321 - - the end of an adventure

Thora rested her cheek against the large back of Thor, who sat in front of her, disturbed by the wind whistling in her ear.

The only thing that felt on her skin was the cool touch of the armor scales.

She could not hear his heartbeat.

The girl puts her hands on Thor's chest, and gently puts her strength into her hands.

She really wants to hold him tighter, but she tries hard to hold back.

The great black hole was close at hand.

Inside a small boat attached to the belly of a flying dragon. There are only the usual four passengers.

Mu and Yuril, who had been sitting on the edge of the boat earlier, are now embracing each other as if they are listening to each other's heartbeats.

Their eyelids are closed so quietly that they seem to be asleep.

They were just above the altitude at which a flying dragon can fly, but the sounds of a fierce battle could be heard in the distance from under their wings.

The situation did not look good.

It was an obvious result.

The more people you have, the more monsters you attract.

No matter how high their individual abilities are, if they are outnumbered, the human side has no chance to win.

Then, we should take advantage of that.

The expeditionary force took its time to gather a large number of people, but its true aim was not to reach the "coma.

Their real purpose was to serve as decoys to draw the pesky monsters out of the pit and keep them at bay.

This point was agreed upon by Dadan and the others in command.

If someone did not do it, sooner or later they would all die.

They knew this, so they did not complain.

And those who were not prepared to do so would not have participated.

Thor and the others, who had hidden themselves from the wind with their flying dragons by using , flew over the harsh battlefield in a single breath.

The flying dragon controlled by the Midoriwa girl easily passed through the same place it had passed through before.

The cavity spreading out before their eyes is black and ominous in every way.

The dragon boat has succeeded in infiltrating the cave alone, but there is a limit to what it can reach.

If the miasma is too strong, the flying dragon will not be able to fly well.

Thor, who had remained silent, suddenly turned around and extended his hand.

"I'm about to get off. Mr. Yuril, take Moe over here.

"Yes. Mumu, please get up."

"............Muny...... food?"

You had enough to eat before we left. Come on, Tor-chan, I'll hold him."

"Hmm."

The child moves dexterously through the narrow boat, then jumps into Thor's chest and buries his face in it.

Sora and Yuril and the others rush to cling to the edge of the boat.

Thor, holding Moo's back firmly, shouted a loud signal overhead.

"All right!　Let's get started."

"Yes!"

With a staccato reply, the wings of both sides flapped and punched the air.

After a moment of fluttering and lifting, a gust of wind hit the belly of the boat hard.

Leaning back against gravity, the flying dragon increased its speed at once toward the ground.

The wind mimicry surrounding the flying dragon is blown away, exposing its scaly skin.

The giants, only a few of which still remained near the hole, turned their tentacles to the sky at once at the sudden appearance of the intruder.

The black-shadowed giants, created by the miasma, absorb the effects of the magic technique.

For this reason, it is impossible to block their movements with Sora's Reversal or Yuril's ice magic.

However, if they target themselves, there is no problem.

.

Thor exhales quietly, and the future up to thirteen seconds later is projected in front of his eyes.

The only thing to be seen is the void that passes through the myriad tentacles.

Staring at the approaching black bundle of shadows, Thor shouts sharply.

"Now!"

The next moment, the rope connecting the flying dragon and the small boat was released at once.

The flying dragon turned its snout upward, and at once began to ascend.

Then the boat is shot out and plunges into the waiting monsters with the wind in its sails.

--

The darting boat suddenly appears in the space between the tentacles.

--

As if leaping through space, the falling craft slips through the hands of the monsters at every turn.

It reaches the ground in a single breath, and breaks apart with a loud clang----and does not shatter.

The impact of the fall is all but forgotten, and Thor and the others land safely on the ground.

The flying dragon, having seen four figures emerge from the boat, let out a powerful roar and made a sharp turn.

As he walked away, Moo waved his hand from inside Thor's arm.

"See you later, Ryusuke!"

Then he immediately complains to Thor with a cute crease between his eyebrows.

"Tor-chan,...... is disgusting. I think I'm going to pee."

"I told you, don't eat too much."

The spectacular descent and landing may have been part of the reason for the nausea, but there was a more obvious factor at play here.

There was no doubt that they were standing on the ground, judging from the hard feeling they could feel.

However, we could not see the earth, which was the most important thing.

Everything in the area was blackened by a thick, knee-high haze.

