Chapter 18

People who don’t usually get angry are terrifying when they do.

People who are normally kind are downright terrifying when they snap.

Now then. What about the girl standing before me, facing off against a demon?

The girl who always wore a radiant smile, who laughed brightly and cheerfully—was now glaring at the demon with the face of a feral beast. It was the expression of a predator sinking its fangs into prey—merciless and cruel.

Clarise looked down on the demon with contempt, her face twisted in anger and hatred. And surely, she would strike them down. From the moment she appeared, she had already established herself as the supreme power in the room.

“…A human? In a place like this? Did Jaliba really let a human get this deep into our base? Or are you one of her spies?”

“One! For the love of a friend!”

“In that case, I might just take you alive. If I can show the others proof of Jaliba consorting with humans, even her subordinates will have to accept it.”

“Two! For the love of a parent!”

“Then let me ask again—who are you—?”

“Three! For the love of a beloved!!!”

At the back of the dark cavern, in a small chamber lit only by a single wall-mounted torch, the faint light illuminated one young girl standing alone.

The demon was trying to question Clarise. Clarise, in turn, completely ignored the demon’s interrogation and shouted declarations of love.

That’s… not a spell… right? Probably just some kind of dramatic speech.

“Are you even listening, human?”

“Let me ask you this, demon. Do you possess the three loves?”

“Yeah, she’s not listening. Did some lunatic wander in here?”

“So you don’t. You must not. There’s no way someone like you could understand love!!”

“Ugh, pain in the ass. Fine, I’ll capture you. But don’t think a mage like you can win against me at this range—”

“Then you have no reason to live!!”

The wolf-like demon bared its claws in growing irritation, fed up with the nonsense. But—

With a dull boom, a ridiculous sound rang out through the chamber. And in the next instant, the smug demon who had seemed in control was caught in a close-range explosion and sent flying.

“…You little—! When did you chant that spell!?”

“Loveless one. You deny love? You reject it?”

“Don’t get cocky, human—!”

“Then perish!!!”

The demon was utterly confused. A mage casting magic without an incantation? Impossible. No movements, no buildup—by the time he realized, he was already being blasted away.

Had he missed the chant? The demon narrowed his eyes at Clarise and immediately charged at her—but—

“Die in disgrace!!”

Another deafening blast. The demon was swallowed in the explosion and slammed against the cavern wall with such force the entire space groaned.

“What the hell…!? What’s going on!?”

“Repent across all three thousand worlds!!”

Clarise wasn’t done. Her golden hair rippled as she danced across the battlefield, relentlessly striking. The demon’s body was consumed by roaring fire, and a piercing scream echoed through the cave.

—What.

That can’t be right.

That was Clarise’s magic, no doubt. But she hasn’t chanted a single spell, has she? I always heard spell incantations were absolutely required for mages.

Mages need a few seconds to chant before casting, which is exactly why swordfighters like me exist—to buy them time. But if a mage could just fire off spells like that with no warning, why would you ever need a frontliner?

Mages have better range and power anyway. That’d basically make every other class obsolete.

What the hell even is that?

“…Flatche. Are you alright?”

“Oh, Mei. You came for me.”

“Yes. Leave this to my sister. Let’s get out of here.”

While I’d been dumbfounded by Clarise’s ridiculous magic barrage, Mei had slipped up beside me and freed me from my chains. Finally—freedom.

Ahh, I can feel the life returning to my limbs. Every bone in my body felt locked up. I stretched, joints cracking, and turned my gaze back toward the battlefield—

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!”

“Still alive, are you!”

—Where that absurd little girl was still casually tossing out magic like popcorn. What even is she?

“Hey, Mei. Is chanting something you can just… skip?”

“Of course not. If someone could cast spells without chanting, they’d be the strongest person in the world.”

“But… look at her…”

“Clarise is… That thing my sister’s doing is basically a bug in the system.”

Oh. Mei’s eyes just glazed over. She looks like she’s given up on something deep inside. The exact same face I make when trying to explain Rex’s sword techniques.

“Incantations are absolutely required. But there is a way to delay a spell after you’ve chanted it.”

“Delay it?”

“Yeah. Like instead of having it go off right away, you set it to explode ten seconds later or something.”

“…Huh.”

“She’s abusing that trick. Clarise has over a hundred spells ‘activated’ and ready to go at all times. The explosions you’re seeing now—she already finished chanting those a long time ago.”

