Epilogue
A week had passed after all the commotion with Yumiella 2 and the god of evil. I’d spent much of it feeling unwell, but I was finally starting to feel like my usual self again.
Ever since, things had been nothing but peaceful here. Once again, Eleanora, always an irrepressible ball of energy, was barging into my room unannounced.
“Yumiella, I’ve brought a gift for you!” she bubbled. “It’s a loaf of bread in the shape of a bear!”
“Thank you... Where did you get this?”
“The church held an event where children gathered to bake bread together! His Holiness invited me to join them, so I helped out!”
“So, you weren’t a participant...?”
“No, I helped run the event!” she said proudly.
Though it was unclear to me whether Eleanora was being entirely truthful, what I did know was that Eleanora had been visiting the local church very frequently. I’d never been to the church myself, but I had met the priest, whom Eleanora always called “His Holiness.” He’d visited my estate, and I’d received him as part of my duties as the lord of this county. The priest seemed to be a truly good man, so it was no wonder that the community revered him and called him “His Holiness.” I kept thinking that one of these days, I should visit the church itself, but I always came up with one reason or another to put it off.
Eleanora’s basically my family, so it’s nice that she acts as a bridge between politics and religion in the county. I should reward her greatly! I’m proud of you, my dear Eleanora!
“Thank you for your work,” I said. “I’m sure it must’ve been a lot of trouble.”
“Nonsense, it was no trouble at all! I just helped out a little in the beginning. After that, I didn’t do anything!”
“What exactly did you do...?”
“I was in charge of weighing out the ingredients! His Holiness said that calculations should be no problem for a graduate of the Royal Academy like me.”
His Holiness may be giving the Royal Academy too much credit. It’s just a place the nobility are forced to go to so they can make social connections to advance their futures. Anyone who wants to actually become an academic just becomes an apprentice to one. Well, I guess a majority of Academy graduates can probably look at a recipe and calculate the correct amount of ingredients.
The girl standing before me, however, was not a member of that majority. Oblivious, she blathered on. “But Kye said... Oh, Kye is one of the older boys. He said, ‘I’ll take over. A princess shouldn’t be working.’”
“Good job, Kye,” I said approvingly.
“I couldn’t say no to a young boy doing his best to be chivalrous like a knight.”
“I see. So you didn’t actually have much to do in the latter half of the event.”
“I must say, I still can’t believe Kye called me a princess,” Eleanora remarked, a blissful look on her face.
I mean, of course she’s a princess. Her current dresses aren’t as fancy as the ones she used to wear, but they’re still the kind of dresses that only an aristocrat would be seen in. Also, I feel like Kye might not have been completely sincere when he called her a princess, but I wasn’t actually there, so I can’t say for sure.
Despite everything, I was relieved to see that Eleanora was back to her usual self. I understood why Sanon worried about her.
I decided to wrap up my relaxation time with Eleanora and start taking care of all of the work that had piled up during my convalescence. As I walked the halls of the mansion, I couldn’t help but take notice of a shadow out of the corner of my eye. The shadow was cast by a tree in the yard, but it had stretched its way into the mansion through the window in a manner that seemed both unnatural and suspicious.
“Hm...?” Without thinking, I stuck my hand out, and it sank into the shadow. The shadow rippled like the surface of water—and the sensation against my skin even felt like water. “Aha, got you.” I found my prey, and my hand closed around something and pulled it up.
Out of the shadow came a black-haired boy. I had grabbed him by his ankle, so he came out upside down.
Oh, I thought it was your wrist. Sorry.
“This territory used to be mine and mine only,” Lemn said with a long-suffering sigh, as he dangled upside down before me. “Why do you keep doing reckless things based only on intuition?”
I ignored his complaint. “What kind of devious scheme are you planning now, Lemn?”
“How rude! When have I ever come up with a devious scheme?”
“Well...” I frowned, my brow creasing in thought. “Wait, actually...?”
Now that he mentions it, I don’t think he really has come up with any devious schemes. I just have such a strong impression of him as some twisted, evil crook that I might have made that up. As those thoughts crossed my mind, Lemn favored me with a triumphant smile. Hey, you’re still trespassing, buddy.
I slowly lowered him to the ground and said, “I didn’t realize you’d come back here. Sorry for leaving you in 2’s world.”
“I’m fine. I jumped into your shadow as soon as you started turning back time.”
“Can you stop entering my shadow without permission?” I grumbled. “Although it looks like I’ll be able to deal with you from now on even if you do hide in shadows.”
“Shadows are part of my domain, so I don’t think you have a right to complain about which shadows I’m in.”
