“Are you settled now?”
“Yeah. …”
Tia, her eyes bright red and swollen, answered while wiping her face with a cloth. My leather armor got rather sticky, but I would call this one an honorable wound.
“I’m sorry for startling you.”
“It’s okay. I’ve done something similar.”
“Similar …? Oh, I see. When we first met!”
“Yes, yes. So, now, we’re even.”
“Yeah! Fufufu~, I miss it.”
Tia finally smiled at me as I joked with her. I would love to just sit back and enjoy our reunion, but before I do, there was something I really wanted to ask her.
“So, Tia. How the heck did you get here?”
“It’s … this.”
With these words, Tia took out a Silver piece of metal with a dull shine from the bag tied to her waist. The shape of the metal looked vaguely familiar,… Hmm?
“Ah!? Is that …”
“Yes, the feathers of the “Silver Winged Sword” that you left behind with me. I was given one of the six feathers as a special gift. I was initially thinking about using it as a catalyst for exploration magic to locate the place where Ed died and bring your body back, if at all possible. … but Surprise!! Because the response I got was that Ed is alive! I instantly got busy from there! I knew you were alive, but I had no idea where you were. I thought I had searched the whole world, but there was no trace of Ed anywhere, and my search magic only showed that you were far, far away. … So, as a last resort, I used forced transfer magic.”
“Forced… Then, you just fell on your ass on my head… Ouch!?”
<<Puu~>> Tia chopped my head with her cheeks puffed out.
“You can’t talk like that to a lady! Mou~! Fufu~, but I am glad I met you safely. I used a secret elvish art, passed down to each generation. But it was a bit heavy on the consumption of mana…”
“Secret art, that’s a big――――――――”
Tia’s carefree laugh and the meaning of her words permeated my brain after a moment’s delay. Knowing what it was, the blood drained from my body, and I grabbed Tia’s shoulders tightly and stared her straight in the face.
“How many years? How many years did you use!!?”
“…Ah, I see. I knew Ed would know about it.”
“I knew it? What do you mean, ‘I knew it’? What….?”
I questioned her with a fearful look on my face, but Tia quietly smiled back at me. Her eyes, which had a hint of melancholy in them, narrowed slightly, and her small mouth began to bloom with words like a bud unfurling.
“When I was on my way transfering here… No, more like it was only a moment to transfer here, but anyway, a memory of me that wasn’t mine flooded into my brain. The memory of me kicking Ed out, Alexis helping me escape from the place where I said goodbye to Ed, surviving alone … and then reuniting with Ed, who took care of me at the end. I see. I knew that wasn’t a dream. …”
“No, it’s a dream. No such past exists! There’s no such thing ……”
“Ed… fufu, yeah, I know. Ed changed it so it doesn’t exist.”
Gently, Tia wrapped her hands around my neck and hugged me. Her long ears tickled as they grazed my cheeks and her hot breath lingered on my neck.
“I know Ed is always there for me, then and now. …Thank you, Ed.”
“Ha!… Ha! I don’t know what you’re talking about! I don’t know, so don’t worry about anything.”
I pulled Tia away and turned my back on her. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed or anything.
“Ah! What, Ed, by any chance, are you embarrassed?”
“I am not embarrassed!”
“Ahh. I see! Here, here, look at me, Ed? I’m gonna pinch your cheeks, okay?”
“Uzzah! Annoying! Don’t cling to me, you’re annoying!”
“Aww, Ed is so adorable!”
“Shut up! And? What are you going to do now?”
I asked Tia, restraining myself as much as I can from tugging on her ears and making her teary-eyed. Then Tia answered, looking around at the white world with a curious look on her face.
“Well… at first, I thought I would leave after thanking you, but this is a different world, right? So, Ed will visit more worlds, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true. Wait, You don’t mean…!?”
“I thought I’ll go with Ed together. After all, It sounds fun! I told everyone close to me when I came here that I might not be coming home for a while, so I can do a little bit of an otherworldly adventure!”
“All right… Or rather, in the first place, can Tia even come with me to other worlds?”
“What, I can’t go!?”
“Well, we won’t know that until we try. …”
Naturally, I had never brought anyone into this world before, nor had I ever taken anyone out of it. Only God knew if it was possible or not, but I was afraid to test it out on the spot. If Tia was the only one left here, that was still fine, but if she was transported separately to a different place than me or even a different world than mine. There were too many possibilities of her transferring to a different world than mine, and no matter how much I want to, I won’t be able to help her.
“Hmmm. We’ll have to give it a try, can’t we just take the easy way out and try …. Hm?”
As I frowned, I suddenly saw the crystal ball that gave me skills. There was still a flicker of light in it, but it didn’t show any reaction to me. … Eh, you’re lying. You don’t mean…?
“Hey Tia. Can you touch that crystal ball for a second?”
“This? Okay. … Wow!? What’s this!?”
The moment Tia placed her hand on the crystal ball, the light scattered and absorbed into Tia’s body.
Perhaps this is what it was like, objectively speaking, when I learned the banishment skill? If that was the case, Tia would be picture perfect for this, I don’t think it would suit me anyway.
“Hey, hey, Ed? I felt something hot inside my body, and then I saw some strange word in my head? Letters? Something like that came to my mind!?”
“O-Oh, I see. So, what are the contents?”
“Contents?! Let’s see, …… it’s called [Shake Hand]. The effect is that you and the person you are holding hands can cross any world …?”
“…… huh?”
How opportunistic. I had never seen such a terrible discovery in my life. I mean, this was definitely what I wanted, then what is the meaning of this? Is this part of the great God’s plan to look down from the heavens and enjoy the little human beings moving right and left?
“Hey, hey, Ed! What is this ….? This means I can go to other worlds with Ed, right? Wow, so exciting! What would the other worlds be like?”
“………………….. huh.”
I would have sworn at the sky, but seeing Tia’s innocent and excited face, I couldn’t say anything. I never thought that I would have a companion on this journey, but … well, if this was the price and reward for changing the end result, I was more than willing to accept it.
Nevertheless, confirmation was important. It was really annoying when people later say, “I didn’t hear you say that”.
“I’m sorry, Tia. I’m sorry to interrupt your excitement, but we’re not going out there to play, okay? We have to be a part of a heroic party in every world we go to, and we have to be banished from all of them, right? There will be things that will make you feel bad, and there will be dangers――”
“I’ll be fine! Because I’m with Ed! The two of us can overcome any danger together, and I won’t be lonely If I get kicked out of the party!”
“What’s the foundation on which you trust me so much… Well, okay.”
I was strong enough to protect Tia alone. Together with Tia, we could be even stronger. There were many times when I wished I had a woman who knew what was going on, and it was reassuring to know that I was with someone I could trust and had my back to.
“Come on, let’s go, Ed! What do you want me to do?”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. Well then, Ojo-sama, Give me your hand.”
“Mm! Take care of me!”
I respectfully bowed to her after reaching the 002 door, and Tia happily held out her hand to me while puffing out her chest. I held her hand tightly and we took the step into a new world together.
(T/N: And This marks the end of Volume 1. No chapters in april, Sorry. I got my exams coming up April need to prepare for them. Thanks for reading and the support so far. I’ll continue it as soon as I am free.)