Viine jumped like that, trying to cling to Hifumi. At the same time, Origa’s fan severed Hifumi’s left wrist. And Hifumi’s katana pierced through Origa’s collar into her back.
“Uooh.”
Just like that Hifumi tumbled over in the shape of two women clinging to him at full force.
It took mere seconds until a thick magic barrier sprung forth around them.
☺☻☺
“…Why didn’t you kill me?” Origa asked while sticking to Hifumi with her ear pressed against his chest.
However, no answer came back. On the contrary, she couldn’t hear with her ears either.
Once Origa raised her body while smiling bitterly, Hifumi pulled out his katana at the same time. A feeling of passion rather than the pain made the core of her body tremble.
Origa sat down in order to suppress her agitation while blushing, and just like her, Hifumi raised his body. Viine had fainted while clinging to his waist.
Origa didn’t hear him, but Hifumi murmured something, and no sooner than taking out two magic potions, he opened one and thrust it into Viine’s mouth.
Once he pulled it out when it had decreased by around half, Viine choked and had the liquid run out of her nose and mouth while rolling around, just to clash against the magic barrier.
Meanwhile Hifumi drained down the remaining liquid in the magic potion. It apparently healed the wounds at his face and arm, but it didn’t regrow his left hand. However, Hifumi didn’t show an inkling of minding that.
And then he offered the remaining potion to Origa.
“I…am…” (Origa)
She couldn’t talk well because her ears weren’t working, but Origa was bit by bit talking about something along the lines of having no qualification to be together with Hifumi as the one who lost while twisting her face because of the pain of her body and heart.
“Good god, why are you such pain only at such weird times.” (Hifumi)
Hifumi, who inserted his left arm beneath Origa’s armpit, pulled her up with all his strength, brought his face close in a pose as if hugging her, unplugged the magic potion with one hand, and poured the contents into his mouth.
“Eh…?”
Due to the sudden kiss, Origa’s body froze for an instant, but she immediately accepted him.
As her shoulder and back wounds got healed and once she became able to hear again, Origa tried to separate her mouth, seemingly feeling embarrassed by the wet sounds audible between the two. But, she gave up on it and clung to Hifumi just like that.
“M-Master, are you alright?” (Viine)
When Viine, who had apparently revived, clung to Hifumi, the kiss finally came to an end. And then Hifumi lowered his fist on Viine’s head.
“Ouch!” (Viine)
“Stupid rabbit, you interrupted our precious fight…oh, it started, huh?” (Hifumi)
“Kyaa! What’s this!?” (Viine)
While sighing, Hifumi answered to Viine, who was embracing him once again, “It’s the sealing. That damn Imeraria had fully aimed for that moment.”
Contrary to his words, Hifumi was laughing.
Slowly the petrification started at the feet of the three.
☺☻☺
They were standing with Origa and Viine snuggling up to Hifumi from both his sides.
At this point, their legs up to their knees had already transformed into white, shining stone.
“A-Are we going to be okay…?” (Viine)
Hifumi laughed off Viine who was frightened and anxious. Origa’s face was tinged with dissatisfaction.
“Viine, did you get cold feet at this point in time? Origa, do you plan to turn into a statue with such an expression?” (Hifumi)
As he was talking about this and that with the two women, Imeraria, accompanied by Sabnak, and Alyssa showed up.
“Is it fine now?”
“Yes, the magic has been already invoked. No one can stop it. …Even if I were to be killed.” (Imeraria)
Hifumi extended his right hand towards Imeraria who was smiling as if to provoke him while standing in front of him. He gently placed his hand on the head of Imeraria, whose body became stiff.
“Well, considering it’s you, you did well.” (Hifumi)
“…Eh?” (Imeraria)
“You didn’t have any capable personnel. It was a good choice to get involved with the demons. If it had been just you and your retainers, it should have been impossible to gain enough time.” (Hifumi)
“Why…?” (Imeraria)
Imeraria was surprised by the sudden evaluation. Alyssa bent herself forward from the side.
