104: Farewell to a Best Friend
After the joint training exercise, I stayed in Litalside for another week.
I moved to the barracks in Fort Litalside, and ‘participated’ in a proper joint training exercise, with Harken in charge of swordsmanship training and Rebecca and Samarkand in charge of counter-magic training.
More accurately, Bridget and Liz gave me some ‘training,’ and I showed them the limits of my abilities, both sisters sharing a similar smile.
When the training was over, I spent my time chatting leisurely, sometimes with just Bridget, sometimes with Liz, as if to make up for lost time.
I even kept my promise to the chef and visited the restaurant on Lake Kagone again, this time with Bridget, for a total of four, and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
It was a fun, special time.
And so, it had to end.
The time for farewells had come.
“Ugh… Bridget…”
I hugged her, and she patted my back comfortingly.
“—Come on, the carriage is ready.”
In just a week, Bridget seemed to have gotten used to my antics.
“We will wait as long as you need. We would not dare to interrupt a farewell between friends.”
Today, Samarkand was a competent coachman. Harken was silent, but I knew he, too, would wait as long as I wanted.
But I couldn’t.
“I’m going to miss you…”
“Yes. Me too…”
She stroked my hair. Then she gently pushed my shoulders, creating a small distance between us. We were now face to face.
I’m so reluctant to leave.
She was my first friend in this world. We’d had a misunderstanding, and we’d finally reconciled… but now, we were both supreme commanders of the Demon King’s army.
We had mountains of work to do, but in different places.
“…Master. Let’s go. We can’t stay like this forever.”
“I know, but…” I looked at Liz. She smiled.
“…You have me, don’t you?”
She said something so incredibly cute that I had to hug her. Liz’s face turned red.
“Why do you always have to hug me like that, Master?!”
“Because I’m happy.” I nuzzled her cheek one last time, then pulled away.
“Bridget, well then…”
“Yes. Take care of my sister.”
“Of course.” I nodded.
“If anything happens, call me. I’ll drop everything and come.”
“I’ll try to make sure that’s not necessary, so please just give me a heads-up.”
We all got into the carriage, and it started to move. I opened the carriage window.
“—See you later, Bridget!”
I leaned out and waved enthusiastically.
“Yes, see you later!”
She waved back. A big, whole-body wave, so I could see it even from this distance. So everyone could see it.
“—Ah.”
I was so happy that I waved back even more enthusiastically, and lost my balance.
“Whoa, Master?!” Liz quickly caught me, preventing me from falling. She pulled me back inside the carriage.
Liz and Rebecca gave me exasperated looks.
“You’re so reckless, Master…”
“What were you doing? Thank Liz.”
“Yeah.” Liz still had her arms around my stomach, so I turned and hugged her.
“—Thank you, Liz.”
“…You really like hugging, don’t you, Master?”
“It’s a little different.”
“How so?”
“I just really love you, Liz.”
“…Yes, yes. I know.”
“Rebecca, do you think she knows?”
“I think so, but you should probably say those things when you’re alone.”
“As expected of Rebecca.”
“Rebecca, please stop saying such things.”
Liz, who had been lightly hugging me back, released me and pushed me away.
I didn’t let that deter me. I scooted closer, our shoulders touching.
“That was a fun trip.”
“…Yes, it was.” Liz nodded.
I was a little disappointed that we didn’t have more time for sightseeing, but we’d managed to find some fun in between, and most importantly, our work was done.
The thorn in my side was gone, and I felt like everything was going smoothly.
—Though I knew that was an illusion.
“But when we get back, please get back to work. As I’m sure you’re aware, we have many enemies, and many challenges ahead.”
“Yes.”
I was the Lord of Disease.
Species: Human.
Objective: Human extinction.
My battle would not end until all of humanity was exterminated.
Or until I died.
Or until I was no longer needed.
I hugged Liz, as if to ward off the chill that had crept into my heart.
“So, that’s why, hug!”
“Did you finally give up on making up a legitimate reason?!”
As I held Liz, I thought, She’s so warm, so soft, so precious.
Compared to this, all of humanity is worthless.
Liz, as if sensing something, stopped trying to push me away. She gently wrapped her arms around my back.
And hugged me back.
