'Whoa, whoa, whoa!'

　Suddenly there was a huge explosion in the middle of nowhere.
　I was so amazed at the effect (even though I did it myself) that I almost sat up.
　I mean, everyone is surprised.
　If it were a real explosion, it's a horrendous spell that wouldn't let us all get away with it.
　This is only an attacking magic, so no matter how horrific it is, it is harmless to our companions.
　Well, this is a big thanks to Yumegami-san.

　The shining fireball turned into black smoke and rose up into the sky.
　Eventually, the smoke cleared up--.

Did you get it?

　That was an explosion.
　If it were a human, it would be a deadly attack.

　Even if they couldn't defeat it, they would have been able to do some damage to it.
　But--

You're kidding me. ......
I told him, master. I said, master, magic won't work on that guy. The same is true of the great magic of the spirit civilization: ....... I was surprised by the wonderful magic, but ......

　The guardian knight was alive.
　He didn't even fall down. He's standing in a human position.
　There would be soot on his body, and the damage itself, however, he moved quickly as normal.
　Soon, Shero-san and Hetty-san would take cover.
　Even with that many explosions, it's far from a kill.
　It's almost resisted, and looks like it's just a hair's breadth from an Ai-chan laser.

　The huge sword wielded by the guardian knight rubs against Shero-san's great sword and sparks fly.
　The steel sword swinging down from almost above your head is a tremendous amount of weight. Even Mr. Shero couldn't take it in a decent way and could only miss the impact and deflect its trajectory.
　The huge sword that was deflected off course pierced the ground.
　There is no time to make a dent. If it didn't work, we have to divide it up if it didn't work.

　Hetty-san leaps at the guardian knight using the golem as a foothold, and the blade slices through his neck like a lick.
　It's a good thing that you're able to get the most out of it.
　Marina's swinging hammer strikes her torso.
　Rebecca's shining holy sword follows suit.
　And although I join in the attack, the enemy doesn't fall easily. It's probably because of their high physical strength. It's what's called HP.
　It was the same with the bears. Against a monster that doesn't fall easily, there is no choice but to fight a battle of attrition!

　The guardian knight took a step forward with a dangling leg and slumped down.
　It's a signal to activate a sword technique.
　He only uses it occasionally, but when we are all frozen in place, he uses this.
　The timing was just wrong, and Rebecca was in the middle of the motion to launch an attack.
　Monsters are rarely scared of attacks. It's normal for them to take action even while eating an attack.

'Rebecca-san!　Run!

　I shouted.
　Naturally, Rebecca-san was also in evasive action, but perhaps because it was right before the attack, she was delayed for a moment.
　The guardian knight's continuous sword gusts there.

'Rebecca ‼‼'

　Shero-san, who was nearby, made her body leap between Rebecca and her guardian knight.
　With a giiiiiiiiin, a violent impact sound of steel and steel colliding with each other rang out.
　Shero-san dealt with a series of swords, but her body swam slightly against the heavy and fast sword.
　The second blow knocked him out of his stance, and with the third blow, he was flung off his sword.

''Shero-san!''

　Rebecca, sheltered by Mr. Shero, had already broken away, but she couldn't escape far away, and stood there as if she was blinded by the sight.

　With the fourth blow, a huge sword caught Ms. Shero's flesh.
　It slashed away as if it were scooping him up, and with the force of the blow, Mr. Shero fell to the ground about ten or so meters away.
　A spray of blood flew, and he fell to the ground, bouncing and falling over and over again, not moving even a twitch.
　Only the flowing blood stained the ground.

'............'

　Everyone was silent.
　A direct hit.
'Be ruthless in battle,' Shero often said, but he was a father after all.
　In the pinch of his own daughter, his body must have moved on its own.

'Dear Diana!　Quickly!

　Deanna comes to herself at Etowah's cry and runs, clutching the spirit stone.
　She tries to exercise a cure with spirit magic on the collapsing Shero-san, but she stops moving as it is.

　We were glancing at it while resuming our attack on the guardian knight.
　This had happened several times already today, even I've already been badly injured three times on my hands. I don't realize it because I forget myself, but broken bones are normal, at least.

　If I don't get Shero-san back to work soon, the front line is going to collapse.

'Deanna!　Come on!　Quickly, Mr. Shero, bring me back!

　At my prompting, Deanna turned over and slowly shook her head.
　Ms. Shero collapses to the ground. Deanna shaking her head.
　I immediately guessed. I could tell.

'Ma...... seriously?'

