WorldEnd: What Do You Do at the End of the World? Are You Busy? Will You Save Us?, Vol. 1

by Akira Kareno

  “The value of everything iss determined only by the weight of the cossst. There iss worth in the resssolve of throwing away what iss important. And naturally, the resssignation of doing the same iss worth jussst asss much.”

  “I don’t really understand.”

  “Cssertainly, I cannot ssay it iss not befitting of a warrior to be confounded by the beauty of wordsss,” he said, his unearthly laugh rattling in his throat.

  “Then…what should I do?”

  “That iss up to you.”

  “…I’m asking because I don’t know. What is the right answer?”

  “There iss no sssuch fanciful thing asss a ‘right anssswer’ on the battlefield. That iss why the warrior musst embrace the wind that blowsss within her. Ssso that she may be led along on a guidelessss road.”

  “…First Officer…”

  Oh no.

  She had no idea what he was earnestly trying to say.

  She’d understood everything until a few moments ago. Regardless of whether she was happy with his insight, she’d managed to grasp what he was trying to convey. But likely since he had grown more invested in the subject, his circular way of talking and the details of the conversation itself were growing more and more complicated.

  She felt like he was saying something important to her, and it wasn’t something that totally escaped her emotional grasp, but she had no idea what he meant.

  “You ssaid you wisshed to protect the righteousssnesss of your ssissterss’ fight, yesss?”

  “…Yes.”

  “Then, before the fight, I want you to disscover what that righteousssness iss. We only understand your fight intellectually. The work itssself, your hissstory, the emotional hisstory that hidesss behind it—everything. Ssso it iss only you who hasss the right to evaluate what iss righteouss.”

  “…That’s irresponsible of you, First Officer.”

  “The wind blowsss unburdened.”

  He brushed it off with (what looked like) a cool expression.

  Chtholly sighed slightly. For some reason, she now felt like giving up on a lot of things.

  Right, hadn’t she just been told that resignation and resolve were the same thing? Now that made sense. Now that she thought about it, she certainly felt like she had guts.

  “…You might get angry at me, but I need to tell you something.”

  “What?”

  “I actually never wanted to be a warrior.”

  His throat rattled in a cackle.

  “I know. That iss why you have become a sssplendid warrior.”

  …They really weren’t on the same page.

  Damn it all…

  She swallowed her frustration as she gulped down her second cup of medicinal tea.

  4. The Starry Sky Beneath the Starry Sky

  “She’s currently aboard a Winged Guard patrol airship near Island No. 66.”

  “…How’d that happen?”

  “I don’t know, but they told me she was coming back now. They said they would take her part of the way and that she would make the rest of the trip on foot.”

  Nygglatho clicked off the connection on the communication crystal.

  “Sure was an interesting way to run away from home, huh? Worried me sick.”

  “I know—I’m so envious of the children with wings. They have such an abundance of ways to express themselves. All I can do to relieve my stress when I’m upset is binge eat.” She sighed, a hint of sorrow in her expression. “They really do adore you. Not only her, but the others as well. I’m a bit jealous, I suppose, as their caretaker.”

  “Yeah? Like how?”

  “Oh, have you not noticed?” Nygglatho placed a hand to her mouth with a look of surprise. “Are you the dull sort? Or are you simply good at hiding it?”

  “The hell do you mean?”

  “Let’s see. There is a broad group of awful men who insist they have no interest in romance but actually want girls to approach them and feel good.”

  …What does that mean?

  “The dull ones actually don’t notice when someone likes them and never do, no matter what happens. It’s rather enjoyable to see the girl’s impatience after nothing she says or does works and the interesting ways her attempts escalate. In another variation, there are the mistaken sort of men who confuse the affection the girl shows him for a different feeling.

  “The ones who hide it actually realize when someone likes them, but they purposefully act like they don’t. They’re similar to the dull ones but have the characteristic of adding plenty of spice, like feelings of guilt for tricking the other or situations where the smitten ends up realizing he’s pretending not to notice.

  “So which are you?”

  “…This is ridiculous. I don’t even know what I should call bullshit on first.” Willem sighed deeply. “Take your fiction somewhere else. I’m not gonna deny they act like they’re interested in me or anything like that.”

  “Oh.” Nygglatho’s eyes widened. “That was unexpected. Almost as though you plan to go with the disinterested act.”

  “Don’t call it an act. I’m not putting on a show here.” He scratched his head. “I’m being serious now. Romantic feelings just bubble up from within by themselves when you get old enough, whether you have someone or not. Most people just find someone close at hand to throw their feelings at, whether that’s someone of the opposite sex who happens to be nearby, or a person they look up to who’s out of reach, or even an ideal they might find one day out in the world. In some cases, they channel their feelings and everything at a daydream that doesn’t exist… But those girls have never been able to do any of that.

  “Then I come in. I took things that were at zero and turned them into one. Now they suddenly have somewhere to direct their feelings. If they can give a good excuse for those feelings they’ve got bottled up, that means they’ve created an excellent romance for themselves— What’s with the stare?”

