Chapter

041-060 · 054-ch48

Chapter 48: Time of Farewell

After some time, the girl who had stopped crying had swollen eyes but a refreshed expression.

Perhaps she had reached some kind of resolution within herself.

Whether that was her own wish, or a farewell to the memories of life with her people, I couldn't say.

She wiped her face with the towel I'd handed her, then turned to face me and began to speak.

"I will check every house to see if even a single person remains. If even one person is left, I will stay here. However, if no one remains..."

Saying that, she looked at me and spoke slowly.

"Then, like you, I too would like to see this wide world."

While she didn't give a direct answer to my invitation, her meaning was clear.

But it would be tasteless to press for an answer here and now.

More than anything, while she may have already reached a decision in her heart, she hadn't yet given up hope.

She would surely go through each house without abandoning hope until the very last one.

And only when she found no one in that final house would she surely turn those ambiguous words into a proper answer.

That's what her words meant now.

"Well then, shall we check the remaining houses tomorrow? How many are there? Though still..."

Imagining a city that seemed about as large as my hometown town—certainly tiny compared to Tokyo or other major cities—

"It was quite some time ago when I last checked the census, but I believe there were over three thousand people."

At her words, I let out a small sigh, though I tried not to make it too obvious.

With that many people, and considering families, the number of houses to check would easily exceed a thousand.

"Can we finish in one day?"

My words were merely grumbling, containing not a single genuine complaint, and she replied with a smile.

"If we divide the work, we can finish in a day. I truly am grateful for your help."

Such a joking suggestion.

No, perhaps in her mind, coming with me was already the established course, and she was saying this, or perhaps she wanted to leave things as beautiful memories and forget the painful parts.

But that won't do.

"No."

"Eh?"

To my words, Selene looked puzzled, and I spoke to her with a bit more seriousness.

(When she makes that puzzled face, her expression looks younger and cuter.)

(Her speech too, and perhaps because she'd shown me her crying face, seemed somewhat childish—no, more like she wasn't putting on the airs of a tense queen.)

(Or perhaps she was trying to be cheerful on purpose.)

That's not it.

I took a moment to calm myself, letting out a long "Fuuuuuh" breath.

And then I spoke to her.

"We can't divide the work."

"Wh-why? Wouldn't that be faster?"

She had probably suggested this thinking it was for the best.

She showed surprise and confusion at my opposition.

But even so, I thought it was wrong.

"You're leaving this town."

Because this was between her and the people of this town, to whom she had devoted so much time.

"How can you not say goodbye to them yourself?"

She listened to my words in a daze.

Tears spilled from those eyes.

Perhaps, even while crying, some defense mechanism of her heart had been at work—some mental barrier of "let's forget this quickly."

>>That's true, just like John says

>>If you don't properly process your feelings, they'll drag on forever

>>It's hard when a nail stays stuck in you forever.

>>John, I thought he was just an adventure maniac, but he can say things like this too

But that won't do.

If she doesn't say goodbye here and now to process her feelings.

She would carry that weight in her heart forever.

I'm not saying she should forget the people by saying goodbye to them.

I think she needs to cut off the lingering attachments deep in her heart and reorganize her connection to them as memories.

Otherwise, the girl who loved her people so strongly would surely—

"...It may take a very long time."

Letting her tears fall, she spoke in her true voice—different from the artificially cheerful tone she'd used moments before.

And of course, I had expected this much.

She was someone who loved her people.

In a town of this size, she must have had many acquaintances and friends.

"I'm prepared for that."

"Even if it takes more than a day to say goodbye to a single person?"

Isn't that a bit too long?

I thought, while at the same time thinking that I could reminisce about Robo or my parents for as long as needed.

"...If you open the castle library for me, I'll wait as long as it takes."

Though I really didn't want to just wait around doing nothing forever, so I figured I might as well ask to see the magical tools and books in the castle.

At my words so obviously dripping with desire, she let out a small laugh.

