Epilogue
Satou here. Sometimes, when you’re looking for something that you just can’t seem to track down, a friend might come along and hand it to you out of nowhere. Personal connections really are important.
“Welcome home, master.”
“Mrrr. Morning.”
When I came back to the mansion, Mia and Arisa were there to greet me.
Tama and Pochi were helping in the fields, Liza and Nana were doing a morning jog around the perimeter of Labyrinth City, Lulu was in the kitchen with Miss Miteruna and the maids, and Karina and company were still asleep.
“Now, now, Mia. Master was investigating the Lower Stratum of the—”
“Perfume.”
Arisa started to defend me, but when Mia interrupted, they both started sniffing around my robes.
“I smell a few different things. Wait…”
Her eyes widened, and she shoved her face into my robes again.
“Enough.”
As Arisa kept rooting around in my robes, Mia bopped her on the head.
“Sorry, sorry. So what’s up, master? You wouldn’t tell us you were going into the labyrinth and then head off and cheat, now, would you?”
“I swear on my good vibes with Miss Aaze that I did no such thing.”
“Mm…mrrr.”
Mia started to smile but then realized something about what I’d said and puffed up her cheeks.
Kids were so confusing.
“So did you meet a woman in the labyrinth or what?”
“It’s a bit of a long story, so I’ll tell you after breakfast. For now, let’s just say the reincarnations in the labyrinth Lower Stratum were more or less friendly.”
“More or less?”
“Well, I got the feeling that if they thought I was an enemy, they’d kick me to the curb right away.”
After all, Mukuro especially was the type of person who even picked a fight with gods.
“Knock-knock, master.”
After breakfast, I called Arisa to the study alone.
“What about everyone else?”
“Well, there’s something I need to talk about with you specifically.”
“Is it Unique Skills?”
I nodded. “It might take a while, but I’ll tell you everything I learned.”
Reincarnations like Arisa were granted Divine Rights in the form of God Fragments from the gods so that they could use Unique Skills.
These God Fragments were contained in the soul vessel, but if one used Unique Skills past their limits, the soul vessel could be damaged. If it broke beyond automatic repair, then the reincarnation would turn into a demon lord.
And if one attempted to remove God Fragments, it would tear up the soul and lead to death or possibly even total destruction of the spirit.
Next, I touched on a few important points.
First, there was generally no danger as long as one obeyed the limits of Unique Skills with a restricted number of uses.
Second, if one was in a poor mental or physical state, the danger of using Unique Skills would increase.
Third, one-hit-kill or limit-breaking Unique Skills like Arisa’s Over Boost were extremely dangerous, and if used incorrectly, they could even destroy the soul vessel in one go and turn the host into a demon lord.
Arisa listened intently, then broke into a smile.
“Okay, gotcha. Actually, before I was reborn, a god did warn me not to use them too much.”
“Really? They actually warned you?”
“Uh-huh. And they even gave me a blessing in hopes I would have a happy and fulfilling life.”
I had suspected that it might have been an evil god that reincarnated Arisa, but maybe I was wrong?
Or maybe…the evil god was depicted in legends as a thoughtless villain that created demons and monsters and antagonized other races, but maybe those stories were twisted by the other gods.
For instance, it might have been something else that created demons and monsters, or else they might have a more important role than any of us realized…
“Also…uh, master?”
“Ah, sorry. I got lost in some pointless thoughts.”
I didn’t have enough information about all this, so I decided to put it aside.
“Like what?”
“Like…what purpose were demons and monsters created for? Things like that.”
“Huh, that’s pretty interesting. Hey, since we’re going to the royal capital soon, maybe we could try asking some royal scholars or investigating in the library at the royal castle.”
Our actual business there was only the kingdom meeting, plus auctions and sightseeing in the capital, but it would probably be even more fun if we included some scholarly research, too.
“Good idea. Next time I see the viceroy’s wife, I’ll ask her to write a letter of introduction to the royal academy for us.”
As for the royal castle’s library, I could either ask the king next time I visited as Nanashi the Hero or have the Echigoya senior staff submit an official request as Kuro or something.
“Oh, this is a bit off topic, but…”
I took something out of my Item Box and gave it to Arisa.
“What a cute brooch!”
“It’s a gift from the other reincarnations called a soul shell garland. They said it’ll protect your soul vessel.”
I explained the mechanics and monitoring features of the soul shell garland to Arisa and gave her an elixir along with it, a high-quality one I’d previously produced in the village of Bolenan.
“Keep this in your Item Box, please.”
“Are you sure? I thought you said you only managed to make one?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. One of the ingredients partway through takes a lot of time to get, so I can’t make any more right away, but I should be able to mass-produce them in three months or so.”
“All right, then, if you insist… Thank you, master.”
Arisa placed a very light kiss on my cheek.
Turning bright red, she mumbled for me to put it on her and held it out. I fixed it to her chest.
“Hee-hee, how’s it look?”
“Looks great,” I confirmed.
“I’m gonna show the others!” she declared and rushed out of the room.
Since she left the door wide open, I could hear her bragging to everyone in the living room.
I guess I’ll be making more brooches tonight, huh?
“Young master, you have a guest.”
Shortly after Arisa left to show everyone the soul shell garland, the head maid Miss Miteruna entered my study instead.
Based on my radar, the guest appeared to be Zena.
“She called herself Lady Marienteil. Do you know her?”
“Yes, she’s a dear friend of mine. She must have some urgent business.”
Since she wasn’t on the list of expected visitors, Miss Miteruna looked doubtful.
In a world without phones, it was standard practice to send a letter in advance to announce any visits to a noble’s home.
“Is she in the study?”
“I’m terribly sorry, sir. Since she was dressed like a soldier, I asked her to wait by the gate.”
“That’s fine. I’ll go let her in, if you wouldn’t mind preparing some tea?”
“Y-yes, of course.”
Miteruna seemed surprised that I was going to the gate.
This might be the first time I had gone to greet a visitor all the way at the gate myself, I guess.
“Satou!”
When she saw me approaching, Zena looked relieved.
Just as Miteruna had mentioned, today Zena was wearing her Labyrinth City Celivera’s Elite Training Corps uniform.
Our plans for today weren’t until noon, but maybe something urgent had come up.
“Good morning, Zena.”
“Ah, I’m sorry to arrive so early.”
As I opened the iron gate, Zena’s head whipped up so fast, I practically heard a zooming sound.
“It’s perfectly fine. Please come in.”
Even after I said that, she made no move to enter.
Um…?
For some reason, she looked nervous.
“S-Satou…”
Zena looked at me seriously.
Between the dampness of her eyes and the slightly red tint to her cheeks, she almost reminded me of a high school girl who was about to confess to her crush.
The strangely bittersweet atmosphere made me feel a bit sheepish.
“I have something to tell you, Satou.”
“Yes?”
Zena clenched her fists to steady her nerves and looked up at me.
After a moment of silence, she finally spoke.
“Satou, the truth is, I…”
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