……And so, between the two who remained.
Silence lingered for a time. But neither of them had much time left.
And so, Chrono was the first to speak.
"…It didn't work out, did it?"
"No. A lot happened, but the result was a total defeat."
"Destroying a country really is as hard as they say. I mean, obviously — when half the country turns against you, there's nothing you can do. Even a country like Yustia, it turns out, was no exception."
"I don't like the way you're putting that. I didn't lose to some vague thing like a 'country.'
—I lost to them. To Ermes and the others. They were stronger than us. That's the only reason we lost."
At those words from Laplace — words carrying a straightforwardness that would have been hard to imagine from the man he used to be — Chrono couldn't help but let a smile escape.
Just like himself, Laplace had been influenced by that boy. That thought made him inexplicably happy.
And so, there was only one thing left to ask.
"Laplace."
"What is it?"
"…Was it fun?"
Those words encompassed everything the two of them had been through together.
From the day they met in a back alley, to sketching out a grand dream and coming within a single step of achieving it, to the end where it all went unfulfilled — everything that comprised the journey the two of them had walked until now.
Laplace, who understood the weight behind that question, smiled in his usual way.
"…Well, it wasn't exactly bad, was it?"
Because he knew those words were the highest praise he could give.
Chrono also smiled contentedly and nodded.
Well then. There was nothing left to talk about, but a little time still remained.
...So in the end, perhaps they should do what they always did — share one more pointless conversation, just like the old times.
"Come to think of it, Laplace — did you know?"
"Know what?"
"What becomes of us after this. Where we go once we're dead."
"...Ah."
After a brief silence, Laplace spoke.
"I've always been the type who never believed in any afterlife or anything like that."
"Mm."
"But lately, seeing the kind of magic that guy Troakia pulls off, I'm starting to think it wouldn't be all that strange if it did exist. Do you happen to have any knowledge about that sort of thing? Not just in this country — the foreign lands you apparently visited, were there different stories there?"
"Yeah. What's interesting is, there's a teaching from a country in the East..."
As expected, that answer came back, and Chrono began to share his own thoughts.
"Apparently, where you go after death depends on how you lived. Those who did good deeds are saved — they're taken to a wonderful world of salvation. And people like us, who did terrible things..."
He spoke cheerfully, with a laugh on his lips.
"...they say we fall to the depths of the earth, where we're subjected to all manner of horrifying torments for all eternity."
"Huh. Like what?"
"Getting impaled on a mountain of needles."
"That's way too elaborate. The maintenance alone would be a nightmare, think about it."
"Being submerged in a pool of boiling blood."
"Why blood of all things? At least use water — or better yet, oil. It's a pain to source, it rots, and it's hard to replenish. What's the point of making it blood?"
"Being forced to sit on a rocky mountain for all eternity."
"Suddenly scaled that one down, huh. Did the guy who came up with these run out of ideas?"
That's exactly right, Chrono says with another laugh, and continues.
"On top of that, it apparently functions as a whole country. Huge men with ominous-looking horns serve as officials administering punishments to the prisoners, and there's a great king who commands those officials and hands down sentences."
"Huh? So that's decided, then — what we'll do after we die."
Hearing this, Laplace's lips curl into a grin, and he declares:
"——
Let's tear that place apart.
It's revenge for everything we couldn't do while we were alive."
"I knew you'd say something like that. But what's the actual plan?"
"First — those officials running the punishments means they've got weapons, right? We take those, or scavenge some from the needle-mountain punishment site. Once we're armed, we stir up the dissatisfied prisoners. Then, through brute force or by exploiting their internal divisions, we flip some officials to our side — and victory's in the bag. A nation of villains crumbles in no time."
"And after that?"
"If those guys are in charge of reincarnation too, we threaten the so-called great king into sending us back with our memories intact. Then we go around tearing apart everything that needs tearing apart all over again."
"Ha — you really are a terrible person, you know that?"
"What are you talking about? It's too late for that."
And so they kept talking. About utterly meaningless things, with absolute joy. As though they'd reverted to the two little troublemakers they'd been when they first met as children.
As though they could be innocent like that once more.
They talked, and talked, and talked until there was nothing left to say...
"...Ah, guess it's about time."
"Yes, I feel the same way."
Before long, their vision began to blur.
Before their sight faded completely, Chrono thrust his fist out to the side.
Shortly after, he felt a matching fist meet his own—the signal they had used since childhood, never changing, whenever they were about to begin one of their mischievous schemes, one of their grand operations.
"Well then, shall we go?"
"Yeah. If it's us... from now on too, no matter what..."
And so, quietly, the two of them closed their eyes at the same time.
Chrono and Laplace.
Twin peaks of the greatest criminal organization in the kingdom's history—born from the Kingdom of Yustia as monsters of negativity, wielding magic and talent beyond all measure to unleash untold destruction.
And yet, they were undeniably necessary for the kingdom's rebirth.
They followed their own hearts and desires to the very end, never yielding to anyone.
Their lives, their way of living—carried through to the very last moment──
──And here, the old laws of the kingdom were broken.
The greatest turmoil in history, from which a new star was born, came to its end.
Laplace and Chrono.
Their story was born from the declaration that "in the third chapter, we need proper, dignified enemy characters." This is its conclusion—and the finale of the kingdom's upheaval they set in motion.
Next time: the story after the turmoil. I hope you'll read it!
My new work,
"The Average Guy Always Called Second Best Somehow Passes the Audition for a Genius High-Schooler VTuber Unit, Beating Out His Childhood Friend"
is also currently serializing!
Right now, it's surging up the rankings at an all-time high...!
I want to climb even higher, so please do check it out!!
There's a link at the bottom of the screen that will take you there, so along with Creation Magic...
if you could also read this one and give me a follow and a rating, I'd be very happy...!