“Hifumi-san! I want to talk with you once more, after all!” (Alyssa)
“There’s not much time left anymore. What is it?” (Hifumi)
“I will properly protect the territory! So that you can return to that mansion again if you come back, Hifumi-san!” (Alyssa)
“Okay, I leave it to you.” (Hifumi)
“And, and…” (Alyssa)
“Why!?” Imeraria raised a scream-like voice from behind Alyssa who was searching for her next words.
“Why, now that it has come to this, such, such…” (Imeraria)
“I felt like the seeds I sowed so that this world would come to my liking had budded. The one in the center of it all was you. That’s it. You worked well for me. Gathering information, doing the spade work, assembling the necessary pawns, and changing your actions while forming an estimate how you can win. All of it are things no one in this world did or could do.” (Hifumi)
“If I were to assess you sternly, it would still be a failing grade for a long time to come, though,” Hifumi added.
He had already petrified up to his waist. Hifumi knitted his eyebrows due to the uncomfortable feeling of being unable to move his body freely.
“You had the preparedness to get your revenge against me. That made you grow. And I taught Alyssa and you what will be necessary for the humans to survive in this world, where humans, elves, dwarves, and demons are all jumbled together, from now on.” (Hifumi)
Imeraria looked down and swung her fists while Hifumi was talking.
“I will likely come back sooner or later. I don’t know whether it will be several tens or hundreds of years in the future. I don’t know what kind of world it will be at that time. But if there’s a wish, I only pray that it won’t be filled with fools who don’t know how to fight. …Otherwise, there won’t be any fun in killin’ them.” (Hifumi)
“A person like you…!” Imeria slapped Hifumi’s cheek with her palm.
Hifumi resigned himself and received it without dodging. Something like a powerless attack of her didn’t cause any significant pain, though.
“That’s it. It’s fine like that. Bear in mind that your hated opponent will revive one day. And tell the child to not shirk on its preparations for the coming battles…mmh?” (Hifumi)
Imeraria trembled once more due to Hifumi’s words. However, her face as she looked up at him was smiling.
“Hifumi-sama, your biggest flaw is that you can’t understand the feelings of women.” (Imeraria)
Saying so, she put her arms around his neck and brought her face close.
“There’s no way that a woman would go this far on hatred alone, is there?” (Imeraria)
Before Hifumi could object, she forcibly kissed him.
“Nmu…hafuu…”
“Hey!”
“Me too!” (Alyssa)
The instant Imeraria separated from him, Alyssa jumped at him as well, and roughly pressed her lips on his. Rather than kissing, it was an innocent act similar to a pet licking her owner.
“Ah, geez! Cut it out!”
“Ugyaaa!”
Hifumi, who got rid of Alyssa with a headbutt, looked at Imeraria once more.
“Anyway, feel free to tell the future generations about us what you like. Alyssa, you can also do as you like since you’re the feudal lord now.” (Hifumi)
“Yes, I shall leave plenty of slander a
bout you behind, Hifumi-sama.” (Imeraria)
“I will develop the territory properly!” (Alyssa)
The two expressed their discontent at Hifumi irresponsibly replying with “Yeah, yeah,” but Hifumi didn’t listen to them anymore.
It’s because Origa, who was close to him, asked him to put his hand around her waist, and Viine demanded the same as well. As he made sure to hug the two with both arms, Origa brought her face close.
“Hifumi-sama…no, dear. Why didn’t you kill me? If you had stabbed a little bit to the left at that time, I would have died. …I can’t believe that you’d make such a blunder, dear.” (Origa)
Hifumi shook his head at Origa, who looked up to him with a serious look, “I don’t kill unborn children. I felt the presence of a baby in your belly. That’s all.”
