We ate apples while looking out the window. Fields and mountains were visible—it looked like nothing but a Japanese landscape. Except the one driving the car was a goblin.
“Hey, is that treeless mountain a result of the war?”
I pointed at the bald mountain we’d seen while walking.
“Huh? That’s probably from a volcano. Beppu is one of the top hot spring towns, after all. You guys are from this country, right? How do you not know that?”
The goblin knew more than we did…
“We’re from Tokyo.”
“That’s quite far away.”
“We were students at a high school in Tokyo.”
“Hmm… kids suddenly getting sent to another world, that’s rough. And ten years at that… what happened?”
Somehow, Elvis seemed like a mature adult.
“It’s an absurd story.”
“Everything’s already absurd. Us coming to this world, and you guys claiming you went to another world.”
That’s true.
“We were suddenly transported to another world during class. And a god ordered us to defeat the Demon King.”
“Hehehe. That really is absurd. A god and the Demon King, huh? And then?”
“We set out on a journey, and many things happened. But Ayaka and I both lost friends along the way and lost heart. We could no longer continue, so we remained stuck in one town until another classmate defeated the Demon King and we were sent back.”
So many things really had happened. Fun things… and painful things…
“Hmm… you lost friends. Killed by monsters?”
“Yeah.”
“Let me tell you something. Mourning your friends and regretting what happened are important, but don’t let them consume you.”
“What would you know about it…!”
Ayaka’s voice was filled with anger.
“I do know. I told you there was a war, and it’s still going on, right? My comrades died too, and I killed people who were comrades to someone else. Yuu, Ayaka, don’t let yourselves remain trapped by your friends’ deaths. People who do rarely meet a good end.”
A good end…
“Do you think so?”
“Demons and humans are the same in that regard. People who remain trapped by the dead rarely meet good ends. Come on, hold hands for a moment.”
Huh?
“Why?”
“Just try it.”
Umm…
“Brother, this is where you smoothly take her hand.”
Umm…
“Is this okay?”
“Yeah yeah.”
Ayaka reached over and took my hand.
“How’s it?”
Warm… and soft…
Ayaka’s hands are small, aren’t they?
“Well, what about it?”
“Don’t dwell too much on the dead. Look at the companion beside you. You two aren’t alone, and life goes on. Think carefully about what you should prioritize.”
…………
“Got it.”
“Right… Yuu-kun, and Mayumi, Hina, Omura-kun, and Matsunaga-kun are all here.”
That’s right.
“…So it’s not just you two who came back from the other world.”
Ah, right!
“They came back too!”
And they’re in the same situation. At worst, they could be right in the middle of a demon town.
“That’s right. Elvis, do you have a phone charger or anything?”
“Charger? I have a mobile battery. Here.”
Elvis took a mobile battery out of his spatial magic and handed it to Ayaka.
“I need to contact them… huh? It won’t plug in?”
“Huh? Let me see.”
Elvis held out his hand while driving, so Ayaka handed him both the smartphone and the power bank. Elvis then stopped the car and examined them.
“Ah… it uses an old connector. I suppose that’s only natural after ten years. Let’s see…”
Elvis opened the glove compartment and rummaged through it. Then he took out a cable and connected the power bank to Ayaka’s smartphone.
“This should work. Here.”
He returned the smartphone to Ayaka, and the car started moving again.
“Should I call?”
“I just started charging it. I don’t even know if it’ll work…”
That’s true.
“How many others are there besides you?”
Elvis asked.
“I think there are about thirty people in total. Four of them are our companions.”
Minato, Riku, Omura-san, and Kitaura-san.
“Are they about as strong as you?”
“Some are stronger than us. At the very least, there’s someone who defeated the Demon King.”
“I see… Sounds like things are about to get messy…”
Probably.
“Hey, you have a smartphone too, right? Can you contact your friends or anything?”
“I can, but my acquaintances are all in Beppu, you know? I don’t know about other towns. Well, maybe I can check online.”
The internet, huh.
“Hey, I don’t know about this war or whatever, but the infrastructure is still there, right?”
“Both humans and demons have kept the infrastructure running. Social media is hilarious—humans and demons get into flame wars, while strange groups have also formed between them. The best-known example is the Succubus Church I mentioned earlier.”
What a world it’s become.
“What’s the war like?”
“Things have calmed down to some extent now. But it depends on the location. Around Fukuoka seems pretty intense. I don’t know about Honshu.”
Honshu…
“How about Tokyo? Is there any information on social media?”
“Ah, you guys are from Tokyo, right? Family?”
“Yeah. Haven’t seen them in ten years.”
“Of course you’d be worried. Hold on a sec.”
Elvis took out his smartphone and started operating it.
“You’re driving.”
“Shut up. Well, I guess there’s no rush. Jeez…”
Elvis stopped the car.
“News or something like that?”
“The news is useless. It’s full of fake stories, and there’s no one left to hold anyone accountable, so nothing can be trusted. Whatever you do, don’t look at video sites.”
Sounds like there’s a lot of unpleasant stuff.
“Then how do you search?”
“Social media. Tokyo… since it’s on the human side, the damage isn’t that bad. Look.”
Elvis showed us his smartphone, and Ayaka and I looked at it together. The screen displayed what appeared to be the Shibuya cityscape.
“Looks normal. Doesn’t seem to have changed much.”
“There don’t seem to be any new buildings, but it doesn’t look destroyed either.”
“Well, in a situation like this, no one’s actively rebuilding skyscrapers. Do you guys want to go to Tokyo?”
Tokyo…
“Yeah. I want to see my family.”
“Of course.”
Ayaka and I nodded.
“I see… I received mana from Yuu. So I can give you information. Will you hear it even if it’s painful information?”
Painful information…
“Tell me.”
“I see. Then I’ll tell you. A considerable number of people died in Tokyo during the war. Because the country’s leaders were based there, it became the fiercest battleground. The good news is that the humans won that conflict. The bad news is that, apart from Chiba and Kanagawa, nearly all the territory surrounding Tokyo is controlled by demons—most of Kanto, Chubu, and Tohoku.”
So they’re surrounded.
“Is it difficult to get there?”
“There’s hope if you can successfully pass through demon territory unnoticed. But every border is heavily guarded.”
Of course they are.
They’re at war, after all.
“We’ll still go.”
“Yes.”
Ayaka and I nodded deeply.
“I see. But don’t rush, okay? If you search, there’s a way. Those who rush die. Remember that too.”
“We know that.”
Because we went to another world too…
We don’t use ads!
If you enjoyed our translation, please consider buying us a cup…
Thanks!!!
Become a Patron!
We don’t use ads!
If you enjoyed our translation, please consider buying us a cup…
Thanks!!!
Become a Patron!