EP.104 30-2. Please Remember Me Under the Magnolia Tree.
There was something I had occasionally mulled over.
That love fades over time, that there is no match for time.
Looking back now, that's just bullshit. Those people just didn't have enough heart. An excuse to rationalize loving someone else.
"Licht, slowly."
"Please keep a little, just a little distance. Or use magic..."
I was already living proof that completely denied that statement.
In the 15 years that had passed, I had never liked anyone other than Phine. To be precise, she was irreplaceable.
"I'm too anxious for that."
I had heard many times that half the world was women, and that I would meet good people as I lived my life. But what could I do if that wasn't the case?
I hated the lyrics in common breakup songs, and love songs. Because the heavy emotion of pure love was being consumed too lightly.
There used to be a lot of good songs, but the songs that come out these days are all just not very good. I guess you could say they don't have an emotional arc.
Love songs in the spring, breakup songs in the fall or winter. It was always similar.
"Licht, watch out for the threshold ahead."
"Ah... Yes."
I looked at Phine, who was sticking close to me and supporting me. So close that I could even hear each other's breathing.
'Her heart is so beautiful.'
Other people set up separate households when they possessed or reincarnated, but I didn't understand that at all.
They liked this woman and that woman, and it was hard to choose, or whatever. It was ridiculous.
"Um, Phine. Why is your tail wrapped around my leg?"
"..Do you not like it? I feel like it's more stable this way."
"It's fluffy. Thank you."
"Pervert.."
Our Phine was the only kind person in the world? You have to compare things that are comparable. I couldn't help but smile a little.
"Licht..? Are you in pain?"
"I'm just happy."
I thought I wouldn't get caught because I was wearing a helmet. I was just so happy that she was talking to me like this and being close to me.
'Wouldn't it be nice to die like this?'
I thought about it earlier too, but wouldn't it really be a peaceful passing? A pretty white-haired beauty was taking care of me and cutting up fruit for me.
"Maybe this is heaven, Phine."
How cute were the pure white wolf ears that moved from moment to moment. I wanted to touch them again, but she would get angry.
"You're really sick..."
I didn't know if I was okay with the soft things touching me here and there. It was so different from my body, which had become strong through swordsmanship training.
How much time had passed?
"We're almost there."
"Okay, Licht."
I barely opened the last door and left the treatment center. The outside air, which I hadn't breathed in for a long time, was slightly humid.
"That person is Master White Magnolia, Phine."
A long brown-haired woman and a blue-haired man could be seen at the end of the field. It was White Magnolia and Dennis, who were now free from Head's tricks.
Normally, they would be hugging each other and crying as soon as the seal was released, but why were they standing still without saying anything to each other?
"She saved me when I was about to die from Magic Hat before."
I wondered if something was wrong. I took a step forward to get closer.
"She's a woman, Licht."
She was angry in a low voice next to me. I guess she misunderstood.
"It's just a relationship between a disciple and a master. She's also Professor Dennis's lover."
"Womanizer... Men are all the same."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
What? When I glanced to the side, our Phine was glaring at my second master while biting her lower lip. Was she envious of the relationship between Dennis and the Heavenly Demon?
"Phine, don't bite your lip. You'll get hurt."
"..But I won."
Then, Phine slightly pushed out her chest, as I had seen in my dream. What on earth did she win...
"Hehe, as expected. My heart is pounding."
"..."
Ah, the game's physics engine was amazing. Something that heaved up and down once gave me a reminder of the feeling I had when I left the treatment center earlier.
"Please don't do this to anyone else..."
"I'll only do this to Licht."
I didn't know if I was hot because I was with Phine, or if I had caught a summer cold.
"..Because perverts have to be punished."
My face kept getting hotter and my blood was rushing. Everyone in town, our Phine has become a fox.
"I'm sorry, Phine."
Was this the karma I had to suffer for not recognizing her all this time? Foxes are also monogamous animals like wolves.
I was inwardly reciting the Heart Sutra and watching the main characters of reunite.
***
The Demon Lord's assumption that time would pass and love would be forgotten did not apply to Dennis.
"Hehehe! My bold disciple has done it, Dennis."
"No, 'our' disciple, Magnolia."
"Hoh, are you not even going to yield to this lady now?"
It had already been almost 20 years since he wanted to save her from Head, and because of the Ignorance, he couldn't even remember her face or name.
"Yeah. I've grown a lot too. I even became a college professor..."
"Too much time has passed."
Dennis always longed for spring.
He cherished the pheasant's-eye that the Heavenly Demon had given him, even using magic to grow them, or he preferred the coffee that she used to enjoy drinking after being summoned as a hero.
"..To call him a child soldier, he has completely become a man."
"Then Magnolia must be a complete old woman."
