Volume 4 - CH 6

Final Chapter: In the Snow 

— 31st Day, 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Royal Capital Parnam —

There were eight days in this world’s week. With four weeks in a month, that meant each month had 32 days. There were twelve months in a year, so the year ended on the 384th day. 

The third through fifth months were spring, the sixth through eighth were summer, the ninth through eleventh were fall, and the twelfth through the second of the next year were winter, the same as Japan. 

Today was the 31st day of the twelfth month. In Earth’s calendar, this would be New Year’s Eve, but in this world’s calendar, it was just another day at the end of the year. 

In this country, New Year’s Eve and Day were generally celebrated quietly with one’s friends and family. Normally, the castle wasn’t all that busy (the political year began on the first day of the fourth month), aside from priests who carried out the New Year’s ceremony, but right now the great hall in Parnam Castle was in a state of pandemonium. 

“Aisha, carry that set over to the right,” Liscia ordered. 

“Understood, prin... Lady Liscia.” 

Following Liscia’s directions, Aisha picked up a stage set that would normally have taken multiple adults to lift and easily slung it over her shoulder. Aisha could always be counted on to do the heavy lifting... Oh! 

“Carla, Hal,” I directed. “Line up those two pillar props over here.” 

“Understood, master.” 

“Right, right,” Hal said. “...Sigh.” 

With my directions, Carla and Halbert, a vanguard commander from the National Defense Force, were affixing (fake) marble pillar-like objects that looked like they belonged in the Parthenon to the floor. From there, Liscia and I kept giving orders to my vassals (and betrothed), following the plans in my hands. 

“Still, to think you’d not only use the National Defense Force, but also a future queen to do hard labor for you...” Ludwin said with a wry smile. 

Behind us, Ludwin, the Captain of the Royal Guard, and his second in command, Kaede, were finalizing the details of their plan for on-site security. 

“It would be unthinkable in any other country, you know,” said Kaede. “Also, Hal, work faster. Chop chop.” 

“I am, Kaede!” 

I waved my hand dismissively at Ludwin. “Now, now, Aisha said she wanted to help herself. Besides, it’s just a fact that there’s no one in this castle stronger than Aisha.” 

If we’d had earth mages (for gravitational control), this would have been easy, but they had all been sent out to lay roads in the newly absorbed Principality of Amidonia. We didn’t have cranes for indoor use, meaning we had to rely on human labor for all of this, and I couldn’t see a reason to let Aisha’s muscles go to waste. 

Liscia let out an exasperated sigh. “Honestly... If you had just said something sooner, we wouldn’t be dealing with this tight schedule...” 

“It’s not like I could have,” I said. “I mean, I only came up with this idea a week ago.” 

“It’s pretty incredible that everyone said, ‘Let’s do it!’ to something you came up with on the spur of the moment, though.” 

W-Well, lately, it did feel like my brakes were starting to break down. 

With Roroa and Colbert joining us, there was more funding at my disposal, and Genia the Overscientist was merrily giving birth to new inventions. Also, because of the many new policies we had instituted, the people of Friedonia themselves had developed a fondness for the strange and were overflowing with curiosity. It was like the Japanese craftsman spirit, or something like, “No matter how meaningless, when you master a thing, it becomes an art.” That was how an idle thought that had come out of my mouth one week ago... 

“Oh, hey, it’s almost the end of the year. If it’s the end of the year, its time for the Kouhaku Year-end Song Festival.” 

...had ended up being implemented like this. 

The first one to hear me, Roroa, had said, “What, what?! Tell me more about that wonderful name that sounds like profit!” 

So I ended up having to explain Kouhaku, the Red and White Song Battle, to her. 

When I did, Juna, who was also listening, said, “A festival of songs, is it? That sounds like an opportunity to put our talents to work,” and was uncharacteristically proactive about it. 

Then Pamille and Nanna, as well as other loreleis, and the general who had become a singer, Margarita, had gotten highly enthusiastic about the idea, and after some point it had gone so far that I couldn’t say, “Nope, we’re not doing it after all!” anymore. 

Between loreleis from the singing cafe Lorelei, which had at some point turned into something like a production company, and participants from the Nodo Jiman amateur singing contest program we ran in Van gathering, it had turned into a fairly large-scale event. That was when the sudden rush to get things ready had begun. 

