A tavern.
Four men and women sat around a table.
Amid the tavern's noise, that corner alone was shrouded in gloom.
All four wore dark expressions.
"……
The woman of the long-eared race with luxurious golden hair.
"Yeah, he's dead."
The man of the demon race with the monkey-like face.
Geese gazed into his cup as he agreed with those words.
"Shielding his son, was he. Died happy, I'd wager."
The man of the sturdier coal-miner build, bushy beard and all.
Talhand answered as though it were nothing.
But his voice lacked its usual vigor.
He should have been dousing himself in his beloved booze as usual, yet he didn't seem the slightest bit drunk.
"And
At Geese's words, Talhand silently tipped back his cup.
Zenith had become incapacitated, and they had all been shaken by it to some degree.
They had known the bright and cheerful Zenith — which only made the shock worse.
Still, they were adventurers.
Death was ever close.
Even if Zenith had died, they would have had the fortitude to accept it.
"She's alive, though. There might be a chance she could be cured."
Talhand said something he didn't believe at all.
He'd heard stories from time to time about people incapacitated by monster toxins.
But he had never once heard of someone recovering.
If you severed the head, crushed the skull—
even divine-grade healing magic was said to be unable to fix it.
"Even if she can walk again, even if she can speak again, her memories won't return."
It was Elinalise who spat those words out.
"Oh my, Elinalise. You certainly seem to know a lot about this."
"……It's just how these things are."
Elinalise didn't elaborate further.
She had lived longer than Talhand or Geese.
She'd mentioned witnessing similar cases before.
So she must know something.
But if that something wasn't 'hope,' Talhand saw no reason to press her.
"……Now then, the problem is what to do about that son of hers."
Talhand spoke.
"Yeah……"
A sigh-like sound rose in response.
Paul's son had not left his room at the inn for nearly a week.
"That's way beyond just 'not doing great.'"
"He's like a shell of a person."
Elinalise and Geese spoke over each other.
Rudeus had become an empty husk.
Even when someone spoke to him, he wouldn't respond.
He'd just stare with vacant eyes and give a hollow "Yeah."
"Rudy was very attached to Paul-san."
The young woman of the demon race with light blue hair.
What surfaced in her mind was an image of young Rudeus learning swordsmanship from Paul long ago.
Rudeus, beaten black and blue by Paul, yet still continuing to swing his sword with a stubborn look on his face.
A boy who was a bundle of talent.
To Roxy's eyes, he had looked like he was having fun learning the sword from his father.
For someone who could never have that kind of time with her own family, it was an enviable sight — blindingly so.
"Well, I get how the Boss feels. But if he keeps this up, it's gonna get ugly, y'know?"
"Indeed."
Rudeus hadn't eaten a single meal since that day.
Even when urged to eat, he'd just nod and say "Yeah" with no intention of putting food in his mouth.
He seemed to be drinking at least some water, but it was obvious he was wasting away day by day.
His eyes had sunk into their sockets, his cheeks were hollowing out, and a deathly pallor seemed to hover over his entire face.
If this kept up, wouldn't he simply die?
Every person in this tavern was thinking the same thing.
"……We really ought to do something to cheer him up."
At Roxy's words, Geese's gaze turned to Elinalise.
"You. Whenever something like this came up, you always used to say you could do that thing, right?"
"I can't do that."
Elinalise answered immediately.
Roxy didn't understand the meaning.
"Can't do what?"
"……"
Geese and Talhand exchanged a glance. They said nothing.
Roxy furrowed her brow, confused.
"Elinalise-san, do you have some plan?"
"……No, I don't."
Elinalise replied with a composed expression.
"Well, whatever."
Geese scratched his cheek.
Talhand was drinking with a bored look on his face.
"When it comes to times like these, y'know, going out and having a blast is the best cure."
"Having fun?"
"Men are simple creatures, after all. Drink some booze, get with a woman, feel good — once you get a real taste of what it's like to be alive, your spirits lift a little."
"Oh……! Oh, I see."
Roxy finally understood what he was getting at.
She understood what they wanted Elinalise to do.
"Y-yes, of course. Men are just like that! I see……I see……"
Roxy's face flushed red as she looked down.
When men were feeling down, they lay with women.
She felt like she'd heard that somewhere before.
