. It was a sword whose blade had broken during the decisive battle with Nariaduke, and whose spiritual power had also been lost.
“Look at this. The power of our ancestor is imbued in Uncle's sword.”
As if to prove her words, Miria channeled magic into the sword.
Then, a red afterimage flickered from under the blade, and the next moment, a red light surged up as if exploding, taking the form of a blade.
The veins in Miria's arm, holding the sword, glowed red and began to pulsate.
Whether the Demon Slayer's power had synchronized, an uncontrollable force was surging through Miria's entire body.
“Isn't it cool? I named it the Demon Sword. It's yours, so I'll give it back to you, sis. You're also Uncle's biological daughter…”
As she lowered the sword to the ground, the Demon Sword's blade also faded away on its own. A wry smile brought tears to her eyes once more.
“Now, it’s all over, truly…”
Into that endless darkness, a sudden light shone.
“That guy, he has to go to the southern tip. He's a pretty good kid, but I'm a little worried. Besides him, there's a baby dragon named Akie…”
Was she out of her mind?
She saw Uncle Gin sitting in front of the stone cairn.
Sitting comfortably, with a gentle smile, just like when he indulged the little girl's whims 11 years ago.
“I told you before, didn't I, Uncle? I want to adventure across the continent just like you.”
No answer came back.
But she saw Uncle let out a small laugh.
“I want to follow him, but… I know, Uncle. With the island in this state, I shouldn't go, should I? For now, I'll help others—”
Just as she was making some excuse, a hand chop landed firmly on Miria's head.
“—Why do you call Dad 'Uncle'? Do you want to die?!”
What she saw as soon as she turned around was the Demon Slayer, Milea.
On that day when everything ended, Linda and Miria had tearfully washed her, so Milea had quite recovered her beautiful face and hair.
Though nothing could be done about the scars covering her entire body from organ harvesting…
However, her mental development had stopped in her girlhood, so her words and actions were more like a ten-year-old girl than a twenty-year-old woman.
“Don't use your power indiscriminately! I told you, didn't I, that your body is now like a human weapon?”
“You just called Dad by his name! Mom, you heard her, right? She needs to be disciplined!”
Then, Linda, who had followed Milea, chuckled, covering her mouth with a demure smile.
It was an ordinary laugh that was impossible to describe. It had taken 11 years for the family to gather again and share that very ordinary laugh.
Perhaps that was why. Milea started laughing along with her mother, and then Miria also laughed with them.
“So, did you meet Uncle again? They said he regained his senses.”
“Milea, it's not uncle, it's brother-in-law.”
“Ah, brother-in-law!”
“Brother-in-law? What brother-in-law?”
What kind of nonsensical talk was that?
No matter how she thought about it, the word "brother-in-law" didn't fit the situation.
Then, Milea gave Miria a playful poke in the side with a ten-year-old girl's mischievous smile.
“Why~ The rumors are all out. Miria's husband saved the island. So, let me meet him too, sis.”
Miria sighed and pressed her temples.
“Are you crazy? He's not my husband. I'd rather date a goblin than him. You really don't know how the world works, sis.”
“What, crazy? She's talking back to me! Mom, scold Miria for me!”
Stroking Milea's hair, who was whining like a girl, Linda looked at Miria. Thanks to Valensidis's healing magic, her mother's condition had also improved greatly.
“Follow that person, Miria.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you have to repay your debt of gratitude…? Since the power of our ancestor is imbued in Gin's sword, it seems it will be helpful in the future.”
“No, Auntie. What are you talking about? How can I go? Just as the island is trying to rise again, and this is—”
“—It's yours, Miria.”
When Miria offered Gin's sword to Milea, Milea shook her head firmly.
“It wasn't me Dad gave it to, it was you. And I don't even want to use that power anymore. I'm sick of it.”
Take this sword and leave the island with that guy?
The story felt too, too overwhelmingly good. Even though she felt she didn't deserve such a dreamlike tale.
She shook her head. Just as she was about to draw a line between her sister's and mother's wishes, and her own heart.
“──!”
Someone, a familiar and beloved touch, patted Miria's shoulder.
Taking a deep breath, she looked back, at the stone cairn. Gin's phantom had disappeared, nowhere to be seen.
But how was this possible, this feeling as if Uncle Gin had just patted her shoulder, as if telling her to move forward.
‘Uncle…’
Just then, Milea approached and hugged Miria tightly. She saw a serious smile in her eyes instead of an innocent one.
