Ch.156Side Story (1) – This Too Shall Be Happiness

1.

Several days after the abyss was destroyed.

The Emperor of the Babylonian Empire, Reina Babylonia, made a proclamation to the entire world.

“The great evil that threatened the world’s existence has been eliminated by a hero who appeared in the Empire.”

Reina explained everything that had happened without a single lie.

The existence of the abyss and the eclipse,

The slandered imperial authority,

Even the countless worlds that had been destroyed.

Most people were shocked.

Understandably so, since they had been living peaceful daily lives without knowing anything about how the world was unfolding.

But what made their slightly parted lips gape wide open was the final paragraph:

“Therefore, I highly commend the organization <Black Wolf>, which noticed everything early on and sacrificed themselves to stop them. I hereby withdraw the special wanted order issued against them and will bestow rewards befitting their achievements.”

Except for a few mercenaries who laughed boisterously claiming they had been right all along, most people went home without saying a word.

In any case, it was a complete conclusion.

Everyone who had been knowingly or unknowingly influenced by the abyss could now enjoy the peace that had returned.

However, right now.

Right now, when everyone was smiling at the arrival of the great peace.

Only one man was at the center of a newly erupted war,

Inside the secret residence, one of the carefully selected gifts from Emperor Reina.

It was Nahan, having breakfast with Lactea at the wall-mounted table for two.

“Move.”

“I refuse.”

Just like every morning recently, after a lightly started argument.

Asha, drawing upon her strength, grabbed Lactea by the scruff of her neck as she was picking up a teacup and bluntly said:

“Just move aside.”

“What? Wait—”

Whoosh!

Lactea flew away in an instant.

However, like a piece of cloth being thrown, she rotated smoothly and landed while still holding the teacup.

“…So this is how you want to play?”

“Whatever.”

“Then I have no choice but to use my own methods.”

Lactea flashed her golden eyes at Asha and casually left her seat.

Regardless, Asha sat down in the vacated spot and waved at Nahan.

“Hello.”

“…Oh, yeah.”

What was the point of clearing her away?

A simple greeting.

Beyond that, she couldn’t say anything else and just sat beside him.

“……*cough*”

“Are you okay?”

“Just, *cough*! My throat is a bit, *cough*. Blocked.”

“Umm… Should I pour you some water?”

…Not giving me water but stopping staring would be more helpful.

Nahan thoroughly chewed the words that had risen to the tip of his tongue along with the remaining bread and swallowed it.

“Phew…”

Exhaling the held breath at once, he pondered.

‘…How many days has it been already?’

The day the abyss was destroyed.

After roughly sorting out the situation, Reina handed over this secret mansion as a secret residence for the Black Wolf, and asked everyone to stay together until the public affairs were concluded.

What could one do when requested by the Emperor?

Just keep quiet and comply.

It was fine at first.

Though he wasn’t sure, it seemed to be some kind of transcendent artifact that automatically handled cleaning, cooking, maintenance, and so on as long as there were materials.

Even rooms were added to match the number of people, so for the first few days, he just slept peacefully.

He would wake up, have meals of exquisite delicacies, and then rest again—he never anticipated while enjoying that complete peace.

That such a peaceful era would,

“【Come out】.”

“—!?”

Turn into a battlefield in an instant.

Crash!

Asha, thrown out by the verbal command, and Lactea, who came with the red blade for mana supply.

After a moment of silence.

Asha, maintaining her usual expressionless face, slightly opened her smooth lips.

“Sacred Sword Unsh—”

“Please.”

It was just a few hours ago at dawn when Ruby’s corpse monster and Selena’s detection threads clashed, causing the secret mansion to collapse.

Nahan gently grabbed Asha’s hand as she was about to draw her sword and pleaded while looking into her blue eyes.

“Please, let’s talk this out, okay?”

“…! W-wait. H-hand…!”

“No. I absolutely won’t let go until you promise to behave.”

“O-okay, I prom, promish, promise…!”

Those blue eyes without a hint of deception.

Seeing her visibly trembling, Nahan finally released her hand.

Silence returned.

…Shuffle shuffle.

Nahan gently pushed Asha, who was preciously looking at her hand that had been grabbed, into her room just ahead.

Click.

With the closing door, peace returned once more.

Unlike the peace of the past few days that would immediately shatter if someone appeared and nudged it, this was complete peace as only he and Lactea remained.

