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Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 11, Chapter 9: The Final Day
Volume 11, Chapter 9: The Final Day
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Roland was sunny again today. It was the kind of weather where the sun stretched on forever, unhindered by clouds as far as the eye could see.
This time of year was always like that. It was a sunny season that only rarely got rain. The rainy season would begin about a month from now, but for the time being, rain was rare.
It was a comfortable temperature, too - not too hot and not too cold.
“……”
The office was the same as always, too.
Ryner yawned. His desk was covered in papers that Sion had forced on him. He turned his neck to look around at the room he’d already looked across countless times by now. Then he leaned back in his chair and sighed softly. His sleepy eyes stared a little blankly at the center of the room.
It was a simple room with nothing but bookshelves and desks, as well as massive piles of paperwork on top of the desks, and Sion, whose tombstone would list ‘paperwork’ as his cause of death.
Also, there was a sheet in the corner with a tea set and dango boxes that Ferris had dubbed the dango party area. She was currently sitting up and sleeping soundly, with her arms curled around her knees.
Everything about the room was normal by now. He felt like he saw it every single day now. The only change was the season outside.
Ryner looked out the window. “Hey, Sion.”
Sion looked up from his work, but his hands didn’t stop moving. “Hm?”
“I like, just realized something.”
“Mhm?”
“When I came back to this country.”
“Yeah.”
“…It’s the same season now as it was then.”
Sion raised his head, surprised, and looked out the window just like Ryner was doing. “Wow. It’s been that long?”
“Looks like it.”
“A whole year?”
“Yeah,” Ryner said and nodded.
A year. A whole year. A year’s worth of months had passed since he came back to Roland. He tried to look back over that time, but when he did, all he really remembered was Sion forcing him to work and work and pull ten all nighters in a row, bringing him to the brink of death. Ferris was always here throwing her sword around and holding it against his neck like it was some kind of game, too.
He was also forced to crossdress as part of a trap Sion set for the nobility at one point, and at another point Ferris humiliated him at a high class restaurant for fun, and then another time Sion used a spell to force him to work himself to death, and then another time he got wrapped up in interviews for Ferris’ hand in marriage and nearly beheaded, and then there was that love letter for Sion that nearly caused his death too, and the time he went to the hot springs with Ferris and almost got murdered…
“……”
Why was it that when he thought back on the past year, all he could remember were times he almost died?
Ryner glared at Sion and Ferris with his usual sleepy eyes. “It was… a whole year of me begging for forgiveness from you cruel demons…”
Sion laughed. “Heheh. We’ve really enriched your life, haven’t we?”
“I’m gonna kill you.”
“Say that all you want. I know you actually love pulling all nighters with me—”
“No I fucking dooooon’t!!” Ryner yelled.
“No need to get so worked up about it,” Sion said happily. “Say it honestly: ‘Every day has sparkled since coming to work under my lord Sion Astal. Thank you, thank you, my lord! ♡’ It’s like that, right?”
“What? I’m seriously gonna kill you.”
Sion shrugged, pleased, and looked over to Ferris, who was still sleeping in the corner. “Ferris, wake up. Ryner just said he was going to kill you—”
“No, waaaiiit!!” Ryner yelled and stood up hurriedly, then lunged for Sion and covered his mouth with his hand. Then he looked over at Ferris, begging for her to not wake up from the bottom of his heart. But the demon slowly opened her eyes!
It’s over, Ryner thought. It was over. It’d end the same as always.
She’d say, ‘Ah, the sky’s so clear today. Alright, Ryner. I’ll let your head fly through this peaceful blue sky ♡’ or something equally as nonsensical and start swinging her sword around.
That had become a daily occurrence over the past year.
“…Augh, I’m gonna die,” Ryner said, and raised his arms to protect his head.
“…Mmgh?” Ferris mumbled, then yawned. “Aahh, mm… Hm? Ryner, what are you doing? Did you call for me?”
Ryner’s eyes opened wide. Sh, she didn’t hear! She slept right through Sion’s provocation! H, h, he was saved!
“…I heard my name,” Ferris mumbled.
Ryner shook his head with all his strength. “N, no, I didn’t call you! That definitely didn’t happen!”
“Mm? But I’m sure that someone did…”
“I-i-it was a dream, right? It has to have been a dream,” Ryner insisted.
Ferris tilted her head sleepily. “Mmh… a dream? Ah… yes, a dream… The Dango God called on me in my sleep for He wishes to create a dango kindergarten, and wants me to be the teacher… yes, that was it. Now, where are the kids?”
How the hell would he know! He wanted to make that kind of rebuttal, but he didn’t for the sake of his life.
In any case, she’d been sleeping deeper than expected and hadn’t heard Sion at all from the looks of it.
Ryner let out a sigh of relief. If she’d heard, his head could have very well been flying through the sky by now. But it looked like he was off the hook.
And then Sion pushed Ryner’s hand off of his mouth. “Actually, Ferris, Ryner—”
“Uwwwaaawwawawawh!?” Ryner said and pushed his hand back onto Sion’s mouth. In the same motion he pushed himself onto the desk, on top of Sion, to keep him from moving.
