[515] A New Journey (1)
Miro's group returned to the unified rebel headquarters.
It was possible only because none of the rebels knew about the existence of the Divine Punishment.
The location Zulu had set via the metagate as the drop point for the Divine Punishment was the deepest part of Jebul's underground Siok—three hundred meters below the lowest level.
Even though the blast had been confined inside a natural bunker, the seismic waves swept through all of Heaven; if it had struck the surface directly, no one wanted to imagine how catastrophic the aftermath would have been.
"Mr. Krude..."
Plu accepted the rebels' congratulatory shouts awkwardly and the man's face came to mind.
If Krude had listened to Plu and told his men everything, Shirone's group never would have been sent back to headquarters for treatment.
"To the night of the victors! To the future of humanity!"
Drunk rebels roared hoarsely beneath the moonlight.
Thinking of their fallen comrades, they needed something like that to bear the pain.
Those who disliked the raucousness gathered in quiet corners to talk.
What puzzled them most was the massive quake at the end and the collapse of Arabot's spire.
A few swore they'd seen a light fall from the sky, but no one thought it was magic.
Hundreds of torches burned in the courtyard of the headquarters, now free from the threat of further raids, and the drinking continued through the night.
Meanwhile, Shirone's group concentrated on receiving treatment.
It was fortunate that Saint Moriak remained behind with Cage B team.
"Aaaagh!"
Arius's screams filled the infirmary.
He had second-degree burns across his body and cracked ribs, but Moriak's hands, weaving recovery magic, moved with a brutal, clinical efficiency.
"Sorry. Hold on just a little longer."
Rapid skin regeneration and bones knitting back together inevitably brought pain.
Yet Moriak's mouth twitched into something like glee as she looked at Arius.
"J-just a little more... heh heh heh! Ah, sorry, heh heh heh heh!"
As her face warped into a grotesque smile, Plu, waiting his turn, went pale.
Tarban had said her temperament had changed like that since her divorce.
In any case, her skill was outstanding and the emergency treatments proceeded quickly.
Even Moriak, who had been laughing foolishly, grew serious as the patients' conditions worsened.
Sein's jaw was shattered, Plu had full-body contusions and fractures, and the martial artist Etella and Kangnan had both hands smashed.
But the worst injured was Kuan.
The inspector had lost an arm.
"Isn't there any way?"
Shiina looked at the arm laid on a folding bed and asked.
Moriak, however, was inspecting Kuan's stump.
When physical loss occurs on that scale, magic cannot restore it.
"They cut it clean. The nerves don't look too mangled. If you can find a competent sorcery surgeon fast——"
"No need."
Shiina turned, but Kuan deliberately ignored her gaze and kept his tone cold.
"It's the arm I blew off myself. Even if you reattach it now, it would be meaningless."
He would be lying if he said he wasn't conflicted.
To Shiina, a man who limped and a one-armed man were worlds apart.
Yet in the end he decided to abandon the arm.
What had let him protect Shiina from Mumyeong was the realization of being one-armed. Even if he won her heart, what use was it if he couldn't protect her?
"The war isn't over yet."
I must become stronger.
No one could read Kuan's thoughts, but Armin smiled quietly as if he understood something.
"Emergency treatment's done. Not everyone's fully healed, but..."
Moriak looked at the two people lying side by side on the beds.
There were those whose wounds were etched into the mind rather than the body and could not be healed.
Those were Shirone and Gaold.
They were still trapped in their own hells even now, paying the price of their resolve.
Miro closed the matter.
"We can't do anything about that. Anyway, they're not dead, so give it time. For now, they should rest."
Everyone knew they wouldn't be able to sleep, but without complaint they headed to their rooms.
The shouts from the drinking that lasted past midnight were like a surprise attack; mostly, people whispered in mournful voices beneath the night's quiet.
With the tension off, exhaustion followed—inevitable.
But Miro, leash in hand, was dragging Arius by the collar and checking each member's room.
After all, these were the ones who'd come to save her—wasn't she owed at least a little responsibility?
She hesitated at Gaold's door.
"..."
She exhaled deeply and shook her wrist.
Knock knock.
Before she could wait for an answer, the door opened and she found Gaold naked and unconscious, propped up on the bed while Kangnan drew warm water and wiped him down with a towel.
Miro noticed the bandages around Kangnan's fists.
Her metacarpals were almost crushed; Moriak's recovery magic hadn't repaired them perfectly, yet she showed no hint of pain and focused on wringing the towel out.
Probably because Miro was there.
"How devoted. Even if he wakes up he won't notice any of it."
Kangnan's eyes hardened.
"The chairman will come back. He will—no matter what."
Miro shrugged off the threat with a faint smile.
"Right. He's not the sort to just keel over. But will that be okay? When he comes to his senses he'll come running for me again."
"You——!"
When Kangnan's anger peaked, Miro changed her expression and raised her hands.
"Sorry. I'm joking. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Arius, crouched in the corner like a dog, smacked his lips.
Aside from Miro, only Arius knew she'd meant what she said.
