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BERTA SPEAKS

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*****

「――No way, I'm sleeping.」

Rob scrambled up the ladder, drew the curtains with a forceful tug, and burrowed into his bunk.

Because the Interworld Train had shortened its stop times at both the freezing world and the one that followed, it had managed to get back on its original schedule. During that time, Rob had been trying to draft the hearing record for Harlequin, but it wasn't going well.

『I know I can't leave behind a complete record of my entire life just as I wish. But I want to at least leave behind the core of it. I don't want someone in the future interpreting it however they please, making a mockery of it. Well, I suppose I don't even know how to explain that core myself, though.』

Rob understood that feeling, in a way.

He had fled the country where he was reincarnated and summoned like a criminal, and his relationship with the King’s younger brother—who had ascended to the throne—was far from good. To say he wasn't concerned about how his own story would be told in the future would be a lie.

However, that concern was a completely separate issue from Rob’s lack of writing ability. What he couldn't write, he couldn't write.

And so, Rob decided to sulk and go to sleep.

Slipping in right after him was Berta.

This was nothing new, but they weren't doing anything illicit. Even though there was only a single curtain separating them with other, they had no intention of doing anything like that in public view.

「...I don't think you really need to go along with that sort of thing, you know?」

Berta whispered into Rob’s ear, a sensation that felt like she was nibbling on it. While he nearly broke into a grin at the softness of her voice and her gentle weight, he stared at the ceiling, trying to divert his attention away from his lower half, which was threatening to focus on her.

「The ship already sailed on that.」

「Are you saying you've been swayed by that wolf-girl this time?」

Berta believed that the only reason Rob never succumbed to her constant temptations was out of consideration for Arcelia.

「Who's to say? Well, watching her try so hard is endearing, at least.」

「...Nn. I have an interesting story to tell you, but since we'll be parting ways soon, would you care to listen?」

Berta was to be taken into custody at the next station.

When Rob replied without even looking at her face, Berta began to speak, as if telling a bedtime story.

***

It was in a certain Alliance-affiliated world.

A Demon King had emerged there.

The Demon King’s movements were swift and merciless, launching an explosive invasion before the Alliance could even send reinforcements.

As the world was being conquered in the blink of an eye, the locals, realizing the Alliance would not arrive in time, resorted to prohibited indiscriminate summoning.

The summoning was a success.

Among the five people summoned, there was a certain witch and her best friend.

The locals tried to have the summoned heroes charge in and defeat the Demon King, but that was when the local Alliance investigator intervened.

Because this was a national emergency involving the potential extinction of the world due to the Demon King, the punishment for those who performed the forbidden summoning was postponed. However, all five summoned individuals appeared to have been brought from underdeveloped worlds, so they could not be returned to their original worlds, nor could they leave this one, as the Demon King was still active.

The Demon King was infectious.

The world where the Demon King appeared was saturated with the Demon King’s factors, and almost everyone was infected. If they were to leave for another world, there was a possibility the Demon King would manifest there as well.

Therefore, with rare exceptions, while one could enter a world infected by the Demon King, leaving was forbidden.

After consultations, it was decided that the locals would pool all their strength to buy time, and the local investigator would train the summoned heroes to defeat the Demon King. But the witch and her best friend ran away.

The witch, to protect herself. The friend to protect the witch.

『Explosive Death Companion』.

That was the unique ability that had been bestowed upon the witch through the summoning. Fearing that this power—which would guarantee the destruction of a target at the cost of one's own life—would be exploited, the two of them fled.

The local investigator did not pursue the two of them, instead training the remaining summoned heroes and fighting the Demon King, but the Demon King was strong.

The locals and the heroes were killed off, slowly but surely.

When all the summoned heroes were dead, and the people were pushed to within a few steps of extinction, the local investigator appeared before the witch and her friend.

「――I want you to save this world with that ability.」

The local investigator knelt and begged, but there was no way the two, who had no ties to this world, would agree.

Then, a few days later, the local investigator bared his fangs, took the friend hostage, and demanded that the witch use her ability.

But that was blocked by the friend herself.

Using the world-crossing technology that she and the witch had been developing, the friend sent the witch away to some other world.

Only one person could cross the world.

And so, that world perished.

The witch who had been sent to another world was fortunate enough not to see a Demon King emerge there, and she went on to live the rest of her life.

***

「...And they lived happily ever after, or, wait—」

Rob had been lying on his back, eyes closed. But he hadn't been asleep.

