Urusphier (End)
Rubia, who had gone to fetch breakfast, returned just as quickly as she had promised before leaving.
She came back so fast I barely had time to dwell on everything that had happened the night before…
“All right, shall we eat before it gets cold?”
A soft clatter of dishes sounded from the table.
Two sets of sounds overlapping—so she had brought her own portion today as well…
Yesterday I was too out of it to notice even something like that… Ugh…
“Noah, take it slow getting up.”
Rubia’s arm slipped around my waist.
“J-just holding my hand would be fine…”
“You might fall.”
With that, she carefully helped me to my feet and guided me to the table.
I sat down and groped for a spoon, only to hear the scrape of a chair being pulled up on my right.
“I’ll feed you.”
Rubia settled so close our shoulders nearly touched, her voice laced with quiet laughter.
“Hoo—hoo— Noah, aaah—”
“U-umm… a-aah—”
Afraid of making a mess, I opened my mouth wide.
A rich, sweet potato soup flooded my tongue.
Worried I might drip any onto the table when the spoon left, I sealed my lips tight and gave it a soft slurp.
Not hot, not lukewarm—just perfect.
“How is it? Not too hot?”
I nodded vigorously, still chewing the soft potato.
Rubia’s hair brushed against my right cheek.
How close is she sitting for her hair to touch me like that…?
“Hoo— here, aaah—”
“Aah— mmph— uuum… H-hey, Rubia, you eat too… I can manage by myself… j-just give me the spoon…”
“Hm? I only brought one spoon.”
Huh…?
“Whaaat…? Why…? Aren’t you eating…? I-I can’t finish two bowls alone…”
“Of course I’m eating. Slurp—”
“Eh…”
O-one spoon…
Two bowls of soup…
And just now… that was the one I… wait, what?
“Why… only one spoon…?”
“I’m going to feed you anyway, right? So one is plenty. Come on, aaah—”
“L-last time we had tw— mmph…! Don’t smear it on my face!”
“Pfft… Then open up already.”
“…Aah…”
Soup filled my mouth again.
But this time I didn’t close it.
I couldn’t even touch it with my tongue…
I just sat there with my mouth open like a baby bird waiting to be fed.
This one was a savory tomato soup, not potato…
“How is it? Mine’s saltier—tastes good, doesn’t it?”
“I-it does taste good, but…”
Is this… is this okay…?
What on earth happened yesterday for Rubia to turn into this?
“R-Rubia… yesterday, what exactly— mmph…!”
“Let’s eat first and talk after? This isn’t really conversation for mealtime.”
Her voice dipped a little lower.
“A-all right…”
“Aaah—”
“…Uwaaah—”
And so we continued until my stomach felt comfortably full and the sour emptiness was gone.
“That’s everything. Was it enough?”
Finally… finally I finished!
My jaw ached from holding my mouth open so long… ugh.
“Y-yes… s-so now please tell me. Yesterday… what exactly—”
“We’ll clear the table later… Noah? Take your clothes off now.”
“…Eh…?”
What… what kind of nonsense is that?
“Want me to help?”
Before I could even process the tangled mess of thoughts racing through my head, Rubia’s hand found the hem of my clothes.
“Hyaaah! W-wait a second…!”
I shot up from the chair and backed away until my back hit the wall.
“R-Rubia…? W-why the sudden clothes?!”
“I’m not trying anything weird. Oh my… they’re already off.”
“Whaaat…?”
I patted myself down.
In that brief moment my clothes had somehow… come undone?
How in the world…?
“They really are easy to take off. I just loosened the cloth around your waist… Hmm, maybe we should change your outfit?”
Cloth…?
The one around my waist…?
Hah…
Did I thrash around in my sleep or something…?
It never came loose even when I was fighting magic beasts…
“R-Rubia… your hands are too… y-you’re a pervert! G-give me my clothes back right now…”
“No.”
Rustle, rustle—
I heard her pick up the clothes that had fallen to the floor.
But I couldn’t stop her…
Both my hands were busy covering myself…
I still had the bandages around my chest and my underwear on, but…
The situation was still mortifyingly embarrassing.
“I’ll go wash these, then… Hmm… and the bandages too—”
“Absolutely not…!”
“What about the underwear?”
“O-of course not!”
“Hmm… you’ll regret it.”
Regret…?
“W-what do you mean… regret…?”
“Ah… well, the timing’s a little awkward to explain right now… but shall I tell you? About yesterday.”
A strange little laugh colored Rubia’s voice.
And… just a hint of irritation.
“…P-please do.”
Tap, tap—
Her footsteps drew closer.
“Noah. What happened yesterday is…”
She stopped right in front of me, gently wrapped her arms around my neck, and whispered into my ear.
“Drunk Noah started saying all sorts of… embarrassing things… and then threw up all over my clothes. After that you just fell asleep by yourself.”
“Eh…”
“That’s why I was undressed. Of course I could have cleaned everything with divine power… but it still feels a bit off, you know?”
Her fingers traced lightly along my neck.
“I did clean your clothes with my divine power too… but stripping a sleeping person without permission is also… a little strange.”
Those fingers slid down my collarbone and toward my chest.
“Besides, if I told you the moment you woke up, you’d just get all gloomy and refuse to eat again. Right?”
From my chest the finger continued down past my navel.
“So take them off. Quickly.”
Her palm flattened against me and pulled my waist firmly toward her.
“Hyeek…”
“If you won’t, I’ll do it for you.”
“I-I’ll… I’ll take them off…”
My trembling hands slipped past her arms and reached for the bandages wrapped around my chest.
