episode_0350

That night, after the six of them gathered in Yuri’s room, time flew by.

“It’s a trap.”

“Yeah, I knew.”

Lulu, thanks to Nix’s connections, quickly became a member of the Magic Tower.

Even without connections, she was already one of the promising talents the Magic Tower had its eye on, so joining wouldn’t have been a distant future anyway.

“Ah, you knew… What do you mean, Yuri-yang…?”

“Exactly what I said. Teacher, didn’t you feel any dissonance about the regression and this world?”

Nari, as usual, recalled her past life’s memories along with her status window.

Her body, which had undergone relentless training, was also suitable for awakening Aether, and she gradually mastered magic. It wasn’t difficult, thanks to her reliable teachers, Lulu and Nix.

Nari, intoxicated by her power, often went around beating up wicked nobles, for which she was sharply scolded by Yuri and Aspi.

“I, I thought something was a little off…”

“Aspi probably felt the same.”

“Um… That’s right. It wasn’t that I felt this world and the regression were strange, exactly.”

Meanwhile, Eve returned to the Ubiet Empire and ascended to the throne.

Moriarty, whose initial momentum had been broken, wasn’t yet a being to be feared. It was before he had truly begun to expand his influence.

As long as Darius, the Duke and leader, firmly believed Eve to be the Vessel of the Demon God, this vast and wicked power was in Eve’s hands.

“I feel strangely unmoved towards Her Highness.”

“That’s…”

“Of course, my heart trembles wildly in Her Highness’s presence. I’m in love with Her Highness, and I love only Her Highness. I intend to dedicate my body and soul to Her Highness someday.”

Then, she went to the altar of blood to receive the ‘blessing.’

The ritual site, built upon the lingering aura of the Demon God from a previous era. Magi surged there. Eve accepted the Magi.

Of course, her ritual was not violated by the Magi.

“But… I cannot offer this soul.”

“Aspi…?!”

“That light…”

Eve, having become aware of the essence of her soul, embraced the Aether in her chest, and the pure white light was impervious to the Magi.

She merely exuded the aura of a Demon God, pretending to be the Vessel.

“So Aspi has also come to wield the power of Aether.”

“Yes… It hasn’t been long, but… I don’t think I can offer this heat in my chest… to Her Highness, the princess of this world.”

“That’s the same for me, too.”

Before long, everyone became an adult. Lulu and Nix went to the Magic Tower, and Yuri and Nari went to the Academy. Aspi also applied to be an instructor at the Academy’s knighthood department.

Eve also enrolled in the Academy at the same time. She equally took first place in the entrance exam, and her score caught Nari’s attention.

Even without Eve grabbing Nari by the scruff of her neck first, as in her past life, their meeting came to pass. It was Nari’s nature to not be able to resist pretty women.

Eve acted just as aloof and cool as the typical Imperial, but she couldn’t hide the gently raised corners of her mouth.

“Eve… Aether too?”

“This isn’t something I achieved in this life. It was the light that was in my hand the moment I opened my eyes. You understand what this…means, right?”

Lulu, although not an instructor, showed her face at the Academy as a visiting professor.

The faces of the 1-A cadets hadn’t changed at all. She had been a little afraid that changing the past would have some impact.

She shed a few tears of relief, only to be thoroughly teased for it.

“This… isn’t regression…”

“We… haven’t died yet.”

The 1-B cadets, who had been plotting mischief, were quickly disciplined. After taking their midterm exams, Nari and Yuri obtained adventurer licenses under Eve’s guidance.

There was no request to go to the Spirit Sanctuary. This was because the client, Leonardo Price, had already met with Nix.

Nix, having been an elf who had visited that place before, answered all of Leonardo’s questions. Continuing Lea’s final research was also a snap.

“Then, this world…”

“I told you. It’s a trap. An elaborately constructed fake.”

“Nix knew… too…?”

“Yep! Illusions are my specialty!”

Meanwhile, the Iberista Emperor pressured Moriarty. Restrictions were placed on the actions of his executives, and the adventurer Leif naturally escaped from Persona’s grasp.

Nari’s party set out to find the Artemis Ruins and encountered the Four Saints. Their objective was a request to reduce the drastically increased number of Gray Wolves.

