Chapter 383, The Five-Year Question

~~Three O’clock in the Morning, Twenty-Second Day of the Seventh Month, Ninety-Sixth Year of the War Demon Calendar~~

 

In the T’oued Capital, Eddo — more specifically, the magic classroom lecturers’ office — the key figure in this war let out a loud sigh.

 

“…Ugh.”

 

It was none other than Irene the Invincible Sprout, formerly one of the Six Archmages.

Her notable physical features were her white hair and small build, the latter of which was for the optimization of her internal arcane energy circulation.

Currently, she was the leader of the Resistance, which had recently become quite a desirable organization for young mages.

Yet she dropped her shoulders, her fists tightly clenched as she placed them on the table.

The result of the war that had just unfolded was… complicated.

On the surface level, one would consider it a victory for the Resistance.
The fact that the victory had been so narrowly achieved, however, had a significant impact on the Resistance as an organization.

A powerful army had rushed forth in the wake of the Devil King’s resurrection.

Many of the members had lost the will to fight after all the chaos they had witnessed — the Devil King’s arcane energy, the Alphas and Betas’ invasion, Billy and Cleath’s barrage of Zenith Breaths…

And of course, there were the casualties to consider…

Quite a few excellent young men and women — those who Irene had personally trained with great care — had lost their lives in the battle… swallowed by the vortexes of enemies, while Asley — the most powerful force on their side — had to make the hard choice of protecting only Irene.

And even then, saving Irene’s life came with yet another cost: Asley’s complete loss of arcane energy.

 

“Ugh… So much for Irene the so-called Invincible Sprout!”

 

She slammed her fists down, frustrated at herself.

All that did, however, was break the silence in the room with a little echo.

Silence soon returned, and this time, Irene bit her lower lip.

She had built up a great deal of fatigue, with prominent dark circles forming under her eyes.

The post-war paperwork and relief efforts had occupied her so much that she did not have the spare time to visit the one who had saved her life.

Indeed, a great deal of responsibility rested on the Invincible Sprout’s little shoulders.
As the one standing at the top, there was no one who could pull her up.

Her old friend, Gaston, had fought valiantly to protect his subordinates — a fight which ended with him being destroyed by the Devilkin.
There was no longer another person who could work on her level.
The only one to give Irene her much-needed pep talk was Irene herself.

There was a limit to how much one was able to inspire themselves, but she could not afford to let it show… as both the leader of the Resistance, and one of the key mages that held humanity’s hope for the future.

No matter how much stronger Asley was, no matter how much more arcane energy he could harness, the mages all over the world would sooner put their trust in the one with a long history of recognized achievements.

Those achievements may look pretty only on the surface, but those were what the majority would easily cling to.
Asley’s genuinely influential achievements, on the other hand, would more likely go unrecognized.

Irene knew that well — she knew how weak people could be.

Former Archmage, army leader, ‘inventor’ of the Teleportation spell… such titles were all Irene needed for people to turn to her.
She herself understood that.

To save people, she had to willingly put on an act.
She was fine with that, as she had already made her choice.

Very few people were even aware of Asley’s achievements.
However, there were those who could not be saved by achievements alone.
He was fine with being unrecognized, as he had already set his eyes toward a goal.

Still, the burdens of this war were too heavy for Irene’s shoulders.

What she needed now was someone to share it with… Something not even Warren and Trace could do…

 

“So… Tired…”

 

Irene’s grumblings broke the silence as she cast her eyes down.

Then the echo of her voice was interrupted by the sliding of the room’s door.

She was sure that both Warren and Trace were too busy to be back here now.
As such, she turned to the door and looked on with utmost suspicion at the late-night visitor.

 

“Who’s there?”

 

She instantly steeled herself, restoring her stern expression.

Then the next moment, she widened her eyes in surprise.

 

“Wha– what do you think you’re doing!?”

 

Irene stood up and looked at the person in front of her.

 

“You know, I’ve always thought it strange that only the lecturers’ office is in the War Demon Nation’s interior style.
But… well, I guess having stone floors makes it easier to work in, compared to the bamboo mats.”