Among mercenaries especially, it was said they'd buy women before and after a battle to ease the fear.
Adventurers were no different — after a quest that nearly killed you, quite a few of them would head straight for the brothel.
But when she pictured Rudeus and Elinalise together, something murky stirred in Roxy's chest.
"Elinalise. You've always said since ages ago that you were good at consoling heartbroken men."
"I did say that."
Roxy thought about it.
Elinalise certainly was skilled at that sort of thing.
She regularly slept with a broad range of men, and her technique was said to be extraordinary.
With all that experience, she could surely help the current Rudy get back on his feet.
It left a bad taste, but there was nothing to be done.
"That's unlike you. The usual you wouldn't just leave someone like the Boss hanging like this."
The current Rudeus was hard to look at.
Elinalise did feel a desire to help him, to comfort him.
But she understood as well.
If she slept with Rudeus here using his grief as the reason, what would happen afterward?
He would be betraying
He wouldn't be the kind of man who could carry on with a straight face.
"Even I have people I can't do it with."
"Why can't you do it with Rudy?"
Roxy pursed her lips tightly and glared at Elinalise.
"Rudy is suffering so much right now."
"Well, that's—"
Elinalise started to speak, then remembered.
That Roxy didn't know.
"Because Rudeus's wife is my granddaughter."
"……What!?"
Roxy knocked over her cup.
It tumbled off the table with a clatter.
Spilling its contents as it rolled, it hit the ground with a dry clink.
"W-wait, Rudy is married?"
"Yes. He is. The baby's due soon, actually."
"O-oh, of course……w-well, I suppose that's only natural. Rudy is of age after all……"
Roxy couldn't hide her inner turmoil as she picked up the fallen cup.
She went to drink from it, noticed it was empty, and ordered a new one.
"Oh. Could I get the strongest thing you have, please?"
Roxy folded her arms, her eyes spinning.
Married.
Rudeus would probably get married, yeah.
That was normal.
Yeah.
She told herself that.
Then she remembered her own actions inside the labyrinth and clenched her back teeth.
She'd gone on the attack thinking Rudy was single.
The impression she'd made was better than anything in her past experience, but maybe that was only because he knew her and didn't want to be rude.
From the outside, she must have looked absurd — a clown for anyone to laugh at.
She wanted to scream, "Why didn't anyone tell me!?"
But she shoved that complaint back down her throat.
Right now, she couldn't care less about herself.
"B-but, even if he is married, this is an emergency situation. Wouldn't it be all right just this once?"
Roxy didn't fully understand what she was saying.
All she knew was that she had to do something to get Rudeus back on his feet.
"……Maybe, but I'm the one who can't do it."
Elinalise said with a hint of frustration.
Even seeing that frustrated expression, Roxy couldn't understand the feeling behind it.
"……Please excuse me."
"Oh, thank you."
The drinks she'd ordered arrived.
Roxy took a long draught and downed the entire cup in one gulp.
The burning liquid seeped into her parched throat.
The reason it tasted so impossibly good was probably because her body was craving the alcohol.
"And besides, Rudeus and I are also……"
Elinalise trailed off.
"Well, even if I can't do it, couldn't Geese or someone take him to a brothel?"
"How should I know. I don't think sleeping with someone he doesn't know at all is gonna snap him out of it."
"Well, what that boy needs right now is probably someone he can lean on."
"Then how about Lillia?"
"That's exactly why……"
"Ah, fine, fine. Don't get so huffy."
Elinalise's feelings were complicated.
She didn't want to get in the way of Sylphie's marriage.
But she wanted to save Rudeus.
If she slept with him, she could probably put him back together.
She was confident about that.
But it felt like a catastrophic mistake — one she couldn't take back.
Under normal circumstances, she'd just think of herself as the one taking the dirty role.
That had been the case many times before.
But once the thought of not wanting to betray Cliff entered the picture, it was over.
"……"
A silence fell over the group.
Only the quiet sound of sipping drinks continued.
No one approached the oddly mismatched quartet.
That corner of the tavern was as quiet as a wake.
"Either way, Zenith's ended up like that too.
We want the Boss to snap out of it quick and get the hell out of this town."
At Geese's words, the remaining three let out sighs.
"That's right……"
They were exhausted too.
