Epilogue

Epilogue – The Youth and the Maiden

Part 0

In a brand-new residential area in the royal capital, a conspicous, new

apartment building was being built. From the outside, it looked clean and

gave off a sportive feel; people would expect it to be property for the rich

and wealthy.

And on the top floor of the high-class apartment,

"Uu, uuuuuuu...... Lylee~~"

A lone girl was digging her nails into the door.

Needless to say, she was Maria Highline.

She was bandaged in some places of her body like the nape of her neck, but it

was somewhat like seeing cats and dogs being chased outside; not a single

fragment of sympathy could be felt for her.

"......What are you doing, Milady?"

Milla, carrying a wash basin with ice in it, sighed at her mistress' unladylike

appearance.

"M-Milla! Is he alright? Is Lyle alright? He didn't die, did he!?"

"......Hmm, I wouldn't know about that."

Milla's expression was mournful, and Maria was greatly troubled.

"AAH! Lyleeeeeeee! Milla! Is there nothing I can do!?"

"Well...... how about bringing the research papers that have been piled up in

Master Lyle's laboratory? If you do that, Master Lyle's mood might also―"

"Research documents! I'll go get them right away!"

No sooner then she had said that, Maria ran off like the wind.

258

"......Dear me. We've finally gotten some peace."

Milla, who had tactfully chased off Maria, opened the door.

A luxurious and calming guest room. On top of the bed was,

"Ugh, urgh...... ah, a fever..... my whole body hurts too......"

A feverish groan echoed in the room gloomily.

Lyle was covered in quilts and blankets up to his neck, with ice bags placed on

his head.

With the Ingenious Engine destroyed, every engine part ceasing to function,

the gas in the envelope being released, the flying warship <Ymir> had sank

right into the deepest depths of Lake Holle.

Three days have passed since their escape from that flying warship, and now

Lyle was down with a fever.

Swimming in the lake during the start of spring was not overly unreasonable,

but if the fact that he was in a sinking warship, the prospect of being sunk

along with it might have caused some mental damage...... that was what Lyle

thought.

"Still, you could look at it as an honourable wound. You swam through Lake

Holle, carrying two ladies with you, after all."

"Ugh...... I didn't expect both Maria and Lunaria to be like stones in the

water......"

Lyle's sneezes mingled with his groans.

"Yes, you've done well."

Milla smiled as she changed Lyle's ice pack. What Lyle had done seemed to

be rather fun.

While gallantly nursing him, Milla then said to Lyle.

259

"I heard about the battle from my mistress. Your verbal warfare had created

an opening rather splendidly, it seems."

"......Still, it's a rather deplorable tactic..."

The feverish Lyle said, as though he was sleep-talking.

"......Milla. Am I...... a prideful person...?"

"―Hmm, how should I put it."

Milla's eyes widened slightly, and while adjusting the blankets, she replied in

a gentle voice.

"Probably so. You possess extraordinary talent, yet you have not

accomplished anything with it―it's a waste, and various other criXcisms

come to mind as well."

"......Oh..."

"Regardless, it's fine to be thus, isn't it? Because that is something you would

do, Master Lyle. At the very least, I do not disagree with it."

Milla added, with her heartfelt feelings.

If not for that prideful kindness, Lyle would surely be unstoppable. He would

probably have become a 'machine'. In order to defeat Vilhelm, he would have

perceived all humans as mere 'numerals' and 'calculations'. Lyle did not want

that, and hence, out of his own will, he chose to live a carefree life.

Pride might have been too strong a word to describe it.

However, that included everything; Maria, Milla, Lyle loved all of them.

"Well...... I wish you would try and understand a woman's heart just a bit

more, though."

It looked like the feverish Lyle did not hear that small whisper.

"Dear me...... At any rate, we have to cure that cold of yours first."

260

Said Milla, rummaging through her handbag.And from that.she took out a

glass tube, filled with a transparent fluid. She removed the cap, and poured it

into the currently feverish-and-moaning Lyle's mouth.

"Ngh...... Mgh! W-What the hell is thiiiiiiiiiiiis!"

Right after a little mouthful, Lyle rolled around on the top of the bed. His face

that was flushed red with fever, turned pale in a single instant.

"Geh! ...Ah, it tastes sweet, bitter, spicy, sour, salty, and a little fizzy..."

"It's a replenishment tonic that was passed down to me from my mother. In

the southern archipelago, they call it―the [Dead Raiser]."

"I-Indeed, it does have a taste that could even raise the dead..."

"Well, the real thing starts from now onwards."

Saying that, Milla produced a solid, bullet-shaped medicine.

"The [Dead Raiser] comes in a set of two parts."

"A-A set of two..."

