After-Story Final Chapter: And So, the Days Continue

Shanti, with tears welling up in her eyes, slashed at Luka.

“You said you’d take me with you next time! You liar!”

“Whoa!? Huh, I don’t recall saying anything like that!?” Luka blinked rapidly, truly seeming to have no recollection.

Shanti swung her naginata with a whooshing sound, as if slamming it down onto him.

“When I said, ‘Take me on an adventure, too,’ you said, ‘Next time, okay,’ didn’t you! When is ‘next time’? It’s now!”

“No, ‘next time’ doesn’t mean now, I don’t th—Whoa, look out!?”

“Liar! You stupid senior disciple!”

“Just listen to me for once!”

It seemed Shanti had taken Luka’s spur-of-the-moment words literally and misinterpreted them. Driven by anger, she swung her naginata and attacked Luka. He desperately dodged, trying somehow to placate her rage.

“First of all! You haven’t gotten permission from Master to become an Ocean Adventurer yet, have you?”

“Ugh!”

Shanti’s hands froze. Luka was finally able to take a breath.

“So? Did Master give you permission?”

“H-Hmph! My foster father is too stubborn! And my foster mother just keeps saying, ‘You can go if you can convince your foster father,’ and nothing else!”

Shanti was the daughter of Luka’s and Misha’s Master, Mughal. However, they were not related by blood. Apparently, Shanti’s biological parents were Ocean Adventurers who were fatally wounded in a monster attack and entrusted the infant Shanti to the arriving Mughal before passing away. Mughal and his wife, Fumi, cherished and raised her as if she were their own daughter.

This meant Shanti was not related to Mughal or Fumi by blood. Despite this, Luka found it strange that she was growing into a beautiful woman who increasingly resembled her foster mother, Fumi. Since both Mughal and Fumi appeared to be of the Human race, it was impossible for their child to be a Winged Human, and the gentle, devoted Fumi would never commit adultery. So, while it was certain they were not blood-related…

(Besides, Master’s overprotectiveness is completely that of a father toward his only daughter…)

Luka realized his thoughts were straying and quickly returned to convincing Shanti.

“You don’t have permission! If Master finds out I took you out while you’re still unauthorized, he’ll half-kill me!”

“But you should sacrifice yourself for your junior disciple sister.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Even eight-year-old Mii-chan is adventuring! I want to adventure too!”

“Chomp… Well, in my case, it is a Dark Elf custom, is that~” (Munching)

Misha, still munching on another offering, said this in a relaxed tone, but Shanti did not seem to hear her. Shanti finally began to wrap the blade of her naginata in flames. She was a Fire-elemental magic user.

“Take me adventuring too, Luka!”

“Hot, hot!?”

The flames released from the naginata grazed Luka’s temple, slightly scorching the ends of his hair. This was no longer a level of attack he could just deflect easily. In fact, in terms of raw fighting power without trickery, Shanti already far surpassed Luka. Even though she possessed enough military might to defeat ten rookie Ocean Adventurers combined, the only reason Mughal still hadn’t granted her permission to become an Ocean Adventurer was purely due to his overprotectiveness.

Furthermore, the reason Fumi hadn’t spoken up, despite knowing this, was that she believed Shanti was too headstrong and dangerous until her impulsive nature settled down a bit (her stance being that it would be okay if Shanti worked with Luka, who could keep her in check).

Luka, smelling the burnt hair, grimaced.

“Ugh, that’s enough! I can’t deal with you! Run, Misha!”

“Munch, munch.”

Luka tucked the still-munching Misha under his arm and began to run. The hammer Misha wore was unusually heavy, but he ran at full speed without worrying about it.

“Hey, stop that! Wait for me!” Shanti chased after them.

As the commotion faded into the distance, the Ocean Adventurers in the Guild simply commented, “Oh, they’re at it again,” as if this was a daily occurrence, holding no other reaction.

Left behind were the three men who had harassed Luka. The big man who took the electric shock was still unconscious, but the other two, who had been thrown into the pile of garbage by Shanti, slowly got up.

“O-Ow, ow, ow… That bastard, how dare he do that!”

“Damn it, treating us like fools. I’m not letting this go.”

Despite having been the ones to pick the fight, the two men directed their vengeful rage at Luka.

“I won’t be satisfied until I get back at him. Should we follow them?”

“Yeah. We could attack them in their sleep, or ambush them during a fight with a monster. There are plenty of ways to get even…”

Grasp.

” “Huh?” “

Suddenly grabbed by the shoulder, the two men turned around. Standing there was a tall figure whose face was covered by a full-face helmet and whose entire body was clad in heavy, full-plate armor, leaving absolutely no skin visible. This imposing suit of armor had grabbed both their shoulders.

“What the—Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!!”

“You let go of us—Gagagaga!!”

The two men, who appeared to merely have their shoulders touched, writhed in agony. It must have been due to an incredibly powerful grip. The heavy armor didn’t seem to be exerting much visible force, simply standing there silently, which was unsettling. Then…

Scraaape… Scraaape…

The heavy armor began to walk, dragging the two men along the ground. The men struggled to break free, but they could not escape the armor’s grip and were dragged along.

“Ugh, w-we’re sorry, we’re sorry, we were wrong!”