“Eh? What’s with that? Is that true? Congratulations, madam!” (Viine)
In exchange for Origa, who blushed and froze while looking up to Hifumi, Viine got all excited by herself.
“Origa, do you intend to become stone with such an expression? Laugh. That’s what suits my wife the most.” (Hifumi)
“…Yes, dear.” (Origa)
The petrification slowly advanced from their neck to their chin. The two, who stared at him while smiling, and the one, who was embracing them while brightly smiling, fully turned into stone statues.
According to the books which Imeraria had deciphered, their time had already stopped. Without thinking anything, their consciousness would likely return next when someone removed the seal.
“U…Uuuuaaaa…”
Imeraria, who had crumbled down at Hifumi’s feet as if clinging to them, hid her face and burst into tears.
Without being able to stop that, Sabnak simply waited. No, he also shed tears. He didn’t know whether it was out of sadness or not, but at the very least this spelled a parting with people with whom he shared some time together. It would have been great if we had talked more without any restraints, he now regretted.
And, Alyssa also cried loudly while standing stock still. Her crying voice didn’t cease echoing across the plaza until the sun went down on that day.
☺☻☺
The scuffle in front of the royal castle, which was called pandemonium and an unprecedented calamity, took the lives of many demons, and even the human side had to pay a heavy toll. In the end, the soldiers and knights, who had survived, all fainted, spelling the end of the battle.
However, this was a fact which was recorded only in the documents sleeping in the forbidden treasury of the royal castle. The news, which were spread to the populace, were different.
“The Hero of the Slender Sword magnificently held back the demons in a struggle to the death, and got sealed together with his wife and attendant due to a curse.”
A new pedestal was built in the center of the plaza, and the statue of Hifumi and the others was enshrined there. Only 'Portrait of the Hero' was inscribed on a lithograph embedded in the pedestal without mentioning any details about him. It was decided to entrust the rest to the people spinning their gossip.
However, Imeraria had one sentence carved into a part that was separate from the lithograph.
'The slaughterer summoned by Imeraria sleeps here. You must not wake the calamity.'
Chapter 183 – Epilogue
“Somehow I feel completely spent.” Vepar muttered with a tired look while tilting a cup with black tea in the lounge of the royal castle after the battle on the plaza.
The plaza, which had been littered with corpses all over, was now spot clean again, and three knights guarded the stone statue remaining in its center, and another five soldiers stood guard at the plaza’s entrance to limit the entry for a while.
The knights, who had fainted from the wind magic-based sound attack unleashed by Origa at the end, had been admitted to the castle’s medical office. The demons, who had collapsed in the same way, were taken home by a unit under the direct control of Vepar, including the corpses of the dead demons.
Right now the leaders were taking a rest under the pretext of holding another preparatory meeting for signing a peace treaty.
Puuse, whose face was as exhausted as Vepar’s, relaxed in the same room with Reni and Zanga, who had been called to the castle without anyone knowing when that happened.
“Everyone, sorry for keeping you waiting.” Imeraria appeared in the lounge accompanied by Sabnak, and sat down on a couch after bowing once.
Tasting the black tea prepared by a skillful maid, Imeraria was calm, if only going by her behavior. However, the traces of tears, which she couldn’t conceal with make-up, and the emptiness of her eyes, which were completely tired out, made everyone present turn worried looks at her.
“It might not be something I should worry about, but are you alright without taking a break?” (Vepar)
“Yes, I am. There are still things I have to do right now. Since those around me have worked well for my sake, I’m fine since I will take a break once we finish speaking.” (Imeraria)
“I see. Then let’s hurry up and get this done, right?” Zanga suggested to begin the meeting to Imeraria who had answered Vepar’s concern while obviously forcing a smile.
Within around two hours of adjustments, Orsongrande, the demons, and the people, who acted together with Reni among the elves and beastmen, managed to finalize a draft for a treaty.
