kscans

Chapter 59 - The Twilight of the Gods and Kobito-san ~Eight~

"All right then. Time to pack for another trip."

With the groundwork for the new Kilfan nation and the Frontier soil improvement plan now on track, Chihiro finally began preparations for her pilgrimage to the Western Forest.

The town built in the wilderness was shaping up to be a collection of Kilfan’s finest technologies, with the synergistic effects of Frontier’s magic being fully demonstrated. The same was true for Frontier’s side of the soil improvement. The best aspects of both sides had matched perfectly, and things were progressing at an impossible speed.

Most of those who prided themselves on their talents had moved to Frontier from Kilfan. Having lost nearly half its population, one wondered what had become of it now.

Well, it can’t be helped. This happened because they didn’t take care of the people below them. It’s what they deserve.

Shaking off the pointless thought, the little girl lowered her eyes to the application form.

The personnel would be the usual members. She heard it was about a four-day carriage ride to the Western Forest, so they would need to stay three nights on the way.

Chihiro scratched her head with a glass pen, spread out a map, and made her plans.

One night at the multi-purpose square by the Kininaru Ki. Two nights in the border marquis’s territory. Should I stop by the marquis’s place? I’ll ask Romel later.

Quickly writing down the necessary personnel, supplies, and the round-trip schedule, Kobito-san took the completed documents and headed for the royal palace.

"Romel, is this okay?"

Seeing Kobito-san appear from the skylight, held aloft by Pochiko-san, Romel openly grimaced.

"Chihiro. Don’t imitate the Queen. Walk on your own two feet, please."

The surrounding people merely glanced at the descending Kobito-san, showing no particular surprise. Romel felt a headache coming on as he looked at his subordinates who continued their work in silence.

Don’t you guys get used to it. Why isn’t a single one of you even cracking a wry smile!

A magical phrase was being whispered throughout the royal palace with all seriousness.

Because it’s Kobito-san.

This unspoken understanding was spreading not just in the kitchens, but throughout the entire royal palace. And yet, despite being Kobito-san’s greatest sympathizer, Romel was still unable to escape his position as the sane one.

Nevertheless, Romel accepted the documents Kobito-san offered, quickly scanned them, and gave a small nod.

"I see, you’re going to the Western Forest. Yes, this is fine. It’s good."

The documents listed a number of personnel and expenses that were hardly fitting for a royal family member’s journey. However, Romel knew that this was the easiest arrangement for Kobito-san. As long as the bare minimum was in place, this girl would manage the rest somehow. In fact, there was even a possibility she might just fly off with Pochiko-san and no attendants at all. Considering that, he should be grateful she even submitted the documents.

Looking up at the resigned Romel, Chihiro asked with a slightly melancholic air.

"I plan to stay two nights in the border marquis’s territory. Do you think I should pay my respects to Marquis Ansbackh?"

Romel’s eyes widened for a moment, but then he smiled softly and lifted Kobito-san into his arms.

"That’s a good idea. Since you’ll be passing through his territory, it would be good to pay your respects. Well, it’s highly likely it won’t end with just greetings."

"Honi?" Kobito-san tilted her head.

With a wry smile, Romel sat on the sofa, placed the little girl on his lap, and explained quietly.

To wit, nobles valued appearances. Being able to host a high-ranking person as an honored guest was the greatest honor, something everyone eagerly awaited, ready and waiting. If that person was a member of the royal family, then naturally, it had to be included in the itinerary.

"So if you send an advance notice of your greeting, Marquis Ansbackh will welcome you with all his might. Be prepared to stay for one night."

"Hoh. Then we’ll save on one night’s travel expenses. Can we do that on the way back? I want to hurry as much as possible on the way there."

Is that what you’re concerned about?

We don’t need you to worry about saving on travel expenses. You’re a princess, you know? You have the right to travel without any inconvenience.

Romel wisely swallowed the words that had risen to his throat.

Because you’re the kind of person who enjoys even that inconvenience.

Romel truly was the one who understood Kobito-san best.

"And with that, prepare for the journey with the usual members, please."

Dolphen and Adoris looked at the little girl, who saluted sharply as she spoke, with expressions of exasperation.

"It’s already the middle of summer, you know. A pilgrimage in this heat?"

"It will cool down if we wait a little. It would be better to go then."

I see. Romel hadn’t pointed it out, but for these two who knew the field, a summer trip was apparently not recommended. Come to think of it, I don't remember hearing about anyone going somewhere to escape the summer heat last year either. Maybe it's not a custom here.

Being told this, Chihiro realized that her previous journeys had also been made while waiting for spring. Frontier, with its mild climate, rarely saw snow even in winter. It got cold, but not freezing cold.

In return, the summers were hot. Incredibly hot.

She remembered how, when she was languishing in the sweltering heat, Pochiko-san had created a cool breeze using the heat of vaporization, holding water from water magic and fanning her wings. Without that, Chihiro would surely have spent her summer nights sleepless. She was nothing but grateful to the bees who, in cooperation with the other honeybees, became her personal air conditioners all day long. Even now, if she were indoors, the bees would be waiting, fully prepared.

Because of this, Kobito-san’s perception was a little off from everyone else’s.