「Why didn't you run away?」

He didn't know why Berta had told him this, but he suddenly wondered why she wasn't running away now.

「Are you worried about me?」

「You aren't the type to be that virtuous, are you?」

「...Because, I have to make amends for my sins, don't I?」

Rob remembered Arcelia saying something like that once. However, Rob was well aware that Berta wasn't the kind of woman to take that to heart.

「Are you serious?」

「I'm serious.」

Berta then closed her eyes, as if cuddling up to Rob.

「...Well, whatever.」

Rob stopped caring about that, and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.

***

The following day, just past noon.

The Interworld Train arrived at a newly emerging, advanced world. There was a tearful parting between Pamela and the ghosts, but in another part of the train, there was another farewell.

「――I have captured the 'World-Crossing Witch,' Berta Andele. Please take custody of her.」

Arcelia began exchanging several documents with Elias Calmbelt, an inspection investigator who had been waiting at the station.

Inspection investigators were investigators from the All-World Agency’s Investigation Department who patrolled and monitored the worlds within their designated jurisdiction. There were also local investigators who resided in specific worlds to conduct surveys, and executive investigators who used force against prohibited acts like indiscriminate summoning.

Berta stood behind Arcelia on the deck of the Interworld Train, seemingly waiting to be taken away, and Rob watched her with a puzzled look.

「That is...」

Berta muttered as if something had just occurred to her upon seeing the inspection investigator.

「An acquaintance?」

「Hmm~, the investigator I told you about last night?」

Rob couldn't tell if that story was a lie or the truth, but the fact that the investigator actually existed made it seem more credible.

「Let's go.」

But at that moment, Arcelia took Berta away.

「――Thank you for your hard work. I have officially taken custody.」

Elias took Berta firmly, pulled a pair of handcuffs from his coat, snapped one onto Berta's wrist, and locked the other to his own.

Only then did Arcelia deactivate the "Shackles that Bind Evil," letting out a sigh of relief that she had successfully handed over the bounty head.

Beside them, Elias was speaking to Berta.

「How many years has it been, Berta Andele?」

Elias was a gentle-looking man with a shadow hanging over him, but the eyes he turned toward Berta were dark, and his tone even carried a hint of obsession.

「I don't remember. I have no interest in you.」

Berta replied curtly.

「I see. Well, that's fine. I look forward to interrogating you thoroughly—」

「Huh? Come to think of it, why is that guy still alive?」

If Berta’s story was true, there shouldn't have been any survivors.

But Rob immediately realized the situation and nodded to himself, understanding what that meant.

「...I don't know what you heard, but it is a fact that the woman destroyed a world. And I, who was the local investigator at the time, pulled out just barely, leaving them behind. That is all there is to it.」

Elias frowned and looked at Rob.

「I get it. I felt something like obsession, or perhaps resentment, so I just happened to blurt it out.」

Rob had no intention of criticizing Berta, nor did he intend to criticize the investigator who had barely managed to escape.

「...Even as investigators, we have our feelings and regrets. If she had just run away, that would be one thing. But this woman, while her world was in the throes of extinction, stirred up human relationships, swindled wealth, and in the end, ran away by herself.」

「Hm? I heard you took her friend hostage...」

「I did no such thing, and in the first place, she had no best friend. Among the five summoned heroes, there was no one who shared the same home world as this woman.」

「Then you didn't ask her to die for you?」

「I did ask. That is all. This woman just up and ran away by herself.」

Rob let out a long sigh and looked at Berta.

She was floating listlessly, as she always did, and tilted her head.

「That's not true?」

Seeing Berta play dumb, Rob found it funny somehow and let out a wry smile.

Elias glared at him for it.

「The Hero who slew the Demon King seems remarkably tolerant.」

「Well, indiscriminate summoning is basically kidnapping, after all. You can't really blame her for being annoyed when told to die to save the world.」

If Rob had been a resident or an investigator in a world on the brink of destruction, he might have tried to force Berta to use her ability, but conversely, if he had been in Berta's shoes, he might have abandoned them and fled.

If asked who was at fault, Rob could only say it was the Demon King’s fault.

Perhaps displeased by Rob's words, Elias turned those dark eyes toward him, but the words he released were not a reprimand.

「...Enjoy your trip to headquarters as much as you can. It's likely the only time you'll be able to travel.」

Leaving that ominous remark behind, he took Berta away.

As for Berta, she didn't look back even once as she was led away.

*****

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