"I'll take back what I said earlier. You've become an old man. You."
He put into practice all the actions he could to remember White Magnolia. To the point where there were only a handful of things he hadn't done.
"So... Did you meet another lover and get along well, Dennis?"
But the Heavenly Demon spoke of a possible possibility. The men in the world of martial arts she had lived in were always martial artists who took love lightly.
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Isn't it obvious? Childhood puppy love is as light as air."
Because she was a female Heavenly Demon, men blinded by lust came to her and asked for a duel, and it was common for strong people to have several wives.
"..Didn't you hear about it from Licht, Magnolia?"
"Honestly, I couldn't believe it."
Dennis sighed. Some say that childhood love is not love. Certainly, when he was summoned here as a hero, he was a boy.
"Rather, that's why first love is pure. Because you look less at the details like the other person's face or wealth."
The man opened his mouth, thinking that he had picked up such words from somewhere and misunderstood. Because the first love that Dennis had cherished was still his current love.
"Would you believe me if I said that I still like magnolias, Heavenly Demon?"
He tried using polite language, like in the conversations they had in the past. In fact, using informal language now might be a struggle to resolve the awkwardness with her.
No matter how much time passed, the drunkard's love for the dragon did not change. It was closer to saying that it had matured.
"..It is sublime. Hehehe."
Then, the Heavenly Demon spoke while looking into Dennis's eyes. Now that she wasn't activating her defense magic, her eyes were as blue as the sea.
"To have waited almost 20 years for a woman who doesn't even have any cuteness, even the landscape changes in 10 years."
"It's not a good story to hear when we've even made a wedding promise, Magnolia."
"..Dennis."
As she watched that, her dragon-like irises turned into crescent moons, and her unique fangs were visible when she slightly opened her mouth.
Whack, the Heavenly Demon moved first. White Magnolia wrapped her arms around the blue-haired man's waist and hugged him.
"Now alcohol isn't good for your body. It's obvious that cigarettes are harmful."
Her dragon tail was wagging fiercely like a dog.
"Why are you suddenly saying that...?"
"I can't take care of a dragon's egg alone, can I?"
"..."
"Originally, when a man and woman share feelings, they must become one in heart and soul. Boy soldier from another world."
Despite his nickname of being a drunkard, he no longer drank alcohol. His hands were trembling from a lack of alcohol.
"Hold me tighter. Can't you feel the trembling?"
"I understand. Heavenly Demon."
Noticing that, White Magnolia made her body stick even closer to Dennis so that he could feel more stable. Their heartbeats were being transmitted as if they had become one body.
"Let the world hear!!"
With a smile on her lips, the Heavenly Demon opened her mouth towards the sky. As if proclaiming that this meeting was not the end but the beginning.
"The cursed spring dragon has fallen in love!!"
A voice that shook the ground and rang through the atmosphere.
She was the second strongest in combat power among the Ten Greats.
"I was tricked by the Demon Lord of Omniscience and became a fleeting dream that seemed to disappear if I reached out, but now this lady is with the man I love!"
She continued to speak. The moment she was rewarded for a love that had not been reciprocated for nearly decades.
"Wasn't this much hardship enough!"
She shouted while looking at the blue summer sky. The passing clouds stopped. White Magnolia and Dennis did not want any more unhappiness.
"There is no reason to separate two men and women who love each other!"
A faint moon appeared in the daytime, and it moved to overlap with the sun, which only showed a slight shape. An impossible movement in the first place.
"So... Please just make the two of us happy now. World."
With her mind alone, the Heavenly Demon ruined the sky. The people around her were just watching the situation with their mouths open as they watched the scene.
"I'll be happy, Magnolia."
Dennis stroked her. Tears welled up in White Magnolia's eyes. The warmth of her lover's body that she felt after countless years.
It was so warm, and it all felt like a dream to be in this place. The Heavenly Demon was crying while hugging Dennis.
"..This is enough. I am more than satisfied."
"There's still one more thing left. Magnolia."
That was when it happened. Dennis raised his right arm to the sky while maintaining the hug.
"What...?"
"Even if it's summer, we should try to feel the spring, shouldn't we?"
A three-dimensional magic circle appeared in his hand.
Several magic circles formed a perfect sphere, and a small sphere, like a satellite, revolved around it, drawing a line.
"Where did you learn this...?!"
"There's nothing I can't do for our cute Magnolia flower."
A moment later, with a loud bang, a magnolia tree with white flowers in full bloom appeared behind them,
"..I always remembered it. White Magnolia."
The man, who saw that the magic had succeeded, looked at the woman he loved with nostalgic eyes.
"I also always remembered you... Dennis."
In the midst of the falling white petals, the two men and women shared a deep kiss.