“Did you know that if you win a war, you are generally permitted to annex the loser’s domain?”
Lemn blanched. “My apologies. I’ll be more considerate about where I go around you, miss.”
Since no one had detected Lemn’s presence until now, that meant that he’d been free to invade our privacy and spy on us.
I guess he’s actually the god of Peeping Toms. He might’ve even been peeping on me while I was taking baths. What a pervert.
“Huh? What’s going on?” Lemn said, confused at my darkening expression. “I said I would be considerate, so why are you looking at me with such contempt?”
“Setting that aside... You can communicate with your other selves in the parallel worlds, right?”
“I can. Why do you ask...?”
“I wanted to know if 2’s doing well over there.”
I was curious as to what 2 had been doing since I left. That world’s timeline was now roughly around when the Demon Lord battle ended, right around the middle of her third year at the Academy. Perhaps she was planning on graduating from the Academy, or even traveling to new lands.
I guess it’s only been a week, so there probably hasn’t been too much change.
“Oh, that world. It seems like there’s a lot going on.”
“A lot? It’s only been a week.”
“Oh...” Lemn made a face that made it clear he’d slipped up.
What kind of incident happened in such a short time? Is there “a lot” going on with Yumiella 2, or with the entire world? Taking into account this god’s nature, it’s probably the latter.
“Maybe I should go check on her after all...”
“No, that’s not what I meant! Don’t just go around creating dimensional warps without thinking!” Lemn snapped.
“But there’s been some kind of incident, hasn’t there?”
“It’s not like an incident has happened in just a week. The time in parallel worlds always moves accordingly so that every timeline remains synced. In this case, time in that world moved faster and time in this world moved slower so that things could equalize... I think they should both be on about the same timeline now.”
I had turned time back in World 2 by about one year. If that time had caught up to its original timeline, then a year had already passed in her world.
“That’s why things have already settled over there,” Lemn said, gesturing for me to calm down. “So there’s no reason for you to go over there, okay?”
“If a whole year has passed, I want to go see what 2’s up to now.”
A whole year after 2 promised to do better this time... What is she doing now, and who is she with? It’s not like I’m worried or anything, I’m just...going to go bother her. Yeah, I’m going to tease her and laugh at her. I guess I’m not going for good reasons in that case, but I’m nonetheless in a hurry. Let’s go right away.
“Even if you want to visit the parallel world, you can’t. I have the secateur,” the god of darkness reminded me.
“So you’re probably not going to give it back to me, huh?”
The secateur, Keep Living, was much too dangerous an object to leave lying around. I wasn’t confident in my ability to properly manage it, so I’d decided to leave it with Lemn. He wouldn’t give it back to me for personal use, but I knew without a doubt that if the world was in crisis, he would bring me the secateur. He was a twisted god, but I had faith in that at the very least.
Darn, I can’t go to the parallel world without it. It’s impossible without the sword...right? It would be worth trying if I had something to use in place of it. Something that could replace god’s gardening shears used to prune worlds... Maybe my bare hands? There’s a small chance that with my strength as it is now, my bare hands might work.
“Oh,” I said with some surprise. “It worked.”
“What in the world is going on with your body, miss?”
I had twisted my hands as if I was tearing something open in midair, and a dimensional warp had appeared.
I guess at the end of the day, when you’re in trouble, you can always just brute force things. Though, it was probably a mistake to open a portal right here. If he sees this...
As if summoned, Patrick appeared at the other end of the hall. He noticed the dimensional warp right away.
“Why is that in the house?”
“Apparently a year has already passed over there!” I exclaimed. “Let’s go see how 2’s doing!”
In these kinds of situations, you just have to win the other person over with enthusiasm! One of the great things about Patrick is that he takes the time to understand the way I think, and then he accepts it. He’s probably antsy too, wondering how 2’s doing. He’ll definitely be on board with this plan.
He looked at me doubtfully. “She probably has her own life now. I don’t think we should be interfering.”
“What? You don’t want to go? Maybe 2’s opened a café or something, and she has no customers and is gloomy. We’d get to laugh at her misery!”
“Why can’t you just be honest about your feelings?” Patrick asked, clearly exasperated.
“Honest? What are you talking about? I just want to make fun of her.”
Someone with no industry experience could never run a successful café. I can totally imagine 2, who’s surprisingly plebeian in her tastes, wanting to be the owner of a stylish little café. I, a beautiful and prosperous countess, will go to her unsuccessful little shop and point out everything she’s doing wrong.
“You shouldn’t go,” Patrick said, shaking his head even though I had assumed he’d be excited to join me. “You’re just going to fight with her again. I know you’re worried about her, but I’m sure she must have her own plans for her life.”
