Epilogue I
The reward for the hero!
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When the teleportation magic circle conjured by Rain disappeared, the surroundings beca silent.
Just the absence of a few made such a huge difference. That was amazing.
"Your Highness Iris… Please don't be too sad…"
Claire said to as I stared at the place where the magic circle was.
"I understand that Your Highness had a happy and wonderful ti when that guy ca here. But… That guy lives in a different world from nobles, after all. If you invest too much emotionally in a man, you'll feel devastated when the ti cos for you to marry. If you wish to scold , please feel free to do so. But Princess, you have to understand…"
Claire then lowered her head deeply. I couldn't see her eyes.
Next to her, Rain also lowered her head.
"I'm fine, please raise your heads."
The two of them lifted their heads slowly when they heard that.
Just from the pained expressions on their faces, I understood how worried they were for , and their resolve when they made their decision.
I didn't hate them at all.
There was no reason to.
Lifting my hand into the air, I stared at my left fingers.
Only a part of the skin on my left ring finger was paler than the others.
Because I've worn this ring on my finger for a long ti, and because I stayed under the sun for so long.
"…! M-My deep apologies! Because of my incompetence, your precious ring's…!"
"I'm ready to take any punishnt to make up for this mistake…!"
Seeing looking at the mark where my ring used to be, the two of them were overco with guilt.
However, I wasn't feeling sad about my ring being stolen…
"The two of you have done your best. The thief managed to escape despite the congregation of powerful adventurers here, so no one could've stopped the ring from being stolen. When my father returns, I'll ask him not to punish you two. So don't treat this matter too seriously, all right?"
When she heard that, Claire shrank her body further.
Claire was really competent, but too serious sotis.
I think she should spend so ti with him and learn how to be more flexible.
That's right, just like Lalatina.
"Thank you for your clency, princess… Not only did you lose your important ring, but you also have to be apart from that person… Your Highness Iris, if that guy manages to vanquish one of the Demon King's Generals again, you can et with him once more…"
Claire consoled with a complicated expression.
– Vanquishing one of the Demon King's Generals.
This was a demanding task, but to him, it was just a walk in the park.
"You're right; I think that I'll et him again soon."
After replying with a smile, Claire's expression twisted in pain.
At this mont, Rain said in a very cheerful voice to encourage :
"By the way, after seeing how Princess Iris was acting, I thought you would've said sothing willful when you parted with Kazuma-sama, and had steeled myself for that… But you handled it smoothly. I was worried about Kazuma-sama's negative influence, but thankfully, you didn't behave that way."
The atmosphere lightened in an instant.
"After all, I already made a promise with onii-sama."
I said to the two of them with a smile.
"Promise…? Ah, you an the part about settling the match next ti? Your Highness, you must defeat that man, all right?"
Claire rembered another promise, but…
– Since ancient tis, this kingdom had a custom.
The hero who defeated the Demon King and returned victoriously will earn the right to take the Princess as his wife–
… I looked at the mark where my ring was once again and said in a volu they couldn't hear.
"I hope… Onii-sama keeps that ring carefully."
Epilogue II
The dream reposed in the ring!
With Rain's teleport, we returned to Axel, our ho.
"Ahhhhhh!"
I pounced onto the couch and scread as I rolled around.
Darkness took a glance at , then sat on the chair beside the couch and started sipping tea.
"Hey, you're noisy. You'll disturb the neighbors, go to the suburbs if you want to shout."
"Stop joking with , bitch! You're always getting in my way during the crucial monts! If you didn't bring up sothing stupid like the 'Demon King', Iris would've requested for sothing else! Like wanting to be together with onii-sama, wanting to date onii-sama, wanting to sleep with onii-sama or sothing!"
"You just said sothing incredible! Don't forget that Princess Iris is just twelve!! And she wouldn't make those requests! At the very most, she would ask you to be the official court jester. Also, you only lived together with Her Highness for just a week! Why are you so confident that you've won her heart in such a short ti? Face reality… Here, I made so tea for you, drink it and calm down."
"Don't pull away from my fantasy life with the princess so suddenly! I don't want to hear your logic! We just bid farewell, give so buffer ti to get over it!"
gumin glanced sideways at our bickering and sat down on my other side.
"You too, gumin? I know you've got a short temper, but that last quarrel wasn't necessary, right?"
"That was just an unavoidable battle between fellow little sister type characters, and I don't want to lose either. Actually, things were going fine when I went out on a trip with the princess. However, we didn't finish the task we set out to do because she picked a fight with ruffians. That's a farewell gift that fits my style, right?"
I wanted to retort with: 'You're the loli type, not the little sister type', and 'Don't teach the princess weird things'. Still, she had grown really close to Iris before I realized it.
They were almost the sa age, so they should be sothing like friends.
It was probably painful for her to bid farewell to her friend.
I took the tea Darkness offered as I thought. Right then, gumin took out a piece of paper and started writing quickly.
