Tomorrow

Right after gently placing the dented canteen down, Rubia pressed me further about my meeting with Lilith.

But… there was nothing I could say.

I really only met her briefly, and the exchange between us was just one question and one answer each.

“…So, all she said was that she loved Noah and brought her to this world, and that’s it?”

“Y-yes… I, I really didn’t do anything that Rubia would hate…”

“Yes, I believe you. I trust Noah, but… I don’t trust the people around Noah.”

‘Mostly ‘I’,’ Rubia muttered, forcing a bitter smile as she tilted her water glass.

“That reminds me, it’s fascinating. That she saw Noah in another world and fell in love… No, in the first place, I thought gods were supposed to be emotionless?”

“Y-yes…”

“But still, she loved Noah… Hmm…”

I was also curious.

Even after hearing Lilith’s answer, I wondered what it all meant… Back then, I was, well, a little…

There were many things about me that weren’t good.

“Alright. Well… yes. Even if I tried to find the reason now, I wouldn’t be able to… I’ll just have to accept it. The process was incredibly… difficult and painful, but now, like this, Noah is by my side.”

Rubia then set down her water glass and gently stroked my chin.

“So, Noah, you don’t need to feel burdened or guilty about making me your Avatar. I actually like it. It means I can spend an eternity with Noah. And you don’t need to worry that I’ll be troubled by mere immortality. Absolutely, no matter what happens, that will never happen. Understand?”

“…Y-yes, yes.”

I lifted my chin at the ticklish sensation and answered with a trembling voice. Seeing me like that, Rubia chuckled and smoothed out my slightly sticking-out hair.

“Are you hungry?”

“U-uh… a l-little hungry.”

“Then, shall we go out and eat?”

“Go out…?”

“Yes. Noah has never been to The Capital, so we can look around and eat. How about it?”

Sounds good. It sounds good, but…

I turned my head to look out the window.

Completely black Darkness was thickly spread out.

The stars were twinkling, and a slightly dented moon was hanging in the sky.

“It’s completely… night, though?”

“It’s alright. The Capital isn’t The Capital for nothing, you know? There are shops that are open even at this hour. Besides, with the inauguration ceremony coming up, many places will be open even later.”

Goodness…

24-hour businesses that I only saw on Earth… exist in The Capital too?

“Wow… T-then, I want to go out.”

“Alright.”

Rubia stood up from her seat and reached out her hand to me.

“First, before we go out, shall we take a shower? You’ve sweated a lot, and you’re sticky all over.”

I reached out my arm to take Rubia’s hand, but then I paused. An unknown sense of unease made me withdraw my hand.

“…R-Rubia.”

“Yes?”

“I… um, my back, it h-hurts, you know?”

Rubia didn’t answer.

“And, um… here… between my legs… it’s also sore… and where Rubia bit me… it hurts too… um…”

Still, she didn’t answer.

Instead, she smirked, as if waiting for my next words.

“We, we really only have to wash… R-right?”

Without any answer, Rubia moved a little closer.

“…P-please answer me…”

“Hmph… Noah.”

“Y-yes…?”

Rubia, wearing a beaming, mysterious smile, took a step towards me.

“Noah, if you haven’t had any jelly for over a year, and there’s a really delicious jelly in front of you, can you resist eating it?”

“…I-is there a reason to resist…?”

“No? There’s no reason to resist. No one will say anything if you eat it. In fact, the jelly will be happy too. But still, can you not eat it?”

“Th-that’s…”

Then, Rubia, who had come right in front of me, whispered very quietly.

“You have to eat it. You have to keep eating it until you’re satisfied.”

She didn’t even touch my skin. She didn’t lick my ear, and her fingers didn’t caress my body, but…

Something, something something… Rubia’s voice.

It felt like that bewitching voice had swept over my entire body.

Goosebumps all over…

I gulped… My legs trembled.

“Hic…”

Hiccups.

“Let’s go take a shower quickly.”

Finally, Rubia’s hand took mine.

And slowly, incredibly gently, as if telling me to push her away if I could, she led me.

I.

…Couldn’t push her away.

Rubia’s scent reached my nose.

It was definitely the same as what I used, but a little subtly different.

Was it because Rubia’s skin scent was added?

“It’s comfortable being carried on my back, right?”

“I-it’s comfortable, but… um… could you stop rubbing my b-butt?”

“That’s difficult.”

Difficult… What could possibly be…

“Do you dislike it?”

“No… I don’t dislike it, but…”

It feels strange… If I make a mistake, then…

“I-I might make a weird noise…”

Rubia chuckled at my words.

“It’s alright. There’s no one around.”

“That’s, that’s true, but… Hmph…”

As Rubia said, there were no people on the road we were walking on, or rather, the road Rubia was carrying me on.

Occasionally, drunk people staggered by, and people who looked like they had just finished working late walked around wearily, but there weren’t many people in general.

“It’s quiet.”

“Y-yes…”

The sound of Rubia’s low-heeled shoes quietly echoed through the streets of The Capital.

“How is it?”

“How is what…?”

“It’s a little broken down in some places, and still messy in others, but isn’t it very peaceful?”

My gaze followed Rubia’s.

As she said, the recent war.

No, rather than a war, it was more like an invasion by Demon Beasts, but it was remarkably clean.

There was no foul stench of Demon Beasts.

No acrid smell of blood.

No smell of thick dust or the metallic tang of iron. There was no trace of the battlefield’s scent in this peaceful street.

The chattering sounds from the occasional household and the clatter of dishes from restaurants that were still open added to the ordinariness of this street.

