Published: March 21, 2026
"...Did you need something from me?"
Akira stood in front, Amelia behind. That left the annoying old person—who could hardly move—standing toward the center of the ship, perhaps content to play the messenger. Then my mother, who should have been resting until her next watch, stepped out from inside the ship.
"No... no, ah, well, um..."
Noah averted her eyes and trailed off awkwardly. I crouched down and widened my eyes, looking up at her. In my memories Noah always spoke clearly and never avoided my gaze. Our childhood friends and others often said you couldn't lie to those eyes that stared straight at you.
When I crouched, I looked up at that small face as I used to when we were children. For some reason the posture calmed me. Someone who didn't know our relationship would probably think I, the older brother, was listening to my little sister. It was strange, considering we were parent and child. Come to think of it, it had been about two hundred years since I'd really looked at her face like this.
"What, did you have an upset stomach or something?"
I teased, and a fist came flying at me. She'd always hit with less force than she could, but the tendency toward violence hadn't changed.
Noah exhaled and, as if deciding on something, finally let the words she'd been swallowing drop.
"I thought I should tell you the message from Aria."
A message from Aria—was that what she'd been entrusted with when the magical tool Ritter had set up at our base made the supposedly dead Aria and Ritter appear, translucent, and they passed on words?
Come to think of it, they said there wasn't much time back then. Ritter talked about what the former Hero needed to tell the current hero. I had to rein in Ritter's wildly off-topic remarks, so I only managed to exchange a word or two with Aria. Aria simply told me she forgave me. It was likely about my guilt over not being there for her on that day during "adrea's nightmare." That single word seemed to wash away nearly a hundred years of regret I had carried since then.
I vaguely recalled Aria having talked to Noah while we were speaking.
"I've got no idea what she might have said."
I heard the thing Aria most wanted to say to me directly back then.
"Well, the message I was entrusted with in that situation was a bit... ah, it was kind of tone-deaf. Ritter's brat would have said it on the spot."
Noah looked embarrassed and averted her eyes, making me tilt my head further. That made it even more baffling.
After an exaggerated cough, Noah imitated Aria in a higher voice.
"'Onii-chan, when are you going to marry Lady Ria? I've been waiting so long I'm exhausted. If you don't get together with Lady Ria and be happy before you come here, I'll send you away'... or so she said."
I couldn't help but clutch my head while still crouched.
What? Did my little sister just say that to me?
A childish, exasperated tone slipped out of me before I could stop it.
Being her mother, Noah did a disturbingly good Aria impression—so much so it sounded like it had actually been said right in front of me.
"Ah, I told her maybe I shouldn't relay that line word for word, but she insisted on having the entire line delivered exactly as it was."
Noah spoke in a somewhat sympathetic voice, offering an excuse while patting my shoulder.
"No, how big do you think the age gap between me and Ria is... Besides, Ria and I aren't that kind of relationship..."
I'm about two hundred ninety-five years old now. Ria was born after "adrea's nightmare," so she probably isn't a hundred yet. There's roughly a two-hundred-year gap. Even among Beastmen, who often don't care about age because appearances don't change much, a two-hundred-year difference is unprecedented. Loving someone that far apart in age—someone who could be your grandchild rather than your child—would be hard to accept.
On top of that, I'm Ria's godparent. To her I'm more like family than a stranger.
"...Nope."
At the very least, Ria would feel sorry for being involved with an old man whose aging had already begun.