v2 epilogue

The Different World Magic Is Too Behind! Volume 2 Epilogue

Translators: Rockgollem

Editing: Deus ex-Machina

“I’m exhausted.”

Suimei laid down with his limbs spread out while chasing the blinking thunder disappear into the darkness with his eyes. He felt the sensation of hardness of the ground with his back as he catch his breath.

He really poured everything he had this time. He had to figure out how strong the mazokus were as well as whittle down their strength, but it might have been too adventurous to have killed any mazoku standing in the way. Especially the battle with Rajas and “abraq ad hav” at the end.

Rajas possessed surprising amount of strength, so his magic wasn’t as effective as he had hoped. In the end, he was almost forced to field the strongest trump card amongst the divine magic he could use.

But he no longer had mana left. This meant there was no possibility.

Suimei thought that as he looked at the sky where Rajas had disappeared off to.

“.... Was it just luck?”

Frankly, it was unexpected that holy magic was the most effective magic against the mazokus. From the conversation with Lefille, he wondered if they were related with an evil called “G.o.d of death”, but to think it was correct. It might have been obvious that darkness was weak to light or evil being was subservient to divine being, but for a magician like him, it was a blind spot.

He avoided the simple a.s.sumption that mazokus were evil beings and focused on the fact they were special magical beings of this world. That was why he began to realize it when he first came in contact with their uncomfortable aura and came to the conclusion in the forest. It was several hours after the first battle.

The mindset of a magician, whether it was logical or biological trap. It was because he tried to find a conventional weakness, he did not realize such a simple truth. It was strange in some sense.

But he was lucky that it was holy magic that was effective. If a magic that was effective against mazoku was one of the magics that was diluted in strength due to this world, it could have been a disadvantageous situation against Rajas.

Originating from Judea’s secret ritual, Kabbalah and to Gnosticism, Abra-Melin Abraham’s magic was used as anti-demonic and anti-undead magic in modern times. This divine secret was a re-arrangement of his magic, and due to the special attributes of the magic, it was only effective against certain types of evil.

If one wanted to utilize over a certain amount of power, it took time to summon a “Divine Guardian Angel” and entrust half the soul momentarily. But unlike magic that were less effective unless used on earth, such as astrology or needing earth’s object or geography, divine magic had no limitation to due to location.

The void that exists between outer realm and between each realm. The unadulterated and unsorted power that exists in the void― Etheric. And by materializing a divine guardian angel, which was a unique spirit that did not fall under any category of spirits from monad, there was no problem using the magic in this world as it was a technique utilizing a structured magic.

It was lucky that the magic he used with all his might was effective. Guess one could call it a luck that the absolute power of the magic he used was around Rajas’ strength.

But the power of the G.o.d of death was bestowed on the mazokus. If there was a mazoku that possessed greater strength and more power than Rajas, it wouldn’t end so easily.

“...... Nakshatra. Well, I don’t have any plans to get involved.”

The leader of them all, Demon King Nakshatra. That sorry mess of nuisance covered in veil, without even knowing if it was him or her, probably received even greater power from the G.o.d of death than Rajas. He didn’t plan to get involved with it, but there was a chance for encounter and there was a possibility that another Demon Chief would be stronger than Rajas.

There was a need to plan ahead just in case. Thinking ahead made his head throb in pain.

Lefille, who was beside Suimei who still breathed roughly and let out a sigh, spoke.

“Suimei. Thanks. I lived because you came.”

“It’s nothing. It’s kind of embarra.s.sing to hear that after showing up late.”

Suimei admitted his true thought after hearing Lefille thank him. He could not deny that he was reluctant ever since he first faced against a mazoku. If he had resolved himself, he wouldn’t have been late either. And the rest was history.

“.... Are the others?”

“.... Yeah.”

Her depressed voice was the reply. It could have been easily guessed from the atrocious scenery on the way here, but to think they were all dead.

He had already given up antic.i.p.ation of them being fine from the moment he grabbed her not to go and an adventurer controlled by a mazoku appeared. It was not something he should be saying but they were comrades he spent time with. Their death was regrettable.

Looking back, when he chased Lefille into the forest was the split in the road. If he was able to convince others more proficiently back then, if he could make Lefille stay, it could have ended better.