For a few days, each party took the draft with them, carefully scrutinized it, and after adjusting it once more, it was planned for all of them to sign the treaty.
A messenger had already been sent to inform Horant of the situation to some extent, and it was likely that Horant would enter the same treaty.
As for the beastmen, the treaty only affected those who belonged to the planned, autonomous region within Fokalore’s territory under Reni. Once the autonomous region’s establishment were to be completed, several other tribes would probably immigrate there from the wastelands. Reni’s and Helen’s parents should also be included among those.
It was decided for the elves to register in the Tohno Earldom alongside Zanga, but only Puuse would remain in the royal castle upon Imeraria’s strong request.
The demons would have their sovereignty over Vichy and Swordland recognized by the other races, and they would need to devote themselves to rebuilding all of it into one structured country from now on.
“Good grief, I guess we can finally return to our carefree lives with this. Pacing around all over the place, and getting dragged into strife has worn me out completely.” (Zanga)
Zanga and Reni left the royal castle together and headed to the mansion in the capital which Alyssa had inherited from Hifumi. For the present, they planned to use that place as a base and spend their time there until the signing of the treaty.
The group, which was guarded by knights with Knight Vaiya walking at the front, drew the populace’s looks. However, those looks were all kind ones.
Just as Reni had planned, the battle in front of the royal castle frightened the people living in the capital plentifully. Not having expected for mayhem to break out in the center of the capital, the capital turned into a melting pot of chaos. The ones who appeared at that moment were the elves and beastmen around Reni and Zanga.
They helped out with the evacuation by giving precise instructions and guiding the people, and they properly protected the people with the soldiers being confused on how to deal with the demons.
As result, the number of people holding animosity towards the beastmen and elves dropped sharply, at least among the people of the royal capital.
Even while huddling her shoulders slightly out of embarrassment over being watched, Reni murmured to Zanga in a whisper, “No, I think that the hard times are going to start from now on.”
“Oh my, really…? But you’re right, we have to build a city next.” (Zanga)
What a splendid little lady to fully grasp what has to be done, Zanga admired, but the “hard times” mentioned by Reni had a slightly different m
eaning.
“Building a city will be difficult as well, but…us elves and beastmen have to properly establish a military force.” (Reni)
Not just Zanga, but even Vaiya, who overheard those words, reflexively looked back at her.
“What do you mean by that…?” (Vaiya)
“It’s something I was taught by Hifumi-san.” Renya declared while looking into Vaiya’s eyes, “After the walls between the races are torn down, everyone will properly see the other, and at first everyone will get along without any reservations. However, a short time later they will quickly start to see parts they dislike about each other. And, if there’s some kind of trigger, those unpleasant feelings will easily change into hostility.”
The humans, beastmen, elves, and demons would directly look at each other throughout tens or hundreds of years. Because the existence of the person called Hifumi threw things into disorder, a part of the people would follow his path.
“Right now it’s a period where we will observe each other. But, as that continues for several years or decades, at a time when we gained a deeper understanding of each other…something might happen once again.” Reni said, and added, “Just like at the time when we gained temporary peace after building our own city in the slums.”
“Peace doesn’t mean that it’s not necessary to get ready for war. Because it’s peaceful, one should prepare for the time when the peace comes to an end. That’s what we must do from now on.” (Reni)
At the time when all related parties felt relieved that they had reached a big breaking point with the demise of all strife, only this little girl felt nervous about the great tasks ahead of her.
Extra Episode
After Imeraria’s rule genuinely began with Hifumi being sealed, the number of simple and frugal furnishings within the castle continued to increase.
It was the same for the queen’s room. After yielding her crown to her son, Carl, she lived inside a small room located deep inside the castle.
Having been released from her governmental duties, she enjoyed researching magic on a daily basis, but once she reached the middle years of her sixties, her small body was ruined by an illness, forcing her to spend long periods of time in bed.
Summoned Slaughterer - Book 9 Page 10
