“Thanks,” she replied—and her cheeks were just a tiny bit red.
She’s totally being shy, isn’t she? Is she starting to fall for me?!
Negative. That is incorrect.
Yeah, no way that could happen. Besides, she was already ignoring me and celebrating her reunion with Shizu. She had dropped the attitude now, her eyes tearing up a bit.
“I’m sorry, Shizu. I didn’t want to cause trouble for you…”
“I know, Hinata. And I’m sorry I never noticed at the time. Also, thanks. You were the Hero who rescued me from Leon’s castle, weren’t you?”
“…That’s right.”
Seeing them embrace, I was about to cry myself.
“You really are a strong girl, Hinata,” Shizu earnestly stated. “I think it was Measurer, the unique skill you created, that allowed you to keep it together in there.”
She might be right, yeah. Hinata certainly hadn’t changed at all.
“I lost one of my other powers, though.”
“Hee-hee! Well, that just means you don’t need it any longer. You simply need to keep growing, all right? And face up to yourself.”
“…But can I really be resurrected?”
“You’re fine. You believe in it, too, don’t you?”
“Well, kind of…”
Shizu and Hinata turned their eyes to me.
“How long are you gonna keep doing that?”
It took Hinata saying that to make me realize Chloe and Chronoa were still hugging me tight.
“I wanna hug Rimuru more!”
“That’s right, Hinata. It’s been two thousand years, so just a little longer…”
The way she phrased it could lead to all sorts of misunderstandings, I thought. I mean, I wasn’t doing anything. These twin Chloes were just being buried in my slime body.
“You’ll have all the time in the world later, all right? Because I really need to get going, and we need to revive Hinata soon.”
With a smile, Shizu shooed the Chloes away from me.
“Where are you going?”
“You should know, shouldn’t you, Rimuru? I’m just an illusion you’re displaying here.”
Well, no, this was an imaginary landscape, so…
“No dream goes on forever—you have to wake up sooner or later. I’m glad I got to see all of you. It looks like Kenya and everyone are in good shape, and when you punched Leon, Rimuru, that perked me up a little. I guess we had some misunderstandings, but now that I know that, I think I’m starting to like this world a little. So I don’t have any regrets now. I feel happy.”
Chloe and Hinata tried to stop Shizu, but she just smiled at them contentedly. They watched her, taking in what she was trying to say, and then they nodded back.
“Take care of Hinata for me, Rimuru.”
“You can do it, right, Rimuru?”
“You better.”
These three were really laying on the pressure. I couldn’t stop sweating. Thinking about if I messed this up—no, that’s not right. No getting weak in the knees. It’s not my style to give up before even trying. I’m more concerned about Hinata than myself, so I couldn’t lose my confident attitude.
“You got it,” I declared. “I’m gonna help you right now, Hinata.”
Words can become strength. Firming up my resolve to make this work, I left this landscape…
…and when I returned to reality, I was still in human form. Apparently, I hadn’t moved at all, striking that exact same pose while I was gone. I stretched and refocused myself. The last thing I saw in that space was Shizu smiling as she faded away. If I wanted to live up to that smile, I needed to make one more effort.
“Aha! You are safe, Rimuru!”
“How’d it go? Chronoa stopped fighting and fell to the ground—”
“I’ll explain later. Can you guys stay on alert and make sure no intruders come in?”
“Indeed I shall!”
“Very well. But you will explain this afterward?”
Veldora, and even Leon, readily agreed. That was a relief. I doubted he would, but if Yuuki came back, they could take care of him.
So let’s look at Hinata’s body. Luminus’s magic had healed all the wounds on it; it was now down on the ground next to Chronoa.
…Oops. There was a hole in her clothing around her chest, so I needed to cover that up with a spare coat I had on hand. It’s these little acts of kindness that make a considerate man like me so appealing. Of course, what I really wanted was to have her not glaring at me—but I’d just tuck that thought deep inside my mind.
Now for the main event—the resurrection magic—and that would be a tall order if it was just me alone. I helped Hinata’s consciousness surface back up, but her Measurer—her real self, in essence—was still left inside Chloe’s Yog-Sothoth. It had been absorbed to keep from disappearing, and it would be tough to separate them.
I would prepare some energy to replace that, make the swap, and cast the resurrection spell at the same time—and I’d need some help for that. I called out to her.
“Lend me a hand in resurrecting Hinata, Luminus!”
“Gn… Gah… Well done, Lady…Luminus.”
Granville was on the ground spitting blood. After that strike from Luminus, the vitality was draining away from him—but his expression was now serene.
“You…”
Luminus could hear what he wanted to tell her. If you cannot even overcome this adversity, it will be impossible to protect the human race. If so, we may as well have our Hero protectors destroy the world.