“If you go now, we don't know when you'll come back.”
“Yeah.”
“We just reunited after 11 years, and you're just going to leave like this?”
“We waited 11 years. We can wait a little longer.”
“Sis.”
“Dad would want you to go. And the ancestor's power imbued in that sword, too. I feel it somehow.”
And Linda warmly embraced both sisters' shoulders. Just like in their childhood, on a distant winter day, when she hugged the two sisters and read them fairy tales.
“Everyone knows. What kind of life Miria has lived for these 11 years, for this island, and for us…”
“…”
“So Miria, now live your own life. Go towards the future you choose.”
* * *
'Those guys' were said to be hospitalized in the central ward of the green city, <Karsiko>.
As the Dragon Slayer died, the hypnosis that had gripped the city also broke, and the city seemed to be quickly regaining stability under the command of the Special Operations Department.
With the Golden Dragon in her arms, Pippy on her head, and Akie's hand in her left, she visited the ward.
The central ward was quite bustling, accommodating all the Ringkland residents who were in poor condition.
She wished to avoid being surrounded by many people wanting to express their gratitude, so she walked with her hood pulled low.
Finally, she knocked on the door of the hospital room and stepped inside, feeling her heart pound and her breathing quicken for some reason.
As the door opened, a woman chatting in her hospital bed raised her head and waved.
“Well, look who it is. Isn't it the idiot who tried to pursue a natural encounter in the underworld but was dragged back to this world thanks to someone?”
The thought that flashed through her mind at that moment was a memory from a year ago, with those guys she promised to meet again.
Rem, Bart, Sammy.
Just as paint bleeds onto a canvas of memories, even without Sammy, those memories vividly emerged into reality.
“Bart, Rem.”
Rem confidently flashed a victory sign. Then she gave a sly smile.
“Won't you say that this time?”
“Say what?”
“The thing you said with such a serious atmosphere back then. Was it 'I wouldn't have survived without your help'?”
“Eat shit.”
“Give me shit and then talk, you rascal.”
While joking with Rem, I found my gaze unconsciously drawn to her head.
Rem's hair color… was the color of fresh green. In other words, the same color as Kies.
Rem, who was scratching a scar that had appeared on her forehead, noticed my gaze and replied.
“What are you staring at? This is my original hair color. I used to dye it like you do.”
“…?”
“I'll tell you a huge secret. This Lord Rem here is a direct descendant of the legendary archer, Lord Kies.”
You, Kies's…
She thought she had grown accustomed to meeting descendants of friends since coming to Ringkland, but meeting them like this felt strange again.
“What about you? How many kids have you popped out since I last saw you? I've never seen such a crazy potentate.”
“No, these are…”
Bart, who couldn't resist cute creatures, was already staring at Akie and the Golden Dragon with a lost look in his eyes.
“Akie, say hello. They're my friends.”
“Akie, hello.”
“Arung.”
As Akie delivered a perfect bow, a radiant flower bloomed on Bart's face. But it's a bit scary when he makes that face…
“I have many questions, but the most important one is this. Why are you two here?”
She was immensely grateful for their help, but their miraculous reappearance at another critical moment felt odd.
The first to answer wasn't Rem or Bart.
It was Serwebon, leaning against the far wall of the hospital room. As the blue pulsation emanating from the White Spear Bow swept through the room, new shoots sprouted from the floor.
“We were looking for you, who went missing during the Black Spot incident. Then we met Rem's uncle.”
“Me…”
“He said that bow kept acting up like that after you and he parted ways at Trident Point.”
The archer Leoren, unable to sleep, realized the cause was her and lent Serwebon to Rem.
“He told me that Serwebon's light would guide me, and to follow it. He said he couldn't go because he's a Yellow River Four-Star General, but he just passed off the troublesome task.”
“So, are you Serwebon's owner now?”
“I haven't formally inherited it. For now, I'm just a proxy. That's what the Faequaries say. So, by following Serwebon's guidance, I found you.”
Rem paused there and stared directly at her with a significant gaze.
“It seems suspicious no matter how you look at it, that Serwebon reacts so strongly…”
“…!”
“So, Rain, are you perhaps…”
Dry saliva caught in her throat.
No way.
Had they completely figured it out? Can she hide it? Is it right to tell the truth? The next moment, Rem pointed a finger at her head.
