After defeating Kaeld, the first thing I did was ask Bion to call us back into the embrace of the world.
Idria must have had quite a rough ti, because the negative energy accumulated in the lab was more than enough to summon all of us.
When I ca to my senses, we were inside the lab.
“Mr. Mide. Everyone!”
Bion greeted us by practically hopping in place.
Neril snorted softly.
“She is like a kid.”
“True. She is younger than you, Neril.”
“Oh, seriously.”
“You all really… really worked hard.”
Bion grabbed my hand and shook it up and down.
Then she did the sa with each of the party mbers.
Last, she took Neril’s hand and said,
“Neril, you really went through a lot too.”
“That’s enough.”
“No. I was watching everything through the Eye of Omniscience. If you hadn’t provoked Kaeld at the very end to buy ti, today’s victory wouldn’t have been possible.”
Bion was smiling and crying at the sa ti.
“I admit it now. Mr. Mide’s partner is Neril. Not .”
“Didn’t need your approval. It’s been that way for a long ti already.”
“Way to kill the mood. At least after coming down to the world, you are still lovers, not married.”
“Hmph. Did you really think you would have room to squeeze in?”
“Just a little… sohow.”
“Dream on.”
Neril snorted and waved her hand at her.
“You worked hard too. Now that everything is over, rest easy.”
“Hehe. Yes. Though I don’t think I will actually be able to rest.”
Saying that, she turned around.
By the tanks storing the negative energy stood Idria, Trail, and the Demon King’s children.
“They know how to pour in negative as a power source, but they don’t know how to handle the many devices and machines in the laboratory. So for a while, I will have to stay and manage the world.”
“For a while?”
“The Demon King and her children can’t touch the laboratory equipnt. This place can only be used by humans.”
I understood what she ant.
Neril asked,
“But Trail can?”
Trail answered that.
He scratched his head awkwardly.
“Seems so.”
“Please drop the honorifics already. How many tis has it been?”
“Um… now that I think about it, I feel like there’s a reason I can’t quite do that.”
At that, Offense spoke up as if he had realized sothing.
“Ah. Co to think of it, didn’t you say we acted as parents here for about thirty years?”
“Yes. You said you created by copying Idria’s soul, then raised until I chose this task myself.”
“…….”
“I don’t rember any of it, but I think I unconsciously see all of you as my parents.”
I cut in, dumbfounded.
“No, you talked casually to right from the first ti we t.”
“Huh? Did I?”
Then Bion laughed and said,
“When Mr. Mide was educating Trail here, he specifically told him to be comfortable around him, at least.”
“I did? Why?”
“At that ti, everyone had already lived about 230,000 extra years, so you said soone needed to treat you like a friend.”
…….
Why did I do that?
Trail spoke in a teasing tone.
“Too late to change it now.”
“I don’t plan to. You and I suit being friends best.”
“Ahem.”
That was when Idria’s voice cut in.
“Then why are you still calling Bion ‘Trail’? Bion is Bion.”
“No. Can’t you give that up already? The original Bion is her.”
“I don’t want to.”
Then Trail spoke.
“But actually, I like Trail better too.”
Idria tilted her head.
“But you have used the na Bion for much longer, haven’t you?”
“Trail is a na I gave myself. I ca up with it in a hurry because Mide’s naming sense is disastrous and he was about to call ‘Invisible.’”
“Invisible… I must have misheard that.”
“But the mont I called myself that, it felt like a different world opened up. Like I wasn’t walking a path soone else set for , but carving my own for the first ti.”
He turned his gaze to Idria.
“So I want to stay Trail from now on. Is that okay?”
“Why are you asking ?”
“Huh? Because you have always wanted to call Bion.”
“No. I just insisted because I thought you would like that better. I like it if you are called by the na you want.”
I was quite surprised.
The reason she had kept insisting on the na Bion had actually been for Trail’s sake.
Trail, too, looked dazed, like he had been hit with sothing.
But Idria simply turned her head as if nothing strange had been said.
“That woman can keep using the na Bion.”
Then the Demon King’s minions standing behind spoke up.
It seed she had summoned her children here at so point.
“Mother, aren’t you giving in to him too much?”
“Yeah. Feels like this is how it’s going to be from now on.”
“Trail, hurry up and say thank you.”
Trail seed to ponder Sabach’s last remark for a mont.
Then he spoke calmly.
“Thank you, Idria. For understanding how I feel.”
“Huh? Ah. Yeah.”
“…….”
“That’s a first. You thanking .”
A deeply satisfied smile spread across her lips.
The three minions pressed their hands to their foreheads as if they had headaches.
For so reason, I could already picture the future scenery of the laboratory.
Once the nas were more or less settled, Adwin changed the subject.
“So, isn’t there any food today?”
“Huh?”
“We should have a party. All our worries are gone now.”
“Oh! I didn’t even think of that. Though, to be fair, we didn’t really have ti to prepare.”
At that, Lisel rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward.
“I will handle it, so leave it to . Where’s the kitchen here?”
“To think the day would co when Lisel cooks here again… it’s really moving.”
“Co to think of it, wasn’t that originally my role?”
And just like that, a party began to take shape.
Everyone bustled about, taking on their respective roles.
Even Trail, Idria, and the three minions were given tasks.
But Bion didn’t assign anything to Neril and .
“You two just sit here for a mont and wait.”
“Uh… is that okay? That feels like special treatnt.”
“Everyone else agreed. Mr. Mide is a hero who has never once demanded special treatnt, so just accept this much.”
“Ahem. Thanks.”
“By the way, no special treatnt for Neril. I left her out because she wouldn’t help anyway.”
Neril leaned back in her chair.
“Don’t ntion it. Thanks.”
