Depths of the Otherworldly Labyrinth (WN) – Chapter 227

This is the last of three consecutive posts. Please be aware.

“Uaaaaah, aaah AAAAH, aAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH AAAA’AAA’AA’A’AAAAA’AAAAAAA’AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Lord’s scream brought the long, long story to an end.

We, Lord and I, saw eleven years of heaven, a suffocating hundred years that erased them, and a cursed millenium of madness.

“—Hah!!”

I exhaled the breath I had been holding.
Somehow, I had finished watching. However, as a result of the magic I had overextended, my breath smelled of blood.

I had overdone it—but thanks to that, I finally understood.

The beginning of the girl before me was a grassy field with a refreshing breeze.
Lord and I remembered that it was a small house.

“Aaah-aaaaah, aaaaah, aaaaaah…”

Lord, letting out a scream, tried to pull away from me. Then, my left arm, under the effect of Distance Mute, was pulled from Lord’s chest.
The surrounding Magic, ■Earthfall, had already been dispelled.
The path of wind and the walls vanished, revealing an empty, nothingness sky.

Lord moved their freed body, stepping back one step, then another.
Then, their gaze moved left and right, observing the world.

“—No! This isn’t what I wanted! What I wanted was! This isn’t ‘here’—!!”

Shaking their head, Lord cried out.

As the cry echoed, the world distorted.
Like a beating heart, Lord’s “floor” trembled. The tremors cracked the empty space, and pieces of the sky began to peel away.

Above and below, far and near, all the emptiness here peeled away.
It was the same phenomenon I had seen when the barrier was broken a little while ago. The broken world was breaking again.

However, this time it wasn’t destruction by physical force, but a collapse according to magical principles.
The world would change as Lord wished, and a millenium ago, the Shiso had set the rule.
The world obeyed that law, as I, who was there, knew.

Lord’s world peeled away—and the “other side” began to appear.
It was the place connected to Viais by a door. The front side of the 66th Floor, with a giant Spiral Staircase in the center.

As the boundary between the front and back broke, the worlds were now about to overlap.

“A hole opened in the reverse side of the labyrinth, connecting to the 66th Floor on the front side…? No, perhaps—”

Perhaps the very notion of front and back was wrong from the start.
Originally, this world was overlapping, and the two combined formed Lord’s floor—but it was possible it was an unfinished floor.

The void-colored paint of the world peeled away—and before I knew it, Lord and I were standing on the grassy field on the “other side.” Seeing Wind Dragon Elfenries and the Spiral Staircase in the distance, I knew we were at the edge of the 66th Floor.
The sky had not yet completely peeled away, so it was a strange situation where the grassland and the cosmos were mixed.

But it was considerably better than before.
There was no longer nothingness. In the carpet of grass, there was a staircase leading up.
There was a path to return to the ground.

That alone was more than enough for Lord now.
I dispelled Dimensional War Calculation “Prologue” and Distance Mute, then gripped my sword and called out.

“Lord! No, Titty!!”

I called her name.
The girl who was the master of this world’s name was ‘Titty.’
Her name was ‘Titty.’

The girl Titty, having been called by my name, slowly looked at me.

“Ah, aaaaah, aaah…! Ka, Na, MiiIiIiIiIi—!!”

Then, the girl called out my name in return.
Her nose red, her eyes brimming with tears, her mouth open as if it would tear, she approached me, staggering like a newborn fawn across the grassy field.

“Ah, I came ‘here’! That’s what we promised!!”
“UzumamiIiIiIiIi—!!”

Titty kicked off the ground of the grassy field and dashed.
Then, swinging her bayonet like a child’s sword fight, she struck it at me as if to confirm my existence.
I met it head-on and roughly repelled it.

Her bayonet repelled, Titty’s body was thrown backward.
Even so, with her incredible physical ability, she regained her balance and swung her bayonet down again, roughly.

There was no technique to it anymore. No wind magic.
It was a child’s game.

Naturally, there was no way I could lose now.
It would be easy to deflect her bayonet and cut down Titty’s body.
But I deliberately met the bayonet head-on.

To prove that the girl was weak—.
At the end of our swordplay, I used Crescent Pectoral Azure’s Straight Sword to cut through the “wind bayonet”—.

“—Eek! My sword—!?”

The bayonet was cut and vanished into the wind.
I immediately declared victory.

“—Ah, I win!! I’ve been telling you! You’re weak!”

Titty flinched and stepped back upon hearing my words.
She stared at her right arm, which had vanished into thin air, and continued to retreat unsteadily, tripped over nothing, and fell onto her rear.

“Uzunami wins…? And I lose…? I, the King, lost…?”

Titty refused to admit defeat and tried to stand up immediately, but her hand on the ground slipped, and she fell forward, face-planting into the mud.
Even so, Titty tried to stand up again—but mid-way, her movement stopped abruptly.

Her emerald eyes were fixed on the ground.
What was there were the tears that had fallen from Titty’s eyes.
Noticing she was crying, Titty froze.
The symbol of her weakness appeared in her vision—and she began to break.

