Chapter 18
People who donât usually get angry are terrifying when they do.
People who are normally kind are downright terrifying when they snap.
Now then. What about the girl standing before me, facing off against a demon?
The girl who always wore a radiant smile, who laughed brightly and cheerfullyâwas now glaring at the demon with the face of a feral beast. It was the expression of a predator sinking its fangs into preyâmerciless and cruel.
Clarise looked down on the demon with contempt, her face twisted in anger and hatred. And surely, she would strike them down. From the moment she appeared, she had already established herself as the supreme power in the room.
ââŚA human? In a place like this? Did Jaliba really let a human get this deep into our base? Or are you one of her spies?â
âOne! For the love of a friend!â
âIn that case, I might just take you alive. If I can show the others proof of Jaliba consorting with humans, even her subordinates will have to accept it.â
âTwo! For the love of a parent!â
âThen let me ask againâwho are youâ?â
âThree! For the love of a beloved!!!â
At the back of the dark cavern, in a small chamber lit only by a single wall-mounted torch, the faint light illuminated one young girl standing alone.
The demon was trying to question Clarise. Clarise, in turn, completely ignored the demonâs interrogation and shouted declarations of love.
Thatâs⌠not a spell⌠right? Probably just some kind of dramatic speech.
âAre you even listening, human?â
âLet me ask you this, demon. Do you possess the three loves?â
âYeah, sheâs not listening. Did some lunatic wander in here?â
âSo you donât. You must not. Thereâs no way someone like you could understand love!!â
âUgh, pain in the ass. Fine, Iâll capture you. But donât think a mage like you can win against me at this rangeââ
âThen you have no reason to live!!â
The wolf-like demon bared its claws in growing irritation, fed up with the nonsense. Butâ
With a dull boom, a ridiculous sound rang out through the chamber. And in the next instant, the smug demon who had seemed in control was caught in a close-range explosion and sent flying.
ââŚYou littleâ! When did you chant that spell!?â
âLoveless one. You deny love? You reject it?â
âDonât get cocky, humanâ!â
âThen perish!!!â
The demon was utterly confused. A mage casting magic without an incantation? Impossible. No movements, no buildupâby the time he realized, he was already being blasted away.
Had he missed the chant? The demon narrowed his eyes at Clarise and immediately charged at herâbutâ
âDie in disgrace!!â
Another deafening blast. The demon was swallowed in the explosion and slammed against the cavern wall with such force the entire space groaned.
âWhat the hellâŚ!? Whatâs going on!?â
âRepent across all three thousand worlds!!â
Clarise wasnât done. Her golden hair rippled as she danced across the battlefield, relentlessly striking. The demonâs body was consumed by roaring fire, and a piercing scream echoed through the cave.
âWhat.
That canât be right.
That was Clariseâs magic, no doubt. But she hasnât chanted a single spell, has she? I always heard spell incantations were absolutely required for mages.
Mages need a few seconds to chant before casting, which is exactly why swordfighters like me existâto buy them time. But if a mage could just fire off spells like that with no warning, why would you ever need a frontliner?
Mages have better range and power anyway. Thatâd basically make every other class obsolete.
What the hell even is that?
ââŚFlatche. Are you alright?â
âOh, Mei. You came for me.â
âYes. Leave this to my sister. Letâs get out of here.â
While Iâd been dumbfounded by Clariseâs ridiculous magic barrage, Mei had slipped up beside me and freed me from my chains. Finallyâfreedom.
Ahh, I can feel the life returning to my limbs. Every bone in my body felt locked up. I stretched, joints cracking, and turned my gaze back toward the battlefieldâ
âGYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!â
âStill alive, are you!â
âWhere that absurd little girl was still casually tossing out magic like popcorn. What even is she?
