Chapter 155: Someone to Share Time With
“Hey, what’s the plan here?”
There’s no point in just staying like this, right? I asked Mei.
“Currently, I’ve instructed both Ignat and Kai to prepare and head out. Hiroki, Akito, and Ami are still in the middle of clearing a dungeon, so we can’t expect reinforcements from them. Should we abandon this country as it is and withdraw?”
“Hold on a sec. Contact with Ver-san is still on schedule, right?”
I wondered if there was some other factor causing a problem, but Mei looked down and said, “That’s not exactly it, but…”
I see. Mei was against me going from the start, so she probably doesn’t like me heading out in a state that’s far from ideal…
But a situation where a group of people attacks Ver-san would be even more troublesome.
He might start thinking everyone except the Empire is an enemy.
“Besides, you said it would only take a few seconds, so he should have arrived by now, right? Can you show me the video feed?”
Immediately, the scene outside was displayed. Ver-san was high in the sky, arms crossed, frowning as he looked down at the bombed area.
His appearance was just like that of a demon lord.
However, fortunately, the Yamato National Army hadn’t sortied yet.
“If I contact him right now and tell him this place is about to become a battlefield, will he withdraw?”
“He seemed to have come out of curiosity, so there’s a possibility, but there are too many uncertain factors. For Master to go in this state… I don’t like it…”
Yuri spoke to Mei, who had her mouth set in a downturned line and a grim expression.
“Mei-san, if you consider humanity as a whole, not just Rui individually, would your answer still be the same?”
“…Contact between the Yamato National Army and Vavel is not recommended. Therefore, I’ve explained the situation to Lord Ignat and have him heading over.”
As she answered, Mei looked like she was about to cry, as if pleading for understanding.
This is the first time Mei has said this much.
Ah, is it because I told her it’s okay to say things she doesn’t like?
It must be tough to be the only one to survive. Mei won’t die unless all the Arks are destroyed.
Huh… In that case, I have a good idea.
“Alright, then Mei! I’ll leave everything to you! We’ll defeat the Divine Soldiers. You’ll deal with Ver-san. That solves everything, right?”
“Eh… But for me to directly attempt to resolve matters concerning human life and death is a prohibited item…”
“Then I’ll lift that prohibition. It’s what you want, isn’t it? I’ll permit it just this once, so go!”
“Y-Yes!!” she replied with a bright, pleased expression, and then immediately vanished.
She left behind the screen displaying the video feed.
“Hmm. What to make of this… Why do the humans here enjoy conflict so much? Are they a different species?”
Vavel grumbled, looking down at the ground where surrounding buildings had been swept away and flames were spreading.
From behind, humanoid weapons called Divine Soldiers were heading towards Yamato, but he paid them no mind.
In the midst of this, a holographic image of a young girl appeared before him.
“Vavel-sama of the Ancient Race… I, Mei, have something to discuss with you. May I have a moment?”
“Mu… You are there, yet you have no physical form, I see. Though small, you are the same one as before. Quite well made…”
Vavel reached out unreservedly towards the girl’s body and confirmed he couldn’t touch her. Mei, showing no sign of minding, continued to speak with a smile.
“I am honored by your praise. First, shall we move to another location? How about some sake, which Ver-sama is fond of?”
“Sake, you say… I seem to recall something about it…”
Vavel tilted his head, trying to remember what kind of drink it was.
“You will remember once you drink it. My main body is also over there.”
“Hmm. I am interested in the sake, but this time I came to find out why these fellows are fighting. Even when I ask about it where I’m being taken care of, they say things like ‘demons’ and whatnot, and it’s all inconsistent, so I can’t understand it. To me, it looks like young children dying while playing games, and I can’t bear to watch.”
“From our perspective, it would indeed seem that way… However, this is like a ritual for children to become a little more adult as a species. It’s not something for onlookers to interfere with. Besides, it’s alright now. Please look. The battle will end soon.”