“Ah, aaaaa… Ah, I—I am a child…”

And she trembled.
Her words were unclear due to her sobs.
Titty was at her limit. No, she had long exceeded her limit, far before fighting me.
It was before she spent a thousand years ‘here’, before she fought Nosfy to a draw in life, before she became a king and lost herself—it was long, long before that.

—From the day her heart was crushed, she had been at her limit.

So, she could no longer fight. She could no longer stand.
Her body and soul were shattered, so of course, tears would just overflow—.

“I, I, I… IAAAAH, Uuu, Uuua, AAAAAAAAH—!!”

Finally, everything she had patched up since her death collapsed.
Forsaking her status and name, like a child, shamefully, without regard for appearances, Titty burst into tears.

It was the first time the girl, who had never cried in front of anyone, finally cried in front of someone.
At the same time, the malevolent magic Titty was cloaked in dissipated. The wind for battle was gone, becoming a breeze blowing through the grassland and merging with the world.

There was no longer a “Ruling King” ‘here’.
Now, the girl had regained the weakness that the world had taken from her.
Knowing that Titty, a single girl, was ‘here’, I lowered my sword tip to the ground.

The battle was over.
It was my victory, Lord’s defeat—and the end.

“AAAAAAAaa—! That’s right, it’s fine if a child loses…! No, it’s better if I lose! In my heart, I thought I was a weak child! Because all this time, I just wanted to go home…! Ah, I just, I just wanted to go home for so, so long AAAAAAAAH—!!”

Still kneeling, Titty slammed her hands onto the ground.
Then, she bowed her head, letting large tears pour onto the ground, exposing her true feelings without any pretense.

“Ah, I want to see Grandma and Grandpa! I want to see my younger brother, Aid! I want to see everyone in the village! I want to see them, I want to see them, I want to see them, I want to see you…!! Uuu, uuuu, ueee, eeeeee—! Uaaaaaaaah—!!”

She cried profusely.
Opening her distorting mouth wide, her hair disheveled, she looked up this time.
Even looking up at the sky, her tears wouldn’t stop. Streams of tears flowed from her eyes, wetting her entire cheeks.

Seeing her, I felt a deep sense of relief.
Good… I made it this time…
I was undoubtedly on the path to victory.

While I was relieved, Titty continued to speak.
Her screams, accumulated over a thousand years, did not stop, echoing through the 66th Floor.

“AAAAAAAAA, AAAhh—!! Why!? Why are you all tormenting me!? Why did everyone disappear!? Why did I have to be separated from my grandparents AAAAAA!?”

Titty clenched the dirt with her hands slammed on the ground, swung her arm sideways, and threw dirt onto the grassland.
After a bout of angry shouting, her voice gradually grew quieter.

She spoke in halting phrases, interspersed with hiccups.

“No, I understand. The child had a younger brother, so she couldn’t chase after him and die! As an older sister, the child had a duty to protect her brother. That’s why she lived. She managed to survive, even when it was difficult…!”

I approached Titty, who was curled up, and gently stroked her trembling back.

As I stroked her, her hiccups slowly subsided.

“The child cherished her family above all else. Nothing else mattered. But no one understood that… and she was gradually cornered… and then…”

“Ah, family is the most important thing, isn’t it… That’s right…”

“Yes, only Kanamin understood that… a thousand years ago, Kanamin saw through feelings that I myself had stopped understanding… ”

“Only me…?”

“Yes. After all… hah, Kanamin was a siscon. I suppose there were many things she could relate to…”

Titty looked up, her face streaked with tears, and gave a wry smile.

But the smile quickly vanished, replaced by despair.

“Ah, ahhh, I want to see my brother again… I want to see my family… But my ‘brother,’ Aid, is no longer anywhere in this world. He has become a Thief of the Laws of Wood. Before I knew it, he had outpaced me, becoming a true monster, the ‘Loyal Retainer of the Ruling King,’ the ‘Chancellor of Viaisia Country, Aid’… Once he became that, he could no longer be called family. Just as the one who became the ‘Ruling King’ can no longer be called Titty, the one who became Chancellor can no longer be called my brother…”

Having regained her memories and knowing her wish, Titty was at a loss that it could not be granted.

“Titty, please, continue. Even if it hurts, tell me. What is it that you want…”

“What the child wants, huh… I couldn’t say it back then, but it’s different now. I finally remembered. The child wanted to go home. To the grassland where Grandpa and Grandma were, and where Aid was…! Because that grassland was—the child’s only treasure! It was the entirety of the world! Even after going mad, I desperately tried to return to that childhood, but there was no substitute anywhere—here or anywhere else! There was nowhere…!”

Titty confessed her lingering desire, the core of her being as a guardian, to me.

Wanting to go home—it was a wish too childish.

Then, she poured out her regrets, following her lingering desire.

“I never wanted to be a King! I didn’t want to protect the country, not really! All I wanted to protect was Grandpa, Grandma, and my brother, Aid! That was all! That was all I wanted! Anything more was too much!! World peace had nothing to do with me! A country was too heavy to bear!!”