“…This is really killing me.”

Muttering that, he sat back at the table, and Lactea, who had put down the red blade, approached gracefully.

“You were lucky.”

“About what?”

“The restriction of the verbal command I used earlier was lifted just before the hero could rush in.”

Lactea smiled sweetly and naturally scooped up some food to feed him.

Nahan, as if accustomed to it, accepted it, swallowed, and then asked:

“But did you have any reason to use a verbal command recently?”

“Of course. White cats, black cats… there were so many stray cats, and now that I’ve cleared them all out, here we are.”

“Cats?”

Could cats sneak into a space maintained by magic?

When he gave her a questioning look, Lactea’s golden eyes flashed as she smiled.

“That’s how it is. Ah, though I still haven’t cleared out one cat.”

“……Wait a minute.”

Could it be that the members and the light had been disappearing one by one for the past few days…?

“Shh, knowing more will hurt you.”

Despite her downcast eyes looking gentle, the gleam within them was excessively alluring.

“It’s not that I mind. Even my grandfather had five official wives. But… there’s a proper order to things, isn’t there?”

“Uh, that…”

“Please eat.”

“Thank you… I mean, thanks.”

Nahan, who had unconsciously crossed his legs, quietly continued his meal, and Lactea, who had been watching him silently, asked in a whisper:

“So, who is it?”

“…?”

“The person you’ve chosen as your primary wife.”

“*cough*!”

*Cough, cough, cough!*

A coughing fit incomparable to the one with Asha.

After grabbing the glass of water and gulping it down, Lactea used a verbal command to clear the table and stood up.

“I… as you know, I was once called the Princess of Compassion.”

He did know, as she said.

The Princess of Compassion, Lactea Babylonia.

The woman who was believed to bring a golden age to the Babylonian Empire.

“I always acted for everyone’s sake, and if someone coveted what was mine, I would give it up without hesitation. Just like… you did recently.”

“Well, I didn’t so much give things up as I thought it was the right thing to do.”

“I understand. You probably thought it would be much happier to give to others than to keep things for yourself. Naturally… without ever having held anything in your hands.”

Lactea seemed somehow sad as she said this, but only for a brief moment.

Regaining her smile, she sat on the cleared table and asked:

“Do you remember? The day I confronted Reina again, when you immediately threw yourself to save Reina who was in danger.”

Of course he remembered.

After Lactea had killed all the corrupted guards.

When she swung her sword at Reina saying there would be no exceptions, he had immediately thrown himself to save Reina, remembering that the quest would fail if the hero or emperor died.

When Nahan affirmed with silence, Lactea quietly added:

“Now the captain knows too. That strike was an unintentional mistake on my part.”

The Unredeemed – Lactea & Reina.

She had left the imperial palace after shouldering all despair for her sister.

“But… do you know what thought briefly crossed my mind right after? Ah, the world is going to be destroyed anyway. If Reina dies now… maybe I could find some peace too?”

It was an instinctively calculated thought.

Having sacrificed everything for Reina, perhaps she would find peace if only Reina disappeared.

“Of course, as soon as I realized I had such a thought, I nearly vomited. To have such thoughts when I wasn’t as unfortunate or struggling as the captain or you—”

“Lactea.”

Nahan interrupted her words for the first time.

Without saying anything, he rose from his seat and gently embraced Lactea.

“There’s no hierarchy to misfortune. People naturally find their own misfortunes the most difficult. Despite that, you protected Reina until the end.”

“…But because of me, Reina—”

“No.”

Nahan knew.

While it would be a lie to say there were no unfortunate events like in fairy tales, one person’s misfortune doesn’t transfer to another.

Of course, there are those who transfer their misfortunes to others, but they are simply incomprehensible villains.

“You actually tried to alleviate Reina’s misfortune, and you did.”

“……”

“You’re not someone who transfers misfortune. Lactea, you were just a victim too.”

Those words were meant for Lactea, but also for himself.

After a moment of silence.

Lactea burrowed into Nahan’s embrace and murmured:

“…See, it couldn’t have been because of the system.”

“What?”

“It’s not like you came to like me because you were swayed by some mere system.”

A sudden confession.

As Nahan stood dumbfounded, opening and closing his mouth, Lactea skillfully continued the conversation:

“Anyway, that day, I was able to be saved thanks to you. You saved me time and again, and eventually saved Reina and this world too.”