I took a look and it seed to be a letter for soone.
It must be for Iris.
As I drank my tea, I smiled wryly at her actions that weren't honest at all.
Aqua couldn't wait a mont longer as she took so wine glasses from the kitchen, placed the bottle and glasses on the table, and sat down on the couch.
"gumin, what are you writing? … I know, it must be a letter to the princess, huh? After the party ended last night, you even went to her room and chatted with her a while. She even addressed you as gumin-nee; I think you two are really close."
In response, gumin continued writing with a serious face.
"Wrong, this is a fan letter, so I can give it to that masked chivalrous thief if I ever et him in the future."
Darkness and I sprayed the tea in our mouths out.
"Hack…! Cough…! M-gumin, just what do you like about that masked thief? A fan mail isn't appropriate, right? That guy's a criminal."
Seed like Darkness wasn't planning to tell her the true identity of that chivalrous thief.
"I really like him though. After all, not many people have such good taste in this day and age. Even in the eyes of the Crimson Demons, that strange attire was out of this world. And they were invincible in their rampage through the castle, even though there were just the two of them. I even thought of standing on their side. This isn't a love for the opposite sex, but the feeling of wanting to cheer for a hero I looked up to."
… Oh no, now I don't dare to say that chivalrous thief was .
With a crisp 'pop', the living room was filled with a mild fragrance.
Aqua seed to have opened the bottle.
"Hey, that slls nice, give so too."
"… You an: 'Aqua-sama, please spare a little wine for this humble one'– Right?"
… I decided, I'll take it from her.
As I stood up to take the bottle from her, Aqua cocked it in a panic and hugged it tightly, balling herself up like a hedgehog.
"Hey, stop your futile resistance! Just give in!"
"No! Please! Spare ! Please, I'll do anything!"
From the viewpoint of the bystanders, Aqua was acting as if I was going to do sothing cruel to her.
I violently shook the shoulders of the balled up Aqua. At this mont, Darkness rubbed the insides of her thighs together as she tapped my shoulder with a flushed face.
"… I'm willing to play, let enjoy that kind of play…"
"Play your ass! You were so cool in the castle and now you've beco like this? … Damn, hey Aqua!"
I offered a compromise to the stubborn Aqua.
"I'll go find the delicious wine from Michael-san that's even praised by the capital. Then we'll make a bet with our wines. You did well for this incident too, so I'll give you a handicap on how we'll bet."
When Aqua heard that, she lifted her head in a hurry and stared at my face.
"… Really? Kazuma's so eager to have a bet with on who to buy the wine? There must be sothing up your sleeve."
It seed that she could still learn from her mistakes.
But at this rate, I'll still win. I ca prepared.
"Look, no matter what you say, we still resolved a crisis in the capital, right? And we made it back ho safely, which is cause for celebration. After all, one bottle isn't enough for the three of us."
"Wait a minute, you said bottle for three, so you are planning to let drink juice alone? And what do you an by return safely, didn't Kazuma die to kobolds?"
"S-Shut up, you! In the end I'm still alive, and that's good enough! And it's still too early for gumin to drink! I'll buy so nice ice cold Neroid, so just make do with that."
When gumin's age was ntioned, she smacked at her half-written letter.
"I'm old enough to marry! What's wrong with drinking a little wine? Want to have a match to see who can drink more?"
As expected of a different world. Yeah, gumin was old enough to wed.
"Hey, hey, gumin, it's better not to drink… But a celebration… Indeed, we stopped the conspiracy of so scher out there. All right, I'll cook up so snacks. It's not a bad idea to host a victory party to celebrate our safe return."
Darkness got up after saying that and went to the kitchen.
Aqua started fidgeting when she heard the term 'party'.
"… Hey, Kazuma hasn't been back for more than a week, so forget about betting. I'll bring so of my wine out and share it with everyone."
Aqua placed the bottle on the table again after saying that.
'You got away this ti'– I thought about saying that, but endured it. It was a rare occasion for everyone to be in the mood for a drink.
It was just a short ti, but many things happened. I t a cute younger sister and had to bid her farewell. Today, I'll…
"Well then, I'll buy the wine. If I let Kazuma go, I think I'll end up drinking Neroid."
gumin said, and then rushed out of the room.
Shortly later, the fragrance of dishes ca out from the kitchen.
"The snacks are ready; we just need so tricks to hype up the mood…"
After returning to our normal life, the days I spent in the castle seed to feel like a dream.
Did I really live for so ti together with the princess…?
And she called onii-sama, and even looked up to …
To prove to myself that that wasn't a dream, I took out the ring and stared at it with deep emotions–
At this mont, Aqua, who was looking for things to perform her tricks with, noticed the ring.
"Ah, hey Kazuma, may I borrow that ring for a mont? I'll show you an amazing trick."
Seeing Aqua reaching for the ring, I put it away in a hurry–!
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