As if a dam had broken, she unleashed her pent-up frustrations on me.

“The most I can do is be a ‘gardener’! I’m suited to be an ordinary ‘gardener’! Titles like ‘Ruling King,’ ‘Demon King,’ or ‘Mad King’ are so grim—that’s not me!! Ruling—at most, I could only manage some small animals! So why did it turn out like this!? Why were everyone fooled by a king’s game played by a child who got carried away!? Idiots! You’re all complete idiots!!”

She appealed to the citizens of Viaisia Country.

She denied everything that led to her being hailed as their king.

It was akin to denying herself, and Titty’s expression was agonizing, as if her body were being torn apart, yet at the same time, she looked refreshed.

“I have remained a child since that day, since that moment! Weak, foolish, an idiot child! And yet!! Why did I become king, and why did I end up here!! All the way heeeeere—!!”

She shouted her regret at becoming king.

“I didn’t know! I didn’t know that if I became king, I’d never be able to escape! I didn’t know I’d lose my family so easily! I wasn’t TOLD!!”

She screamed that the role of king was not worth it.

“If you knew, why didn’t you stop me!? Because I’m an idiot, I’d readily agree to anything!? Why didn’t anyone tell me!? Everyooooone!!”

She screamed that she resented everyone who paved the way to the throne.

I couldn’t say anything in response to her cries.

Having learned the circumstances from the previous Magic: Dimensional War Calculation “Prologue,” I couldn’t offer hollow comfort.

That nation, on the brink of collapse, needed a strong king.

And Rowen was stronger than anyone.

I knew he had no choice but to become king.

The lament of the cardboard king continued—

“You should have warned me that being a king was a tough job! I just didn’t know, I really didn’t!! If I had known, I would never have done it!!”

There was no reason to tell her.

After all, at that time, everyone was longing for a savior.

“I just wanted a warm home, not subordinates or citizens! I just wanted a peaceful place to live with Aid! If I could have run around that grassland again, that would have been enough! I just wanted that ordinary, ordinary—ordinary life! So in the end, I had no choice but to run awaaaaay!!”

But someone had to do it.

If someone wasn’t to become the savior, the “North” would have perished. And the one who took on that role was—the girl named Rowen Titty, who was now crying like a baby.

That was the entirety of the heroic tale, “The Ruling King.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I’m not the glorious person you all thought I was! Weak, childish, fragile—just a child!! I was just playing pretend, deceiving everyone into thinking I was king! The ‘Ruling King’ you all imagined doesn’t exist anywhere!! I’m neither smart nor strong, nor am I the least bit great!!”

Titty’s speech became jumbled as she poured out her entire being.

But this was likely her true self.

This girl, who had taken back everything by sacrificing herself, piece by piece, was so ungraceful, so utterly lacking in dignity.

“The child inherited the blood of legends!? A legitimate descendant of royalty!? Possessing unparalleled talent to control the demonic!? Her overwhelming ‘power to steal principles’ is a beacon of hope!? Therefore, she must lead us to fight the South forever!? How selfish! That’s so selfish!! No! No, no, no!! —I wanted to refuse! I truly wanted to refuse! I was so anxious, so anxious about everything, I wanted to refuse it all!!”

Titty screamed, pounding the ground repeatedly.

She cried and trashed everything around her. Her tears were no longer large drops, but a torrential downpour. It seemed as if centuries worth of tears were overflowing, with no sign of stopping. It felt as if she would cry forever and lament forever. To stop her, I listened. I listened to how she planned to overcome her regrets, directly from her own mouth.

“Then why didn’t you refuse…? Always…”

“Th-that’s because… that foolish Aid, he expected me to… He admired his sister, believing she had a noble and strong personality… I couldn’t tell him I was different…”

—Because she was expected of, she couldn’t say it.

“It wasn’t just Aid… Everyone had expectations of me. They threatened this young child…”

—Because everyone was watching her, she couldn’t refuse.

“—No, that’s not it… I know. That’s just an excuse. It was my selfish desire to be a cool older sister in front of him. For my own vanity, I pretended to be something I wasn’t capable of. I tried to live up to expectations I couldn’t meet, acting like an adult. If I had just said one thing to Aid then, ‘I’m just pretending to be the ‘Ruling King’ out of stubborn pride,’ that would have been enough… But I couldn’t do it. The result was the ruin of Viaisia. No, it wasn’t just this country. The deaths of the Northern nations are all my responsibility… Even if their curses crush my soul, I shouldn’t complain. That’s the responsibility of someone who has once become king. Ah, responsibility. I understand. I do… understand…”

But she also acknowledged that it was her own ego.

The girl did not turn away from her mistakes.

That was why she could not leave “here.”

“Hah. If I had just said one thing, that it was too much and I couldn’t, it would have been fine… I, I… I continued to desperately act like an adult, without facing anyone… Ah, I know. I am the one most at fault…”

I could somewhat understand that regret.

I too have regretted not facing anyone.

Ultimately, Road and I are the same—children.

