“Together!?”

“Yeah. Reina, I want you to guard Sword and aim to become a Holy Knight at the same time. To that end, I’d like you two to spend time together.”

“Understood.”

“You get it just like that!? You’re okay with this!?”

“Guh! If it weren’t an order from Lord Road!”

For some reason, Zeke looked frustrated.

I don’t wanna see some old geezer like Ku-kkoro around.

Kenya finally understood why Zeke had asked him earlier.

Reina, surprisingly, accepted it without much fuss. She even seemed a little happy about it.

“For now, let’s organize our immediate goals. Starting today, Sword and Reina, head to the Earthguard Empire. I’ve arranged a airship. Zeke, you need to stay here as the representative of this country’s military. Tanaka, cross the sea with Takemikazuchi. Zeke, you can arrange a ship, right?”

“Understood. I’ll make the preparations.”

“Got it. Zeke, can you help me with the retrieval?”

“W-Wait a second. Is this really okay? Zeke-san—no, Dad?”

“You heard my answer earlier. So there’s nothing more for me, as her parent, to say.”

Zeke was teary-eyed for some reason.

His daughter was suddenly leaving home to live with another guy.

He’d never had a daughter himself, but this must be what NTR felt like.

“Sword… no, Kenya. Take care of Reina.”

“Yes, sir!”

Kenya stood straight and replied to Zeke in a loud, clear voice.

Posture perfect and utterly serious—that was how to show sincerity, and even Kenya knew it.

“Well then, there’s nothing more to decide. The airship leaves at 3 PM. You should arrive in the home country by nightfall, so go ahead and depart. I’ll head there too, but I’ve got the imperial family’s dedicated ship. See you on the other side.”

And with that, the Nichia Alliance meeting for that day came to an end.

Tanaka went back to his house to gather his research materials for the preparations.

Kenya had worried it might be dangerous, but the fact that Issei Tanaka was part of the resistance hadn’t spread within the military yet.

If anyone investigated, it’d come out right away, but aside from Zeke, no one there had even known who Issei Tanaka was when his name came up that day.

Kenya didn’t have much to pack anyway, so he finished up quickly.

He had nothing at his place to begin with, and he was supposed to buy what he needed in the Earthguard Empire.

Reina had anticipated as much and already finished packing.

“Well then, Dad—no, Zeke-san. We’re off!”

“Yeah. Take care of Reina. Though I’ll be heading back to the home country soon enough, so we’ll see each other right away.”

“Oh, really? Guess I’ll be crashing at your place for a bit, then.”

There was apparently a mansion belonging to Zeke in the capital Valhalla.

That one was the main residence; this place was more like a vacation home.

Kenya and Reina would be staying at the main place.

“Farewell for now, Reina.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Reina and Zeke exchanged goodbyes.

It felt a little lonely for a parent-child parting, but it wasn’t like they were never seeing each other again, so that was about right.

Besides, for all his doting-dad vibes, she was adopted, so maybe their relationship was complicated.

And so Kenya and Reina headed to the airship, just the two of them.

As temporary siblings with matching silver hair.

At first glance, like a loving brother and sister.

Road and Zeke saw them off.

Road spoke to Zeke, who was staring at their backs.

“Zeke, how long do you plan to keep hiding it? From Reina.”

Road knew Zeke’s past.

He even had a guess about why he was keeping it hidden.

“Yeah… It’s because I’m a coward. I’m scared this relationship will fall apart, so I still can’t make up my mind.”

“Hard to believe that’s coming from the man who nearly wiped out the EU. Scared to tell the truth, huh?”

“…Right now, her memories up to age ten are sealed away. Maybe it’s better if she never remembers. Maybe we’d both be happier this way.”

Reina had been picked up by Zeke as a war orphan.

Her heart had shut down by then; her emotions were dead.

It was like she’d sealed away remembering to protect her heart—like she’d willed those memories out of existence.

“But someday, those memories will come back. For better or worse, thanks to Kenya’s influence.”

“Indeed. I can feel it too. He’s gradually melting her heart.”

