Against the backdrop of Evangeline's distant scream.
Lucas and Hecate sat silently by the window in a café, drinking coffee.
Lucas wore a cold and functional expression, as he always did when not with his master, and Hecate watched his face as if she were appreciating a sculpture.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you out of armor."
"Hmm?"
Hecate smiled faintly as she looked at Lucas's coat.
"Yeah, really long time."
Lucas absentmindedly touched the collar of his coat.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Even at the academy, you always wore your uniform."
At the academy, it was uniforms, and here on the front lines, it was armor...
Lucas was almost always armed. It was an expression of his will to always be on guard as the prince's escort, but Hecate now understood a bit more about his true feelings.
'He was closing off his heart, too.'
So seeing him in casual clothes after such a long time was both comforting and...
It also hurt to confirm once again that Lucas had been closing his heart to her all this time.
"It's peaceful like this, even if it's just a brief respite."
Hecate spoke gently, not showing her feelings, and teased with her eyes.
"You asked me out on a date first, but no special plans?"
"I only thought about having a meal and a cup of coffee."
"That's so you, Lucas..."
Or maybe it's impressive that he managed to ask her out on a date and have a meal and coffee together.
For a human golden retriever who only knew swordsmanship and his master, it was a huge leap forward.
Clink.
At that moment, Lucas set down his coffee cup and looked at Hecate seriously.
"So, Hecate. Have you figured things out?"
"..."
Lucas's question was direct.
What Hecate, who could no longer live as a knight, would do next and where she would go.
"...Well."
Hecate chuckled softly and stirred her coffee with a spoon.
"I was hoping a handsome knight would hold onto me. But that doesn't seem likely."
"..."
Lucas lowered his eyes and hesitated before speaking cautiously.
"Hecate. If you really want..."
"Lucas."
But Hecate cut him off.
"I know. You never had feelings for me, right?"
"..."
"That's why you've always pretended to be oblivious and kept your distance. I know it all."
Lucas remained silent. Hecate eventually stopped stirring her coffee.
She was tired of going in circles without meaning.
So she put down the spoon and slowly, but surely, finished the bitter coffee left in the cup...
Summoning her courage, she faced Lucas.
"I'm not that selfish. I have pride, too. I don't intend to cling to you out of pity."
There was a time when she did.
When she wished he would look at her, even out of pity. Not long ago, she certainly did.
But...
'Sigh.'
Now, she didn't want to do that anymore.
For the sake of all of them.
"I still don't know what I'll do in the future. But when I almost died to those zombie flesh things, I thought of one thing I wanted to do."
"Something you want to do?"
"Yeah. Something I never dared to imagine, but maybe really want to try."
Hecate smiled like a mischievous child.
Seeing such a smile from her for the first time since she was very young, Lucas blinked stupidly.
"It's a very small and trivial wish. Can you grant it?"
"If it's something I can do. Anytime."
Lucas nodded.
Then Hecate took a deep breath.
"Lucas. Can I dump you?"
She said something like that.
"...?"
Lucas, not understanding, couldn't react. Hecate covered her mouth and giggled.
"The girl who clung to you her whole life, finally kicks you away at the end. Yeah, that's my wish. How about it? Can you grant it?"
"Huh...?"
Still not grasping it, Lucas stared at her as Hecate suddenly remembered something.
That day. At the end of the world, facing the monsters, what Junior had told her.
- When you lose everything, you just become... yourself.
- Not the heir to a curse, nor a revenger of an old war, nor an imperial knight. Just twenty-four-year-old you.
"..."
Hecate closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath.
"I still don't know what kind of person I'll become. I can't use my sword anymore, I've lost the curse, and the stage for revenge has disappeared."
She had lost everything.
And, because of that.
"So I'm going to be reborn."
From the beginning.
On this ruin.
She could start anything, any way, any direction.
"Now, I'm just... me. Detached from the past, able to find anything I want to do, just twenty-four-year-old me..."
She knew.
Maybe this was just wordplay. Maybe it was an excuse for a loser.
But Hecate decided to stop looking at the end of a dark tunnel.
Like that young wizard who survived the country she hated but saved her in front of the monsters...
Even if she couldn't dream of a resort with a sparkling pool in the south, she decided to look for something else that might shine.
"I'll leave the past behind and find a new goal to start over from the beginning. So, I'll stop clinging to you now."
Someone she loved so much.
No, perhaps still loved.
But never opened his heart to her, this wretched and cruel first love, Hecate declared with a refreshing smile.
"Live happily, you bastard."
"..."
"This is me dumping you. Got it? We're agreed on this, right?"
"No, wait."
"Then I'm leaving."
Hecate, clutching her chest that was both painful and relieved, stood up and smiled.
"I enjoyed our first and last date."
"..."
"Goodbye."
