As for the commission Ray and the others had left the city to undertake—Isagi went specially to the Guild the next day and pried the details out of Fels.
This was top-secret information.
Apparently, they were serving as the god Hermes's "escorts," heading to the Empire to take part in a certain diplomatic negotiation.
As for the specifics, Fels hesitated for a long while, only mentioning that it concerned a so-called "decisive-battle weapon" being developed jointly by the Magic Kingdom and the Empire.
Or so it was said.
It had already undergone trials and successfully resolved a [Visiting Dragon] disaster, slaying a draconic monster long estimated to be around Lv. 6.
This was no small matter.
Isagi and the girls had also left the city before to carry out similar commissions, dealing with draconic monsters of around Lv. 5 or Lv. 6, and the process had been easy—effortless, even. But that was something that could not be replicated.
For half the countries or regions out there, a single Lv. 4 or Lv. 5 draconic monster was more than enough to cause a horrific disaster claiming the lives of tens of thousands.
To say nothing of the more distant cases.
The Loki Familia's Bete—the tribe he had originally lived in, together with several other tribes scattered across the surrounding grasslands, over a thousand of the werewolf race—had once been slaughtered to the last by a single draconic monster judged to be merely Lv. 4.
An entire nation that had once stood in the far north of the continent had been reduced to utter ruins, all because the [Visiting Dragon] would emerge from the Dragon Valley.
Anya, Allen Fromel, Alicia Forestlight...
Among the acquaintances Isagi alone knew, those whose homelands had been destroyed by the [Visiting Dragon] problem were beyond counting—and if one looked across the whole world, there would be far, far more.
Now, with the vast majority of monsters on the continent already suppressed, the [Visiting Dragon] problem—growing ever more severe—was the very thing every nation focused on most. And yet, they had essentially no good way to deal with it.
Take but one example.
Even the "Kingdom of Rakia," ruled by Ares, the god of war—the nation that possessed the smithing city of Solingen—had a Familia whose members were mostly only at the Lv. 1 or Lv. 2 level, with even Lv. 3 being a rare sight.
And even so, it was already an emerging nation extraordinarily powerful in the military sphere by the continent's standards.
For most nations, the moment a [Visiting Dragon] problem above Lv. 5 appeared, they could only turn to the [Academic District] or the city of adventurers for help. But high-level adventurers couldn't be teleported to every corner of the world at any time, in any place.
This was why certain [Visiting Dragons] were bound to cause tremendous harm.
Even if they were destroyed afterward, the ruined cities and the people who had died would still leave behind considerable scars.
"Every nation has been researching a method capable of withstanding a [Visiting Dragon] above Lv. 5. This time, it was the Magic Kingdom that achieved a breakthrough—however..."
Fels spoke very obliquely.
Power came at a price. Raising a single adventurer above Lv. 5 was an extremely difficult thing even for the city to do.
And the price of obtaining the power to defeat a draconic monster above Lv. 5 was...
"That thing should never have come into being. The great god Ouranos hopes that the great god Odin—the deity of the Magic Kingdom—will abandon the research, so he sent the god Hermes to negotiate. Let's hope everything goes smoothly."
Several months had already passed, and so far no word had come back.
Of course.
What Isagi didn't know was that this negotiation had come about because of him as well.
The gods of the city believed—were convinced—that the [Hero] had already appeared, and that before the "appointed time" arrived, that Hero would surely slay the [Black Dragon] and complete the three great commissions.
And so, they hoped the Magic Kingdom would have no need to prepare that utterly outrageous "Plan B."
But this much, Fels did not tell Isagi.
Because she did not know it either.
The gods kept their lips all but sealed about the matter of the promise—for that, too, counted as part of the "promise"...
...
Spring morning, the start of another day.
Isagi, together with Ryuu-senpai and Cecil, returned to the familiar "past."
Orario was as it ever was, its outline showing a faint golden hue beneath the bath of the morning sun. The early risers began to head out their doors, in twos and threes, making their way toward Central Park.
A day of adventuring was about to begin.
And for Astrea's girls, today's "special training" was about to begin as well!
"Here, take a look at this."
After Cecil had enhanced the seniors' weapons, Isagi brought out some of his "Hunter weapons" as well—along with the legion prosthetic arms that he and the girls regularly used, forged from the blueprints of the "Puppet Kingdom" character cards—and he handed over to them a portion of the "Golden Kingdom" magic and prayers too.
Of course.
Bite off more than you can chew and you'll choke on it. So everything Isagi proposed was meant to "reinforce" each senior's own combat style, building upon what they were already skilled at or familiar with.
For instance, Alise-senpai, as a frontline vanguard, was suited to firearms like the hunting rifle, along with a portion of the Golden prayers and Beast prayers that boosted her own attack and defense.
Whereas for a nimble attacker like Kaguya, firearms and magic could only add a supplementary effect; what mattered most was honing her own swordsmanship.
As for Ryuu-senpai, she was left to Ryuu-senpai's own teaching.
After all, having the already-Lv. 6 version of herself teach the Lv. 4 version of herself how to grow stronger was surely a far simpler and easier affair.
And these enhancements were more for the sake of the other senior members.
More magic, and firearms even simpler and handier to use than magic swords, could all greatly boost their combat strength.
But to forge iron, one must first be strong oneself.
All these external things were merely aids. What mattered most was still the day-after-day of special training and practice.
When would it end?
On that, neither Isagi nor the seniors had any idea—but at the very most, it would likely be "this year."
A year from now—no, within the year—the event of the girls' "deaths" would come to pass.
So all they could do was make the most of the time.
Perhaps, after some crossing back, Isagi and Ryuu would find that the girls had already completed their special training, successfully defeated the [Juggernaut], and overturned their own fates.
Or perhaps—
This was not a question of believing or not. It was a choice that belonged to Alise, and to the past Ryuu-senpai and the others themselves.
As the saying went: fate can only be held in one's own hands.
Two days was not all that long.
For Isagi, Ryuu, and Cecil, the time to go back would soon be upon them once again.
And after that.
They would probably have to wait until the next adventure—more than half a month later—before they could return again.
Or perhaps there would be no need to return at all.
All it would take was a single blink: once they were back in the future, they would find the Garden of Stars grown livelier than ever before.
"When that time comes, we'll be the ones keeping the peace and patrolling within the city!"
That was what Alise and the others said.
"You just go off and adventure in the Dungeon with the juniors, Ryuu."
"?"
"Because we've already fallen behind, you see. We can't very well drag you all down, now can we? And besides—"
"—we've no interest in adventuring."
The justice pursued by the girls gathered around the Goddess of Justice came in a thousand strange and varied forms, but when it came down to it, what they all wanted was to see everyone able to live happy lives.
"In that case, there's no need to go exploring the Dungeon, is there? Everyone has their own things they need to do—right?"
"Mm."
"The [Hero] must exist—but so must the one who keeps watch at the city gates, the one who still walks the streets on patrol deep in the night, the one who goes to catch the thieves, the one who steps in to mediate when an old granny and a middle-aged man are quarreling... all of them must exist too. Otherwise, the world just wouldn't make any sense, would it?"
Everyone had their own things they ought to do.
And watching Alise's eyes turn toward her, Ryuu only smiled faintly—for she knew what her friend wanted to ask.
[What kind of person do you want to become].
And.
[What is justice].
These were, in truth, one and the same question—and now, she had long since known the answer.
Herself.
She would become the [Hero]'s companion—or, to put it more precisely, the one who walked at Isagi's side, helping him overcome hardships and save the world.
____
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