Azhure: Thank you for reading until now.
Voice: See you next book!
TAP TAP TAP TAP
“So is it as you suspect, Amelia?” Zekie asked, approaching the maneg scientist who was busy typing new records in the archives.
“That and more,” Amelia said, typing the last few sentences, saving the new records before turning the office chair around to face the Lightning Guardian. “Let’s just say they have exceeded expectations.”
“Are you saying the Mother Souls are recovering their strength much faster than we thought?” Zekie blinked in surprise.
“And with it comes stronger Maneg Souls,” Amelia replied, crossing her legs and tapping her fingers together like a stereotypical mastermind. “Between Owen’s [Court Wizard’s Aura] on top of his far-reaching Vague Order and Alicia’s Maneg Soul, we are getting a glimpse of what power our predecessors used to have. You of all people ought to know that.”
“…That, is true,” Zekie admitted, scratching the back of his head. He would be a fool not to notice how stronger he was than the previous Lightning Guardian. “And it’s not just them, isn’t it?”
“Obviously, Hanz has more Cherished Armaments than anyone has the right to have in addition to his own aura and not to mention Crea’s Vague Order because she is too much of a pacifist,” Amelia listed on. “In fact, this generation has more Vague Orders than any previous ones.”
“There is also Jonathan’s and mine,” Zekie muttered to himself. “I see what you mean.”
“And Master William showed how powerful a Court Wizard with a Mother Soul can be,” Amelia continued. “Having that much control over ambient air maneg is terrifying if you think about it.”
“Yes… With air maneg being naturally abundant, Will would be a most formidable foe to face in battle,” the Lightning Guardian muttered. “You are right about that especially if it’s him…”
“So, we’re done?” Owen asked, sitting on the sofa opposite his friend.
“Yeah, we’re done,” William muttered as he sank into the sofa tiredly.
A couple of weeks have passed since the rebellion in Kirash succeeded and the cursed dragon Typhon was defeated. Lots of cleanup was done while Owen was recovering. Owen’s father, Ronald, Aqua, and William had given him updates here and there, but most of it went over his head in favor of recovering and dealing with Amelia.
They were in the air chamber for a change as Aqua was still back in Spiri Raia. Owen hadn’t been in William’s Guardian room for the past few months having to mentor both Alicia and Rin. This place hadn’t changed much, it was still the same undecorated chamber in contrast to the light chamber, just the basic furnishings of two sofas facing a low table and the office desk with the terminal. William never bothered with that stuff.
“So everything is resolved?” Alicia asked, clasping her hands in wonder.
“More or less,” William shrugged, bending forward to nab a cookie on the low table much to Voice’s protest.
Incidentally, Alicia’s cousin, Maria, along with the rest of her extended family had returned to Kaomagi Earth as her college break was about to end. Rin was similarly back to school and was also looking for which middle school she would go to after graduating. The rest of the Kaomagi Earth kids’ sophomore years will only start a few weeks from now.
“So, what happened?” Alicia then asked. Similarly, she was too focused on watching over Owen’s recovery to pay much attention to the aftermath of the development in Spiri Raia.
“After you guys were knocked out and Owen killed Typhon, the battle obviously won,” William began with a yawn. “We went ahead and took control of the capital after that, making sure no one else gets any funny ideas after all of that.”
“What happened to king Van?” Owen then asked.
“Surprisingly, he’s still alive,” William replied nonchalantly. “We found him under the rubble when Typhon morphed into his dragon form.”
“Did uncle meet him then?” Alicia wondered. In the otome game, king Van died during the confrontation with Typhon so otome Alicia’s uncle never had the chance to meet him again.
“He did. Don’t know what they talked about, but it’s probably not about him being salty that he’s not king instead of him,” William shrugged, grabbing another cookie with his hand and swiftly dodging Voice’s claws. “Your uncle looked pretty satisfied after he left the room.”
True, now that Owen thought about it, the first prince ultimately won. While Van spent the rest of his life in stress desperately holding onto his fragile throne to the point of consorting with a cursed dragon, Albert lived the best life he could ever have. He has a wife and daughter; and he has a cushy, stable job in Bell Conglomerate out of his medieval princely education. He had the more enviable position compared to his younger half-brother and the same was true to some degree with the otome version of him.
“Van croaked shortly after that,” William continued. “He was still on death’s door when we rescued him and was bedridden the whole time.”
“Oh, I see,” Alicia muttered in understanding. “At least uncle had closure.” Evidently, otome Albert had lamented not being able to settle things with his brother because of his death. Although it was from a couple of throwaway lines during the wedding scene between the protagonist and capture target, he did sound very hung up about it. “What happened to the kingdom after that?”
“The next thing we did was consolidate power over the kingdom after the successful coup,” William then explained, still looking unengaged in the topic for as long Owen knew him. “Aqua and the greater spirits helped with that.”
Certainly, having the literal deities of their world backing the new government will crush any opposition, especially after their former king had consorted with the ‘devil’ of their world. Since the Kirash people were very much sick of Van’s rule, any noble still loyal to the dead king would be hard-pressed to raise an army in resistance not to mention the political suicide for doing such a thing.
“After we got things settled down, we crowned Van junior the new king,” William continued, nabbing another cookie much to Voice’s dismay. “Kid’s half passed out on his coronation, probably because Aqua’s putting the crown on him.”
That made sense, having Aqua personally crown the new king would shut up anyone doubting his capability. Van junior should be a capable king in time, it’s just that it was supposed to be built throughout his academy years regardless of whether or not Maria was with him. His being plucked out before even entering his first year simply meant he had to build his confidence while he was king.
“What about his older brother?” Owen asked.
“Dead in the rubble,” William quipped.