“J-just a little… g-go over there, please…”
“All right.”
“A-and don’t look…”
“Then how am I supposed to take the underwear?”
“Uuu… t-then… I’ll turn around, so… please take them.”
Hunched over as small as I could make myself, I slowly turned my back to her.
Then I tugged the knot right under my armpit.
Slip— the bandages came free smoothly; I caught them carefully in my hands.
“R-Rubia…”
I held them out roughly in the direction I thought she was standing.
With a tiny, almost pitying sigh, Rubia accepted the bandages with care.
But… but why isn’t she leaving…?
“Ru… Rubia?”
“Yes?”
“Why… why aren’t you going?”
“There’s still one more left.”
Ah.
“Unni!”
The door burst open with a bang, and Hepais’s bright, cheerful voice rang out.
“H-Hepais!”
“Welcome back. You must have worked hard… Ah, the greatsword’s finished?”
“Aaah, it came out… my masterpiece of masterpieces…”
“Hah… the g-greatsword…!”
With every step Hepais took, a metallic clink accompanied her.
I wriggled free of the blanket cocoon and sat up.
“Here, Unni. Take it. If anything feels off, you have to tell me right away.”
I held out both hands, and Hepais gently laid the greatsword across my palms.
A sharp, familiar sting shot through me.
At the same time a wide, helpless smile spread across my face.
“H-hahaha…”
The world painted itself around me again.
Rubia wearing a soft smile.
Hepais beaming like sunshine.
“Huuu… I missed you… so much…”
I immediately turned my attention to the greatsword itself.
Its overall shape was almost identical to the one I had used before.
But one thing stood out as completely different.
Carpeng’s Fragment, set right in the center of the cross-guard.
“Whoa… the f-fragment…!”
I slid off the bed and ran my fingers over it.
When I had handed it to Hepais it had been rough and gritty; now it was polished to a mirror sheen!
And it had been cut into a perfect, beautiful circle!
Below it the blade flowed in a sensual curve—
Huh?
“A s-scabbard…?”
“Yep! Noah Unni always drags it on the ground, so the tip gets wrecked. The last one was completely bent. So I made this! On the house!”
“Waaah…”
Running my hand along it, I felt leather far thicker than ordinary hide.
A scabbard made purely to protect the blade.
But… there was a problem.
“U-um… but… m-my arms are short… I don’t think I can draw it… w-what do I do…?”
The whole reason I never used a scabbard…
was because my arms were too short to pull the sword free…
That was why I couldn’t even wear it on my back… just let it dangle from my hip.
“Heh… I thought of that too. See the hook by the guard?”
Following her words, I felt around the cross-guard.
A small hook sat on the right side of the blade.
“This…?”
“Yeah, that. Try undoing it.”
Like popping a snap button, a crisp click sounded and the scabbard slid free with a soft rustle.
“O-ohhh…!”
It had felt so solid when it was on the sword, yet it came off so easily and went limp…
“Well? How is it?”
“Yeah…!”
I nodded so hard my neck might snap.
“What about the weight?”
I stood and lifted the greatsword in one hand.
Weight—perfect…
I gave it a careful swing.
Horizontal, vertical, diagonal.
All of it.
Perfect.
As for the fragment’s effect…
I couldn’t test that right now.
“Hepais…”
“Yeah…?”
“It’s… perfect…”
I stuck my thumb up high.
I wanted to wink too, but both eyes were closed, so I skipped that part.
Hepais’s mouth stretched into a huge grin.
Mine and Rubia’s followed right after.
“Hepais, you’re the absolute best…”
Rubia’s smile dipped just a fraction.
“Th-the second absolute best…”
“Nothing left behind?”
I checked the pouch at my hip, checked the greatsword, checked the potions.
“Yes.”
“Yep, I’ve got everything too.”
Hepais hefted her huge backpack and nodded.
“It won’t be easy.”
Rubia lifted the bag she had set on the ground and continued.
“The cold will get worse the higher we go, and we never know when or where magic beasts might appear.”
“…Qi Sensing will handle that.”
“There’s also no guarantee we’ll find Hepais’s master right away.”
“It’s fine.”
Hepais clenched the Bond Stone tightly in her right hand.
“And… it’s also the habitat of the White Disaster, ‘Tyrant.’”
Tyrant.
The twelve-person raid boss that lived in the Karahan Mountains.
In the game it had been a polar bear everyone called “Cola Bear”…
I couldn’t call it that anymore.
Considering that Carpeng—the four-person raid boss people used to call “the neighborhood puppy”—had been that strong…
“Of course, unlike Carpeng, Tyrant is sealed, so we probably won’t run into it.”
That much was true.
Even in the game it had been sealed; the raid only opened after some chain of events broke the seal.
A Master named “Bamilion” had led a sixteen-man elite knight subjugation force, lost both arms, and only managed to reseal it… or so the story went.
I couldn’t remember the details.
“Well… I’ve already talked your ears off about Tyrant since yesterday… Shall we head out?”
“Yeah… let’s go.”
I watched the two of them walk ahead, then stayed behind a moment longer.
“Hoo…”
I stood up straight and steeled myself.
Tyrant.
Even when I faced it in the game, the seal hadn’t been fully broken.
And it was still a twelve-person raid.
If we met it for real…
We would all die. No question.
But.
One chance in a thousand.
No—one in ten thousand.
If we ever did encounter Tyrant…
This time I would never, ever let anyone die.
No matter what it took.
I gripped the hilt of the old one-handed sword hanging at my hip until my knuckles whitened, then stepped forward.