“He’s an important person. Make sure to take good care of him so he doesn’t get hurt.”
The fainted madman was gradually being taken away by the soldiers.
“We decided to transport that guy to the underground prison for now.”
For now, we can just throw him in there and think about what to do later.
The guy has lost the Majin’s authority and even had his mana core destroyed, so he’s harmless, like an ordinary person.
Among the prisoners we saved, there’s a skilled doctor who can reattach his limbs.
Showing off a worm with all its limbs severed in a zoo, claiming it’s an alien would be boring.
I was feeling warm inside knowing I could help him walk on two legs again.
In the end, I subdued him without using any abilities.
This time, the time limit for “Selection and Concentration” was only one second.
It was spent on computational power to strip his abilities away.
Hertlocker performed a surprise attack to break the madman’s center, and Palaine immobilized his arms with her tremendous strength, and thanks to Trie, who tackled him while he was trying to escape, he was sent flying like he was hit by a strong blast.
In the end, his limbs were severed, and he had his abilities absorbed.
I had already cleared the quest and could collect 10 coins.
It was a ridiculously easy revenge.
“Hah…”
I flexed my hands.
They felt like someone else’s hands.
The sensation of air against my skin and the vibrations of mana felt completely different from just a moment ago.
I felt like I could count every leaf and ash floating around me.
That’s how clear my sight was, and time seemed to flow slowly.
That was when I finally felt it.
This was the world of the superhuman.
A world I could only taste for five seconds in a day only when I used my abilities.
I could definitely say I had surpassed the human level.
Majins live like this all the time.
No wonder humans must seem ridiculous…
“Could I trouble you for a cigarette?”
“Ah, yes. Your Excellency. Here you go.”
I sat on a fallen tree and took a drag from the cigarette.
Soon, a spark ignited at the tip of the soldier’s finger.
*Inhales* and its end glowed red while the ash began to fall.
Maybe it had been a while since I last smoked, but my face scrunched in distaste.
Now that I looked, there was no filter on this cigarette.
So it had to be toxic.
“Huuuh…”
However, no matter how much I smoked, I couldn’t clear away the rotten smell of the corpse.
*
After transporting the prisoners and extinguishing all the fires, we set up a stakeout for another 24 hours, but Tilitz did not show up.
In the end, we decided to withdraw.
On the way back, a carriage was waiting at the entrance of the wetlands, and we could ride that.
Hertlocker was anxious, so he got off the carriage and walked with the soldiers, which was totally unnecessary.
I could see everything within a 10-kilometer radius without even needing observation magic.
Even when I wanted to turn off my senses, all kinds of information flowed in naturally.
I felt like a living radar.
“How’s the injury from the Majin?”
“Hehe. I’m fine. I’m tough.”
“Let me see.”
I forcibly pulled off Palaine’s armor as she was grinning.
I feared she was acting tough on purpose so we wouldn’t worry.
The armor from the madman’s kick was completely shattered.
I gently lift her soaked undergarment to check.
At least her abdomen looked fine.
“Ugh…”
As I lifted it a bit more, I spotted a bruise on her solar plexus.
I checked her ribs with my hand and confirmed they were solid, then examined her lungs and heart.
Apart from a slight crack in her ribs, she seemed alright.
To take a direct kick from a Majin and only have this much…
It was almost laughable how tough she was.
“It’s just a small crack in the ribs… she’s fine.”
“Schlus, please stop…”
“Oh, sorry.”
Now that I noticed, Palaine was turning her head away, her cheeks flushed.
Though she was just ensuring my wounds, it was rude of me to do so to a lady.
“Then the abdomen is okay, right?”
“I saw no issues. But I’d have you checked by Iris when we get back.”
“Got it. Hehe… What a relief…”
Looking relieved, Palaine came over and rubbed her head against me, so I absentmindedly petted her messy hair.
At first, I had no thoughts, but touching that wild hair and soft skin made me remember past events, and I felt a surge of strange emotions.
“Cough!”
“Ah.”
Suddenly, a cough echoed from the opposite side, causing me to stop.
I had totally forgotten Trie was there.
Glancing over, I saw her with her arms crossed, watching me suspiciously. When our eyes met, she fixed her gaze straight ahead.
Looking awkward, Trie hastily changed the subject.
“By the way, now that you’ve absorbed all the Majin’s powers, does that mean you’re immortal?”
“I’m not immortal; I’m ageless. If my head gets chopped off, I die, but I don’t age.”
“Ah… then, um! But why are you touching her?!”
“What?”
Trie shouted, covering her face with her hands.
Palaine, who was looking elated with my hand wandering over her head, looked surprised and lay on my lap, gazing up at Trie.
“Just petting her… what’s wrong with that?”
“Do that kind of thing in a private space… especially with someone who’s engaged…”
“It’s just a pat.”
“You’re treating her like a pet.”
A pet, huh.
If I brought Palaine home as a pet, I think it would make me really happy.
Every time I got bored, petting her and rubbing her fluffy ears and tail would be pure bliss.
However, the thought that Palaine would someday grow old and pass away scared me a little.
Not just for Palaine.
Eventually, I would have to let everyone go.
Endlessly repeating meetings and farewells, I would end up alone.
That was the price I had to pay for receiving Julia’s heart.
“Trie.”
“Yeah?”
“About your confession… I kinda dodged it earlier.”
“Oh, that…”
“I’m doing it now. Let’s get married.”
“No, I mean, that’s okay… huh? What did you just say?”
“I said let’s get married. Living with you seems like it would make me happy.”
“No… I mean, saying that while touching another girl…”
“Ah.”
It certainly was an inappropriate situation to answer a confession.