Well, having everyone work together to create something was fun in a culture festival sort of way, but it meant my workload had gone up just that much more... 

The hard part was going to be the “White” part of Kouhaku’s red and white. 

The Red Team (female singers), led by Juna, had variety and flair, but the male singers just didn’t leave as much of an impact. The vast majority had come up through Nodo Jiman, and they all sung this world’s folk songs. If there were no male idols participating in Kouhaku, and it were all enka singers, that wouldn’t be very stylish, now would it? 

Because of that, I had decided on a big experimental deployment of my male idol response to the female loreleis—the singing knights, orpheuses—which I had been developing for some time. 

“Now, my orpheuses, gather!” I called. 

“““Yes, sir!””” 

When I called out to them, three young men who were discussing something off in the corner came over to me. One of them, the tall, silver-haired, twenty-something man, saluted me and said, “The orpheus unit Yaiba is ready and awaiting your commands.” 

He was a human from Van and the leader of Yaiba, Axe Steiner. He was an attractive man with striking, cool eyes, but his overly formal speech that was characteristic of young men from Amidonia gave him a strait-laced image. 

When he saw the way Axe was acting, the comparatively easygoing young man with tiger-striped hair laughed wryly. “Sheesh, our leader’s such a stiff. Am I right, Kukri?” 

“I think you’re a little too laid back, Kotetsu,” Kukri agreed. 

The frivolous and superficial looking young tiger beastman was Kotetsu Burai. He was a fiery man with distinctive yellow and black stripes; athletic; and his sharp dance moves made him stand out even in this group. 

The one he had turned to for agreement was a middle school aged pretty boy (?), Kukri Carol. I think you’ll have realized this from his surname, but Kukri was a kobito and Pamille Carol’s big twin brother. He was clearly filling out the shota position in the unit, but he was still the eldest of the three. 

...Man, the kobito race were scary. 

Well, anyway, these were the three members of Friedonia’s first idol unit, Yaiba. The name had come from the fact that all three of them had names that sounded kind of like bladed weapons. I hadn’t had much time to come up with a name, after all. 

Incidentally, I’d considered including Hal, who also had a weapon-like name, in their members, but he had firmly refused. According to Kaede, “Hal can control his pitch, but he’s tone deaf, you know.” 

That wasn’t important now, though. I clapped my hands. “I want the members of Yaiba to start rehearsing as soon as the set is ready.” 

“Yes, sir!” Steiner announced. “Are you certain you want us to go first, sir?” 

“I want to test that the stage is strong enough,” I said. “You’re the only act during the song battle that will have multiple members singing and dancing. If you guys are fine, it should be safe for everyone else, too.” 

“Yes, sir! Understood!” 

When Axe, who was as stiff and formal as ever, headed toward the finished stage, the remaining two smiled wryly and followed after him. 

“Good grief,” Kotetsu said. “Why’s our leader gotta be such a square?” 

“It’s because he’s nervous, isn’t it?” said Kukri. “Though I’m sure his personality has something to do with it, too.” 

“Hey, you two! Look alive!” someone yelled as they were dragging their feet toward the stage. 

““Eek!”” they shouted, jumping a little. 

When the two hesitantly turned around, they found a frowning Margarita standing there in a deep red dress. It was a showy color, but that only made her three times more intense. 

Margarita looked the two of them up and down then raised her voice. “You are the face of Friedonia! Stand up straight and get your acts together!” 

““Y-Yes’m!”” 

“If you get it, then get going! On the double!” 

““R-Roger!”” 

Margarita had risen to become a general in Amidonia’s patriarchal society. When she tore into them, those two responded with the same stiff formality as Axe and ran off toward the stage. They were like new recruits being chewed out by a drill instructor. 

Then Margarita noticed me and hurriedly bowed her head. “Wh-Why, Your Majesty, I’ve let you see something most embarrassing there.” 

“Oh, I don’t mind,” I said. “They’re a bunch of strong personalities, so having you take charge helps. Still... that outfit really is something.” 

“This is, well... I snuck out during the costume fitting...” 

“You snuck out?” I repeated. 

“Oh, there ya are. Runnin’ out durin’ a fittin’? That’s just not right, Margie.” 

“P-Princess?!” Margarita yelped. 

“‘Margie’?” I repeated. 