Ferris looked up at them, in a pile on the desk, with a curious expression. “So what are you two doing?”
“N-n-nothing!” Ryner said, flustered. “R, right, Sion!?”
“…Fgh, fghfogh,” was all Sion could say through the hand on his mouth as he struggled under Ryner.
“See?” Ryner said. “Sion also says it’s nothing!”
“…Hm.”
“S, so I don’t really get it, but you said you’re gonna teach at a dango kindergarten? The kids are waiting for you, right?”
“Ah, right!”
“Riiight? So why don’t you go back to bed?”
“Mm. I’ll sleep.”
“Nigh…”
Ferris’ voice drifted off as her eyes closed. She fell asleep halfway through her sentence, her breathing slowing to leisurely sleep’s calm breaths. She was beautiful like that. Exceptionally so. Angelic, really. But the second she opened her eyes she proved herself to be a demon capable of destroying the world as he knew it. She was the most dangerous lifeform in existence.
Ryner looked back at Sion to glare at him. “Hey, you! Is there any limit to how shitty you are!?” He whispered.
Sion smiled mischievously and pushed Ryner’s hand off. “I’m proud of how shitty I am!”
“Fucking demon.”
Sion smiled, and then spoke in an eerily high tone. “Heheh. Demon… demon, you say… To me, those are words of high praise!”
“What kind of impression’s that supposed to be?”
“Huh? Isn’t that what villains are supposed to sound like?”
“That was easily the worst villain impression I ever heard.”
“Really?” Sion said, then shrugged. But the motion made him wince. “By the way, Ryner, you’re pinning me really hard. It kind of hurts…”
“Ah, sorry,” Ryner said. He gripped Sion’s arms tighter.
“Wagh, th, that hurts! H-hey!”
Ryner grinned. “Oh, sorryy! I accidentally went for harder instead.”
“Don’t fuck with meee!” Sion yelled. It was rare to hear him raise his voice like that. “C, come on, Ryner, stop, seriously! You’ll break my wrists if you keep going!”
“Don’t feel like it,” Ryner said and gripped even harder.
“Uhh!” Sion’s scream turned silent. Then he spoke, tired. “Hey, Ryner… I’d really like it if you didn’t play so rough after so many all nighters—”
“I say that every single time!” Ryner said. “But what happens!? You just make me do it again and again and again…” Ryner put his long-standing grudge into his hands and used it to bully Sion, wringing his wrists.
“Augh, uwagh, sto, urgh, s, seriously, st—!” Sion’s voice cut off abruptly, and there was a snapping sound. He stopped moving.
“Huh? Hey, Sion?”
No response.
“…Umm, Sion?”
“Whaaat? I really wasn’t going pushing too hard… Um, uhh, don’t tell me you actually fainted from the pain…?”
Again, no response.
“Th, this could be bad,” Ryner said and weakened his hold.
But in that second, Sion opened his eyes and jumped up with a demon’s smile. “Idiot!” He said and flipped them so he was on top.
“Ugh, you really were just acting!” Ryner said. Sion’s left hand was coming for Ryner’s wrist, so Ryner tried to catch Sion’s wrist before his own was caught. But that just made Sion change course and go for Ryner’s neck. Ryner countered by entwining his fingers with Sion’s before they could touch the skin of his neck.
It was a hard-fought battle on Sion’s desk.
Sion tried to get back away from Ryner’s hand. Doing so made his foot connect with the chair. He took the chance to kick it up.
“A kick!?” Ryner said, shocked, and stopped the chair, then glared back at Sion. “Aww, c’mon. Don’t you think you’re overdoing it?”
“Overdoing it?” Sion repeated. “In a fight? There’s no such thing.”
“Huh, we were fighting?” Ryner said, surprised.
“Weren’t we?”
“Uhh… oh, so we were fighting…”
“Um, yeah?”
“So that means anything goes?” Ryner asked.
“Yeah.”
“You really want that? You know that you can’t win if I go all out on you, right, Sion?”
Sion smiled. “You won’t know until you try.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“No, you don’t.”
Ryner grinned. “Then I’m gonna take out my grudge on you! Alright!” He threw a fist straight for Sion’s face.
Sion responded two beats too slowly. His reflexes were no match for Ryner’s when he got serious.
See? Ryner thought. This was why Sion shouldn’t be picking fights with him. He watched Sion’s face as Ryner’s fist approached and he failed to respond.
Sion really did look tired. But that was only natural. He went days and days without sleeping at a time, always working as hard as possible, even harder than Ryner who he forced to work with him. Because he thought he needed to do everything for this country by himself.
He hadn’t changed ever since they met, and he definitely hadn’t changed over the past year.
Sion had brought before unseen stability to Roland, calmed the nobility, settled things with Estabul, and was even keeping their neighboring country Imperial Nelpha at bay despite their suspicious military movements.
And yeah, maybe the world was entering an age of conflict due to the Gastark Empire’s southern-facing onslaught, but Roland was peaceful for the time being. For the past year, even.
