Noah

The Empire’s capital was more boisterous than usual.

In a corner of it, inside a shop with a sign that read “Closed” today, a quiet sigh echoed.

“Please eat.”

Clatter. A tray with a light meal was placed before a woman who had pulled her robe down low.

The woman stared at the tray for a moment, then shook her head.

“Even if it’s hard, eat something. You need to… regain your strength.”

The blonde woman sitting across from her, Hermilla, spoke with a slightly firm voice.

However, the woman in the robe only shook her head again and pushed the meal away.

“…Haa. Fine. Then, at least take off your robe. There’s no one here.”

The woman in the robe shook her head again. At the same time, Hermilla sighed and reached out to remove the robe.

Rustle— Silver-white hair, freed from the hood, fell limply. Hair that once shone with luster, perhaps even more brilliantly than the Milky Way, was now dull.

Above it, lips were tightly shut.

Not the pink lips that were always stained with a lovely color, but chapped and dry lips twitched.

“…Thank you for your concern. But… I’m fine now.”

A very small voice. A voice so weak that it seemed to have lost the strength to even utter sounds, cracked and on the verge of collapse, made Hermilla bite her lip.

“Really, I’m fine… Hermilla, you can leave.”

Those lips drew a faint curve.

A head that had been drooping lifted.

The woman’s blue eyes looked at Hermilla.

The light in the blue eyes that always shone transparently had become dull. Dull to the point of being extinguished. Her skin, which had always been white, was now pale, giving off an aura as if she would disappear if one looked away even for a moment.

“…Rubia. It’s not, it’s not completely over yet. Surely, Noah’s power can be felt in that ring… right?”

Hermilla’s eyes, which had been meeting Rubia’s, lowered. Her finger. She looked at the ring on her left ring finger.

“So, it’s okay. The investigation team is also moving, so somehow… we’ll be able to find her.”

“…Yes.”

Upon hearing those words, Rubia embraced her left hand, the ring on that ring finger. As if it were more precious than anything else, as if she would never let it go.

“And… Charlotte’s speech will be next month, so you can take off your robe and step forward with dignity.”

“Noah’s name…”

“Of course, we have to tell it. Because it’s a place to reveal the truth of the world, all the truths that have been hidden in the shadow of Erden until now. Noah’s name, Noah’s actions… of course, we have to tell them.”

“But, people might fall into confusion—”

“No.”

Hermilla, cutting off Rubia’s words with a firm voice, spoke as if spitting out the words.

“Even if they fall into confusion, even if another war breaks out, even if people curse and criticize, that’s a fact that we must know. All of us, we who know that truth, must tell that story… right? So, such confusion is not important. What’s important is the truth.”

After being stunned for a while after hearing those words, Rubia lowered her head, speaking in a voice that trembled violently as if emotions were overflowing.

“Thank… thank you… really…”

“It’s not something to be thanked for. Rather… it’s something to be cursed and criticized for. Because this is all I can do for Noah… for Noah, who protected this world.”

Hermilla, who had been sitting across from her, hurriedly raised Rubia’s body with a hurried gesture and patted her shoulder.

“So, first eat. Eat, rest well, and when you get a little better… then let’s go find her together.”

“…Yes.”

Rubia’s hand, lifted weakly, grasped the spoon.

But even that trembled as if it were heavy.

One spoonful, two spoonfuls.

Rubia, who was struggling to eat the soup that had not lost its warmth, carefully opened her mouth.

“The others…”

The words were cut off. As if it were too much to utter a voice, she took a breath.

At that, Hermilla smiled softly and replied.

“They’re gathered at the end of the world.”

“Are they okay…? Is it… there…”

Rubia frowned and cut off her words.

Soon after, she coughed as if it were difficult to even swallow her breath.

Hermilla was briefly surprised, but quickly handed Rubia a handkerchief and water and replied.

“You don’t have to worry too much about the Demon Beasts gathering. I heard that they’re being subjugated smoothly. It can’t be helped. Because the strongest person among the beings living on the continent right now is there.”

Seeing that Rubia had calmed down, Hermilla raised one hand and waved it lightly above her head.

Rubia, understanding who that expression meant without needing to explain it, smiled softly.

“Then, that’s a relief…”

“Yes. It’s a relief. It’s a relief in many ways. A person who thought he would die after finishing the battle in Cartia… says he can’t die yet because he has to win just one arm wrestling match.”

Chuckling, Hermilla paused her laughter for a moment and continued.

“So, you don’t have to worry too much. No one will say anything even if Rubia isn’t there. And… as I said before, you don’t have to feel guilty. You can step forward with dignity. Rubia was used by Erden, not the core of it.”

“…Thank you for saying that.”

A weak smile.

It was a smile that seemed to respond to Hermilla’s words, but it contained a meaning of refusal.

Seeing that smile, Hermilla parted her lips as if to say something, but quickly closed them.

Then, with a slightly bitter smile, she brought up something completely different from what she was going to say.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“…Yes.”

Scrape— Hermilla pulled out her chair and stood up. At the same time, scrape—

“No, Hermilla, you rest. I’ll make the coffee.”

