Princess of the Six Flowers, page 18
part #6 of Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World Series
“I’m very grateful to hear you say that. You’ve not only lost your ring but had to part with that man… Your Highness. If he should defeat another of the Demon King’s generals, you’ll see him again…” Claire looked apologetic as she tried to comfort me.
Defeat one of the Demon King’s generals. That was no simple task, but I was sure he could do it, if anyone could. And I was sure he wouldn’t wait around.
“You’re right. I’m sure we’ll see him again soon,” I said with a smile.
Claire frowned with displeasure.
Cheerfully, as if to encourage me, Lain said, “Seeing you recently, milady, I expected you would say something selfish when Master Kazuma left us… But you certainly defied those expectations! I worried Master Kazuma had been a bad influence on you, but I see I shouldn’t have.” Her words brightened the mood.
“That’s because Elder Brother promised me,” I said with a smile.
“Promised you…? Ahh, you mean about finishing your game. Beat the pants off him, Your Highness!” Claire said. But that wasn’t the promise I had in mind.
Since time immemorial, it had been said in this country that the hero who defeated the Demon King would be given the right to marry the princess as a reward.
I looked again at the spot where my ring had been and whispered, so the two of them couldn’t hear me: “I hope you’ll take care of my ring, Big Brother.”
Epilogue 2 — Instead of a Dream, I Got a Ring
When we returned to Axel, courtesy of Lain’s Teleport spell…
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
We headed back to our mansion, where I threw myself down on the sofa and flung my arms and legs around like a child mid-tantrum.
Darkness glanced at me, then sat down and took a sip of tea. “Hey, can it. You’re a nuisance to the whole neighborhood. If you need to scream that loudly, go out of town to do it.”
“Get off my back, you dumb jerk! You ruined everything! If you hadn’t brought up the Demon King, I’m sure Iris would have made a different wish! ‘I want to stay with Elder Brother,’ or ‘I want to date Elder Brother,’ or ‘I want to sleep with Elder Brother’ or something!”
“Careful what you say! Don’t forget that Princess Iris is only twelve years old! She was never going to say any of those things anyway, not there! Maybe she might have said something like, ‘Let’s hire him on as the royal jester.’ Anyway, you hardly lived with her for more than a week, right? Do you have enough confidence to become this attached to a member of the opposite sex in such a short time? Face reality… Come on, I’ll make you some tea, so calm down.”
“Don’t talk to me about reality! I’ve been in a dream, living with a princess! I don’t want your logic or your arguments. I only just left her—let me dream a little longer!”
Megumin sat down next to me with only a sidelong glance at our argument.
“And Megumin!” I said. “I know how short-tempered you are, but how could you start a fight right at the last minute?!”
“Oh, that was a fight we had to have, as two little-sister types do. Not to mention that when we went out into the capital together, I very nearly got her into an excellent fight. In the end we weren’t able to rough up those punks together, so it was sort of a parting gift from me.”
I wanted to point out that she was the jailbait type, not the little-sister type, or tell her not to teach the princess weird things like that, but I saw that before I had realized what was happening, Megumin had become good friends with Iris, too. Maybe their friendship had blossomed because their ages were so close, and maybe they had been trying to put on a brave front for each other when Megumin had to leave.
Darkness gave me the tea she had prepared, while Megumin took out a piece of paper and began assiduously writing something on it. I peeked over her shoulder: It looked like a letter to someone. Iris, I’ll bet. I sipped my tea and grinned to myself as I realized Megumin had a more laid-back side, as well.
Aqua bustled out of the kitchen with a glass, which she set on the table along with the bottle of wine she had been clutching all this time. Then she sat on the sofa.
“Megumin, what are you writing?” she asked. “I get it—you’re going to send a letter to the princess, aren’t you? I remember you two talking in a room after the party ended yesterday. You were on a first-name basis and everything.”
Megumin went on scratching away at the paper, her face serious. “You’re wrong. This is a fan letter. I want to make sure it’s ready so I can give it to that masked thief anytime I might meet him.”
Darkness and I both spit out our mouthfuls of tea.
“Cough! H-hack! M-Megumin, do you like that notorious masked thief that much? Are you sure ‘fan letter’ is the right term for what you’re writing? This person is a criminal, remember.” Apparently, Darkness didn’t intend to give away that I was the thief.
“Like him? In a way, I suppose. In this day and age, there aren’t many people who are so dramatic. Even by Crimson Magic Clan standards, someone so unusual is, well, rather unusual. And he managed to break in to the castle with just one accomplice, and they were unstoppable. Don’t you want to root for him? I’m not so much in love with him as a man—it’s more a kind of hero worship.”
…Now what? Revealing my identity seems a bit less attractive now.
Then we heard a dry, popping sound, and a lovely fragrance filled our living room. Aqua must have opened the wine.
“Hey, that smells good. Give me some,” I said.
“Say the magic words. Say, ‘Lady Aqua, please be so kind as to share some of your wine.’”
…Forget it. I’ll just steal it.
I stood up to take the bottle, but Aqua quickly closed the top, put it back in her bag, and hunkered down like a turtle.
“Hey, don’t fight me for it! Just hand it over!”