There was no way he wasn’t tired with all that going on. He had to deal with enough problems to make anyone go insane, piling up around him, each potential solution just as uncertain as the last.
But he didn’t rest.
This was the Roland Empire, the large country making up the southern tip of the continent. But their king was worn-out to the core…
“Aw, geez.”
Ryner opened his fist just before it connected with Sion’s face, and used the hand on his cheek to push Sion back down on the desk under him.
Sion smiled, tired but triumphant. “My, my, look how easy you got me.”
“I tooold you.”
“Yeah… You’re amazing alright. I couldn’t even see your fist. I should expect no less of Roland’s strongest magician.”
“You’re tired, aren’t you?”
“I think I look pretty energetic,” Sion said.
“Not at aaaall.”
“Really?”
“I mean, it doesn’t really matter, but… More importantly, umm… uh, why were we fighting again?”
Sion laughed. “Actually, we weren’t really fighting. You suddenly yelled ‘oh, I can’t bear it anymore!’ and pushed me down on my desk—”
“Heeey.”
“Jokes aside, then.”
“It wasn’t even a good joke.”
Sion smiled again. It was a tired smile.
“Just sleep already,” Ryner said. “You’ve been working way too heard.”
“Hm, you’re right. I guess my body’s reaching its limit again, isn’t it.”
“Riight?”
“Yeah. I guess we ought to settle our match then.”
“Huh? You still wanna go? Isn’t it already settl—”
“Not yet,” Sion said and raised his right hand. It looked like he was planning on hitting Ryner in the face.
“Like that’ll work,” Ryner said. Sion was too slow, and that wasn’t even considering the fact that Ryner was presently on top of him; the situation was stacked against Sion no matter how he looked at it. Ryner moved his upper body to the side to avoid Sion’s fist.
It would work. Because this was just a pointless struggle on Sion’s behalf.
But then Sion laughed, his face the spitting image of a child pulling a prank. “It’s your loss, Ryner.”
Ryner finally noticed the inside of Sion’s fist. His sleepy eyes opened wider than usual. “Whaaaat!?” He tried to get off in a hurry.
“I won’t let you get away!” Sion said and pulled Ryner close by the shirt.
He couldn’t escape! “Y, you’re kidding m—”
Something terrible happened.
Sion raised his fist above Ryner’s head and turned it… pouring the open jar of ink he’d hidden inside on Ryner. It’d never get out of his clothes if it touched them, and he’d have to wash his face dozens of times to even hope to get it out…!
Obviously this wouldn’t be a problem in a real fight. Ink wouldn’t kill him. Not dodging wouldn’t put his life in danger.
Still.
“You fucking idioooot!!” Ryner shrieked, just as serious as he’d be if the ink were a deadly poison. The ink made contact with his head. It got on his hair. His face. Some even got in his eye, coloring his field of vision black. Of course his clothes got it all over them, too.
And then there was Sion, laughing loudly beneath him.
“……”
This was the worst. Sion was the worst.
Sion was laughing so hard that he was holding his stomach like it was painful. “Hah, aah, geez… I’m so tired that even laughing hurts… Umm, so it looks like I win our little fight… So let’s sleep,” Sion said, like that was the end of it. Like this was some kind of happy end. That’s what the fake nice boy tone he used made it sound like.
“……”
Ryner was silent. He stood from where he’d been lying on Sion on the desk, then stood somewhat straddling him.
“Uh? What’s wrong, Ryner?” Sion asked.
“……”
Ryner looked around carefully.
“Are you looking for something?”
“……”
Ryner ignored him again. But his eyes focused on one spot, because he’d found what he’d been looking for. He stared. Staaaared. “Hey, Sion.”
“Hm?”
“You just said you wanted to go to sleep soon, right?”
“Yeah.”
“But every time you say that and I go back to my place to sleep, you keep working, don’t you?”
Sion was quiet for a moment, guilty as charged. “No, um, just a little?”
“Would really call ten more hours after all the all-nighters ‘just a little?’”
“Augh,” Sion groaned.
“You must reeaaaallly want all of your friends who just want you to rest for a little bit to worry about you, don’t you?”
“Huh? Um, were you that worried about me?” Sion asked.
Ryner nodded seriously. “Isn’t it obvious that I’d be? What guy doesn’t worry about his buddies?”
Yeah. It was natural that he’d worry about his precious friend. He was seriously worried. From the bottom of his heart. There was no helping it - he’d always worry and worry. So he looked at Sion earnestly.
“I worry about you,” Ryner said.
“…So, I’m really happy to hear that you’re always worried about me, but… see, my throat’s all dry from all that acting, and uh, it’s bothering me a lot…”
For some reason, Sion’s voice came out shaky.
“……”
Ryner was silent.
“A, and you haven’t been looking at me for a while… You’ve just been looking at the red ink in the corner, and uh, that’s been bothering me too…”
Ryner smiled. “Naaah. I wouldn’t pull a baby prank like you, stupid king.”
