“So, the great war between demons and the people of this world ends with an art commission,” Cap said, leaning back in his chair and sipping his tea. “I like that.”

    Daiki nodded and sipped his own, looking around the table. It had been a week since the war had ended, and this was the first time since that they had all been able to gather like this in the mid-afternoon. Aquila and Kasumi had spent most of their time working with the Devil King to create his new world, with Aquila taking one morning off to remove the defensive walls and barbed wire they had created. Cap had spent his time coordinating between the royal family, the army, the other Legendary Heroes, and the Devil King’s army to prevent any violations of the peace. That had finally come to an end yesterday as the Devil King began his people’s evacuation to their new world, and the Legendary Heroes had left for parts unknown to seek new adventures, at least as far as Daiki could tell.

    As for Daiki and Athena, they had been packing. This would be their last day in this world. But Daiki’s mind was elsewhere as he sipped his tea. His thoughts kept returning to another devil king on another world, a pale imitation of the one he had fought here, impaled on Daiki’s sword and asking as he died if Daiki had known his name.

    Zoltanar, Daiki thought. His name had been Zoltanar.

    “And what are you thinking about?” Aquila asked him, the cane Kasumi had drawn her resting against the table.

    Daiki smiled at her. “A regret,” he replied. “But, this one’s just for me.”

    Athena reached down and gave his hand a squeeze.

    “You know, he was probably as desperate for a way out as you were,” Cap said. “You could see it in his eyes. He was in a war he couldn’t win, and he knew it.”

    “He was going to beat us,” Daiki pointed out.

    “True,” Cap said. “But he still had to fight everybody else afterwards. Nobody can take on an entire world, no matter how powerful they are.”

    Daiki sipped his tea and stared at the table. “I guess that’s how Akari Soto wanted this story to end. Negotiate with the Devil King and end the war. I tried to make my own path, and followed her outline anyway.”

    Aquila shook her head. “You really didn’t.”

    Daiki blinked and stared at her.

    “I read your character description when we met, remember?” Aquila said. “Akari Soto put a lot of extra information in there, including how your story was supposed to end. You were supposed to kill him. And then, you were supposed to discover that you had fallen in love with this world, and spend the rest of your life with Athena protecting it as the Legendary Hero of the Sword.” She sipped her tea. “The other heroes and their parties were supposed to die in the final battle, too. This isn’t your creator’s story any longer – it’s all yours.”

    “Wait, so the author of this story was going to put a twelve thousand year-old civilization to the sword for the sake of a bit of extra tragedy in the ending?” Cap asked.

    Aquila nodded. “She created a twelve thousand year-old civilization to put to the sword for some extra tragedy in the ending.”

    “The more I learn about this story, the less I like it,” Kasumi said.

    “It does seem to have a lot of suffering,” Aquila said. “I like Daiki’s ending better. I’ve never liked suffering.”

    “What about you?” Daiki asked Aquila. “You helped save two entire civilizations today. I think that makes up for all the bad you’ve done.”

    Aquila smiled and nodded. “I can’t call myself a villain anymore, can I? It feels odd.” She finished off her tea. “Anyway, Kasumi and I have drawn some gifts for you two.” She grabbed her cane and stood up. Kasumi stood as well and reached out to help her.

    “I’m okay,” Aquila said. “See, I can put more weight on it now. In a few days I won’t even need the cane.”

    “Even without the cane, you can’t carry it all yourself,” Kasumi declared. “No more being reckless.”

    “Making two or three trips is not being reckless,” Aquila complained as she headed into the house, followed by Kasumi. Daiki smiled and chuckled.

    “Good,” Athena said. Daiki looked up to see her staring at him with a smile on her face. “When we get back to your world, I’m looking forward to seeing you like this a lot more.”

    “Besides, I need my exercise,” Aquila stated, coming back out with a small bag in her free hand and sitting back at the table. Kasumi followed with a couple of larger ones. “The healers told me to move around so that nothing atrophies, and fetching things is moving around.”

    “You still only have two hands,” Kasumi chided, sitting down beside her.

    Aquila looked at Daiki and Athena and grinned. “First, you two can’t go to modern Japan dressed like that. Everybody will think you’re either a cosplayer or a crazy person. So, we drew you some clothes. Kasumi assures me that they’re what people your age would be wearing.”

    “This one is Daiki’s...no, wait, this is Athena’s,” Kasumi said, handing one of the bags to Athena, and then the other to Daiki. Daiki watched as Athena reached into the bag and pulled out a light blue shirt with a cartoon cat on the front. She stared at the picture, a puzzled look on her face.

