20demayo Chapter 224
Chapter 224
The Return Journey
It seems we’ve finally completed everything we can do on the human continent. Father-sama, Dad, and the emperor will continue to exchange letters, but...
Dad’s apparently going to ask Mikolasch-san to develop a communication device when we get back to the guild, so they can communicate more smoothly. A communication device that can transmit across continents... is that even possible!? There are issues like magic power consumption and other things, but... I feel like Mikolasch-san might be able to do it. If they can develop it, the system reform should progress quickly. Yeah, I’m cheering for you.
“Hmm, this feels... anticlimactic.”
“What’s wrong, Kei? Were you expecting to come here for a war?”
“I guess I kind of was. But it’s only natural, right? Everyone was giving me those serious looks when they asked me to come.”
As we were walking from the castle, Kei-san grumbled about this. They’re responding to Dad’s joking question seriously, and I shuddered. Wait, you were joking, right, Dad? Right?
“I-I wonder what they asked of you...”
“Licht, don’t ask. Just imagine the worst and then go a few steps beyond that...”
Licht muttered this with a strained smile, so I quickly stopped him. There are a lot of things that are better left unsaid in this guild! Mainly for my mental well-being!
“I still can’t believe he refused to let us take off from the castle... The emperor worries about strange things.”
“Well, yeah. But it’s not like it’s our first time.”
It’s probably because it’s not your first time! You probably did it without any warning! Of course they’d be shocked! It’s bad for the heart! Emperor, it wasn’t your fault!
I mean, Dad, you’re losing your sense of what’s normal for a human, aren’t you? I guess it happens when you spend hundreds of years on the Demon Continent. I wonder if I’ll also become like that someday. It’s terrifying how quickly you get used to things.
“Well, he did listen to our demands, so it’s fine.”
“That’s right, Don. It works out perfectly because I wanted to go on a date on the way back. Right, Meg-chan?”
Ah, that’s right! When I looked up at him, I heard Dad’s low voice muttering, “A date, huh?” Why are you overreacting?
“...I’m the escort, so I’ll be going too.”
“We’re the ones being escorted, so we’re coming too.”
“Hmm?”
After a while, I asked something that was bothering me. Since it’s just the three of us, Dad, Father-sama, and me.
“Why didn’t you think the castle people were lying? All you had was hearsay, and you didn’t know if the emperor and the others were telling the truth, right?”
This is something that had been bothering me since I heard the explanation from Dad’s side. We’d been running from the castle people all this time. There’s no way they could have known who the real culprits were, just from one side’s story.
And yet, Dad and the others, without hesitation, believed the emperor. I found that strange.
“Well, I was skeptical at first. And then after hearing the story, I was about seventy percent convinced. But there was no deciding factor.”
“Then why?”
“Hah? It’s simple. Because there was a deciding factor.”
He even asked if I wasn’t listening. Eh? What? As I tilted my head, Dad grinned and answered.
“Your spirit showed itself, even in front of the emperor and the others.”
“Shou-chan did?”
Apparently, Shou-chan appeared not only in front of Dad and the others, but also in front of everyone else in that room, including the emperor, when I asked it to go call for help.
Spirits seem a bit naive, but they’re actually very cautious. They usually won’t appear in front of people they’ve never met.
And they’re especially sensitive to good and evil, they’ll never appear before those with a strong evil heart. It’s an exception if, like Schelmelhorn, they become corrupted after being contracted... but in the first place, spirits are rarely seen by anyone who can’t use nature magic.
And yet, it appeared in front of humans who don’t have magic power. It was an emergency, and even if it considered it to be conserving magic power, it’s still unusual. I see, so that was the deciding factor. That’s how they were able to determine that the country was innocent.
“So in a way, that’s your achievement.”
Dad said this and then ruffled my hair roughly. My hair’s a mess! And I used the butterfly barrette too!
And the one who deserves credit isn’t me, it’s Shou-chan. But I’m sure it wasn’t thinking that far ahead. I’ll give it more magic power when we get back to the Demon Continent. But what if it ruthlessly drains it again! ...I’ll mentally prepare for it.