7-12 A Happy Ending

I wore a satisfied look as I admired the ink painting I’d hung up as an imperial souvenir.

Yeah—once you get older, having something like this weirdly calmed you down.

I also took something that looked like a blank hanging scroll, transferred images from the internet onto it, and made a “pseudo-scroll” of my own, and it turned out surprisingly well.

The Empire were capable, weren’t they?

If they weren’t trying to start a war with us, I’d even go visit again.

Since then, there’d been no more strange harassment from the Empire.

But I couldn’t let my guard down.

I would never forget the countless outrages at that A-rank exam—things that would normally be impossible.

Most of the markers had outlived their purpose, so I removed them, but I left the one on Marquis Nielsen—and I also put a new marker on the emperor.

I really wanted to tag the princes too, but if they weren’t there, it couldn’t be helped.

Aoi-chan had completely settled into the Beast-Ear Garden.

She was petite, baby-faced, and friendly, so the kids adored her.

And Aoi-chan adored the beast-eared kids too.

Her illustrated crafts also became wildly popular among the children again.

It felt kind of like… back when I was a kid in the Showa era, when children’s tastes shifted from picture-story shows to TV cartoons.

I’d given her a copied laptop that could connect to Earth’s internet, so her art style seemed to have leveled up dramatically.

The router was my magic PC, though.

And for some reason, even when I wasn’t nearby—despite me supposedly being the relay device—it stayed connected to Earth’s internet.

Apparently it wasn’t connected by any normal method.

Well, yeah—Japan’s internet wouldn’t normally connect to another world.

I’d also provided her with a huge pile of materials, so it looked like she was making all sorts of other things too.

It felt like the number of kids had suddenly increased.

I was pretty sure we had thirty-four in total, but when I counted, somehow there were forty.

Well, whatever.

Mari must’ve picked them up again.

Back when she was with Takeshi, it sounded like she’d protected and taken in lots of children too.

And given how brutal those times were, it made sense there’d be countless orphans.

You could say the country itself probably looked like this Beast-Ear Garden back then.

“This atmosphere is nostalgic. You really do everything the same way Takeshi did.”

Mari said that with a laugh, looking genuinely happy— a smile that had crossed a thousand years.

Ars seemed to like living here quite a bit.

Good.

I was counting on you, S-rank.

I’d assigned him a dedicated residence—

basically a remodeled version of that bungalow.

Now that this whole incident was finally settled, the enemy would probably come for this place sooner or later.

I didn’t feel like leaving for a while either.

The food court was packed every day.

It seemed like servants of nobles and big merchants even came from the Royal Capital to buy things, but I’d rather have the masters themselves come and eat the fresh food while it was hot.

Erin, of course, was the regular among regulars here.

No one told her “three puddings max” around here.

And apparently, thanks to “taste-tester privileges,” she ate for free forever.

Eri adored her like a real big sister.

And somehow, Erin never gained weight no matter how much she ate.

Well, I was like that too until about twenty-eight.

Which was why my regenerated body was still slim.

And then there was one more surprise.

Antonio was getting married.

And the bride-to-be was the young lady of House Palmia—the one he’d saved back then.

Their similarly miserable circumstances seemed to have pulled their hearts tightly together.

What was it… not a suspension bridge effect, but a log effect?

If that was the case, I couldn’t argue.

All right.

Guess I’d do one more job.

I returned to the Empire via teleportation magic and headed for the convent where she’d supposedly been.

I took photos of the three women there, then came back and showed them to Margarita-san.

She said they were her mother and her younger sister.

The remaining one was apparently a woman planted as her stand-in.

I immediately teleported back to the convent, searched for them with the map function, then summoned the person in charge.

And I declared, “I’m taking these two with me.”

Of course, the one who came running was shocked and furious.

“What did you say!? Don’t screw with me! How did you get in here?!”

He raised his voice in protest, but I sneered with a face as nasty as I could manage.

“Oh? Are you sure you want to do that? That woman over there isn’t the young lady of House Palmia. Wouldn’t it be bad if that got out? That scandal was big enough to be taboo among imperial nobles, right? If you want, I can make it an issue from my side. And then, inevitably, one thing after another—everything the Empire did to us will come to light too. If that happens, once your dear emperor hears the full story, I imagine he’ll be absolutely furious. So—what do you think, as the person responsible here?”

The color drained from his face, and he fell silent at once.

From my insolent, unwavering voice, he must’ve realized I really would do it.

Of course, if he tried to resist, I actually would.

Don’t underestimate me.

After all, I was “a pretty messed-up Showa-era old guy.”

In a brutal otherworld like this, I’d respond accordingly.

If things went that way, he’d probably just get erased by Nielsen to destroy evidence.

Then I showed him a sack with about a hundred gold coins, tossed it to him, and said:

“Use that money to prepare replacements for those two. You can keep the rest. But if that so-called Flash-God ever shows up here, tell him this: ‘If you bother us again, I’ll kill you. I only let you off this time.’”

After saying that, I did him the courtesy of playing the footage of this whole scene on a large display—recorded by my floating device.

Now he understood perfectly: he’d just been slapped with a very dangerous charge—“taking a hundred gold coins in bribes from a high-ranking Albatross noble,” and the proof video was in my hands.