    Daiki grinned. “You’ll look great in that.”

    Aquila reached into the smaller bag and pulled out a ring. “This is for you, Athena,” she said, handing it over. “If you wear it on your finger or as part of a necklace, it will make you look like a normal human. Hopefully you won’t need it in Daiki’s world, but now you can blend in if you need to.”

    Athena looked at the ring and smiled. “Thank you so much, Aquila. I hope I won’t need it either.”

    “And now, some money,” Aquila said, passing over the rest of her bag. “We had to discuss the amount a bit, and we settled on five million Yen. Something to help you start your lives together in Daiki’s world.”

    “It was my idea,” Cap said. “Call it an early wedding present.”

    Daiki shook his head, grinning. “Thank you...I don’t know what to say.”

    “Well, we couldn’t spend all that time to get you home, and then leave you hanging, could we?” Aquila said. “There are a couple of other things, but those can wait until we get to Osaka.”

    “Out of curiosity, what’s going to happen to the house?” Cap asked.

    “We’re donating it to the village,” Athena replied. “They take possession of it tomorrow morning.”

    “They wanted to throw us a big party before we left, but we talked them out of it,” Daiki added. “After everything that’s happened, we just want to leave quietly.”

    “Riding off into the sunset,” Cap mused. “Seems appropriate.”

    “I don’t understand,” Athena said.

    Cap smiled. “It’s a cowboy movie thing.”

    Athena shook her head. “I don’t know what that means.”

    “Have Daiki show you some when you get to Osaka. You’ll love them.”

    Daiki took a deep breath and looked at Aquila. “After all you’ve done for us, I hate to do this, but I have a couple of favours to ask.”

    Aquila stared at him. “Wait, Daiki Yamato is asking for something?” She turned to Athena with a grin. “Did he hurt his head during the battle? Is he okay?”

    Athena chuckled.

    “You need to be careful Athena,” Aquila declared. “If this goes any further, he might start conversations with people! And you never know where that could lead – he could make friends!”

 

   Daiki laughed. “Yes, I know, I’m actually asking for something. But this is important.”

    Aquila leaned back in her chair with a grin on her face. “I’m listening.”

    “Can you pull information off the Black Sword?” Daiki asked. “Worlds I’ve been to, that sort of thing?”

    Aquila nodded. “It’s easy enough.”

    “Good,” Daiki said, passing it over to her, keeping one hand on the scabbard. “There’s something I’m worried about in one of the worlds I visited.” He explained it to her.

    Cap, Aquila, and Kasumi traded glances. “We can do that,” Aquila said. “We’ll take care of it on the way home.” She stared at the sword for a moment, and then looked up. “I’ve got what we need.”

    Daiki took a deep breath. “And the second thing...you can modify character descriptions, right?” He felt Athena’s hand hold and squeeze his free hand.

    “To a degree, yes,” Aquila said.

    “I’d like you to modify mine,” Daiki said. “Decouple the Black Sword from me. I’ve been the Legendary Hero of the Sword long enough. I want to be just Daiki Yamato, biology student, again.”

    Aquila nodded. “Okay.”

    Daiki removed his hand from the scabbard. It stayed in Aquila’s hands. He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said, his voice breaking. Athena squeezed his hand again.

    He heard an amused laugh from Aquila. He opened his eyes.

    “Don’t thank me,” she said, holding and examining the sword. “I didn’t do anything.”

    Daiki blinked. “I don’t understand.”

    “It’s no longer attached to you,” Aquila said. “The problem with the Devil King is resolved, so it seems the sword is done with you. I imagine the other two Legendary Weapons are the same now. That said...” She concentrated on the sword. It glowed for a moment. Aquila looked up and grinned.

    “What did you just do?” Athena asked.

    “Interesting thing about these Legendary Weapons,” Aquila began. “They’re all connected. And that means, that if you have one, you can access the others as well. I just installed a block list on all three.”

    Athena glanced at Daiki in confusion. “A block list?”

    Aquila’s grin grew wider. “Indeed. All of these weapons have the same power to travel between worlds that this sword does. And, I can’t imagine any of us wanting either of the two idiots or their parties following us. So, if somebody tries to use one of these weapons to go to a world where any of us happen to be, or to one of our home worlds, it will send them somewhere else. So, no Denki or Daisuke crashing your wedding, or showing up at our house.

    “And,” Aquila continued, “it also means that the Black Sword can’t be used to summon you back. And, just to be on the safe side, I added anybody with your genetics to the list as well. So, if this world gets in trouble in the future, your great-great-grandchildren will not have to worry about it.”