Rubia, who had stood up from her seat following Hermilla, shook her head and said.

Hermilla, staring at Rubia quietly, nodded as if she couldn’t help it and sat down.

Tap— Tap—

Listening to the gradually receding footsteps, Hermilla swept her face with both hands.

She was staying here to comfort Rubia, but she was pathetic for becoming depressed along with her, let alone comforting her.

But she couldn’t just be bright.

It was hard to pretend to be okay.

Even if not as much as Rubia, Hermilla also liked and cherished Noah. She wanted her happiness.

The investigation to find Noah is continuing. Even if there are no results, the investigation teams gathered in Cartia and at the end of the world are desperately searching for her traces.

Of course, there are people who participated in the investigation team for a reward, but the majority were adventurers who gathered at Rubia’s word without any reward.

At Rubia’s word that Noah was alive.

At the forefront of that.

An adventurer who may be the strongest among humans.

An adventurer who single-handedly defeated Leviathan and beat Behemoth to death with his bare hands.

It was Heinzel.

At the end of the world, he was constantly facing the Demon Beasts that were gathering from the endlessly spreading horizon, leading everyone.

For the reason that he had to find Noah and win an arm wrestling match.

The real reason probably wasn’t that.

Of course, Rubia wasn’t just staying here doing nothing. She had become like an ordinary person because she couldn’t use Divine Power, but she was doing her best to find a way in her own way.

She was creating new magic based on the Divine Power that remained in her body, researching ancient magic, and achieving unprecedented results. To the point where magic and Artifacts that had not been properly utilized until now were being completed in her hands.

But she could not create a way to find Noah, magic, or spells. She could not find them.

Even with ancient magic, even with magic said to have been used by dragons, Noah’s traces could not be found.

Even now, almost two years after the war ended.

Even so, she did not give up.

She was desperately struggling in the darkness where she could not see the end.

She, they, would not stop the investigation even if their lives were exhausted.

Until they find Noah.

Until they find Noah’s traces.

Until they accept Noah’s ‘end’.

“Haa…”

Hermilla sighed softly and stood up to clean up the meal that Rubia had left unfinished.

At the same time.

Tingle— An unknown ominous sensation ran up her spine.

And, —Clang! A sharp sound erupted from the kitchen where Rubia was.

“Rubia!”

Hermilla, wrapped in purple flames all over her body, ran to the kitchen.

And she saw.

Rubia, collapsing and sitting down.

Her hand, pierced by a broken glass, bleeding.

The ring gradually disappearing from that hand.

An arm desperately stretched out to grab the ring that was disappearing into blackish-red smoke, to grab the last remaining hope.

“…Rubia?”

“Noah…”

Blink, blink— The girl blinked her eyes several times.

Noah rubbed her eyes with trembling hands and opened her eyes again.

“Huh…? Rubia…?”

“Yes. It’s been… it’s been a long time.”

Wiping away the tears falling on her face, Noah got up.

“What, what the heck is going on?”

She looked around with eyes that couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

A small village whose name she didn’t even remember, a house located on the outskirts of it, which could be said to be large or small.

The house where she lived with Rubia.

The house where they lived together before the world was destroyed, before she died.

“A house…?”

Noah slowly stroked the bed she had been lying on, then raised her head and looked at Rubia, who was holding back tears in front of her.

“Rubia… Ru, bia… Rubia? Huh…? Really, really Rubia? A dream… no, really, Rubia… is that right?”

“…Yes. Noah.”

“Ah, uh… sniff… hic… Ru, bia… Rubia, Rubia. Rubia…”

Noah, who kept uttering Rubia’s name, burst into tears and threw herself into her arms.

Rubia also shed tears no less than Noah, and strongly hugged Noah’s body that had jumped into her arms.

“…I missed you.”

“Me too, me too… I, too… I missed Rubia so, so much… I couldn’t even dream… I couldn’t even meet Rubia in my dreams… sniff, hic… sob…”

“You’ve been through a lot. Really… you’ve been through a lot.”

Noah, who was crying so sadly that even the person watching felt heartache, opened her mouth without stopping her crying.

“So, then… ‘I’, ‘I’… succeeded…? I succeeded perfectly… so this is what happened? Wow, really… I really succeeded in this? Ahaha… haha! Rubia, then have you met ‘me’ too? How is ‘I’? ‘I’m’ shorter than me… right… huh…?”

Rubia did not answer.

“…Ru, bia…?”

Noah, who wiped away her tears with her sleeve, looked up at Rubia. Her face was not clearly visible because it was covered in tears.

“Rubia… what happened to ‘me’? Huh? Did ‘I’ go back?”

Seeing Rubia still not answering, Noah jumped up from her seat and wiped the tears and snot remaining on her face.

“Why, why aren’t you… answering?”

Rubia, smiling faintly at such Noah, looked out the window.

Looking at the endlessly blue sky.

Looking at the sky that Noah had created.

Looking at the new world she had opened up, she said.

“I’m sorry… Noah is—”