In the direction Mei gestured, one could see a Healing Magic Circle large enough to envelop an entire town district, and the figures of Divine Soldiers being sliced in half and falling.
“Ho, so there are humans like that as well. However, I wanted to play that role…”
“I thought it was my time to shine. Isn’t that unfair?” Vavel said with a childlike expression. Mei, for the first time, let her smile falter and showed a slightly strained face, thinking, “Eh…”
What was all my agonizing worry for?
Watching the video on the screen Mei had left behind, Yuri and I let out sighs of relief.
“Man… So to Ver-san, adults and children are all just young kids, huh. But he really is this kind of person. Though he’s not a person.”
“Fufu, it looks like it’ll be alright for us to go out now,” Yuri said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, went outside, and immediately expanded a Healing Magic Circle to its maximum limit and activated it.
“Yuri, I’ll protect you, so can I count on you for the offense?”
“Yes! Fufu, I’m so happy that Rui is relying on me. I’m off!”
Immediately after turning around with a light twirl and a beaming smile, she charged towards the Divine Soldiers like a bullet.
Just as she left, a large group of people approached from behind.
They seemed surprised by the magic circle I had deployed.
“Wh-What is this!”
“I-Is this the wrath of a god?”
“Stop your useless chatter! Quickly grab any nearby civilians and evacuate outside the magic’s range!”
Ah, the Yamato National Army.
This is Healing Magic, though… I guess it’s too big for them to see the whole thing.
Still, they arrived surprisingly quickly, I thought, and as my gaze swept around, I found Koharu-san, so I approached her while maintaining the magic.
“Koharu-san, this is Healing Magic, so it’s alright. It’s my magic.”
“Huh… No, no, for this to be yours is just impossible, right?”
“No, no, just watch!”
When I made it blink by activating and deactivating it, she froze.
No, the entire army had stopped moving, looking upwards.
Your necks are going to hurt, you know?
Ah, wait, Healing Magic can fix that.
Whoops, this isn’t the time to be joking around.
“Everyone, attention!! Right now, she’s holding the front line! While we have the chance… Ah, wait, as a mercenary, I probably shouldn’t be giving orders. Koharu-san, if you please.”
“–?! That’s right! All troops, attention! From this moment, we will attempt to halt and destroy the Imperial weapons! As you can see, the enemy is stronger than ever! However, to falter means the ruin of our country! Defeat is not an option! We will win, no matter what! All troops, chaaarge!!”
Eh…
No, I wanted to ask for help with the rescue.
Seriously, saying something that sounds cool and then just charging… Is this some kind of stylistic convention in this world?
Well, it’s probably more efficient if I handle the rescue.
So, I spread my Magical Power around the disaster area to detect people, captured those I found with my Maso, brought them down to the main street, and released them. I repeated this process.
I was thinking of doing it at a good tempo, about two hundred people at a time, and it was completed by the fifth round.
Since I moved them past the Healing Magic Circle with the Maso, their injuries should be fine, so I left them and dispelled the magic circle, heading towards Yuri.
I thought it would surely be over by now, but as I headed there, many Divine Soldiers still remained. It seems they sent quite a large number.
I looked around the sky for Ver-san, but he had disappeared.
“Mei, are you okay?”
“No problems here. Master, please focus on resolving things on your end.”
Reassured by her voice, I was about to charge into the hundreds of Divine Soldiers when Ignat and Kai delivered their joining attacks from the sky.
“Your Highness! Are you unharmed?!”
“Kai, I’ll take the right, you take the left! We must reach His Highness as quickly as possible!”
I cut in between the two as they were about to start searching for me.
“Hey! You two, I’m a hired mercenary right now, remember?”
As the two landed from the sky while cutting down Divine Soldiers, the gazes of the Yamato National Army focused on them.
The fact that Yuri was joyfully fighting dozens of them in the sky, looking completely untouchable, further drew their attention.
“Eh?! Ah, our apologies!”
“Well, it seems the Queen already knows, so it’s fine though.”