“You really take that as a complint.”
“Go on. You are probably busy.”
“Phew. Anyway, I will call you when it’s ready, so get so rest for now.”
After Bion left as well, only Neril and I remained in the laboratory.
Slide.
As if she had been waiting, Neril leaned against my arm.
“So, what now?”
“We wait for the party to be ready.”
“No. I didn’t an right now. Everything is over now.”
“…….”
“I was asking what you want to do after retirent.”
I chuckled and answered.
“First, we should turn Lisel into a proper human. With the negative energy Idria will gather here and the various devices, it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Right. Will she head straight to the underworld to see Grade?”
“Probably not. I think she will live out the rest of her life as a human with us first, then go.”
“Yeah. I think so too.”
She looked up at .
“And after that?”
“I will probably get in touch with the heroes who went to other worlds.”
“Ah.”
“I will thank them for helping this ti… and more than that, tell them everything about the hero system and our existence.”
“Is that okay? What if soone like Aktion shows up again?”
Neril’s concern was perfectly reasonable, but my intuition was telling there was no way that would happen.
Back then, I spoke from the position of the person who created the hero system, so the response hadn’t been great.
But this ti, I would be speaking from the position of the person who abolished the hero system.
Besides, even if sothing bad did happen, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Did you forget how much fa I have right now?”
“Pfft. Right, I guess so.”
“The reason we couldn’t stop Aktion when he invaded another world back then was because we were trying to use only the power of negative energy.”
“But fa is different, right?”
“Yeah. If soone gets funny ideas, I can just pop over for a bit and smash things to pieces.”
Neril nodded, looking convinced.
Then she asked again.
“And after that?”
“Uh…… well. After that, I guess we should visit the capital once. I’m officially listed as dead, so you or the other party mbers will need to reassure the emperor. Last night’s disturbance was just too big.”
“Mm. And after that?”
“After that…… well, let’s see. Maybe help Offense find his parents? Or invest in Serein’s business.”
“And after that?”
Only then did I realize it.
I really am slow.
“Sorry. I need to redo the order of things.”
“Mm.”
“As soon as we are done here, I’m marrying you.”
Only then did Neril break into a radiant smile.
“That’s more like it.”
That day, we held a party in the embrace of the world.
For a full three days.
After eating and drinking on repeat and washing away all the fatigue that had built up over ti, I made a formal request to Bion.
“Then shall we try talking with the masters of the other worlds?”
“Huh? Already?”
“Already? It’s been three days.”
“…….”
“Looks like you want to put it off if you can.”
Bion spoke carefully.
“The reaction Sabert showed back then left with so trauma.”
“Perfect. Let’s wash it away while we are at it.”
“Mr. Mide…… yes. All right. I can’t keep brooding over it forever.”
In the end, she used the negative energy that Idria had gathered, along with the lab’s devices, and began connecting to the other worlds one by one.
The first hero she connected to was a forr hero nad Betik, now the master of his world.
Surprisingly, he was said to be the first hero ever born in ‘Mide’s world’.
In other words, he was the first hero born after the hero system was created, and aside from us, the oldest hero in existence.
‘Isn’t this starting at too high a difficulty level?’
I thought that, but didn’t show it as I spoke.
“Nice to et you. Mr. Betik.”
-You are……?
“I am the one who manages your ho world.”
-Ah! The one where the primordial demon king descended before.
“Yes. Thank you again for that ti. Thanks to you and the other heroes raising my fa, we were able to overco the crisis safely.”
Betik, as seen through the Eye of Omniscience screen, looked like a man with very kind eyes.
He replied with a gentle smile.
-Not at all. If a demon king beyond humanity was born, helping was only natural. Of course, I was quite surprised that sothing like this was even possible.
“…….”
-If you really want to express your gratitude, please help out when such a demon king is born in my world soday too.
“Actually, that’s exactly what I wanted to talk to you about.”
He smiled softly, as if telling to say whatever I wished.
I took a deep breath and spoke.
“There will be no more demon kings descending. And so, there will be no more heroes either.”
-What?
“Let explain.”
I revealed everything, without leaving a single thing out.
Whenever I got stuck, Neril and the other party mbers helped fill in the gaps.
Since it was such a long story, sotis soone else would take over mid-explanation, like passing a baton.
How much ti passed like that?
When all the explanations were finished, Betik closed his eyes and stroked his chin.
-To think sothing like that could happen……
“I’m sorry.”
-Pardon? What are you sorry for?
“Well, um. Your fate also beca rather harsh because of the hero system we created unilaterally.”
-That’s ridiculous.
He waved his hand as if it were nonsense.
-Harsh is far too strong a word.
“Huh?”
-I am very satisfied with where I am now. And my past, when I fought demon kings for the sake of the people of my world, remains a mory of glory to .
“……!”
-More than anything, your world is my role model. I did everything I could to surpass what you cultivated, the so-called ‘Mide’s world’. If you ask whether I succeeded, I can only answer ‘not yet’.
He continued with an awkward smile.
-Well, if you had only ‘created’ the hero system, I might have said sothing bitter…….
“…….”
-But you are also the one who stopped it. In that case, I have nothing at all to complain about.
I felt my chest tighten.
The oldest hero, whom I had thought would be the hardest to convince, understood instead.
As the atmosphere relaxed, Serein asked in a slightly teasing tone.
“Is our world really that amazing? Enough to be a role model?”
-Yes. Of course. You don’t interfere, you don’t impose expectations. But you stop the world’s crises.
“…….”
-It’s like a world where the ideal of a hero has been fully realized. Hmm…… yes, I suppose this description fits.
He continued in a gentle voice.
-Mr. Mide feels like a ‘hero of heroes’.
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