Air Raid Warning (Finale)

Hestia Vulcanus, current head of House Vulcanus, had a single thought.

So it's finally come.

The moment her husband had drilled into her, again and again, before he entered seclusion was here at last.

"Haviel."

"Yes, Acting Matriarch."

Hestia did not hesitate.

"Take Rafael and Raniel and go to that place. Right now."

"But—!!"

"Hurry."

Her emerald eyes did not so much as flicker.

"...I receive your command."

Haviel, personal guard knight to the head of the house, bit down on his lip and bowed. In the same breath he was gone, and Hestia, left alone, threw herself down the stairs toward the first floor.

The explosion had gone off at the heart of the mansion. Which meant that the moment she opened the doors, the enemy would be standing right there.

Hestia killed every feeling she had. She reached back for the woman she had once been — the Yellow Magic Tower's finest combat mage, the one they had called Bloody Gold.

Can I face them alone?

If not for the wounds the war had left her, she would not have been this afraid. But time was cruel, and cruelty was not something one could argue with.

The situation had already begun. The only way to keep the happiness she had fought so hard to win was to see it through. Vulkan had asked her only to stall.

"...I can't do that."

Rania. Rafael. Raniel. And her beloved Vulkan.

As the vow settled in her chest, an expressionless mask that looked just like Rania's stole over Hestia's face.

The great doors groaned open at an elegant turn of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her hand. The garden beyond was choked with rising dust, and inside that haze, a shadow stirred.

Hestia clenched her teeth. She spun her ticking mana heart, dragged every last drop of her power to the surface, and waited.

Then she heard it.

Footsteps. Slow. Unhurried. Coming closer.

"Ah..."

The sound tore a lament out of her before she could stop it.

I'm going to die.

Hestia Vulcanus. A war hero who had started as an adventurer. Once the successor candidate for the next master of the Yellow Magic Tower. She had crossed more killing grounds than she could count to earn the peace she now lived in. And because of that, she knew.

I'm going to die. No question.

Only then did she understand.

So that was why Vulkan — a man they called a guardian of the Empire — had been so frightened, so withdrawn.

Hestia made up her mind.

If I can take even one of them with me.

Vulkan would handle the rest somehow.

The terror of death. Hestia, who had overcome it with love, dropped her stance and prepared to strike—

"Heh-heh-heh. I was wondering why your daughter was so beautiful. She takes after her mother, I see?"

Someone stepped out of the dust. Hestia found a familiar silhouette on his back and cried ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out before she could think.

"Ra—Rania!!"

Her daughter, who should have been at Academy Zion, was slumped over the man's back. He smiled as he answered.

"Ah, don't you worry about your daughter. She's merely fallen asleep from exhaustion. Heh-heh-heh."

Black hair. Black eyes. A solid build and a pair of fierce, predatory features. The man was—

—by anyone's measure, a villain.

Hestia Vulcanus made a second vow, harder than the first.

"You piece of trash!! Let go of my daughter this instant!!!!"

Even if she died here, she would kill that damned monster.

The instant Hestia loosed her magic, Vivian, who had been standing around looking bored, opened her mouth.

"Eugene."

"What."

"She's lost it."

"Huh?"

I turned my head, wondering what that was supposed to mean, and found a greeting waiting for me.

The Yellow Magic Tower's high-tier annihilation spell, Spear of Gold, had come out to say hello.

"Wh-wh-why!?"

A clearly wholesome Academy student. A kind friend who had carried the collapsed Rania all the way home.

"Why me of all people?!"

"...Because you look like a bad guy."

"Me!? Where else are you going to find someone who looks as wholesome as I do?"

"...Tsk."

Vivian clicked her tongue. I had no idea why I was being attacked, but staying alive came first.

"Vivian!! Over here!!"

"Hm?"

I snatched her by the arm, yanked her in front of me, and ducked behind her like the world's most shameless coward. Then I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"FRIEND SHIELD!!!!"

"Ah?"

The next instant, the air itself began to groan.

Radiant gold — as if sunlight had been hammered into a physical thing — came screaming toward Vivian's head. A high-tier annihilation spell. The Yellow Magic Tower's trump card, usable only by those who had fully mastered the 6th Circle. It was flying straight at her face, and Vivian ignored it the way other people ignore weather.

"You actually trying to die?"

"If I get hit by that I die if I get hit by you I die it's the same either way can't you maybe help me out for once even now you're blaming me first Vivian you're a really weird person you know if I die you can't save Ariel either so just save me already!!!!"

A full-course gaslighting combo, dumped in a single breath.

"...You lunatic."

Thankfully, it seemed to land.

Vivian quietly closed her fist. Like a boxer flicking out a lazy jab, she punched the Spear of Gold.

A light pop. That was all. The materialized spear vanished as if it had been a soap bubble the entire time.

"That's our Vivian! Casually doing the things the rest of us can't! That's what gives me chills! That's what makes me admire you!!"

"...Good that you know."

What's this. She actually likes it.

"H-how did you... the Spear of Gold...?"

Whatever the case, this was the perfect opening to talk to Hestia Vulcanus. I turned to Vivian.

"Vivian. Take me in front of Hestia."

"Sure."

I blinked, and I was standing in front of her.

Having finished the errand, Vivian looked at me with the distinct air of someone waiting to be paid.

Don't tell me.

I quietly put up a thumb.

"Thanks."

"......"

"Vivian's the best, after all?"

"...Good that you know."

Only then did she step back.

Weaker to praise than I thought.

I filed the new information away and stood facing the woman who had gone rigid in front of me.

Alright. Now comes the real problem.