A blackness that extended beyond the edge of our vision.

This was the true nature of the "coma pit" that I saw up close.

The mind-boggling, endless expanse made the girl who grew up in the countryside imagine an ocean she had never seen before.

However, what fills this place is not salt water, but a black miasma, a miasma that has become so thick that it is visible to the naked eye.

If it weren't for the jewel that protects her from the abnormalities, she would have been swallowed up by the miasma by now and disappeared without a trace.

There is no guarantee how long the protection of the jade will last.

The boat had already sank into the black haze and lost its original shape in a matter of seconds.

The black-shadowed giants that had failed to kill Thor and the others turned slowly toward us.

They were tough to fight and there was nowhere to run to.

Thor scratches the bottom of his chin and looks at the woman who is looking around with interest, her long ears twitching.

"Mr. Yuril!"

It was a single word, but it contained everything I had ever wanted to say.

"Yes, Thor.

Yuril nodded and held out his right hand to me with a gentle smile as usual.

The two silently hold each other's hands.

Mu reaches out his hand and lays it on Yuril's and Thor's.

Sola also silently touches the hands of the three. Words had already been exchanged last night.

The warmth that comes through the girl's hand is etched deep in her heart.

"Well, I'll see you again sometime."

As he parted with his hand, Yuril easily released the power that resided in his body.

His hands, stretched out in the sky, swelled up rapidly and tore off his sleeves from the inside.

What emerged from within was pure white bark.

The arms quickly grew and spread out as large branches.

At the same time, various changes occurred in its body.

The swollen abdomen became a trunk, and the legs that supported the body turned into roots.

The beautiful silver hair stood on end like a heavenly head, and countless branches sprang up between them.

Her neck and chest were enveloped in a white bark that spread from her lower abdomen, and then she was swallowed into the rapidly growing trunk of the tree.

Finally, Yuril's face, still smiling, disappears into the interior of the tree.

All that remains is a huge white tree that stretches its branches to cover Thor and the others.

As Thor and his friends look up in silence, a golden leaf suddenly grows on one of the branches.

It grew in a flash, and then all of the branches were dazzlingly bright, beautifully adorned.

The black haze vanishes in an instant from the land illuminated by the golden treetops.

A void in the black sea.

It was like an isolated island in the sea.

Moe looks up at the lush foliage and pulls on Thor's ear, begging him to take it down.

The child approached a white tree and tapped its trunk, then muttered something.

You have finally become a tree. Yes, it's beautiful, Grandma's tree.

"Yes, it is. It's a beautiful tree.

Sola and Moo gave each other small nods as they touched the trunk.

The child then rummages through the insect cage he had hidden under his clothes.

He hooked it on the lowest branch, opened the lid of the cage, and attached the beetle to the trunk.

"Please take care of the black bug, Grandma!"

"......I'll see you again someday, I'm sure, Mr. Euril."

Pressed by the golden light, the Black Shadow Giants all stop moving.

But they will not remain so for long.

Thor looks up at the treetops and bows his head deeply.

Ulir has lost his human form, his limbs transformed into branches and roots, but he can clearly be seen in the golden leaves that sway gently as if in love.

It is this kindness that has kept Thor going as an adventurer all these years.

In the past twenty-five years, the time that broke his heart the most was when Thora's grandfather, the only person who understood him, passed away.

Being an adventurer is too demanding a job to go on alone without anyone understanding you.

The old woman who owned the house took care of Thor as he grew increasingly desperate, and always had a hot meal waiting for him when he returned.

How much she helped him!

"The days you have supported me have been truly precious. Thank you very much, Euril.

And Ulil is not the only one who has supported us.

Thor took out the mirror and held out his palm to Moe, who looked up at him curiously.

The child, his golden curls shaking, jumped happily into his hand.

He proudly held up the sacred object in the air.

"Shall we start ............?"

This two-sided mirror, viewed from the reverse side, offers a glimpse into the distant future through unlimited use of .

Then, what if we try to reverse it?

As expected, when the front side is turned to the tall side, we can use and several times faster than usual, and can grasp the past events in the order of hundreds of years.

To put it simply, it became easy to falsify the past, even if it was a long time ago.

What Thor is now trying to do is to the land that has disappeared due to the "Coma Hole".

Although he cannot interfere with the cave itself, he thinks that he can do something about it before the cave is born.

