by Fujino Omori
And like a kid—no, even more pitiful than a kid—I sniffle in a last-ditch effort not to cry.
“I’m not the only one. Other gods’ and goddesses’ bonds with children like you can last forever.”
She quietly whispers into my ear.
“After all, we are gods. We live forever, you know.”
She pats my head, gently running her fingers through my hair.
“So please, Bell. Don’t be afraid of our love.”
—Please don’t run away from a deity’s love.
I can decline, I can accept, but I must not be afraid—that’s what Lord Miach told me.
The dam breaks. Tears pour down my face. The fear that had been weighing so heavily on my heart is melting away.
Family, lovers, partners, love—I don’t know what these feelings are.
Love for a deity, even less so.
I don’t know, but I try to put words to it.
“Goddess…I want to always, always be with you…!”
“Yes…”
She’s holding me.
All I can do is cry, but she doesn’t break away from the embrace.
“I will always be here, Bell.”
Moonlight shines through the trees. In a forest under a dark-blue sky, I cry and cry into a goddess’s chest.
“…”
She could hear the boy’s trembling voice, his crying.
Aiz stayed close to him even after leading Hestia to his hiding place. She stood still, leaning against the other side of the same tree.
“Always…together…”
The goddess’s words and the boy’s emotions resonated in her ears.
She looked up through the thin branches and foliage toward the golden moon high in the sky.
“Mother…”
The word that tumbled from her lips faded into the night.
The air is thick with fog.
The sun is rising in the east, turning the night sky into day as Aiz, the goddess, and I depart from Edas Village.
We ended up staying one extra day for Kam’s funeral, helping out with whatever we could.
On the fifth morning after we came here as refugees lost in the Beor Mountain Range, we say our last good-byes to the villagers and set a course for Orario.
The oldest of the villagers showed us a route that he always took, one of the black scales in hand, when we left the village. We were out of the forest in no time and quickly made our way down the steep cliffs to an even path that ran along the river, arriving just in time to see the morning sun peek over the mountains and inundate the scenery with light.
“That was a nice place…”
“Wouldn’t it be great to visit them again?”
“…If you go, I want to come with…”
“Huh? Are…are you sure that’s okay?”
“Yes.”
“Hey, hold on a second there, Wallensomething! Don’t make promises out of the blue! If you want to go, go with your own familia!”
The three of us walk side by side, talking.
Something sad happened, but even so, all of us are in good spirits. The goddess makes a ruckus, I try to calm her down, and Aiz watches us with the same aloof gaze. And a few smiles, too. The crisp mountain air fills our lungs as we make our way up the next mountain road.
The morning fog is starting to clear.
“—There you are.”
“Whoa! Miss Asfi?!”
Whoosh! She pops out of the sky, lands in front of us with her white scarf in tow, and nearly scares the crap out of me.
The golden wings on her sandals contract as a look of relief spreads across her face.
“I’ve been searching for you. I never feared for your lives, knowing the Kenki was with you, but…”
“You’ve been out here since then…?”
“No, only since last night, Goddess Hestia. Rakia’s army had to be dealt with.”
She adjusts her glasses and tells us what happened after we got separated.
Apparently, Asfi managed to escape the battle with the soldiers and return to the city. She passed along the information she gathered to Finn, who then organized the gods and goddesses of Orario into a strike force that prioritized capturing Lord Ares. Rakia’s army sustained a great deal of damage and couldn’t move at full speed due to the sheer number of soldiers who couldn’t walk on their own. Asfi tells us that top-class adventurers caught up to them with ease.
The soldiers who didn’t enter the mountains managed to escape, but the Alliance succeeded in capturing their leader, Lord Ares, yesterday. The outcome of the war was determined the moment their god was officially a prisoner inside Orario’s walls. With that out of the way, the Alliance changed its focus to finding us. However, quite a few of the deities lost interest at that point and pulled their followers from the search-and-rescue mission.
