The Water Magician

"Ryo!"

With a flower-like smile, Sera was the first to hug Ryo.

"Hey, Sera, you came too!"

Ryo welcomed Sera with a big smile.

"It's a national crisis, after all. I rushed here as fast as I could."

"Not the very first, but... I managed to make it in time somehow."

Sera said, and the lady granny subtly denied it.

"My feelings were first!"

"Y-yes."

Both Sera and the lady granny had come from far away, so it couldn't be helped.

"Ryo... I told you not to come back."

"Abel said something strange, so I got anxious! He said the kingdom is doomed, and that I should never return to the Central Nations. Weren't you all doing just fine without me?"

"No, at that time, Sera, Roman, and Nadia hadn't arrived yet..."

Ryo scolded Abel for his last words during the "echo of the soul."

"That's right, Roman and Nadia... Ah, they're greeting Ms. Marlin."

Ryo saw Roman and Nadia greeting Marlin.

By the way, there was a coffin-sized box next to Marlin.

What was inside it... goes without saying.

Having enough energy to fill the West Dungeon, which lacked for long-distance teleportation... it had fallen from grace...

"I haven't seen you in a while, Ms. Marlin," and "Roman and Nadia have grown so much," I could hear them talking.

Marlin was completely in the position of a grandfather for the two.

"Marlin? That red old man?"

"Yes. He's a good demon and the strategist of the demon king's army."

"I see, the strategist of the demon king's army... Huh? A demon!?"

Abel was shocked.

It was only natural. The opponent they had just fought was a demon.

"That's why he's a 'good' demon. The demon everyone was fighting earlier... according to Ms. Marlin, he's a demon named Garwin, but he's different."

"Your majesty, the sword."

Dantan picked up Abel's magic sword that had rolled away and handed it to him.

Abel received it and was finally able to stand with his beloved sword as support.

By the way, during all this, Sera still clung to Ryo.

At that point, it seemed the priests had recovered enough to stand up.

Ryo looked at the priests and gasped in surprise.

"That... isn't that the 'long-distance dispersion divine mercy'? To bring something like that out... it really was a war."

"Thanks to that, we managed to avoid the collapse of the front lines. It was thanks to the priests... and Kenneth."

As Abel spoke, he looked at Kenneth, who continued to sleep beside the "long-distance dispersion divine mercy."

"Kenneth?"

Ryo looked at him with suspicion.

Immediately, he noticed what Kenneth was holding tightly in his right hand.

The main part had already shattered and was no longer there, but the cord meant to hang it around his neck was familiar.

"Ah... he activated the storage-type bullet rain..."

"Storage type? Well, he activated it without a chant. Is that alchemy?"

"Yes. Even though it's a one-time use, it uses quite precious materials... Furthermore, it seems to consume all the magical power in the body."

"That's incredible..."

Abel was astonished at Ryo's explanation.

"To forcibly activate the highest-grade wind attack magic without a chant... But, under the current circumstances, he said it couldn't be practically used, so he only made prototypes. To think they had no choice but to use it..."

"That was amazing. Standing in front of that device... with the bullet rain, it turned the demon into Swiss cheese. It was meant to seal, but in the end, the sealing failed, and the demon regenerated..."

"Eh..."

In that moment, Ryo pushed Sera away from his embrace.

Sera stepped back, her expression one of confusion.

Then she saw it.

An arm "growing" from Ryo's chest, precisely from the position of his heart.

And the blood that was pouring out.

"Goff!"

Blood spilled from Ryo's mouth...

"I know, the Robe of the Fairy King reflects everything if it has even a little magical power. But conversely, if you completely remove the magical power, it can penetrate."

That voice was known to all except for Ryo present.

The voice of the one who should have vanished moments ago.

The horrifying... voice of demon Garwin.

Ryo knelt on both knees.

Only Garwin's left forearm had penetrated Ryo's chest.