　Everyone else seemed to immediately see the significance of Deanna's shaking her head as she fought, too.
　But we're all warriors. That doesn't make them suddenly unable to fight.
　But they must be in shock.
　We can't afford to let the battle lines fall apart.

"Etowah, information is up. Tell the others.
Yes, sir. Boss.

　I flew instructions to Etowah on the walkie-talkie.
　I had only told Etowah about that.
　Etowah is mia mia! I was surprised, but he hid it well.
　Etowah grabs the microphone and shouts.

'Everybody calm down!　Clan members can be resurrected in the Temple even if they die!　And Mr. Shero, you can come back, so good luck keeping your front line from collapsing!　I'm sure of this, since the boss has heard it from the genie-sama!''

　Everyone gave me a look of surprise.
　That's right. Even if you're dead, you'll come back to life, even if you're told out of the blue.
　You might have thought it was a low-degree lie of comfort.
　But anything is possible when it comes to this point.
　Incidentally, I'm sure that I called up the spirit to find out if he can really come back to life or not. As expected, I didn't go so far as to try it out by dying, but I'm sure of it.

　Of course, Shero-san is also a clan member.
　Or rather, everyone here is a clan member.

　After a while, Shero-san disappeared as a particle of light.
　It would be impossible for an ordinary human to do that.
　He would have resurrected in the temple by now and said, "What the hell! It would have been.



　◇◆◆◆◇



　The battle became even more rigorous with the loss of Mr. Shero, who had been a pillar of mentality and combat.

　I, as a man, have to do it, and I'm taking on the role of a shield, but it's really a fierce sword flash, and it's all I can do to deflect it.
　Priestesses' defensive wards are not a good match for the shield role, as if you try to dodge a paper-thin line of defense or try to dodge an attack, you'll hit the wards first and disappear. It would be the strongest accompaniment to a discarded attack, though.

''d*mn!''

　They manage to deflect the attack for the first few times.
　In the meantime, Marina, Rebecca and Hetty continue to attack, but the guardian knight is incredibly tough and still shows no signs of falling down.
　The spirit stones have been used up at a rate of one every few minutes.
　If they run out of these, they will be whittled down and eventually wiped out.
　By then--
　If we don't get it down by then...

　The guardian knight unleashes a series of swords from a unique motion.
　We avoided this with plenty of time to spare this time.
　When we moved away from the monster for a bit, the priestess calls out to us.

''Jiro-san, I just received a report ...... that you have defeated a wyvern in the east spot .......
Oh, come on. You couldn't get away with it?
And then you took it down because you thought you could.
Why: "Why: ......

　Beat the wyvern. That in itself is fine.
　But after the Wyvern, it's the Rakshasa.
　That one is easy to win with a golem, but it's a very dangerous opponent for humans to fight alone.
　You'll never be able to defeat it with just a bunch of inexperienced guys with arms. The other spots should have more than a hundred warriors, but they would still be like a crowdsourced group.
　Even if it's a spot in the south that is contracted by a group of ex-mercenaries, it's still .......

''Why did you defeat them!　I told you the next monster would be even more dangerous!
'That's why ...... and I think I got a handle on the wyvern's behavior pattern and thought I could do it. ...... So, since there were only so many of them, they attacked him in large numbers and took him down or something.
Stupid.

　What an unnecessary group of people.
　It was easy to buy time because the wyvern was powerless on land, but against a rakshasa that can move freely on the ground, there's no way to keep it under control.
　The zombie attack with the spirit stone would be almost useless .......

''So, ...... they've already killed 20 people.
'Seriously? ...... My God, .......'

　What a bunch of idiots.
　Haven't you been doing well with the Hitotsutsuzukis all along in this world?
　Why couldn't you do as you were told!
　I can't believe 20 people died: .......

''Mr. Jiro-san need not worry about it. In fact, thanks to Mr. Jirou, we are still able to do this level of damage.

　Even the comforting words from the priestess sounded distant to me.
　These twenty people are the twenty that won't come back to life.
　It's not my fault. But I'm sure people died. We're the ones who aren't dying because we're Clan members.
　If this is the case, they should have just made everyone who participates in the battle a clan member.
　It's no use saying this now, though.

''Master.''

　Before I know it, Deanna, who had come next to me, is staring straight at me.
　She has a serious look on her face.

''Master. I was going to say, earlier, that I don't think I'm the only one who can say this during that ...... battle, but this is the only thing I can do.

Do you have any ...... secrets?