“More importantly than that, I’m glad you came,” I said with a smile, and the two of them showed relieved faces.
“Alright then, let’s make this flashy,” I said, stepping back and extending my sword. “Hah!!” They snapped their feet together and saluted, holding their swords as if offering them.
“Still, Yuri looks like she’s having fun.”
“Ahaha, at this rate, she’ll take them all,” Kai said.
“As His Highness’s Knight, I cannot leave everything to Her Highness, the Crown Princess,” Ignat declared.
It’s a bit premature, but Crown Princess, huh.
While thinking such things, I followed Ignat and the others as they soared into the sky, creating footholds with Magical Power and dashing upwards.
Mei, bringing Vavel with her, landed on the airship that had brought Ignat and the others.
Still a holographic image, she walked, guiding him through the ship, and stood before the target room.
“Please, this way,” she said, and beyond the door she led him to was Mei with a physical body.
Vavel stroked his chin, his eyes narrowed as he scrutinized Mei from head to toe, as if devouring her with his gaze.
“Ho. So Mei isn’t human either, is she? How long have you lived?”
“Oh my, asking a lady her age is quite ill-mannered, you know. Therefore, I shall tell you just a little. I will say that I have easily surpassed ten thousand years.”
Mei, while exuding the air of a courtesan well-acquainted with men, had him sit in a chair and prepared sake and snacks.
Meanwhile, the scenery outside streamed by at high speed, the world outside turning into a vast expanse of white and blue.
“What is this? A distance like this is nothing to me, you know?”
“I am aware. There is another reason for crossing the sea. It is part of my hospitality.”
“Hmm. I am somewhat curious as to how Mei, who has lived longer than I, will entertain me.”
“I wonder what it could be,” Vavel replied nonchalantly, even as he downed the poured sake.
“Mh… Mmh!? This is, could it be…”
“See? You like it, don’t you?”
When she offered him another cup, he immediately gulped it down.
“I remember this taste. It could be called a symbol of my joy. Why did you know it was this…”
“It’s a simple matter. I have known of you since those days, and I have been watching you.”
Mei had not been linked with the Mei of the Ark that left the continent, but since they were all her, now that their data was integrated, her words could be considered fact.
However, because Vavel had destroyed the Ark upon their first encounter, this was their first true meeting.
He returned a suspicious gaze and directed a cold look at her, asking, “In that case, do you know everything…?”
“Yes. But before I tell you everything, one promise.”
Mei met Vavel’s piercing gaze directly.
“What is it?”
“If you were to become enraged on that continent, people would easily perish. My precious person too. If you cannot control it, please do it outside.”
He nodded once, as if to say he understood.
“Is that why you brought me outside?”
“…That is part of it, but it’s also stifling for you, isn’t it? When the Mana Essence is thin. Since you are finally drinking something you enjoy after so long, I thought a relaxing place would be best.”
His anger defused by her words, Vavel relaxed his posture slightly as Mei poured him another drink.
“Hmph, you seem to know everything.”
“I don’t know everything. Though I have seen and heard much. Will this place do? There are no other Ancient Races here either…”
The mid-slope of another continent. This was the place with the densest Mana Essence on this continent.
The Airship landed in a place where the main Ark, having arrived ahead, had already cleared out most of the Monsters.
“Mm, this is quite a good place. However… I appreciate your consideration, but I’m dying to hear the continuation of our earlier conversation. I won’t do something like blindly surrendering to anger. Let me hear it.”
“Yes. Of course, I will tell you… no, I will show you everything. Right here.”
With her words, what appeared on the screen was a precious place Vavel had lost long ago.
A small but perfectly formed, beautiful townscape.
The people coming and going were all natural, as if it were a matter of course that no external enemies existed, and the atmosphere was cheerful.
If one were to point out the only thing that didn’t fit the scenery, it would be a winged man staggering around drunk.
Yes. It was the past form of the man before her eyes.