  A sharp glare of disgust bored straight through Willem.

  “It’s a look of astonishment at having found a man far more awful than I’d imagined.”

  “Why? It’s normal. To be blunt, most girls end up with a strong father complex at one point or another. The fact they like me makes me happy, and it’s an honor, but there’s nothing more to it.”

  “…That was an incredibly underwhelming answer.”

  Nygglatho’s tone was clearly dissatisfied, so he just shrugged.

  “Underwhelming just means things are quiet. Isn’t that a good thing?”

  “Well… Yes, I won’t deny that. But”—Nygglatho pointed straight at his chest—“let me say this as a girl myself: It is absolutely unbearable to have your feelings ignored so philosophically. The kids might certainly be children, but they are girls. I can’t stand men who refuse to recognize that. I’m sure they’re terrible for my digestion.”

  As a girl, huh? I’m not sure she’s young enough to call herself that.

  No, he wouldn’t dare touch that. He was a considerate enough man to do that much. He didn’t want to be digested.

  “…No matter how young those feelings might be, too. For some of the children, those are their last thoughts, so I want you to confront those emotions properly. No more jokes. I ask you this earnestly, from the bottom of my heart.”

  “No.”

  Willem’s response was curt.

  “…If love and romance are supposed to be so wonderful, then how is a temporary fling in a tiny place like this supposed to help? Regule Aire is huge. There’s a handful of other amazing men. Acting and working as a father means having your daughters snatched up by one of those guys one day,” he insisted.

  Willem had never looked at his surroundings with that in mind, so all the guys he knew on Regule Aire had green skin or pigs’ faces or were covered in scales.

  No, wait. Maybe a preoccupation with appearances and differences in races was a sensibility five hundred years outdated. In fact, there were plenty of good guys if he went by personality alon
e.

  To test himself, he imagined a scenario.

  One day, Chtholly, for example, suddenly announces, “I am in a serious relationship,” and brings home a nice young boggard. Could he bless them with a smile in the end if that happened?

  “Gyah?!”

  “…Oh, I’m sorry. Felt just a little bloodthirsty there.”

  “Th-that wasn’t just ‘a little’!! I just saw my grandmother beckoning me from beyond the River of the Dead!! What in the world was that?!”

  “Well, I was just thinking how Glick and those guys don’t look it but are actually good guys, and I just, y’know.”

  “There’s a limit to how incoherent you can be, you know!!”

  He suddenly turned to look out the window.

  It was a nice, clear night.

  “I’m going out. If you have anything more to say, save it for later.”

  “Hey, where are you going?”

  “Probably look at the stars. Oh, and I’m taking this key with me.”

  He waved his hand lazily and left the room.

  “Huh? What? Wait, how did you—?!”

  He pretended not to hear the screams behind him.

  He pulled Seniorious out of storage.

  There was a small hill on the outskirts of Island No. 68.

  The wind was calm, the air was clear, and the light from the stars soft. It was a convenient night.

  Willem pulled off the cloth covering Seniorious and exposed the blade to the wind.

  He let a bit of venenum flow into it. His temples ached slightly but not enough to worry over.

  Fwoom. Seniorious emitted a soft light.

  “—Initialize adjustment.”

  He murmured and touched one of the metal fragments near the center. There was a quiet thunk. The fragment parted from the blade on its own, glided across the air, and stopped in place about five paces from Willem.

  There came a clear metallic sound, like a metallophone being struck.

  He touched another piece. That, too, glided across the air and stopped a ways away. A clear sound echoed in a pitch slightly different from the one before it.

  Another one.

  And another one.

  The most ancient holy sword of Seniorious was comprised of a total of forty-one pieces and held together by veins of enchantment. By directly manipulating those veins, he could take the blade apart like this and expose each component individually.

  Finally, all that was left near Willem was a small fragment of crystal which had been hidden inside the blade.

  Surrounding it were forty-one fragments emitting faint, starlike light.

  “All right…”

  He brushed his hand against the crystal and began assessing what sort of state Seniorious was in.

  Its anti-poison and anti-curse resistance effects were higher than normal. On the other hand, its anti-confusion and anti-dragonsight effects had almost completely worn out. It also worried him how high the anti-demirace slayer levels were. This all must have been due to how long it’d been fighting without adjustment, influenced by battlefield stimuli and the users’ habits.

  Next, he checked every parameter.

  It was actually in terrible shape. Due to how long they’d been handling it by forcing venenum through the hilt, all sorts of functions were out of order. There was a large venenum blockage in the spinal root—five knots of all sizes on either side. Three of the veins around that area had been completely cut off, and the rest of the veins themselves had become impaired and, on average, 30 percent less effective.

  “You’ve done well, too, fighting like this all this time.”

  A bitter laugh escaped his lips.

  He lightly struck the crystal with the tip of his finger. He sent off a bit of venenum into it.

  The venenum lit a vein that had been invisible before, and it pulled in one of the metal fragments. Again came the metallic sound.

  He sent off a different sort of venenum. A different vein glowed, and a different fragment played a note.

  Another.

  And another.