Black mist was still pouring off my body. Meaning Hestia currently had me pegged as EVIL, or at the very least as an enemy. Because I'd dropped in like I was storming the mansion? Because I had the unconscious Rania slung over my back? Because Vivian's personality is garbage? I couldn't pin down the exact reason, but the misunderstanding itself was not in doubt.

I was still turning over how to explain myself when Hestia reached out first.

"...Could it be — Lady Vivian?"

Not to me. To Vivian.

"Ah— ah, ahhhhh!?"

As if Vivian were a treasure that would shatter at a touch, Hestia took her hand, looked her over from every angle, and then—

"Lady Vivian!!!"

—threw her arms around her.

Vivian let out a sigh that said her mood was sour and, at the same time, that she understood. I snorted a laugh and muttered under my breath.

"A cat saves the world."

"?"

"I said thanks. As expected of Vivian. Vivian's the best."

Vivian, who had been briefly stunned, collected herself.

"...Good that you know."

She quietly patted Hestia on the back.

A fact I had not known.

"Let go of me."

"How could I? My comrade of a thousand years, Lady Vivian, has returned after twenty-odd years."

Hestia Vulcanus and Vivian Marcia were closer than I had expected.

"...Let go."

"I don't want to."

Hestia was only tacking on the honorifics. Underneath them, she was handling Vivian like a little sister.

We got through it thanks to that, though.

If it hadn't been Vivian, the conversation might have gone something like this:

"Why did you attack him?"

"I can't go into detail yet, but I thought he was one of the Evil God's followers."

"He does look like it."

"Right!? I almost—"

I might have died at Hestia's hands.

"Where have you been all this time?"

"...Let go."

"Well, I suppose that hardly matters. I'm just glad I can see you again like this."

While Hestia, thoroughly enchanted, peppered Vivian with questions and stroked her like a cat, a familiar voice pulled at me from the side.

"Eu-Eugene...!"

"Hm?"

"For what reason are we here...!!"

Rania had woken up. I answered her while she kept glancing, nervous, toward her mother.

"We came to pay our respects."

"That is precisely what I am asking...!!"

I gave her my sunniest face.

"Because I wanted to."

"What do you mean by that...?"

"I just felt like it."

"Th-that is... what..."

In the end, she shut her mouth.

"Well then. Please rest in the drawing room for a moment. I'll come see you after I've spoken with the children."

"Fine. So let go of me already."

Vivian and Hestia seemed to have finished as well, and they finally put some distance between them. While Hestia straightened her clothes, I turned to Vivian.

"Let's get started."

"...Now what."

She doesn't get it.

"What else."

I stood, took Rania's hand, and led her over to Vivian.

"Now that you're awake, it's time to train."

"...Eugene? T-train, you say? I hate to mention it, but I collapsed from aura exhaustion not long ago—"

Rania was still panicking when the corner of Vivian's mouth curled up, slow and wicked.

"That's true."

"...L-Lady Vivian?"

"Let's go. Time to train."

"W-wait!? I haven't recovered yet!!!"

Rania planted her feet as if she meant to resist. She was dragged off anyway, fluttering like a sheet of paper.

Just before they reached the door, Vivian glanced back at Hestia.

"Where's the training hall?"

"Ah... Th-that way, but..."

"Got it. Don't worry."

Vivian added it as if she were commenting on the weather.

"I'll teach her well."

"Yes..."

A beat later.

"I beg your pardon!!?"

Hestia, catching up to the meaning a second too late, rounded her eyes.

"Y-you're going to teach my child!?"

Vivian nodded.

She's got every right to be shocked.

Vivian was acting like it was nothing. It was not nothing. It was an enormous privilege.

She's just become the personal disciple of the strongest being in the world.

Put simply, it meant Rania could become stronger than anyone else. Think a little further, and it meant she now had Vivian's name at her back. Becoming Vivian's disciple was something even the Imperial Family would envy. Fortunately, Hestia understood that.

"H-how on earth did this happen?!"

She asked, startled, for the reason. As if Vivian would give her a proper one.

"You don't want it?"

"No, that's not it...!! I only wanted to know how Lady Vivian came to become my daughter's master... that's all I..."

Which meant this was my cue.

"Ask him."

"...This child?"

Meaning I could step in. Vivian, still carrying Rania over one shoulder, pointed at me with her free hand.

"I'm doing it because he told me to."

"Y-you told Lady Vivian what to do...?"

"We're going. See you later."

"W-wait, Lady Vivian!!"

The door banged open.

"L-Lady Vivian!!! That's a window!!"

"I know."

Vivian jumped.

"Hwaaaaaaah...!"

Rania's dazed wail was the last sound in the room. Then it was just Hestia and me in the drawing room.

"What in the world just..."

"Allow me to greet you properly now."

"Ah...?"

I approached Hestia, who still had not caught up to any of this, and offered a polite bow.

"I'm Eugene. No surname."

Only then did she collect herself a little. She opened her mouth with a somewhat awkward expression, as if she still had no idea what to do with me.

"Acting Matriarch of Count House Vulcanus. Hestia Vulcanus... I am."

She didn't even seem to know how to treat me, so I added a little more.

"I've come as a friend of Rania Vulcanus. Please, speak as you like."

"A friend?"

"Yes. She approached me when I was alone, and readily became my friend."

"That child did that...?"

She asked again, as if she could not quite believe it. Then, slowly, her face eased.

"Yes. If that's true, then it is truly a joyful thing."

"Then you ought to be happy."

"Yes, so it is... Well. Someone accompanying Lady Vivian wouldn't lie. Very well. I'll speak plainly, then."

"Thank you."

In the end, her expression softened for good.

"So? From the looks of it, you came here on purpose. What is the reason?"

Now.

I said exactly the words I'd had in my head.

Ah, fuck. That came out wrong.