Ch.224224. Really, Really!

The sorrow of losing someone is something you shouldn’t forget, but you also shouldn’t remain bound by it forever.

After holding funerals for everyone in Greyfond over three days.

Today, to live on and to give reassurance to those who died that they need not worry.

“Kiyaaaa!”

The royal family had designated it as a memorial day and was holding a festival.

Findenai, who raised her glass high, let out a rough exclamation.

The beer provided by the royal family boasted a taste incomparable to ordinary beers, proving it wasn’t supplied to the royal family for nothing.

When the taste of alcohol wrapped around her tongue, she couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Hey, take it easy. Don’t cause trouble for others.”

Deia warned with some bickering toward Findenai who was gulping down her drink from the start, but she was already not listening.

“I thought you said you’d never drink again?”

Erika added a comment from the side upon seeing this, but Findenai just snorted.

“When has this lady ever kept her word?”

Findenai had already given up on abstaining from alcohol. Originally, she wouldn’t get drunk unless she drank quite a lot.

‘Though that’s become a bit strange too.’

Actually, since regaining her freedom from the Republic of Clark, she had been wondering if she was becoming someone who got drunk easily.

In the past, she could maintain clear consciousness even after drinking crates of alcohol, but now she seemed to lose her mind quite easily, perhaps because her heart had softened.

“Well, it’s not bad.”

But she didn’t find that unpleasant. Rather, it felt like she was finally living as a woman named Findenai, not as the leader of the resistance.

“Kiyaaaa! Griffin makes good beer!”

Findenai exclaimed again as she downed more beer.

“But where’s the master?”

At her question, Deia, whose cheeks were puffed up from eating skewers, slightly turned her head. Everything from alcohol to food was being provided by the royal family, so even simple skewers were exquisite.

It was also the royal family’s consideration to provide snacks on skewers so people could eat while walking around.

“He’s working.”

“Working?”

“Shouldn’t a maid know better where her master is?”

“The master is just too elusive. Anyway, that human never takes a break.”

Even as she said this, Findenai clicked her tongue regretfully and drank her beer again.

The taste of alcohol that had been so sweet until just now somehow felt a bit bitter now.

* * *

Greyfond, where the festival was unfolding, wore an expression that evoked various emotions.

Many people drink to forget their sorrows, to move forward to tomorrow.

As if deceiving themselves.

Because they couldn’t bear the sadness otherwise.

I understood that emotion.

“In the end, only time will heal it.”

On top of the city wall.

I was taking in the sight of them with my hands behind my back, looking down at the city.

“So can you sleep a little more peacefully now?”

When I asked this to some souls nearby who had not yet entered rest, they hesitantly answered.

[Could I… watch a little longer?]

[I want to see my father smile once more before I go.]

[That idiot is drinking too much even though they quit.]

It wasn’t just the survivors who felt anxiety and sorrow in parting.

I was giving these souls, who still had lingering attachments to those they were leaving behind, truly their final moments.

“……”

I know they don’t want to part.

It’s because they have lingering attachments that they remain like this, watching over the survivors.

It wasn’t exactly a good practice.

In the end, the more they watch, the more their emotions grow instead of being resolved.

It only makes parting more difficult.

But I couldn’t say those words.

They already knew that.

So I quietly hoped that their unresolved emotions would somehow find resolution.

It was the only action I could take for the deceased.

“Are you… very busy?”

A trembling voice came from behind. She had approached so carefully that she hadn’t made a sound, so I hadn’t noticed her.

“Aria.”

She approached carefully with a bottle of alcohol in her hand and stood beside me.

Now in her second year, she was still small, reaching only up to my chest.

She would continue to grow until her graduation in fifth year, and by then she would probably reach my shoulder.

“Hehe, I wanted to have a consultation with Professor!”

By then, would it be difficult to see such an innocent smile as now?

“I see.”

If anyone were to come looking for me, I thought it might be Deia or Erika, but it seems they passed the turn to her.

“Are there still many remaining?”

While Aria could probably only see stars and the moon, I could still see countless souls.

“Yes, parting is difficult after all.”

At my words, Aria nodded as if she understood and easily popped the cork of the bottle with her index finger.