 

The one who let himself into the office, dodging Irene’s anger-tinged words, was none other than the subject of one of her many concerns.
Indeed, it was Asley.

 

“You shouldn’t be up and about! Go home and get some more sleep!”

 

Asley could tell — she was angry out of worry for him.

For that reason, he spoke calmly in an attempt to show Irene that he was fine.

 

“I’m all right now… aside from the arcane energy problem, that is.
I made sure to drink a vial of Pochibitan D just now.”

 

Asley proceeded to flex his biceps, appalling Irene a fair bit.

 

“B-but…”

“…You don’t look so good, though.”

“…!?”

 

Those words took Irene off guard — but the look Asley was giving her was not condescension, but one of genuine concern.

 

“I do have a few more on me, so here, have one.”

 

Asley held out a vial of Pochibitan D, 

While she widened her eyes in surprise, Irene accepted it.

 

“T-thanks…”

 

And while doubting the grin on Asley’s face, she proceeded to drink it.

 

“…? Oh, did you change the recipe?”

“This batch was made with vegetables, delivered straight from Lala Farm! There’s not much left, so you could say it’s a bit special.”

“I-I see.
Well, it works, and it’s still delicious.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“What are you grinning for, anyway?”

“Is that what it looks like?”

“How could it look like anything else?”

“Well.
There’s no deep meaning to it, really — I’m just a little relaxed now that one problem has been taken care of.”

“One problem? The Devil King is back, and your arcane energy is still gone — What did you even take care of?”

“It’s a secret.”

“What!?”

“If I tell you, you’ll definitely make fun of me.”

“I won’t!”

“No, your face tells me you totally would.”

“What kind of logic is that!?”

“…All right, looks like you’re feeling better now.”

 

Asley let out a relieved sigh, his expression showing the same relief.

Irene looked at Asley for a moment, then turned away.

 

“W-well, I did just drink the Pochibitan D — of course I’m feeling better! Anyway, why are you here!? You didn’t come here just to give me that, did you!?”

 

Irene, blushing up to her ears, threw out a flurry of words.

In contrast to the time she took to make her stern face, her blush stayed for quite a while.
She kept herself turned away, unable to make herself look at Asley.

Asley, apparently seeing this as a good thing, chuckled before reaching into his shirt pocket and taking something out.

 

“Sorry, sorry.
I’d like your signature.
Right here — and please make it a big one.”

 

What Asley unfolded and presented to Irene was a piece of paper.

He then pointed at its blank reverse side.

 

“H-huh? A big signature?”

 

However, Irene’s blush did not fade.

 

“Just your usual signature, with your normal handwriting.
No tricks needed.”

 

Irene still did not turn around.

Still, she believed that Asley was not tricking her into signing a strange contract — that all he wanted was a normal signature.
And since she wanted Asley to go away for now, she went ahead and signed her name on the paper.

 

“A-all right, I did it for you! Now take it and get out of here!”

“Ah… actually, you can keep it.”

 

And so Asley turned on his heel.

 

“What!?”

 

Irene broke into falsetto, her voice of anger echoing through the room. 

Asley did not turn around.

Looking at the paper in her hands, one side of it contained her signature — and nothing else.

It took her a moment to calm down, after which she realized that there could be something on the other side.
She immediately flipped it over and read through what she saw.

 

“Isn’t this just an adventurer’s E-ranked certificate!? …!?”

 

Indeed, that was exactly what it was.

However, there was a certain word on it that was surprising to Irene.

 

“H-how…!? It’s… mine!?”

 

…Suddenly, a drop of water fell from Irene’s eye.

 

“What…!? Why am I… crying…!?”

 

By now, Asley had gone away from the office.

Irene, while bewildered by the fact that she had just shed a tear for apparently no reason, realized that Asley would be the one to know what this was about.
As such, she ran off, chasing after him.

 

“W-wait!!”

 

Eventually, she caught up to him, bringing him to a stop in front of the building.

