Epilogue
When I woke, I was in my own room at the ducal mansion.
The moment I raised my upper body, pain shot through me from head to foot, and my drowsy, half-asleep mind snapped wide awake all at once.
“…Why… am I here?”
Looking about, I found Merlin seated at the side of the bed, and over on the sofa in the corner, Sasha sprawled reading a book.
“Awake, are you, Ephthal-sama?”
“…How long was I out?”
“Three days and three nights.”
“I see. Sorry to have worried you. And… you and Svetlana… you’re both all right?”
“No lasting harm to speak of. Though Sasha-sama says there’s a chance our lifespans have been shortened by a few years.”
“…And Cliff?”
Sasha closed his book and raised himself upright. Then, crossing his legs, he gave a shrug, a look of helplessness on his face.
“Returned to the earth. When one who has made himself undying has his formula unravel… the whole of the time he’d forced onto his body, held there against nature, comes bearing down on him all at once. In his case, four hundred years, more than enough, that, to turn a man back into clods of earth.”
Hearing it, I was seized by a feeling I couldn’t put a name to. Even now, what sort of feeling it was that I held toward Cliff, I didn’t rightly know myself. And that, most likely—
Cliff’s own heart, too, had probably been much the same as mine was now.
“…Still, with this, it’s all come to an end, Ephthal-sama.”
“Yeah. The old reckoning too… for the moment, the worst of it’s cleared away.”
“So, what do you mean to do from here?”
“I’ve no idea where Bridget is now. Look into the places Cliff was holed up in over these four hundred years.”
“Somewhere a mage could safely keep himself hidden over a long span while carrying on his research… I’d say. Well, if we trace his trail, it’s not a thing beyond doing.”
“And there’s something else besides that I’ve got to do.”
“Something else, you say?”
“While I’m looking for Bridget’s answer—”
Just then, I grinned wide and said it.
“—I thought I’d go and make myself the strongest in the world for a while.”
“…And the meaning of that?”
“Nothing gets solved without at least that much, does it? Even Cliff couldn’t do a thing to save Bridget, after all.”
“With respect, Ephthal-sama, it seems to me the chances are already extremely high that you truly have become… the one and only strongest in the world.”
“Nah, the world’s a wide place. There are bound to be strong ones out there I don’t know yet… probably. In any case, first up is the magic academy’s world tournament. I’d like to hone this new power of mine, swordcraft.”
“But, really…” Merlin laughed, as if at her wits’ end.
“You never do change, Ephthal-sama. Asleep or awake, it’s strongest, strongest… you truly are like a child.”
“Can’t be helped, seeing as my head’s stuck a kid and never managed to grow up. Ah, and Merlin. Same as it ever is, I’m sorry for all the trouble I put you to—and always, I’m grateful for it.”
“No, it is no trouble at all. Wherever it may be, however long it may take—I will attend you.”
“Yeah. I’m counting on you.”