"Yes. Of course, this one is a suppository."

With an innocent smile, Milla rolled up the sleeves of her maid uniform.

"Now then, Master Lyle, please keep still obediently and let me insert this

rectally."

"I-I think I'll be fine with just the first half..."

"That will not do. Your face is still ghastly pale, isn't it?"

"T-That's because of the medicine..."

"You have to know when to give it up, Master Lyle. Now―please surrender

and relax yourself."

261

With a splendid smile like that of a sunflower in full bloom, Milla sidled up to

Lyle.

262

Part 2

"......And with that, I'm done."

Finally done with the cleaning up of the laboratory after a few days, Lunaria

heaved a sigh of relief.

Sitting down on the sofa, she heard a clanging sound from the area around

her feet.

"......"

Lunaria took out <Dainsleif>, which had been crammed beneath the sofa.

The students of Vergenheim who had been manipulated by Vilhelm Zest, had

been already released from the magic of 'Puppetry' and returned to their

normal lives. Though they had lost the memory of their manipulation, they

readily returned to normal, probably due to how unrestrained and easy-going

they were.

The magic sword of the «Nosferatu» that was passed down in the

Nebulablut―was all but useless, now that Lunaria was the only last

remaining Nebulablut. There was even the possibility of it bringing chaos into

human society, were someone like Vilhelm happen to use it for their own

gain.

"It's fine, isn't it."

Lyle had said, while feverish and faint.

"If there was but one thing that had been accomplished in the incident this

time round, it would be that we had taken back that sword. If you had told

me to dispose of it, I'd be even more worried than you."

Just as she thought, he did not give any reasoning, like that it was for

Lunaria's sake. It was to the point of being shocking―no, to the point of

making her feel angry.

"......Father, Mother, Elder Sister...... I intend to stay by his side."

263

Stroking the sheathed <Dainsleif>, Lunaria whispered quietly.

"Perhaps it was fate that led the last surviving Nebulablut to him."

Her own powerlessness was not yet cleared away. However, she thought that

she would be able to accept it.

Powerless and worthless, yet she was proud to stand as one of the

Nebulablut. She was the last of that lineage―and so, she would see it with

her very own eyes.

The «Disciple of the Last Hexe» who lived on the threshold of magic and

science―she would see his future with her own eyes.

Perhaps if she were to find the meaning in her survival, that would probably

have been the answer.

"No... that was what I decided. By myself...... Will you forgive me?"

There would be no reply―that should have been how it was,

"There's no problem with that, is there?"

A voice said.

Lunaria looked up, and found Maria standing at the door, which had been left

open.

"Lady Mar―"

"It's just 'Maria'... you cleaned the room up pretty well, I see."

Maria entered the room while looking around.

"......It was seven years ago."

Said Maria, as though she was engaging in gossip.

264

"I used to be a complete tomboy. Because of how uptight it was, being a

noble's daughter, I took it out on the kids in the neighbourhood, and acted as

their big boss."

Lunaria's head was tilted to the side, not quite understanding the

conversation that had abruptly been started, but Maria continued to speak.

"One day, I started saying something about a test of courage, and went on an

adventure. One of my friends, a girl, got injured pretty badly. It was in the

middle of a dark forest. She had fallen down and hit her head on a sharp

rock, and started bleeding profusely, but she wasn't afraid. She just stood up,

while everyone was dumfounded. Do you know what I was thinking then?"

"You were worried for her―"

"The adults will be mad at me. That was the first thought that popped into

my mind."

"That..."

"'It couldn't be helped, since you were a child then'? However, the fact that I

was a coward does not change. Just thinking about it makes me feel like

puking, eh. The first person who took action in that situation was Lyle. He

went up to the injured girl, and with the amber he had hidden and brought

along―he used magic."

That was the time when Maria had first found out about Lyle's secret.

The girl was given emergency treatment with Lyle's magic, and then, under

his leadership, everyone returned to the village.

"Everyone was deeply grateful to him, for saving the girl. However, as the

days passed... his friends from the village slowly avoided him more and more.

It's only natural, right? In the midst of the <Steam Engine Revolution>, a

remarkable development in the history of science, it was common knowledge

that magic was dodgy and demonic. And right after that, Lyle moved to the

royal capital."

Because of how sudden it had been, Maria only learnt that he had moved

away after it happened.

265

The next time they met each other had been a while later, in the royal

capital.

The young Maria had felt that it was inexcusable of her to have caused Lyle

to be driven out of his home, but above all else, she was frightened of the

secret that her childhood friend, whom she thought she knew, had.

"At that time, I wanted to run away from it all. But Lyle... he told me that it

was alright. And then, he said that―"

"I regret nothing. After all, I managed to save her. I saved her life. And so, I do

not regret it. The one you should be worried about is her, not me."

