ch81-ch100 · 099-ch83

Chapter 83 — Part 3 Epilogue

Hexaria's special lecture ended after the great commotion.

The regular magical power and magical engineering lectures were impactful through knowledge — but this time, the topic was related to the conquest of the tower-type dungeon built on Earth, and right when it looked like Hexaria might be strung up as an invader from the other world, that was completely overturned by the revelation that "Hexaria-san was actually Yamana Saito's wife" — turning malicious nonsense into a love story.

There was no way it wouldn't cause an uproar.

As for the man who had spouted that nonsense — just as Sai had suspected, he had been placed under domination through mental magic. After the lecture, he and the other instigator pawns were escorted to a separate room by the government and the Exorcist Alliance.

As a result, the mastermind turned out to be a major foreign corporation.

She had a reputation for being harsh and arrogant — but in just a few short months, through her lectures and the streams of dungeon conquest, it had become clear that Hexaria was a "communicative" High Elf.

She was sincere toward researchers and valued those who genuinely strove — and she had shared her knowledge far too equally.

As a result, her influence had become no laughing matter.

She was unquestionably the foremost authority on magical power and magical engineering — but to corporations that wanted to monopolize profits, she had become a target for elimination. They believed they could now handle the most crucial technical observation (a simple mana measurement device) on their own, and decided she was expendable.

Once measurement was possible, development could proceed rapidly.

If they could develop it themselves, they could monopolize the trademarks and patents related to magical engineering.

Classic big corporation thinking.

That said, they couldn't directly sanction her. No matter what they did, they couldn't win.

But they didn't need to sanction her directly.

Drop the seed of doubt among the public, and the public would move on their own.

Or better yet, if she herself developed ill feelings toward the world and went into seclusion — that would be ideal.

They had schemed to crush her influence itself.

They tried to drive down the nail that stuck out.

That result led to the questioner's actions.

In a place where everyone was watching, the moment she was even slightly stuck for an answer, the shills would whip up the crowd.

After that, all they had to do was create a summary video for social media and broadcast it worldwide.

That was apparently what they'd been planning.

But using mental magic to control the questioner was their mistake.

The spell formula was far too crude.

To Sai and Hexaria, it was immediately obvious — "this person is under mental domination."

From Sai and Hexaria's perspective, the traces of the spell formula were plain to see, not even disguised.

If you traced the formula, you could identify the spellcaster, and everything else would follow like pulling up a string of potatoes.

And it served as a harsh reminder of her severity.

Many people probably thought, "What a stupid thing to do."

That corporation had, in just a few short months, forgotten what had happened at the very first lecture — the "action against enemies" carried out by the little maids.

The combat-capable little maids had administered sanctions to the spellcaster and the people pulling the strings behind them.

They were apparently being shown a literal hell.

This time — the questioner who had been placed under mental domination, and the spellcaster. The instigators. Furthermore, the executives of the corporation who had commissioned the spellcaster. All of them were, by now, being subjected to gruesome nightmares. Sai and Hexaria were not kind enough to let people who instigated all this play innocent.

What kind of hell was unfolding — let us not write about that here.

◇

As for what would happen to that major corporation going forward — that wasn't Sai and the others' concern. But if their side was in hell, this side had become entertain... no, an interrogation session (?).

After the special lecture, back at home.

Everyone's faces were red.

After dinner, they'd started drinking with other-world beer that Cyril had brought, and all three were getting fairly drunk. That was when the interrogation (?) began.

Hexaria and Cyril sat side by side, both half-closing their eyes as they looked at Sai.

"What kind of idiot does that in front of a crowd."

"Sai-kun, you sometimes do things that are a little... extra, you know? Like weird extra."

"In that situation, you could have simply shown my ring alongside yours. That would have sufficed."

The topic was, of course, the special lecture.

Why had Sai kissed Hexaria at that moment?

If Sai were asked "why did you kiss Hexaria there" — well, he couldn't quite put it into words. If he wanted to make excuses, he could say something like "anyone would think we're married if you just see a kiss." But honestly — it was purely the momentum of the moment.

But uncle wasn't eloquent enough to say something that honest out loud.

This was different from his usual instruction.

And because he kept dodging the question, Hexaria and Cyril's opinion — "wasn't that unnecessary?" — left him with nothing to say, shrinking into himself.

"Well, Sai-kun has always been bad at showing that side of himself, so it was a little surprising, honestly."

"Hoh. For Cyril, you understand surprisingly well."

"That's because I knew Sai-kun before you did. Back when Sai-kun was still little, he was really..."

Cyril puffed out her chest, about to launch into a story — but Sai cut her off.

"That kind of talk doesn't need to happen in front of me."

At the very least, he wished they'd do it when he wasn't around.

◇

Cyril cheerfully recounted stories of Sai's younger days.

"That Sai-kun, who used to be scared half to death by a single wild wyvern — by the time he was traveling with Hexaria, he'd become the kind of kid who'd charge straight into a pack of wyverns. I was seriously surprised."

"Hm. This brat was terrified of a mere wild wyvern?"

Hexaria was surprised at Cyril's words.

By the time Sai first met Hexaria, he was already a fearless adventurer in his own right.

"Cyril-nee, the first time we met was when I was still a brand-new adventurer. Even a wild wyvern was scary back then."

Right.

Sai had met Cyril when he was a fledgling adventurer.

That was when he encountered a wild wyvern on a grassland near the Trade City.