Of course, he thought everything was too late to contemplate now…..

“.....Suimei. Don’t think too much about it. It’s not something I should be saying, but it’s not your fault that they’re dead.”

“Thanks for saying that. But aren’t you thinking about it more than me, Lefille?”

“T, that’s”

She spoke as if she was caught off guard when questioned back. Soon, desolate atmosphere surrounded them. She was definitely thinking about it. There was no way she couldn’t. She couldn’t protect the ones she wanted to protect. Whether it was because she was late or whether she couldn’t save them even though she was not late, it was painful nonetheless.

And Rajas aimed precisely for that. A creature as evil as that was proficient in digging into the opponent's’ weakness as well. Almost disgustingly proficient.

That was why it hurt her even more.

“.... Lefille. Unlike me, you didn’t hesitate to jump in and save others. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“O, ok…..”

Her stuttering voice was heavy. Words like “you tried”, or “you did what you could” was nothing but a cheap consolation before everything that had transpired. That was why Lefille was depressed and there was nothing more he could say.

How long was she like that? Was she praying for those who pa.s.sed away? Or was it the time she took to get herself back together again? Amidst deep silence, Lefille spoke out of nowhere.

“Suimei, I……”

“Hmm?”

“I, I want to thank you.”

“...... What. Again?”

She already thanked him earlier. Suimei thought weirdly about her repeating words, but there was a calm but embarra.s.sed voice that followed up.

“Just before. When you said you came to save me, I was very happy. So…..”

“Ah, okay…..”

“Thanks.”

“Y, yea…. It was nothing that my lady needs to thank me for.”

Due to Lefille’s serious tone, a rare respectful way of speech popped out from Suimei. It was pretty embarra.s.sing to hear her say it again ― but thinking back, what he said when facing Rajas and talking to her was all very embarra.s.sing stuff.

Uwaaaaahhhh― ……

What I chased after. The a.s.sociation’s philosophy and father’s wish. My way of saving people. The self-righteousness. It was the atmosphere. It was the atmosphere’s fault. It was the atmosphere’s fault that he blurted it all out. That was right.

He simply needed to think of them like that and forget it ever happened.

Suimei thought like that shook his head vigorously. When Suimei began to avoid facing the reality, Lefille spoke with resolve-filled voice.

“Thanks to you, I could find courage. I’m not going to give up and walk on my own path properly. Well, getting stronger and fighting mazokus won’t change.”

….. She seemed to have recovered her broken heart. It was fortunate that she managed to suppress her despair.

When Suimei looked up into the sky without saying anything, Lefille spoke in curious tone.

“..... What is it?”

“Hmm? Ah, I think that’s good as well.”

“I won’t give up anymore. I’m going to try my best to the end no matter what. You taught me that.”

To the girl speaking such embarra.s.sing words with a straight face, Suimei spoke with self-deprecating tone.

“Stop it. I copied those words from someone else.”

“Copied?”

“Yea, I was scolded by someone extremely strong before. I heard it then.”

That was right. I knew what it was like to be denied. Having to hear it from someone strong felt as if the entire world was denying me. When stuck in that difficult situation, when I hesitated in my heart, there was a man who pointed out that my dream didn’t exist behind me. That was right―

“You met a good person.”

“No, I thought he was out of his mind at the time. Well, I thank him nonetheless, but he’s fundamentally evil.”

Lefille thought of those words as a story. A surprised “eh…..” sound could be heard.

That was right. That man who said those words only ever laughed at others dreams. He was the kind of a man who appeared out of nowhere in crucial moments to applaud and interrupt. He probably thought it wouldn’t be fun to have the person he was watching die.

That was why, that was why back then, he said something like that…..

“..... But his words back then, he probably meant it.”

“You seem confused yourself.”

“Is that so.”

“Fufufu…..”

What was so funny? Lefille suddenly smiled a little. The conversation partner smiled so warmly at the end of the story, it felt as if being treated like a child and a little unpleasant ― but it was fortunate to just be able to listen to her warm voice.

Either way, the battle was over. The worst case was avoided ― it was that moment of being relieved and lying in a comfortable atmosphere. Something occurred beside Suimei, who was lying down.

―― Thump.

“Hiyuuu!!”

