The carriage rolled farther and farther along the country lane, the fragrance of rice filling the air as its wheels creaked over the dirt.
The setting sun dyed the entire field golden. Cooking smoke curled into the sky in the distance, and Buena Village's outline gradually blurred and shrank in the dusk until it vanished from view.
When Luo Ge woke, the back of his head still felt a little groggy.
"You're awake?"
He instinctively surveyed his surroundings.
Inside the cramped carriage compartment, the person sitting opposite him was none other than Ghislaine.
The Black Wolf Sword King held her sword in her arms, her legs crossed as she watched him with interest.
"...Ghislaine?" Luo Ge ventured.
"Mm."
Ghislaine gave a quiet reply, and the two stared at each other in silence inside the carriage for a moment.
Luo Ge rubbed his temples. "Um...what exactly happened?"
Ghislaine briefly explained what had happened earlier.
After he had been knocked unconscious, she had carried Luo Ge onto the carriage.
Paul and Zenith had asked her to escort him all the way to the Sword Sanctum, paying her a considerable sum for the job.
When she mentioned the generous payment, Ghislaine's cat ears visibly twitched. She seemed to be in a good mood.
Luo Ge was about to nod when he suddenly sprang out of his seat. "Wait! Where's Teacher Roxy?"
Ghislaine thought back. "You mean that little girl from the Demon Race from before? She...already left."
"She left?"
As though his strength had been drained away, Luo Ge plopped back into his seat, his shoulders slumping.
"Uh...right, that girl from the Demon Race left you a letter before she went."
"What did it say?"
"I can't read. See for yourself." Ghislaine casually pulled two letters from inside her clothes and tossed them to Luo Ge.
Luo Ge froze. "Huh? Why are there two?"
"Paul wrote the other one. He told me to hand it to you personally."
After hearing Ghislaine's explanation, Luo Ge opened one of them at random.
It was Paul's handwriting.
The letter sternly instructed Luo Ge to listen to Ghislaine throughout the journey, saying that this Sword King was someone he could trust and that he must take good care of himself in an unfamiliar place. Toward the latter half, the writing gradually took on Zenith's style.
The second half repeatedly reminded him to eat, brush his teeth, and go to bed on time every day, fussing as though the world would end tomorrow.
Luo Ge couldn't help laughing as he read, but he still patiently read it from beginning to end.
The final sentence gave him a bit of a headache. Zenith had deliberately written in large letters: The prettier a girl is, the better she is at lying. Whatever you do, don't let a bad woman fool you.
"What does the letter actually say?"
Seeing how engrossed Luo Ge was, Ghislaine leaned over for a curious look.
Luo Ge indulged Ghislaine's appetite for gossip and read the letter aloud to her, word for word.
After listening, Ghislaine remarked, "Paul and Zenith really do love you."
Luo Ge didn't argue. He simply felt warm inside.
Although he never said it aloud, he was truly grateful to have met a family like this in this unfamiliar world.
He eagerly opened the second letter.
Roxy's handwriting was crooked, as though she wasn't quite used to writing in the common tongue, but every word had been written with care.
"By the time you wake up and see this letter, I'll already be gone. I'm very grateful for your family's company over these past two years. You've helped me grow so much...
"With an expert like the Sword King Ghislaine escorting you to the Sword Sanctum, and with you being so capable yourself, Luo Ge-even better than me...you probably won't encounter any danger."
"If I followed you as I am now, I'd only be a burden to the group. I know that when you read this, you'll surely want to say something."
"I'm very capable...right? In the past, to keep people from looking down on me, I always deliberately bragged wildly about myself and exaggerated my accomplishments. Your teacher really isn't as capable as you imagine."
"In short, Luo Ge, as you are now...you actually don't need me to look after you anymore."
"That's why I've left.
"If fate allows, perhaps...we'll meet again someday."
At the very end.
There was a small line signed, "Roxy Migurdia."
After reading the entire letter, Luo Ge felt terrible.
Would Teacher Roxy rather leave quietly by herself than say a proper final goodbye?
It seemed...
His teacher hated him.
The expression on Luo Ge's face visibly fell.
Still, thinking it over carefully, it made sense...
Blackmailing his teacher, being mistaken for a perverted panty thief-all those awful deeds added together.
