Kays Translations

Epilogue: I’m Home

The turmoil in the Baldor Mountains already felt as though it had taken place in another world – one into which Ren had been swept without warning.

When Clausel finally came into view, tension left his body all at once.

He looked toward the familiar town and released a long breath.

(I’m finally home.)

He had returned by carriage rather than horseback. In his present condition, riding would have been too difficult.

Exactly three weeks had passed since he parted from Fiona.

The delay was connected to the magic ships that reached the Baldor Mountains after their rescue.

Many imperial knights had arrived, but Ren had not been placed under interrogation. Fiona handled the explanation of the destroyed suspension bridge and the events that followed.

The Clausel knights still had to manage the aftermath, so Ren remained with them in case his help was needed.

The adventurers who had escorted the examination candidates voluntarily accompanied the imperial knights to the capital for questioning.

There was little reason to fear for them.

The students they had protected defended them in return. Several noble candidates openly vouched for the adventurers, and some even invited them to visit their families afterward.

The Clausel knights had received Ren’s private report.

They knew what had happened after the bridge collapsed. They knew Kai and Meidas had been deeply involved, and they knew of the Demon King cult.

Fiona, however, would present the public account.

She would say that the adventurer who escorted her had disappeared somewhere during the descent. The Clausel knights agreed to support that version, most likely at Fiona’s request.

“Ren-dono, at last,” said the knight sharing the carriage as they passed through Clausel’s gate.

“Yes. It feels as though the most intense period of my life is finally ending.”

“What was the other one?”

“Escorting Licia-sama back to Clausel, of course.”

The knight laughed. The question had only been a lighthearted remark.

Ren looked through the carriage window.

The townscape was deeply familiar now. Without his realizing it, life in Clausel had become his ordinary life.

Simply seeing its streets calmed both mind and body. The comfort was so complete that it felt as though his soul were being washed clean.

(I worked hard.)

He had pushed himself far beyond what he thought possible.

Returning alive almost seemed miraculous.

The lingering burns on his arm reminded him that the mountain and the dragon had been real.

The wheels rolled over patches of snow left on the cobblestones. Ren listened to the quiet rhythm until the noise of the preceding weeks began to fade from his thoughts.

His eyes closed.

The knight noticed and fell silent. Seeing Ren rest his chin near the window, his face relaxed in the cold air, the man decided that Ren should be sent directly to bed when they reached the mansion.

The carriage climbed the hill and stopped before Baron Clausel’s residence.

“Ren-dono, we have arrived.”

Ren blinked awake.

“Already?”

“You are exhausted. Please rest today. We can make the initial report to the baron.”

For once, Ren nearly accepted without argument.

Yet after everything that had happened, he needed at least to show Lessard and the others that he had returned safely.

He slapped his cheeks lightly, forced himself awake, and stepped down from the carriage.

“Ren!”

A girl rushed toward him.

Licia’s face held relief, worry, surprise, and a fierce determination to make him rest, all at once.

One of the knights waiting near the mansion leaned toward Ren.

“When word of the disaster arrived, the young lady declared she would go to the Baldor Mountains alone if necessary.”

“That sounds like Licia-sama,” Ren said with a tired laugh.

“If Weiss-sama had not stopped her, she truly would have left.”

The knight stepped aside.

Licia reached Ren before Lessard and Weiss, who had also emerged from the mansion.

“Welcome home-“

Her words stopped when she saw his hand.

From the visible burns, she immediately understood that the injury continued beneath his sleeve.

She took his less-injured hand and turned toward the house.

“Father! I’m taking Ren inside!”

She did not wait for permission.

As they passed Lessard and Weiss, Ren murmured an apology. Both men smiled and waved it away. One glance at him was enough to show that this was not the time for a report.

(I’m unbelievably sleepy.)

The tension that had held Ren upright finally snapped. Everything except the warmth of Licia’s hand seemed distant.

Just after they entered the mansion, his legs gave way beside a sofa in the entrance hall.

“R-Ren?”

Licia tried to support him, and the two fell onto the sofa together.

She landed seated. Ren’s body collapsed across the cushions, and his head came to rest on her lap.

He tried reflexively to rise.

“You’ve worked very hard, Ren.”

Licia placed a hand on his shoulder.

Warm Sacred Magic flowed through him.

Whatever resistance he had left disappeared.

“I did my best,” he admitted.

“I know.”

“And I’m very tired.”

“I know that too.”

White light enveloped the burns on his arm. The warmth made his eyelids even heavier.

“What happened out there?” Licia asked.

“It will sound like a lie…”

She smiled down at him. Part of her wanted to hear his voice a little longer; another part simply found the normally composed Ren unusually honest and endearing while resting on her lap.

“I fought people who were trying to revive the Demon King,” Ren murmured. “Then I fought Asval after it came back to life.”

“My. That is extraordinary. But you won.”

Ren opened one eye.

“You don’t doubt me?”

“Why would I?”

Licia kept her voice calm, although astonishment filled her heart.

Ren’s expression relaxed again.

“Are you going to sleep here?” she asked.

He nodded.

He no longer had enough energy to think about whether falling asleep on Licia’s lap was appropriate. He simply entrusted himself to her.

“Then good night.”

Licia stroked his hair.

Ren’s eyes were almost closed when he seemed to remember something. He looked up at her.

“What is it?”

“I’m home.”

At last, he answered the welcome she had begun outside.

Without waiting for a reply, Ren closed his eyes. His breathing soon settled into the quiet rhythm of sleep.

Licia smiled and brushed a strand of hair from his cheek.

“Yes. Welcome home – my hero.”

The hero slept upon the saint’s lap while the saint healed his wounds.

To those who had watched over the White Saint since childhood, the scene resembled a sacred painting.

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