The final game was decided by my victory.

　The hall was in an uproar over Kyle's disappearance after collecting the Foggy Specter, but in the end, they accepted my statement that he had erased it without a trace. It might have been a good thing that I had made blood-like dyes with mercury and sulfur and scattered them carefully on the stage.

　The awarding and closing ceremonies went off without a hitch.
　Although it was the Imperial Capital Tournament, the Emperor was not present, and the only decoration he received was a necklace from a balding, middle-aged man who claimed to be the chairman of the steering committee.
　He refused to join the Kingsguard during the ceremony. I decorated my words in consideration of my opponent's mentality, but I was impressed by the fact that he accepted it as if it were a matter of protocol.
　The only good thing about it was that I received a large amount of money for the championship, which was tightly packed.

　And then.
　Early morning of the next day.

　Mabel and I were standing outside the walls of the Imperial City.

　It's a long walk from the city gates, where the forest is not far away.
　In front of us, standing wordlessly in front of us, was a small moss-covered rock.

".........

　Under this rock, Kyle sleeps.

　I put his dead body in phase and took it away so no one knows about it.
　I'm sure the LeGrouk Trading Company would have collected it and disposed of it without leaving any traces.

　At the very least, I wanted to give her a burial.

　It wasn't so much for Mabel as it was for me.
　I still can't think of the words of my offer to her.

''It's okay. I knew it.

　As if she had read my thoughts, Mabel said quietly.

I kind of expected that kind of curse. I kind of expected such a curse to be placed on me, because the 'product' I lost never came back. And I know you tried to help your brother out. So don't let it bother you. I gave up on the idea of saying goodbye properly like this.
....

　I don't regret not bringing Kyle back to life.
　That secret technique is something that I refrained from using even in my previous life.
　It's too much against the logic of the world to revive an ever-living person. There would be no end to what they would be asked to do, and sooner or later they would go bankrupt.
　It was a mistake to forget the self-control he had decided to exercise in his previous life, and to try to use it in the heat of passion. Even if you were loose, it was too much.

　Yuki was right, neither Kyle nor Mabel had any debt or righteousness to do so.
　There was no reason to perform the secret technique that he didn't do in his previous life, no matter how much he begged for it, there was no reason for him to do it there.

　It's just.
　I just couldn't do it.

''........Was it right to be in a place like this?　If you wanted to bury me in your hometown, I would have gone along.

　It was Mabel who had chosen this place.
　She shook her head.

'Good. We don't have a home anymore.

　Before there's another long silence, I say to Mabel.

"So that's... that... that's your real name, Mabel.

　Hearing this, Mabel nodded curiously.

'Yeah. Did you think it was a fake name?'
At first.
Normally, I don't think people would choose the name of an old hero for a fake hero.
''Well that's true too. It's too deliberate.
But why?
'Kyle ... has been calling your name a few times. So,
Yeah.

　I tell Mabel, who has a calm expression on her face.

"Actually, there's something that Kyle wanted me to tell you,
Eh....
It's just that I don't know what it means, you know, "I'm sorry about the four leaves.

　Mabel opened her eyes with a gasp.
　Then she began to speak in a dull voice.

Shortly before the surgery my brother broke my precious four-leaf hairpiece by mistake. We got into a fight. I think it was that, yeah. It wasn't any of that stuff and...

　I hear her sobbing next to me.
　I wait in silence for Mabel to stop crying.

　A long time passes.
　Mabel whispers softly.

"....What is going to happen to me?
'I told you. You're going to go back to school and spend some time as a student.
Are you sure?

　Mabel looked at me.
　There was a note of uncertainty in her voice.

"I still can't believe this is happening. My brother was going to kill me," she said. I lost a game. I'm not going to be able to say that I'm an adopted child of a nobleman and a student of the magic academy, and I'm not going to be able to go back to such a false identity and live on. Hey, really?　Are you sure?　I........
I'll be fine.

　And then I took Mabel's hand.