Miro's mind, accessed through Drimo, was the pinnacle of detachment—utterly free of trauma. Yet even she had a tiny, speck-like tremor.
It was etched on the twentieth pillar of the shrine built in her mind.
'Michea Gaold.'
A tiny name that, if not for the grave-robber Arius, no one would have noticed.
It had been the net that pulled Miro from her trance.
Human minds are stained by countless wounds, so that little speck was almost dust—but because of that it was remarkable.
'Adrias Miro, the pinnacle of equanimity, once…'
Once, her heart had wavered for Gaold.
—Then… save him or something…
Miro smiled bitterly, remembering that night when those words had slipped out of her.
Her single regret in life.
'And yet you… you actually pulled it off.'
He had fulfilled Miro's wish, spending twenty years to do it.
It wasn't something strength alone could accomplish; it was something only Gaold could do.
Miro looked at Gaold with pity; his face was gaunt and a stubble of beard lay across it.
'You big softie. With a heart that tender, how do you plan to live in this harsh world?'
Satisfied, she walked to the bed and stroked his hair.
"It's probably going to be a rough road, but..."
She bent down slowly and kissed his forehead.
"Have a good journey."
After holding Gaold for a long moment, she straightened and spoke.
"When you're all washed, get ready to leave. I'll be back at dawn."
From Inglis, where she and Sein had gone to discern Ra's will, they had already extracted coordinates.
"What about Shirone?"
Kangnan asked; Miro paused and turned her head.
"I'll take him with me. He's too valuable to leave."
Not only had he cast the Divine Punishment, he'd annihilated one of the archangels, Phiel.
A nineteen-year-old who hadn't even graduated from the Magic Academy—couldn't he carry the future of humanity?
'But that might not be easy...'
Leaving Gaold's room, Miro entered Shirone's.
Shirone lay in a deep sleep, and Plu sat on the opposite bed reading.
"Oh, what is it?"
"Just doing a patrol. How is he?"
Plu closed his book and looked at Shirone.
"He still shows no sign of waking. Armand hasn't released either."
Valhalla Action was an ability installed in Armand.
Moreover, it had been integrated with the avatar under the doctrine that all is mind, so it wouldn't release until Shirone had paid his debt in full.
Having arrived at headquarters and heard the broad circumstances from Plu, Miro could estimate that much.
"Valhalla Action? For hundreds of years?"
"I don't know exactly. But the archangel Ikael said that might be a clue."
"What do you mean?"
Plu summarized what Ikael had said.
A human cannot normally live for hundreds of years. But if the result appears that way, Ikael said, then some cause must have established it.
"I see. A reversal of causality..."
"Did something come to mind?"
Miro, propping her chin on her hand, tossed the thought aside.
"No. For now, let's focus on getting back. We're not exactly in a comfortable position either."
"That's true. When do we leave, then?"
"Now."
"What?"
"Emergency care's done, so Cage B team should go first. It's good we brought multiple coordinates just in case."
"I see."
Once Cage B team returned safely, everything could change at any time.
Though they were the strongest party and had Miro with them—making it unlikely anyone would attack—finding the return points would at least narrow the encirclement. Moving separately was the wiser choice.
"Get ready."
Finishing her rounds, Miro left headquarters and found Cage B team waiting at the main gate, prepared to depart.
The war in Heaven was over, but the human world would only get busier.
Tarban approached.
"You're here. Let's go."
Miro pulled a Gaffin disc from her bosom and slipped it into the metagate; a red glow flashed briefly from the slit in the iron plate.
"All set. Take it."
Tarban snatched the metagate Miro tossed and asked, "Where's it set to?"
"How should I know? The middle of a desert or inside a giant whale's belly—whatever. I set it roughly; you'll manage."
Tarban didn't complain.
Honestly, being able to return at all was a blessing.
"What are you going to do from now on?"
Miro, heading back toward headquarters, turned.
"What do you mean?"
"You're a citizen of Tormia too, right? Why not return and cooperate with the kingdom?"
"Tormia's citizen, huh."
Of course Miro's homeland was Tormia. And that homeland had shoved her into a dimensional prison that might never end.
"I know you're bitter. But you and Gaold's team were directly involved in the Heaven incident. You'll be under every country's scrutiny. Rather than that..."
"Heh heh, I'll politely decline."
Miro smiled beautifully and turned away.
"I'm everyone's lover."
Tarban didn't press a second time.
If the history's greatest scale mage refused, who could argue?
'Gaold, you've awakened a monster.'
Miro returned to the human world.
Nations' politics would soon shift drastically.
'But that's none of my concern.'
Once Cage B team left, the events in Heaven would be reported to Tormia, and nations could use that information to exert influence.
"We're leaving."
Tarban activated the metagate and tossed it to the ground; a black sphere opened, warping space like a born portal.
"Surely it's not really set to the inside of a giant whale?"
As Cage B team departed Heaven and the metagate's black sphere closed, Miro's steps came to a halt.
"Phew, then."
She produced another disc from her bosom.
"Shall we try going home, too?"