After all, it had been six years.
Six years since the Teleportation Incident.
That was no short time.
From the Central Continent to the Demon Continent, from the Demon Continent to the Begaritt Continent.
And finally — the Teleportation Labyrinth.
There had been tough times. Painful times.
But they had been meant to laugh about all of it afterward.
The Teleportation Incident had certainly been a tragic event.
But for them, it had been more than just a tragedy.
A party that should have been scattered had slowly come back together.
Elinalise and Talhand had reformed their party.
Geese had started moving on Paul's behalf.
Paul and Talhand had reconciled.
And in the end, Paul and Elinalise had stood side by side in battle once more.
They'd thought it would never happen again, yet they had gathered once more around Paul.
Once they saved Zenith, they'd track down Ghislaine somewhere and all have a drink together.
That was what everyone had been thinking.
But Paul was dead.
That alone had drained them of all strength.
As though everything had been ruined.
After all those years of building something up.
It felt like being crushed at the very last moment — that kind of devastating emptiness.
Rudeus wasn't the only one who had fallen into apathy.
"What of it? Rudeus is Paul and Zenith's son. He's down now, but he'll pull himself together eventually."
"……I hope so."
"……"
At Talhand's words, the other two gave vague nods.
They knew of Rudeus's weakness.
But he was already sixteen — no longer a child.
Painful as things were, his core should have been that of a full-grown adult.
Death came to everyone, and for adventurers, it was ever close.
Parents would die someday.
Everyone got through it.
So Rudeus would too, eventually.
"……"
Only Roxy alone did not nod.
She was remembering.
Something from the past.
--- Rudeus's Point of View ---
I looked out the window. It was evening.
I sat on the bed, staring into nothing.
How many days had it been since then?
Did it even matter.
No matter how many days passed.
Knock, knock.
The door had been knocked on.
"Rudy, may I come in?"
I looked up to see Roxy standing in the doorway.
Oh — had I left the door open?
"……Sensei."
It felt like the first time I'd spoken in ages.
My voice was hoarse — I wasn't sure Roxy even heard me.
Roxy walked briskly up to me.
Something felt off.
Why was that?
Oh, right — she wasn't wearing a robe today.
She had on a thin, two-piece outfit.
That was unusual.
"Forgive me."
Roxy said stiffly, then sat down beside me.
For a moment, silence — a few seconds of nothing.
Choosing her words carefully, Roxy spoke.
"How about we go out for a change of scenery? Just the two of us?"
"……?"
"This town has more mana-infused items than you'd find on any other continent. Just browsing the shops could be quite interesting, don't you think?"
"No……"
That wasn't what I felt like.
"O-oh, is that so?"
"I'm sorry."
I understood Roxy's invitation.
She was trying to cheer me up.
Normally, I would have followed her like a puppy.
But I couldn't muster that kind of energy now.
"……"
"…………"
Another stretch of silence.
Choosing her words again, Roxy spoke softly.
"……Paul-san and Zenith-san's deaths were tragic."
Tragic.
Could one word really cover it?
Well, for Roxy, it was someone else's grief after all.
"I remember those days in
It might have been the happiest time of my life."
"……"
Roxy said that quietly, then took my hand.
Her hand was warm.
"People die around adventurers all the time. I understand how painful it is. I've been through it myself."
"……Please don't lie to me."
I had met Roxy's parents.
They were alive and well.
She had never mentioned having any other siblings.
"Sensei, both your parents are fine."
"That's right. The last time I saw them was a few years ago, but they seemed healthy. They'll probably live another hundred years."
"Then you don't know!"
I felt something well up inside me and wrenched my hand free.
"Don't just say you understand like it's nothing!"
I shouted.
The moment I screamed, I felt the last bit of strength deep inside me drain away.
Roxy looked taken aback, but quickly composed herself and began to speak, one sentence at a time.
"The person I lost was someone who joined my party right after I started adventuring. He taught me the basics. He wasn't exactly family, but he was like an older brother to me."
"……"
"He died shielding me."
"……"
"I was devastated too."
"……"
"Of course, I know it wasn't as devastating as losing both your real parents at the same time, Rudy. But I was deeply depressed."
"……"
"So I think I understand at least a fragment of how you feel right now."
Then you don't understand at all.