I turned to look because Margarita had let out a scream, and there was Roroa rushing over to us. 

She reached us and smoothly wrapped herself around my arm. “Darlin’, I’ve been workin’ hard, too. Praise me, praise me.” She rubbed her face up against my shoulder. 

Her adorable little animal-like gestures felt somewhat calculated, but... still, she sure was cute. The fact of the matter was, without Roroa’s financial cooperation, this plan wouldn’t have been possible. 

I petted her on the head. “You’ve been a big help. Thanks, Roroa.” 

“Mwuhuhuh!” she giggled. 

“Come on, Roroa,” said Liscia sternly. “You’ve gotten your praise, and you’re satisfied, right? We’re working here, so it’s time for you to let go.” 

Liscia grabbed Roroa up by the scruff of the neck like she might do to a cat and pulled her off me. Roroa got into it and even threw in a playful meow. 

“Have some,” Elisha said. 

“Thank you,” I said. 

When I took the proffered cup of tea, former queen Elisha gave me a broad smile. Lady Elisha was like Liscia, only calmer, with a more womanly sexiness. Would Liscia eventually become like her? If so, I had a lot to look forward to as we grew older. 

I was sitting at the glass table, with Sir Albert across from me. 

Having finished making us tea, Lady Elisha stood in waiting behind Sir Albert. It seemed she intended to stick to the role of server. 

...When I thought about it, I hadn’t spoken much with Lady Elisha, had I? She was my mother-in-law to be, but she was a woman of few words, always just standing at Sir Albert’s side with a warm smile. From what Liscia had told me, she had always been a quiet person who never said much. 

While I was thinking that, Sir Albert opened his mouth to speak. 

“I am glad that you have come here today,” Sir Albert greeted me and then smiled gently. “I would also like to congratulate you on your victory in the war with the Principality of Amidonia and subsequent annexation of the principality. It has only been half a year since I passed you the crown, and yet your deeds are great. I believe, with your accomplishments, you needn’t be embarrassed if people call you ‘Souma the Great.’” 

“No... It was only possible with Liscia and everyone else’s help.” I took a sip of tea and looked Sir Albert straight in the face. “Finally, we’re able to meet.” 

“I am sorry for making you wait so long,” the former king said and bowed his head to me. 

I had sought to meet with Sir Albert a number of times before today: when I hadn’t known anything, when I’d wanted to have him convince the three dukes to cooperate, and when I’d requested his help in convincing Castor not to rebel against the sudden change of power. Then, once I’d understood everything, I had asked for an audience a number of times to seek an explanation. 

However, each time I’d asked, he’d said: 

In the earlier instances, “This country is yours now. It is not my place to do anything.” 

In the later instances, “I will reveal everything to you soon. Please, wait until then.” 

And that was all I could get out of him. 

Once he’d started saying, “I will tell you soon,” all I could do was wait for him to do so. Because, if I pressed him, there would be no way to be sure he was telling me the truth. 

At last, today, I was here because he’d said he would tell me everything. 

“You’re going to tell me everything, right?” I asked. 

“If that is what you wish,” Albert said. 

“I think it’s time you finally cleared some things up for me. Like what you were thinking.” 

He’d said he would tell me everything. I figured I might as well go down the list. 

“I have three things I want to ask you. The first is about when you ceded the throne to me. At that point, when I had just been summoned to this world, we were meeting for the first time. Yet, just from hearing my plan to enrich the country and strengthen the military, you turned over the throne to me. With a betrothal to Liscia as a nice bonus. That did give me the freedom to move, but... it was also unnatural. Why were you able to give your crown to some kid from another world whom you had only just met so easily?” 

Sir Albert listened to me in silence. It seemed he meant to answer only once he had heard everything I had to say. In that case, I might as well ask him everything I had to ask at once. 

“The second concerns Georg’s devotion. Our former General of the Army, Georg Carmine, took all of the blame on himself while committing suicide and taking all of those who might become my enemies with him. Looking at the result, and even considering the letters Liscia sent to try to convince him, I have to think that Georg had prepared this plan in advance. That’s bizarre, too. I only met Georg once at the very end. He put his life on the line for this plan, so he shouldn’t have been able to do it without trust in and loyalty to me.” 

Albert was silent. 

