“Hmm… Huh… Ugh… Huh-huh…”
Rubia finally stopped crying after several hours of sobbing as she plopped down on her seat.
“Noah… Huh… Noah, Noah. Noaah…”
“Yes, it’s me… Noah…”
Then, with the look of someone who had completely melted away, she wrapped her arms around my body tightly. Pressing her nose against the nape of my neck, she breathed in my scent and groped my body with those naughty little hands of hers, even touching my behind…
And again, she hugged my body tightly.
Her trembling arms grew thinner. Even more than before.
The hands we held, the waist she clung to, the cheeks she stroked. Everything about Rubia was shattered, as if my heart was being torn apart.
How much time has passed? If a long time has passed, how much has Rubia suffered during that time?
Did she skip meals? Did she sleep well?
Did she ever have any bad thoughts?
Still, Rubia worried a lot about me.
…I felt so upset, as if I had made a huge mistake, yet just a little bit… just a tiny bit… well, maybe a lot, I felt good.
I felt deep down how significant my existence was to Rubia.
I realized that my presence could cause Rubia this much pain.
In that moment of complex feelings of guilt and joy…
“…Noah.”
While Rubia cried, Hermila, who had been covering her mouth with both hands and shedding tears just like Rubia, approached me.
I tried to get up to greet Hermila, but…
“Huh… Noah… Noaah…”
Thanks to Rubia, who tightly wrapped her whole body around mine, I couldn’t stand up.
With no choice, I poked my head out to greet Hermila.
“Oh, it’s been a while, Hermila…”
“Ugh… Hah… Yes, it’s really… been a while.”
Her face was an ambiguous mix of crying and smiling as she kneeled before me.
Slowly, like she was petting a delicate glasswork, Hermila stroked my head.
She seemed like she wanted to say something, yet her voice wouldn’t come out; she just kept pouting her lips.
Next was Delia.
Delia, who seemed to have lost all strength in her legs, sat weakly on the ground, her eyes wide and darting between my face and the place where I appeared.
And Heinzel.
Heinzel stood there, looking up at the sky, making sounds like “Hmph…” or “Um…”, and was expressing what seemed like a mix of emotions.
I expected him to burst out laughing like he usually does, “Hahaha!!” but this reaction felt a bit awkward.
I was sitting, while Heinzel was standing.
With his tall stature, I couldn’t see his expression, especially since he was looking up.
It didn’t feel like the right moment to draw my Great Sword and unleash my energy either.
Um… Should I say something?
“Um, Uncle Heinzel…?”
“Hmph…?!”
Heinzel flinched, swallowing dryly several times before finally speaking.
“Kiddo, the arm wrestling contest between you and me has not yet occurred.”
“…Eh?”
“Um.”
What on earth was he talking about?
I couldn’t see Rubia’s face behind me and looked back and forth between Hermila and Delia, but they just shrugged.
Arm wrestling…?
What does that even mean? I was going to ask, but…
Plop – a droplet from the tip of Heinzel’s chin interrupted my words.
So, I simply said, “…Let’s definitely do it next time.” and smiled awkwardly.
Then came the chilling silence.
Amid Rubia and Hermila’s sniffles, from somewhere in the back, though I couldn’t see it, I could hear the roaring cheer of many people.
I slowly turned my head to look in that direction.
There were so many people.
Really, really many people.
And they were continuously shouting as they approached us.
Stepping on the widely spread tree roots and walking on the iron path, they kept running towards us.
With each step, their shouts became clearer and clearer.
At first, it was an incomprehensible language, a noise that I couldn’t understand, but now I could understand.
Their cheers.
What they were shouting.
Who’s name they were calling.
“Noah.”
Hermila called my name.
“…Noah.”
Delia called my name.
“Hmph.”
Heinzel didn’t call my name.
And then, in a place that was now clearly visible, there were many people gathering.
Thousands of people.
—God Noah! —God Noah!
All of them were shouting my name in unison.
“…U-uh… W-why are there so many people…?”
I couldn’t see Rubia’s face behind me, so I looked at Hermila.
Hermila, with a bright smile, said, “Everyone wanted to find Noah.”
Delia continued, “They owe you their lives and are people you saved.”
Heinzel said, “Hmph.”
“…Wow…”
The ground I was sitting on vibrated thunderously, and perhaps the sound even shook my vision; I couldn’t help but be astonished by the sound of my name.
In the midst of this overwhelming cheer, Rubia called my name.
“Noah.”
Even with the smell of ink mixed in, a delightful and warm fragrance wafted around.
Though her form was so thin that I could feel the shape of her bones, that gentle body embraced me.
I moved slightly and turned to face her.
I looked up and gazed into her azure eyes.
Her beautifully curved blue irises reflected my face.
Our foreheads touched.
Our noses brushed.
And then her lips parted.
“Welcome back.”
I couldn’t respond.
All the emotions I had been suppressing burst forth all at once.
I couldn’t say anything.
I could do nothing but wrap my arms around Rubia and cry like a little child.