Asley turned around and, upon noticing that Irene was crying, looked a little troubled — just a little.

 

“What’s the meaning of this!?”

 

She held out the certificate and asked why she was crying, and why Asley had it in his possession.

But Asley remained tight-lipped.

 

“I REALLY feel like punching your face right now…!”

“Well, I’m not sure how to answer any of that, so…”

 

Irene’s eyes were filled with anger, as Asley’s answer could not possibly convince her.
But her tears would not stop flowing.
They obscured her eyes so badly that she could not even make out Asley’s silhouette.

 

“Why!? Why did I start crying when I saw you!?”

 

Looking on at Irene’s indignance, Asley felt nostalgic… and a little happy.

 

“Why…?”

 

Asley approached Irene and wiped the tears from her eyes with his fingers.

Irene tried to brush him away, but her arms would not move.

 

“Why…”

“…You’ve done a good job today, Miss Irene.”

 

After spending a moment to ponder, Asley came up with some seemingly mundane words of thanks.

Seemingly not satisfied by that, Irene finally brushed Asley’s hand away.

Then she glared at Asley.

 

“Answer the question! By my authority!!”

 

Suddenly, a certain promise resurfaced in Asley’s head.

 

[…Seriously, it’s about time I got used to you.
And yes, you do owe me one now, understood?]

[Did you think I didn’t mean what I said?]

[Bah… I knew you’d say that…]

[How about this, then — I’ll answer a single question.
It can be about anything.]

[Deal!]

[The size of your chair isn’t quite right, don’t you think?]

[Shut up, you!]

[So, do you want to ask that question now?]

[…Hmm… I’ll think of something for another time.]

 

It was the promise he had made to her quite a while ago — shortly after he made it into the Magic University, when Irene caught him tampering with the Black and White Chain contract.

That promise had rarely even been alluded to since then.

But now, all of a sudden, Irene demanded that Asley made good on his promise.

Asley scratched his head, taken by surprise and at a loss as to what he should say.

 

“Well, I can’t refuse that now, can I…”

“When you’re at my mental age, you’re bound to pick up a trick or two.”

 

And now she brought up her technical seniority despite usually being the one to avoid such subjects.

Asley let out a dry chuckle, and after a moment of hesitation, placed his hand on Irene’s head.

Irene was about to brush his hand away again, but then Asley got his word in before she could.

 

“I’m just… a random stalker.”

 

At that moment, something popped inside of Irene, and she heard some sort of cracking sound.

And at the same time, more tears burst forth from her eyes.

 

[One day, you’ll get there — you’ll achieve greatness.
You, and all the wonderful friends you’ll make.]

 

She did not remember Asley saying that… but in fact, those words had been with her this whole time.

A certain individual had rescued Irene and given guidance to her back when she started out as an F-ranked adventurer — though unremembered and unrecorded, he was an extremely significant individual in her life.
Perhaps it was Asley’s words that triggered the resurfacing of this memory.

The memory was of a mage and his Familiar who had spent an extremely brief time with her as fellow adventurers…

The flowing of both her tears and her memories was unstoppable.

Irene covered her mess of a face and crouched down on the spot.
Asley also knelt down.

 

…In this very moment, the mage in Irene’s memory was right here.

 

“Gah… What… what in the…… these memories…!”

 

Doing her best to hold back her sobbing, she struggled with the chaos in her head and kept on wiping her tears away.

 

“You’ve worked hard all this time.
I could tell.”

 

Instead of brushing his hand away, Irene grabbed it and held it in place, taking her time to feel its warmth.

Exhausted both physically and mentally, only pride and a sense of responsibility kept Irene standing tall.

All Asley did was give her a weak, small push toward her goal.
This unmistakable memory in the midst of her mind’s confusion called for his hand — for his reassurance.

The time now approached the morning hours…

 

[I’LL BEAT YOU SOMEDAY!!]

 

Irene had held on to that vow, running straight ahead until she came to be called the Invincible Sprout.
And now, her feeble yet happy cry reached the ears of the mage she had made that vow to… and him alone.