“Georg and I weren’t even passingly acquainted. There was no way he could feel loyalty toward someone he’d never even met. Well, who was his loyalty toward, then? I can only think... it would be you, the former king.” 

I had tried to verify that when I’d met Georg. But: “When the proper time comes, I am sure that person will tell you themselves” was all that the man would say. Today must have been that proper time he was talking about. 

“Lastly, why did you refuse to meet me up until today? If you were waiting for everything to be settled, you could have done that after the victory of Amidonia or the annexation. Why did I have to wait until today for an opportunity to meet you? I want to hear that, too.” 

“...Is that everything?” Albert asked. 

“More or less,” I said. “Let me ask about the finer details as I listen to your explanation.” 

“I understand.” Nodding, Sir Albert began to speak at a relaxed pace. “First, I want to say, there is one thing that connects all three of those points you raise.” 

“One thing?” 

“Before I explain that, I want to answer your three questions. It was because we were coming to a decision. On whether we should answer you or not. We thought it might be best to continue telling you nothing...” 

I was silent. 

“However, my heart is not so strong that I can keep the sins I’ve committed locked away inside it,” he added. 

The sins he’d committed? What was he talking about? 

“Sir Souma... Have you ever wished you could live your life over once more?” Albert suddenly asked me. 

I answered him, somewhat suspicious. “...All the time.” 

A lot had happened since I’d been handed the throne. I had carried out disaster relief, and experienced war. I couldn’t help but think... hadn’t there been another way? A better way? Couldn’t I have saved more lives? Even when it came to those I fought as enemies and cut down, I sometimes thought that, maybe, we could have come to an understanding. Even though I knew it wasn’t reasonable to think that. 

“But why do you ask?” I went on. 

“What I am about to tell you is the story of a certain world, a certain country, and a certain foolish king,” Albert said. 

With that introduction, Sir Albert began to smoothly relate this tale. 

In a certain country, there was a king. 

The king was not wise, but nor was he a fool. He did not govern well, but he did not govern poorly, either. That was the mediocre sort of king he was. 

In a time when the world was stable and the country was already set up for success, he would have been called a good king without faults. However, in his time, the Demon Lord’s Domain appeared, and the threat of monsters threw the world into chaos. 

The fires of war might not have spread to his country yet, but there was a food crisis and the economy was slowly inching toward collapse. The mediocre king could do nothing effective to deal with these issues. 

Then, one day, there was a request from the great land in the west to carry out the hero summoning told of in this king’s kingdom. It was worded as a request, but he had virtually no option to refuse it. So the mediocre king carried out the hero summoning as requested. 

That ritual succeeded when no one thought it would, bringing a young man from another world to the kingdom. The king struggled with the question of whether to turn the young man over to the great country in the west. This was because, if he lost this boy, he would be letting go of his key to negotiations with the great nation in the west. 

The young man who was summoned told the struggling king this: 

“If you mean to fight the demons, you should enrich the country and strengthen the military.”

...This story sounded familiar. 

However, the developments from here on differed from the story I knew.

Hearing what the young man had to say, the king sensed the man had gifts he himself did not, and decided to appoint him to the post of prime minister. The young man responded to his expectations and worked desperately, carrying out various reforms. Thanks to that, the kingdom began to show signs of recovering from its food crisis and financial difficulties. 

However, there were those who found the young man a nuisance. 

It was the nobles of that country. Those without very good reputations themselves. 

They had been angry when a youth they had never heard of before was chosen as the prime minister, but they were even more incensed when he began his reforms. The young man had rooted out corruption to find the funding he needed, carrying out reforms that cut into the wealth of the upper class. 

They visited the king many times, trying to persuade him he was harming the country and should be removed from power. 

However, the young man had an ally. The general of that country’s army. 

The sober and honest General of the Army was able to accurately judge the young man’s talents and became his backer. However, the nobles of ill-repute were not amused by this development, only intensifying their slander against him. 

Hearing their libelous words day in and day out, the king gradually became stricken with uncertainty. 

It was true that the young man was gifted, but he had far too many enemies. The country might be split if things were left as they were. 

However, that was not the end of it all. 

The nobles of ill-repute were more persistent than the king had thought. No, if anything, considering their secret ties, it was best to read it as them not being able to leave the young man be. That year, the neighboring state which had a long-running enmity with the kingdom began deploying its forces along the border. 