  The lights danced one after the other. The sound leaped together.

  The once sleeping veins of enchantment had been reinforced. The exhausted metal fragments filled with energy again.

  —Willem felt a presence behind him.

  “Hey. Welcome back, runaway,” he called out without bothering to turn around.

  “…What…are you doing?”

  Without any sort of greeting, the intruder at his rear reprimanded him.

  “Can’t you tell? Maintenance for your partner.”

  “Hey. You can’t just do this without permission from its compatible user.”

  “It’s my responsibility to manage the place. Giving myself permission should be enough.”

  He cackled.

  “That laugh doesn’t suit you.”

  “Hmm, you think?”

  “I like that softer laugh you always make better.”

  “Hmm…I—I see.”

  Willem had mentioned that he was aware the girls adored him.

  He had simply snubbed their feelings with rationalization, acting like he didn’t really care.

  And yet, in just that moment, his heart skipped a beat.

  “Come on. Keep playing.”

  “Playing?”

  “You were making some nice music, weren’t you? The melody was all over the place, though.”

  “I wasn’t performing or anything.”

  “Then just busk. I don’t have any money, though.”

  “…Man, I’ve got a weird audience now.”

  He returned his attention to the nearby crystal.

  Chtholly sat behind Willem, her back facing his.

  Gooong, gooong—the clear sound once again echoed through the nighttime hills.

  “What is this light?”

  “Each Carillon is like a little microcosm, made up of a collection of many kinds of talismans, tied together with veins of enchantment, and sealed into the shape of a sword. You know what talismans are, right?”

  “I’ve heard of them.”

  In the current era, talismans were considered curios and ancient treasures, the detailed manufacturing methods having been lost.

  They were powerful effects of spells and talents engraved onto small pieces of paper, ceramic, or even metal. Those holding those pieces of paper or ceramic or metal benefited from the spell engraved on that small thing.

  Even now, they were salvaged from the surface once in a while, and so they commonly circulated within the wealthier circles in Regule Aire.

  “The one floating in front of you is a talisman to keep your tongue from burning when you drink something hot.”

  “…Huh?”

  “Beside it is one for knowing which way is north in a place you visit for the first time. The one above that prevents nightmares while you’re sick. And then from there, there’s one to make you good at imitating a cat’s meow, one to make sure you don’t cut your nails too closely with a blade without venenum, and one to make heads appear sixty percent of the time when you flip a coin.”

  “Wait, hold on. This is Seniorious, right? The legendary weapon? Not a top hundred list of the greatest good luck items, right?”

  “It happens with food sometimes. There are some combinations where, if eaten separately, they’re fine, but if you eat them all one after the other, they’ll make you sick. This was made along the same line of thought. Put talismans in a bunch and thread them together with veins of enchantment, then after complicated, mysterious interactions with one another, they start producing completely different effects. I don’t know the details since I’m not a specialist, but that’s what the guys at the Central Workshop said.

  “Seniorious, especially, is one of the very oldest Carillons. Unlike the ones produced later at the workshop, I heard it was born on the battlefield as a result of a miraculous coincidence. That’s why it uses so many talismans that just seem like makeshift parts.”


  “…Uh-huh…” Chtholly whipped her head around, looking at all forty-one talismans, forty-one small wishes. “I didn’t know that. It’s a legendary holy sword, so I thought it was brought into existence as a gift from the gods or something like that.”

  “Yeah, it’s too bad.”

  The emnetwiht at the time needed them to survive. They used anything they could to accomplish that. War was an ugly reality. And yet, they yearned for beauty…

  That’s why they called the symbol of the power they finally achieved the Carillon—the holy swords.

  “I see. I get it.”

  The girl fell silent.

  He continued working. The metallic lights and sounds gently enveloped the silent pair.

  “I just had a talk with the first officer before this,” Chtholly said quietly, beginning her monologue. “He said that if I didn’t feel like it before the day comes, then I don’t have to open the gates to the faerie home. He said I could risk the fate of Island No. 15 based on the potential of my resolve and strength.”

  “…I see.”

  “Could I really get stronger?”

  “I will make you stronger, even if you don’t want to. That’s my responsibility as a manager.”

  “That’s what I thought you’d say.” Her back twitched in a chuckle. “Then I shall take you up on your kind offer and tell you something. I doooon’t wanna get any stronger!”

  “Wait. Isn’t this the part where you’re supposed to realize you’ve been so surrounded by love all this time and start being honest with your feelings while breaking into tears?”

  “…I am being honest. Realize that, idiot.”

  He pretended not to hear her muttering.

  Now he saw how he’d become the kind of guy he’d heard about earlier, one who’d “hide it.” The feeling of guilt was way worse than he’d initially imagined.

  “—Right. Then how about if you come back alive from the fight, I promise to grant you one request. Let’s start with that.”

  “Huh?” For a second, she gave a shocked response. “I…I don’t really want you to do anything for me. And I mean, you say anything, but I know you won’t do anything major. Like, if I told you to marry me—”

  “No thanks.”

  He interrupted, cutting her short.