　If there's a secret plan, I want to get on board.
　We're already on the verge of entering a muddy battle of attrition.
　We're in a situation where we're fighting a boss battle that we don't know if we'll be able to beat, whether we'll run out of MP or the boss will die first, and the future is uncertain.

It's not a secret ...... strategy, but the situation should certainly be defeated.

Really? If there is such a thing, you have to go further than that.

　I was about to say it and realized what Deanna was trying to say.
　There are not many cards that Deanna has in her possession to begin with.
　Only the force-pressing spirit magic using the spirit stone and the special spirit power in her body.

　I take Deanna's serious gaze straight away.

　That time (・・・・) has come.

　The battle situation is rigid. I asked Shamash-san to summon a golem and ask him to halt the guardian knight while I was out of the way, then I faced Deanna.

''Deanna, what's the secret plan?''

'Yes. Master, I want you to pledge ...... 'everlasting love' with me.



　◇◆◆◆◇



'Eternal Love' or ......

It's my 'everlasting love' ....... Master, I told you that you would marry me. I will marry an elf, though even you know what that means.

Of course I know that.

"So ...... pledge that 'everlasting love' to each other ....... In fact, that is the condition for achieving ...... my special guidance.

　He knew about it. I didn't tell him that I knew about it.

...... This, once my guidance is accomplished, I will be able to use all of my spirit magic. Then, at least a monster like that.

　I see. Indeed, once the guidance is achieved, the fetters of this spirit crest covering your entire body will be removed and you will be free.
　But .......

''Are you sure?　I can't believe the timing.
'I have pledged my undying love to you from the beginning. Your master is just insensitive!
'Blunt ....... Maybe.

　I was aware of Deanna's feelings. I just had a lot of things going on that were maddening.
　And I had an answer for Eternal Love.

"Deanna.
...... Yes.

　I grab both of Deanna's shoulders.
　Crossed eyes and eyes.

'Do you know what it means to be in love with you forever?'
...... means we'll be together forever.
'No ...... I'll die before you do. You're an elf and I'm a human.
Don't you pledge your eternal love to ......?　Then your master will be able to live forever, just like me.

　Deanna says something salacious and scary.
　I mean, that's what eternal love is to Deanna - I guess that's what it means to her.

'Being alive forever, Deanna, is what it means to be alive forever. That means you can't die.
'Do you want to die?　The master is ......
I don't want to die. I don't want to die. - "I don't want to die, but I'll get old and die naturally. Living life to the fullest is the normal way of life. To live forever is a perversion.
Distortions: "......

　I love Deanna.
　But that doesn't mean I want us to live forever alone.
　It's just wishful thinking that if we could live forever, our love would last forever. That's what I was saying with Mr. Dreamy. He said that we're doing it because we know we're going to die one day.
　That's why we can't both live forever and so on.

''Special guidance, huh? Actually, it's on me, too.
'What?　Oh, really?
Yeah. But that means you can tell me what you want. What you want, what I want. Wouldn't it be nice to have an answer like that?
Yes, that's true, but ......

　If special guidance is what makes your wish come true, then you should be willing to listen to what I have to say.
　I don't know if the unhuman god who controls this world has that kind of flexibility.

"Deanna. I like you.
'What ............ eh!　Really?
It's true. I loved you from the moment I met you. I can't tell you how many times I almost touch you when you're living with me.
Eww, no. You should have left it out.
Everyone else was there, too. ...... Well, that's beside the point.
"Yes, sir.
"Deanna. I swear you and 'love forever'.
"Wow, I pledge my 'everlasting love' to you, too!

　With those words, Deanna's golden spirit power swelled up at once and blew out of her body.
　It's enough to dye the gray sky a brilliant golden color. Everyone in the middle of the battle is peeking at us to see what's going on.

'Special guidance' is the best magic in this world, they say.
　At least, that's how the High Elves perceive it, I heard from Serene.
　Her perception was that it was ...... because it was a magic that would bond you with your loved ones forever, but is that true?
　A high elf, who already has infinite life, makes his mate immortal ...... Can such a degree of magic be considered the best magic in this magical world, to say the least?

　I read the story of Kaguya on a tablet that Yumegen showed me.
　What is the reason for the breakthrough in Kaguya's artificial intelligence?
　What is the single wish that Kaguya has always had?

　The answer to that question is not exactly what it sounds like.
It's not just "to live forever with the one you love".

So, let's end the vow--

　Deanna, surrounded by golden light, closes her eyes.

　Before she knows it, the sound of sword fights has stopped and the world is enveloped in a silence that seems to have stopped time.
　In front of her, a high elf with a spirit crest all over her body, with her long platinum-blond hair swinging in a veil of shining light and her eyes closed.