The General of the Army dispatched the troops under his command in the Army to intercept them, confronting those forces. 

That was when it happened. 

As if they had been waiting for this moment, the nobles’ forces rose up, attacking the city where the General of the Army’s castle was. When you consider the timing of it all, the nobles had probably been collaborating with the neighboring country. 

Because the General of the Army’s land had once been the territory of the neighboring country, it had been easy for them to concoct the scheme. Then, the neighboring country moved to snuff out the young man who had the potential to become a serious threat to them. 

The city containing the General of the Army’s castle was well-fortified, but the Army had been mostly dispatched to the border, leaving less than 500 troops in the garrison. The opposing force led by the nobles numbered 10,000. 

The General of the Army remained in the city, and he managed a diligent defense, but... greatly outnumbered, the General of the Army was eventually struck down. 

The city burned, and the young man disappeared like ashes among those flames. It was only a few days after the nobles had raised their troops, and the king was unable to do anything. 

The Army, having lost their commander, was unable to maintain the battle line against the forces of the neighboring country and fled in defeat. The forces of the neighboring country joined up with the nobles, and together they used their momentum to advance on the royal capital. 

The king hurriedly tried to bring together an armed force to meet them in battle, but... he couldn’t. In the end, he had left the young man and the General of the Army to die. 

The soldiers of the Army rebelled against him and returned to their own lands, the units of the Air Force were few in number, and the Navy was far from the capital and preoccupied with defending their own domain. 

His last resort was to recruit volunteer soldiers from among the common folk, but even that had failed. 

The young man’s reforms had angered the nobility, but they had saved the people. To the people, the young man had been a savior who had come to them in their time of need, and they felt no kinship with the king who had stripped him of his post. Ultimately, like the young man before him, the king found himself encircled by an enemy that hopelessly outnumbered him. In time, he would be killed just like the young man. If there was one difference between them, it was that he lacked the General of the Army who had been willing to lay down his life. 

At this point... what he faced could only be called karmic retribution. 

He had brought it upon himself by believing the slanderous lies of those who would become his enemies, and stepping on those who truly cared for the country. 

As I listened to Sir Albert’s story, I was at a loss for words. 

He spoke of another present. When I had been summoned to this world, not knowing what the Empire truly wanted, I had talked about enriching the country and strengthening the army because I hadn’t wanted to be turned over to them before I’d known better. I’d thought I would be made to implement my ideas as one bureaucrat among many, and that I would be able to find the money to pay the war subsidies the Empire was requesting. However, because Sir Albert had given me the throne, I had ended up manning the helm of this country. 

What would have happened if he hadn’t given me the throne back then? 

If I had been operating not as the king, but as the prime minister... the future might have turned out exactly the way Sir Albert had described. The world Sir Albert spoke of gave me considerable room for thought, and it was so realistic that I couldn’t imagine it was a fabrication. I thought it was a fairly accurate simulation. 

But in that case, there were things I didn’t understand. It was rude to say it like this, but Sir Albert didn’t seem like the kind of person who had that degree of foresight to me. I couldn’t see him simulating things so accurately. 

“You speak as if you’ve seen it yourself,” I said. 

“Because I did see it myself,” Albert said. “No... Rather, I was shown it.” 

“You were shown it?” I asked. 

“Indeed. By my wife’s ability.” 

His wife’s ability? I looked at Elisha despite myself, and she returned the look with a broad smile. 

“Did you know that my wife is a user of dark-type magic, just like you are?” Albert asked. 

“I had heard that, yes. Though even Liscia didn’t seem to know the details.” 

“This is something known only to a select few, so I ask you not to speak of it to anyone else,” said Albert. “My wife’s ability is to transfer memories into the past.” 

Sir Albert moved on to continue his story. 

The king who was about to have everything taken from him by the nobles was gripped with a deep sense of regret. 

Why had he dismissed the young man? 

Why had he not valued him more? 

If he had not been shaken by the nobles slanderous lies, if he had instead taken the hands of the young man and the General of the Army, if he had continued with reforming the country, at the very least, he would not be in the difficulty in which he now found himself. 

Were he truly rotten, this is where he might have raged, “This is all the summoned young man’s fault” or “If not for him, it would never have been like this,” ignoring his own responsibility. However, this king might have been foolish and weak, but he was generally soft on others, so the idea never occurred to him. 