*
Unlike the noisy outside, the interior of the tent was quiet as if some kind of magic had been cast.
There, I was…
Nibbling on…
Huddled in Rubia’s embrace, now stuffed full of jelly to the point that my jaw hurt.
Glug-glug –
I drank the strawberry milk that Hermila had handed me.
But now…
“Ugh…”
I couldn’t eat anymore.
Wait, can you really get full just from jelly and strawberry milk?
“Th-that’s enough… I feel like I’m going to burst…”
I shook my head while patting my belly, swollen from all the jelly and strawberry milk.
I was really too full.
If I pressed my stomach, jelly might pop out from my belly button, I was so stuffed.
“Well then, let’s have just one more.”
But Rubia held out jelly right in front of my mouth.
“Gah… I’ve been saying just one, just one, since earlier…?”
That’s right. Rubia had been insisting I eat just one more jelly for like an hour, maybe two.
I kept turning it down, but each time I did…
“…Are you saying no?”
She would droop her head with a sad face like this…
So I, of course, had to say, “Well, then… I’ll have just… one more.”
Once I said that, Rubia’s face lit up like a bulb as she popped a jelly into my mouth.
Again… nibbling…
My jaw is killing me…
After chewing for a while, I finally gulped down the jelly and let out a sweet sigh.
The fragrance of jelly wafted through the air.
“Um, that was delicious…”
I nodded my head quickly, hoping Rubia wouldn’t offer me jelly again as I gently patted her hand.
Just as I expected, her other hand was already reaching for the jelly.
“Did you eat as much as you wanted?”
“Yes, yes! I really, really ate as much as I wanted…”
“Hehehe, then I’m glad.”
Finally withdrawing her hand from the jelly, Rubia wrapped her remaining arm around me.
Then she stroked my jelly and strawberry milk-filled belly and called my name.
“Noah.”
“Yes?”
“Now… is it really all over?”
Her voice trembled with uncertainty.
Her arms tightened around me as if not to lose me.
She tried to pretend to be okay, but since our bodies were pressed tightly against each other, I could fully feel her trembling.
“Um, well…”
I immediately tried to reply but paused, turning around.
I faced Rubia.
Looking into her eyes, I spoke firmly so that Rubia could completely let her guard down.
“Yes. There’s no need to part ways now.”
There would be no parting.
The Nameless One has been annihilated.
I saved both myself and Rubia.
And now, I’ve returned to Rubia’s embrace.
Of course… there still were things to do.
More things would arise in the future, but there would be no parting from Rubia. There would be no long separations again.
So, it’s okay now.
“You don’t have to worry anymore.”
Rubia’s previously clouded expression brightened.
Her trembling eyes, her twitching nose, her puckered lips—all transformed into a radiant smile as she nodded.
“Yes.”
And without even knowing who went first, our lips met. A brief kiss, not the long, ticklish, and fever-inducing kind from before, but one filled with trust and affection.
Peck – Peck –
As we exchanged short kisses several times…
“Cough, cough… uh… Noah? Rubia?”
From behind, Hermila, sounding quite uncomfortable, called our names while tapping on the desk.
“Um… I’m here too, you know?”
“Hah…”
I finally stopped kissing and turned around sluggishly to face Hermila.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Are you jealous?”
I apologized, and Rubia playfully gave me another kiss on the cheek before teasing Hermila.
“…Were you the one who was dying until yesterday?”
Seeing us, Hermila arched an eyebrow and gave a bitter smile.
“Haah… Well… Yes. I’m glad, really… It’s been a long time, Noah. Thank you for coming back… and for protecting us.”
“A-ah… Y-yes… I’m grateful too. For a long time, you… you…”
Thinking about it, how long was I missing?
In the place I was, the passage of time was strange and there were no clocks, so I had no way of knowing.
But it didn’t feel like it was that long… Hm…
“Noah?”
Since I trailed off, Rubia called my name with a worried tone.
“Is something wrong?”
Hermila also asked seriously.
“Um… I… remember…”
I patted Rubia’s trembling arms and said.
“How long has it been since I disappeared…?”
“394 days, and 21 hours, and 36 minutes.”
The answer came immediately.
I was startled by Rubia’s extraordinarily precise reply. Not only was I surprised by how detailed her answer was, but…
“W-wait, what?! A year?!”
I was shocked most by the realization that a year had passed.
“…Yes.”
Rubia answered again, her voice on the verge of tears. Hearing her sniffle, it seemed she was about to cry again.
I released Rubia’s arms and intertwined my trembling hands with hers.
After taking a few breaths to calm herself, Rubia opened her mouth.
“Can you… tell me what happened during that time?”
“Um…”
I nodded and deliberated on how I could explain everything that happened in the best way possible.
“…I organized the hierarchy?”
Hermila’s expression contorted in a strange way.
“Huh…?”
Rubia let out a silly, uncharacteristic sound, a mix that resembled “Huh?” and “Eh?”
Listening to Rubia’s adorably foolish voice made me chuckle as I detailed a bit more about what I had done.
“Hehe… I put some order in place.”