However, I also knew that we were slightly different. Perhaps only a year or two, but I believed I was a little more mature than this girl. Therefore, I reached out my hand.

“—Don’t give up, Rowen. Then face it, *now*. It’s not too late.”

If a single mistake or two meant the end, I would have been finished long ago.

But I have come this far.

It’s because I didn’t give up after failing, and continued to try again, moving forward.

But Rowen wouldn’t accept those words or that hand.

“No, it’s too late. Everything is too late. I’ve already lost everything. Everyone has left me. No, I left them behind and ran away… So now, there’s nothing here… I can only freeze here forever…”

She looked down, tears streaming down her face, unable to believe it was beyond recovery.

Unable to watch her, I raised my voice.

“—It’s not too late! It’s not too late, Rowen! It’s still possible! That’s why I’m here!!”
Rowen said, “The guardians are all waiting for Uzunami. Uzunami has a duty to fulfill the lingering desires of those monsters.”

The time to fulfill that duty is now.

“Shout again! Louder, much louder! So that everyone you’ve met can hear you! Say what you couldn’t say! Reject all expectations! Don’t regret the ‘past’—let them hear you ‘now’!!!”

So, I will construct the magic, Dimensional War Calculation “Prologue,” once more.
However, when I look at the “Display,” it’s already empty.

【Status】
Name: Aikawa Uzunami HP26/289 MP0/1165 Class: Explorer

Using magic beyond my limits makes my body scream.
However, I’ve grown accustomed to even this pain. The fact that it’s familiar pain, not unknown agony, gives me room to maneuver.
My internal organs are being torn, and blood is surging up my throat. With each吐血 (tōketsu – vomiting blood), I feel like important things are being lost. It’s not just my maximum HP, but my very soul that feels like it’s dissolving. It’s not my flesh, but even the magic stones within my body that are being chipped away.

However, I do not stop the magic construction.

Through two full-power spells so far, I’ve glimpsed the “future” and the “past.” But I know that neither of those is my true power.
The true value of my magic lies in connecting the “future” and the “past.” I am certain of it.

“Kanamin… what are you…?”

Dimensional Magic interfered with the entire grassland, raining down a faint light of magic power. And the source of that light was a magic stone in the sky.

As each drop of light fell onto the grassland, it slowly began to swell. It took on the silhouette of a person. It was very similar to the moment monsters appear in a labyrinth.

This is the magic formula that Primordial Kanami applied to the labyrinth, the “true magic that makes everyone happy” that Saint Tiara used to save the world in the past, and a sacred magic to save the “Thief of Principles”—

Light overflowed the world.
Tiety, an experienced magic user, must understand that each speck of light contains a soul.
Her eyes, filled with tears, widened as she looked up.

“Ev… everyone…?”

In the blurry light, Tiety hallucinated the figures of the people.
Of course, I did too. I can see them if I squint.
Beyond the countless lights, I can clearly see the shadows of the former people of Viais.

Tiety was mesmerized by the scene, but quickly shook her head.

“—They’re fake! They all fell into a deep sleep more than five hundred years ago, wearing down their souls! Those here are merely actors following their predetermined roles!”
“Don’t underestimate me, Rowen—!! I am a ‘Thief of the Principles of Dimensions’! Judge me by the brilliance of my soul! If you say my ‘soul’ is worn out, I’ll just rewind time! Even if it goes against the principles of the world, I don’t care! I’m giving it all now! This is my all-out effort! My absolute all-out effort!!!!”

If Tiety refuses to acknowledge it, I will just push forward.
If all souls fell asleep five hundred years ago and it became irreversible, then I just need to connect to the “past” before that with magic!

“—May the future and the present connect, and the present and the past be connected. Until the time comes when the world remembers—!!”

I began the incantation again, feeling not only the magic stone extracted from the painting on my left arm, but all the magic stones in this space.
All of this is to bring people from the “past.” And—

“—Dimensional War Calculation ‘Prologue’!!”

—To converge and be recalled to this place.

First, the townscape, filled with natural greenery, superimposed itself faintly like an illusion upon the grassland. Further in the distance, the colossal Viaisia Castle faintly appeared.
Each falling speck of light began to show faint figures of the former people of Viais.

Seeing this, Tiety let out a cry.

“Ah, ahh, ahhh…!!”

The lights gained contours, and many townspeople returned.
One of the women among them moved her lips and spoke.
She definitely vibrated the air.

“—Lord. No, Titty-chan, is it? I’m sorry… We didn’t realize it until now…”

That woman called the “Ruling King” Titty.
Surely, they, who were magic stones, must have felt the light of remembrance.
Even if not as precisely as us, they must have definitely felt it.

“R-really…?”

Tiety trembled.
She was shocked that people who should have been dead were returning.

Meanwhile, the snow of light continued to fall from the sky. And all of it, through “Dimensional War Calculation ‘Prologue’,” was reclaiming its former time.
All times and places from the northern countries overlapped in this small 66th Floor. Dimensions were born for each person, and the figures of over ten thousand people were contained within a single field of vision.
In this light, compressed and re-compressed, the vast northern continent was resurrected.
Although only the outlines were visible, Tiety’s “everyone” was truly on the verge of returning.

