Arc 2 - Chapter 43: The End of the Rolderhelm Adventure (2/2)

  "He~llo."

Ryuta entered the Sea Monsters team building while talking in Yong's style. Patrick Lorren was celebrating with his friends on the ground floor when he heard Ryuta Yong's voice and immediately turned his head to the door, but was surprised to see that it wasn't Ryuta.

"Who are you?"

"How~ how sad... You didn't recognize me even though we've done great things together. My name is Ryuta Yong."

Yurine giggled at Yu's awkward speech as she held his hand.

Patrick tried to figure out if the man in front of him was really who he claimed to be, but both his voice and his eyes were similar. When he was convinced that Yu was Ryuta, he left his friends and called them to his room.

It was good that the celebration after Yu's Redchapel success was held in the palace. If it had been held in the city center where all the people could see him, Patrick Lorren would have recognized him and the whole city would have known that the man who was considered a folk hero was involved in illegal activities.

"Were you coming here in disguise?"

"It's an illegal business, I didn't want to reveal my identity."

Yu had gotten lucky and the Sea Monsters had won their matches by narrow margins and become champions. There was no reason for Patrick to think that Yu had actually convinced the referees and judges.

"Let's not drag this out, I'll take my share, please. Two hundred gold coins is two hundred gold coins."

After Yu took his share, he counted the gold and put it in his bag.

"Goodbye, Mr~ Lorren."

He imitated Ryuta Yong's speech one last time and left the building.

The mayhem in the city continued. More than two thousand angry and deluded people were protesting, some gathered outside the bank, others outside the bookmaker, trying to break in.

The security forces were finding it difficult to contain the angry crowd. Yu thought it might be dangerous to linger too long and kept walking, hoping that the bankers they had bribed had left Rolderhelm as they had said they would.

"Yu, come with me!"

Yurine grabbed Yu and started running ahead, not even giving Yu a chance to ask where they were going.

"Yurine, I want to get to the ship at least an hour earlier."

"We'll go running, you come!"

Yurine kept running, holding Yu's hand. She led him along the same paths they had walked before. After a while, they entered one of the back neighborhoods that Yu didn't know and passed through streets that seemed uncanny.

"What is this place?" Yu asked. He wondered why they had come into this deserted alleyway. There was not a single window facing here.

"Look what's there."

"Manhole cover?"

Yurine brought him to a manhole cover. Yu couldn't understand why they had come here.

"This is where we entered the sewer system. Yu, I will convince my mom when we turn back time and I'll wait for you right here."

"Uh..."

He was surprised that Yurine had thought of what he had not thought of herself. He assumed that if they turned back time they would still have met Rie, but it would have made more sense to go back to before they met Rie. That way Rie would not have wasted the Virgo Blessing.

"Okay, Yu? You'll come here? Have you memorized the way?"

"Yeah, I'll find this place, don't worry."

"Good, now follow me again!"

Yurine took Yu's hand again and they started running again. This time he knew exactly the paths they were taking. They passed the burnt remains of the Sigma Tower and kept running. Yurine never let go of Yu's hand and Yu was having a hard time keeping up with her pace.

Yet at this moment, he felt alive.

"This is..."

Yurine brought him to a park, on a hill.

This was where they came after escaping from the Sigma Tower. Yu was standing on the spot where he woke up on the morning of August 30th.

"Where we began our mission." Yurine stood exactly where she had beaten Yu. "Yu, after you save my mom, you'll come here and we'll all watch the sunrise together!"

"You'll turn me into a crybaby..." Yu stopped his eyes from welling up at the last moment. "Yes, we'll come here and watch the sunrise."

***

Even though the ship wasn't due to leave for another hour, Yu wanted to be on board an hour earlier, just in case. So they ran as Yurine had said.

"We're here, Yu."

"Yes... We're finally leaving here."

They were about to board the ship when Yu stopped with a sudden thought.

But before he said what came to his mind, there was something else he wanted to say.

"I want to say one last time before I leave Rolderhelm, I love you."

He had told her the same thing before, but this time Yurine looked away, embarrassed. Even though she averted her gaze, she squeezed Yu's hand harder.

"Aren't you going to say, 'I love you very, very much' too?"

"Y-you're not bad."

Yurine's cheeks were pink and her voice was hoarse.

"Can you tell me what exactly is not bad about me? My soft hair, my handsome face, my charming voice, my graceful eyes, my long legs, my elegant fingers, my fit body, my wonderful character, my superior intelligence? What exactly do you find not bad about me?"