"Well, I think the bees will manage that somehow, so anyway, we have to hurry."

As the little girl waved her arms and legs about while talking, Dolphen and the others nodded, looking charmed and resigned.

The knight order, ordered to be escorts in the height of summer, would not say no if it was a request from Kobito-san. They glared at the sun with weary expressions, but still moved with vigor.

Later, for their sake as they ran alongside the carriage, honeybees would stick to their backs and volunteer as air conditioners, but they did not yet know of this happy future.

"Going on another expedition, Chihiro?"

His eyebrows furrowed pathetically, Drago hugged Chihiro and nuzzled her cheek. With a wry smile, Chihiro hugged Drago’s neck.

"Just a little longer. I think this will probably be the last long trip."

"Ah. Then, let’s cook a lot together. It’s a promise, okay?"

"Okay."

A heartwarming embrace between parent and child. No one, except for the gods, knew that this would be their final farewell in this life.

《This is truly heartbreaking.》

《It cannot be helped. What was borrowed must be returned.》

The gods of Arcadia looked down upon the world below with expressions of anguish. 《A Misaki was not born.》

《A vessel for the golden magic was not born.》

A vessel capable of acting as a proxy for the Creator God.

If this had been born, victory in the bet would have been certain. But this can only be born when there is a vessel that has long been involved with people, is rooted in the earth, and can call down the power of the gods. They had hoped the Forest Masters would become such a thing, but they were forgotten by the people, and the masters themselves forgot, and the path to evolving into a Misaki was closed.

All that was left was for Kobito-san to witness the outcome of the bet. Even the gods did not know which way it would turn.

There was an existence of a higher order than them, the gods. No god had ever seen this higher being. It was merely inferred that such an existence must be there, given the birth of new gods. In fact, even the gods had unwritten laws they must not violate, and transgressions were punished. There was certainly an existence that watched over and managed the gods who watched over and saw through the people.

If you truly exist, please have mercy on my children.

While the gods of Arcadia prayed fervently, the god who had proposed the bet was also looking down on the world he had created.

There, a desolate landscape spread out, rivaling that of Arcadia in its infancy.

It was once a beautiful world, overflowing with greenery and teeming with life. It boasted a cutting-edge, superior civilization rarely seen in other worlds, and the humans of his world enjoyed splendid lives.

But humanity strayed from the path.

Overconfident in their advanced science, they stepped onto the path to their own destruction, and in the end, aiming for mutual ruin, they destroyed all the land.

A war that started from a trivial trigger drove people to madness, overturned civilization from its foundations, and a vast amount of scientific poison swallowed both living creatures and plants, leading them to their deaths. Living things could not survive or grow on the land contaminated by the gruesome poison, and the surface of the earth, turned into a pile of rubble, was rapidly desertifying.

For the few lives that had barely survived, not much time was left.

His world was on the brink of extinction.

As he was weeping and lamenting, on the verge of his own world’s collapse, news came that a new set of gods and a new world had been born. His world, about to end, and Arcadia, which had just been born.

What irony.

He visited with a somewhat self-deprecating air and, seeing the crude Arcadia, felt a strange sense of kinship.

A desolate land with about twenty percent greenery.

But given a long time. A truly mind-bogglingly long time, perhaps life could have been born. This newborn land was not contaminated, after all.

Thinking that far, a devilish idea flashed in his mind.

It was a gamble that, with one wrong step, could jeopardize his own existence. But if he just stood by and watched, his world would undoubtedly perish. It was all or nothing.

And so, he proposed the bet to the gods of Arcadia.

If he could win this bet, he could bring a massive amount of life energy into his world. By stealing all the energy of the creatures raised in Arcadia, returning it to his world, and having the remnants erased in the abyss, there was a high possibility his world could be revived.

The right to take from another world belongs only to the one who gave.

But even gods have unspoken, unwritten laws, and just saying he would lend it would not convince the others. Because lending and taking were synonymous. Other gods would not overlook a loan that was premised on taking.

So, he deliberately said it.

If you raise it splendidly, I will give you everything.

A promise made before the gods is the same as a covenant. A contract that must be fulfilled.

That is why even the old, cunning gods tacitly approved. They didn't like it, but if it was a covenant, it was a matter between gods. They could not object. The young gods of Arcadia, ignorant of the ways of the gods, accepted the bet with beaming smiles.

He thought he had won.

He was sure that gods so excited about their first world would definitely make a mistake.

That's why he was impatient. As soon as Arcadia's civilization stagnated and began to fester, he demanded the settlement of the bet. Without thinking that it would draw the attention of other gods. He had no choice but to nod at the objection raised by the suspicious gods of Earth.

Several thousand years have passed since then. Arcadia began to change noticeably. At this rate, the outcome of the bet would become uncertain.

They must remain a foolish civilization dependent on magic and sorcery, just as before.

He could not lose.

The god who proposed the bet quietly opened a scrying mirror to Castrato and gazed into it, preparing to send down a new oracle.

In it, an old crone was reflected.

She sat in a room where suspicious incense was burning, not moving a muscle.

Kobito-san, ignorant of the gods' intentions and anguish. Dreaming of tomorrow's adventure as she sleeps with her bearded old man, the little girl forges her own path today, full of life.