There are a few problems with this idea. The first problem is that we have to get close to the extremely dangerous hole to some extent.

The second is that, like future vision, past vision also requires a large amount of magical power.

The solution to this problem was the existence of a relic, the Golden Tree, implanted in Yuril's body.

The tree's ability to seal off the miasma created a safe place, and the vast amount of magical power that had increased since he was freed from human flesh was shared by the characteristics of Mu, and poured into Thor.

Although all the difficult conditions were met, it was certain that Yuril would be sacrificed in return.

"He won't last long anyway."

The decisive factor in the decision to go ahead with the plan was Yuril's clear statement to Thor and his team, who had been thinking about it over and over.

And from the point of view of the third problem, Thor and the others were similar.

Knowledge of the past is more stable than an uncertain future in which all factors influence each other.

However, the further back in time we go, the more complicated causalities are intertwined like a chain, and the more tremendous the weight of information becomes.

There is no guarantee that Thor and Mu will be able to return safely.

Thor and his family were very distressed about this.

It is difficult to ask an innocent child to understand the situation and to decide whether or not to cooperate.

However, if Thor decides to go, Moe will try to follow him whether he wants to or not.

That is too much, too soon.

But there is no other way.

"Maybe if you hadn't met us, you'd have a different way of life. That's more like it: ....... No, it's even meaner to ask this. Sorry, Moe. Besides, without you, I'd be ...... anyway."

Another person who helped me endure those hard days.

No, it was the other two and one of them, to be exact.

It is true that irresponsibly feeding stray cats is not something to be praised.

But in the midst of being called useless and ignored, being needed and being helpful to someone else healed Thor's heart in a way that is hard to describe.

That moment in the back alley was an indispensable time for Thor.

When Moe patted him on the head, he tilted his head curiously and said

"To-chan, cheer up!　Moo is always with you, everywhere you go!"

"You're always so reliable, aren't you?"

"Hmmm. You're so lucky to have Moo, aren't you?

"Yeah, I guess so. ...... Yeah, you can't just give up before you've even started. Moe, will you work with me?"

"Rai!"

"Also, I used to like it when you called me To-chan."

"I see, To-chan!"

The two who had conversed the night before are now about to embark on a journey together into the distant past.

Moe innocently thrusts out his hand to Sora while spinning the shiny ring on his head.

"Hey, Sora-chan!"

He had no doubt that the girl would come with him.

A small hand.

A hand I've held more times than I can count over the past six months.

I almost grasp it, but stop myself just before I do.

Again, Moe, his face slanted curiously, stared at the girl's face.

After a moment of hesitation, Sola slowly spins the words of her overflowing feelings into words.

Do you remember me, Moo-chan?　The first time we held hands."

Sola will never forget the moment when she first held this soft hand.

It was during the outbreak when Moe was left alone at the outer gate to let Sola go.

The day when they tried so hard to exchange words and finally became "together" for the first time.

The warmth of my small fingers touching him through the gate is etched in my heart forever.

And the promise we made then.

"Moo-chan, I'm sorry ......, I'm sorry. I couldn't keep my promise,......, and I said I'd always follow you, but onee-chan, I've got something I have to do. So ......,I can't go with you. I'm ............ really ...... sorry."

Moe listened to the girl's squeezed out words without saying a word.

After Sola finishes speaking, her lips remain tightly knit.

The girl and the child look up at each other, their eyes fixed on each other, motionless.

After a few moments of silence, a few large tears welled up in the purple eyes.

Even Yuril must have been straining too much.

The tears started to flow down her cheeks.

Her tightly knit lips trembled slightly, and her voice leaked out through the gaps between her teeth.

Sola jumped at the sight of Moe, his cheeks wet and still holding back his cries, unable to bear it any longer.

She clutches the child's small head to her breast.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. ......"

As if on cue, the child began to cry loudly.

Sola sobs as well.

After shrieking several times, Moe grabbed the girl by the collar and buried his face in her chest.

When her back was gently stroked, she finally calmed down and asked in a whisper

"Don't you hate me?"

"No. No, of course not.

Sola presses her lips against the child's cheek as she replies.

She presses her lips against the forehead, the bridge of the nose, and even the eyelids.

Finally, she kisses the whiskers of his whiskers and says aloud her feelings.

"I'll always love you, Moo."

"I love you too, Moe."

