Chapter 259
“I’m going to marry Dad when I grow up.”
Swack.
“It hurts! Mom!!”
“He’s my husband. Don’t touch him.”
The moment Asydia said that, Bel, who was standing behind Asydia, whacked her on the head with a strainer.
“Who do you think you are, trying to touch my husband? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to keep your dad for myself?”
“Yeah, you did work hard.”
“Do you know how difficult it was to send away all the women clinging to your dad? And you, of all people, say such things?”
“AAAH, Dad! Mom’s trying to kill me!”
“I won’t kill you. Maybe half of you.”
A battle between a Half Goddess and a Great Sorcerer.
It’s a fight that grandly fills the heart.
If only it weren’t a family squabble, this scene could be straight out of myth.
“You. Say something too.”
“What can I say? It’s because there’s no other suitable husband around.”
“See, Dad knows best. How about me?”
“I’ll let you off because you’re my daughter.”
I pushed Asydia’s forehead away with my hand.
“I only have Bel.”
“You….”
“I don’t share love with anyone but my wife.”
“What about your daughter?”
“I love my wife as a woman, and I love my daughter as family.”
“Wow, seriously.”
Asydia raised her hands and pouted her lips.
“Some people are really jealous! Mom is lucky to have someone like Dad, and why am I stuck like this?!”
“Then why didn’t you take care of those who like you sooner?”
“How can I live with those kinds of guys? They’re all so shady! Some say it outright, and others pretend to be all proper while being even worse inside!”
“That’s too bad. I found your dad among those kinds of guys.”
“Oh, really!!”
Regardless of Asydia’s wailing, Bel placed a cup of tea in front of me and sat down beside the sofa.
“Isn’t it a little rude for my daughter to think about taking someone else’s husband?”
“It’s all because they are envious of you, Bel.”
“Oh, me?”
“How many people in the world would love a person like me for a lifetime? It’s not easy to find that kind of love.”
“That’s true.”
“Ugh.”
Asydia grimaced and stuck out her tongue.
“This jealousy is of terror-level proportions.”
“It’s not jealousy; it’s a natural thing between a couple. Daughter, you’ll understand when you find a partner later.”
“If you find such a person, you should introduce them to me.”
“If I find someone who catches my eye….”
Is there… someone?
“Hmm.”
I absentmindedly fiddled with my empty left ring finger.
“I’ll introduce you if I find someone. But you can’t complain later, okay?”
“Is there anyone who could love me as much as you, Dad?”
“That’s what I said! If there’s someone who loves you as much as I love Bel, then I’ll definitely let you know.”
For my beloved daughter.
For my beloved family.
Everything is for love.
*
Swoosh.
Looking beyond the red sky, I basked in the breeze while gazing at the red sun sinking below the horizon.
Was it a month?
Was it a year?
Or maybe two hundred years?
Repeating happy days where boredom doesn’t exist.
But this repetition has come to an end.
It’s not that I’m tired of it.
It’s not that I’m done enjoying it.
If I had to give a reason.
I would say, “Because it’s time for what’s necessary.”
“Did you come out far?”
“Why did you come all the way here?”
“I can’t not come when you’re here.”
Bel, wearing a light dress and a straw hat, quietly sat next to me.
“Asydia has grown up, hasn’t she?”
“Yeah. She’s at the point where I don’t need to interfere anymore.”
“That’s a relief. I was worried if you hesitated more.”
Bel’s words made my heart swell.
It wasn’t that Bel said anything in particular; it was the ‘emotion’ I felt from her words.
“Asydia and I were happy too. Until the last moment… No, until the last day I fall asleep, I thought of you. Me and Asydia.”
“I’ve always thought about it too. If only I could turn back time, I would go back to the moment when I wouldn’t lose you.”
I’ve searched for every possible method.
But I could do nothing about time.
“What if I could find the reincarnated soul? Even that was impossible. I had to give up.”
“How does it feel to meet like this, even if it’s just an illusion? Do you still want to keep searching for a way?”
“No.”
I pulled Bel closer.
“I realized again that it’s an unachievable dream, and I understood what kind of life you both wanted me to live.”
I stood up.
“Thank you, Bel. Asydia. For letting me clear my last lingering regrets here.”
My lingering feelings that had been settled in my heart, unresolved.
“As a husband, as a father, have I at least made up a little…?”
“Yes. You were the best.”