…Wait, so…

“To put it simply—Clarise can cast over a hundred fully-channeled spells whenever she wants.”

“So basically, it looks like she’s casting without chanting. Can other mages do that too? If so, wouldn’t that make frontliners useless?”

“No. Absolutely not. That technique—‘delayed activation’—is so advanced that only a handful of mages in the world even know it exists. And on top of that, she customized it to stockpile and trigger them freely. She’s broken. Staying around her is going to fry my brain.”

“Calm down, Mei. Your eyes are dying.”

Well, good. Looks like it’s just her that’s insane.

I’m not a mage, so I can’t really grasp how busted she is, but Mei clearly gets it. I get the sense she relates to my disbelief.

I probably had the same look years ago when Rex sliced a steel door in half with a tree branch.

He said, “The trick isn’t cutting the steel, it’s cutting space-time. Slice through that, and the metal just goes with it.” Screw that, what the hell does that even mean?

“Anyway, Flatche, are you hurt? I’ve got a potion on me.”

“No, I’m fine. …Actually, hey. Do you think potions work on demons?”

“Huh? No, they’re made for humans, so probably not. Why do you ask?”

“…No reason.”

I shook my head to brush off Mei’s puzzled look and glanced briefly at Jaliba’s corpse.

Her skin was torn apart, her flesh dark red and rotting, scattered across the floor in a crude human shape. She didn’t move. Not anymore.

The woman who killed me. The one who turned me into this. The root of everything.

A former human who turned countless people into test subjects for her own twisted goals.

Even so—I found myself mourning her death.

Because I was just like her.

Killed by demons, turned into something else. I was lucky enough to be saved by Rex. She wasn’t. That’s all. The only difference between us was a coin flip of fate.

Jaliba didn’t give up. She refused to accept death. She clawed and clung and struggled in vain.

It was evil, without question. But I couldn’t bring myself to judge her for it.

“We need to go. We’ll only get in my sister’s way if we stay.”

“Yeah.”

So at the very least… I’ll come back and lay her to rest.

I turned my eyes from Jaliba’s body and made up my mind. Then, together with Mei, I ran for the chamber’s exit—

—when a wave of searing heat filled the room and knocked the breath from my lungs.

"You bastard!!"

"Filthy human!! Don’t think you’ll get out of here alive!! Ah-hahaha────!!"

The thick scent of scorched earth seared my throat.

It was too hot to breathe. My skin started to prickle and burn all over. My vision blurred, and pain crept into my eyes. It felt like I was being boiled alive.

“Blessing of ice, bind and encage—Prison of the Water God!!”

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, Mei-chan screamed hoarsely beside me. The temperature dropped just enough for me to breathe again. Nice one, Mei-chan.

“Run! Get to the surface, Mei!! I’ll hold them off!!”

“What’s happening!? What just happened, sister!?”

“That demon shattered the wall and flooded the room with lava!!”

When my vision finally returned, I looked toward Clarise. She was holding back the tide of lava with a strange magical barrier. If she released the spell now, the room would be swallowed in molten rock.

“Where did the demon go!?”

“Into the lava!! Whether it can survive that or just chose suicide—I don’t know! Either way, you two must get out of here immediately! I can escape on my own, but I can’t move until you’ve made it out!”

Clarise must be feeling the heat too. Her forehead was drenched in sweat as she desperately fought to contain the surging lava. She looked like she was already pushing herself beyond her limits. We had to get out—fast.

“G-Got it! Mei-chan, let’s go!”

“You too, sister—please be safe!”

If we stayed here any longer, Clarise wouldn’t be able to escape either. It might seem cold, but the right thing to do was to leave her behind and run.

“…Eek!?”

“Hold on tight.”

I took Mei-chan’s hand and lifted her onto my back.

Even though I was in a girl’s body, I was still a warrior. I couldn’t run as fast as Rex, but I’d be quicker than making the less athletic Mei-chan run on her own.

“Guide me!”

“Right! Uh, straight ahead for a while!”

I didn’t know the layout outside the chamber, so I followed Mei-chan’s directions and sprinted with everything I had.

“…Hah! Hah, hah!”

“Are you alright, Flatche-san? Should I get down?”

“No. Just keep guiding me. A mage who can’t break her fall shouldn’t be sprinting through a dark cave. Hah… hah. Besides, this is faster, right?”

“Yes… I’m sorry, Flatche-san. Please hang in there just a little longer!”

She must’ve felt guilty being carried like this. But if we slowed down, Clarise might end up in danger too. Whatever it takes—we had to escape as fast as possible.