“That’s right. It was very hard for me too, forgetting the friends I met in the first cycle and starting new relationships.”

Hearing that.

I realized that the souls in my sight now and Aria’s situation were indeed similar.

Souls who, after death, did not enter rest through my magic and were finalizing their farewells.

Aria, who after death started a new cycle, but had all her relationships erased and had to forget friends who existed only in her memories to start new relationships.

Except that Aria was still alive and building new relationships, the two partings had similar aspects.

“Do you have anything to say to them?”

So I wondered if Aria, as someone with her own experience, might have some advice.

“No, I shouldn’t interfere with their farewells.”

Smiling brightly, she handed me the bottle and then took out orange juice from her pocket.

Originally, I had no intention of drinking, but since my student had gone to such lengths to prepare this, I let a sip of alcohol flow into my mouth.

As the sweet scent of the fine liquor enveloped my mouth and nose, I felt my emotions, which had been soaked in their sadness, become somewhat dulled.

“Actually, I have so many things I want to ask you, Professor. And so many things I want to say.”

Gulp, gulp.

Aria, drinking orange juice as if it were alcohol, subtly closed the distance between us.

A distance where our hands almost touched.

“Like before. Reporting everything I did, anticipating what you would say, waiting for the next mission.”

Aria, who had compulsively reported to me in the first cycle. Of course, it was the me from the first cycle who made her that way.

When I think of the broken Aria I first met back then, I still feel unnecessary guilt.

“But I won’t tell you anything.”

The girl put her finger to her lips and smiled with a “shh.”

Even in the dark night, her black hair was gently bathed in moonlight, and as it fluttered in the wind, it scattered the girl’s unique scent.

I could instantly understand why this child was the protagonist of the story.

It was a sight to behold.

“Why?”

Even though I knew the reason, I deliberately asked. Like a professor guiding a student to reach an answer through questions.

“Because I won’t entrust anything to you beyond your responsibility as a hero.”

“……”

“Huhu! The life you returned to me. The life as student Aria Rius is mine to lead. It’s mine.”

Back when she had Kagras Syndrome, I forcibly awakened her and brought forth her destiny as a hero.

As a result, Aria reached the ending and was able to live as an ordinary girl, but.

If there was one blind spot in that.

It was that Aria was ultimately passive.

She didn’t achieve it herself, but resolved it with help from me as the subject.

As a student, that’s understandable.

At such a young age, it’s natural to need an adult’s help.

So I thought there was no problem, but watching the Romuleus incident, I realized that wasn’t enough.

In the end, the subject was Aria.

The girl who gained freedom through someone else didn’t have the strength to protect it.

That’s why her heart wavered at Romuleus’s few words, and she trembled in fear.

But now it’s different.

Aria herself cut down the fallen god and severed fate, breaking free from it.

Probably, even if someone else comes in the future, she will not waver and will walk her own path.

“How is it?”

As she leaned slightly forward asking if her answer was correct, a smile involuntarily flowed from me. Though I didn’t look at her directly, I nodded.

“Excellent.”

“Hihi!”

Saying she was happy.

Saying she was so excited about the life she would live from now on.

The girl looked at Greyfond, which was still shining in place of the stars in the sky, and shouted.

“Ah! It’s beautiful!”

With both arms spread wide.

“It’s really beautiful!”

Like a girl shouting “Yahoo!” on a mountain.

“The time that will unfold in this beautiful world! My future! I’m so excited and my heart is pounding!”

The girl may not be the protagonist, but.

Surely, she will live a life that shines brighter than anyone else’s.

In a different way from the Saintess who is called the Sun of the Continent, she will shine brilliantly and move forward.

And everyone will follow this girl with admiration. They’ll want to be with her.

In fact, even I, looking at her bright smile, felt my heart pound with anticipation.

‘What kind of life will this child lead from now on?’

A splendid.

Brilliant.

Beautiful.

Such a life.

“Wowaaaaaaaa!”

As if pouring out everything inside her, Aria shouted toward the city and writhed in exhilaration.

“And!”

The girl, excited enough that the cold wind felt refreshing, clenched her fist and shouted once more.

“Really really! So so so much!”

Her first love.

That would occupy quite a large part of her life that would unfold from now on.

“I like you the most in the world! Professor!”