Chapter (401) Epilogue
A week had passed since that incident.
The chaos in Mallegory had calmed down.
The increased spawning of monsters had stopped and they did not find any new individuals with the Frenzy curse.
They announced that the incident was completely due to the work of the Demon race.
The commander of the royal army who issued the order to fire arrows at the citizens was said to have gone rogue and will be trialed under the military court.
It looked like they were evading blame by pinning it on a scapegoat but they couldn’t announce that the Demon race killed the king and pretended to be the king.
Haru and I received a large sum of reward money from the Tsaobal royal family. At the same time, everyone who watched the events in the king’s tent had contract magic cast on them, preventing them from speaking of anything that happened, so the reward money included some hush money too.
Suzuki and I were honored as the heroes who saved the town and were awarded the Order of the First Class. I felt that it was typical for a town where many Japanese lived.
However, my heart was still heavy.
The day before, I traveled to the lowest floor in the beginner labyrinth, prayed to the Goddess statue, and met Koshmar-sama. There, I asked her about the current situation.
Tet-sama, Minerva-sama, and Metias-sama. They still did not know the whereabouts of the three Goddesses - no, former goddesses.
Koshmar-sama mentioned that this problem belongs to the Goddesses and has nothing to do with me but I didn’t agree.
Pionia and Neete have lost consciousness since Tet-sama’s disappearance. They have not regained consciousness and Miri was the candidate to be a Goddess.
At the moment, most of the world did not know that three Goddess-sama had turned into Demon Gods.
Something else I found out from my questions was that the influence on the world was a lot less than I had imagined. The only change was that even if you prayed in front of the goddess statue in labyrinths managed by Minerva-sama and Tet-sama, you would not gain the labyrinth clear bonus.
Besides, Tet-sama only managed one labyrinth and Minerva-sama didn’t manage that many labyrinths either. Also, I didn’t hear any rumors that monsters were overflowing from those labyrinths.
“Medal huh … I thought that the Order of First Class award was no longer given out.”
Suzuki commented as I was lost in thought.
“Erm, is it something like the National Honor Award?”
I felt like I heard something about it before but I couldn’t recall.
Miri would probably know better.
“Hn, if I remember correctly, in the past there were those who couldn’t receive the medal due to age restriction so the National Honor Award was given instead so it is something similar.”
Oh, so Japan’s medal was restricted by age.
I even learned how the National Honor Award was established.
“The Order of the First Class award comes with a yearly 10 gold coin award but Kusunoki-kun. I plan to not receive that money for now and let them use it for the reconstruction of the town and support of the bereaved families.”
Suzuki said.
From this incident, close to 50 people died due to attacks from monsters, arrows from the royal army, killed by the Berserkers under the Frenzy curse, or were killed by the guards after turning into Berserkers. It was a small number going by the scale of the incident but it was not something to be happy about.
“That’s such a Suzuki thing to say. Yeah, I think that’s a good choice too.”
I nodded with a wry smile at how far Suzuki’s good faith extended.
“That said, I truly want to thank the people in costumes who protected this town.”
“That feeling is sufficient - - if I had sugar I could make delicious sweets for them though.”
“Fufufu, sugar huh. All right, I’ll prepare a ton the next time Kusunoki-kun comes around.”
Suzuki said with a smile.
This guy would probably prepare over a hundred-gallon worth.
“Right, the glass bead that sealed the rampaging labyrinths - - you mentioned that you received them from the Magical Investigation Research Institute. How did they prepare those beads?”
“I asked because I was curious too. They said that Hero Alessio sent them a month ago. He stated that he wished them to use it when monsters surge from the labyrinths.”
“Hero Alessio huh.”
I wasn’t surprised. I was rather convinced.
That man anticipated everything.
He had a connection with the Demon Lord, was Talwi’s master, and supported the Demon God creation.
“Kusunoki-kun, Hero Alessio is definitely related to this incident but I believe he does not have a connection with the Demon Lord but is against him. After all, this town was saved because of him.”
No, that was not true.
Hero Alessio did that so that all the miasma would be sent to Tet-sama’s goddess statue.
Nobody would believe me if I told them. Suzuki might believe me over the Hero if I told him but I couldn’t speak about the matters regarding the Goddesses.
“Yeah, I guess so. He was stayed close to the Demon Lord to find out his plans.”
I lied and smiled.
“Suzuki, it is about time I leave town. I’ll lump my Order of the First Class reward with yours so please donate it around.”
“I see - - I was wondering if you would be departing. Hey, Kusunoki-kun, are you chasing after something? I might be able to help.”
“Well, it’s a truly mysterious matter. To be honest, I don’t know the whole picture either. It’s like I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. So I’ll ask for help once I figure out everything.”
That hero said to me before he left My World.
『I’ll be waiting in Arandel Kingdom.』
It’s probably true that he was in Arandel Kingdom.
On that note, Norn-san sent me a note that Jofre and Elize who were supposed to be with Centaur were back in Florence. Furthermore, there were people who wanted to immigrate there. I used Home Return to return to Florence, drew their faces by caricature from a distance, and Flute confirmed that they were all the members of the Devil race.
I didn’t hear about the specifics but apparently their employer, a man called Garrison, was working with the Hero lately.
In other words, not just Jofre and Elize, the Hero was involved in the escape of the Devil race too. He was probably involved with how Minerva-sama got a hold of Centaur as well.
Incidentally, by the time I went to Florence, Jofre and Elize had already fled town.
I didn’t know why he intentionally revealed his whereabouts to me.
Was he confident that he could beat me no matter what I tried to do or was he planning something?
At any rate, I didn’t have a choice.
There was no guarantee that anything would change even if I pursued the case.
Neither was there guarantee that I could stop the three Goddess-sama-turned-Demon Gods.
But I had to meet Hero Alessio to check if Malina and Kanon were all right.
I couldn’t do anything as Tet-sama was consumed by miasma. No, I didn’t do anything.
I wondered what I could do if I went to Arandel Kingdom.
Would the future me be able to accomplish what the past me couldn’t?
I wanted to believe that I could.
After all, I have the Growth Cheat.
I’ll absolutely be able to do anything.
I’ll show them that a Jobless can save the world.
Let’s return, to Florence!
※※※
Somewhere in the Arandel Kingdom.
A dark hole suddenly appeared and she emerged from it.
A young woman commonly seen in Church - Goddess Tet.
However, she was no longer a Goddess.
Demon God - an existence that leads the world to destruction.
The woman who woke up on the spot took Tet’s outstretched hand.
The woman looked back as she was dragged into the darkness.
She saw the figure of her friend.
“Wait for me, Malina.”
Kanon turned to the front after she spoke the name of her friend who wouldn’t wake up until morning due to the powerful sleeping pill.
“I will be able to fulfill your wish soon - by becoming a new God.”
Author’s note:
The Mallegory arc is complete!
The next arc will be the final arc.
(More side notes that he will update every day once he finishes writing the entire arc, instead of writing and going back to edit, so to please wait until he finishes everything by summer.)