"If it's just that, as much as you like."

I lent her my good tent and slept wrapped in my mantle outdoors.

The next day, before the morning sun illuminated the mountain city, she began to move.

I decided to follow her for a while, trailing behind her.

"You may use the castle library, you know?"

Last night she had seemed like a slightly younger girl, her true self showing through, but after a night had passed, the queen seemed to have returned.

"I should at least accompany you for the first few. Well, it's a shame I can't take anything with me though."

"Since we are leaving them behind, we must ensure they won't be lonely even in death."

This was the agreement we had reached last night between us.

I was free to take whatever I wanted from the castle, including books and treasure.

However, she asked that I not ransack the people's homes.

Since I had been prepared to persuade her for at least the former permission, her bringing it up herself was a godsend, so I jumped at her proposal.

>>You're working hard even though it's still dark out

>>Good morning

>>Mornin', make sure you process your feelings properly

"Everyone, thank you very much. I will properly say goodbye to my people."

By the way, when I tested it last night, surprisingly, the technology that displays the stream's comment section in my vision worked for her in this world too.

Therefore, right now she can also see the comments.

Originally, the purpose was for party streaming and video recording using drones, so it wasn't strange that multiple people besides me could see the comments.

But this really made it seem increasingly likely that her half-blood—that is, her father's blood—is the same as people from the surface.

After all, the drone had to recognize her as human for her to see the comments.

The principle was a type of illusion magic targeting individuals, but because it targets individuals, the magic circuit should require strict definitions.

And it recognized her as human.

For example, if I tried to do this with Robo, the drone wouldn't respond and couldn't display anything.

However.

How should I think about this situation where pure humans vanished, yet she remains?

Well, putting that aside.

Until she slept, she had talked with the viewers in the comments, seeming to enjoy herself.

I didn't really want them filling her head with unnecessary things, but at the same time, I wanted her to find a new place for herself while processing her memories with her people and saying goodbye to them.

Besides, if she's going to live with me, I think it would be better for her to know about streaming and my world, so it's quite a delicate balance.

By the way, the viewers had shown considerable restraint last night, simply listening to her story without bringing up Earth or the dungeon, and I felt truly grateful that even these easygoing viewers had such reason.

Well, they probably only joke around because it's with me.

The first house.

She opened the door, saw no one in the bed, offered a brief silent prayer, and moved on.

The second house.

This time, after checking the bed, she brought a chair and sat beside it, not moving for about an hour.

The third house.

When I asked, it seemed she remembered every single person's name.

Even if she hadn't known them long, she had memorized their names as her people.

By the way, she sat here for about thirty minutes as well.

The fourth house.

This time she searched the house and found what seemed to be a memento—a small craft item—and sat beside the bed once more.

It was getting quite long, so I withdrew to search through books in the library.

Also, since we obviously wouldn't finish today, we would be staying in the castle tonight.

She seemed willing to give me a room as well, so I gratefully decided to experience sleeping in a castle.

Well then, about the library.

I had found the castle library yesterday.

However, since I couldn't read this world's writing in the first place, and even if there were hints among the mountain of books, finding them would be impossible, so I had only glanced at it without touching anything.

Entering the castle and going up to the second floor, opposite from the chapel where Selene had been, right below the balcony, was where the library existed.

They had probably built the library in a place that didn't get sunlight to prevent the books from deteriorating.

I'd thought this from the beginning, but the location of this castle seems oddly bad.

Because the castle blocked the sun, there were small sections of the city that got almost no sunlight.

I wondered if they normally wouldn't care about such things, but come to think of it, I'd heard this city had prospered and expanded its housing when a dungeon appeared nearby.

Perhaps through that expansion, the city had spread to places where houses originally wouldn't have been built.

Well, I don't really know enough about old versus new construction to tell just by looking at the townscape, but even so, I couldn't help but feel something was off.

That's how attentively I'm observing this world.