Leaving behind Lucas, who stood there with his mouth slightly open, Hecate walked out of the café and disappeared into the snow-covered winter street.
"..."
Watching her back quietly.
After recording another 0 confessions, 1 rejection score.
Lucas, sitting blankly, finally managed to make a sound.
"Uh..."
It was a very bear-like sound, not much different from Evangeline's pterosaur-like scream.
***
Crossroad city center, street stalls.
"Wow, there are so many delicious foods!"
Hannibal shouted with a bright face in front of the stalls from various countries.
Holding Hannibal's hands were Zenis and Rosetta.
"Let's go, Dad! High Priestess!"
"Uh..."
"Okay..."
Zenis and Rosetta both had uncomfortable expressions.
Understandably so, since with Hannibal between them, it looked just like...
'A family...'
It looked like a couple with a young son.
Of course, this was a deliberate atmosphere created by Hannibal, who played the role of an innocent young son leading the two inside the street.
Zenis and Rosetta were quite flustered, but they weren't unhappy with the situation.
The three tasted New Year's foods from various countries, holding snacks in their hands, laughing and joking together as they walked.
"Oh, cotton candy!"
Hannibal shouted as he spotted a cotton candy stall.
"Let's get cotton candy!"
"Sure. I'll go get it."
Rosetta winked at Zenis and headed to the cotton candy stall to order three.
While Rosetta was getting the cotton candy, Zenis knelt down to match Hannibal's eye level.
"Hannibal."
"Yes, Dad."
"I know you want a mom, but... don't be too insistent with High Priestess Rosetta."
At the sudden, but piercing comment, Hannibal's large eyes wavered.
The young spirit mage stammered.
"B-but, you two get along well, don't you? And it's not like the Goddess's priests are forbidden from dating or marrying."
"Well... yes, we get along. It's not bad."
Zenis laughed bitterly.
"Honestly, I even liked her at one point."
"Really? Then why...?"
Just then, Rosetta returned with the cotton candy.
Hannibal urgently asked Rosetta.
"High Priestess, do you dislike my dad?"
"Huh? I don't dislike him. Although I almost had to execute him for heresy and he's diligently earning heresy points, I don't dislike him."
Rosetta chuckled.
"In fact, I even liked him when we were young."
"Really? Then you two..."
"We had feelings for each other, though our timing was off."
Rosetta calmly handed them their cotton candy.
"But we have a deeper relationship than simple affection."
Life savers, sworn siblings, comrades, and followers of the same deity.
Rosetta and Zenis's relationship was complex and multi-layered.
"If we became closer as a man and a woman, all those other relationships might lose their depth. We were afraid of that."
"..."
"So we pretended not to know each other's feelings. And a lot of time has passed since then."
Rosetta looked at Zenis, and Zenis smiled awkwardly.
"Our young and tender feelings have faded appropriately. We're comfortable as we are now."
"But...!"
"Hannibal."
Rosetta gently comforted Hannibal.
"There are many forms of relationships in this world. And you and I don't necessarily need to fit into the family mold to be together."
"..."
"I can't be your mother. But I can care for you, bless you, and think of you."
Rosetta softly stroked Hannibal's hair.
"Why don't we start from there?"
"..."
Hannibal nodded slowly, his head bowed, and quickly wiped his eyes before running into the street stalls.
"I'll... go buy something else...!"
Watching Hannibal's retreating back, Zenis sighed deeply.
"It seems we told a child too harsh truths on the first day of the New Year."
"It's not a world where you can get everything you want."
Rosetta smiled. Charming wrinkles formed around her mouth and eyes.
"But that child's idea is quite clever. Trying to match us together. Naive and bold, it actually seems plausible."
"Haha..."
"It's not a world where you can get everything you want, but those who don't give up and strive will eventually hold fitting fruits in their hands."
Rosetta made the sign of the cross and whispered a prayer.
"May many good connections come to that child."
Zenis prayed alongside her and smiled quietly.
"May many people form new connections, as many as the missed connections in Crossroad."
The two priests prayed together.
For Hannibal's future and for the intertwined fates of others in Crossroad to be blessed.
On this New Year's Day, for everyone...
'...But, wait a minute.'
Suddenly, during the prayer, stray thoughts entered the minds of the two priests.
'We never actually confessed our feelings to each other, did we?'
'Did I just get rejected without properly confessing...?'
The two priests glanced at each other, then closed their eyes again.
"..."
"..."
The 0 confessions, 1 rejection score was spreading throughout Crossroad.
***
A small town near Crossroad.
In front of a small brick house on the outskirts, where the steam from freshly baked bread wafted.
"..."
Standing there with crutches.
Clutching the letters exchanged with his daughter.
Chain closed his eyes tightly, inhaling deeply several times.
Slowly, he raised his hand to the door.
And,
Knock, knock-
Mustering his courage, he knocked.