And then, one by one, the people from the lower town of Viaisia began to speak.

“—King, there’s no need for you to apologize to us. That destruction was our fault for relying on you entirely, not yours. Moreover, you prolonged the life of the perishing North. You wore down your soul to give us hope. We should be grateful, not blame you…!!”
“I’m sorry, King… No. I won’t call you King anymore. Titty, you were with us too, weren’t you? You were a child with us…”
“We are beings who have died. Souls called by Kanami-dono… However, this soul was truly touched. The screams of our King truly struck our hearts…”

Tiety was stunned.
Perhaps she finally understood that I was forcibly bringing everything back through magic.
Seeing her expression, I vowed to continue maintaining the magic, no matter what.

Even if this is an alteration of lives, a desecration of the dead, an evil magic that destroys the natural order, I inwardly shouted that I didn’t care.

Next, the voices of the castle retainers and knights could be heard.

“We are sorry… It was our weakness that made us want to believe our King was stronger than anyone else. And it was our weakness that made us want to believe that our King loved the Northern Country more than anyone else. Such weaknesses became a heavy burden for our King, and ultimately crushed him.”
“We felt completely at ease leaving everything to you. And we thought that as long as you were here, the country would be safe. Even though you urged me to fight with my own strength, I ended up relying on you until the very end…”
“We knights thought we could fight the South on our own… but in the end, we were expecting Rowen. That’s why when Rowen left the North, the country crumbled so easily…”

Despite being in a labyrinth, many voices echoed.
The grassland world was overlaid with the castle and town, the nostalgic orphanage, the village, and all the places Rowen had seen. Seeing this, Tiety began to cry again.

“Aahh, ahh, ahhh…”

While crying, she heard their voices and replied with a trembling voice.

“Ev… everyone, can you hear this child’s voice…”
“Yes, we can hear you. Can you hear our voices too…?”
“Ah, I can hear you…! Finally, I can truly hear your voices…!”

For the past thousand years, time had been moving too fast, and Tiety couldn’t say anything. And she couldn’t hear anything.
But finally, her throat and ears, which had been rusted for a thousand years, received the sound.

This grassland really echoes sounds well.
Perhaps because the sky is filled with light, I feel as if I’m on the ground, even though I’m underground. It’s a strangely liberating and pleasant grassland.

“This child says! The past hundred years, and the thousand years here, I will say what I couldn’t say! I will say it, so please listen, everyone!!”

Gathering her strength, Tiety made her throat tremble.
Everyone listened.

“My wish to apologize to everyone was true! But more than that, I wanted to complain! I wanted to complain so much!!!!”

And from the beginning, she expressed her dissatisfaction.

“I hated the job of being King! I hated it, hated it, hated it! I hated it from the start! I wanted to refuse it!!!!”

She complained with her true feelings.

“Being King was just a game I started! So don’t call such a child by such a grand name as Rowen—! You are all adults, aren’t you embarrassed to call such a child King!? I’m Tiety! Just a child! I could never be a King! I couldn’t help anyone! You’re the one who’s always needed help!!!!”

She poured out all her grievances.
Rowen’s tongue, freed from all constraints, was now unrestrained.
Having emerged from the abyss, what she had suppressed for so long exploded.

“You are all adults, aren’t you!? Help me, please!! No one was an adult, so I had to be an adult!! I’m still a child, still a child, still a child!!!!”

Not only her voice, but her magic power also raged.
Green particles swirled like confetti, and the feathers of Tiety’s wings flew in time with them.

“Don’t expect anything from this child! Don’t dream! Don’t burden me anymore! I’m just a child! I can’t carry such things! I’m a coward who runs away at the slightest inconvenience, I’m just a child!!!!”

Everyone felt Tiety’s soul-stirring cry with their souls.
No matter how they tried to justify it, no one could now call this pathetic, crying, and raving Tiety the “Ruling King.”

“I was just pretending to be King all along! I was never meant to grow, never meant to become an adult! Because from the day I became a ‘Thief of Principles,’ I haven’t lived my own life as a child! Ah, so I wanted to live again as a child! I wanted to live as Tiety!!!!”
In the end, Titty clearly voiced her lingering desires.

She spoke again of the rule that would lead to her own death.
It was so everyone, not just me, would understand.

“The child didn’t want to be king! I wanted to go home and be Titty! For a long, long, long time, that’s what I thought! For a long, long, loooooong tiiiiiiime! Whhhhaaaaaaa—! Uuuugh, uuuuugh, uuuuuuuuugh!”

Having said everything, Titty was consumed by an unbearable impulse and cried out loudly.
However, everyone received her every cry.

“I’m so sorry, Titty. I could never realize your suffering. Your power was too great, and in our foolishness, we were blinded by that immense strength and didn’t try to see the real you…”
“…Apologies, Lady Titty.”
“I’m sorry… Titty…”
“I’m sorry, Titty-chan.”