What he did think was that he had needed to value the young man more. 

If, at the very beginning, rather than prime minister, he had just made the young man king to begin with... 

If he had, surely he would have reigned over this country far better than the king himself could. 

If that had happened... then his daughter... 

The king sunk into despair. 

Having lost hope in that king, the queen said: “You have failed. Our fate is already sealed. However, if we use my ability, we can tell our past selves about this failure.” 

The queen had a mysterious ability. It allowed her to transfer a person’s experiences to their past self. 

The past self who received them would experience them as if for themselves, and it would feel as if time had been wound back for them. It was using this power that the queen had survived the bloody war of succession. (Or to be more precise, she had repeatedly sent back her memories moments before her death, then avoided the danger.) 

After explaining this, the queen had apologized to the king. It turned out that she had used this power to choose her husband, too. 

It seemed no matter how fierce of a warrior she had taken as her husband, no matter how wise a sage, the kingdom was destined to be destroyed. Invasions by foreign enemies, attacks by monsters, plots by the nobility, uprisings by the people— while the reasons differed, the result was always that the royal capital was engulfed in flames. 

This king who people thought was mediocre had been the only one who, while he hadn’t uplifted the country, had managed to extend its life. It seems this king was the only one whose child the queen had given birth to. 

“Even if I use this power, we cannot change our present,” Elisha had explained to him. “However, we can lead our past selves to a future different from this one. Dear... if our lives are to end here anyway, would you like to try creating a future like that?” 

When the queen told him this, the king came to a resolution. That he would send word of this failure into the past. Then he would have his past self leave the throne to the young man. 

It may only have been to satisfy himself. But it felt like it might offer him some atonement for the things that had been lost due to his failure, so the king entrusted everything to his past self. 

The king and queen transferred their memories to their past selves. 

Those memories had come back to him as he’d listened to the young man speak about enriching the country and strengthening the army. 

“To put it simply, I am the king who inherited those memories,” Albert finished. 

While I listened to Sir Albert’s story, I was in a state of confusion. Was this a time slip...? No, a time leap? 

He’d said it was dark-type magic, but it could even do stuff like that? Oh, but all that was inherited were the memories, so it wasn’t as if the person’s consciousness returned to the past. 

If those memories were truly being transferred into the past, that should have created a time paradox. Because the Sir Albert sending the memories had no memory of having them sent to him. 

In that case, could it be that Elisha’s power was one that let her intervene in an alternate dimension that was highly similar to her own? Less like the “Life Do-Over Machine” and more like the “What-If Phone Box,” huh? To put it simply, that would mean this world wasn’t the past of the sending world, it was an alternate dimension. 

Though, even if I brought this up, I doubted the two of them would understand. They probably didn’t have a concept of other dimensions to begin with, and I couldn’t exactly say I understood it that well myself. 

Aw, geez, this place wasn’t just a simple world of swords and sorcery? I thought. 

While I was busy being confused, Sir Albert took a sip of his tea and sighed. “Honestly... it must have been hard on the one who sent me the memories, but it’s not easy being the one to receive them. From my perspective, I feel like I’ve lived a life in which I made you my prime minister, acted like a fool, and then turned back time. If I hadn’t heard Elisha’s explanation on the other side, I would have thought time had just turned back. I, myself, haven’t done anything, but the guilt I feel toward you won’t go away. I apologize on behalf of the former me. I’m terribly sorry.” Sir Albert bowed his head deeply. 

“No, apologizing to me doesn’t help... I mean, I have no recollection of any of it...” 

“I know that... This is only for my own self-satisfaction. I want to apologize. Please, let me apologize.” 

“...Well, if that’s how it is...” 

If he said he wanted to apologize, the best thing to do was probably to let him. The situation was well beyond my understanding, so I couldn’t put myself in his shoes. 

Sir Albert looked me straight in the eyes and said, “And so, to keep things from turning out the way they did in my memories, I ceded the throne to you. I believe this should answer your first and third questions.” 

“...I’d have to agree with you,” I said. 

The answer to my first question, “Why did you give your throne to some kid you just met?” was that, actually (though, this wasn’t correct, strictly speaking), it wasn’t the first time we had met. 

