Volume 7 - Epilogue

Epilogue: An Unsettling Presence 

With the tripartite agreement successfully concluded to found a medical alliance between the kingdom, republic, and Empire, a feast was held to celebrate that night at the inn that had served as the site of the meeting. 

Since coming to this country, there had been parties held whenever there was an excuse, but this time, there were a large number of people in attendance, so it was the largest yet. 

It was unfortunate that one of the three leaders, Maria, who had attended by Jewel Voice Broadcast, was unable to attend. 

“Please, come to my country someday,” she had said before terminating the communication. “When you do, let’s drink together.” 

“Yes. Someday.” 

Considering how far the Empire was, though, I didn’t know if that day would come or not. If the political situation in the world stabilized, we’d eventually be able to travel to each others’ countries for meetings, but... there was no indication that would happen any time soon. 

While I was thinking that... 

“Bro! Are you having fun?!” Kuu broke in. 

Kuu, who was already drunk, suddenly put his arm around my neck. The impact nearly made me drop my drink. 

“Whoa! That’s dangerous... I mean, get away from me. I’m not into getting touchy-feely with guys.” 

“It’s ’cause you look so gloomy, Bro,” he cackled. “You’ve gotta have fun when drinking.” 

Kuu moved away from me with a cackling laugh. 

“I’m enjoying myself,” I said, relieved he had backed away. “At least as much as anyone else.” 

“Hm? Well, okay then.” 

Because so long had passed since the start of the party, everyone was off doing their own thing now. Juna was pouring drinks for Sir Gouran, who was now our sworn friend, while Aisha and Hal were having a drinking contest, and Kaede was watching and egging them on. 

“That” had occurred a few hours before. 

When the meeting finished, Kuu took us to visit Taru’s workshop on a hill near Noblebeppu. It was to tell his childhood friend Taru that he would be staying in the Kingdom of Friedonia for a while. 

While we were there, we revealed our identities, too, but she wasn’t especially surprised. For a craftsperson like Taru, maybe the position of her clients didn’t matter so much. 

“...So, that being the case, it’s been decided I’ll go to the kingdom to study under Bro, and I’m only taking Leporina with me,” Kuu finished, resting his foot on a bucket that was lying around, and adopting the pose of a sailor with his foot on one of the short posts used for mooring boats. 

He might have thought it was a cool way of saying goodbye, or he might just have been trying to act tough, but either way, resting his foot on a bucket wasn’t going to accomplish that. 

While we all looked at him coldly, Kuu continued his speech. “Oh, don’t you worry, Miss Taru. Our parting will be a brief one. I’ll stay with Bro, learn from how he rules, and I swear, someday, I’ll come back to you as a real man. I look forward to the day when I return in glory to my old home town.” 

Even though Taru wasn’t saying anything, Kuu kept on giving his parting speech. 

Meanwhile, Taru was paying no heed to his words, and was pounding on hot metal. 

I don’t know... It was the sort of scene that made me feel sorry for Kuu. 

The lack of response from Taru made Kuu look upset. “Hey! Hey now, Miss Taru! Here I am, giving you my farewell speech, so give me a little response, would you? You’ll be lonely without me, right?” 

“I tried making the thing you ordered with various metals,” she said. “Iron, copper, silver, and a number of alloys. Do you know which was the best suited for it?” 

Taru cocked her head to the side. 

Ohh, so a sample scalpel was what she’d been working on. 

Even if she asked me which was best, I wasn’t a doctor, so I didn’t know. There were metal allergies and such to consider, too, so it couldn’t be decided on strength and cutting edge alone. 

“I’ll have to go back to my country and ask someone who’d know...” 

“I see... Well, I’ll go to the kingdom, too, then,” Taru said offhandedly. 

Everyone’s eyes went wide. The most surprised of all, though, was Kuu, who had been giving his parting speech until a moment ago. 

“Huh?! You’re coming, too, Taru?!” 

So, with it decided that Taru would join us, Kuu was in high spirits. 

He’d been downing his fermented milk pretty quickly since the start of the party.