A Joyful Homecoming?
“Whoa, whoooa…! This is no joke…!!!”
The view from twenty-five hundred meters up was more than enough to make Louis’s eyes sparkle.
It felt as if her feet could brush the clouds at any moment, and the Academy—once so vast and imposing—now looked no bigger than a tiny ant.
“I was exactly like that the first time.”
“Still, you’ve got to admit this view is incredible.”
The two who had already ridden on Tene’s back a few times didn’t make nearly as big a fuss as Louis, but even they found the scenery so refreshing it felt like their chests had been blown wide open. They rather liked it.
Heh heh! Well? Impressive, right? In this entire world, the only creature that can fly this high and this fast is me—Tenebrix Nox!
Even though she was being treated like a mount, Tene puffed up with pride at the cheers Louis was letting out from her back. She beat her wings even harder as she spoke.
“This world doesn’t have airplanes, right…? Then how would I go about building one…! Just imagining it is already so much fun!”
That’s what you’re thinking about?!
Rather than simply soaring through the sky on a dragon’s back, Louis was already fantasizing about recreating this view with her own two hands. Tene could only reply in sheer disbelief.
“So where are we headed right now?”
After staring at the sky for quite a while, Louis finally seemed to remember the question. She clambered over toward Felix, who was sitting on Tene’s head and looking around, and asked.
“I figured we’d stop by home first before heading north.”
“Home, huh… Come to think of it, you guys are nobles, right? What was the name again…”
“Evergarden.”
“Evergarden… Evergarden… Was there even a character like that?”
“See? Nobody ever remembers the extra villain who shows up at the beginning.”
When Felix told her the name of the family his relatives had possessed, Louis scratched her head for a long moment before asking again. Felix felt oddly dejected.
“I wanted to possess someone in the protagonist’s party too…”
“Well, if we’re being technical, I’m a character who never even appears in the original.”
“Now that you mention it… what’s the criteria for possession, anyway? There are tons of web novels where people possess extra villains, but sometimes they end up in characters who aren’t even mentioned at all… I just don’t get it.”
Louis offered a casual bit of comfort while explaining her own situation, and Felix tilted his head as if something felt off.
Come to think of it, among everyone they had met so far, Tene was the only one who had possessed a character with any real importance in the original story.
Even Tene only appeared briefly near the very end, left a powerful impression, and then got taken out by the protagonist’s party a few chapters later.
If the original novel’s total length was 100 percent, Tene took up maybe two to four percent. Everyone else occupied less than 0.1 percent.
Aside from Rosaria and Felix, the rest had barely even been mentioned as existing.
That made Felix wonder whether there were actual conditions for possession.
“Why are you even thinking about that? This whole situation is already impossible to understand. Just roll with it.”
Rosaria looked at him like he was being weird and snorted as if it were no big deal.
Ah, I can see it! We’re almost there!
“Whoa…! Looking at it from this far away, it really feels like we’ve come home.”
“Yeah. I’m even starting to feel a little nostalgic.”
While they chatted, Tene—who had been cutting steadily across the sky—arrived near the Evergarden Territory.
It had been two months since they left for the Academy.
“Hey… doesn’t the territory look completely different?”
“Yeah… the whole atmosphere has totally changed.”
After landing in a forest near the territory, undoing the Polymorph, and walking in, Rosaria and Felix looked around in wonder.
Back when they had first possessed these bodies and gone outside for the first time, the territory had been bleak and empty.
You could tell just by looking that it was poor—the Evergarden Territory had lost all its vitality and was withering away.
But now…
“Come one, come all! Fresh landra, one bag for just two Dinars! Buy now or miss out!”
“Hot bread, fresh from the oven!”
“Custom clothing made to order!”
Today’s Evergarden Territory was bursting with life. New shops appeared with every step, and people bustled busily through the streets.
“Wow… looking at it like this, it really feels like a fantasy village!”
“I’ve only ever seen this kind of scene in games. It’s amazing.”
Tene, who had also noticed the change, sparkled as she looked around. Louis gazed at the town with clear interest as well.
“Dad’s incredible, right?”
“Yeah. It really feels like the whole territory has been remade.”
Ever since the possession, Freya had worked day and night to revive the land—and those efforts had finally borne fruit.
“…But. We made it this far, so… what now?”
“What do you mean?”
As they followed the road up toward their mansion, Felix suddenly stopped walking. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead as he looked at Rosaria.