Everyone now knew the labyrinth’s circumstances.
They also knew the guardian’s mechanism.
So, with faces contorted slightly, they all acknowledged Titty. They were slowly erasing their king.

“I thought the peace of this country was your vow. I thought a world where we could laugh together was what you desired. But it was our selfish wish, wasn’t it? We just wanted to believe that convenient thought…”
“And even now, we wished for you to be the king, as our king. And you, once again, pushed yourself to fulfill it. Yes, our wishes would be granted, but yours could never be. There’s no way you could have been fulfilled. You wouldn’t just disappear.”
“We were foolish to think that you would disappear after us. We didn’t try to see who you truly were, didn’t think at all, and were content to leave. We all knew something was a little off with you, but… no one thought deeply about it…”

Her former subordinates spoke to her. They probably had their own retorts, but as adults, they suppressed them and comforted the crying girl.
Then, they bowed their heads.

“I am truly sorry, Titty… And thank you. Not as king—but to Titty, the girl, I offer my apologies and gratitude.”

However, Titty, perhaps overwhelmed, continued to cry.

“Ugh, wha, ahhh, uweee, uweee… waaaah, waaaaaah!”

Though she was trying to respond, the tears she had held back until today wouldn’t allow it.
During that time, several gazes turned towards me.

“Of course, my gratitude extends to you as well, Commander. You alone noticed the Lord’s suffering and made ‘here’ the top priority of the labyrinth. And yet… I am truly sorry for what I said earlier, for losing myself and lashing out in resentment.”

The beast knight who had attacked me in town moments before bowed his head.
I shook my head.

“No, you don’t need to apologize… Perhaps my past self left ‘here’ unfinished. Because I only half-finished ‘here’, Titty suffered greatly. And you all went through a lot of trouble…”
“No, that’s not true. We are grateful. Even unfinished, without ‘here’, I don’t think today would have come.”
“It helps that you say that…”

Combining Titty’s memories from ‘here’ with the ones I recalled on the ground, it was undeniable that the world for the Lord was unfinished due to Apostle Legacy’s interference.
Yet, no one blamed me for my oversight.
Instead, they thanked me.

“Commander. Thank you for everything. Thanks to you and Lady Titty, we can depart in happiness. In the truest sense, our vow is now fulfilled…”
Then, the beast knight, who had likely known me in the past, smiled.
The people around Titty did the same.

“Thank you, truly… Our Titty…”
“Lady Titty, you did more than enough. No one expects anything more from you now. All that remains is our gratitude.”

They smiled, wanting to send her off without becoming a burden to the crying girl again.
They cast aside reverence and expectation, focusing only their grateful eyes on Titty.

“Ugh, ugh… Ev-everyone…”
Under those kind eyes, Titty slowly stopped crying.
Perhaps she could finally feel the being known as the “Ruling King” on her back disappear, and her body lighten. Her liberation was gradually easing her sorrow.

As everyone called out to see Titty off, I spotted a woman looking my way.

“Co-Commander…”
It was Bess-chan.
Seeing her, my eyes welled up.
She had made it in time too. Before the shattered magic stone particles dissolved into the world, my magic, “Dimensional War Calculation ‘Prologue’,” had managed to bring her soul back.

Bess-chan bowed her head and apologized to me.

“I’m sorry, Commander… You didn’t abandon Viais. You were simply trying to save the child who was suffering the most in Viais. If you look at ‘here’, it’s obvious… Yet, I continued to resent you…”
“No, I think I’m the one who should apologize… So please, look up, Bess-chan…”

Ultimately, I still can’t recall Bess-chan.
It’s undeniable that I couldn’t save her. I’m the one who should be bowing my head.
If I helped Bess-chan even a little in ‘here’, it wasn’t me—

“You apologized well, Bess…”
An elderly beastman appeared from behind Bess-chan and patted her head.
There was no mistaking that voice and appearance.
This was the grandfather and granddaughter I wanted to see, even through forceful interference with time.

“Grandpa… I- I’m not a child anymore…”
“Ah, right…”

Reinand-san was scolded by his granddaughter and removed his hand, then walked towards me, scratching his cheek.
He seemed a little embarrassed to see me again, even though we thought we’d had our final farewells.

“Reinand-san…”
I felt the same.
Reinand-san and I began to talk tentatively.

“We meet again, Kanami. Honestly, I’m surprised.”
“You did so well… Um… Did I keep my promise…?”
“Yes, in the most ideal way. My gratitude is beyond words.”
“I’m glad. But I don’t need your thanks. I’ve already received so much from you, Reinand-san…”
“I see…”

Hearing my words, Reinand-san seemed to accept them.
He nodded once and turned his back to me.
Knowing that this time was limited, he rushed to the girl he had worried about until his dying moments before the effect of his magic, “Dimensional War Calculation ‘Prologue’,” faded. He spoke to her urgently.
However, his words, like mine, were hesitant.

“Hey. That… I’m sorry for calling you madly earlier. I’m clumsy with words and awkward, so I didn’t know what to do… I never did.”

Titty, who had been crying, reacted to Reinand-san’s voice.
She knew she had to answer this person properly.