“I’m going to go, even if you stop me...” I insisted. “You’re the one who said you loved my strong, unwavering heart.”
“And now I regret saying it,” Patrick lamented. Still, he decided to come with me in the end.
You should know that it’s precisely because you spoil me like this that I get carried away, Patrick.
With nothing but the clothes on our backs, we jumped into the dimensional warp and traveled to World 2.
The view before me was familiar, but this was a different world, so I had to keep my guard up.
Wait... Huh?
“Where are we?”
My boyfriend looked around with some confusion. “It’s not anywhere I know.”
It was exactly as Patrick said—this was supposed to be a parallel world, with exactly the same world map, but we didn’t seem to have traveled to an analogous spot on the map. When I had opened last week’s portal in the grassy field outside Dolkness Village, it took us to a balcony at the Royal Palace. So where had we ended up after passing through a warp that I’d opened inside my estate...?
It was a completely open field, with no buildings visible nearby. Fortunately, I could see maintained roads well-worn with wheel tracks. This was likely the main road leading to a nearby town.
“I guess all we can do is follow the road,” I suggested.
“I’m sure we’ll find some people if we keep walking,” Patrick agreed.
We walked side by side down the road. While the evidence seemed to indicate that the path was well traveled, we hadn’t run into anyone yet.
Are there just no people here? Did Yumiella 2 make the same mistakes again...?
“Oh look, there’s a wagon coming this way,” Patrick pointed out.
Oh. There are totally people here. I guess 2 isn’t so clumsy that she’d fail badly enough to destroy the world a second time. The worst that’s probably happened is her café went under, and she’s spending her days dungeon crawling to pay off her debts or something like that.
Before saying goodbye, 2 had mentioned that she would beat me in strength, social standing, and romance, but I doubted she’d be able to pull any of it off. There was no way she could surpass me in strength with my level cap unlocked. As for social standing, despite how I might seem, I was still a countess. And as for romance, I was dating Patrick, who was perfect, so she had no chance.
The wagon was coming closer. I could see a middle-aged man, a peddler, leisurely holding the reins of the horse pulling the wagon.
I’m glad things seem peaceful. I should get information about 2 from him... No, I need to first ask where we are.
The peddler seemed suspicious of us, standing in the middle of nowhere with no luggage or anything, but his face settled into a smile as he stopped his wagon.
“Hello! What are you two doing in a place like this?” he asked curiously.
“Oh, well, we’re in a bit of a complicated situation...” I said.
“If you keep going straight you’ll reach Liesdamia. I’m sure you’ll be able to find somewhere for the two of you to live and some work for him,” the peddler assured me, nodding towards Patrick.
“Work...?” I echoed, confused.
“I’m sure things are rough for you, but good luck,” the man said encouragingly. “Even if you’re in new lands, you’ll be okay as long as you support each other. There won’t be any disapproving relatives trying to keep you apart in Liesdamia.”
He totally thinks we ran away from our families to elope, doesn’t he? We’re a young couple just walking along the road without any indication that we’d planned on traveling. Yeah, even I could see us as lovers on the run. I guess his misunderstanding helps us though. I’ll play along and get some more information.
I’d heard of Liesdamia before. It was a provincial city quite a ways from Dolkness County, but it was still within the borders of the Kingdom of Valschein. If I recalled correctly, it was in a sizable county.
I’m not confident that I’m thinking of the right place, and it might even be somewhere with the same name in a different kingdom. I should pretend to not know for sure so that I can confirm with the peddler.
“Thank you so much for your consideration. I do have a question, though. Are you referring to Liesdamia, the city in the Kingdom of Valschein?”
“Ha ha, why of course I mean the Kingdom of Valschein... Wait, no, sorry. It’s not the Kingdom of Valschein anymore.”
Liesdamia isn’t part of the kingdom anymore? But it’s not on the border... If the borders between kingdoms have moved that drastically, could it be that this world has fallen into some turbulent times?
I instantly tensed up. I could sense that Patrick was starting to get nervous as well.
What kingdom did Liesdamia join, then?
“It’s not like anything has really changed that much day-to-day though,” the peddler said with a friendly smile. “It’s Liesdamia City, in the state of Valschein, in the Holy Empire of Dolkness.”
“The Holy Empire of...Dolkness?”
“Oh, have you not heard the biggest news of the century? It made headlines all across the continent.”
“I’m sorry, I’m a bit out of touch when it comes to the state of the world...” I managed.
Huh? What? Huh?
As I stood there feeling completely lost, the peddler settled into a more narrative style, clearly relishing the chance to tell the story to a new audience.