“Dad seemed really, really pissed about last time.”
“Ah.”
The Artificial Dungeon incident had been a massive scandal that shook not just the Academy but the entire Empire.
The Academy was packed with the children of nobles gathered from every corner of the Empire.
When something happened there, word naturally reached the Empire’s nobility at lightning speed.
There was no way the Evergarden Count family wouldn’t have heard about it.
In fact, three days after the incident, a letter had arrived for the two of them.
Not ordinary mail—an express letter used only for urgent news.
It was delivered by magic rather than by hand, so it was extremely fast. Originally used by the military, it had eventually become available to civilians who could afford it.
But sending even a single letter cost 2,000 Dinars—roughly two thousand dollars—so only the truly wealthy could use it casually.
And that expensive letter contained Freya’s message.
If I don’t hear from you within three days, I’m coming right now.
That was the entire contents of the letter she had spent a fortune to send her children after two months apart—just that one sentence.
It was so brief and so firm that it was hard to believe it came from the Freya who normally packed every text and phone call with endless chatter.
The siblings who received it nearly jumped out of their skins.
When Freya wrote like that, it usually meant she was truly furious.
“We did manage to stop her by writing a frantic letter explaining everything… but is it really okay to just show up like this…?”
“C-come on! That was ages ago, and we already explained everything that happened!”
“…She never even replied.”
“………….”
“………….”
“How about we just head north right now instead?”
“Honestly, I’m starting to want that too. Dad is seriously terrifying when she’s mad.”
“Huh? What? Why’d you stop?”
“Is something wrong?”
At Felix’s words, cold sweat began pouring down Rosaria’s face as well. She seriously considered bolting then and there.
Tene and Louis, who had no idea what was going on, could only find it strange that the two of them had been walking fine one moment and then suddenly frozen in place, faces stiff and sweating.
“Wait—when we entered the territory, we already showed our faces at the checkpoint, didn’t we?”
“Ah.”
Rosaria’s mouth fell open as she suddenly remembered announcing themselves at the checkpoint to enter the territory.
Both of them clearly remembered the guard whose bored expression had instantly turned to pure shock the moment he saw their faces, followed by a frantic salute.
“Even if we run now, Dad’s going to find out we were here. And if we still try to escape after that…”
“…Let’s just go.”
“Yeah. I don’t even want to imagine it.”
Neither sibling had the courage to face the catastrophic aftermath of fleeing without a word. In the end, they started walking again.
“It has been a long time, Young Master, Young Miss.”
“If Master is here, that means…”
“Yes. Madam is waiting for you.”
“Uwaaaaah…”
In the end, Rosaria’s group trudged all the way to the mansion.
And waiting for them at the front gate as if he had known all along was Gordon.
“It has been some time, Miss Tene.”
“Hello!”
“And… this young lady is?”
“Oh, nice ta meetcha.”
Gordon offered Tene a gentle smile and a greeting, then noticed the new face and asked.
“Ah, she’s an Academy student—our guest. We’re planning to introduce her to Da— I mean, to Mom too.”
“Louis Gramore. Just call me Louis~”
“I see. Very well. In that case, I shall escort this young lady to the drawing room. Will Miss Tene be joining us as well?”
“Huh? Weren’t we all going together?”
“Eh? Me too?”
“…Wait, then what about us?”
Gordon nodded at Rosaria’s explanation and immediately made to lead the two away. Rosaria looked at him in confusion.
“Madam is waiting for you.”
“Ghk?!”
“………”
Gordon lightly adjusted his monocle with one finger and repeated exactly what he had said a moment earlier.
The meaning came through loud and clear.
Shut up and get in there. Now.
It was a thoroughly blood-chilling implication.
Felix, who had already figured it out, had been frozen stiff for a while.
“Then if you will excuse me. I do hope you enjoy a peaceful reunion…”
“You old coot! No—Master! You know everything, don’t you?! You’re enjoying this on purpose!”
“I must show the guests in, so I shall take my leave!”
“Master! Old man! You little—!!!”
Gordon offered nothing but the least comforting words possible, then practically fled with Louis and Tene in tow. Rosaria yelled after him in frustration, but he was already long gone from their sight.
“…Let’s go.”
“…Yeah.”
After standing at the front gate fuming for quite a while, Rosaria followed Felix’s limp invitation and stepped into the mansion.
It was their first homecoming in two months, yet both of them felt as if they were willingly walking into the gates of the Demon King’s castle.