She correctly understood that he was pinning his last hopes on her. She was prepared to accept that, and as proof of that—and to show her response to his feelings—she had faced up to Granville and struck him down. Now she could understand his emotions all too well. Granville didn’t want to see Chronoa go berserk—he wanted her awakened correctly, so she could give hope to humanity. His awkwardness about it was still there, after a thousand years, and it made Luminus feel a little lonely.
“My… My hopes…are nothing compared with…the heavy weight of time she bears. With her joining you…and the demon lord Rimuru…”
In this world without mercy, justice without power backing it up was meaningless. Even someone with Granville’s strength was left to wail at his own feebleness.
Just then, Luminus heard Rimuru’s voice. He wanted to resurrect Hinata—and that meant he successfully awakened Chronoa…or Chloe.
I knew I could rely on him. He actually did it.
She offered him praise, if only in her mind.
“You have fulfilled your role well enough. Allow me to handle the rest. Just sit back and relax.”
With that, she turned toward Rimuru.
Her strike was a fatal one, but even before it came, Granville had exhausted all of his life force. He was well past his natural life span, and not even Luminus could lengthen it any further. That wouldn’t be the case if he were turned into a monster, but Luminus knew well that he didn’t wish for that.
“B-before you go…one more thing, Lady Luminus…”
“What?”
“I… I want to give my hopes…to her…”
Luminus hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t sure whether to allow it. There was always the danger of Granville trying something. But she decided to hear him out. That was her softer side—and her more generous one.
“All right.”
“Ah, bliss…”
Taking the hand Luminus offered, Granville shed tears of gratitude. Even as he did, his body began to glow and turn into tiny balls of light before dissipating.
“…Sleep well.”
As if guided by Luminus’s voice, the former Hero who fought for years upon years was released from fate and scattered across the world.
“Right. Here I am.”
The pompous words could only have come from Luminus. She had just waged an epic battle, and there wasn’t a single tear in her clothing. She must have won big, which made sense to me, but I really wished she could’ve come sooner.
“What? Is there a problem?”
“No, nothing.”
I couldn’t will myself to yell at her about it. It must be my classically Japanese “don’t rock the boat” attitude coming to the surface. But enough about that. Let’s go save Hinata.
“I’m going to intervene in Chloe’s Unlimited Imprisonment, so I want you to retrieve Hinata’s soul while I do. If there’s not enough energy…”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll handle it.”
I appreciated that. Luminus really is a talented lady.
So we got right to work. I held my hand aloft over Chronoa’s inert body, pointing out the location of Hinata’s soul to Luminus. With a skillful touch, she immediately began performing some kind of action on her—magic or a skill—probably the latter.
“Re…birth!!”
She set off her power. And since I was next to her, I realized—her skills were far, far above mine, at a level as high as the sky. I could never imitate that.
…Analyze and Assess failed. The skill is equivalent to an ultimate skill.
Yeah, I thought so. I mean, with Luminus, that’s par for the course. It’s why I felt safe letting her handle this.
Chronoa’s and Hinata’s lifeless bodies were before us. The pieces of Hinata that had assimilated with Chloe’s soul were gathered together in the form of Measurer, her unique skill. Luminus used her powers to reach the soul I Disassembled from that mass for her. Carefully picking it up, she injected a concentrated measure of energy to replace it.
This was far more energy than what we were taking out, but it was probably necessary. As I watched, she then put her hand above Hinata’s body as she returned her soul to it.
Immediately, the shine returned to her hair, her cheeks reddening as her heart began to beat anew. Then Hinata opened her eyes, her throat a little raspy but otherwise in good health.
We did it. Hinata was revived. And with the foreign matter removed from her body, Chronoa was also back in normal shape. She was beautiful before, but now Chloe’s soul seemed to have a divine aura—I hardly believed it was human.
She opened her eyes. So will we have Chloe here or Chronoa?
“Rimuru!”
That sounded like Chloe. She used to call me Mr. Tempest, but I guess I was more than just her teacher now. Otherwise, it was the Chloe I always knew. I smiled softly at this. She was no child any longer, looking very womanly—but wait a minute.
She didn’t feel exactly right to me, and then I realized…whoa, she was back to being a kid, actually. She had on a black outfit that matched her size perfectly, probably the Holy Spirit Armor at work. That’s a relief, at least. Between you and me, I was a little disappointed, but let’s just file that way back in my mind. Besides, to the outside observer, this was me embracing a little girl. Under different circumstances, that could easily have been a felony, and Hinata’s glare was painfully boring down on me. Even Leon looked pretty peeved.
“What are you doing, Rimuru?”
“I’d like to know, too. In detail.”