'Deanna: ......'

　Vow nipping.
　But first, one thing.

"Tell me, Deanna. What is it you really want?　Tell me what you really wish for in this 'guidance'.
What?

　Deanna opens her eyes and tilts her head.

'Well, um, ...... why ......?　I really need to tell you: ......?
No.
''Ugh~....... I think I have told you this before, but when I was little I had a picture book about a dream visionary high mage and a high elf in my home ......, and it was the story of their union that I admired. I thought, 'Someday I too would like to be united with a strong boy with a unique profession. ...... Heh.

　Deanna says that with her ears turning red.
　This is exactly what you're guiding me to find my son-in-law: .......
　No, that's not the point now.

'Yeah. But there's more to it than that, isn't there?　The deepest wish of your heart. Yeah, like the first thing you wished for when you were born .......
'First, ......?　Why do you say such difficult things ......?
'Well, ...... right. Then why is 'special guidance' a guidance to find a mate?
'Eh, yeah. Looking for a mate. ...... That's right, come to think of it. ...... As far as I'm told, the purpose of the special guidance is to find a life partner--

　I'm almost there. We're almost there.

'Then there must be a time when you're willing to do it.
Um, .......

　Serene says that the special guidance doesn't come from anyone, but starts on its own when you reach a certain age.
　People say to me, "You're about to be old enough for special guidance. What type of man do you want to marry? It's not that they talk about things like that, he says.
　It seems that the idea of finding a mate was strongly in his consciousness when he started remembering things.
　I'd like to know how that kicked in.

...... I feel like it was only after I saw the Kinenshasins in my parents' mansion that I wanted eternity.
A photo?
"Yes, sir. An old, old photo. An adventurer boy and girl. A souvenir photo with a high elf girl in the middle. I remember the moment I saw it, I felt indescribable ...... as if I wanted to cry. It's the kind of photo that makes you want to do something that isn't eternal, forever.

　Deanna looks like she's going to cry, just a little bit.
　A souvenir photo at Deanna's parents' house. That means.

'I thought the girls were Turks?'
'Yeah, yeah. That's ...... in the photo, right? It may have been the Turks, indeed. He's holding a big spear and smiling fragilely. When I look at that picture, my heart boggles and--
That's it.

　A dark elf, to be exact, but that's not the point.
　The Kinenshashin in Deanna's parents' house was probably taken with the male player of Kaguya and his master, and the female player, who is said to be dead.
　I saw that on Mr. Yumegami's tablet when I looked up the story of "Kaguya" too.
　I don't know how it ended up in Deanna's parents' house, but I'm pretty sure it must be there.
　Serene said she'd seen that picture before, too.

　Kaguya's true wish.
　The one and only wish that she has always had.
　And the wish to start over (・・・・・), even if I had to make something called 'special guidance' with this emesparette.

　That's maybe a little different from Deanna's wish.

　But I was certain of it.
　The certainty that this was the answer.

"Deanna. I pledge my undying love to you, but that doesn't mean that we're going to live together forever.
What ......?
"I love you as a woman. So let's live together and die together. Let's have children and live a full life as ...... human beings. The form may be gone, but love is forever!
Go ...... master ......!

　Deanna and I kiss each other on the mouth.

　Kaguya's wish.
　The only one true wish born in death and life.
　It is really simple and natural as an artificial life.
　Two people separated by life and death, but still touched by the love they vowed to each other, and the ego born in this way asked for it first.
　That desire is.


　--I want to be human.


　The whole area is enveloped in a sparkling gold color.
　The Guardian, who had been running around so much, stopped moving and became silent.
　Everyone is looking around, unsure of what has happened.

　Warm, dazzling golden particles rise up and converge at a single point.
　And then the light gradually took the form of a person.
　Long white hair, white horns. A divine figure with four white wings that trembled.

　What comes out when the guidance is achieved?
　Needless to say. Spirits.
　So, what if special guidance is achieved?

...... Thank you, Ayase Giraud. With your love, our destiny is bound together.

　The spirit looked at me and Deanna with golden eyes of compassion and spoke to us.
　The sight of her was something that everyone here knew who she was in an instant, even though it was the first time they had seen her.

'I've been watching over you for a long time, but it's nice to meet you all ....... I am 'Spirit Le Baraka'. The God of this world's destiny.''

　The genie is released when the guidance is achieved.
　So what if it's a special guidance achievement?

　One of the three pillars of the three gods that govern this world.

　It is the descent of the great spirit Le Baraka.