No Loose Ends – Epilogue

Vast rolling plains stretched out to seemingly infinity. Birds chirped happily as the sound of running water on the river filled the air with life.

…Or so would I like to say, but unfortunately, things were exactly as bad as they were before here in Luribel Village.

After I restored the Temple Plaza in Adaville and Yzara memory-wiped pretty much everyone who saw her coming out of the Temple—other than the Airdrake’s crew—all involved in the battle were interrogated by those soldiers. After we gave our statement and the gravity of the situation dawned on everyone, the entire city was locked down, and every single person inside screened for the White Death. Fortunately, there was no one else infected—not even that sleazebag, who turns out to really have been just a hired mob to keep tabs on us—and the regular city life soon resumed.

Adaville was, however, gripped with the paradox that their kind governor had been ostensibly working for the enemy. We all attended Marielle’s funeral, which had a strong security deployment to protect her remaining dignity from harassers. I felt conflicted during the whole ceremony; after all, we were celebrating the life of an enemy of all humanity. I had never known Marielle before she got infected, but I did get glimpses of her true nature from our interactions. That was what I tried my hardest to focus on, trying to complete my image of her, not with her betrayal, but with the good deeds she had done in her life.

The city was still rebuilding—in many different ways—when Yzara and I made our way out. This time, we didn’t require the Airdrake’s assistance—with her restored Profane Magic, Yzara could just create a portal and yank us back out in no time.

“Without my other skills, this consumes a stupid amount of mana, so I can’t abuse it too much,” she said as we touched down.

Luribel was as desolate as when we left it. The White Death had gained some ground on it, but the area protected by the Polis barrier was still as vibrant as we had left it, desperately clinging on to life.

“So? What did ya want to come here for? Sentimentality?”

“That, too.”

“I didn’t take ya to be such a softy. Perhaps yer setting all this up for a confession of love for yers truly?” She said, literally jabbing my ribs—though with much less force than I was used to.

“We might no longer be enemies, but love is a stretch. The real reason is to right a wrong I committed here.”

“…A wrong?” Yzara asked, her face the definition of confused. “Oh, I get it. That’s what ya mean. No wonder you asked me to change clothes.”

Yzara was no longer wearing her borrowed priestess outfit. She was wearing the Demon Queen outfit I had found her wearing in the woods nearby—the basically naked version, sans the crown and the mantle. Guess she didn’t want to carry those around all the time.

“Yeah. Let’s give that nameless priestess a proper burial.”

* * *

“There. That should do it.”

Behind Luribel’s church—just like in every other church in Iditath—was a cemetery. I asked Yzara to carry out that skeleton I found in the church’s basement. I wanted to do it myself, but ironically, since I had a Profane Magic class now, going inside the church hurt me. However, I could get into the cemetery and, using a shovel we borrowed from elsewhere—I didn’t feel like using my Earth Magic was right—we dug a new grave, and buried the skeleton alongside the priestess’ outfit and the staff I’d plundered from her.

We still didn’t know her name. In fact, it was likely that no one alive knew who she was, when she had died, or what dreams she had that were cut short by the White Death. All we could do for her was leave her body to rest in that grave alongside the few things she still had on her.

“That should do it,” I said when the grave was completed.

“So now what do we do?”

Honestly, I hadn’t ever thought ahead that far. From the start, my goal had been to live a carefree life in this world I helped build. And, somehow, I ended up restoring all Heroes’ sworn enemy to her former glory—or at least as close to it as possible. But—

“I won’t get my carefree life without dealing with the White Death, that much is for sure. I want to figure out what the heck is going on here. What even is this stupid thing, anyway?” And how does it know I’m a player?

Call it a dev’s obligation or whatever, but even beyond my goal of a carefree life, I just had to debug this glitch to its last consequences. I couldn’t just leave the world to rot as it was.

“Fortunately, we still have Marielle’s hint to pursue.”

“Right… we can hunt down the General who brought ya here and ask some questions. And I can beat their asses for having stolen my skills while we’re at it!” Yzara said, cracking her knuckles.

I chuckled. Here I was, next to literally the most powerful being in Arcforge, an enemy of all players—and I didn’t feel even a shred of fear towards her.

But, perhaps, I should have.

“Speaking of Marielle,” Yzara began with a noticeably darker tone, “there is something I wanted to ask you about.”

Before I could figure out her intentions, my body froze. I couldn’t move an inch due to magic of some sort.

I was completely at the mercy of the Demon Queen.

“Eh. Looks like my Evil Eye is still powerful enough to affect even a Profane Mage.”

“Y-Yzara? What’s this about?”

My heart rate began to spike as a torrent of emotions flooded my mind. Had I been a complete idiot for having trusted Yzara at all? Had she finally had enough of me after she got her class back?

She smirked, her purely evil gaze peering deep into my soul.

“Before she died, Marielle said a couple of very interestin’ things to ya.” I knew exactly what she meant right away, but she still explained. “She called you a ‘player’, and that you were ‘involved in this world’s creation’.”

I gulped dryly.

Uh-oh, am I in some serious trouble right now?!

“Ya thought I wasn’t payin’ attention to it, didn’t ya? Well, too bad. I was.” Then, she came real close, with our noses basically touching. “I’m not gonna let ya go before ya come clean about this.” She backed away—and then I noticed her expression getting just a bit softer. “What do those things mean, Takashi? They are related to your unique status, right? Out with it!”

Despite her seemingly completely serious threat, and despite the fact that I literally couldn’t move, my heart actually began slowing down a bit.

And I smiled.

Why, you ask?

“Come on, did you really have to play pretend evil now, of all times?”

It was because I trusted her. When I caught myself noticing that fact, I couldn’t help but let those warm feelings wash over me.

This chance encounter with the Queen of the Demons gave me something much more precious than the lazy life I was looking towards. Something that I had been missing in my life for a long, long time.

And that was a bond of trust forged between the most unlikely of allies.

Yzara’s expression softened completely as she let my body go. Her smile was genuine, and it felt like she was trying her hardest to not burst out laughing.

“Sorry, I wanted to scare ya a little bit, that’s all. But,” she paused, letting her smile abate just a tiny bit, “I’m completely serious. I’ll not help ya anymore if ya don’t come clean about this.”

Should I tell an NPC about their own nature? And how I helped forge this world myself?

Nah, that wasn’t the question I should be asking myself.

It was this—should I trust Yzara? Not an NPC or the Demon Queen. Just a girl I happened to meet in this world, and with whom I forged a mutual bond of trust with.

It was that bond that made me sure the words I was about to utter wouldn’t be turned against me.

I was sure of it.

“Alright, I’ll tell you about it.”

I breathed in the crisp air of this tiny village, and told Yzara all about the final secret I was still holding inside of me.