C’mon, Leon, calm down. And Hinata, if you keep grimacing at me like that, you’re gonna get crow’s feet, you know. Of course, it’d be suicidal to tell her that, but still.
I mean, how come, after reviving Hinata and stabilizing Chronoa, was I still not safe from mortal danger? I just have to say, this is absurdly unfair.
“Guys, guys, chill out. I’m tired, and we can’t hang out here all day. Why don’t we regroup elsewhere in a little while and sort things out?”
Everyone agreed to that.
So the battle was over. The only things filling the air right now were beautiful melodies.
Shockingly enough, Baton and everyone in the orchestra had continued practicing through the entire protracted war. Talk about insane willpower. I praised them profusely, of course, before ordering them to take five.
That—and I noticed something else.
“…Huh? Is it me, or is Chloe striking more of a presence now?”
“Just your imagination.”
“No, Rimuru is right. No doubt about it—”
“Silence! I didn’t ask for a lizard’s opinion!”
Veldora and I both jumped in our seats. Can you blame us? Luminus, who seemed pretty serene up to now, just lashed out without warning.
I figured we could leave the conversation at that, but one man didn’t get the message. Not Veldora—he was often oblivious to this kind of thing, but even he was starting to wise up lately. We exchanged nods after he picked up on Luminus’s rage.
“No, Rimuru and Sir Veldora are certainly right. At first glance, she appears to be merely a ravishing young woman, but her core essence, if you will… It’s an improvement over Chloe, isn’t it?”
This was the demon lord Leon himself speaking. He always acted so coolheaded, but I guess he had a to-the-point personality. And really, he paid way too much attention to Chloe. He was stuck to her like glue, in fact, not even trying to pry himself away. Between that and calling her ravishing, he wasn’t even trying to hide how much he was spoiling her.
“Leon, you’re being just as overly clingy as you used to be! Don’t I always tell you that you’ll never find a girlfriend that way?”
Chloe, for her part, was merciless with him. I have to say, Leon did a hell of a lot for her sake…but I’ll refrain from commenting further. It’s a little painful to think about. Though really, despite his cool demeanor and good looks, Leon’s kind of an unfortunate case, isn’t he? Ramiris called him a crybaby, and now I was thinking about being a little nicer to him.
After admonishing Leon, Chloe looked around the chamber.
“Well, looks like everything worked out okay, so I wanted to let you all know—I feel like I’ve truly awakened as a Hero now. Looks like the egg inside me, along with the one Hinata had been keeping warm, sort of combined into one. Don’t tell anybody, okay?”
She smiled a little. I was surprised—and then I remembered something important.
“Chloe! That’s far too delicate a topic to—”
We had to watch our mouths—Guy may be keeping an eye on us, after all. So I hurriedly tried to deflect the conversation…but I didn’t need to worry.
“Oh, it’s all right! I don’t think anyone’s looking at us.”
Chloe declared us to be safe. And at this point, Chloe wasn’t the little girl she seemed to be. All children grow up over time, leaving their parents’ protection and setting off on their own. I was happy to see her mature, although it made me feel a tad lonesome.
Then I suddenly realized just what we were witnessing.
This was the birth of Chloe Aubert, the True Hero, wasn’t it?
Hinata and Chloe hadn’t completely separated. The hero’s egg that Hinata had begun nurturing at some point was still left inside Chloe. Now she was one woman with two eggs, an impossible miracle that led to a Hero like none other awakening.
…Or maybe not. This wasn’t a miracle, some surprise that occurred out of nowhere. With Chloe’s unbending will, it was only natural that she made this happen. Despite the infinite, repeating cycles of death and birth, Chloe had overcome them all and still maintained her straight-minded, innocent pureness. That sheer will, powerful enough to push aside all hopelessness, was what engineered this miracle.
Only then did I see, from the bottom of my heart, just how great she was. I had to speak up.
“You really worked hard for this. I could learn a thing or two from you. From now on, I swear that I’ll never give up, no matter what.”
I meant it.
“You got it!”
Seeing Chloe smile and nod at me, I made a second promise to myself. From now on, I’d never let anything cloud that smile of hers.
Certainly, I couldn’t be rosy about everything ahead. I knew that some force out there wanted me dead, and I naturally had to consider my response.
Right?
Affirmative. You must take every possible precaution.
These events made me realize that if I’m defeated, it’s no longer exclusively my problem. Once again, I resolved in my mind to never show any mercy to my opponents. It’s important to understand the principles of other people, but if you wound up making sacrifices after overvaluing them, that’s putting the cart before the horse.
I will take any measure for the sake of victory.
I made a secret promise to myself as I returned Chloe’s smile.