"Let's go," I said, "the carriage will be leaving soon. The carriage will be out in a few minutes. Our carriage.
.........
Even if it's not okay.

　I pause for a beat and say, "I'll take care of it.

"I'll take care of it, okay? "I'll take care of it. Don't worry.

　Just because you're the strongest doesn't mean you can do everything.
　Rather, it's amazingly powerless.

　But still.
　We have more options available to us than most humans.


****


Oh, you're finally home.

　When we got back near the gates, we saw Amu standing in front of our carriage with his hands on his hips.
　In front of the carriage we were riding in, Amu was standing with his hands on his hips.
　Next to him was Yifa, who looked anxious.

　I had informed them of the situation.
　That Kyle and Mabel are brother and sister and were raised by a merchant association that surrounded them with mercenaries. Kyle was cursed with a silencing curse that was triggered when he was defeated. I had secretly taken his body away. And that Mabel and I had just buried it.
　The only thing they didn't tell me was that they were brave. It was a coincidence that Mabel was taken in by a nobleman because of a connection, and it was a coincidence that they were going to meet again at the convention. That's what I decided to do.
　Let's let Amu remain unaware of what's going on.

　And so, that Amu is....
　He was looking at Mabel for something and smiling fearlessly.

''Hmph, I'm tired of waiting. I don't mean to blame you, though.''
Hey, Amu, are you sure you want to do this?　Nothing now...
You're a fool. It's times like these that you should grab a sword.

　We were both struggling with it.
　What is it?

Freshmen.

　And then.
　Amu held out a single sword to Mabel.

　It's a much wider and longer sword for a one-handed sword.
　It looks like a cheap one,

　Amu tells her.

'Come with me for a fight.'
No. I'm not in the mood.
I don't care!

　As he said it, he forcefully pushed the sword to Mabel.
　Then I drew my Mithril staff sword, which I am totally in love with.

''It's not a mock sword, so if the weapon breaks or you drop it, you lose.
...What's that? What's the stopping point?
I'm not gonna risk it.

　I crane my neck.
　That's a weird rule.

Oh yeah, you're not allowed to do magic.
Okay.
I need it.
...What?

　Mabel says, raising an eyebrow.

'Are you kidding me?'
Come on. You won once. Give me a handicap.

　That's an awful lot of talk.

"Seika. Just say the word.

　It's kind of not very Amu-like.
　You know what's going on with Mabel. She shouldn't have been so insensitive as to offer a rematch at a time like this, but.......

　Well........okay.

I'll be going then. ....begin.

　Amu kicked the ground.
　He swung his staff sword and slashed at the one-handed sword held by Mabel.

　It's just...........it's just not as sharp as usual.
　And it's strangely slow.

　Mabel holds her sword up and tries to receive it with a dubious expression.

　But the moment each blade touches.

　Mabel's one-handed sword snapped in half with a loud sound.

''N-........''

　Mabel rolls her eyes.

　Amu says.

'Wow!'

　He stepped on the tatara and fell to the ground, as if he were being swung around by his own sword.
　Surprisingly, the sword barrel of the staff sword, which was stuck to the ground, was buried about halfway down.

　Amu, who was falling on his buttocks, smiled at Mabel.

''Haha, I won!　How are you freshmen?　I can do this too!
Now, the magic of gravity...
'You can't lick a first-class passer with all the attributes!　But this is difficult. How can you use this stuff in real life?
....

　Mabel stared at Amu in silence.
　But ... eventually he sighed and reached out to the fallen hero.

'There's a trick. You have to break the spell faster. You won't be able to pull it back.
Yeah. Thanks. The other thing I want to ask you is, can't you do something about the rebound when you swing it around?
Use it only when you need to hit it. When you swing it, the centrifugal force inevitably increases, so...
Hey, guys, should we get going?　

　I smiled a little.
　I smiled a little and said to them as they talked.

All right, we're going home, boys. We'll talk about it in the carriage.

　Then we all get into the carriage for Rodnea.
　It will be all right.