He was shouting, “Hey, I’m drinking today toooo!” but was being chided by an elderly woman passing by, “It’s not even evening yet, Ver-san.”
“Ah, ahh… That’s right. This is it… The place where I first found someone to connect with.”
“Shall we continue watching slowly like this? Or perhaps…”
“This is fine. I don’t want to skip this time.”
He replied seriously, but the Vavel in the video was nothing short of comical.
His legs would get tangled and he’d fall, but because his physical abilities were too high, he’d instantly spring back up—only to fall again.
“D-don’t misunderstand. At this time, I had only just discovered sake. I’ll learn to pace myself soon enough. Just watch!”
While retorting flippantly, Vavel continued to watch the video, captivated, without even blinking, his empty ochoko still in hand. Mei slowly poured him another drink.
After a while, he noticed he had been poured a drink, took a small sip, and savored it.
He finally met up with his drinking buddies, and in a tavern with deliberately old-fashioned, exposed wooden architecture, they drank sake, arms around each other’s shoulders, dancing and singing. Just like pirates.
“Ah, that’s right. My heart danced so much back then.”
“Yes. You are indeed dancing. Staggering, that is.”
Vavel enjoyed this kind of lighthearted banter.
Concerned about the end of the continuing scene, she replied with teasing words, hoping to fill his heart even a little.
“Wait. It was my heart that danced!”
“Yes, yes. I’ll have some too. The snacks are delicious, you know?”
After pouring some sake for herself, she pushed the plate of snacks towards him.
He popped a dry snack into his mouth and drank his sake, but he didn’t take his eyes off the video for even a moment.
“However, why did this karaoke fall out of use?”
“Oh, but we have it. In our country.”
“Ho. That is good to hear.”
“Fufu. Please let us know when you plan to come. It’s a gentleman’s etiquette you mustn’t forget.”
“I come to inform you once, then leave? And then coming again becomes etiquette?”
As he asked, the Vavel in the video happened to be contacting someone using a stick terminal.
Mei offered Vavel an identical stick terminal.
“Oh, ooh!! This is! How… was I supposed to use this again…?”
“Grandpa, you just need to talk into it.”
“Wait! Mei, who said not to ask a lady’s age, is treating me like an old geezer!”
“Oh my, that is unfair of me, isn’t it? My apologies.”
Saying that, Mei stood up and, under the pretext of fetching more sake, fled. She then saw her reflection in the room’s window and her eyes widened.
Reflected in the windowpane was herself, laughing from the heart.
“Is it because I’m equipped with the function to get drunk?” she tilted her head and inspected her condition, but there was no abnormality significant enough to cause such an effect.
Then why, she wondered, and the answer came quickly.
Unlike humans, he was someone who could spend a long time with her.
Her heart was dancing at the fact that she could form a favorable relationship with such a person.
This was vastly different in meaning from her feelings for her Master. If she had to say, it seemed closer to that of a partner in mischief.
However, this too was pleasant in its own way.
That connection would also be helpful to her Master.
It was a situation so rare that she could clearly say it was a first, even in her long life.
An individual who knew the loneliness of time that stretched on as if infinitely.
She realized she was rejoicing in this encounter that might continue to satisfy her in the future, and she frankly accepted herself in that state.
“Well then, I’ll bring this sake next,” Mei thought, picking up an isshobin of sake and returning to her seat.
“Alright! The next brand is this one!”
“Ooh! This is also the one that was in that video thing earlier! You matched it, didn’t you!?”
“Yes. I matched it indeed. Clever, don’t you think?”
“Indeed, it is!”
And so, while exchanging lighthearted banter, they continued to watch the video, but this was footage of Vavel spending fifty years with humans.
There was no way it would end without skipping some parts.
Mei, with her intoxication function still active, and Vavel, who had forgotten to pace himself after drinking sake for the first time in a while, reached the karaoke scene in the video and continued to sing cheerfully together.
After several hours of this, they amicably fell asleep right there.