Asfi was under orders from Lord Hermes himself to continue the search and is now smiling as if a great deal of weight has been lifted from her shoulders.
“I can carry all of you one by one using Talaria, if you so desire. What say you?”
“Hmm—…Well, this is a good chance to stretch my legs. It’s not every day I get to be outside the city, so I feel like walking.”
The goddess politely declines Asfi’s offer. Aiz and I feel the same way.
“As you wish. I’ll go on ahead and deliver the news. There are many in Orario who are concerned about your well-being, and I wouldn’t want to keep them waiting.”
She says this with a grin and takes a black helmet out of the pouch strapped to her waist. She puts it over her head and suddenly, she disappears.
The goddess and I are floored—Aiz looks fine, like she already knew about this—as the sound of flapping wings fills the air around us. Even that sound is gone moments later.
I suppose that’s Perseus…With a combination of magic items like those, it’s no surprise that very few people in Orario know about her ability to fly.
But wait, going invisible…haven’t I been on the short end of the stick of an item like that before…?
Memories of a certain rogue threatening to come to the surface send a wave of cold sweat down my back. The goddess then speaks up in a cheerful voice.
“Now, I think it’s about time we went home to Orario! I know a few children who have been worried for far too long!”
“Yes!”
“…Wallensomething, um, thanks. I’m, well, grateful.”
“No problem…”
Aiz and I smile at the goddess as she says thank you.
The moment lasts a bit too long for the goddess, so she takes a few steps ahead of us to escape.
Aiz and I walk right behind her.
The goddess nearly trips, and the two of us barely manage to catch her. We walk through the mountain roads illuminated by the morning glow and finally down the last steep cliff to where the Labyrinth City is waiting for us on the other side of the open plain.
EPILOGUE
BIRTHDAY
After Bell, Hestia, and Aiz safely returned to Orario, the war with Rakia came to a swift conclusion.
The battalion of soldiers that came too close to Orario sustained heavy losses in the battle against the Kenki. Without his escort, Ares was cornered and captured as soon as Orario’s reinforcements arrived, thanks to Asfi’s intel.
The deity became separated from his second-in-command, Marius, during the ensuing chaos. With that, the one known as God of War was taken all the way to the Guild’s front lawn.
“Usually, this kinda thing would call fer sending ya back to Tenkai. But, like always, we’ll spare ya. There’s a lot of kids in Rakia who’d be in one heck of a pinch without ya. So in exchange, you’re gonna release the Statuses of all the kids we caught from yer army.”
“Wh-what is the meaning of this, Loki?”
“Plain as day. I’m not lettin’ ya take all the excelia yer kids got from fightin’ mine back across that border willy-nilly.”
Thanks entirely to the
kindness of Orario’s adventurers—with the one exception of the battalion deployed by the warmongering familia—the Rakian army suffered very few casualties. Orario’s staunch demand as this “play war” came to an end was that Rakia’s soldiers didn’t receive for free the benefits of the excelia gained during battle.
The Statuses of nearly 10,000 soldiers were to be released—and subsequently sealed by the gods and goddesses of Orario after Conversion. It went without saying that Ares fiercely rejected these terms, however. “Want a one-way ticket back up top?” Loki’s threat sent tears of sorrow down his cheeks and he gave in to their demand. He spent the entirety of the next day releasing one Status after another outside the city wall. Ares wasn’t allowed to sleep or even take a break until he finished. The God of War struggled to breathe, his hand shaking as he completed the required rituals to release his followers.
Rakia paid for this war and Ares’s release with the Statuses of 10,000 soldiers, a substantial loss on any scale.
Their god, ranking higher than any general, was being held hostage by Orario. No matter what the city demanded, they had to accept and deliver.
Rakia had gone to war against Orario many times before, but the capture of their god resulted in the heaviest losses in the history of their country. A fed-up Marius came out to meet them during their march of shame back to their homeland.