“No way! Stop it—let me have this! Please, I’ll do anything, but just let me have this one thing!”
Any outsider who happened to see us might assume I was doing something practically inhuman to Aqua. She had curled up into a ball, and I was shaking her shoulders.
Darkness, her face red, was hitting my shoulders and wriggling her lower body.
“Me too… I’ll even pay you; just let me in on this role-play…”
“It’s not role-play! You were actually pretty cool in the capital a couple of times; where did that Darkness go? …Sheesh. Hey, Aqua!”
She obviously wasn’t going to budge, so I tried to compromise.
“I’ll go buy you some delicious wine from that guy Michael or whoever right now. Then we’ll wager our bottles on a contest. You managed to be a little bit helpful this time in spite of yourself, so as a reward, I’ll take a handicap.”
At this, Aqua reluctantly looked up, checking to see if I was serious.
“…Really? You’d go out to buy some wine just so you can have a contest with me? That’s really something. Are you sure there isn’t a catch?”
I guess she did learn something once in a while.
But I had her right where I wanted her. One more push would do it. I just needed to think of a convincing reason.
“Well, I mean, again, it was in spite of yourself, but you did kind of help save the capital. And we’re all home safe and sound, and I just wanted to celebrate that. There’s obviously not enough wine there for three people anyway.”
“Wait just a second, are you not counting me because you once again intend to make me drink juice? And what do you mean, safe and sound? Weren’t you murdered by kobolds?”
“K-keep it to yourself! I’m alive now, aren’t I? Safe is safe! Anyway, you’re too young to drink. I’ll buy you a nice cold Neroid, and you can just wait until you’re old enough for anything else.”
When I brought up her age, Megumin slammed the half-written letter down on the table.
“I am old enough to get married! I can handle a little wine! I challenge you to a drinking contest!”
That’s an alternate world for you. Wow, is Megumin really old enough to get married?
“H-hey, look, I don’t think alcohol would be good for you,” Darkness said. “But I guess we are celebrating. And we did stop an uncouth villain from succeeding in his dastardly plans. Okay, I’ll make something to go with our drinks. We’re finally home. I guess we can afford to have a feast this one night.” She stood and went to the kitchen.
Aqua perked up immediately on hearing the word feast. “Look, Kazuma, you haven’t been back in nearly a week. We don’t need to have a contest or anything. I think I could see my way to sharing with everyone else. Just a little bit.”
She set the bottle back on the table. I thought about pointing out that she had dodged a bullet, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood. I had gotten the little sister I’d always wanted—even if I’d had to leave her again after just a short while. I could be congenial for one day.
“I’m off to buy wine, then. If I let Kazuma go, I suspect I’ll find myself stuck with a Neroid!” Megumin announced, then flew out the door.
A little while later, the smell of something cooking drifted in from the kitchen.
“So we have wine and a snack,” Aqua said. “All we need for a real banquet now is a party trick…”
All of this felt so normal. It almost made me think my time in the capital really had been just a dream. Had I actually lived with a princess? Had she really called me Elder Brother and looked up to me? I took out the ring, the proof that I hadn’t just dreamed it, and stared at it wistfully…
At just that moment, Aqua, looking for something to use in her trick, spotted it.
“Oh! Hey, Kazuma, lend me that ring, will you? I’ll show you the most amazing magic trick!”
I admit I was a little curious, but I knew what happened to the rings she used in her tricks.
Aqua reached out for the ring, but I put it away before she could grab it…!
Afterword
Hello, everyone, it’s your singing, dancing author, Natsume Akatsuki.
I’ve decided to work on my body so I’ll be ready anytime I might get sent to another world. I’ve heard that ramping up the exercise too quickly is actually bad for you, so I’ve started by doing some light calisthenics and reading a lot of fighting manga. If you don’t see me next volume, you’ll know I was either summoned to another world or became a grappler.
…Enough rambling. I’ll use this space to tell you what’s coming up with Konosuba instead.
Simultaneous with the release of this volume, TORANOANA will be releasing a drama CD. The script is based on one of my short stories—pick it up if you want to catch an adventure that can only be heard on this CD.
Incidentally, the first volume of the manga version by Masahito Watari is coming out next month. Please look forward to Kazuma and his adventures as they can only be seen in comics.
By the way, I signed some papers for the Isekai Fair the other day. I never thought in all my life I would actually autograph something, so I practiced and practiced, got some extra paper in case I screwed it up, and was all prepared—and then the things my editor sent me had an illustration on them.
So all my preparations went to waste, and I signed the illustrated papers with a trembling hand, thinking, I must not fail. Next time someone asks me to autograph something, I think I’m going to cry and fight them about it.
Now, then.
We have here another volume in which I extend my gratitude to Kurone Mishima-sensei, along with my editor and designer, my proofreader, and the entire editorial staff, and all the people who helped get this book published.
In what seems like the blink of an eye, I realize I’m in my second year as an author. I’ll keep on writing, and I hope you’ll keep on reading!
More than anything else, my deepest thanks go to all the readers of this book. Thank you!
Natsume Akatsuki
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Natsume Akatsuki, Princess of the Six Flowers