EPILOGUE
TO THE PROMISED LAND
That night, we did a quick comparison of notes, planning to discuss the finer details on another day once things calmed down.
From Leon, I learned of his relationship with Chloe. They were once childhood friends, apparently, and practically raised like brother and sister, but he wouldn’t go into further detail. Chloe probably forgot all about it, so it was kind of a mystery, although probably not a major one.
As cool as Leon was, there was no end to his doting on Chloe. His dedication was on an even more dangerous level, I think, than Treyni’s devotion to Ramiris. He’d continually say stuff like “I swear my allegiance to you” with a straight face. I’m sure Chloe would laugh it off and say “I’ll pass,” though.
Speaking of Chloe, it turned out that she could take the form of an adult woman, too. Chronoa’s consciousness was alive and well, and they now enjoyed a rapport like what Raphael and I had. They could therefore easily switch between who controlled her body, and whenever they were in a serious fight, Chloe could merge her consciousness with Chronoa to return to her true form. Of course, staying an adult all the time would probably confuse the other kids, so she told us that she’d stick with being a child for now.
Luminus, meanwhile, told me about Granville.
“I suppose it was the loss of his wife that truly drove him mad. And when Maribel, his final hope, died, he went crazy all over again…but then, I believe, he regained his sanity.”
Serious, sincere, but also awkward and clumsy—that’s how you could suitably describe Granville Rozzo. When his wife, Maria, died, he had a breakdown over being unable to protect his beloved. He pinned all his hopes on Maribel—but then she took me on and lost. I’m thinking that Yuuki may have killed her, although I don’t have any real proof—but to Granville, the reason didn’t matter. What did was that Maribel was dead, and the loss actually made him regain his sanity.
Talk about ironic. And when he regained his marbles, he came up with his plan to awaken a True Hero, a strategy that threatened to destroy the world if it failed. But Granville made that decision, and he really resolved to it. That much, there was no doubt about.
A Hero, of course, wasn’t some infallible golden child. Anyone could become prejudiced—or insane for that matter. Granville had a lot of love for the human race, and I’m sure that’s why the backlash from the loss of his sanity was so great.
And it’s not like this couldn’t apply to me. What if I lost someone I loved? I recalled the heartrending sense of loss I felt when my fellow countrymen were mowed down.
“…It’s not just some dumb thought, no.”
I think, just a little, I understood Granville’s feelings.
The next day, we held that international concert.
It took place outdoors, behind the now-thoroughly destroyed cathedral, in front of an audience arranged in neat rows. Beautiful, melancholy music echoed high into the sky—a kind of funeral march, sent out to those we entrusted with our hopes for the future.
I had a dream. A very strange dream. In it, I was this very selfish little girl.
Maria, now awake, looked at Gren and smiled.
“Was it fun?”
“Yes. Very much so.”
They looked at each other and grinned.
“Odd, isn’t it? Why couldn’t I trust in that slime?”
“Hmm, that’s a tough question. I’d like to say ‘Because it was a dream,’ but that’s not a very elegant answer.”
“I’m serious!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Sorry. Well, like you say, Maria, if we accepted and trusted in everything, it’d be a really beautiful world. But we all have our cowardly side. We’re afraid of people who live under different rules than us, afraid they might stab us in the back. Even worse, if you don’t distrust anyone, people might say you have an innocent heart, but it certainly doesn’t bode well for a career in politics. The thing any leader’s asked for is to be more watchful of others than anyone else.”
Maria scowled at this. “Ugh! Are you saying there’s no hope for any of us to truly understand each other? Well, I don’t like that. I don’t like it at all! So I’m gonna start believing next time.”
“In your dreams, right?”
“Right. But if I have the same dream again, this time I’ll definitely believe in that slime. I think we could really be friends!”
“Oh? Yeah, I’ll bet.”
Gren gently nodded at Maria’s words.
“So, Gren, what kind of dream did you have?”
“Me? Well…”
Gren had a very long, and very sad, dream. But right at the end, he saw the light of hope.
“It was a nice one. A very nice one.”
“Oh, that’s good! Because if you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
“Me too. If it’ll make you happy, I’ll climb any mountain for you.”
“If I’m here, and you’re here, and we can live out our days in peace, then every day will be fun.”
“And we’ll have kids, and our family will grow, and then we’ll be happier than ever!”
“We certainly will be.”
Gren gave Maria a gentle hug.
They could hear a beautiful melody. It was their signal to depart.
“Well, we don’t want to leave Razul waiting. Want to get going?”
“All right. Did you forget anything? We can’t come back here, can we?”
“No, I’m all right. As long as I have you, I don’t need anything else.”
So they walked off, hand in hand, toward the promised land where everyone was waiting.