Those words were nothing like what a ten-year-old boy would say. To

someone at that age, losing your friends should have been devastating. Yet

he said that he regretted nothing. He completely did not deny Maria's guilt,

and was even considerate of her.

"......Is that the 'secret'?"

"Yeah. That is my most important secret."

His expression seemed lonely, yet Lyle had still puffed out his chest, held his

head high, and cleared away the pessimism which had hardened within

Maria's heart.

It was then, that Maria Highline had fallen in love with Lyle Waldstein.

"But... why did you tell me such an important memory?"

"I promised to, didn't I? If I 'fessed up, then it wouldn't be fair for you to keep

quiet as well, would it? And furthermore... Vilhelm was right, on some of the

things he said."

"?"

"Like, 'If you do not seek compensation for your kindness, then what is it, but

pride?'"

266

Maria smiled bitterly, looking downcast.

"Lyle, fundamentally, does not rely on others. For example, he had come up

with the Ingenious Engine. What others cannot do, he can. What others do

not know, he does. Even when he thinks about helping others, he does not

think about receiving help from them."

"Is that why he calls it 'hypocrisy'...?"

"Yeah. Essentially, Lyle probably does not need anybody."

"......"

Lunaria fell into silence.

Maria's words were biting in her appraisal of the target of her goodwill.

Hence―Lunaria waited for Maria to conXnue.

"That's why―that's precisely why I was so fired up."

As Lunaria predicted, Maria had a defiant smile.

"Because Lyle is that kind of guy, I wanted to affix a reason to his kindness―I

wanted to make him acknowledge me, that was what I thought, don't you

think so?"

"―Yes."

Lunaria nodded.

She thought it was unfair. She felt vexed, that she was the only one who had

her feelings turned upside down.

She wanted to see it with her own eyes―that was the reason she had

decided to remain by his side.

"Yeah. I don't know if this is the right way to put it... but I felt like he was a

'kindred spirit' to me."

"A 'kindred spirit'...?"

267

"We were fighting against the same things, you see."

Saying that, Maria smiled cheerfully.

"......I do not quite understand, as I lack such experiences......"

Lunaria felt a certain pressure on her chest, and continued to speak, to

confirm something.

"Does a 'kindred spirit' mean... a 'friend'?"

"Well, they're roughly the same."

"For me... this is the first time that I've made a friend."

"Hmm? Well then, doesn't that mean you've had a lot of new experiences?"

"?"

"Making your first friend, your first comrade―and your first rival."

Without blinking, Lunaria looked intently at the copper-haired girl.

".....You really are an impressive girl."

"Well, at the very least, you can go ahead and think that."

She, who was always being teased by her maid, brushed her copper-coloured

hair upwards.

"......Thank you."

Lunaria bowed her head. And then, she looked right back into Maria's eyes.

"......I will be needing your guidance, from now and onwards."

"Yeah. The same goes for me―unXl I make Lyle fall in love with me, that is."

The two girls exchanged bold smiles with each other.

268

It was just then.

*Batan*!

"Lyle?"

"Master Lyle?"

The girls stared in wonder, at Lyle who had jumped into the laboratory.

Only earlier was he groaning from his fever, but the Lyle then was out of

breath, an overcoat over his body, and his pale face had not a trace of the

fever.

"......Ah, no need to be alarmed. I'm almost fully recovered...... I think."

For some reason Lyle was rubbing his bottom, as he explained.

"Hmm? Oh, whatever."

"Since you have come all the way here already, please lie down and have a

rest."

"......Somehow, it looks like the atmosphere between the two of you has

changed."

"Is that so?"

"Might it be your imagination?"

Ignoring Lyle's confused look, Maria and Lunaria, as though they had

conspired beforehand, each took one of Lyle's arms, dragging him to the sofa

in the middle of the room.

"......Did something happen, after all?"

"Who knows?"

Answered the two of them in unison as they feigned innocence. Lyle's

expression grew increasingly confused.

269

"Do you really want to know?"

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?"

Lyle nodded, as though it was obvious.

"If my mental health suffers, it'll be difficult to even recover from a common

cold, y'know."

At Lyle's words, the two of them exchanged glances, and said,

"―Too bad for you, it's a 'secret' between us."

"......Please give up on that notion."

Maria's smile was impish, while Lunaria's seemed sarcastic, and they giggled.

Lyle pursed his lips, as if to pout, seeing their responses.

Looking at Lyle, the girls smiled even more.

The maidens' laughter could be heard in the room of the «Disciple of the Last

Hexe», from then and on.

<Disciple of the Last Hexe>

Fin