“R, right… right?” Sion said. His voice shook as he spoke.
“Of couurrse nooot!! I mean, I just get so worried about you. Ah, is my best buddy Sion sleeping right now? Is he resting up like he should be right now? I’m always thinking about it, worrying about you. You understand my feelings, right?”
“…Uuuuh…”
“You understand, right?”
“Uuuuh…”
“And see, I just thought of something. I thought of the perfect way to make sure you sleep soundly,” Ryner said and picked the red ink off the desk.
“You’re actually doing it, aren’t you!?” Sion shrieked. He tried to escape from the desk, but Ryner put his foot down on Sion’s chest to hold him in place.
“You can’t escaaape!” Ryner said in a sing-song tone. “You’ll just work yourself to death if you do. So I’m taking matters into my own hands.” He opened the red ink.
“I, I know, Ryner!” Sion said. “I know I’m at fault, so please! Please calm d—”
“Go the fuck to sleeeeep!!” Ryner yelled and turned the red ink over.
“Noooo!” Sion yelled. “No, wait, don’t do this! These papers are important! I won’t let you ruin them!” Sion raised himself to the best of his ability to protect the paperwork with his body. He grabbed onto Ryner, pulling them closer, to contain the ink between them.
“Wait, no!” Ryner said. “Get away! You’re gonna get it on me too… augh, I’m gonna fall! We’re gonna fall!”
Instead of letting go, Sion just held on tighter.
““Uwaaawhahahgh!!””
They yelled in unison as they fell off the desk in a tangled mess, Ryner below Sion. Ryner had tried to correct his posture in midair to cushion the fall, but Sion got in the way and made it impossible. He couldn’t even protect his head well with Sion there.
“Ughhh, you’re so—!!”
Ryner’s voice cut off halfway through his sentence. Because he just realized something terrible.
Just now, the door to hell opened in Sion’s cramped office.
“Aahh…”
That was all he could say. He was paralyzed from fear. Anyone would be here at the entrance to their eternal punishment.
The hell he’d arrived at… was on top of Ferris’ head…
“Kyah!?”
She made a cute noise unlike anything he’d ever heard from her.
Ryner and Sion stood up as fast as humanly possible.
Ferris was in the corner, crouched over the crushed dango set she’d so excitedly proclaimed she’d eat tomorrow morning.
“……”
“……”
Ryner and Sion exchanged a look, their mouths hanging open in a silent but mutual ‘oh shit.’
This was bad. Worse than bad.
The door to hell was hanging wide open.
Ferris slowly began to raise her head.
“Oh, um, oh, uhh, Ryner,” Sion stuttered. “Look what you’ve done with your roughhousing! Poor Ferris.”
“Y, you’re cold—”
“Um, see, Ferris, I tried to stop him,” Sion said. “But Ryner said he had to settle his grudge on me…”
“You bastard!” Ryner yelled.
But Sion ignored him, and continued in his annoying nice boy act. “But please don’t be mad at Ryner. He’s been working so hard helping me with my work lately. He’s tired and stressed from all nighters, so that’s why he got rowdy enough to bother you… I’ll scold him properly, so… let’s call it a day, alright? I’m going to take a bath and go to sleep myself, so…”
Sion took a step forward. One single step towards the door.
But then the dull sound of a beating rang through the room several times in quick succession.
“Kghbah.”
Sion collapsed with a super lame sound, unconscious.
Ferris was standing across from him, the same as always. She sheathed her sword.
“…Ah… a, ah..”
Ryner tried to scream, but it just wouldn’t come out. He didn’t even see Ferris move. It was like she’d teleported to knock Sion down - one second he was there, and the next, Ferris was gone, and there was that sound, and then Sion was dead on the floor.
And now…
“Geez, you two! Always playing your childish little pranks! ♡”
Ferris turned around, wearing a drop-dead gorgeous smile. It was far removed from her usual expressionlessness. It was a smile beautiful beyond words.
Why was it so damn beautiful when pretty people smiled? Ryner wondered. And why was it so damn scary when Ferris specifically smiled?
Ryner felt like he was going to cry. It was getting to the point where he feared he’d develop a phobia of smiles.
“It’s widdle Ryner’s turn now, isn’t it?” Ferris said way too happily.
Ryner took a step back. “U-u-u-uh, um, I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, but it literally wasn’t my fault this time.”
“Oh, reeeaally?”
“Y, yeah, real—”
“Oh, reeeaally?”
“No, um…”
“Oh, reeeaally?”
“…Auughh…”
“Oh, reeeaally?”
“Auughhh, yeah I knew that wasn’t gonna work. Alright, go for it. But can you make it as painless as p—”
The same dull sound rang out.
“Kghbah.” Ryner collapsed with the same ugly sound that Sion had made.
“Know the pain you made the Dango God feel!” Ferris said.
Well, at least Sion would get some sleep like this. And so would Ryner.
He lost consciousness.
---
The next day was also sunny.
The sky, red as the sun set, was completely free of clouds.
It really made him want to sleep.