Suddenly a sound of something being thrown on the ground and a cute scream could be heard. It was probably, no, definitely Lefille’s voice, but this kind of high pitched voice was never heard before.

Of course, this was the first time Suimei heard Lefille scream.

“Oi, Lefille, what’s happening…..”

Even moving was painful, so he barely turned his head to look. Over there was the owner of the voice, Lefille, as expected.

――― A really small Lefille.

“Ouch…. What is it, Suimei?”

He witnessed such a flabbergasting moment, he wanted to rub his eyes. Just like that, there was a young girl who appeared as if she was in the elementary school.

Red haired ponytail. Slightly raised and sharp shape of the eyes, and white skin befitting a person from a snowy country. The calm black atmosphere sensed when he first saw her. She definitely looked like Lefille. So this small girl was miniaturized Lefille….. Definitely.

But what was this situation? Because her body became smaller, the clothes became baggy, and tears hung at the edge of eyes as she planted her face on the ground when she fell, she was wiping away the mud on her face with the back of her hands. She asked that question, but it was him who wanted to ask her that――

“No, what happened with you? You became smaller.”

“Smaller….?”

When asked, the smaller Lefille tilted her head with what could only be described as a lovely expression and looked at her body. And the expression changed to that of panic.

“Eh? Eh? W, what is this? What’s going on Suimei?”

“No, no, no. I’m the one who should be asking you that.”

“My body! My body’s smaller! Why? Why did this happen?’

“Is this the first time it’s happened? Ah, I guess it is a first time….”

“Of course! There’s no way something like this happened before!”

Lefille, who was shouting at the strange incident that occurred suddenly, was confused. It was the first time. Well, it would be difficult to have such event occur regularly as well. But Lefille spoke as if she had her suspicions.

“D, did Rajas use some evil spell on me during the fight….”

Lefille spoke with a serious expression. Her anxiousness could be felt. If it was a curse, considering what happened before, it could be considered, but would he really have used a curse that turned back age? Plus, it took effect after everything was over. Even for a curse, it showed up way too late. This kind of curse was useless no matter the situation.

He looked carefully to see if it was something Rajas did with his last bit of strength.

“..... No, it doesn’t look like it. There’s no trace of any curse other than the one you already had.”

“Uhh, then why――”

Lefille, who was holding her head with her arms showed anxious expression like never before.

But now was the time to think about why this happened first. She appeared to look for clues to the cause, was there really something that would cause this kind of abnormality?

There were many factors that separated Lefille from a regular human.

―― Power of the spirits.

Speaking of which, Suimei remembered extraordinary power Lefille emitted towards end of the battle. The way Lefille commanded over the air around her was an ability different from what he had seen so far. The strength of the power, the area of effect of the power, and the kind of the power. It was different from when it blew away mazoku minions. It was strong enough to be described of a different calibre.

With those guesses in mind, the answer was obvious.

But that’s way too simple.

Suimei silently denied the conclusion he came to in his heart. But he recalled the divine magic case that just happened. Considering he arrived at the answer because he did not think things simplistically, that kind of straightforward thinking could not be denied in this world.

“Say, Lefille.”

“..... Smaller. Everything. All of it. Uuuuh. What is it, it feels like I’ve lost everything precious at once…. Heee.”

“Oi. OI!”

“Hmm? Ah, sorry. What is it, Suimei?”

Lefille looked at Suimei while hiding her sigh with her sleeve. Suimei spoke his theory to her.

“Maybe your body became smaller because you used too much spirit power, Lefille.”

“.....? Why do you think that?”

“Hmm― It’s just a guess, but your body is a mix between half human and half spirit. If you use too much of the spirit’s original body of power like etheric or monad, the spirit part would disappear….”

“There’s words I don’t recognize mixed in there…. So simply put, you mean I’m like this because I used too much power? But how is that related to my body becoming smaller? Until now, I was never like this no matter how much power I used. Plus, does it make sense in the first place to have my body shrink? You simply can’t use the power of the spirit if it disappears.”

“Well, that’s true. But you’re a spirit, Lefille. There’s a lot of unexplained things where I come from, too…..”

That was right. In that other world, it has been a long time since spirits existed and since there were not many records as well, the beings called “spirits” were not fully explained.