I was trapped between my past life and my present circumstances — reborn into this world yet haunted by who I'd been. No one could grasp that.
Honestly, I didn't see myself recovering.
Even if I knew how Roxy had gotten through her own grief, I didn't think I could follow in her footsteps.
"Life in Buena Village was truly happy.
I'd left the
I ended up in the middle of nowhere and took the tutoring job as a stepping stone, but Rudy was overflowing with talent, and Paul-san and Zenith-san treated me with such warmth.
Perhaps they were the ones who taught me what a family's warmth really felt like."
Roxy looked me in the eyes as she said this.
Her gaze was clear.
"They were my second family."
Roxy stood up on the bed.
She moved behind me, dropped to her knees, and wrapped her arms around my head, holding me in an embrace.
"Rudy. I want you to know that I can share your grief."
I felt something soft against the back of my head.
I could hear Roxy's heartbeat — thump, thump.
A reassuring sound.
Why did this sound make me feel safe?
Why did it make me feel like everything might be all right?
Her scent, too.
Roxy's scent was comforting.
When things were hard, remembering Roxy's smell had always been a strange source of support.
Why was that?
The answer was right on the tip of my tongue.
But it wouldn't come.
"I am your teacher. A small and inadequate teacher, perhaps, but I've lived longer than you, so I'm sturdier. It's all right to lean on me."
I grabbed Roxy's hands, which had come around in front of me.
Small hands.
But they felt so big.
Just looking at them put me at ease.
If I got closer, would I feel even more at ease?
"If you share the pain with someone else, it will surely grow lighter."
Roxy said that and pulled away.
Instinctively, I pulled her back.
"Wh-whoa—"
Her small body tumbled easily into my lap.
We were face to face at close range.
Her slightly drowsy eyes were glistening with tears.
Her face was bright red, her lips pressed tight together.
I placed a hand on her back and drew her in.
Roxy's heartbeat was racing.
Warm.
"I-it's okay."
What was okay?
"I-I heard that when men are in pain, being with a woman helps them feel better."
Who told her that?
Oh — Elinalise. Of course.
What the hell was that woman saying to Roxy at a time like this?
"And for women, when things are painful, they want to forget too. I'm hurting from Paul-san's death as well. If Rudy is willing, I'd be more than happy to—"
Roxy rattled off in a rapid-fire rush.
"Yes. I'm the one who wants to forget, actually. But I'm not exactly the most exciting body, so……if Rudy would prefer, you could always go to a brothel, you know?"
She was rambling, making excuses as she spoke.
The sight of her was so very much the woman I revered.
What would it be like if I just held her, doing as she said?
"I-I may look like this, but I'm quite experienced, so I'm sure I can do much better than some random girl. Just once, to wash away the bad feelings, no strings attached, just to see how it goes……"
Roxy's incoherent words didn't really reach me.
I was already in the mood.
Just hearing her heartbeat had put me this much at ease.
If we were closer still, wouldn't I feel even better?
I told myself that — an excuse, even to myself.
"Oh, no, if you'd rather be with someone more experienced, I could go ask Elinalise-san to— ah—"
I pushed Roxy down onto the bed.
Violently.
It was, perhaps, taking out my anger on her.
---
The next morning.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was Roxy's sleeping face.
Her innocent features, hair loose and spread across the pillow.
At the same time, the thought: I did it.
"Haah……"
A sigh escaped me.
What was I going to tell Sylphie……?
"……"
Yet another thing to worry about.
And yet, somehow, my vision felt clearer.
It was as if all that brooding had been a lie.
A haze still lingered, faintly.
But this wasn't the bottom anymore.
Compared to yesterday, it was night and day.
What was it, I wondered.
Could the act of creating life heal the grief of losing it?
"Mm."
Right then, Roxy's eyes fluttered open.
She looked at my face right in front of hers, then wiggled under the blanket to cover herself.
"Good morning, Rudy……"
Then, averting her gaze, she murmured.
"Um, how was it?"
How was it. She asked, and I couldn't lie.
I had treated Roxy terribly — been rough and violent with her.
Her claim of being experienced had been a complete lie.
Yet despite all of it, she had accepted everything, even while hurting, without a word of refusal.
I was grateful, and mortified.