Sola pulled her face away from Moe's and looked him squarely and firmly in the eye.

"Can I see you again when I'm finished?"

"Yes. Then let's make a promise."

When Sola turned her palm to him, Moe looked at him with blatant suspicion.

It was inevitable, since he had just been broken.

"I'll make sure I'll protect you next time!

"Really?　Even though Sora-neechan's trust has been destroyed?"

"That's it!"

Moe started to giggle, perhaps amused by the girl's surprised yet depressed face.

Then he slapped Sola's hand.

"See you later!"

"Yeah, see you later."

Thor is next.

He is as calm as ever, and holds out his hand to Thora.

She wipes away her tears, takes a deep breath, and holds it firmly.

When we meet each other's eyes, Thor's cheeks relax a little and the edge of his lips lift up.

This is the way Thorl likes to laugh.

"Take care, Thora."

It sounds incredibly gentle.

Sola's fingers tightened as she tried to hold back the maximum amount of excitement in her heart.

And then he realized.

Thor's hand was shaking, but only slightly.

He looks up in surprise.

The look in his eyes is the same as always.

But there is a difference that only Sola, who has been watching him since he was a child, can notice.

"Thor-chan ......"

Since childhood, Thor has been more stubborn than most. He was also a hard worker.

So he always forced himself to smile.

The expression on Thor's face now is similar to the one he had when Thora met him again in the closet.

That day when he was finally rewarded after more than 20 years of hard life.

Thor took Thora's hand and behind his sympathetic gaze, the loneliness he had endured alone oozed out.

That is why Thora recognized him as Thor, because of his stubbornness, which had not changed at all from the time he was a boy.

And the words that Thora says when she sees him have not changed either.

"Yes, leave it to my sister!　Thor-chan."

Thor looks stunned.

After shaking his head a little, he tightens his grip on my hand a little.　

"Yeah, you got it."

His arms were no longer trembling.

Smiling, Sola squeezed her fist and pressed it hard against Thor's chest.

The jewels collide with each other and make a clear sound.

Then, with a final hug to Moe, the girl silently moves away from them.

As Sola moves away, Thor thanks her one last time.

It is no exaggeration to say that Thor's life has been spent to save this girl.

Thor is proud of the fact that his life has been well worth it.

That is why he wants Sora to live more.

That is why Thor refused to accompany the girl.

"I can be brave because I can believe that there is a world in which you are still alive. Thank you, Thora."

Inhaling, Thor and Mu faced each other across the mirror with serious faces.

The magic power that overflowed from the golden leaves like sunlight through the trees gently enveloped their bodies.

Their bodies, staring at each other in silence, suddenly became a blurred double image.

The blurring gradually became larger and larger, and as if the outlines of their bodies were overlapped in layers, they gradually became transparent.

Thora, gripping her cane so tightly that it felt as if it would break, watched over Thor and the others from her side.

Soon, the two disappeared without a trace.

It is as if no one had been there from the beginning.

Still, Thora does not move.

She continues to stare at the place where Thor and his friends were just a moment ago.

For a few seconds, maybe tens of seconds.

Maybe even hours.

Either way, it is an eternity for the girl.

Suddenly, the world around them opened up.

Sora looked around in surprise, and before she knew it, an endless grassland spread out in her field of vision.

Not a trace of black mist could be seen.

Under the bright blue sky, summer grasses were swaying in the energetic breeze.

It was so tranquil and so ordinary that there was no need to describe it.

Sora sat down and just stared at the scene, not even trying to wipe away the tears that kept flowing down her face.

To a stranger, it would have been a miracle.

But the girl knew.

This was the result of a single person's persistent effort and long years of hard work.

Thor and the others had done it.

Then it was my turn.

There is no guarantee that you will get the result you want, no matter how hard you try.

And it is doubtful that we will even get there in the first place.

Thor and his friends who walked with him are no longer with us.

My anxiety is endless.

Still, Sora knew.

She knew that she would never give up if she could see them again, even if it was only a small chance.

Because that is what she wants most right now.　

"Yes, I finally understand, Thor. I'm going to enjoy it all. That is my way of life and attitude as an adventurer. So please wait for me. I'll make it happen!

The girl stands up, brushing off the dust, and walks away without once looking back.

No more tears were shed, and even a wry smile appeared on her mouth.

Thus, an adventure comes to an end.

But it also marks the beginning of a new adventure.