"You forgot to mention fraud and looking at girls' buttocks."

"Don't say such things!"

He thought they had closed the main issue for good, but Yurine hadn't forgotten about it and had thrown it in Yu's face to shame him.

"But we'd better stop in İlonya. The medicine recipe I got at the Wizarding Academy says I need plants that grow there."

The head physician examined him several times after that, most recently prescribing a medicine that he said would prevent seizures.

Maron Martin was much more generous than Yu had imagined. He said he had found a medicine that would cure his latest wife, and in his joy he rewarded them by letting them took books from the academy.

Yurine took books on light and wind magic from both the big and small library. Ana only took books on wind magic from the big library, while Sivina and Lylphia chose books for themselves.

In fact, Lylphia already had access to the books there whenever she wanted, so Yu didn't know if it mattered much to her.

Yu took books on farming, animal husbandry, administration, records of important battles, and alchemy, in addition to the books he had bought to cure his illness, which would help him when Yurine became head of the Virgo Cathedral.

"Yu, I need to tell you something."

Yurine spoke before Yu could ask the question that was on her mind.

"I... I lied to you. I told you that without me the Blessings would hurt you, but they only hurt you that day. I... I said that because I was afraid you would reject me. I'm sorry, Yu."

Yu just smiled. "I'm not mad at you, I would have said the same thing."

Yu put two fingers of his left hand over his lips as Yurine looked at him and smiled. On Yu's finger was a purple ribbon.

"Yurine... I'm curious about something, but promise me you won't get angry."

They were still waiting, still not on board. As people passed by, Yu prepared himself to ask the question he had been waiting for weeks to ask.

"Okay, I won't be mad."

"You're not going to get really angry, are you? You're not going to punch me or pinch me or push me into the sea. Don't... I can't swim."

They were near the sea and if Yurine got angry and pushed him, bad things could happen.

"Yu, I'll be angry if you don't ask me right now."

"Okay, I'll ask."

He readied himself and began to watch Yurine carefully so that he could escape if he received any signal of an attack.

"Remember when Sony died and Nana came and revived him with the Phoenix Blessing? And she kissed him on the mouth while she did it... And I was wondering if Rie could... Well... Did she kiss me on the mouth when she revived me?"

Yurine looked at Yu's eyes expressionlessly, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and stepped hard on Yu's foot.

"Pervert! Why would you be curious about such a thing! You! You pervert! Pervert! You wanted to kiss my mom! Why did you ask such a thing!"

"I thought you said you wouldn't get angry. My foot hurts..."

"I'm not mad at all!"

"Is that you not angry?"

"I'M NOT ANGRY!"

Yurine's face turned red. She was both embarrassed and angry.

"Anyway, I believed I had the answer I needed," he said with a smile. "Let's get in."

As they took their first steps towards the ship, Yu heard someone shouting. He immediately turned around and saw Raul running towards him.

"Valarfin!"

He was holding a knife in his hand, and as Yu was getting into position to defend himself, Raul suddenly took off and flew backwards.

Yurine had used wind magic on him. Raul flew forward and landed on people tens of meters away from him.

He fainted as soon as he fell.

"You..."

As Yurine went towards Raul to kill him, Yu grabbed her shoulder.

"I don't think he can stand up, let's get on board."

If they killed anyone before they left, the city guards would be on their heels and take them to the police station. This could cause them to miss the ship.

"But Yu!"

"No need, he won't find us again anyway."

Yu and Yurine boarded the ship as people gathered around Raul.

"Why would he do such a thing?" Yurine asked. "I want to kill him, he tried to hurt you."

"He probably thinks I stole Sivina from him. I want him dead too, but I don't think we lose anything by not killing him, and we don't have to deal with the city guards."

First they went to their room to check on Sivina and Ana. They had put the chest in the room and waited over it, as Yu had told them.

Yu didn't tell them about Raul.

When the ship set sail, they went on deck to watch Rolderhelm shrink one last time in this world.

The city was getting smaller and smaller, disappearing from sight.

"Yu," said Yurine. "We'll make it, won't we?"

"Yes, young lady. You're invincible with me."

When Rolderhelm disappeared, they were left alone in the middle of the sea. This time their ship would not call at Redchapel, but would pass under the magnificent bridge of the Wizarding Academy and leave the four islands that make up the Principality of Rolderhelm.

As they made their way back to their room in the middle of the endless blue, their real adventure was just beginning.