A Second Farewell

Another two years had passed since the second incident of divine punishment, meaning five years had gone by since I came to this world.

The turmoil in the outside world still continued, but it had turned out to be far less severe than we had originally expected.

There had been numerous small-scale conflicts, but nothing had escalated to the point of becoming excessive or intolerable.

Everyone was probably afraid that the next divine punishment might come crashing down on their own heads.

This new domain had developed considerably as well.

We no longer brought in people from outside, but the population had continued to grow.

Yes, quite a few new lives had been born.

Well, these people had spent so long struggling with danger and hunger, so once they had safety and full stomachs, I supposed this was only natural.

Come to think of it, something rather interesting had happened.

The townspeople once asked if they could build a facility to worship me, but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with that, so I told them about the shrine at that lake instead.

At the time, I had only said it as a desperate excuse to escape the situation, without considering how they would cross the lake or ensure their safety, but the townspeople cleared a path to the lake by themselves.

And astonishingly, while they were discussing how to reach the little island in the center, that giant fish appeared before them and presented its back.

Almost as though it were telling them to climb aboard.

One courageous townsman—or rather, one reckless fool—climbed onto its back, and the giant fish carried him to the island in the center.

Ever since then, whenever someone went to the lake wanting to cross to the central island and pray at the shrine, the giant fish would appear and carry them over, and in thanks, the townspeople would offer it a little food.

That sort of system had somehow established itself.

…For the record, I had absolutely nothing to do with any of it.

I had simply watched the giant fish ferry people across and thought that mysterious things really did happen.

Even after becoming a devil and gaining power, the world was still full of mysteries.

There were occasional disputes and accidents, but the people resolved all of them with their own hands, and the domain remained extremely peaceful.

They were also exploring possible trade routes with the outside world, and apparently the lord and Karis planned to connect a road and begin trading once the timing was right.

Over the past year, neither Bella nor I had been given a single opportunity to lend the townspeople our strength.

Instead, the one who had been putting her abilities to use was none other than Isha.

She had grown tremendously, both as a sorcerer and as a woman.

Whenever an accident occurred within the domain, Isha handled it with her wits and, when necessary, with sorcery, steadily earning the respect of the townspeople.

At the very least, there was no sorcerer in this world who could stand beside her.

She had even left Torii, who had studied sorcery alongside her, far behind. By the standards of Garmon-san’s world from my memories, Isha had already acquired enough skill to rightfully call herself a sorcerer.

Isha could no longer be called a girl. She had become a beautiful young woman.

Apparently, men throughout the domain had proposed marriage to her more than once.

Eventually, she would probably accept one of them.

After all, whenever Isha looked at Torii—her mother now carrying her third child—there was a faint trace of envy mixed in with her happiness.

…It was probably about time.

The time for fighting poison with poison had come to an end.

Neither Isha nor Torii, nor Karis, nor any of the people of this domain needed the poison called a devil anymore.

Part of me wanted to watch over them until the very end, but doing so would only interfere with their ability to live by their own strength.

Now was the time to fulfill the contract.

That day, I called Isha out to meet me.

When she appeared at our meeting place after everyone else had gone to sleep, she was wearing color on her lips.

It had to be an extremely precious luxury in this domain, where goods from outside were difficult to obtain, but it suited Isha very well.

And yet the expression on her face was twisted with deep sadness.

“You’re leaving already?”

It hurt to know that I was the one making Isha wear that expression, and while I hesitated over what to say, she spoke first.

The pleading note in her voice made my resolve waver slightly.

“So you figured it out after all.”

But I pushed aside my hesitation and nodded.

Because if I did not force myself to nod now, I would never be able to choose to leave, and my eventual farewell with Isha would only come through death.

I had absolutely no desire to hear her tell me again to take her soul with me.

Isha would undoubtedly say something like that, and more importantly, her life no longer needed my shadow hanging over it.

“Of course I figured it out. In this world, I’m the person most deeply connected to you, Lept. Not Mother. I’m the one who summoned you here.”

She was right.

There was not a single thing wrong with what Isha had said.

She was the one who summoned me, and no one in this world had a deeper connection to me than she did.

The contract with Isha was what bound me to this world.

That was precisely why I held out a small knife toward her.

“You’ve grown into a beautiful woman, and the danger is gone. As a sorcerer, there’s no one in this world who can rival you anymore. You can walk forward on your own now, Isha. So just give me one lock of your hair. That will complete our contract.”

Hesitantly, with trembling fingers, Isha took the small knife from my hand and drew one long, deep breath.

Then resolve entered her eyes, and with a sharp slice, she cut off the hair she had grown over the past five years.

…No, that was way too much.

I said one lock would be enough.

“That’s too much. If you cut off that much, everyone’s going to be shocked tomorrow.”

As I accepted the bundle of hair she thrust toward me, I could not help giving her a wry smile.

But at that exact moment—just as I took Isha’s hair—she threw her arms around me.

I nearly dropped the hair I had received and hurriedly activated Storage Magic.

“It’s fine. Hey, did you know? In this world, girls cut their hair when they get their hearts broken. …Though they usually don’t cut off this much, and apparently noblewomen don’t do it.”

Isha spoke with her face buried against my chest.

So this world had that custom too…

I thought for a moment about what I should do, then placed a hand on her head.

“You worked so hard. When you summoned me, when we escaped together, when you studied sorcery, when we cleared the forest, when we built houses—you were always, always doing your best. I’m proud of you, Isha.”

I did not embrace her in return, and I could not.

The mud-covered girl was gone now, but I knew I would never forget the way she had looked back then.

“Take good care of your little sister. Also, I kept this secret from Karis and Torii, but the next baby is a boy. Be good to him too. …And one last thing: don’t ever summon another devil.”

Isha had learned caution over the past five years, but she still tended to push herself far too hard, so I could not help worrying.

But at my words, Isha suddenly raised her head.

“No.”

She said it clearly.

Looking straight into my eyes, her own shone with fierce determination.

“Next time, I won’t summon you by accident. I’ll summon you with my own ability, Lept, and then I’ll bind you with a contract you absolutely can’t escape from.”

Isha declared it without hesitation.

Terrifying. What made it truly terrifying was that if she kept honing her abilities as a sorcerer, she might genuinely become capable of doing exactly that someday.

Of course, if she actually succeeded, I would be incredibly happy.

At the very end, I stroked Isha’s head one more time.

“When your hair grows back.”

Leaving those words behind, I departed from Isha’s world.