Mei-chan seemed to understand that. Even through her troubled voice, she cheered me on. Somehow, that gave me a bit of strength.

…Whoa!! Arrows again!!

“Mei-chan! We’ve got enemies!”

“R-Right!”

I instinctively dodged the incoming surprise arrow.

Peering through the shadows, I spotted a few demon soldiers hiding in the darkness. Still a bit of distance away.

As I tried to pinpoint their positions, another arrow flew at us. I dove to the side, then quickly set Mei-chan down and shielded her with my body.

I didn’t have a weapon. I couldn’t defeat them. Until Mei-chan finished chanting her spell, all I could do was be a human shield and buy her time.

“O spirit of flame, manifest in the depths of darkness────!”

“…Guh!!”

An arrow aimed at Mei-chan pierced through my outstretched arm as I blocked her. A sharp jolt spread through my hand, and my body began to stagger.

Damn—poison. Just like yesterday when they caught me, they’re using poison-tipped arrows again…

“Fire!!”

Through my blurry vision, I caught sight of one of the demons getting charred to a crisp.

But that wasn’t enough. There were still more. Another demon raised his bow, taking aim at Mei-chan as she began chanting again. Stop—move, dammit! Protect her again! If I can’t do that, then what was the point of surviving—!?

“WOOOOOAAAAAHHHH!! IRON FIST JUSTICE!!”

I froze and turned toward the direction of the shout. A hulking mass of muscle flew through the air with overwhelming force.

“What in the world!?”

Mei shouted in confusion.

At almost the same moment, the demon that had been aiming at her was crushed out of nowhere by the sudden appearance of a giant figure from behind.

That deep, muscular voice—it couldn’t be…

“You alright!? Mei, Flatche! Rex was worried sick about ya!”

“General Penny! You’re okay too!”

Thank goodness. It was General Penny—the pervy warrior with a lolita complex. If a vanguard of his rank had shown up, we were safe now.

“Hmm? You took a poisoned arrow. Mei, you got it on you?”

“Oh! Right. Flatche-san, here—please drink this.”

“It’s an antidote. The sooner you take it, the more effective it is.”

“…Aye.”

My lips were numb from the poison, and I couldn’t reply properly. But with Mei-chan’s gentle support, I managed to drink the medicine.

“Flatche-san, stay still, okay…?”

And to my surprise… she gave it to me mouth-to-mouth. Ahh… this is heaven.

“I get the situation. In short—we need to get out of this cave, ASAP.”

“Yes. Right now, my sister is holding back the lava all by herself.”

Unlike me—letting my mind drift to such inappropriate thoughts—both Penny and Mei were exchanging information with the utmost seriousness. I felt kind of bad.

“In that case, I’ll carry you both on my shoulders and run. Sorry for treating you like luggage, but that’ll be the most stable way.”

“...Thanks... I’m counting on you...”

“Flatche, don’t talk. The poison’s still in your system. ...General Penny, please take care of us.”

“Leave it to me.”

And so, with the poison rendering me useless, I was officially off-duty—getting a personal ride from none other than General Penny himself, sprinting toward the exit. Adventurers using the highest-ranking officer of this country’s military as their personal mount... how extravagant. Well, he is a lolicon, though.

That burly, muscular general had a bizarrely pleased look on his face as he broke into a run. He was fast—easily several times faster than I was. Damn, I really envy that body.

But seriously, why is he so happy? He’s loyal to Emma, right? There’s no way—absolutely no way—he’s getting worked up over Mei or anything, right?

“NUHOOOHHH!! These two little girls on my shoulders are giving me poweeerrr!!”

“Ehhh!? General Penny, why are you suddenly so hyped up!?”

“...Leaving Mei aside, I’m not a little girl!”

“I’m not a little girl either!!”

The delighted lolicon roared with joy as he ran, spewing disgusting nonsense. Give me a break. Just because I’m flat-chested doesn’t mean you get to lump me in with actual kids.

Sure, I’m on the shorter side, but I don’t look like a child. Mentally, I’m fully mature. There’s nothing remotely childlike about me.

Whatever it is he thought made me seem like a little girl, I’ll be grilling him about it—thoroughly—when this is over.

---

“…Alright, there’s the exit!”

With a resounding thud, a muscle-wrapped fist smashed through the cave wall. At last, the narrow path we had originally come through appeared before us.

Now, all we had to do was charge straight down that path.

