Manowa

◎ Royal Capital Shubain, Royal Castle Delgura, Queen"s Bedroom

「No, it"s fine. I understand that I hurriedly sent it, so the contents became cryptic. Yeah, I was saved by Kazane this time, so don"t mind it. Truly, thank you, Kazane.」

And this smiling face. It was a queen who continued to give words of grat.i.tude to her close friend while desperately keeping her tears from spilling. Her feelings of grat.i.tude were genuine. There was no mistaking that she was her irreplaceable close friend. But that was why she was sad.

Why could her own friend do such a grade school student-like thing? Moreover, although there were twists and turns, this Shorty was now the mother of a child. Sad. She didn"t know why, but feelings of exceeding sadness were overflowing in Yuuko-nee. And while shedding tears, she immediately fell asleep from fatigue. Due to the curse, Yuuko-nee was considerably exhausted. Then those emails came. Her mind desiring rest couldn"t be helped.

「Ha, she faded out before I could explain.」

Kazane muttered while looking at the sleeping Yuuko-nee. Ao behind her tilted his head and wondered what excuses she was planning to make, but Yuuko-nee had already departed to the inside of her dreams. Around this time, she was probably quickly realizing the intent of her own emails and dancing around a campfire in celebration with the close friend who removed the devil and saved her.

「I don"t really understand, but it looks like Queen Yuuko became tired and feel asleep while shedding tears of grat.i.tude. She"s truly a lady with intense emotions.」

Iria, who couldn"t see the Window, arbitrarily interpreted it in a good way, and Tatsuo said『As expected of Mother』while flapping his wings. By the way, since Tatsuo could see the Window when he was sticking to Kazane, Kazane stopped Tatsuo when he tried to cling to her while Yuuko-nee was awake and the Window was open. She was an unfair mother.

「Well, it"s fine. It"s unfortunate that we can"t say farewell to Her Majesty the Queen, but shall we leave at once?」

And that situation was settled by Ao"s words. After that, Kazane wrote and sent an email saying she had seriously reflected before they said a simple goodbye to Iria and left the castle.

There was also the devil matter. It was best to leave as few traces of Kazane"s presence there as possible. She was reluctant to leave, and she wanted to explain and apologize, but Kazane restrained herself and immediately left Royal Capital Shubain with Ao and Tatsuo.

By the way, when Ao left, he asked Iria to act as a ringer with her transformation technique so that Ao would be『staying』. His intention was to leave the impression that the queen"s awakening and the seal on Hagasu"s Heart was done by Ao"s hand so that the devils" awareness would turn towards him.

Thus marked the end of the disquieting situation that continued from the White Dragon King"s Thousand Ogre Subjugation uproar, and the Minshiana Kingdom finally regained its usual daily life. The fact that a short girl was active behind the scenes didn"t appear on the surface. Only the people concerned knew she was a hero who saved the country.

◎ Minshiana Kingdom, The Skies

「Muu, I"m scared of our next meeting.」

The shadow hero who saved the country was holding her head and saying that. They had already left Royal Capital Shubain and were now in the midst of returning to the East Dragon Village.

『I think she will welcome you. It"s an unmistakable fact that you saved Her Majesty the Queen Yuuko and brought down the devil.』

Ao interrupted. Those words were unmistakably his true feelings and the truth. Because of the circ.u.mstances, Kazane wouldn"t publicly get any reward... rather, they left without any discussion about that, but naturally, that didn"t mean there would be nothing.

「I don"t particularly care about that. She"s a friend, so helping her is natural.」

Though it seemed that was inconsequential to Kazane. Or perhaps her expectation was that they didn"t particularly need to talk about it, since Yuuko-nee would probably give her something anyway?

『I"m jealous that you"re able to say that.』

Then Ao pleasantly thought of the friendship between girls.

「Rather, if I send a thousand emails will it all just wash away? It IS about bowel movements.」

However, Ao"s pleasant feelings vanished after those words from Kazane. Ao"s goodwill towards Kazane suddenly dropped.

『I"m no longer envious. Let"s stop. Her Majesty the Queen will cry again.』

「...... Muu. Well, it seems like Yuuko-nee is mentally defeated, so if we meet after she calms down she"ll surely be understanding, right?」

『I mean, I think she"ll contact you by email, though.』

「Ahーthat"s right.」

I came to a fantasy world, but the SNS「You"re there, aren"t you?」type obsessive messages followed me... Kazane thought with a distant look. Since the Window was directly connected to her, she also couldn"t pretend to be out. Since she was absolutely reaping what she sowed, Ao couldn"t say anything.

『By the way, Mother, may I ask a question?』

Tatuso was being held tight, and after Kazane and Ao"s discussion reached its end he suddenly asked a question.

「What is it, Tatsuo?」

Kazane pulled herself together and replied to Tatsuo"s question.