âHey, Mei. Is chanting something you can just⌠skip?â
âOf course not. If someone could cast spells without chanting, theyâd be the strongest person in the world.â
âBut⌠look at herâŚâ
âClarise is⌠That thing my sisterâs doing is basically a bug in the system.â
Oh. Meiâs eyes just glazed over. She looks like sheâs given up on something deep inside. The exact same face I make when trying to explain Rexâs sword techniques.
âIncantations are absolutely required. But there is a way to delay a spell after youâve chanted it.â
âDelay it?â
âYeah. Like instead of having it go off right away, you set it to explode ten seconds later or something.â
ââŚHuh.â
âSheâs abusing that trick. Clarise has over a hundred spells âactivatedâ and ready to go at all times. The explosions youâre seeing nowâshe already finished chanting those a long time ago.â
âŚWait, soâŚ
âTo put it simplyâClarise can cast over a hundred fully-channeled spells whenever she wants.â
âSo basically, it looks like sheâs casting without chanting. Can other mages do that too? If so, wouldnât that make frontliners useless?â
âNo. Absolutely not. That techniqueââdelayed activationââis so advanced that only a handful of mages in the world even know it exists. And on top of that, she customized it to stockpile and trigger them freely. Sheâs broken. Staying around her is going to fry my brain.â
âCalm down, Mei. Your eyes are dying.â
Well, good. Looks like itâs just her thatâs insane.
Iâm not a mage, so I canât really grasp how busted she is, but Mei clearly gets it. I get the sense she relates to my disbelief.
I probably had the same look years ago when Rex sliced a steel door in half with a tree branch.
He said, âThe trick isnât cutting the steel, itâs cutting space-time. Slice through that, and the metal just goes with it.â Screw that, what the hell does that even mean?
âAnyway, Flatche, are you hurt? Iâve got a potion on me.â
âNo, Iâm fine. âŚActually, hey. Do you think potions work on demons?â
âHuh? No, theyâre made for humans, so probably not. Why do you ask?â
ââŚNo reason.â
I shook my head to brush off Meiâs puzzled look and glanced briefly at Jalibaâs corpse.
Her skin was torn apart, her flesh dark red and rotting, scattered across the floor in a crude human shape. She didnât move. Not anymore.
The woman who killed me. The one who turned me into this. The root of everything.
A former human who turned countless people into test subjects for her own twisted goals.
Even soâI found myself mourning her death.
Because I was just like her.
Killed by demons, turned into something else. I was lucky enough to be saved by Rex. She wasnât. Thatâs all. The only difference between us was a coin flip of fate.
Jaliba didnât give up. She refused to accept death. She clawed and clung and struggled in vain.
It was evil, without question. But I couldnât bring myself to judge her for it.
âWe need to go. Weâll only get in my sisterâs way if we stay.â
âYeah.â
So at the very least⌠Iâll come back and lay her to rest.
I turned my eyes from Jalibaâs body and made up my mind. Then, together with Mei, I ran for the chamberâs exitâ
âwhen a wave of searing heat filled the room and knocked the breath from my lungs.
"You bastard!!"
"Filthy human!! Donât think youâll get out of here alive!! Ah-hahahaââââ!!"
The thick scent of scorched earth seared my throat.
It was too hot to breathe. My skin started to prickle and burn all over. My vision blurred, and pain crept into my eyes. It felt like I was being boiled alive.
âBlessing of ice, bind and encageâPrison of the Water God!!â
Just as I was about to lose consciousness, Mei-chan screamed hoarsely beside me. The temperature dropped just enough for me to breathe again. Nice one, Mei-chan.
âRun! Get to the surface, Mei!! Iâll hold them off!!â
âWhatâs happening!? What just happened, sister!?â
âThat demon shattered the wall and flooded the room with lava!!â
When my vision finally returned, I looked toward Clarise. She was holding back the tide of lava with a strange magical barrier. If she released the spell now, the room would be swallowed in molten rock.