Ryner had slept through the night after Ferris knocked him out, then woke up on the floor of Sion’s office, took a bath, and then began to work. It had been ten hours of nonstop work since then. Even now he continued to push through the work on his desk single-mindedly.
Then he yawned. Rolled his neck. Closed his tired eyes again and again. Then he leaned his back on his chair and sighed.
Today was exactly the same as yesterday. The world around him was exactly the same today as it was yesterday.
The night’s sleep had little impact on Sion’s perpetual exhaustion. He was working just as hard as always.
Ferris was in her corner, dango in one hand, a book titled The Two MILFs’ Autumn Leaf Colored Picnic in the other, whatever that was supposed to be, her face red as she uttered the occasional “Wh, what!” and “U-u-u-unbelievable!” as she flipped the pages.
Everything was the exact same as it always was.
“Everything’s way too samey nowadays,” Ryner said.
“……”
Sion didn’t respond. He was absorbed in his work, his pen racing along his papers just like always.
Ryner shrugged, then turned to Ferris instead. “Hey, Ferris. My throat’s dry. Can I have some of your tea?”
“…U, unbelievable… So Sarah and Berkelle were secretly keeping a pet bird together!?”
“Which part of that am I supposed to be surprised by?” Ryner asked.
But it didn’t reach Ferris. She was too deep into her novel.
“…The hell, no one wants to talk to me,” Ryner mumbled.
“……”
“……”
No answer.
“Hm. Well, I guess it’s good that things are peaceful…”
Ryner stood up, went over to Ferris, and helped himself to a cup of her tea. He looked around the room as he drank it. He was extremely familiar with the room by now, to the point where he knew where all the stains on the walls were. But that was obvious by now. Anyone’d notice all the marks and stains if they worked in the same little room for over a year straight.
A year straight.
“…A year, huh?”
It sure went by fast.
Usually when he had to do something he didn’t want to do, it took forever for time to pass. But when he looked back, the whole last year was a flash. It went by unbelievably quickly.
That meant… that it was actually really fun, right?
“No way,” Ryner mumbled to himself and smiled wryly.
It was a year of Sion pushing him around and Ferris bullying him. Fun? He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.
“…Hey,” Ryner said to them.
But they were both busy so they didn’t respond.
It felt a little - just a little - lonely.
“Haha…”
What an odd feeling. A long time ago… he was always alone. And it felt so obvious to him. Like he should be alone. If he wasn’t everyone just yelled that he was a monster anyway. He believed it, too. Believed that he was a monster. He gave up on everything, and that was just how it was.
But nowadays if his friends ignored him for a little bit he felt lonely.
“…Hahaha.”
He drank the rest of his tea and sat back down at his desk, picked his pen up, and got back to work even though it was such a pain. He never would’ve done this in the past. It would’ve been too much of a pain. But he forced himself to keep with it now.
Why? For who? Well, he already had his answer.
It was for himself. Because he’d found the place where he belonged. It was here in this country, in Roland, in this office.
He belonged here with the meanspirited king and extremely troublesome woman.
When he was here, he felt like he could work for the sake of the world. He wanted to do things for other people. He wanted to do things for himself.
“……”
When he was here, a year passed in the blink of an eye.
That was why.
“I, I’m dooooneee!” Sion suddenly yelled.
“Huh?”
Sion held a stack of documents up, his face full of disbelief. “I, I’m done! Look!”
“With what?” Ryner asked. “Which proposal? Let me guess. If you’re that happy, it’s gotta be that you found a good solution for Pengram’s cost petition, right?”
That was their toughest problem right now. Sion’s efforts only made it worse and worse, to the point where the nobles were threatening mass suicide. It was super frustrating, especially since they couldn’t very well call them out on their lie. And if they just ignored it, then the nobility would get even more angry with Sion. So they had to resolve it. But how? They needed a firm but gentle answer, the kind that’d satisfy kids throwing tantrums.
“Did you finally figure out how to deal with that?” Ryner asked.
Sion shook his head. “It’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
Sion said it so quietly that Ryner only caught the tail end: “…ng.”
“Aah? Say it louder. What’d you finish?”
“…Everything,” Sion said. “I’ve dealt with all my urgent business.”
“Wh, what? That’s…”
Sion smiled. “I can take a week off.”
“Y, you’re kidding.”
“No, I’m serious.”
“Whaaat!? But, but normally you’d say ‘I was lying!! We’re actually working ten days without sleeping starting now!’ and…”
“No, no. I’ve really, truly dealt with all of our pressing domestic matters…”
“So we’re done?”
“Yeah.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Sion said, mimicking Ryner’s tone, and nodded.
A year ago, Sion had said that Roland’s problems were completely unmanageable. If they were late to address any one of them, everything would fall into disarray, so he had to work without breaks, going so far as to bring his own body to the brink of exhaustion. That was why Ryner was helping out.
“I-it’s all done?” Ryner said.
“Yeah. It’s done. The country’s stable.”
“Th, then my work’s also…”
Sion smiled happily. Yes, he still looked tired. But he genuinely looked pleased, too. “You can take a month off.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“I’m serious.”