It would be normal if Roxy was utterly disappointed in a student like him, whose magic wasn't as good as Rudeus's.
"Before Teacher Roxy left...didn't she say anything else?" Luo Ge asked quietly.
As the carriage swayed, Ghislaine thought carefully. "No."
"But..."
As though remembering something, she added, "That girl from the Demon Race actually cared quite a bit about you. Oh, right, while you were unconscious, she held you the whole time and held your hand too. Afterward, she told me to take good care of you and remind you to eat and sleep on time every day, and to review your magic lessons."
"Huh?!!"
"Really?"
Luo Ge's cowlick instantly shot straight up. As though someone had switched him on, he abruptly sat upright, his eyes shining.
He startled Ghislaine so badly that even the fur on her cat ears stood on end. "W-what are you doing? Why are you so jumpy?!"
Luo Ge gave a dry cough, composed his expression again, and turned to look out the carriage window.
The fields at dusk rushed backward, and the evening breeze poured through a gap in the curtain, carrying the scent of dirt and grass.
He lowered his head to look at the letter in his hands, the corners of his lips quietly lifting.
Teacher Roxy...if fate allows, we'll surely meet again someday, won't we?
At the same time.
The Greyrat home in Buena Village.
The setting sun stretched the house's shadow long across the ground.
Paul and Zenith stood side by side at the door, gazing in the direction where the carriage had disappeared, motionless for a long time.
Zenith's eyes were red, as though she had recently cried, and still a little swollen.
She leaned against Paul's shoulder, her voice muffled. "It's his first time traveling so far from home...he'll be all right, won't he...?"
Paul gently put an arm around her shoulders and comforted her tenderly. "He will. We should have a little more faith in him. You know what Luo Ge can do."
"That boy will definitely become an incredible swordsman someday."
Zenith sniffled and said nothing more, merely leaning against Paul's shoulder and snuggling a little farther into his arms.
In the corner was a world where only Rudeus got hurt.
He crouched beside the doorframe with his arms around his knees, looking just like a cat with its fur standing on end.
He was in a bad mood.
A very bad mood.
The only brother he could confide in in this other world had just left, and...he had left with Teacher Roxy, whom Rudeus respected most.
Just thinking about the possibility of Roxy and Luo Ge spending every day together from now on, eating and sleeping under the same roof.
Inside the carriage.
Beside a campfire.
By a river.
At an inn.
And perhaps even more outrageous things happening afterward...
The pure goddess in my heart is going to be defiled!!!
Ah! No!
Rudeus felt nothing but pain. It hurt far too much.
Now...if I don't do something, the next time we meet...
For instance, when they come back a few years from now.
"Rudeus...don't contact me anymore. I'm afraid Luo Ge will get the wrong idea!"
The scene shifted to Teacher Roxy in a white wedding dress, getting married.
And then there was Teacher Roxy.
Finally, she came before him with a swollen belly, holding Luo Ge's hand, and said with a blissfully happy expression, "Rudeus, I'm pregnant. It's Luo Ge's..."
And Luo Ge stood beside her with a smug grin. "That's right. You're finally going to be an uncle."
Ah!
No!
Mmph!
It was as though his heart had taken ten trillion critical hits.
Just imagining that scene made Rudeus feel as though the sky had fallen. He nearly threw up.
Clapping a hand over his mouth, Rudeus abruptly stood and staggered back to his room, reaching under the bed.
He was going to take out his source of spiritual solace, the sacred relic of this life, and hold it close to comfort his wounded soul.
But his hand found nothing.
Under the bed was spotless. There was nothing there.
Rudeus froze, rooted to the spot as though he had turned to stone.
Damn it.
The sacred relic...is gone.
He remembered.
Luo Ge had already taken his sacred relic away.
He slowly withdrew his hand and sank onto his knees on the floor, his face ashen. The setting sun outside the window fell squarely on his pale face.
Only after a long while did he squeeze a sentence through his teeth, his voice so low it seemed to rise from the depths of hell-
"My foolish little brother...I-I swear, from this day on, we cannot live under the same sky!!!"
Meanwhile, in the carriage a thousand miles away, Luo Ge suddenly sneezed.
He rubbed his nose and looked up at the carriage roof in bewilderment.
Hmm...who's talking about me?
No need to think about it. It must be Teacher Roxy, right?