âWhere did the demon go!?â
âInto the lava!! Whether it can survive that or just chose suicideâI donât know! Either way, you two must get out of here immediately! I can escape on my own, but I canât move until youâve made it out!â
Clarise must be feeling the heat too. Her forehead was drenched in sweat as she desperately fought to contain the surging lava. She looked like she was already pushing herself beyond her limits. We had to get outâfast.
âG-Got it! Mei-chan, letâs go!â
âYou too, sisterâplease be safe!â
If we stayed here any longer, Clarise wouldnât be able to escape either. It might seem cold, but the right thing to do was to leave her behind and run.
ââŚEek!?â
âHold on tight.â
I took Mei-chanâs hand and lifted her onto my back.
Even though I was in a girlâs body, I was still a warrior. I couldnât run as fast as Rex, but Iâd be quicker than making the less athletic Mei-chan run on her own.
âGuide me!â
âRight! Uh, straight ahead for a while!â
I didnât know the layout outside the chamber, so I followed Mei-chanâs directions and sprinted with everything I had.
ââŚHah! Hah, hah!â
âAre you alright, Flatche-san? Should I get down?â
âNo. Just keep guiding me. A mage who canât break her fall shouldnât be sprinting through a dark cave. Hah⌠hah. Besides, this is faster, right?â
âYes⌠Iâm sorry, Flatche-san. Please hang in there just a little longer!â
She mustâve felt guilty being carried like this. But if we slowed down, Clarise might end up in danger too. Whatever it takesâwe had to escape as fast as possible.
Mei-chan seemed to understand that. Even through her troubled voice, she cheered me on. Somehow, that gave me a bit of strength.
âŚWhoa!! Arrows again!!
âMei-chan! Weâve got enemies!â
âR-Right!â
I instinctively dodged the incoming surprise arrow.
Peering through the shadows, I spotted a few demon soldiers hiding in the darkness. Still a bit of distance away.
As I tried to pinpoint their positions, another arrow flew at us. I dove to the side, then quickly set Mei-chan down and shielded her with my body.
I didnât have a weapon. I couldnât defeat them. Until Mei-chan finished chanting her spell, all I could do was be a human shield and buy her time.
âO spirit of flame, manifest in the depths of darknessââââ!â
ââŚGuh!!â
An arrow aimed at Mei-chan pierced through my outstretched arm as I blocked her. A sharp jolt spread through my hand, and my body began to stagger.
Damnâpoison. Just like yesterday when they caught me, theyâre using poison-tipped arrows againâŚ
âFire!!â
Through my blurry vision, I caught sight of one of the demons getting charred to a crisp.
But that wasnât enough. There were still more. Another demon raised his bow, taking aim at Mei-chan as she began chanting again. Stopâmove, dammit! Protect her again! If I canât do that, then what was the point of survivingâ!?
âWOOOOOAAAAAHHHH!! IRON FIST JUSTICE!!â
I froze and turned toward the direction of the shout. A hulking mass of muscle flew through the air with overwhelming force.
âWhat in the world!?â
Mei shouted in confusion.
At almost the same moment, the demon that had been aiming at her was crushed out of nowhere by the sudden appearance of a giant figure from behind.
That deep, muscular voiceâit couldnât beâŚ
âYou alright!? Mei, Flatche! Rex was worried sick about ya!â
âGeneral Penny! Youâre okay too!â
Thank goodness. It was General Pennyâthe pervy warrior with a lolita complex. If a vanguard of his rank had shown up, we were safe now.
âHmm? You took a poisoned arrow. Mei, you got it on you?â
âOh! Right. Flatche-san, hereâplease drink this.â
âItâs an antidote. The sooner you take it, the more effective it is.â
ââŚAye.â
My lips were numb from the poison, and I couldnât reply properly. But with Mei-chanâs gentle support, I managed to drink the medicine.
âFlatche-san, stay still, okayâŚ?â
And to my surprise⌠she gave it to me mouth-to-mouth. Ahh⌠this is heaven.