Sai, nearly in tears, had scrambled to flee — and then Cyril and the rest of Brad's party happened to come by and effortlessly took it down.

He remembered being genuinely moved by how smoothly they handled it.

Back then, Brad's party had been traveling all over the continent, including the Trade City. They were already a party of upper-rank adventurers, but Sai had begged them to teach him how to fight.

They were a group that came to the Trade City a few times a year.

So he spent his days learning whenever they visited. In particular, Brad's unique "magic control training" and Cyril's unarmed combat techniques became the foundation of Sai the adventurer.

"But, if I remember right, Sai-kun around that time was... how do I put it, even after getting fairly strong, he was still a bit timid, I guess?"

"Was he? Hmm... around that time, I still couldn't talk well, so I don't think I felt that way myself, but maybe I was being timid."

If he said so, that would make sense.

Hexaria nodded, furrowing her brow slightly.

"And then, while we were away, you were with Janis's party, right?"

"Yeah. Cyril-nee introduced me to Janis-san."

Janis was the party Sai had been with at the time — a woman from whom he learned the fundamentals of adventuring and scouting techniques.

"Well, I'll tell you this now — Janis told me Sai was a coward. Not just in combat, but cautious when dealing with people too."

Back then, he really had been a bit cowardly and cautious about various things.

Just like Futami Yuuka.

Because Sai had been like that, Janis had suggested, "That cautiousness of yours can be a weapon — try being a scout."

There were several reasons why Sai had been cautious and cowardly back then.

It was a time when he still couldn't understand the language of the other world and had been struggling. And most of all...

"Back then, I was desperate to go back to Japan..."

That was why he didn't want to die — why he'd been both cautious and cowardly.

When Sai was in the other world. "Returning to Japan" itself had become a kind of purpose in life. Because of that, everyone who had known Sai since he was young knew — "Sai wants to go back to his homeland."

"True. After meeting me, when the two of us started traveling together... while raising Serin and Shilia, those two children, he stopped saying things like that."

Little by little, the desire to "return to Japan" had faded. By the time the children were grown, he had resolved to "put down roots in the other world." That was in the latter half of his forties — and then, against all odds, his return to Japan was fulfilled. In an unintended way.

"Mmm, that wasn't really what I wanted to hear. Oh well."

Cyril said that and gulped from her wooden beer mug.

What Cyril had really wanted to know was "how Sai overcame his fear of monsters" — but if he said he'd simply gotten used to it through fighting, well, that was that.

"Huh. Is there something bothering you?"

"Nah, it's fine. More importantly — and this is a bit awkward to say in front of Hexaria — Sai-kun. The other day, I said what I said, but you need to make up your mind soon, okay?"

"Hm? About what?"

"I'm not going to tell you the details, but I told Sai-kun to get his act together."

Cyril deliberately spoke in roundabout terms.

The question of "when they reached the thirtieth floor — would Sai return to the other world?"

She had told him to decide what he was going to do with himself.

But there was no need to be roundabout about it.

"Yeah, that's already been decided."

"Hoh, really?"

"It's not about what I'm going to do. Beside Saria is where I belong."

He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, then took a swig from his beer mug.

At his sudden words, Cyril grinned.

She'd had feelings for Sai once, but that was all in the past. Now she had a wonderful darling.

More than that — her junior disciple, whom she'd doted on, was making a statement that even he himself hadn't realized was flighty.

When someone does that, there's nothing to do but laugh.

"Heh~~~ Sai-kun, saying things like that..."

As for Sai's feelings...

Being reunited with his parents, his sister and her husband, and his old classmates had been a joy beyond anything he'd hoped for.

Because he'd thought he'd never see them again.

But truly — putting it in perspective.

Earth and the other world.

If forced to choose between them, the premise itself was wrong.

Not "Earth or the other world" — the correct answer was "beside Hexaria."

"Yeah. So it depends on Hexaria, but thinking about it that way, I'll probably end up going back to the other world in the end."

In the end.

What he'd learned from spending his youth in the other world was that the other world suited Sai's nature.

This world was overflowing with conveniences, and being in an environment where so many people looked up to him was a wonderful thing.

There was the question of what to do about Earth's various problems. And he thought he'd need to return to Earth as circumstances demanded. But even so — Sai wanted Hexaria to be beside him.

So the place where Sai would live was the "other world."

"...You can say all that, and yet you can't say it to her..."

Cyril muttered that as she drank her beer.

"Honestly. And Hexaria too... hey, Hexaria! Why are you frozen like that!?"

Before she knew it, Hexaria, who had been sitting beside Cyril, had turned completely red and frozen solid.

Shinjuku Tower had five floors remaining, and there were still various issues to address.

The young adventurers. The demons. Shinjuku Tower.

Sai's work hadn't changed, and his worries were endless.

But still — for today at least.

It felt like a night to stay up late drinking beer.

================ Thank you very much for reading.

This is a bit short, but this concludes Part 3.

Going forward, due to production circumstances, updates will be limited to Fridays only for a while.

We plan to return to daily posting once enough stock for Part 4 has been built up.

Also, before Part 4 begins, there will be the usual interlude and a side story depicting Hiyori and the other exorcists' battles. (I originally intended to include these in Part 3, but since the old man's screen time is on the lighter side, I've categorized them as side stories.)

We apologize for the wait, and we hope you'll continue to enjoy the story.