I took the two women and forcefully returned to the Kingdom via teleportation magic without accepting objections.

He watched in silence, clutching the sack of gold coins.

Yeah. He wouldn’t defy me anymore.

Mission complete.

And the family reunion finally happened.

“Margarita…”

“Big Sister…”

“Mother, Jennifer…”

Margarita and the two of them embraced and cried.

“Whew. You’re as reckless as ever. But thanks. Still… won’t this cause problems later?”

Antonio asked, unfazed, as casually as always, but I just laughed it off.

“Eh, it’ll be fine. Officially, I never even left the Kingdom, and we’re both dirty in our own ways. This time, they won’t press the issue. I’ve got solid video evidence of all the crap they pulled, so if they complain, I can threaten them from the shadows.”

And yeah—I didn’t exactly pass through the border properly this time either.

I just illegally trespassed using teleportation magic.

That was why I usually went through the border properly, you know.

If needed, my “underling” in the border guard would happily testify that I never formally crossed.

Heh heh heh.

So what do you think—pretty pitch-black, aren’t I?

“Hahaha, yeah. That’s exactly how you do things. Either way, I’m grateful. Thanks.”

“No—this is one of your wedding gifts. Congratulations. After all, back then I was about to abandon her without mercy. At least let me do this much.”

“It’s fine. I was the one who was wrong. But back then… I couldn’t do anything else…”

Antonio said that with a dreamy look— like he was a different person from the one who always seemed to be suffering before.

The nightmare of tragedy that had clung to him like a curse was now the past.

And more than anything, as the future head of the new Orston Count House, he was about to gain a new family.

“Antonio. Are you going to Andy-san’s place?”

“Yeah. Andre-aniki, Margarita, and I will go together.”

“Do your best.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Lord Alphonse, thank you so much.”

Margarita-jou said too, her eyes shining with tears.

I smiled and squeezed both their hands instead of answering.

This was the former Orston County.

Once the required procedures were complete, Antonio would govern it as its lord.

For now, it was land administered by a magistrate.

On the outskirts of the old county capital stood a house that could hardly be called a manor—something a noble might even call shabby.

It stood in a lonely area that seemed excluded even from the magistrate’s jurisdiction, a place no one ever visited.

Andy von Orston was there.

Though House Orston had been stripped of its title, they were still permitted to use the name.

But he now called himself simply Andy.

“Young master, lunch is ready.”

The old butler—once House Orston’s head servant—came to call Andy.

“Ah… yeah. Sorry, as always. Even though I keep thinking I can’t let you keep taking care of me forever…”

“What are you saying? Serving you, young master Andy, is now this old man’s only reason to live.”

“Thank you, Butler. I’ve caused my younger brothers so much hardship too… it weighs on me.”

There sat the former heir of a noble house, head bowed with a dark expression.

Then the little chime attached to the door rang with a dry sound.

It seemed someone had come.

“Oh—company. Who could it be? A visitor to a run-down house like this, at this point… Young master, please head to the dining room first.”

But from the entryway came the butler’s shocked cry.

“Ah…!”

“Wh-what is it, Butler?!”

Andy hurried over—and what he saw was:

his two younger brothers, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, and a beautiful woman of marriageable age.

And Antonio—his third brother—was wearing a Kingdom cloak that clearly signified a countship.

Andy’s eyes widened as he murmured:

“Antonio… you…”

“Big brother, I worked hard and reached S-rank. And the country formally recognized me as a count. His Majesty the King worried a lot about what happened to our house. He said he’d permit the Orston Count House to be established again. Well… I did have someone helping me in various ways. Someday, I’ll introduce him to you.”

“Andy-aniki, Antonio worked hard too. He even took down a dragon solo.”

“Is that true?”

Andy asked in shock.

To him, Antonio still felt like the youngest child—so young he’d seemed almost like Andy’s own son.

That adorable little brother who’d looked up to him like a father… killed a dragon alone?

“Yeah—and this territory is coming back to House Orston too!”

Antonio answered, puffing his chest out.

Back then he’d been a helpless child who could only depend on his older brother, who’d acted as a father figure.

But not anymore.

“I… see. I wish we could’ve shown our parents what you’ve become. After that incident, they passed away one after another from the strain…”

“Big brother! Andy-aniki—I want you to work hard on business again. None of that was your fault. It was just bad luck. Don’t rot away in a place like this—let Butler be active again too. Ah, and there’s someone I want to introduce you to. That’s why we came today.”

“Is it… the woman over there?”

“Yeah. Come on, Margarita.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Margarita von Palmia. Um… may I call you my brother-in-law?”

“Haha—of course you can. Please, take good care of my brother—Antonio.”

“Big brother… to tell the truth, she’s originally an imperial noble—”

“Ah, it’s fine, it’s fine. There’s probably a reason. Tell me about it later. Butler—sorry, but could you prepare meals for everyone too?”

“At once.”

A kindly old man stood there, his wrinkles crumpling with happiness—truly happy.

“Now, now—don’t just stand there. Come inside, come inside.”

And in that house, for the first time in who knew how many years, cheerful conversation rang out loud and lively.