“What about Rex and Clarise-chan?”

“Those two won’t die that easily! Clarise will find a way to get Rex to safety. We need to focus on escaping—don’t waste time worrying about anything else.”

“...There's nothing we can do as things stand. If I had magical talent like my sister, maybe it’d be a different story.”

“Ha ha ha! No point whining over talent you don’t have! Besides, Clarise is the type who works her butt off. Sure, she’s got talent, but don’t chalk everything up to that.”

“She works and has talent. That’s the worst kind of person…”

They traded jabs, but their expressions remained deadly serious. For adventurers, death is always a step behind. No matter how skilled you are, if your luck runs out, it’s over.

We had no way of knowing what was happening to Rex right now. All we could do was pray they were alright.

“Yeah, those two will be fine. Now let’s get moving—hold on tight!”

“Okay!”

With that, General Penny lowered his stance, preparing to accelerate. His pectorals swelled with a mighty bulge. Dammit, cut that out—it’s making me jealous.

Then he let out a controlled breath—Kohh. Veins popped across his body as he kicked off the cave floor with full force—

DOGON! A thunderous impact.

And the next thing we knew, we were launched straight out by General Penny and crashed violently into the rocky wall of the cave.

“Agagagagah…! M-my head!?”

“……”

It hurt. Like hell. Turning to the side, I saw Mei-chan passed out cold, blood spurting from her forehead. She must’ve hit a sharp outcropping.

PENNY, YOU IDIOT!? You dropped us!? You clumsy meathead────!!

This is no joke! I mean, I can take a hit, but Mei’s a frail little mage! Depending on how she landed, she could’ve been killed! You’re a general of a nation—act like it and be careful!

I was about to shout all that when—pshh!—a small sound echoed in the darkness.

Moments later, something landed on my stomach with a thud. It was warm, heavy, soft...and damp. Clutching my aching head, I looked down.

─────And locked eyes with a wide-open, glassy gaze from a severed, middle-aged head.

It was General Penny’s head, lying limply on my stomach, his still-warm blood soaking my clothes and stomach in sticky crimson.

“…Ha. Hahaha. Been a while, young Jaliba.”

“You—you’re the one from before!”

Just after that, Penny’s massive body—now headless—fell heavily to the ground with a dull thud. Behind it stood the wolf-like demon who had earlier crushed Jariba’s head, baring his fangs in a cruel grin.

It wasn’t like we had let our guard down. But we hadn’t sensed anything—not me, not Penny. For this thing to sneak past us and land a fatal ambush… he wasn’t just any demon. He was elite.

“Well, well. Last time, some puny human dared to get cocky with me, didn’t he?”

“You… you were swallowed up by the lava!”

“Obviously, I had an emergency exit. You think I’d dive into lava without one? Anyway, looks like I took care of that stuck-up mage in the process.”

This was bad. Really bad. Penny—the only one who could fight—was dead. Mei was unconscious. And I, the only one still awake, had no sword, and my body was paralyzed from poison.

Right now, I had no way to beat the demon standing in front of me.

“Well then, die. I won’t even bother turning you. Just rot here, like the pathetic worm you are.”

“...Like hell I will!!”

Faced with that impossible situation, I made a snap decision—and hurled Penny’s severed head with every ounce of strength I had.

Grabbing his blood-slicked hair with my trembling, poisoned hand, I gave it everything I had and flung it with blind desperation.

“Whoa there—bit harsh to toss your friend’s face around like that, huh?”

The head arced straight toward the demon—but he sidestepped it easily. A spatter of blood painted the cave wall red.

The demon watched my desperate move with amused contempt. Acting all smug.

But that’s fine. That throw wasn’t meant to hurt him in the first place. No—because this was…

“YAAAAH!! Catch itttttt!!”

“...What!?”

Two figures came rushing silently from behind the demon. My throw had been a pass—straight to one of them: Karin.

“By the grace of the merciful goddess Macro, I call upon the wave of salvation and healing!”

“Tch. Reinforcements? You really think I’ll let you cast that healing spell—!?”

Karin caught Penny’s severed head and immediately pressed it back onto his fallen body, beginning the chant. The demon, of course, rushed to stop her—but—

“Hey.”

—Just that simple distraction sealed his fate.

Because in that moment, he never noticed the one quietly emerging from the shadows with a massive sword raised overhead.

Rex.

“Are you the one who killed my best friend?”

Wearing a mask of icy calm, Rex stepped from the darkness—and without a flicker of emotion, cleaved the demon clean in two.

