"Since we've already come all this way, would you like to tour the territory?" Without returning to the unpleasant topic from before, Aaron spoke up at the right moment, easing the atmosphere a little.
"If you don't mind, I have no objection either. I'd planned to spend the whole day with my daughter and grandson anyway."
There it was again—that faint, barely-there smile on Glück's face.
It wasn't only Aaron; Nanoda had noticed it too. The Glück before her now seemed far more lively than the one she remembered.
A thought struck her suddenly: Lektire, who should have died of illness, had been saved, and Denken even had a child now. In this altered future, would something like a butterfly effect end up taking hold?
"Then let Yuna take you all around to have a look. When you go back, help us spread word of the sights you saw here."
Aaron hadn't said it outright, but Glück had already realized the man wished to seize the chance to let him see what a free city looked like, and to spread a new philosophy of governance.
"La~dy~ Na~no~da~, you've got some free time today too, right?"
Nanoda, in the middle of eating one of Yuna's pastries, paused. Ordinarily she would indeed have refused such a bothersome errand.
"All right..."
It really had been a long while since she'd taken a stroll through Gaderia.
A broad, circular plaza—on the outermost ring of benches sat a sparse scattering of passersby, and at the very center stood a bronze statue of Nanoda, some ten-odd meters tall. Carefully maintained, the statue had not faded even after nearly twenty-some years, gleaming brilliantly in the afternoon sun.
"Oh, it's Lady Nanoda. It's been a long time since we've seen you out and about. Have you been keeping well lately?"
An old man sunning himself in the plaza greeted Nanoda.
"No need to worry about me. You take good care of yourself."
"Big Sister Yuna, Big Sister Statue, the candies will go bad if they're left here any longer—we're going to take them away, okay!"
A swarm of children gathered round, then ran off again, laughing and giggling.
"..."
"They really do look exactly alike. Not a single bit has changed..."
Some who saw her whispered to one another, others offered smiles in greeting—there was no one in this city who didn't recognize her.
Nanoda made no response, only habitually extended her Mana Perception to scan the surroundings, and after confirming there was nothing abnormal, drew it back to its original range.
By now she could already maintain Mana Perception over a certain area without the slightest effort.
"What a magnificent statue..."
Lektire sighed in admiration as she gazed at the bronze figure before the plaza. It was the first time she had ever seen Humans erect a bronze statue for a member of the Demon Race.
"This is the very place where Gaderia was reborn. Without Lady Nanoda, we could never have reclaimed our own territory."
Yuna introduced everything to Lektire with great enthusiasm.
Two girls of about the same age yet utterly different experiences chatted and laughed whenever the subject turned to Nanoda, getting along most harmoniously.
"..."
Denn, on the other hand, wore an expression that seemed somewhat awkward and conflicted.
"Having your own ideas is a good thing, but you also need the strength to match them."
"That lecturing tone—just what is the matter with you?"
"Just take it as the arrogance of a Great Demon."
Leaving the plaza, they came to Gaderia's order of knights.
Though called an order of knights, in truth it was already a motley guard corps—the small unit that had originally broken away from the Northern Empire after being taken captive, mercenaries who had come from the Kinton territory, and Gaderia's original elite warriors.
The rows of brown-gray buildings looked somewhat crude, and before them stretched a large expanse of land serving as a training ground, lined with weapon racks where bare-chested men swung their swords or sparred.
"It's not quite like the orders of knights I imagined."
Glück counted as a man of the world; he had once seen the order of knights of the Northern Empire, where the knights' headquarters had been a tall, lavishly furnished building that left the one before him in the dust by several streets.
"Most of Gaderia's people have some fighting ability, so the order of knights doesn't hold such an exalted status here. Everyone just treats this place as somewhere to improve their strength. And lastly... our funds are rather limited..."
Hearing Yuna's explanation, Glück raised an eyebrow—surely that last one was the real reason?
"Still, everyone here looks quite capable. Look, especially over there."
Following the direction of Lektire's pointing finger, two people were locked in fierce combat.
Off to one side, a Mage clad entirely in green looked on with a grin, and there was also a little girl clutching a bottle of liquor.
"You're stronger than those freeloaders, aren't you?"
A scar-faced man swung an enormous chopping blade that clashed again and again against a seemingly heavy greatsword.
Another man, all corded muscle, said nothing, only swung his sword in attack over and over.
The exchanges looked slow, yet each blow was struck with blinding speed; the two weapons gave off ear-piercing shrieks while sparks scattered everywhere.