The answer to the third, “Why did it take so long for you to meet with me?” was likely that he hadn’t been sure whether or not to reveal the existence of this ability. It might have been because he’d wanted to see for certain that we had reached a different future from the prior world first. 

“If the old king stays too long, people will begin to get bad ideas,” Albert said. “Now that I have seen the changing future, I will withdraw. This is another thing I had decided on from the very beginning.” 

Here, he wore not the face of an unreliable king, but the eyes of a loving father watching over his children. Those eyes... was he directing them at me? 

“You’ve already made up your minds, I see,” I said slowly. 

“I can trust you with both Liscia and this country,” said Albert. “Elisha and I both believe that. I ask you to do this for me, my son.” 

“My son.” When he called me that, I rose from my seat and pounded one fist on my chest. 

“You have my word. Father, Mother, thank you for everything.” 

I bowed my head deeply to Sir Albert and Lady Elisha. Sir Albert nodded when he saw that, while Lady Elisha continued watching with a smile until the end. I bowed one more time, and turned to grasp the handle on the door to leave... then stopped. 

“I have just one last thing to ask.” 

“What?” said Albert. 

“In the world where I became the prime minister, were our bodies ever found?” 

“...No. As I told you, they were reduced to ash. Nothing was ever found.” 

I see. They’d never found the bodies, huh. Well, then... 

“In that case, Liscia and I might have still been alive.” 

“What?!” 

I smiled as Sir Albert’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “If I were alone, I might have died. But Liscia was there, too, right? If the me from that world cared for Liscia as much as I do here, he would never have let her die. When danger closed in on them, I’m sure he would have taken Liscia and fled, not caring what people would say about them. It’s possible they were struck down by enemy soldiers in the attempt, but in that case, there would have been bodies. If you’re telling me there were none, I’d say that means they got away.” 

Perhaps Georg had been using himself as a decoy to buy them time. Though this was probably on the same level as believing in the theory that Yoshitsune had survived. But, what did it matter? If it would help my father-in-law to assuage his guilt even a little. 

“...Thank you, son-in-law.” 

I heard those quiet words behind me as I turned to leave the room.

“What are you doing here?” 

I was on the terrace of the governmental affairs office, looking out on the castle town at night, when Liscia came out with a blanket. 

“I’m surprised you knew to find me here,” I said. 

“Hakuya told me where you were,” she said. “Everyone’s in a frenzy trying to get things together for the singing contest, you know?” 

“...Sorry. Let me stay here a little longer.” 

“Geez... In that case, try wearing something a little warmer,” Liscia said, then threw the blanket she was carrying over me, sliding underneath it herself, too. The warmth of her body touching mine felt very comforting. “Whew... It sure is cold out at this time of night.” 

“Well, yeah, it’s winter.” 

“Ah! It’s snowing!” she cried. 

“Whoa. You’re right.” I noticed there were snowflakes falling here and there. Even though I could still see the moon off in the distant sky. 

It started as powder snow, but gradually gave way to larger snowflakes. 

The lights of the town and snow on a moonlit night. It was like a scene out of fantasy. 

“It’s pretty,” Liscia murmured, standing next to me. 

“...Well, damn. Liscia’s starting to feel like my goddess of victory.” 

The words I had said then came back to me. 

When I looked at Liscia, staring entranced up into the snowy sky, I couldn’t just stay put any longer. I got out from under the blanket, then hugged Liscia, blanket and all. 

“Wha, Souma?!” Liscia cried out in surprise. I didn’t let that stop me from holding her all the tighter. 

“...The truth is...” 

It was cold out, but for some reason my entire body felt hot. I could see my breath, but my face was burning. I might even have been crying. 

“The truth is, this is something... I really ought to have told you before Aisha, before Juna, and before Roroa...” 

She was silent, questioningly. 

“Liscia... I love you. Please, marry me.” 

Liscia was dumbstruck by my sudden proposal. 

“...It sure took you long enough to say it,” Liscia said, then gave me a shy smile that made me feel ticklish. Then, gently pushing me away, she put her hands on my chest and stood on her tip toes. As the blanket fluttered to the ground, Liscia’s face slowly approached mine. “I love you, too, Souma. I hope we can be together forever...” 

Our lips intertwined. 

The clock passed midnight, and it became the 32nd day of the 12th month, New Year’s Eve. 

We stayed that way for a while, listening to the approaching footsteps of a new year.