As someone who loved Sylphie, praising Roxy felt almost like a sin.
Honestly, Roxy's body was small and didn't quite match up with mine in size.
But to say it hadn't felt good would be a lie.
The fact that I was relaxed right now proved that much.
I wouldn't lie just to spare Roxy's feelings.
"It felt amazing."
Roxy's face turned crimson in an instant.
"Thank you……no, that's not what I — I was asking if your feelings of grief had lifted a little."
Oh. That question.
My mistake.
"Yes."
"Then I'd be happy if you hugged me as thanks."
"……Okay."
I did as she asked and held Roxy.
Her skin was soft and smooth.
Because of the sweat, naturally.
From her supple skin, I could feel Roxy's heartbeat — thump, thump.
A reassuring sound.
"Rudy's arms are strong. You don't seem like a mage at all."
"…………I train."
Roxy said that while running her hands lightly over my chest and arms.
It was an endearingly cute gesture, and my love for Sylphie nearly wavered.
I gently pulled Roxy away from me.
Then I sat up.
I wanted to ask her something.
"Roxy Sensei. Can I ask you something strange?"
"……What is it?"
She must have sensed my shift in mood.
Roxy straightened up too, sitting formally on the bed.
Fully naked, sitting seiza-style on the bed.
Way too erotic — I averted my eyes.
I pulled the blanket over my lower half and continued.
"This is a hypothetical story, okay?"
With that preamble.
I told her.
The story of a man.
Purely fiction.
A man who, in his youth, had been hurt and retreated from the world.
He spent nearly twenty years as a freeloader living off his parents.
But one day, both his parents dropped dead.
The man didn't even attend their funeral. Worse, he did things no human being should ever do.
His other family members witnessed his behavior, beat him senseless, and threw him out.
Having lost everything, the man nonetheless arrived at a new land by sheer luck and resolved to turn over a new leaf.
Life went smoothly. He thought happiness was within reach.
But recently, he had made a terrible mistake — and someone precious had died.
And so the man was reminded of his parents' deaths.
Now, belatedly, he was wracked with regret.
I told her this story.
The more I spoke, the more it felt like I was purging something festering inside me.
Maybe I had wanted someone to listen.
Was it really that simple?
"……"
Roxy listened quietly.
She didn't interrupt. She simply listened.
"What do you think that man should do?"
"………"
Roxy was silent for a while.
Being suddenly told all of that, she probably didn't know what to say.
Surely she didn't believe this was a literal account of my life.
She was a smart woman — she might have thought there was some hidden meaning.
"……If it were me, I would visit my parents' grave. Even now, it's not too late. And I would talk to my other family."
"But the grave and my family are far away — places I might not be able to return to. The man has a life in the new land too. He's built a family there, and he wants to protect that as well."
"You can't go back?"
"No. And there's a high chance he can't even get there in the first place."
Roxy fell quiet again for a moment.
But this time the silence was brief.
"Then there's nothing to be done. The only thing he can do is treasure the family right in front of him."
Roxy's words were painfully ordinary.
Words anyone could say. Words anyone would think.
Nothing special. Just common sense.
"Paul-san would want that of you too, Rudy."
Roxy stated the obvious as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Clichés.
Mundane words.
Words that sounded like something I'd heard somewhere before.
"Look forward. Everyone is waiting for you."
But my heart felt light.
Yes.
It was ordinary.
My previous life's parents' death, and Paul's death.
These were things that simply happened.
All you could do was accept them and face them.
I was living in this world.
I was going to keep living in this world.
Paul's death, and Zenith reduced to an invalid.
The unease of having to convey all this to the family waiting in the northern lands.
The unease of not knowing what to do from here on out.
Unease everywhere, with no end in sight.
But I couldn't run away.
In the end, all I could do was deal with what was right in front of me.
I didn't know what that meant in concrete terms.
But I had to solve it, one thing at a time.
Hadn't I decided that when I first came to this world?
I was going to live seriously in this world.
Then I couldn't keep looking away.
No matter what difficulties lay ahead, I would push through them.
I had to.
Yes. I could recognize that now.
Recognizing it wouldn't make the pain go away.
But I felt as though I had broken free from something.
"Sensei."
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
Once again, Roxy had saved me.
No amount of gratitude could ever be enough.