âI get the situation. In shortâwe need to get out of this cave, ASAP.â
âYes. Right now, my sister is holding back the lava all by herself.â
Unlike meâletting my mind drift to such inappropriate thoughtsâboth Penny and Mei were exchanging information with the utmost seriousness. I felt kind of bad.
âIn that case, Iâll carry you both on my shoulders and run. Sorry for treating you like luggage, but thatâll be the most stable way.â
â...Thanks... Iâm counting on you...â
âFlatche, donât talk. The poisonâs still in your system. ...General Penny, please take care of us.â
âLeave it to me.â
And so, with the poison rendering me useless, I was officially off-dutyâgetting a personal ride from none other than General Penny himself, sprinting toward the exit. Adventurers using the highest-ranking officer of this countryâs military as their personal mount... how extravagant. Well, he is a lolicon, though.
That burly, muscular general had a bizarrely pleased look on his face as he broke into a run. He was fastâeasily several times faster than I was. Damn, I really envy that body.
But seriously, why is he so happy? Heâs loyal to Emma, right? Thereâs no wayâabsolutely no wayâheâs getting worked up over Mei or anything, right?
âNUHOOOHHH!! These two little girls on my shoulders are giving me poweeerrr!!â
âEhhh!? General Penny, why are you suddenly so hyped up!?â
â...Leaving Mei aside, Iâm not a little girl!â
âIâm not a little girl either!!â
The delighted lolicon roared with joy as he ran, spewing disgusting nonsense. Give me a break. Just because Iâm flat-chested doesnât mean you get to lump me in with actual kids.
Sure, Iâm on the shorter side, but I donât look like a child. Mentally, Iâm fully mature. Thereâs nothing remotely childlike about me.
Whatever it is he thought made me seem like a little girl, Iâll be grilling him about itâthoroughlyâwhen this is over.
ââŚAlright, thereâs the exit!â
With a resounding thud, a muscle-wrapped fist smashed through the cave wall. At last, the narrow path we had originally come through appeared before us.
Now, all we had to do was charge straight down that path.
âWhat about Rex and Clarise-chan?â
âThose two wonât die that easily! Clarise will find a way to get Rex to safety. We need to focus on escapingâdonât waste time worrying about anything else.â
â...There's nothing we can do as things stand. If I had magical talent like my sister, maybe itâd be a different story.â
âHa ha ha! No point whining over talent you donât have! Besides, Clarise is the type who works her butt off. Sure, sheâs got talent, but donât chalk everything up to that.â
âShe works and has talent. Thatâs the worst kind of personâŚâ
They traded jabs, but their expressions remained deadly serious. For adventurers, death is always a step behind. No matter how skilled you are, if your luck runs out, itâs over.
We had no way of knowing what was happening to Rex right now. All we could do was pray they were alright.
âYeah, those two will be fine. Now letâs get movingâhold on tight!â
âOkay!â
With that, General Penny lowered his stance, preparing to accelerate. His pectorals swelled with a mighty bulge. Dammit, cut that outâitâs making me jealous.
Then he let out a controlled breathâKohh. Veins popped across his body as he kicked off the cave floor with full forceâ
DOGON! A thunderous impact.
And the next thing we knew, we were launched straight out by General Penny and crashed violently into the rocky wall of the cave.
âAgagagagahâŚ! M-my head!?â
ââŚâŚâ
It hurt. Like hell. Turning to the side, I saw Mei-chan passed out cold, blood spurting from her forehead. She mustâve hit a sharp outcropping.
PENNY, YOU IDIOT!? You dropped us!? You clumsy meatheadââââ!!
This is no joke! I mean, I can take a hit, but Meiâs a frail little mage! Depending on how she landed, she couldâve been killed! Youâre a general of a nationâact like it and be careful!
I was about to shout all that whenâpshh!âa small sound echoed in the darkness.
Moments later, something landed on my stomach with a thud. It was warm, heavy, soft...and damp. Clutching my aching head, I looked down.