Meeting Kenya had made her emotions quiver, the ice thawing.

Her long-stilled feelings surged wildly, and bit by bit, expressions appeared on her face—until she even smiled.

That in itself was surely a joyous thing.

But it also meant she’d eventually remember her past.

“When she remembers everything and faces it, I’ll tell her.”

“I see… She’s strong. She’ll handle it.”

“Yes… Then we’ll either become a real family, or she’ll reject me.”

“Don’t let it fracture the Nichia Alliance. No family feuds, alright?”

“I don’t want that either. Right… If, even after learning everything, Reina still calls me Dad…”

Zeke stared in the direction Reina had gone, now too far to even see her back.

He looked up at the sky, tears welling in his eyes, steeling his resolve.

“We’ll visit my wife’s grave—her real mother Sakiko’s—together. As her blood-related father.”

“Whoa, it’s just a normal ocean.”

Kenya and Reina rode the airship toward the Earthguard Empire.

“Is this your first time seeing the sea?”

“Nah, not my first… but it’s unchanging, huh.”

Reina tilted her head, not quite grasping what Kenya meant.

“Hey, Reina. Which way is the Asia Union?”

“Um, Japan’s southwest, so that way. Our heading is toward the Earthguard Empire.”

“So the world map is straight-up Earth, huh. Well, it’s a game world, after all.”

“Game?”

“Nothing, just talking to myself.”

Kenya gazed from the airship window toward the Asia Union.

The other heroine—the girl he’d risked his life to protect.

The one who’d confessed her love back then, the girl he loved too.

He thought of Kaguya Kurokami.

“We made it… Kaguya, we’re here.”

After crossing the sea by ship for a full day, Kaguya and the others arrived at the edge of the Asia Union—the largest nation in Asia.

The country known as the leader of the Asia Union: Chūwu.

Chūwu had been forged when an emperor of old united the fragmented nations into one.

Times changed, and now it was a democratic republic, monarchy abolished.

In structure, it was much like the EU, with elected representatives of the people taking command.

Thus, all citizens were equal under the law.

But in reality, it was a capitalist state where the gap between rich and poor was vast, and the wealthy stayed wealthy.

Rights were equal; wealth was not.

Equalizing wealth wasn’t necessarily good, but there was no doubt money ruled as power here.

That was the giant nation of Chūwu, politically and economically.

On a country-by-country basis, it was the second largest after the Earthguard Empire.

“Welcome, people of Japan. And my fellow kin.”

Waiting at the port to greet Kaguya and the others were Asia Union military officials.

A shady-looking civilian bureaucrat struck a grand welcoming pose with wide-open arms.

They knew Isshin and company were coming today—and that Japanese resistance fighters were steadily arriving one after another.

In the best light, as comrades to fight alongside.

In the worst, as disposable pawns.

“Thank you for accepting the Japanese.”

Isshin shook hands firmly.

“No, no—we urgently need to bolster our forces too. Who knows when the Earthguard Empire will bare its fangs again. You’re welcome here. We’re allies. Let’s fight together.”

(Hmph, what you really want are pawns willing to throw their lives away. How transparent.)

Still, Isshin and the others had no choice but to accept.

They knew they might be sent to die on a whim.

With the EU on the brink of collapse, the Asia Union was the only coalition that could stand against the Empire.

They believed joining it was Japan’s only path to independence.

On this day, Isshin and the resistance group “Amaterasu” were to remain in the Asia Union as the Japanese military unit.

In exchange, they’d have food, clothing, and shelter guaranteed.

Then one girl stepped forward, in front of the bureaucrat.

Slowly, planting her feet firmly on the ground, lifting her face straight.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Kaguya Kurokami. I have a request.”

“Hm? What is it, miss?”

“I’ll fight with my life on the line. I’ll train until I’m ready to die and grow strong. So… please give me power—the power to fight. That country that took my brother and the people I care about… and those imperial bastards who took Kenya away. I…”

Her eyes, red and brimming with tears, burned with vengeful fire.

“I absolutely won’t forgive them.”