“It’s the world that Noah protected.”

“Umm…”

Nod. Rubia wouldn’t be able to see it, but I nodded. I was too embarrassed to answer, so… I just nodded, slightly.

“It’s also the world that we will live in from now on.”

Rubia’s voice, spreading gently through the quiet street, warmed my ears slightly.

So, I buried my face in her hair, the hair that reflected the moonlight softly. It was much softer and neater than when I first saw it at World’s End, and it tickled my face.

Every time Rubia breathed, every time she moved, every time she took a step, the tickling grew stronger, but.

I quietly, fully felt that sensation.

“Thank you, Noah.”

Rubia said in the middle of it.

“It’s not that I’m thanking you for protecting this world. It’s a little… selfish, but. Hehehe… Just… just for being by my side. For being carried on my back like this, that’s… what I’m thankful for.”

“Why are you thankful that I’m… being carried on your back…?”

“Eep, then that’s just how it is.”

“Hiyak?!”

Rubia’s hand tightly squeezed my butt.

“Is it because the lower body is important for wielding a Greatsword? Noah’s lower body is very—”

“W-w-w-w-w-w… What, what are you talking about!!”

I slapped Rubia’s shoulder and reached out my other hand to cover Rubia’s mouth.

At the same time, lick. Something soft and moist, no… Rubia’s tongue licked between my fingers.

“Hyaak…”

A very lewd sensation.

Startled, I took my hand away from Rubia’s mouth.

“Oh my?”

Then, Rubia turned to look at me.

I could only see her profile, but Rubia’s face wore a very surprised expression.

“Why, why?”

“Oh, um…”

After choosing her words for a long time, Rubia chuckled and whispered in my ear.

“Even after crying that much, you’re wet again?”

“What…? U-uwaaaaa…!! Put me down!! P-put me down quickly… Hng?! D-don’t touch me…”

The day before the inauguration ceremony.

Charlotte, who had read the speech over and over again, clutched her head and groaned.

“…I can do it. I can do it. You’re the best. Yeah. I’m the best. I can do it…”

The slightly eerie and pitiful self-hypnosis that had continued since yesterday was still going on.

Dark circles had formed under her eyes, and her always glossy golden hair was dry and brittle.

Poor Charlotte…

And next to her. Heinzel, who was sulking after losing an arm-wrestling match to me, was fixing his hair.

He doesn’t have any hair, so why is he looking in the mirror and touching his head?

Ah, maybe he’s checking to see if even one strand has grown?

Then, would he pluck it out?

Or… would he try to have hope?

Hmm… But, um… Isn’t it better not to have hope? Because even Rubia… Lilith’s Divine Power couldn’t cure hair loss.

“Hmm? Do you have something to say?”

“Y-yes…? N-no… Nothing…”

Startled, I shook my head and avoided his gaze.

Hermilla was looking over Charlotte’s speech where I avoided my gaze.

“No matter how I change it, it’s a very fantasy novel-like… speech.”

A fantasy novel.

Um… To me, this world itself is a fantasy novel.

No, it’s a game.

“It can’t be helped. It’s what actually happened.”

Yuria, who was fixing Hephaestus’s hair, answered Hermilla’s words.

“Uhehehe. To think that I made the Greatsword of Noah, the protagonist of that story… Hehe, hehehe… I’m rich now… Yuria, tell me everything you want to eat! I’ll buy it all for you!!”

Right in front of her. Hephaestus, who was sitting in front of Yuria, had been smiling vacantly like that ever since she handed me the Greatsword.

“So, is Noah ready too?”

And Rubia.

Rubia, who was sitting me on her lap and putting jelly in my mouth, asked me.

Ready…

There’s not much for me to prepare.

She said that I just needed to show a figure that would add strength to Charlotte’s speech. There’s really not much to it.

She said that I just needed to draw the Greatsword and swing it.

Not Hephaestus’s Greatsword, but my Greatsword.

In the process, I was also asked not to release my [Aura], if possible.

She said that if the sky turned dark red and the Black Sun rose, people might fall into chaos again… She begged me tearfully.

The people in the Imperial Palace, and someone close to Charlotte… a person called a Duke, were sweating profusely and begging me.

So, what I have to do is draw the Greatsword.

Draw it and swing it.

That’s the end.

I don’t know if drawing and swinging it will add strength to the speech, but… well, since the smart Charlotte said so, it must be so.

Therefore.

Preparation is.

“W-perfect…”

Perfect.

“Oh my, is that so? Hehehe.”

Rubia smiled with a loose face, stroking my head as if she was proud of me.

“Okay… It’s a relief that it’s perfect, but just in case, I’ll say it again. Noah. You absolutely must not raise that Black Sun. And don’t make the sky gloomy either. Got it?”

“Y-yes…!”

“Really, if you do… I might die of a heart attack. No, I’ll just bite my tongue and die. Okay? So please. I… I had such a hard time cleaning that up…”

“O-of course. Just trust me…!”

I puffed out my chest and answered Charlotte.

But Charlotte still looked at me suspiciously and sighed.

“…Okay. Thank you.”

And again, she furrowed her brow while memorizing the incredibly thick speech.

Hermilla, who was next to her, also smiled bitterly and continued to look over Charlotte’s speech.

Heinzel was still fixing his bald head.

Yuria and Hephaestus were chatting, feeling like they didn’t care.

I, Rubia, mixed in between them.

We.

Listened to the very peaceful noise.

Basked in the warm sunlight.

Embraced our pounding hearts and looked forward to it.

Ordinary.

Special.

Very happy.

Tomorrow.