But Lefille, who was born a half-spirit possessed a physical body as well as an astral body and energy composed of spirits to maintain her body. It could be thought as having used too much of what composed part of the body and it being simply depleted, but just as she said, body becoming smaller was questionable. No―

“.... Yeah. Lefille, your body originated from a spirit so it’s fundamentally different from a physical body. Your existence is like a summoned spirit. The manifesting existence has its real form and physical body resting in this world. If the spirit power, which forms the basis, gets weaker, the real body becomes faint. Ah, if that’s the case, it’s comprehensible. The being called Lefille is there, but the existence become more faint. So it manifests itself smaller and thus it affects the real body.”

“S, Suimei! I can’t understand anything because you’re making it too complicated! Summarize simply!”

“Hmm? Ah, sorry. I’ll summarize it later…. That’s that, but Lefille, don’t go too wild in that state….”

Before Suimei could finish, Lefille tripped over her own clothes and shoes――

“W, wah!? Hiik?!”

She fell on her face again. She waddled in the place to get up momentarily before deciding it was too difficult to do on her own and asked Suimei reluctantly.

“..... Suimei, I’m sorry, but can you lend me a hand? The clothes and the shoes are too big for me to get up by myself.”

“........”

“Suimei?”

Lefille called over with a curious voice as to why Suimei wasn’t answering― But Suimei didn’t have the strength to help her. He had his own troubles, laying flat on the ground.

“Uhhh…. You see…. I used too much strength, so I can’t move.”

“..........”

“..........”

The silence that oppressed the place. The awkward silence. Looking at the situation, n.o.body could move.

Dark future could be glimpsed and Suimei tried to smooth over the situation with a dry laughter.

“Hahaha….. What should we do?”

“Ha…. What indeed….”

…… Finally after some time, Suimei recovered to the point he could stand up and after pulling up Lefille who was tangled by her clothes, went down the mountain together.

***

―― At the same time. In the castle even farther north than the land people called “far north”, there was someone who was kneeling towards the throne.

He had the appearance of a human, but upon closer inspection, possessed several features different from a human and was definitely not a being one could call a human.

That being ― one of the Demonic Chief, Lishabam, stood up and paid respects to the one sitting on the throne. And knelt again.

The one who was sitting on the throne ― a girl wearing flashy clothes decorated with black, watched the man pay his respects and spoke with soft voice while supporting her chin with an arm lying on the armrest.

“.... What is it. I was just about to pleasantly doze off, but why are you here?”

When the girl asked, a man’s somewhat high pitched voice returned.

“I have something urgent to report to your majesty.”

“..... What is it.”

Then the kneeling Lishabam paused for a moment before replying to the girl’s question.

“Chief Rajas’ presence disconnected just moments ago.”

“Ho?”

Disconnected. As if that word was interesting, the girl erased her soft expression and leaned out from the throne.

“I ordered him to kill the hero that was first summoned, correct?”

“Yes, your grace.”

“Then it means the hero….. defeated him.”

“I believe the possibility is there.”

When Lishabam did not agree fully but used a politician-like expression, the girl slightly opened her eyes.

“.... Your way of speaking is still the same.”

“I agree with that.”

“.... Well, no matter. Hmm, is that the case… Rajas….”

When the girl muttered those words as if she was chewing on the information, Lishabam raised his face and asked a question.

“What do you plan to do, your majesty?”

“Yes…. I want to go myself, but that’s not possible. Since the vanguard was destroyed, I’ll have to tweak the plan.”

“What plan do you have in mind?”

“First, send Vishuda and Mura to the western area bordering us. Prepare them to attack the humans.”

“Will they move immediately?”

“It’s a deployment I have taken that into calculation as well. The more time I give them, more will be baited.”

When the girl smiled, Lishabam smiled like a response.

“As you command.”

After a short reply, Lishabam disappeared into the darkness. And only the girl was left in the room once again.

―― A subordinate lost. But there was no sign of sadness on the girl’s expression. She simply laughed out loud like a child who discovered something interesting.

“Kuhuhu, a hero summoned from another world. To think Rajas would lose. I look forward to seeing him one day.”

That was right. That girl ― Demon King Nakshatra’s laughter echoed throughout the Demon King’s Castle.