“No waaaay!!”
Sion smiled bitterly. “I’m telling the truth here. Thank you for helping me so much up to this point. You’ve really done a lot for me. You don’t need to work that hellish schedule now, so… I might have you help with negotiations abroad or something later instead.”
“Oh, then, um, I don’t have to stay up all night anymore? And, um, I can sleep whenever I want to? Hey, are you serious?” Ryner asked. He’d completely lost any sense of composure from his excitement.
He’d been forced to work that hellish schedule for a whole year now, after all. But now it was coming to an abrupt end. Everything would be okay now.
“Is it really okay for such a happy thing to happen to us?” Ryner wondered.
“Hahaha. I’m surprised too. To think that we managed to deal with everything that came at us until now,” Sion said. Then he took a deep breathe in, then out. And smiled. “Ryner.”
“Hm?”
“Thank you.”
“It’s gross if you say it too much.”
Sion laughed again, then stood up and stretched. “Now, then. I’m going to step away from politics for a bit. What about you?”
Ryner looked down at the documents on his desk. “Um, I’ve still got two things I need to work on…”
“Don’t worry about those. I can have someone else do them. You can take a break.”
“Really?”
“I already told you that I’m serious, didn’t I?” Sion asked with a smile. But it was a forced, pained smile.
“…No, I mean… it’s just two things, right? I can just do them myself…”
“No, it’s okay. I’ll tell Calne about it, so leave it to him and take it easy.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh… but like, I really get the feeling that this is a trap and you’re actually gonna have me stay up for ten days straight—”
“That again…? It’s nothing like that. Really,” Sion promised.
“You’re seriously serious? Uh, then… okay, I’m gonna go back to my place and sleep then.
“Yeah. Eat something nice and get a good night’s sleep,” Sion said. “Just take it easy.”
Ryner shot him a distrusting look. “I kinda… feel like you’re scheming something when you tell me to take it easy,” he admitted.
“I suppose I’ll have to think of a devious plan to set things straight then—”
“No! Don’t make this into a massive pain in the ass!” Ryner said and stood. Apparently their work was really done. He tidied up the documents on his desk, then pushed it into the corner. “Alright, I’m going now.”
Sion nodded and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “Do you have money for food?”
“Some old lady will take pity on me.”
“Haha. Which one?” Sion asked.
“No one.”
“Do you want some money?”
“I do,” Ryner said.
“Here,” Sion said and took a few gold coins out of his wallet, then tossed them.
Ryner caught them.
“Why don’t you and Ferris go on a date or something?” Sion asked.
“…No, I’d really rather Ferris didn’t come with. I wanna eat and sleep and be lazy,” Ryner said and grimaced over at the corner Ferris was in.
As expected, she was still engrossed in her novel and didn’t notice them talking about her at all.
Ryner nodded, satisfied. “See? She doesn’t want to eat with me either.”
Sion smiled mischievously. “Still, though. You two sure do get along well.”
“What part of people getting along do the swords and hitting come in?”
“Hm. Well, when you’re into that—”
“Ugh, I’m leaving!” Ryner said, tired.
Sion looked hurt. “So that’s how you treat someone who just gave you money? You only want me for my riches, don’t you!?”
“Die!”
“Ahaha. Well, I’d better get ready. I have secret rendezvous to ruin.”
“Hey, how come you don’t feel any remorse when all you say is shit people hate hearing?” Ryner asked.
Sion laughed. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” Ryner said with a nod. He watched until Sion was out of sight.
“……”
Then he sat back down at his desk.
He and Ferris were the only ones in the room now. But Ferris was absolutely engrossed in her novel, so it was really quiet.
“…Hm.”
Ryner tidied his papers again, then he picked up the pens that were scattered across the top and put them in the drawer where they belonged.
“…Hm,” he said again. There was nothing else to do. His work was done. There was nothing to do.
“…Hey, Ferris?”
For some reason, Ferris responded this time. “What?”
“What do you think?”
“Of what?”
“I’ve got some money.”
“Hm.”
“I don’t have any work to do now, so do you wanna come with me and get something to eat?”
Ferris set her book aside, then looked at him with her piercingly clear blue eyes.
“What do you think?” Ryner repeated.
“There’s no way the bully king with the world’s worst personality told you to go sleep and gave you money.”
“Right?”
Something was fishy. Every time something like this had happened over the past year, it ended with Sion giving him an unprecedented amount of work as some kind of sick joke.
Ryner looked down at the coins in his palm. “He said to go on a date with this money.”
“And if you do, he’ll probably kill you.”
“Right… It’s definitely a trap.”
“…No, wait,” Ferris said. “He knows that him telling us to do something will make us not want to do it. Maybe he’s actually hoping that we don’t go to eat together?”
“Ah, yeah, that might be it. It could be a trap that’ll hit harder if we do our own things.”
“Right?”
“Yeah. So what should we do? Eat together? Or not?”
“Uuh? Hmm…” Ferris crossed her arms in thought.