『What is email? It"s not in the knowledge I received from Father.』

Kazane blinked in surprise after those words.

「Ahーis Husband a person (?) who doesn"t have knowledge of such things?」

『I wonder. It might be because the knowledge he pa.s.sed to Tatsuo had to be screened to a certain extent.』

Kazane said「I see」and nodded after Ao"s words. Memory transfer wasn"t a very recommended act. If Naga had burned all of his memories into him, he would have become a copy of Naga. It was considered better for him to acquire knowledge by himself as much as possible to expand his possibilities.

「So, what is email. It"s magic that can transmit writing across vast distances?... something like that.」

Kazane simply summed it up for Tatsuo.

『That"s amazing. Will I be able to get in touch with Father by using that?』

Tatsuo was excited and asked, but Kazane shook her head.

「It can only be used by people like Mother. I can"t connect with Husband.」

Tatsuo had a dejected face after Kazane spoke, but Ao had successive words.

『Concerning that, I"ll be stationed in the East Dragon Village for the meantime, so while it won"t be directly, it will be possible to contact Nagsama.』

「Eh, is that so?」

That was something Kazane was hearing for the first time.

『Nagsama narrowly hung onto life, but he couldn"t regain his former power, so I"ll be acting as the Head Deputy.』

By the way, Kazane and Ao had already completed Party registration. The plan was for Yumika and Naoki to register with Ao later. Kazane learned the importance of information transmission speed with this devil affair and was thinking she would also register with Ghost King Yohan on their way back to Minshiana.

In any case, Kazane hadn"t heard that Ao would be staying in the East Dragon Village as the Head Deputy, so Kazane delved into that matter.

「I"m hearing that for the first time, though. Ao-san is a member of the West Dragon Village, right?」

『I simply act for the prosperity of dragonkind.』

From the start, the East Dragon Village"s Four Guardian Dragons were Ao"s children born through the Reincarnation Dragon ritual. It seemed Ao was a special existence even among dragons.

「If so, can I ask you to help communicate with Husband?」

『As long as it"s not just lovey dovey talk, no problem.』

Ao jokingly said.

「Tatsuo, that"s great.」

『Yes. I"m excited that I"ll be able to exchange words with Father during the journey.』

Tatsuo was making kue kue noises from excitement while being held by Kazane. He wanted to flap his wings, but since he was being held by Kazane he only squirmed.

『Journey? Is Kazane-san planning to depart immediately after we return to the village?』

「Yeah. It"ll be after a small rest, but I have a destination.」

『Destination?』

After Ao"s question, Kazane replied「A rank dungeon Gordo Golden Ruins.」

「There seems to be a hole there that will allow us to return to our original world.」

Ao"s eyes narrowed at those words.

『I"ve certainly heard rumors about connections to a different world in the depths of dungeons several times in the last few decades.』

「It"s eyewitness information from Yuuko-nee herself. I think the degree of accuracy is high. We are aiming for it.」

『Being able to return to our original world?』

Ao gave up on that a long time ago. But the girl in front of him was trying to accomplish it.

『But what about Tatsuo-kun? I think raising him over there would be difficult?』

Tatsuo shouted「Kua?」after Ao"s words and anxiously looked at Kazane. Kazane replied「It"s okay」while stroking Tatsuo"s head.

「I"m planning to live here, so I also thought of a way to return. A method guaranteed by a G.o.d.」

Kazane broadly grinned. I see..... Ao thought and nodded. Apparently the girl in front of him was serious. And he was impressed that she was seizing that path. None of the players he had seen had succeeded.

(Being able to return to the real world...)

Ao"s face turned serious after Kazane"s words. Looking at him, Kazane thought that Ao was being driven by his feelings for the original world, but the inside of Ao"s mind was like this:

(If I can destroy the hard disk... put it in the microwave before it"s seen... if I can throw it into a foreign-made blender...)

The wish he had held for the 800 years since he came to this world might come true. If I could somehow manage to set fire to it before the baby b.u.mp loli folder is seen by my parents and younger sister... Ao couldn"t help thinking that. And Ao"s thoughts weren"t transmitted to Kazane. Naturally.

Furthermore, when Kazane woke up the next morning there was an email from Yuuko-nee saying「Let"s slowly discuss the email matter next time we meet face to face.」For some reason, Kazane did a dogeza on the spot while saying「heheー」but it didn"t reach Yuuko-nee. It simply made Tatsuo tilt his head in confusion

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger Feather x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 32

Health: 124

Magic Power: 235+420

Strength: 55+20

Agility: 50+14

Endurance: 32

Wisdom : 62

Dexterity : 39

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』

Kazane:「I did something bad to Yuuko-nee.」

Yumika:「You absolutely did, didn"t you.」