“That sun parrot you're carrying around, it's Lord Friede's sun parrot, isn't it? Don't even think about playing innocent. You can't fool my nose.”
Oh, um, huh…
Well, that's… true, but… ummm…
“Genuine, genuine, genuine.”
“Genuine? Bart, it seems to be true!”
“Kneel, kneel, kneel.”
“Oh, legendary Sun Parrot! A signature, if possible!”
“Empty hands? Empty hands? Empty hands? Corn, corn.”
Seeing Rem and Bart bowing deeply to Pippy made her let out a relieved laugh.
Ha, haha, ha.
Yes, who would recognize her? Who would even think that Rin had reincarnated?
- I sincerely pray that it will be of some help in your new journey.
However, Doran's attitude and words at the end were a little concerning, but it must be a groundless fear. If he had known, he would have said something.
“But can Serwebon be passed on so easily?”
“If this is truly Pippy, who would raise an objection? The successor of Serwebon exists to help Rin, in the first place.”
“What?”
“Our progenitor said that Rin would return, and that Serwebon's successor must help Rin. Serwebon acting up must have meant to help Pippy.”
She had no idea what he was talking about.
Help her?
How could they know when she would come back and help her? Is that a condition for succession?
“It's the same for our village.”
Just then, the ward door opened. An old man with a stout build and strong shoulders entered.
Dos, the village chief of Logitello Village.
Cora, the Slime Slayer and his granddaughter, was with him. Both carried baskets full of tangerines and lemons.
“Chief. What brings you here…”
“I can't just leave my son-in-law's friends injured. The tangerines from our island are very nutritious. Eat as much as you like.”
“Son-in-law?”
“Why are you pretending not to know? Don't worry too much. I don't look at a person with prejudice just because he's a single father. I see a person's inner self.”
“No, what are you talking about right now?”
“What do I mean? Are you trying to deny it?”
“?”
“???”
“Cora.”
“Grandpa, I definitely heard it. Miria, don't cry now. If they weren't dating, who would speak with such deep eyes?”
Deep eyes, what the hell are you talking about.
Rem's gaze, which had been narrowing at me, sharpened, and she cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted.
“Special Operations mages! There's a crazy playboy here! He has two kids with a different mother and he's seducing another woman!”
“You shut up for a bit. No, I mean, that is.”
It seemed impossible to manage the topic.
Bart, the only sane one, was increasing his favorability by peeling tangerines for Akie.
It didn't seem like any excuse would work, so changing the subject was best.
“But what do you mean it's the same for the chief's village? What does that mean?”
“Special Operations mages, this playboy here is frantically changing the subject! Emergency arrest!”
“Spin, spin, spin.”
“Arung.”
She was completely flustered.
Is it normal to be more flustered than when facing the Dragon Slayer?
Just as she thought about running away, Dos replied with a bitter smile.
“Our ancestor also asked Lord Friede to engrave her power into her armament, saying that Lord Rin would return someday.”
Link, Friede.
She felt her heart throb.
To think that 6-star magic was Friede's power; it's generally accepted that magic has no realm beyond 5-star, but did she surpass even that realm in her later years?
- Link, Link, Link.
That's true, but why Link?
Why did he make such an unreasonable request to Friede and cause all this trouble…
“He wanted to be of some help on the day Lord Rin returned, somehow. A person cannot live forever, you see.”
“…”
“There was a legend that on the day Lord Rin awakens, the seal on that armament would be broken, and a suitable successor would wield its power.”
“Is that so?”
“The Slayers forcibly broke the seal, which turned Milea into a killing doll. You were the one who freed her from that. The question is how that power was so stably transferred to Gin's sword…”
Perhaps only she knew the answer to that.
She hadn't known until Dos told her this, but…
The moment she deactivated Zernix's spell, Friede's magic must have recognized her soul and released the seal on that power.
The only question was why it resided in a sword, not chains. And in Miria's sword, which completely resembled Lystia's.
“Hey, how about we talk about this later?”
It was then that Rem, who was crushing a lemon with her grip to squeeze out the juice and drink it, spoke up.
“Look at that, Serwebon is going absolutely crazy… Can Lord Pippy read?”
“Of course, of course, of course.”
“Then Rain, why don't you give them a private room and let them meet?”
“Why?”
It was a question she asked without much thought, in her confusion, but an answer came back that made her breath catch.
“Our ancestor left a letter. It seems to be behaving like this to show it to Lord Pippy.”