Ryner thought back to Sion, looking back in the doorframe. “So do you think it’s true?”
“What?”
“What he said about work. Do you think it’s really done?”
“Five percent is done.”
“I was thinking two,” Ryner said.
“…Hm. I haven’t been involved in it, so I don’t really know,” Ferris said. “But that’s what you think?”
Ryner crossed his arms. “Hmm… well, honestly, things have been going really well lately… We don’t have any urgent issues to attend to, and most of the tough problems have already been wrapped up too. Like, things are good, but… it’s Sion, you know?”
“Mm. It’s Sion,” Ferris agreed.
Yeah. The workaholic Shitty Asstal.
“Eat something nice and get a good night’s sleep. Just take it easy.”
That just had to be…
“A trap,” Ryner said.
Ferris nodded. “A trap.”
“So what should we do?” Ryner asked.
“Mhmhmhm.”
“Man, why’s his personality so terrible?”
“Hm. Well, you two are the same breed, so…”
“Wait, are you trying to flip this so it’s my fault?”
“Of course. 820% of the world’s problems start with you,” Ferris said.
“Huh? Really?”
“Will you repent?”
“Umm.”
“You are not permitted to go home until you repent!”
“…Uh, oh, so… um, we’re starting to have really different conversations here, so… I’m just gonna get back to the point,” Ryner said, tired. “Do you want to eat together or not?”
“Hm. I’m in the mood for curry today,” Ferris said.
“Huuh? I want patties.”
“Fool. Today is a curry day.”
“…I mean, I guess that’s fine…”
Ryner stood up. Apparently they were gonna eat together after all. He slipped the gold coins into his pocket, and opened the door. “Hey, Ferris.”
“Mm?”
“Know anywhere that they make curry and patties?” He asked. He turned the light off after Ferris left, leaving the room dark.
---
Ryner and Ferris left the room and took a left towards a staircase that’d bring them down.
But if they had taken a right once they got outside of the door, then walked down the hall and made another right…
“……”
Sion was crouched on the ground. His head was throbbing like it’d break open, and his chest felt like it was being torn in half. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even whimper.
The gears inside of him were turning. The cursed contract inside of him was progressing. His flesh was mad, no longer human.
“…a, ah, augh…”
He finally managed a groan. He felt like he was going to throw up, and not just the contents of his stomach. He felt like he had to throw it all up, his organs, his muscles, all of his flesh.
But not even blood would come up anymore. Because his cells had all rotted into something esle entirely. Because he was assimilating.
The end was fast approaching. His choice was fast approaching.
Three years had passed since he made that contract. One year had passed since Ryner came home.
That was a long time. A terribly long time. With every living moment as painful as it was, time was maddeningly slow. Yet this past year felt so fast.
“……”
Sion’s lips formed a little smile.
It really went by in the blink of an eye.
Ryner came home. Ferris came back.
“……”
And then all he did… was smile. He forgot about the pain. They just made him so happy.
“……Ha, haha, hahaha…”
It was a fleeting dream, but he still wished it’d continue forever. He wanted to see that fake peace forever. He wanted every day to be the same. It was so comfortable. That was why it was over so quickly.
But just a little more. He wanted a little more time.
He’d take the pain without complaining. Just let him dream of that fake tranquility a little longer.
“…I dreamed a stupid dream,” Sion said, on the verge of tears.
It was only natural that his fake peace would eventually crumble. It was only natural that a happy illusion would eventually fade. But he still—
“……It’s over, isn’t it?” Sion said.
“Yeah,” a clear voice said from nowhere. “It’s over.”
Sion pressed a hand to his chest to try to shove the pain back down and raised his head. “I… am I wrong? Lucile.”
“…The hero is never wrong,” Lucile said.
The hero is never wrong, he said.
The hero.
The hero, huh…
Dry laughter escaped Sion’s lips. “Hahah.”
The hero, he said. He called it a ‘hero.’
“It’s just a monster,” Sion said.
“……”
Lucile didn’t answer.
Sion used the hallway’s wall to support his weight as he sat up. He stared into space with an empty expression no different from a soulless doll’s.
Everything changed, Sion thought. Everything was different now.
His body, his heart, the world, his hopes, his dreams.
Everything changed. Nothing went how he wanted it to.
Even though he was supposed to have chosen the best path possible. Even though this was supposed to be the most efficient path with the fewest sacrifices possible.
“…Nothing. I didn’t get a single thing that I wanted…”
Sion raised his hand. It glittered a faint gold, proof that the curse was running through his veins - the so-called holy curse of the mad hero.
No one would mistake that hero for human. So he wasn’t human anymore either.
“……”
But… he didn’t have any regrets.
He made the choices that he felt were necessary. There weren’t any other paths that he could have taken.
The word was a warped, mad place. It just hid its rot in the dark.
He had to keep it at bay. He needed the power to keep it at bay. That was why Sion made the choice he did.
That was the only reason he needed to throw his life away. That was the only reason he needed to sell his friend’s soul. That was why he had no regrets.
And yet.
“……”
Ryner smiled. Ferris smiled. And his heart wavered.
