“The end of the world.”
Ser’s heavy voice settled on the table.
“I expect the path to that place will open the moment Brunhilde’s summoning circle is activated.”
Thud- Thud- Thud-
Upon hearing that, Hermila dropped the letter with a thud- and began to tap the table.
“The number of people heading there—”
“Three, that can be handled through dimensional travel.”
Thud- Thud-
Ser tilted their head, watching Hermila, who had taken the words right out of their mouth.
“It seems like Hermila has a habit of tapping the table when she sees the future.”
“Yeah. It’s hard to distinguish between the future and the present in my head. Hehe.”
With a wry smile and a little finger wiggle, Hermila tapped the table again and opened her mouth.
“The members are Ser, Rubia, and Noah, right?”
Flinch- At the mention of my name, Rubia’s body trembled slightly.
Is she relieved that she can go with me…?
Me too… I’m so glad I get to go with Rubia!
With a cheesy grin, I hugged Rubia tightly.
“That’s correct.”
Hermila finally had a look of satisfaction, tilting her coffee cup.
“What’s so funny?”
“Oh… Since this afternoon, a situation completely different from my future vision has occurred. But then, a situation that fits perfectly came up, and I couldn’t help but smile.”
Hermila’s subtle gaze fixed on me.
At the same time, Ser’s gaze did too.
Rubia’s face also turned towards me.
“…Um, hehehe.”
Whenever this group gathers… they always look at me like this once…
Amidst the awkward stares, I gulped down my cold strawberry milk—gulp- gulp-.
“Um… So, Hermila, do you see the future after that?”
“I did see it, but…”
Hermila trailed off, her fingers starting to tap the table again.
One, two, three, four.
By the time it went over ten, Hermila, with a twisted smile, finally spoke.
“The subjugation… will be successful. The time is approximately 42 hours. There are no interruptions from Erden in between.”
Rubia clenched her arm tightly.
A faint change crossed Ser’s expression.
“From the looks of it, it seems you all have arrived at the end of the world.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Hermila nodded, erasing the twisted smile from earlier and replacing it with her usual cheerful one.
Then came the awkward silence.
I too forcefully swallowed the question that had risen to the tip of my tongue.
“Well, um, I have something to say.”
Instead, I said something else.
About the future Hermila had seen.
About the distorted smile that had just flashed across her face.
About any way to brighten that up a bit.
“I-I’ll tell you how to deal with Brunhilde…”
The heated gazes of Ser and Hermila locked onto me.
Rubia, still hugging me from behind, felt even more comforting.
I felt Rubia’s reassuring heart as she calmed me down and slowly opened my mouth.
“Well, um… you know—?! Ugh…”
Oh.
Oh…
Oh…!!!! Seriously!!!!
It was such a cool scene!!!!
Why!! Did I mess it up!!!??
“W-Wait a moment…”
Cough- Cough- Ahem-
I thoroughly cleared my throat so I wouldn’t mess up again.
At that moment, Rubia’s divine power flowed into me, easing my tension.
While a faint laugh was heard, I tried to ignore it as much as possible.
I felt like my face was going to burst…
“Ahem… I-I’ll say it now. So… I’m only going to say it once, so listen carefully.”
Hermila nodded and pulled out a notebook and pen.
Ser, still with a smirk, gazed at me.
“D-Doesn’t Ser need to write this down…?”
“I’m going to face Laila anyway, so what’s the point?”
“Oh, right…”
Brunhilde.
Brunhilde.
As I recalled the countless times I had faced Brunhilde, just as I prepared to speak the first part with a whoosh- bang-!, I felt something was off about the situation flowing so naturally.
Why… why wasn’t anyone asking anything…?
Ser, Rubia, and Hermila.
Why is everyone listening naturally when I’m about to reveal how to deal with Brunhilde, someone no one in this world knows about?
Rubia might not know, but Ser and Hermila don’t even know that I came from another world…
Why… why isn’t anyone asking anything?
Did Rubia say everything?
No, she hasn’t… Rubia has been with me all day, so there wasn’t any time to speak separately with someone else…
Besides, Rubia wouldn’t spill our secret.
Something feels… very strange…
“Um, but… why is no one asking anything…?”
Ser and Hermila tilted their heads.
“Um, it seems Noah is a fool after all.”
“Are you only asking that now? Hehe…”
Huh?
I asked a question, but why are those weird remarks coming back…?
As I tilted my head in confusion, Ser, who had chuckled, opened their mouth.