“U-ugh. It’s okay, I don’t mind. Besides, I understand now. Grandpa stayed until the very end because it was for the child… No, not just in ‘here’. In life, too, you worried about me and worked hard… And I…”

According to her recent memories, General Reinand Volz had worked for the king until the very end. Although his direction was wrong, Titty remembered that he had undoubtedly worried about her and became choked with emotion.
However, Reinand-san scoffed at Titty’s meek words.

“…Hmph. That’s not true. Both the battle in life and our time in ‘here’ were mostly for my granddaughter.”

Reinand-san, too, was like everyone else in ‘here’.
He wanted to relieve the girl of her burden and see her off with a smile.
Titty understood his sentiment—and finally understood that everyone understood her—so she opened her mouth wide and laughed in return.

“…Fuf, fufu. Ha, hahahahaha! It’s no use, you old man! You’ve never been straightforward!”
“Hmph. You say I’m not straightforward? It’s you who isn’t… Fufu, haha, hahahaha!”

The somber atmosphere of mutual apologies cleared slightly.
Like the sky after a long rain has stopped, both their faces were bright.

After laughing for a while, Reinand-san knelt down, stroked Titty’s head, and asked,

“Was it long…?”
“Yes, it was long… It was so short, and yet so long…”

Unlike Bess-chan, Titty accepted it without anger.

“However, it seems your welcome has finally arrived… You’ve waited a thousand years…”
“Yes, I’ve waited a thousand years…”
“Then, hesitate no longer. Leap past the ‘past’ and advance into the ‘future’. At last, the clock of our gardener, Titty, has begun to move. —But do not forget. The people of the ‘North’ are not all gathered ‘here’.”
“Yes… I understand…”

Reinand-san’s voice, like a father’s, was solemn as he tried to focus Titty.
Titty understood his meaning. And so did I.

Now, the thousand-year-old king’s long-cherished wish has been granted.
However, the magic of the Thief of the Principles of Wind is still strong. There’s no sign of it disappearing.

Reinard confirms the reason.

“On the ground—your younger brother, Aid, awaits Titty’s return.”
“Mm, Aid is still here…”
“Perhaps, Aid alone still expects the Ruling King. The perfect king must still live in his heart. So go quickly and deny that expectation. Go back and tell him you’ve stopped being king. And then, be happy together. Alright?”
“…Mm.”

To his question, Titty nodded while seated.
Then, she took his hand, helped him stand, and pushed his back.
Titty emerged from the light of people’s souls.

“—Now, go!”

Sent off by the smiles of the people she had protected continuously, Titty came to my side.
In place of Reinard, I gently, like a mother, took her hand and showed everyone that this girl, entrusted to me, would surely be sent home by me.

“I will take responsibility for her. …So please, rest assured.”

I waved my hand broadly towards the overflowing light.
Seeing Reinard at the front nod in return, I invited Titty.
I extended a true invitation for the third time.

“Titty, let’s go to Aid together. And there, we can truly become adults from children.”
“Mm!”

This invitation to the ground, Titty accepted without hesitation this time.
And, with many tears leaving streaks on her cheeks, she began to laugh.

“Mm! Mm, mm, mm! Fufu, fufufu! Ahahahahaha—!”

If her tears from before were for a thousand years, then this smile must also be for a thousand years.
With a bright smile like a blooming sunflower, she waved one hand towards the light, just like I did.

“Ahahaha! Everyone, thank you so much for indulging my childish games for over a thousand years! But, I’m done playing house now! I’m ending it all—!!”

That farewell greeting was also for a thousand years—and for the ten thousand people here—she puffed out her stomach, took a breath, and exhaled a shout that would echo throughout the world!

“—The child is going home! So, goodbye! Everyoneeee, goodbye! !”

That “goodbye” was imbued with the magic of the wind.
Her voice blew through like the wind, reaching everyone without exception—and my Magic, Dimensional War Calculation “Prologue,” began to fade—. The time I obtained by going against principles was ending, and I was returning to my original form.
Along with the farewell greetings, the people returned to the light.

“—Alright! See you, Titty!”
“May fortune be with our girl of hope on her journey!!”
“Be careful on your way! No matter what happens, please be happy—!!”

The people returning farewell words were now convinced, without worry or lingering desire.
Thus, the lights of souls that had filled the grassland disappeared. They soared into the sky as light, like dandelion seeds blown by the wind.

“Don’t get lost again! Don’t come back here until you’ve properly returned home!!”
“Knight Commander! Please take care of our Titty—!!”
“We can’t follow you, but we’re praying for your safety here! We’re praying in the ‘paradise’ Titty prepared for us—!!”
“Yes, goodbye! Please, be happy!!”

One by one, they shouted back, waved, and their bodies grew faint.
Former subordinates, knights, citizens… young and old, without distinction, everyone left their final words for Titty.

“Bye-bye, big sis—!”
“Thank you for today! Thanks to you, we reached ‘paradise’! So, please, you too, reach your ‘paradise’!”
“No one will call you queen anymore! Live freely!”
“And go straight! Go straight, Titty—!!”