The curtain fell on the Sixth Orario Invasion in a complete and total loss for Rakia.
It was peaceful inside Orario’s city walls from start to finish.
“We’re finally home…”
After separating from Aiz and passing through the north gate, Hestia sighed to herself but smiled as well.
Walking side by side with Bell, she took in the cityscape with relaxed, half-open eyes.
“…Bell.”
“Yes.”
“Always together, yes?”
“—Always!”
Bell’s voice resounded with confidence as he made eye contact with the goddess looking up at him and smiled.
Taking her outstretched hand, the boy and his goddess emerged from the inside of the gate.
They were immediately greeted by the jubilant tears of their family members, divine friends, and comrades who had shared in the adventure. The two of them waved at the group of people rushing to meet them.
A blue sky spread out over the Labyrinth City again today.
Deep underground.
In the middle of the labyrinth that spread out in all directions through many twisting and turning paths, there was a wooden maze that resembled the interior of a giant tree.
Bluish green moss covered the walls and ceiling, making the area look like a hidden world yet to be explored.
Ominous howls echoed from somewhere off in the distance, sending a tremor through the intricate pathways of the labyrinth.
Out of nowhere—crack!
A wall fissured in a corner of the maze. A new monster was about to be born.
Crack, crack. A web of lines worked its way through the mossy wall. A light blue–skinned arm was first to emerge.
Soon a shoulder of the same color, then a neck and head followed. An upper and lower body then fell out of the wall and tumbled to the ground below.
Its body was similar to that of a human girl: four limbs and a smooth body. Its shoulders, waist, and a few other areas were covered in countless scales.
Long, bluish silver hair flowed down from its head, swinging from side to side as the creature slowly got up from its facedown landing spot.
The strikingly beautiful monster had dark-red eyes that sparkled like gems in the dim light. It shifted its distant gaze up toward the ceiling, which was blocked by the leaves of many trees.
Its slender, delicate throat vibrated.
“…Where is…this?”
Afterword
Even while claiming this would be a collection of everyday stories, the eighth installment of the series went over 500 pages. To all my readers, I sincerely apologize.
My original idea was to write individual romantic stories involving mortals and gods.
However, once I put pen to paper, ideas flowed out of my head in droves.
To be completely honest, thoughts on how to add to already-published volumes also came to me one after another. No battle scenes, no traveling through the Dungeon…It amazes me that I couldn’t adhere to these rules, and it became painfully obvious how much more I have to learn. At the end of the previous installment, I wrote that I would take my time and do some “light, everyday stories” so I could take it easy. Unfortunately, writing this volume didn’t allow me to get any rest.
Romantic comedies are deep. I sincerely believe that.
The depth of each character’s emotions and the intricate layers of conflict don’t translate into words very well at all. There are times when even I can’t fully wrap my mind around what the male and female characters are thinking, resulting in extremely detailed expressions and long explanations that required extra pages to express. I got caught in that spiral and was never truly able to escape.
On the other hand, there are many good things that came out of writing this volume.
One handsome deity said, “Our love lasts but a moment,” through the power of my pen.
There were many things I was unsure of when creating love stories between mortals and gods, such as what was truly important. But I like how it turned out. Thanks to that, I believe it rounds out the story very well. Also, I never had much of a chance to write about the everyday life of the citizens of Orario. It was fun to get that opportunity.
Now the time has come for me to express my gratitude.
To my supervisor, Mr. Kotaki; to my illustrator, Suzuhito Yasuda; and to everyone involved, I must first apologize for delaying the deadlines as much as I did. It’s thanks to all your hard work that it came together so well in the end. Thank you so much. Also, I must thank you, the reader, for picking up such a thick book and reading all the way to the end.
The second arc of the story is now complete.
I will go the extra distance to make sure that the next book, the start of the third arc, is just as exciting and enjoyable as the previous installments, if not more so. Please come along for the ride.
With one final thank-you, I’ll take my leave.
Fujino Omori