A little over two years since I met Lucy, the time came all of a sudden.
"There is no longer anything I have to teach you anymore."
She said it in her usual, lovely, voice.
"Therefore I'm allowing you to leave this place sometime soon."
So the time has finally come, my heart was calm.
We've been together for over two years, I easily understood the change in her attitude.
Whether Lucy has some other thing she forgot to teach me, or something she has to tell me, after thinking about it over and over again the conclusion is the same.
Then I too will not waver.
"All right, then I will be leaving here soon."
Lucy's face warped into a frown for an instant.
The way I said it, it must have sounded like I had been waiting for the day I leave.
It must have come as a shock to her who thought she knew my heart now that we've joined bodies.
So I continued.
"I want Lucy to come with me."
Her pained face changed into a blank look.
"I know that you think very highly of this place. So I strongly want you to hear my wish, I don't want to be separated from you."
I used honorifics, which I never used on her before.
Since I have no experience using it I might've made a mistake, but I'm sure my feelings got through.
I enjoyed looking at Lucy's bewildered faces for a while, then finally she was able to start talking.
"I'm very happy you feel that way. But I can't go. For me this is the last remaining place I have memories in."
Unlike her usual playful teasing tone, she clearly expressed her rejection.
My feelings were unable to win against her past.
"All right."
I managed to squeeze out a blunt reply.
Though in the end I understood, losing my beloved woman had made me take more damage than I thought.
"Pff."
Lucy's expression and voice broke.
"Ufu, you're really cute. You know already that I can't part from this place."
"You, you are an irreplaceable woman to me, I wanted to bring you along no matter what."
"In that case then you could have simply refused to leave this place, right? I gave you permission to leave but that doesn't mean I'm telling you to leave?"
I wanted to be with Lucy, but I can't render her kindness useless, the choice was never there.
"Is that really true? Would you really be happy if I said I won't leave and will always be by your side?"
Lucy laughed with a puff.
"That's right, isn't it, I won't be happy. I want you to see the world. I want you to live freely in this wide world. I worked hard with that in mind, after all."
"Then I'll be leaving this place very soon, so I can be the me that Lucy wanted even one day sooner."
"Really, even though you have knowledge and fixed your warpedness, that straightforwardness of yours doesn't change. It's one of the things I like about you, but you shouldn't be missing the joys of life."
Turning around, she flew into my chest.
"You are fine as you are now. Live the way you like. Do what you want to do, walk the path that you yourself think is right. That's what I want from you, for you to be happily walking the path you chose for yourself."
The difference between Lucy's and my height is already clear, her head is resting right on my chest.
But even then those words can only be heard as coming from someone speaking from above.
The words of someone who had me in tow.
There was no need to reply, we could understand just by embracing each other.
Then at the end of the long embrace I sought to gallantly leave, but…
Lucy pulled my arms and I was toppled down right there.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Her shocked voice was heard.
"Well, I was going to go like this…"
"With no food, no water, no weapons, no armor, nothing in your hand?"
"..."
"You want to collapse and die on your way to the nearest town? That's some wide world there."
I never thought of anything.
I sulked and curled myself into a ball.
"*sigh*…. Let's do some proper preparations. Wait right there."
Lucy rummaged a few things out of the storehouse.
She seems to have had them prepared for some time.
What she had lined up were armor, gauntlets, and boots made of pasted leather, and a shield wrapped in chains, they were all in good condition, I was moved considering that she took time for their maintenance.
"By the way, these belonged to people who came here before and was eaten by me, since they're so pretty I thought they might have some use."
...…I gained the minimum amount of protection.
Then she lined up small accessories like leather bags containing dry meat or water, gathering a full set of travel equipment.
The money I got from the robbers who died when I came here and what I got from Lucy totalled 30 gold coins.
I know well from living here for two years that there's no need for money to live here, so I took it without reserve.
Then, the two essential equipment.
The first one is a spear.
It was two meters long and had a semicircular axe blade for a spearhead, it was a bardiche, that could be used for piercing and slashing.
It was big, the handle was thicker than common ones and the blade heavier.
I think I can say it weighed 15 kilograms, rather than a spear it was more of an iron pole with an axe.
"This is rather an old item but its condition is good, it's really heavy but I'm sure you can use it."
"I'll gratefully accept, but what you said wasn't really convincing by the way you're presenting it with one hand."
The second one is a cloak.
At first glance it looked to be a jet black cloak but when I looked closely it had traces of dyeing.
"This cloak is made with my special method. I soaked common white cloth with a certain something."
Lucy puffed her chest, proud. I imagined what she might have soaked it with.
"There's a limit to lewdness, you know, just what did you soak into this?"
"Not that! Blood! My blood!" «TN: Lucy's used panties get?»
So it's a Lucy special, vampire-blood-soaked cloak.
Certainly, it's way stronger than ordinary cloth.