---

"O-Ohhh! I thought I was gonna die!"

"You pretty much did, Penny."

Karin arrived just in time to revive both Mei and Penny. According to her, even Mei had been on the verge of death. It really was a perfectly timed rescue.

After that, the revived Penny carried Mei and Karin on his shoulders, while Rex carried me bridal-style as we all made a break for the cave exit.

My body was still numb. Damn, how pathetic.

"So it’s true. Even after you’re just a head, you stay conscious for a while. I remember up to the point where I got tossed by Flache."

"Wait, you were still conscious then? General Penny, I’m sorry."

"No, Flache, it was the right call. If you'd passed me any later, the General would've been toast."

"Seriously."

General Penny nodded with a grunt and gave his thanks. I'd appreciate it if that gratitude went to Karin instead of me.

"Also... why is Lord Rex carrying Flache like it’s the most natural thing in the world?"

"He’s paralyzed. Can’t hold on by himself, so someone’s gotta carry him properly."

"…Hmm, well, I guess that makes sense..."

Meanwhile, Mei, the maiden in love, looked none too pleased to see Rex taken. But she really had no room to complain.

If I had a choice, I’d rather be held by a cute girl, too. Ideally, I’d be the one running full speed with Mei in my arms.

But poisoned and paralyzed as I am, I’ve got no choice but to be carried—either by Rex or some overly muscled weirdo. There’s no dream or hope in this situation.

"Alright, we made it out!"

"Yeah! We’re safe now!"

As I was lamenting the cruel nature of this world, we emerged into the sunlight outside the cave. Now, we just had to wait here for Clarise to escape.

…Will she be okay? Even if she’s the strongest and most invincible archmage, how long can she physically hold back a pool of lava deep in an active volcano? She’s not exactly the athletic type—I don’t even know if she can run out of the cave on her own.

Maybe she never planned to make it out in the first place. Maybe she said all that just to give us a chance to escape.

Even if she is the most powerful in history, she’s still human. Against the raw power of nature, she might be completely helpless—

"Wait... is it just me, or is the ground shaking?"

"Huh?"

Rex suddenly muttered something strange. The ground shaking? Come on, earthquakes haven’t happened in centuries.

"It is shaking."

"You're right..."

But the tremors grew stronger, and finally, even I noticed. The earth was trembling. The spirit of the land was raging in fury.

Why now? Earthquakes aren’t supposed to happen out of the blue. According to legend, the signs were darkened skies and dried-up lakes.

So this can’t be an earthquake—

—And then it happened.

With a thunderous roar, a massive plume of black smoke erupted from the volcano's crater.

"It’s not an earthquake! The Dice Volcano just erupted!!"

"E-Eeeeeeeek!!?"

Unbelievable. Just moments ago, the sun had been shining bright, but now it was hidden behind thick smoke, and the once-clear blue sky had turned a murky gray.

"Wait—Sis! Sis, where are you!?"
"Hey! Mei, you idiot! What the hell are you doing running back into the cave?!"

Panicked and confused, Mei tried to run back toward the cave, only to be restrained by Rex.

It’s no use. Clarise isn’t going to make it. If she’s still in that cave, not even her body will be left.

Even so, Mei really does care about her sister. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she screamed her name. But with the volcano erupting, there’s no saving Clarise now.

If we stay here, we’ll be caught in the eruption too. We have to get out—

"I HAVE RETURNED!!"

At that moment, something heavy crashed nearby, creating a clean, human-shaped crater in the ground.

Peeking into the hole, we saw something embedded in it.

"Wahhh!? A corpse that fell from the sky?!"

"How rude! I’m still alive! But I’m kinda stuck, so if you’d dig me out, I’d be super grateful!"

"...Alright. You okay, Clarise?"

Rex reached into the hole and plucked out the embedded figure. And out came none other than the eccentric little girl herself—Clarise.

So it really was her who flew in. What the hell is with this girl? Mei's eyes were visibly dimming by the second. This is bad.

"I mean, stopping the lava once the volcano got going was impossible! So I jumped into the magma with a fire protection spell and blasted out through the crater for a shortcut!"

"…"

No, seriously? She dove into magma and launched herself out with the eruption? Is she even human? This is exactly why Mei’s eyes are dying again.

"H-Hey... if we stay here, aren’t we gonna get roasted by the pyroclastic flow?"

"Ah! My mana’s running low, so I probably can’t block it anymore! We must flee, everyone!"