âââââAnd locked eyes with a wide-open, glassy gaze from a severed, middle-aged head.
It was General Pennyâs head, lying limply on my stomach, his still-warm blood soaking my clothes and stomach in sticky crimson.
ââŚHa. Hahaha. Been a while, young Jaliba.â
âYouâyouâre the one from before!â
Just after that, Pennyâs massive bodyânow headlessâfell heavily to the ground with a dull thud. Behind it stood the wolf-like demon who had earlier crushed Jaribaâs head, baring his fangs in a cruel grin.
It wasnât like we had let our guard down. But we hadnât sensed anythingânot me, not Penny. For this thing to sneak past us and land a fatal ambush⌠he wasnât just any demon. He was elite.
âWell, well. Last time, some puny human dared to get cocky with me, didnât he?â
âYou⌠you were swallowed up by the lava!â
âObviously, I had an emergency exit. You think Iâd dive into lava without one? Anyway, looks like I took care of that stuck-up mage in the process.â
This was bad. Really bad. Pennyâthe only one who could fightâwas dead. Mei was unconscious. And I, the only one still awake, had no sword, and my body was paralyzed from poison.
Right now, I had no way to beat the demon standing in front of me.
âWell then, die. I wonât even bother turning you. Just rot here, like the pathetic worm you are.â
â...Like hell I will!!â
Faced with that impossible situation, I made a snap decisionâand hurled Pennyâs severed head with every ounce of strength I had.
Grabbing his blood-slicked hair with my trembling, poisoned hand, I gave it everything I had and flung it with blind desperation.
âWhoa thereâbit harsh to toss your friendâs face around like that, huh?â
The head arced straight toward the demonâbut he sidestepped it easily. A spatter of blood painted the cave wall red.
The demon watched my desperate move with amused contempt. Acting all smug.
But thatâs fine. That throw wasnât meant to hurt him in the first place. Noâbecause this wasâŚ
âYAAAAH!! Catch itttttt!!â
â...What!?â
Two figures came rushing silently from behind the demon. My throw had been a passâstraight to one of them: Karin.
âBy the grace of the merciful goddess Macro, I call upon the wave of salvation and healing!â
âTch. Reinforcements? You really think Iâll let you cast that healing spellâ!?â
Karin caught Pennyâs severed head and immediately pressed it back onto his fallen body, beginning the chant. The demon, of course, rushed to stop herâbutâ
âHey.â
âJust that simple distraction sealed his fate.
Because in that moment, he never noticed the one quietly emerging from the shadows with a massive sword raised overhead.
Rex.
âAre you the one who killed my best friend?â
Wearing a mask of icy calm, Rex stepped from the darknessâand without a flicker of emotion, cleaved the demon clean in two.
"O-Ohhh! I thought I was gonna die!"
"You pretty much did, Penny."
Karin arrived just in time to revive both Mei and Penny. According to her, even Mei had been on the verge of death. It really was a perfectly timed rescue.
After that, the revived Penny carried Mei and Karin on his shoulders, while Rex carried me bridal-style as we all made a break for the cave exit.
My body was still numb. Damn, how pathetic.
"So itâs true. Even after youâre just a head, you stay conscious for a while. I remember up to the point where I got tossed by Flache."
"Wait, you were still conscious then? General Penny, Iâm sorry."
"No, Flache, it was the right call. If you'd passed me any later, the General would've been toast."
"Seriously."
General Penny nodded with a grunt and gave his thanks. I'd appreciate it if that gratitude went to Karin instead of me.
"Also... why is Lord Rex carrying Flache like itâs the most natural thing in the world?"
"Heâs paralyzed. Canât hold on by himself, so someoneâs gotta carry him properly."
"âŚHmm, well, I guess that makes sense..."
Meanwhile, Mei, the maiden in love, looked none too pleased to see Rex taken. But she really had no room to complain.
If I had a choice, Iâd rather be held by a cute girl, too. Ideally, Iâd be the one running full speed with Mei in my arms.