Those words lightened everything about Titty.
From ‘underground’ to ‘ground’—no, from ‘past’ to ‘future’—all the light became one and pushed the girl’s back.

“Lady Titty! We all thank you! We thank you beyond words! Please forgive us for only being able to see you off!!”
“Go find what’s most important with your younger brother!!”
“Thank you for playing with us continuously! Among children, you were the best big sister!”
“Please be careful and go home! Lady Titty!!”

With the diffusion of that light, all sixty-six floors finally became a grassland. The dark, empty sky, more terrifying than the darkness that should have been far away, vanished without a trace.
Showing perhaps that there was no longer emptiness in Rowen’s heart, particles of light passed through the grass, and a pleasant wind blew.

“Goodbye, my friend and big sister Titty! And—farewell!!”

And then, Bess-chan, the last person remaining, waved and saw her off.
At the same time, she was led by Reinard, swallowed by the light, and disappeared.

Thus, all the dimensions of the northern countries disappeared, and tens of thousands of people returned to their peaceful, distant ‘paradise.’
Not even magic stones that would become stars remained.

Therefore, there was no longer any burden on Titty’s heart.
Shaking her now agile body, Rowen shouted his last words to the ‘paradise’ that could no longer reach.

“—I’m off!!”

Titty’s voice blew through like the wind, rustling the entire carpet of grassland.

—Undoubtedly, it would be an eternal farewell.

But Titty next to me smiled.
Wiping away her tears, she looked straight at me and pleaded.

“…Kanamin! Take a child out of ‘here’ again! Like that day! This time I won’t make a mistake! I won’t make a mistake anymore!!”

She pointed to the spiral staircase far away, wishing to leave the labyrinth.
She told me that she was no longer someone who would just hide away.

“The child’s wish is to return home! To the home that was in the grassland of our childhood! That home isn’t ‘here’! Family can’t be substituted by Reina or Kanamin!! So, we will meet again! I’m going to meet Aid, the child’s family, not the Chancellor Aid!! And then, the story of Lord Titty will finally end! I will end it!!”

Clenching her hands, Titty replied with an answer to a question from long ago.
That belated answer, as Primordial Kanami said a thousand years ago, was truly sluggish. But it wasn’t too late yet. Titty, like me, could still make it.
So, I answered her. I continued the words from long ago.

“Ah, I swear upon the name of Primordial Kanami. I promise I will surely grant your wish. Surely, the ‘Contract’ from a thousand years ago still continues.”

I squeezed her hands back, reaffirming my promise to help her.
Titty smiled and thanked me.

“Thank you, Kanamin. Thanks to you, I feel like I’ve become a little bit more of an adult…”
“I feel that way too. Thanks to you, I feel like I’ve become a little more of an adult again…”

Now, we both felt time passing correctly, without acceleration or stagnation.
Titty seemed to be moved by a world where one second progressed as one second.
She was lost in thought, still holding my hand.

This is how people gradually become adults, I suppose.
We both took the first step.

Finally, the long underground life was over, and the time to move forward had come, which moved me too.
All that’s left is to climb up the labyrinth and return to the ground.
The “Ordeal” of the Thief of the Principles of Wind is over.

“Well then, let’s hurry! Let’s go together, Kanamin!”
“Ah, let’s go. But—”

—There’s one thing I must do before that.

Before I could finish speaking, a blinding flash of light erupted in the grassland world.
Unlike the light from before, this light was extremely ominous.

As the back and front of the 66th floor overlapped, another battlefield must have moved here as well. Soon, a pair of a boy and a girl appeared a short distance away.

“Wh-what is this…? Lord, what happened…?”

Nosfy looked bewildered at us holding hands.
She seemed more shocked by the transformation of her friend than the transformation of this world.

“W-wait, Nosfy…! You can’t let him go…!!”

Behind her, Reinard, crippled, was trying to stop Nosfy.
As I had believed, my knight had undoubtedly fulfilled his role.

To calm Reinard, I showed him that we were alright now.
Still holding Titty’s hand, I turned towards Reinard and Nosfy.

Seeing that, Reinard’s expression softened slightly—while Nosfy raised her voice.

“Lord!! What happened, your friend is asking! Answer properly!!”

Now only the Thief of the Principles of Light remained.
However, we were perfectly following the path to victory shown by Dimensional War Calculation “Prologue.”

The scene I saw then was now being recreated.
Nosfy, Titty, and I, the three of us, surrounded him, making it three against one, not two against two. The situation and our strength were overwhelmingly in our favor. The tide had completely turned.

Now, all that’s left is to run the path to victory.
From here on, it’s no longer a world in Nosfy’s hands.

It’s time for my Dimensional Magic to dominate—.

Tens of thousands of characters today…
Before starting Chapter 5—I thought the plot for Chapter 5 was short, and it would probably end in about 200,000 characters! The underground felt dark, and I wanted to write about the ground quickly, so maybe a shorter one this time this is fine! —I thought… I’m sorry…
But, finally, finally, Chapter 5 is about to end.