"Hey! Zari! Use that move already! Can't you see the guy's toying with you—just defending and not attacking?"
Vincent laughed as he offered advice to his old comrade. As a former court Mage, he too had seen no small number of warriors.
That kid Zari ranked as middling among the younger generation of the Northern Empire—neither high nor low—but he was the sort who could crush a small batch of ordinary knights.
The fellow called Hend, however, seemed a cut above. His seasoned, supple techniques carried a faint vicious edge, and even his gaze looked cunning.
Those were not moves cultivated by an orthodox order of knights—they were killing techniques learned from years of grinding through battlefields, hacking and slashing on the edge of life and death.
If that wild-dog of a man launched an attack, Zari might very well be defeated in a single combination.
"I have my own tactics!"
Zari was supremely confident in his own strength. His opponent's resistance was weakening, while he himself felt no fatigue at all—there was no need yet for that move.
"Your fundamentals are solid, but you're too fixated on motions and forms. Attacks like these—I've grown sick of seeing them!"
Hend laughed aloud, and as he ducked his head forward, he swooped down to dodge! The blade he had kept concealed all this while was revealed in that very instant!
"Hah!"
Zari was startled; the sudden blade grazed his cheek, followed by a chain of kicks to his abdomen. The genuine pain left his once-firm footing beginning to falter.
Just as he made to swing his now-emptied sword upward, the flat of the blade was pinned underfoot by his opponent—the scar-faced man before him had actually leapt up off his very sword, and all that remained in his field of vision was a single pitch-black knee.
"Crash!"
Accompanied by a tremendous crack, Zari, struck square in the face and gushing blood from his nose, staggered backward without stop, his greatsword nearly slipping from his grasp to the ground.
Beside them, Vincent let out a whistle, as if mourning for his old friend.
"Go for it!" the little girl cried out, cheering Hend on.
"Hraaaaagh!"
Mid-retreat, Zari abruptly halted his steps. Beneath those trembling muscles, he raised his sword once more—and brought down the strike that represented his very strongest!
Fissures split the ground, the air currents twisted all around, and a blade of vacuum sword qi slashed toward Hend.
"So you were still hiding a card after all... Bring it on!"
The quick-reacting Hend simply hurled the chopping blade in his hand. When the surging wind battered the blade back, as if he had reckoned on it all along, he caught the chopper miraculously, and in a posture much like swinging for a home run, with the smallest possible arc of the blade, he received that dangerous strike.
The residual gust lifted Hend's disheveled hair and left a small, barely perceptible scrape at the corner of his eye.
"Whew, that was dangerous. A technique I've never seen."
His breathing had turned slightly ragged, both arms numb from the jolt of that last blow.
On the other side, Zari, having unleashed an all-out strike, could no longer hold himself up; half-kneeling, he thrust the greatsword into the ground. Amid the steadily dripping nosebleed and his panting, a deep, resonant voice rang out:
"I yield. You win."
"Why don't you come join my mercenary band? I could give you a vice-captain's seat right off the bat."
It was just then that Vincent, who had been watching from the side, sidled over.
"Listen to you. Aren't we all part of Gaderia's fighting strength now? What's all this dividing of 'yours' and 'mine'? Besides, Zari started a family here long ago. We all live pretty well here."
"Sure is easy for a Mage to talk."
Zari suddenly felt that the two before him weren't men at all, but a pair of cunning foxes.
Having enjoyed a round of sparring, Yuna led everyone onward to what was now the most important and most distinctive place in Gaderia.
The Demon Special Zone.
"Welcome, Lady Nanoda."
Lugner seemed to have anticipated the likes of Glück, and did not address Nanoda as "King." It appeared he had been waiting here from the start.
From behind Lugner emerged a small girl with short white hair. "Mother..."
"Lugner. Jane."
Nanoda offered a simple greeting, only to find Glück, Lektire, and even Denn all looking at her with peculiar gazes.
"That one is Lady Nanoda's adopted daughter, you see!"
Yuna, somewhat flustered, leapt in just in time to defend Nanoda's good name.
"Then allow me to guide everyone on the tour."
As acting president of the loving and harmonious Demon Association, Lugner stepped forward of his own accord.
Glück nodded, sensing that this demon before him had a nature somewhat similar to Macht's—though without the faintly perceptible oppressiveness Macht carried, and with a more natural, approachable expression.
"Jane is coming too."
Under the gazes of Lektire and Yuna, Jane tugged at Nanoda's coat and trailed along behind everyone.