“Our sole empress, Her Imperial Majesty, the honorable Yumiella Dolkness, succeeded in doing what no man has ever done before! She brought the five great kingdoms, as well as the countless smaller kingdoms in the surrounding lands, all under her unified control! She did what policymakers of the past longed to do! She birthed a unified nation upon this continent!”
What?! That’s insane! What the hell?!
My mind couldn’t keep up with the information coming in. Seeing the blank expressions on our faces, the peddler scratched his face, looking a little sheepish about his dramatic rendition of the news.
“You haven’t heard all that before? It was constantly announced all over the place until just a short while ago.”
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of it... So, um, this Yumiella person became the empress?”
“She sure did. Oh, maybe the people of your hometown haven’t heard any details about Her Imperial Majesty. Empress Dolkness has black hair, just like you, miss. I think she might be around your age too. I just thought you should know, in case your families didn’t want you two together because of your hair color or something.”
“I-I see, Her Imperial Majesty has black hair as well. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Before I could even wonder if the empress was someone who coincidentally had the same name as Yumiella 2, that possibility had crumbled away. There was no doubt that this was the Yumiella 2 that I knew.
What the hell is she doing?! Also, what is this Holy Empire of Dolkness like? Yumiella 2, are you conducting a reign of terror? Are you forcing people to slave away and create an ostentatious tomb for you or something? You might get stabbed if you’re not careful.
I decided to casually gather information on the current state of things.
“Things must have changed a lot since the empire was established,” I hazarded.
“Hmm...” the peddler said, thinking it over. “Not a lot has changed around me, so I’m not really sure... The ones actually running the government are the former royal family of Valschein, so it’s not really all that different.”
“Oh, so the former royal family are in good health.”
“The only thing that really changed is the borders of each former kingdom. If people try to act like they used to and start warring, Her Imperial Majesty will have her eye on them. Well, since we’re all part of the same empire now, I guess it would be an internal conflict, not a real war. Regardless, there’s a lot more travel over what used to be the borders of kingdoms. That seems to be better for the economy overall.”
I’d read in books in my version of this world that in the Kingdom of Valschein, internal conflict between territories usually didn’t get too violent. This was because of the fact that if provincial aristocrats got too extreme with their actions, the royal family would interfere and penalize both parties. This was possible because the central army commanded by the royal family was a large and well-organized one, a real force to be reckoned with.
Yumiella 2 had basically done the same thing on a continental scale, and with only her own power to boot. Even if the people liked her, the former kings and aristocrats surely loathed her. She would likely have to fight off every person in the world’s desire for domination for the rest of her life. The entire success of this empire hinged on 2 alone. She was basically an agency, not a human.
Will she actually be happy like that? If this is an empire ruled by a lonely empress, I’ll destroy it. I have to go see 2. But before I do that, I should get a sense of how her subjects feel about her.
“The empire sounds incredible,” I said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “What kind of person is Her Imperial Majesty?”
The peddler considered. “If it comes to recent things she’s done, I guess the husband auditions come to mind.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Her Imperial Majesty is on an extensive search for a significant other. She’s gathered good-looking men from all over the continent, and she’s planning on picking a husband from that pool.” He got a little bit starry-eyed. “I’d love to become Her Imperial Majesty’s husband and live an easy life.”
Oh... I see now. Yumiella 2 is actually just doing whatever she wants. After obtaining power, she’s decided to push the limits of her desires. What an idiot! See if I care!
After thanking the peddler, we said goodbye and went our separate ways. Despite the short length of the conversation, I was strangely exhausted. I felt even more fatigued than when I had turned back this world’s timeline.
I stood there blankly as I watched the wagon shrink into the distance.
I’d been so overwhelmed by trying to collect my own thoughts that I hadn’t realized Patrick hadn’t said a word. He was probably thinking about all of this even more deeply than I was, and perhaps this was making him even more exhausted than me.
Wow, the Holy Empire of Dolkness, I thought with an internal sigh.
“I wonder what makes it so holy...” I wondered aloud.
“That’s your first concern?” Patrick asked, flabbergasted.
“I mean, there are other things...” I allowed.
Yumiella 2 had really gone and done some crazy things. I had no energy left in me to actually go and see her.
Let’s just go home for now. I’ll go back to my room and sleep. Hopefully I can just forget everything about this.
The moments dragged on as we stood there silently. Then, without a word, we turned as one and started walking in the direction we came from.
“Let’s go home...” I muttered.
“Yeah,” Patrick nodded.
Well, I guess I’m glad to see that Yumiella 2 is doing all right...
I mean, I guess I should be glad...?
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