“Hee-hee!? S-Someone help us…”

The men finally pleaded with tears in their eyes, but the surrounding Ocean Adventurers simply looked away. If anything, several of them began dragging the man who had been knocked out by the electric shock, following the heavy armor.

The heavy armor entered the Adventurer’s Guild, walked past Juno at the counter, and led the three men into the back room. Then…

THWACK, CRUNCH, SMASH…

For a while, suspicious noises could be heard from the back room, but Juno blocked her ears, pretending not to hear anything, and the Ocean Adventurers in the Guild seemed to have lost interest, returning to their chatter and drinking.

After a while, the door to the back room opened, and only the heavy armor emerged. The armor walked toward Juno at the counter.

Juno looked at the heavy armor with an exasperated expression.

“…Aren’t you being a bit too overprotective, ‘Mother’?”

“But! I was worried!”

A woman’s voice, completely opposite to the heavy armor’s stern appearance, came from within. The heavy armor then opened the visor portion of its helmet with a clunk. Peering out was the brown-skinned face characteristic of the Dark Elf race.

“Those children could have handled thugs like that on their own, couldn’t they? Misha-chan has inherited your immense strength, so there’s no way she could lose. Right, Aisha?”

“Ugh… but still…”

The heavy armor was Aisha, Souma’s wife and Misha’s mother, just like Juno. Aisha, having shed her eerie demeanor from moments ago, looked at Juno with wide, teary eyes like a lost child.

“Mii-chan is only eight years old! And she’s already out adventuring…”

“But that’s the custom of the Forest of the Protectors, isn’t it? What was it? ‘A child of the Dark Elf race must travel outside the forest with a guardian to learn about the outside world when they turn eight’ … was that it?”

“That is a custom that has long been abandoned! Yet Father decided to revive it, saying, ‘The Forest of the Protectors has begun interacting with the outside world,’ and of all people, he chose Misha as the first one to restart it!”

The Dark Elf race in the Forest of the Protectors once had such a custom. A guardian referred to a parent or sibling, and it was considered that a child was fully grown when they reached a certain age and traveled outside the forest with their guardian to learn about the outside world. However, the Forest of the Protectors had been isolated for over a hundred years until Souma’s reign, and the custom had fallen into disuse.

Then, Aisha’s father, Bowden, decided to revive the custom to ensure that the Forest of the Protectors would not be left behind by the outside world. He chose his granddaughter, Misha, as the first participant. And Misha was adventuring with her half-brother Luka and Musashibo-kun, who was operated by Souma.

“Isn’t it necessary to choose a close family member of the chief for the first run, to show seriousness?”

“But! She is the child I finally had with His Majesty after yearning for so long! Mii-chan is my treasure, whom I can gaze upon without pain, is that!”

“And so you watch over her in that suspicious heavy armor… is that it?” Juno said with a knowing sigh.

Aisha nodded vigorously. “Yes! To be able to protect her if anything happens. And yet, to show her that I, as a mother, ‘trustingly sent her off,’ I watch over her secretly from the shadows.”

“I see maternal vanity mixed with overprotectiveness.”

“So, Juno-dono. Please, keep this a secret from Mii-chan and the others.”

“Yes, yes…” Juno replied, thinking, “With this level of clumsiness, how long can she keep it hidden? Will she be exposed immediately, or has she already been found out?”

◇ ◇ ◇

“Ah, snap.” Luka suddenly muttered while fleeing from Shanti with Misha clutched under his arm.

“What is it, is that?” Misha asked, held under his arm.

Luka glanced back in the direction they had run from.

“I was so distracted by Shanti that I completely forgot about those three guys. It’ll be troublesome if they get away…”

“Ah, in that case, I think it will be fine, is that.”

“Eh? Why?”

“A person who is stronger than Mother Juno and scary when angry was there, is that.”

“???”

Luka had no idea what she was talking about, but Misha said it with such confidence that he accepted it and focused on running. The area Luka and Misha ran into was the docks for Ocean Adventurers’ ships. Spotting the Musashimaru anchored there, Luka quickly leaped aboard.

He called out to Captain Musashibo-kun, who had poked his face out from inside the vessel and was holding up a sign that read, “What’s wrong?”

“Old Man! It’s an emergency! Hurry, get the ship moving!”

[ROGER]

Musashibo-kun showed his understanding with a sign and quickly began preparations to launch the ship. Just as the vessel started moving and pulled away from the shore, Shanti caught up. Normally, she could have flown and boarded the ship with her wings, but the sea limits magic, which is why Winged Humans can only glide, preventing her from boarding.

“Hey, Luka! Take me with you!”

“Sorry, Shanti! I don’t want to be half-killed by Master!”

Luka waved his hand at the fuming Shanti. When the Musashimaru was a safe distance from the island, Misha asked Luka, “So, we rushed off in a panic, but do we have a destination, is that?”

“Hmm… We don’t have anywhere specific to go. Well, how about we go to the island where Father is doing excavation work? Mother Liscia (via Musashibo-kun) contacted me saying she was worried about you, Misha.”

“Yay! We get to see Papa and the Mamas, is that!” Misha jumped up and down happily.

Even with her adult-like way of speaking, Misha was still at an age where she craved her parents’ affection. Cheered by his foster sister’s reaction, Luka said to Musashibo-kun in the cockpit:

“Alright, let’s go! Set sail for the island where Father and the others are!”

“Yeah!”

And so, the lively days would continue on.

—The End—