Setting aside her somewhat childish appearance and the half-head difference in height, the look of that head of white hair did indeed share many similarities with Nanoda's.
Nor did Nanoda push her away; she merely patted Jane's head. Though Jane had the years of a Great Demon, her temperament was still that of an innocent child, and this occasional clinginess was, after all, rather endearing.
Yuna pouted slightly—that had once been her spot.
Proceeding along the smooth road, neatly squared-off farmland began to appear on either side. Some of the fields had already sprouted emerald seedlings, while others stood empty for now, and everywhere demons with farming tools wandered back and forth.
"Rumble!" Amid a roar of white light, little clumps of churned earth flew everywhere; once the spellcasting demon withdrew, the demons with farming tools came forward to till and work the ground.
"The timing's just right. With the help of those few demons over at the research institute, we're currently plowing the fields with an improved version of Killing Magic."
Lugner spoke of such an absurd thing with a smile on his face.
"That's truly..."
For a moment Lektire didn't know how to describe it—the expressionless demons, the continuous labor that needed no rest. The efficiency was honestly frightful.
As everyone passed the farmland, the demons in the fields on either side merely cast a single glance their way before quickly returning to their work.
"That stretch of single-story houses further back is where the demons live. At the same time, with the middle as the dividing line, part of it serves as housing for the refugees who came from the Kinton territory ten years ago. I used to observe daily and prevent incidents of demons harming people, but that's no longer necessary now—both sides have grown accustomed to this life of coexistence."
Lugner explained.
Everyone could see that the dividing line was no longer especially distinct. Humans would move about among the demons, and demons would observe the Humans while going about their own work.
"In a certain sense this really is a spectacular sight—two races that once fought each other to the death now able to live together in harmony."
Glück very much wanted to light a cigarette; he recalled the time he and Macht had met.
"Perhaps inadvertently harming Humans is our instinct. But just as some Humans can rein in their selfish desires and make sacrifices for others, perhaps we too can master our own instincts."
The words Lugner suddenly spoke startled even Nanoda.
Glück was profoundly shaken.
Lektire, moved, covered her small mouth.
Yuna nearly wanted to offer applause.
Even Denn wore a look of disbelief.
Perhaps demons imitate Humans in order to hunt and kill them; yet when this path is walked to its very extreme, might such a demon not be, in its own way, another kind of "special Human"?
"All of this is thanks to Lady Nanoda, who guided us."
At the very last, Lugner did not forget to add a word of praise for the "King" he served.
"Lugner, you fellow—are you a genius?"
Nanoda could scarcely believe it—a demon of cold emotions could actually utter words so heartfelt and philosophical!
"I've merely been reading a bit more of the Humans' books lately."
Having his efforts acknowledged by the "King" once again, Lugner was greatly pleased.
After seeing the limits of his improvement in magic, Lugner had begun attempting to elevate himself in thought. The years of his devotion seemed indeed to have brought him to understand a part of the Humans.
The free hours slipped away at their leisure, and before anyone realized, it was already nearing dusk.
The lingering glow of the setting sun, a weave of red and crimson—that was the final fervor and desolation.
"The lord's manor near the east, the order of knights near the north, the Demon Special Zone and the Demon Association near the south—we've toured nearly all of them. The one regret is that there doesn't seem to be time to show you the western district..."
Having seen everyone to the nearest station, Yuna took Lektire's hand and showed a smile.
"Mm." Lektire shook her head. "I really had a wonderful time today. Thank you, Big Sister Yuna."
"It's about time we headed back as well. I've learned a great deal this time too. On behalf of Aaron and myself, let me say this: I hope the free city of Gaderia thrives forever undiminished, and that Weise will always remain its ally."
Glück glanced at the sky and made his final farewell.
Denn surveyed this city beneath the setting sun, saying nothing.
Nanoda, who had watched the party of three generations of Glück's line all along, turned her head toward Yuna as they boarded the carriage and said,
"I think I'll go and secretly escort them along the road after all. With Macht away, it wouldn't do for any accident to happen. In any case, since I'm not training today, I've plenty of free time. Remember to leave me some dinner in the manor's kitchen."
"Mm, Lady Nanoda, take care on the road."
And just as she was about to set off after the carriage, Yuna suddenly tugged at her sleeve.
"You have to come back, okay? I'll save your favorite sweets for you."
Because the girl was hanging her head, Nanoda couldn't make out her expression.
And so she reached out and patted her head. "Of course."
____
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