The Earth-san Has Leveled Up!

2-26. Epilogue

Afterward, since descending the mountain at night would be dangerous, Meiko and the others spent the night at the rest area below the stairs of the cherry blossom shrine.

Perhaps because it served as a relay point for hikers, the space was fairly spacious, with five temporary tents set up. Among them, the three families each borrowed one.

Meiko, who had given a speech, was about to get scolded by Baba, but when Earth-san TV started, she quickly escaped. Baba, also interested, grumbled, “You’re totally reckless,” but soon began watching Earth-san TV as well.

The three families, the Self-Defense Force members, and the reporters were all struck with awe mid-mountain.

Meiko and her two friends, exhausted, fell asleep halfway through.

They could always watch it later, after all.

Past 10 PM, Lulu’s mom, having finished the video, gazed at her sleeping child with eyes full of admiration, as if looking at a hero.

Lulu’s mom secretly picked up Lulu’s ninja sword and dagger.

Without unsheathing them, she struck a pose!

Immediately, Lulu dad started snapping photos.

Nagare Lynet, age 36, had secretly always admired NINJAS. She and her husband got along incredibly well.

Around the same time, Sasara’s mom, having finished the video, closed her eyes and let her thoughts wander over her daughter’s four-day adventure.

What stood out most was the fierce determination in her eyes as she faced the dragon to answer her friends’ trust. Those spirited eyes, so much like her own, had burned with a passion she’d never seen before.

Sasara’s mom had never been prouder of her daughter than she was today.

She picked up her daughter’s sword and drew the blade just slightly. Reflected in the steel, her own eyes now carried the same fiery passion she’d inherited from her girl.

Sasara’s dad, after watching his daughter’s four-day journey, was bawling his eyes out.

Meanwhile, in the Hitsujiya family’s tent.

Meiko’s father sat there, utterly deflated.

“In every possible way, she’s totally stronger than me, huh?”

Crushed by his daughter’s heroics, the man who once believed he’d be the one protecting his adorable children now felt like a clown.

Was it wrong to want to keep his daughter out of harm’s way?

“Train harder.”

Meiko’s little sister spoke to her father like that.

Standing before him, arms crossed, she looked down.

“If you wanna protect someone, train harder.”

“Even Momoko says that?”

“Yep. ‘Cause I’ve been training too, at the Aozora Dojo Onee-chan started.”

“Whaaa—?!”

“Actually, all the kids at school are doing some kind of training. Even the ones bad at sports practice evasion or first aid drills.”

“Wha—?!”

A shocking revelation.

Meiko’s dad felt ashamed—the kids’ awareness of danger was far higher than he’d imagined.

And what had he been doing in comparison?

He’d said dungeons were dangerous, that he’d protect his daughter, yet used work fatigue as an excuse to do nothing.

Sure, there were busy periods, but there were also plenty of days he could leave on time.

What had he been doing on those days, or on weekends?

Not to mention, his office was only a 20-minute drive from home.

The face of a junior colleague flashed in his mind.

That guy went to karate after work.

If someone with nearly the same schedule could do it, why couldn’t he?

In the end, it was just a matter of resolve.

“Fate’s already in motion. Onee-chan is gonna do even more amazing stuff. If you keep whining, Dad, you’ll just get in the way.”

“Guh…?!”

There stood a man, thoroughly lectured and crushed by his daughter—who’d just started sixth grade.

Amidst this, Meiko’s mom was outside the tent, doing side hops with a “hup-hup”.

Chanting “Train harder, train harder”, she bounced around with less-than-stellar footwork. She was a lolicon mom easily influenced by trends.

The tale of three young girls’ adventure had reached the eyes of nearly everyone on Earth—unless they lived deep in the jungle.

Advanced nations, of course, but even residents of impoverished countries.

By this point, funds had poured in from around the world to aid the struggling, providing support on an unprecedented scale.

This phenomenon arose because many could no longer bear the eerie reality of negative karma.

No, “eerie” was too soft—it was the spreading conviction that hell was real.

After Earth-san’s grand announcement, those who committed crimes or accumulated wickedness without repentance—and further reduced their karma—began turning into grotesque charcoal statues, their faces twisted in agony too horrifying to look at.

Humanity was being judged, and those with low karma couldn’t help but tremble.

Of course, only the wicked thought this way; for ordinary people, life went on as usual.

Children in nations now receiving aid also watched Earth-san TV—and Meiko’s grand speech—on devices brought by visitors.

After the sudden, life-changing “Grand Announcement of Earth-sama”, a girl named Hitsujiya Meiko had appeared like a comet.

At the very moment they were saved, this girl had shaken the world not once, but twice. Could she be a messenger of the gods?

“TRAIN. HARDER…”

Children who’d lived perpetually on the edge of survival found themselves deeply moved by this one girl.

Meanwhile, others across the world were equally stunned.

The fact that the first dungeon conquerors weren’t Shumerica’s gunless elite soldiers or Roshief’s frost-hardened warriors, but a trio of 15-year-old girls, felt like something straight out of Japanese anime.

Perhaps the dungeon hadn’t been that difficult.

The elites of the aforementioned nations, or Japan’s own experts—who’d been training relentlessly in G-rank dungeons—could’ve cleared it far more easily, factoring in their growth along the way.

But the sight of three teenage girls wiping tears yet smiling as they crossed a monster-infested mountain, then fearlessly facing a boss terrifying even through a screen, shook the souls of people worldwide, forced into rapid change.

After Earth-san TV, Meiko’s grand speech—provided by a Japanese broadcaster and aired globally—was next.

Her noble spirit, pledging to donate dungeon-locating globes for world peace.

Her charisma, urging not just organizations but individuals to grow stronger.

To Meiko, it was all just selfish provocation to enter dungeons herself. But the world, oblivious, felt as if struck by lightning.

Of course, not everyone had time to train.

If every cog in society started training, even great nations would collapse.

But surely, they could spare an hour a day?

Then, perhaps, like that cheerful Kismian girl, they could always keep smiling.

Or, like the girl who said a lady’s soul defines her, they could take pride in how they lived.

And maybe, like that tiny hero with two grimoires, they’d find the courage to face towering beasts…

TRAIN HARDER

Under that slogan, people rose.

A fervor that would give world leaders headaches swept the globe.

TRAIN HARDER

Under that slogan, the world stood at the dawn of the Great Adventurer Era.

《End of Volume 2》