“Okay.” Owen nodded. Facing his bully of an older brother was one of the pivotal moments of otome Van junior but it wasn’t as if it was that necessary for his growth. A potential challenger to Van junior’s throne being gone was also a plus.
“Will he be okay?” Alicia asked in concern. The problem of Van junior building up his skills while being king was that he was building up his skills while being king.
“He’ll be fine,” William shrugged, unconcerned. “We set up a regency council for him and Aqua’s helping.”
“I see, that is good,” Alicia said satisfied. With all of that work, getting Kirash up and running should go relatively smoothly.
“Well, it is a bit late to say,” Aqua began, coughing lightly despite biologically not needing to. “But I would like to announce this operation is a success!”
“Uhn! Yay!” Rin cheered.
“Hooray!”
A few days after everything that happened in Spiri Raia settled down, Aqua returned to the Court and invited the kids for the debriefing however late that was. It was mostly a formality since Aqua was just using it as an excuse for a get-together after all that happened.
“It was certainly a surprise to see Typhon having survived all this time, but all that is well had ended well,” Aqua remarked before sighing. “Hah, to think my life would turn out like this.”
“Uh oh! Aqua’s having a mid-life crisis!”
“I do not think that is the case, Voice,” Alicia said calmly.
“Perhaps not, but it is true that I would have never expected to be here,” Aqua continued, reminiscing about the past. “Just as I would have never thought of leading the first rebellion against the dragons, I would have never expected to meet Alicia’s grandfather and then become a Court Wizard myself after more than nine hundred years of being a greater spirit.”
“You are right, Aqua,” Alicia agreed. “That would make all of us never expecting to become Court Wizards.”
“Uhn!”
In retrospect, the Fire Guardian was right. Very few would have ever expected themselves to travel to other worlds, it was simply fantasy found only in light novels, after all. If someone told Owen about the Otherworldly Court before being a Court Wizard, he would have certainly thought that person was insane. Really, if it weren’t for the Maneg Souls calming down its Court Wizards, any new recruits would have an episode before even getting to Manegia.
“Anyway, I have another assignment for you in Osainicd,” Aqua then said in a complete reversal. “I am sure you do not mind.”
“Huh?”
“Uhn?”
“What!?”
The surprise was just as expected, going by the jovial attitude Aqua usually didn’t give – she must have been more relaxed after everything had settled. Given the purpose of this meeting, ending it off with another mission was completely out of left field which made Owen and the others wonder where did that come from.
“And Owen,” Aqua then turned to him. “Bring William with you too.”
“Eh, sure.”
“Um, I am supposed to be working in the background, Aqua?”
“Oh, just one more time, Alicia?”
“Fine! Last one, got it!?”
“Uhn! Let’s go!”
“It’s finally over…” Joshua sighed, sinking into the couch that littered the center of the court that housed the grand, spiraling stairway that nobody used.
“Indeed,” Ronald nodded in agreement. “With the younger Van on the throne under Aqua’s guidance, Kirash should be heading in a better direction.”
“Yeah,” Joshua relaxed his head and looked at the ceiling. “It feels like a long story decades in the making finally done.”
“Yes…” Ronald closed his eyes in reminiscing. “Twenty-nine years ago, I stepped foot into this world for the first time as a Court Wizard, meeting you and Willow.”
“And twenty-three years ago, we failed our operation and had to evacuate the Illyers out of their world,” Joshua then muttered sadly. “But, it had also given us the family we never had.”
“And then five years ago, while you were in Spiri Raia, Owen became a Court Wizard to find you,” Ronald said accusingly, straightening his back to look at his longtime friend. “To even convince Aqua to cover for you, you were very determined to avenge our failure.”
“Guilty as charged,” was all Joshua could admit.
“Well,” Ronald’s feature softened. “It matters little now because today, your son found you and we have completed our mission one way or another.”
“Heh, you got that right,” Joshua smiled.
“Indeed,” Ronald nodded while smiling back. “Now that the rest of my family have returned to our world, we need to handle your return.”
“Right, I was ‘missing’ for almost a decade, and I also need to visit mom’s grave and tell her I’m back,” Joshua muttered, looking at the ceiling again in contemplation before turning to Ronald. “You got any ideas?”
“I’m sure I’m able to work things out,” Ronald shrugged. Being the richest man of multiple worlds meant he had more than enough money to throw at whatever solution he decided on.
DING
With the sound of the elevator opening, the two men turned their heads to see Alicia, Owen, William, and Rin coming out. Rin particularly skipped out of the elevator first in enthusiasm much to Alicia’s amusement who followed right after. Owen and William then stepped out in the same near-bored expression as they always do, according to Ronald at least.
“Uhn! Adventure! Adventure!” Rin sang as she hopped to the Transporter Room.
“Be careful not to trip, Rin!” Alicia exclaimed, catching up to the younger girl.
“Overworked, much?” William complained, his hands tucked into his pockets despite the robe in the way.
“Eh, I’d say it’s still normal,” Owen shrugged, walking not far behind the group.
Watching their backs become farther and farther, the two fathers smiled, feeling rather nostalgic. For a moment, they imagined it was the three of them, young and energetic, traveling through many worlds without a care in many worlds. After all, having gone through trials and tribulations, the twenty-nine years story had come to an end.
“Kinda reminds me of our early days, doesn’t it?” Joshua mused. “Just the three of us going on a journey no one else ever will.”
“Indeed, Joshua,” Ronald nodded. “Indeed.”
Azhure: So, what do you all think of this part? Is it good? Are there any problems with it? Any reviews or feedback is appreciated as long as they’re not plain insults meant to blow off your stress.
Voice: Don’t do that to people! Not even on the internet!
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