But poisoned and paralyzed as I am, Iâve got no choice but to be carriedâeither by Rex or some overly muscled weirdo. Thereâs no dream or hope in this situation.
"Alright, we made it out!"
"Yeah! Weâre safe now!"
As I was lamenting the cruel nature of this world, we emerged into the sunlight outside the cave. Now, we just had to wait here for Clarise to escape.
âŚWill she be okay? Even if sheâs the strongest and most invincible archmage, how long can she physically hold back a pool of lava deep in an active volcano? Sheâs not exactly the athletic typeâI donât even know if she can run out of the cave on her own.
Maybe she never planned to make it out in the first place. Maybe she said all that just to give us a chance to escape.
Even if she is the most powerful in history, sheâs still human. Against the raw power of nature, she might be completely helplessâ
"Wait... is it just me, or is the ground shaking?"
"Huh?"
Rex suddenly muttered something strange. The ground shaking? Come on, earthquakes havenât happened in centuries.
"It is shaking."
"You're right..."
But the tremors grew stronger, and finally, even I noticed. The earth was trembling. The spirit of the land was raging in fury.
Why now? Earthquakes arenât supposed to happen out of the blue. According to legend, the signs were darkened skies and dried-up lakes.
So this canât be an earthquakeâ
âAnd then it happened.
With a thunderous roar, a massive plume of black smoke erupted from the volcano's crater.
"Itâs not an earthquake! The Dice Volcano just erupted!!"
"E-Eeeeeeeek!!?"
Unbelievable. Just moments ago, the sun had been shining bright, but now it was hidden behind thick smoke, and the once-clear blue sky had turned a murky gray.
"WaitâSis! Sis, where are you!?"
"Hey! Mei, you idiot! What the hell are you doing running back into the cave?!"
Panicked and confused, Mei tried to run back toward the cave, only to be restrained by Rex.
Itâs no use. Clarise isnât going to make it. If sheâs still in that cave, not even her body will be left.
Even so, Mei really does care about her sister. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she screamed her name. But with the volcano erupting, thereâs no saving Clarise now.
If we stay here, weâll be caught in the eruption too. We have to get outâ
"I HAVE RETURNED!!"
At that moment, something heavy crashed nearby, creating a clean, human-shaped crater in the ground.
Peeking into the hole, we saw something embedded in it.
"Wahhh!? A corpse that fell from the sky?!"
"How rude! Iâm still alive! But Iâm kinda stuck, so if youâd dig me out, Iâd be super grateful!"
"...Alright. You okay, Clarise?"
Rex reached into the hole and plucked out the embedded figure. And out came none other than the eccentric little girl herselfâClarise.
So it really was her who flew in. What the hell is with this girl? Mei's eyes were visibly dimming by the second. This is bad.
"I mean, stopping the lava once the volcano got going was impossible! So I jumped into the magma with a fire protection spell and blasted out through the crater for a shortcut!"
"âŚ"
No, seriously? She dove into magma and launched herself out with the eruption? Is she even human? This is exactly why Meiâs eyes are dying again.
"H-Hey... if we stay here, arenât we gonna get roasted by the pyroclastic flow?"
"Ah! My manaâs running low, so I probably canât block it anymore! We must flee, everyone!"
"Got it! Alright, time to run again, Penny!"
So Clarise is out of mana now. Thatâs⌠really bad.
And all while weâre chatting casually, a massive wave of black smoke is hurtling toward us at terrifying speed.
"WOOOOAAAAHH!!"
"AHAHAHAHA!! Pyroclastic flows are so fast, huh!"
"This is NOT the time to laugh, Rex!!"
Rex casually scooped up Clarise, then grabbed me too, hoisting us both up before taking off. Penny also had Karin and Mei on his shoulders and was sprinting full speed.
But the ash cloud was faster. Even with Rex and Penny running like madmen, the volcanic ash was gaining on us.
"How far do we have to run to be safe?!"