Just a little longer, his heart screamed. Just let him dream so happily for a little longer.
They smiled and laughed like such idiots. They laughed at the dumbest things.
Ferris could fight him and verbally abuse him and skip work to go eat dango all she wanted. He’d let her do it happily. He had no regrets.
Ryner said that the world he created wasn’t just a pipe dream after all.
“……”
But actually… it was.
Everything was a lie. Despair was overflowing from every corner. And he’d sold Ryner’s life off.
Sion’s power wasn’t enough. He couldn’t do anything alone.
And yet… those two said it was okay. They said that he already worked hard enough.
If that was true… then please, give him a little longer to dream.
“……”
Sion’s mind went blank.
He raised his hand to his cheek to feel his meaningless tears.
Even his tears were an inhuman color.
It didn’t matter how much he struggled. This was the end. The time had come.
The time of the contract. The time to push forward. And the time to make the choice that was always looming ahead of him.
It was the worst possible decision to have to make.
Should he choose his buddy, or the world?
“……”
Sion balled his hand into a tight fist.
His buddy, or the world? His buddy, or the world?
He had to decide. He was the one who had to make this decision.
He’d always been the one to make decisions like this.
He squeezed his hand into a tight fist, as if meaning to crush his falling tears. As if to crush his own heart.
He squeezed it tightly, painfully closed, as if to silence his own screams—
“Now, shall I save the world?”
He’d make a choice. He had to.
It didn’t matter if he was crying. He had to make the most correct choice. He had to take the path of fewest casualties. He had to save as many lives as possible.
By all of those metrics, the world carried more weight than the life of his friend.
The choice would be hurt. It was unavoidable. But he still had to make that choice.
And yet. And yet—
“I won’t let you.”
It wasn’t a voice that echoed in reality. It wasn’t Lucile, either.
But it was a familiar voice. One he knew all too well.
It was his voice. The voice inside of him. The voice of the other him.
It was the voice of his weak self as his mind was eaten away by the sword.
“I won’t let you do whatever you want,” it said.
“…Haha. What can a fading fake like you actually do?”
“Don’t fuck with me. You’re the fake here.”
“No, that’d be you.”
“It’s you.”
Their droll dialogue continued in their matching voices. It was a pointless exchange at its core.
“……”
Sion’s eyes narrowed.
The truth was that they were both fakes. The ‘real’ one would come from them joining together, becoming one. Since they’d be the same in the end, who took charge now hardly made a difference.
Even so.
“…You’re going to lose either way,” he said.
“I… have no intention of losing to you,” the other Sion argued.
“…Heh, heheh…”
“What’s so funny!?” His heart screamed.
“Heheh, hahaha, hahahahaha.”
He laughed madly, with his voice that’d been on the verge of tears for so long. Even now he sounded like he’d cry.
“I’m asking you what’s so funny!” His heart yelled.
“You, who are always running away… can’t win against me,” Sion answered.
“You’re the one who’s running!” His heart yelled, his tone stronger than before.
“You are.”
“You are! You’re always making excuses, saying that you’re making the right choice, that you’re saving the world, so that you can justify selling Ryn—”
“Shut up!”
“You’re the one who needs to shut up! I’m not like you. I won’t give up on Ryner. I’ll save h—”
“Shut up shut up shut up! That pipe dream makes me want to fucking barf! You can’t save him! All you do is run from your choice, run from fear, run from pain! You can’t do anything! I’ve made our choice! I’m moving forward! I won’t let you get in my way!”
“I won’t let you! I’ll save Ryn—”
“You can’t save him!”
“I can.”
“You can’t! Show me how you’ll do it! If you can really save him, then show me how! Show me how you’ll save Ryner from the dark. I know you can’t do it. You can’t save him. If you could… if we could, then I’d have saved him long ago!!” Sion screamed and cradled his chest in his hand.
Even though he already should have made his choice, tears were once again pouring from his eyes. Even though he was supposed to be resolved to do what needed to be done.
It was as if the choice he’d already made had crumbled in front of him. His tears…
“…Despite everything, I’m going to save Ryner,” the other Sion said in a low tone. “You’re the one who’s going to disappear.”
“…Can you really do it?” Sion asked as the tears poured down his face.
“I can.”
“Liar.”
“Watch me, okay?”
“…You’re lying. You can’t do it. You can’t… we can’t… we can’t kill him…”
“We can,” his heart said. “I’ll kill Ryner and save him before he falls into the endless darkness. You sleep through it. I’ll… I’ll end it all.”
And then Sion—
And then his heart—
“……”
Shared a moment of silence as they once again felt the urge to cry.
It didn’t matter which choice they made… They’d regret doing it either way.
He heard another voice. But not one from within. This time it was one from outside of his mind: Lucile, bright and cheerful.
“Aah, it’s about time,” Lucile said. “Soon. Because you don’t have any more time to hesitate. You’ll change and become my true master. The savior of this world… now. Now,” he said. “Now, I wonder which of you won?”
“……”
Sion raised his head and smiled sadly.