“That’s right. He’s the person Mom loved, so he couldn’t possibly be anything less than the best, right?”
Before I knew it, Asydia had approached and stood before me.
“Thank you, Dad. For holding on until now without letting go of yourself.”
Asydia placed a crown of flowers on my head.
The large lilies were dyed red, just like Asydia and Bel.
“I can’t say much, and honestly, I wanted to hold on longer, but it’s about time for you to get up.”
“… Is that so?”
“Yes. This is—”
“A dream.”
It’s a happy dream.
“… Just five more minutes, no, I want to stay like this forever.”
I’m so happy that I want to remain here.
If I continue staying here, I’ll surely be able to live a happy life with them forever.
But.
“I’m sorry.”
I placed my hand on Asydia’s head, who had gifted me the flower crown.
“I have to go.”
“Yeah…. I thought so.”
Asydia stepped back with a bittersweet smile.
“I believed that if it were you, you’d definitely do that. Because you’re Dad.”
“You.”
Asydia and Bel smiled and took a step back from me.
No.
It wasn’t them stepping back, it was me retreating.
“Were you happy?”
“Yeah. For a moment, I had a happy dream.”
This dream is an unachievable dream.
For hundreds of years, I’d wished every night for this, but I couldn’t meet them even in my dreams.
“Illusions can be scary. They make you want to live here forever.”
“But you will choose the real world.”
“… Of course.”
There is no reason.
Not a grand reason to protect the world, nor to protect the remnants of the Demon King’s Army, nor to seek revenge against Asmodeus, who trapped me in this snare.
“I made a promise.”
I made a promise with a foolish disciple.
“To end all of this.”
Lucifer.
Zephar.
“What started with me must be tied up by me alone. Isn’t that how it should be?”
They nodded and smiled at me.
“Bel. Let me ask just one thing. Is going out into the world right now the wrong choice?”
“No. You haven’t made a mistake.”
If it were wrong for me to go back to reality now, Bel would have told me the right path.
Even if it were an illusion.
Even if it were a fabricated existence based on my memories and desires.
…Even if it were the souls of the two I met in an illusion.
Whee-eeeek.
Far away.
Beyond the sunset sky, a golden trail cuts across the brightly colored sky.
That beam of light was so beautiful, so longed for, and at the same time, an unfamiliar light.
“… Bel. Asydia.”
I placed my hand on my chest as I faced the two.
“You will be happy. Everything, even your share.”
For happiness.
“To transcend this happiness in the illusion and find happiness in reality.”
Wake up.
Lucid dream.
Crumble.
The sky is falling.
The space is collapsing, the world is crumbling.
Bel and Asydia are also turning to ashes and disappearing, but they waved their hands toward me till the end.
Rustle.
The beam of light flowing from them brushed against me.
The light that grazed my left hand entwined around my ring finger, and I raised my left hand high to the sky.
“[Libera me].”
O light that can open this world of illusions, this collapsing world, and bring me outside.
“[Lucius Machina].”
With the brilliant shining golden trail, the world began to change.
The moment I opened my eyes, before me was the Succubus Queen I had encountered before entering the illusory world.
“… Impressive.”
A golden sword was pierced into her chest.
“How did you escape from that illusion…?”
“Because I knew it was an illusion.”
“Did reality really matter more to you than giving up that illusion, that happiness…?”
“Of course.”
Not a magic used by others, but magic I directly wielded.
Based on Lucius’s mana dwelling in my body, I utilized the technique of Leberced Arpe.
The slipstream that crossed the boundary of illusion and extended forward had become a golden rapier, piercing Asmodeus’s chest.
“I must keep my promise.”
“… A promise, huh.”
Asmodeus bowed his head with a hollow laugh.
“… Just one promise.”
“What?”
“Will the reality you chose be filled with more love than the reality of the illusion…?”
“Of course.”
I drew the sword forged from my magical power and embraced Asmodeus.
“I will fill the whole world with love. I will make sure of it.”
“… That’s enough.”
Sizzle.
Asmodeus patted my back.
“… I hope you find a beautiful love.”
Swoosh.
Beyond Asmodeus, who was disappearing into a beam of light.
On the captain’s stone, there quietly lay a single azure orb and a gray dagger.
“… Of course. I promise.”
I grabbed the orb and the dagger tightly.
“A love more blissful than anyone in the world.”