"Got it! Alright, time to run again, Penny!"

So Clarise is out of mana now. That’s… really bad.

And all while we’re chatting casually, a massive wave of black smoke is hurtling toward us at terrifying speed.

"WOOOOAAAAHH!!"

"AHAHAHAHA!! Pyroclastic flows are so fast, huh!"

"This is NOT the time to laugh, Rex!!"

Rex casually scooped up Clarise, then grabbed me too, hoisting us both up before taking off. Penny also had Karin and Mei on his shoulders and was sprinting full speed.

But the ash cloud was faster. Even with Rex and Penny running like madmen, the volcanic ash was gaining on us.

"How far do we have to run to be safe?!"

"There should be shelters in town for when Dice Volcano erupts! But I don’t know where they are!"

"Then why the hell didn’t you find out earlier, you dumb general?!"

"Sorry!! I left that part to Emma!"

"You useless oaf!!"

Penny laughed awkwardly, but this was no joke.

Now that I think about it, I never checked for shelter locations either. Guess we’ll have to look once we get to town. Hopefully there’s a sign or something.

"We’re almost at the town! Keep your eyes peeled for any shelters!!"

Rex shouted, and I frantically looked around the town. But in the end, it was almost completely pointless.

Because—

"Geez!! Emma-chan, you're the best or what!?"

Drawings of little Emma’s familiar face were plastered everywhere, accompanied by ribbons arranged into arrows pointing the way through the streets. Apparently, that little girl had immediately started marking a path to the shelter the moment she noticed the eruption.

...A certain general could learn a thing or two—turns out a kid is way more competent.

"As expected of Emma! I must reward her with many kisses later!"

"Shut up! We don’t have time for jokes right now—save the comedy for later!!"

Using the arrows as our guideposts, Rex and the others ran. The pyroclastic flow was already bearing down on the town.

“Mister Penny—this way!!”

And finally. Off in the distance, we spotted a strange path leading underground. Near the entrance, tiny little Emma was waving both hands at us.

That was the goal.

“Hell yeah!!”

We ran, full speed. Any moment now, the pyroclastic flow would swallow the entire town. Time was almost up.

In a final sprint, Rex leaned forward and shot ahead like an arrow, while Penny followed, inflating his lower half like a spring-loaded cannon. And then, at last, we dove into the entrance of the shelter. Right after we got in, townspeople slammed the entrance shut and began chanting protection spells.

We made it. Barely.

“Mister Penny! Mister Penny! Mister Penny! Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain?!”

“Of course I’m fine. I couldn’t possibly die and leave Emma all alone.”

“Mister Penny…”

“Okay, cut the joking, you two.”

The moment we made it to the shelter, this middle-aged dude was already hugging a little girl and whispering sweet nothings. Clarise looked absolutely delighted at the heartwarming scene.

What do I do. Should I go behead that damn general one more time?

“Man, but seriously, that was way too close. Even I can’t beat lava.”

“I was fine!! Though if we’d taken any longer, I would’ve run out of mana and been toast!!”

“For real. If we hadn’t made it out, there wouldn’t have even been bodies left…”

Right. That.

If I could, I would’ve liked to go back and give her a proper farewell, but with how things were, there’s no way anything of Jaliba’s body is left. The lava must’ve incinerated her completely, leaving only clean, fine ash behind. How frustrating that must’ve been for her.

…No. Maybe not.

Jaliba wanted to become human. And in the end, she was laid to rest like a human.

Just like an ordinary person—cremated, and buried. That volcanic dice became her gravestone. In death, she finally got her wish and returned to being human.

If I mourn her, if I sing a hymn to the gods in her honor, then without a doubt, her passing becomes that of a human. Jaliba was able to die as a human.

Now that that demon is gone, I’m the only one left who knows Jaliba’s regrets. At the very least, I should offer a quiet prayer for her.

…Hm?

Not even a body remains?

Wait a sec. Wasn’t my own body being kept in that cave? Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was.

Does that mean… my body got turned to ash too?

So, so then, even if the Demon Lord’s army ever manages to recover Jaliba’s research...

I—I can’t go back to my original body!?

Wait. Am I… stuck in this girl’s body… forever!?

“Ugh…”

“Huh? Flache? Flacheee!?”

“Yo, Flache, what’s wrong!?”

Faced with such an unbearably cruel reality, everything in front of me went black. And just like that, I quietly lost consciousness.

All my dreams, my hopes—everything was gone…