Chapter 100 Special: A Future That Might Have Been III
The woman 【Beast King】 Garius had brought with him was someone I knew all too well.
「Eh……」
That couldn’t be. No way. Because she,
「Hikari?」
—was supposed to be in a completely different world.
「You know my name? No way… are you Yuuki?」
「Why…?」
「I don’t know. I just… woke up in a cave, and one of the explorers from this place, Astra, the country ruled by that Beast King, found and helped me.」
「I see… I’m just glad you’re safe. But how come you still look exactly like you did when we parted?」
「Says you, Yuuki, you’ve grown up a lot.」
「Well, it has been eight years, after all.」
「Ei-eight…? Wait, so you’re twenty-five now!?」
「Yeah, I am.」
As we caught up for the first time in forever, a piercing gaze suddenly cut in from the side.
「Ahem! So, dear husband? Who is this young lady?」
「H-Husband!?」
「Indeed. I am Aerith Kaminagi Liberstein, First Queen of the Kingdom of Liberstein.」
「A queen!? And Kaminagi…?」
「Yes. I am Yuuki-sama’s wife.」
「Ah… ahaha… come to think of it, of course. If Yuuki stayed behind, then of course he’d have gotten married…」
Saying that, Hikari began to quietly shed tears.
「A-Alright! Anyway, we still don’t know why the girl’s here, right? Let’s hear her out, yeah?」
Unable to bear the tension any longer, Garius clumsily shifted the topic.
「He’s right. Something definitely happened to bring her here.」
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
Aerith and I moved to a different place to hear Hikari’s story. Myuri went off to train with Garius.
「So, Hikari-san… how did you end up in this world?」
「I really don’t know… Honestly. I just found myself here when I woke up…」
「Hmm. If it wasn’t your own will that brought you here, then the culprit must be that guy…」
「Indeed. I’ve never met him myself, but if Yuuki-sama says so, I believe it.」
「But it’s not like I can just go and meet him, you know…」
「Maybe if you called out to him, he’d show up?」
「Yeah, right… Still, no harm in trying. Oi, God-sama~」
「Heeey~!」
Particles of light gathered before us and formed into the shape of a person, a heavily muscular god.
「「「Ehh……」」」
「I came all the way out here and that’s your reaction!?」
I mean… no one saw that coming.
「Well, whatever. We don’t have much time, so, let’s get to the reason Hikari-chan ended up here, yeah?」
「Yes…」
「Hmm… What I’m about to say might reopen some old wounds for you, Hikari-chan. Are you sure you’re okay with that?」
Hearing that, Hikari gasped. Anyone would hesitate after suddenly being told something like that.
「Actually, Hikari-san’s feelings aren’t particularly relevant here.」
「Wait, what!? Aerith, you can’t just say that!」
「But think about it, Yuuki-sama. There’s no way someone from another world would end up here without cause. If something did bring her here, it could potentially affect our world as well. Therefore, regardless of Hikari-san’s personal wishes, we have the right to know. We’ll also need that information to determine how to handle her situation.」
「…You’re right. God-sama, if you would, please.」
With that, Hikari bowed her head.
At some point, the god had taken the form of a young man and now readjusted his seat.
「Alright, fine. So actually, I’m the one managing both this world and the other one.」
As he spoke, he conjured two globes, one of Earth from our old world, the other, presumably, of this one.
「You see, I manage lots of worlds, but the only one with humans living on it is this one.」
With a flick of his finger, miniature humans appeared on both globes.
「And not just humans, beings similar to humans, like beastkin, demons, elves, and dragonkins in this world, they all have souls. Those souls are a resource. One that keeps the world running.」
Tiny glowing souls rose from the miniature humans on the globes, circulating and returning to new human forms.
「This is an unchangeable, absolute law. All gods managing worlds operate under the same rules.」
「Are you… allowed to tell us all this?」
「It’s fine, it’s fine. No one said I couldn’t. And if things get inconvenient, we gods just step in and fix it anyway.」
The god smiled gently as he said that.
「Still, we gods try not to interfere with the worlds too much. But sometimes… problems arise.」
「Problems?」
「Yeah. See, when a soul’s vessel, the person, lives a happy life, it increases our resources. But when they live a miserable one, it decreases them. That’s when we step in, like how I brought Yuuki-kun over to this world.」
「I get it now. If a bunch of people suffer because of an evil god’s actions, it messes up the system and becomes a problem for you gods.」
「Exactly. So with all that said, you can probably guess why Hikari-chan ended up here.」
「Hikari-san lived an unhappy life, didn’t she…?」
「Right. And from here… well, this is where things get a bit unpleasant.」
「Do we really have to hear this part?」
「Yeah, I think we do. It might help Aerith-chan with what’s been bothering her lately. Besides… it made me a bit mad, too.」
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