Fearing I’d become lax like the Majins, living forever, I rushed to speak, and that led to…
“Should I touch you too?”
“Wha-what! How can you say something so shameless?! Master, you really have changed!”
“Is that a no?”
“No, I mean, yes…”
With a pout, Trie slowly moved closer to me and leaned her shoulder against mine.
When my hand brushed along her waist, Trie flinched and trembled.
While Palaine’s body felt soft and lacked any signs of training, Trie felt firm without any excess fat.
There was still plenty of time before reaching the institution.
*
Schlus returned.
As he mentioned through communication magic, he returned unharmed.
He had stopped by Flechette Mansion on the way back, which was quite bothersome, but Emilia decided to overlook it.
“I pushed one of the strongholds of the asylum. One Majin appeared there, and I took care of him too.”
“Hmm…”
He promptly explained everything that had happened after returning.
Without hiding a thing.
It was clear that everything had gone well.
Yet, Emilia felt an inexplicable weight in her chest.
“The madman has absorbed all his powers and now has a body no different from a human. From now on, he’ll live as the humans he looked down on.”
“Wait a moment. You said he absorbed all his power? Who did?”
“I did.”
“So does that mean you’re now… a Majin?”
“To be precise, I’ve gained equal power and abilities to a Majin, so in a sense, you could say I am one.”
“Then, does that mean you won’t die?”
“Unless Tilitz cuts off my head.”
It was good news.
It meant I had acquired power that transcended humans.
Finally, I’d be able to fight evenly against the Majins.
So she should have been happy, but only a forced smile lingered on Emilia’s face.
An unknown anxiety lingered within her.
“After the war, you’ll pass those powers on to someone else, right? Because I heard Majins can’t live forever if they lose even part of their power.”
“I won’t pass my powers to anyone.”
“Ah, right. It would be dangerous if that person fell into corruption… Perhaps it would be better to seal them. No, sealing could be undone. A way to destroy them completely is-”
“Emilia, I’m not giving up my powers.”
“······.”
It felt like her heart sank.
Not giving up his powers, huh.
“What do you mean, brother?”
“I’m going to keep the powers.”
“To live forever…?”
“Yeah.”
“Ah, no. Why? Why would you do that?”
“You heard before, right? Julia is always reincarnating. But as long as that girl’s heart lives and beats within me, she won’t reincarnate anymore. So, I have no choice but to live until the continent naturally perishes.”
“Why, why? She could want to reincarnate. No matter how painful life is, just being alive might be better, right?”
“She doesn’t want to. It’s too hard for her. Yet, forcing her to stay alive and find meaning in a life of suffering is just wrong. That’s hypocrisy.”
“······.”
She knew.
She knew everything.
How much unbearable pain Julia hid beneath that calm smile.
How accustomed she had become to that false smile, Emilia could see it all.
But on the day Julia came to Flechette Mansion, her expression changed.
Her face, which always seemed worn out, wore a genuine smile only when she chatted with Schlus.
But now, Julia would never meet Schlus again.
The moment she reincarnates again, Schlus won’t exist in that world.
She finds the meaning of life from him, revives him, and then asks the girl who has awakened from eternal sleep to once again repeat the agony of existence without Schlus…
That was simply too much for Emilia to handle.
It was an inhuman thing to burden a person with.
“If there’s a different way, it has to be out there, right? Huh?”
“Emilia.”
But living forever and spending solitary life until the world’s destruction isn’t really something a human should ever do.
One born human rather than as a Majin couldn’t endure that.
They would surely go mad.
Forget the original purpose, they would become a powerful monster.
A normal person would do that.
But somehow, Emilia felt that Schlus might be able to manage it, which scared her even more.
“The only different way is to exterminate humanity. If there aren’t any families to be born into, Julia won’t reincarnate.”
“Ah…”
“That can’t be done, right? Can it?”
“You could live forever without… it.”
“I’m not doing that, Emilia. Don’t say such things.”
“Huuh, hic…”
Tears came pouring out.
Emilia found herself buried in Schlus’s arms, her face buried against his chest as she sobbed.
It was too cruel.
How could this be a fate for a single person to carry?
If there were a god, shouldn’t such a thing not exist?
“And so… you would stay the same, while I would grow old… that’s what you’re saying…”
“It’s okay. No matter how you look, I’ll still love you. Did you think I married you for your looks? If I were to judge by appearance, you’d already be out of the competition starting with your chest size.”
“Stooop with the nonsense… What happens to you after I’m gone? Huh?”
“Don’t want me to remarry? If you say no, I won’t.”
“That’s pushing it too far… How could you live alone forever…?”
Tears kept flowing.
I hated the thought of another woman by Schlus’s side.
Even now, I hated that the saintess was poking her nose into our business, and imagining him getting all lovey-dovey with another woman after I died twisted my heart.
Yet the thought that my mere words could send Schlus into eternal solitude shattered my heart even more.
I hated this and that.
I couldn’t help but feel frustrated.
“What should we do?”
“I don’t know… I’ll think about it later…”
“Alright. Let’s do that. We’ll take our time to think. We’ve got plenty of time.”
Emilia decided to give up on her thoughts and leaned into Schlus’s large embrace.
For now, she just wanted to stay like this.
Schlus was stubborn enough that he would hardly ever yield.
This time, he probably wouldn’t yield at all.
He would truly end up living forever.
Continuously meeting others and watching them die.
Eventually, he would remain alone, witnessing the world’s end when the planet is swallowed by the sun.
What bothered her the most was that all of this was for one girl.
Julia. For that girl alone, Schlus chose to endure eternal life.
That one fact would never change.
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