Epilogue | The Assassin Sees Off His Friend
Naoise and I faced each other. Now that we had taken out the demon, there was no one to get in our way.
Tarte and Dia watched us from a small distance with worried expressions.
“I can’t believe what you’ve become, Naoise.”
Naoise laughed bitterly and looked at me with a hint of irritation.
“What, do you pity me?”
“That’s part of it. Do you think you can still live in human society as you are? Anyone capable of noticing will see the miasma covering your body.”
Just like there were people who could sense mana, there were those who could detect miasma. The government was also on high alert for miasma. At the very least, Naoise would not be able to live as a noble anymore.
Miasma even left normal humans feeling uneasy, so Naoise wouldn’t last long before being ostracized.
“Why should I care about that? That’s a trivial thing compared to this power. I’m sure you saw that I have become stronger than any of you.”
“You may be. But that holds little meaning.”
While wielding the sword, Naoise’s fighting strength was probably greater than mine. But what did it amount to?
Were we to fight head-on, I would be at a disadvantage, but that would change the second Naoise didn’t have the sword. Even if he had the sword, I would be able to kill him easily as long as I kept my distance, and I could just run if he tried to get close. A surprise attack from a hidden spot was all it would take.
Power was not absolute. From my perspective, it was a minimal reward to give up your humanity for.
“You’re just jealous of me. I know you’ve secretly always looked down on me. You hid your strength at the academy and mocked me whenever I got a big head! I must have seemed ludicrous in your eyes. Now you don’t want to admit that I’ve surpassed you.”
“I’ve never thought that. I respected you, Naoise… But now you look ludicrous to me. You’re a pitiful man who is trying to act tough with borrowed power.”
“How dare you!”
Naoise grabbed his sword. His demeanor suggested he would kill me if I continued to talk back to him.
“That is what I mean when I say you look absurd. You are too easily provoked. I won’t deny that you’ve gotten stronger, but you relinquished something more important. Open your eyes. What is it that you want to do with this power?”
“…Silence.”
“You once asked me to lend you my strength so that we could change this rotten country. Can you change the nation as you are now? A single powerful individual can’t accomplish that on his own. Don’t tell me you don’t understand that. Your former self thought of strength as only one tool of many, and you searched for allies to do what you couldn’t. You were able to gather talent because you had the charm to win people over. I saw that as much more valuable than anything you possess now.”
“I said silence!”
Naoise drew his sword and swung at me. Tarte and Dia rushed to my side. I, however, just stared at him.
“How did you know I was going to stop my sword?” Naoise asked.
“Because I didn’t sense any killing intent.”
Naoise’s attack had halted right in front of my forehead.
“Sorry, I never meant to do that…”
Naoise sheathed his weapon and buried his face in his hands. The miasma dwelling in his body had made him impulsive. Naoise’s great dignity would never have allowed him to do such a thing.
I offered my hand to him.
“Come with me. I can’t make you human again. But I can at least teach you how to hide your miasma.”
The ominous energy flowing from Naoise appeared warped and unstable. It looked like he had no control over it.
I was confident that it could be commanded. Researching Demonkiller had taught me much on miasma. I’d also studied how to conceal miasma by observing Mina.
With my help, Naoise could do the same as the snake demon, and I could create tools to assist him. Even if Naoise would never be human again, I could help him live in society.
“…Why didn’t you tell me you could do something like that? Ha-ha-ha, how pathetic. I wanted to get stronger to prove myself superior to you, but the more I talk to you, the more wretched I feel. I’m leaving. There’s something I need to do.”
“Where are you going?”
“I have no obligation to tell you that, but we will meet again. You’ve opened my eyes to what I’ve done. I had stopped thinking about it, and it had even come to feel good to me. You brought me back to reality. But I thank you for that.”
Naoise turned his back. When I tried to speak to him again, Nevan walked past me.
“When did you become such a worthless man? You’ve always been weak and stupid, but you were never a fool.”
Naoise looked back at her. He seemed on the verge of tears.
Evidently, Nevan’s words reached him far more deeply than mine.
“Is that how you see me? Nevan, I’ve always… No, never mind.”
“It’s not too late. Listen to what Sir Lugh has to say. If you reject his hand, you’ll have nowhere left to go.”
“…That was the one thing I didn’t want to hear.”
With that, Naoise took his leave.
Even if I attempted to follow after, I couldn’t match his speed. Naoise’s physical capabilities were on the level of the hero.
Once Naoise was out of sight, Nevan said, “That old friend of mine has graduated from idiot to imbecile. I wish he had at least thanked me before dashing off.”
“I’m sure we’ll see him again. It looked like he had a lot to think about,” I replied.
He would definitely show up again the next time we fought a demon. Perhaps he could even aid us in getting information from Mina.
Nevan nodded. “Yes, I am sure we will.”
“I was surprised to see that Naoise likes you that way,” I commented.
“I am aware of his feelings. He’s been following me around as long as I can remember,” Nevan answered with indifference.
“You don’t intend on giving him an answer?”
“I’m a Romalung, and Naoise is like a younger brother to me. He takes so much time and effort to look after that I can’t take my eyes off him for a second. It’s such a pain.”
“I’m relieved to see you like him.”
“Do not get the wrong idea.”
I gave a strained laugh.
Nevan was genuinely concerned for Naoise, and she did love him, even if it wasn’t in the romantic sense.
“Anyway, let us return. We need to write the demon subjugation report. With this, three demons have been defeated. At this rate, it seems like we’ll have them all exterminated in no time,” she said.
“You may be right. I hope the remaining ones aren’t as strong as Liogel,” I responded. Liogel had been ridiculously powerful. I didn’t want to face anything like him again. “Tarte, Dia, let’s go home. I’m starting to miss Tuatha Dé.”
I decided I would leave the cleanup in Jombull to Nevan’s subordinates. I could tell that they were skilled from watching them work for the past few days. I was sure they would deal with the situation nicely if I gave them loose instructions.
If you had talented personnel, you needed to make use of them.
“Yes, my lord. I’ll make you your favorite Tuatha Dé food when we get back,” said Tarte.
“Ooh, that sounds great!” exclaimed Dia.
“I will accompany you as well. I need to go ahead and introduce myself to your parents,” added Nevan.
They were all behaving cheerfully for my sake, hoping to lift my spirits after my friend’s departure.
It was kind of them. That’s why I wanted to make sure I cherished the girls.
“Now, how should we get home? We’re far from Jombull, and I doubt we could hire a carriage in the city’s present state… How about we fly? There’s no reason to hold back at this point. We could return to Tuatha Dé in less than half a day,” I proposed.
Dia, Tarte, and Nevan exchanged a look, nodded, and responded together.
“““Sounds good, (my lord/Sir Lugh)!”””
And thus, we decided to fly home. It would be a long trip, so I elected to produce a hang glider.
The weather was nice. Soaring through the pleasant blue sky seemed like as good a time as any to consider Naoise and what was to come next.
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