The sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains woke me up.
"..."
I slowly lifted my body from the bedsheet—wait, a bedsheet?
That means… I'm in a safe zone?
But hold on, I was supposed to be on an expedition for the final battle, so there shouldn't be any safe zones anywhere—
The sense of unease I detected quickly jolted me awake, and my body instinctively shifted into combat mode.
I bolted upright and, moving reflexively, opened my "Item Box," pulling out my main weapon, the cursed blade "Devourer." I readied it, but when I took in my surroundings, I froze.
"This is…?!"
What I saw was a room.
My room.
Not the house provided by the Queendom that I'd barely returned to a few times, but my room on Earth.
A 1BHK apartment—not spacious, but perfectly suitable for someone living alone.
I blanked out for a moment, but my brain quickly rebooted, analysing the situation.
The most likely explanation was illusion magic—or was it? I couldn't sense any fluctuations in mana.
If something could bypass my resistance and show me this vision, that'd be impressive, but I could feel that all my senses were functioning normally.
In other words, the possibility that this was reality was incredibly high.
Reason told me so.
"Did I… come back?"
I looked around.
No doubt about it—this was my room.
Even though I hadn't been back in years, there was no mistaQueen it.
'—Why am I here?'
With my still-confused mind, I tried recalling my last memories.
That's right, I'd gone to the decisive battle… I fought the Demon Queen, and we both died.
'Was it all a dream?'
…No, that couldn't be it. I'd just opened my Item Box like it was nothing.
I looked at the weapon still in my hand.
"…Hey there, partner. You're looQueen as sharp as ever."
My sword, the cursed blade "Devourer."
It was devoid of ornamentation, rugged and heavy, but its blade bore a beautiful ripple pattern that contradicted its unrefined appearance.
Though its blade was currently black, in the heat of battle, it would react to me, and a fiery red light would surge within.
The other world was full of incredible weapons—holy swords, demon blades, you name it. In fact, my Item Box had over a hundred of them stored as part of a collection. Ye
t, from start to finish, I used only this sword as my main weapon.
Its ability was simple.
—"Mana Eater."
It absorbed mana. That's all it did.
Compared to the flashy powers of other swords, it was a plain ability. But this blade fought by my side when I was just a soldier sent to the battlefield, all the way to when I finally defeated the Demon Queen.
Because of it, I grew strong enough to match any legendary weapon or formidable foe.
Yes, it grew with me.
It continuously absorbed the mana of those it cut. By the time I fought the Demon Queen in the final battle, it had grown so strong that it could rival the sharpness of holy swords.
In fact, by then, it could cleave through battleships in a single swing.
Unbreakable, unyielding.
It protected my life, grew alongside me, and sliced through everything in our path.
After admiring my weapon for a while, I returned it to my Item Box. Then, I extended my index finger in front of me.
As usual, I circulated mana through my body and cast a spell—and, just as I expected, a small flame appeared at the tip of my finger.
"Hah… it worked."
Mana still flowed within me.
And I could sense it in the environment around me, too. So Earth did have mana after all—I'd just never noticed it before.
'So I really did return to Earth.'