“Haah… I feel like I’ve been betrayed…”

“….”

“Tier…?”

The Dungeon Break did not occur. Instead of allowing the wolf den to take root in the Holy Kingdom, an extermination squad was dispatched, and thanks to that, the demon beast outbreak was limited to a level that slightly exceeded the norm.

The one who led this effort was Tier, the saintess of Lumina.

“Tier, you felt stifled too, didn’t you?”

“…Yuri. That’s-”

“Tier always looked at me with slightly moist eyes.”

“…?!”

Both the demon beast extermination and the ruin exploration ended successfully. Not a single casualty occurred.

Especially in the Holy Kingdom, Tier’s status rose even higher thanks to forming the extermination squad.

Based on that, they began actively supporting Nifrantz Academy, and they dispatched a large number of security forces for the subsequent final exams.

“I didn’t mean it in a strange way. Tier always considered her inability to be honest about her own feelings as a weakness, right? That’s why she looked up to honest people.”

“Th… That’s…”

“The same applies to this life’s frustration. You actually know the reason, but you can’t honestly give the answer.”

“So… I did something wrong…?”

Moriarty’s attack on the Academy ended in failure again. However, the difference this time was that Eve was in the position of rebuking Moriarty.

As the Iberista Emperor, she purged all the ringleaders. Outwardly, she was furious about the operational failure, but in fact, she quietly thinned out Moriarty’s forces, preventing their growth.

“No? What did Tier do wrong?”

“Then why…”

“Is it wrong to not be honest?”

“…?”

The summer vacation was taken by all seven of them together. They played together on the southern beaches, defeated demon beasts, and spent intimate time together at night.

It was not Eve but Duke Darius who writhed in agony, fearing the failure of the next operation.

“Tier… is just cautious. She’s just being sincere about her own feelings.”

“I, I…”

“I’m just the type to act before I think.”

Even when the second semester began, nothing much had changed.

The Holy Kingdom did not send a request for dispatch to the Aither Temple. What arrived was only a formal invitation from Saintess Tier.

Nari and her wives thoroughly enjoyed the chilly Holy Kingdom, even in the middle of summer. They explored various places, took care of some demon beasts when they had time, and spent intimate time at night.

Nari had a simple competition with the Knight Commander, Chiron Schutrich. An event match, so to speak. Naturally, it also contained political meaning in supporting him.

On the way back, as if collecting souvenirs, she purged Pope Gregorio. It was easy to kill an old man who was languishing, having been stripped of all his power by the saintess.

“I don’t have any worries. I just do what my body tells me to do.”

“I do worry! But it ends quickly! If you analyze everything carefully, the answer comes right out, kekeke-”

“I, I think I’m similar to Nix.”

“I’m similar to Yuri. If you keep breaking down the worrisome choices one by one, you’ll eventually reach the right answer.”

After finishing the final exams, Nari began to seriously prepare for the succession to the throne.

Things went even more smoothly. Lea’s faction had secured a strong position, and Nix had already finished the groundwork, so it was a sure thing.

Nari became the crown princess.

“In this way… we are all similar yet different. That’s why Tier isn’t bad or strange. None of us are.”

“So… that’s how it was. Maybe… maybe… in my past life, my slow awakening… wasn’t because I was unlucky…”

“It’s because Tier was cautious.”

Eve confessed something other than love to Nari. Her other name, Ibestar von Ubiet.

Nari just laughed. And she replied that she knew.

With a deep kiss as their final act, Eve returned to the throne. A month later, the war began.

“Do you still… regret your past life?”

“I can never forget what happened then. It’s such a sad and painful memory. Of course, I regret it. This life wasn’t like that, so it was all the more rewarding.”

The nature of the war was markedly different.

Moriarty’s soldiers, who had been brainwashed by the Magi, were all purified by the light emitted by Nari’s army.

Before Tenebris could descend, all the Magi that had permeated the continent scattered.

“But… even that is all ‘me’… right…?”

“Yes.”

“I see… Right… I regret, I worry, I suffer, and yet this ‘me’… is the same ‘me’. Nothing is different.”

Whoosh—

Nari and her six wives, who led the war to victory. Their bodies glowed pure white.

“This… is our true form.”

All of them had awakened their Aether.