“Noah, I’ve known from early on that you are different from us. I also suspected that you might have come from another world.”
“Gasp…”
“But, what does that matter?”
Ser’s voice, once filled with sarcasm and mockery, suddenly turned warm.
“After all, the fact that we are friends doesn’t change.”
Beyond warmth, it felt like fire.
“Oh my…?”
And Rubia’s surprised voice, mingling with that heat, turned into a flustered blush for Ser.
“S-So… it doesn’t… matter…! I-I… just… hurry, explain…”
Finally, hiding their face with both hands, Ser buried their head on the table with a thump- and continued.
“Ugh… Anyway… please explain to Hermila. I want to finish quickly and get some… sleep.”
Seeing a side of Ser I had never seen before, I felt a strange kinship.
Hermila, who sat next to them, looked as if she had seen a ghost, and Rubia, who was shaking with laughter behind me, eventually—
“Puhahaha—Ahaha!”
Couldn’t hold back her laughter and burst out.
“…Don’t laugh.”
“Ahaha… Hehe, Ser has a surprisingly cute side, doesn’t he? Did he really have no friends?”
“Gasp… S-Ser, you didn’t have any friends too…? Didn’t you say you had a lot…?”
“Shut up… If you keep talking, I’ll kill you.”
At Ser’s biting words, Rubia still couldn’t stop laughing.
“Oh ho, Ser. Don’t say such mean things to your friend. A good person like Noah might just turn their back on you without you even realizing it.”
“…Gulp.”
Flinch- Ser’s body trembled violently.
“No way…? Rubia, I-I’m not like that…!”
At that moment, Hermila, who had been stiffly caught up in the atmosphere, began to smile warmly and nodded.
“Rubia’s right, Ser. You should only say pretty things to your friends.”
“…Alright, just let it go for now. If you keep this up, I might just end it all here.”
Watching Ser repeatedly bang their head on the table, Hermila and Rubia chuckled and nodded.
“Hehe, this is lightening the mood. Now, shall we return to the main topic? Noah, please explain.”
Following Hermila’s words, the atmosphere had completely transformed from before.
It was simply mismatched to talk about a battle where many lives could be lost.
However.
The reason why adventurers talked loudly and roughly more than anyone else.
The reason why they drank until they became completely nonfunctional.
The reason why they rambled about nonsense.
Even if tomorrow comes, and once again they have to risk their lives hunting beasts.
That wasn’t something they cared about, as they laughed heartily.
I slowly began to understand those things.
“Mmm…”
A breezy, ticklish atmosphere.
Someday.
Feeling the strange warmth that I had felt in the adventurer guild of a small village.
I nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes-!?”
Ugh.
So annoying…
*
Thick smoke seeped through the cracks of the old and shabby stained glass.
“Aaron.”
A deep voice rumbled in the dilapidated ruins.
At the call, a man with a short-cropped head turned.
“What future are you seeing?”
There stood Vamilion, clad in golden armor, with a massive great sword planted in the ground.
“The salvation of humanity.”
Thin tendrils of acrid smoke slipped from Aaron’s slightly parted lips.
“Why would someone wishing for such a thing make that choice?”
“Because I wish for such a thing, I made that choice.”
“Aaron, you know the secrets of this world. You know how this world was created. You know why our noble goddess became a dark god!”
The glow of the smoking pipe intensified, letting loose a plume of white ash as it burned.
“Only the two of us know this. Only we can do this. Only we must do this. Yet, why did you make such a choice?”
Vamilion’s rage shook the shabby stained glass.
“Did your past vow to become the worst catastrophe for your disciple shatter?”
With a crunch of teeth, Vamilion violently threw off his helmet, revealing his radiant golden hair.
Underneath was a distorted face of a woman.
“Even if it’s a false paradise, even if the path ahead is hell, does your vow to save this world… no longer hold?”
Now, it was no longer a deep voice.
A frail voice that could scatter into the air at any moment flowed out.
“Aaron… please, I beg of you. Don’t forget your mission.”
“Vamilion.”
“Don’t call me Vamilion. Right now, I am speaking to you as ‘Frey’.”
A dry wind swept away the thick smoke of Aaron’s pipe.
“I don’t know what picture you’re trying to paint. I don’t know what future you’re hoping for. The goddess’s soul has already reached the end of erosion. What’s left is… only the two of us. So, please don’t forget. Remember our mission—”
Following the guidance of the goddess.
Entering the false paradise.
At the end of endless bloodshed,
The ‘real’ humans living in this world.
“Is salvation.”