"There should be shelters in town for when Dice Volcano erupts! But I donât know where they are!"
"Then why the hell didnât you find out earlier, you dumb general?!"
"Sorry!! I left that part to Emma!"
"You useless oaf!!"
Penny laughed awkwardly, but this was no joke.
Now that I think about it, I never checked for shelter locations either. Guess weâll have to look once we get to town. Hopefully thereâs a sign or something.
"Weâre almost at the town! Keep your eyes peeled for any shelters!!"
Rex shouted, and I frantically looked around the town. But in the end, it was almost completely pointless.
Becauseâ
"Geez!! Emma-chan, you're the best or what!?"
Drawings of little Emmaâs familiar face were plastered everywhere, accompanied by ribbons arranged into arrows pointing the way through the streets. Apparently, that little girl had immediately started marking a path to the shelter the moment she noticed the eruption.
...A certain general could learn a thing or twoâturns out a kid is way more competent.
"As expected of Emma! I must reward her with many kisses later!"
"Shut up! We donât have time for jokes right nowâsave the comedy for later!!"
Using the arrows as our guideposts, Rex and the others ran. The pyroclastic flow was already bearing down on the town.
âMister Pennyâthis way!!â
And finally. Off in the distance, we spotted a strange path leading underground. Near the entrance, tiny little Emma was waving both hands at us.
That was the goal.
âHell yeah!!â
We ran, full speed. Any moment now, the pyroclastic flow would swallow the entire town. Time was almost up.
In a final sprint, Rex leaned forward and shot ahead like an arrow, while Penny followed, inflating his lower half like a spring-loaded cannon. And then, at last, we dove into the entrance of the shelter. Right after we got in, townspeople slammed the entrance shut and began chanting protection spells.
We made it. Barely.
âMister Penny! Mister Penny! Mister Penny! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain?!â
âOf course Iâm fine. I couldnât possibly die and leave Emma all alone.â
âMister PennyâŚâ
âOkay, cut the joking, you two.â
The moment we made it to the shelter, this middle-aged dude was already hugging a little girl and whispering sweet nothings. Clarise looked absolutely delighted at the heartwarming scene.
What do I do. Should I go behead that damn general one more time?
âMan, but seriously, that was way too close. Even I canât beat lava.â
âI was fine!! Though if weâd taken any longer, I wouldâve run out of mana and been toast!!â
âFor real. If we hadnât made it out, there wouldnât have even been bodies leftâŚâ
Right. That.
If I could, I wouldâve liked to go back and give her a proper farewell, but with how things were, thereâs no way anything of Jalibaâs body is left. The lava mustâve incinerated her completely, leaving only clean, fine ash behind. How frustrating that mustâve been for her.
âŚNo. Maybe not.
Jaliba wanted to become human. And in the end, she was laid to rest like a human.
Just like an ordinary personâcremated, and buried. That volcanic dice became her gravestone. In death, she finally got her wish and returned to being human.
If I mourn her, if I sing a hymn to the gods in her honor, then without a doubt, her passing becomes that of a human. Jaliba was able to die as a human.
Now that that demon is gone, Iâm the only one left who knows Jalibaâs regrets. At the very least, I should offer a quiet prayer for her.
âŚHm?
Not even a body remains?
Wait a sec. Wasnât my own body being kept in that cave? Yeah, Iâm pretty sure it was.
Does that mean⌠my body got turned to ash too?
So, so then, even if the Demon Lordâs army ever manages to recover Jalibaâs research...
IâI canât go back to my original body!?
Wait. Am I⌠stuck in this girlâs body⌠forever!?
âUghâŚâ
âHuh? Flache? Flacheee!?â
âYo, Flache, whatâs wrong!?â
Faced with such an unbearably cruel reality, everything in front of me went black. And just like that, I quietly lost consciousness.
All my dreams, my hopesâeverything was goneâŚ
Comments (2)
Please login or sign up to post a comment.