After taking a short, measured breath, Lactea slightly raised her head and said:

“Thank you, Nahan.”

Faced with the vulnerable side of a woman who had always been dignified and cool, Nahan unconsciously averted his gaze and muttered:

“Well, I had to survive too. Everything was, you know, for my sake… I just…”

Was it embarrassment?

As he continued muttering like an old man for a while, Lactea smiled slightly.

“You just said it, didn’t you? That everything you did was for yourself.”

“…That’s right.”

“That’s why I did what I did too.”

“What?”

“The women. I banished them one by one.”

“…So it was you after all.”

After the sudden confession.

“Now I… want to live by seizing my own happiness.”

Instead of answering, Lactea turned her head and spoke toward the slightly open door of Asha’s room:

“【Banish all. Exception, Nahan.】”

“…!!! Since when—!!”

Fwoosh.

Beyond the slightly open door, Asha glowed as she was expelled outside.

She wasn’t the only one.

“The gardener’s—!!!”

Balkan, who was shouting,

“If you’re famous for assassination, doesn’t that make you an assassin?”

“That’s—”

Marine and Castler, who were having a serious conversation,

Even,

“Nahan!!! Finally, after finishing everything—!!!”

Reina, who had just burst through the door.

Everyone in the secret mansion was caught in the verbal command and expelled outside in the blink of an eye.

“Huh?”

Confused, Nahan tried to look around and slightly loosen his hold on Lactea.

Lactea wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him into her embrace.

“I like you.”

At a distance close enough to feel each other’s breath.

Though Lactea acted skillfully, she couldn’t prevent her face from flushing.

In the end, she gently released one hand that had been around his neck to cover her face and whispered:

“I… love you.”

A flushed face,

Warm breath,

Golden eyes brimming with tears.

“No, if you could just say something…”

When she complained in a small voice after the ensuing silence, Nahan’s lips finally moved.

“At the end… when I was about to give up everything. If you hadn’t said you wouldn’t give up on me, I wouldn’t have been able to come back.”

Even if she hadn’t conveyed Black Wolf’s message,

Even if she hadn’t hidden his identity from the Black Wolf members for his safety,

Even if she hadn’t appeared as if it were natural to help him whenever crisis struck.

“I would have lost my life in the end.”

“W-why are you suddenly saying that…?”

“Because…”

After a moment of silence.

Instead of answering, Nahan kissed her red lips that were hesitantly moving.

“Eh, uh, mmph…!”

Lactea, whose limbs had been spread wide, unconsciously curled up.

Though the fireplace had been out for a long time, the temperature in the kitchen kept rising.

“Thank you. For saving me.”

“Ah, uh? Um…! Umm…!!”

Lactea was flustered.

Seeing her lovably squirming, with no trace of her cold exterior, Nahan pondered briefly.

‘…When did it start?’

Was it when she vowed to save him, as he just mentioned?

Was it when she saved him every time he was in danger?

Or if not that…

-If it’s hard… please set it down for a moment. I can carry it for you for a while.

Recalling what she had said once, Nahan immediately realized.

‘It was from that moment.’

When I was trying to shoulder everything alone, those words from someone who approached me despite knowing who I was.

That was the first salvation I had ever received.

Finishing his thoughts, Nahan embraced Lactea more tightly.

“Eh? Uwah?”

Whether she was coolly seductive as always, or flustered and unfamiliar with being on the receiving end like now.

Nahan finally named the unknown emotion that swelled whenever he saw Lactea and spoke it aloud.

“I love you, Lactea.”

Once spoken, it became even more certain.

It was definitely love.

“Uh, well, I also… no, I mean I…”

Nahan decided to surrender to that emotion.

He lifted Lactea, whose legs had given way, and walked toward his room.

A sanctuary reached after an arduous journey.

It was surely the happiness that Nahan had longed for.

“I, I’m not very good at this…!”

“It’s okay. Neither am I.”

Nahan quietly smiled.

Oh, by the way.

The others obtaining the same kind of happiness as Lactea did,

Happened a little later, when Lactea, looking as if she had everything she wanted, allowed those she had banished to return.

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“Oh my goddess… …my goodness.”

“『Stop watching, Hyesung. This is truly the adult world from here on.』”

“No, where is that—”

Snap!