Campione! Volume 15 Epilogue

Epilogue

After G.o.dou and the other's battle ended, the world welcomed peace once more — Of course that was impossible. Early fifth-century Europe was a war-torn era to begin with. The embers of war and turmoil scattered in various places were being lit ablaze. Or perhaps, they were already burning with great intensity. It was clearly very dangerous if the modern Campiones continued to linger in this era. "They're all individually capable of destroying armies by themselves to establish their own country." "Also, it's absolutely impossible for these three — G.o.dou, Sir Salvatore and Madame Aisha — to live in seclusion together, right?" "As expected, returning as soon as possible is imperative." "E-Excuse me, everyone. Saying such things so loudly seems to be a bit..." After the battle, Ena, Erica and Liliana were all nodding at one another. Despite raising objections cautiously, Yuri was not defending anyone in particular. That said, they were unable to return immediately to the modern world. Madame Aisha's "corridor" only opened on the night of a full moon. Also, the night after the "King of the End" disappeared was a crescent moon, which meant they needed to wait half a month for the next full moon. After learning of the situation, a certain man smiled frivolously. "Just use the same method as when we came here. All I need to do is make that corridor go berserk and the entrance will automatically open, then it'll suck us all in, right?" "Who knows if the same thing will happen as last time, so that's a definite no!" "Oh well, whatever. But waiting half a month is too boring." "This will proceed firmly no matter how boring!" Naturally, G.o.dou immediately rejected Doni's opinion and chose the honest route of "waiting." However, there were other things that needed to be handled during this period. Namely, returning to Colonia Agrippina to disband the alliance of the Franks of which Doni and Madame Aisha had a.s.sumed the role of great chieftain. This turned out to be surprisingly difficult. G.o.dou originally thought that the matter could be easily dealt with using Madame Aisha's charm authority. "1-1 already expressed my wish to retire, but pushed by everyone's zeal, I ended up going back again!" The main culprits included the woman who uttered this comeback declaration as well as certain people who intended to have her resume the great chieftain's role as "Salvatore Doni the Second." While they were busy handling these matters, more and more people began to wors.h.i.+p Kusanagi G.o.dou as one of the city's bigshots. They all regarded G.o.dou as Colonia Agrippina's ruler in practice. For some reason, the number of servants (female) working in G.o.dou's residence doubled. Influential people from neighboring areas would frequently bring beautiful women along to offer their "greetings" at the residence. Such was the strange situation that evolved. During this time, although Erica, Yuri, Liliana and Ena had some slight disputes between the four of them, G.o.dou still managed to live his days peacefully — Before he knew it, the night of the full moon was already fast upon them. The corridor was located in Uldin's forest. That night, G.o.dou's group informed the Hunnic G.o.dslayer of their "departure." With Liliana present, reaching that place did not take much time. During the daylight hours of that day, the modern time travelers all paid Uldin's fortress a visit. The liberal Uldin prepared a feast in advance to wait for the group's arrival. "Well, I can smell the scent of war spreading from various places. Right now, I'm considering how to handle those cities downstream." Uldin spoke while b.u.mping cups with G.o.dou who was drinking water. The Hunnic Devil King's base of operations in this forest was located on the Rhine's sh.o.r.e while Augusta Raurica, Colonia Agrippina and many other Roman colonial cities were situated downstream on the sh.o.r.es of this river. Uldin was literally the most powerful person in the Rhine basin's area. "Since you are leaving, comrade, it can't be helped. Why don't I simply take my tribe to visit various places, thereby using this opportunity to find a man fit to be my proxy? Not a bad idea. Perhaps I might end up nurturing a promising child." No way — While listening to Uldin speak, G.o.dou began to imagine. A person nurtured in such a manner could very well end up as "Attila, the great king of the Huns" one day, leaving his name in history while being protected by Devil King Uldin. "By the way, comrade, I saw your battle against the war G.o.d who was holding the strange blade." "Just as expected, huh." G.o.dou was told that during that battle, Uldin had also visited the vicinity of Colonia Agrippina. In that case, being able to scout the Franks and the "hero who exterminated all G.o.dslayers" was no surprise as long as he sent out those pterosaurs. G.o.dou nodded. "It is quite unclear how strong he is. However... It's quite strange how easily he exited the stage in contrast to that t.i.tle." "Even if that guy turns into a sword, it looks like he'll still reawaken again." One day, the "King of the End" was going to fight the G.o.dslayers of this era. Not Kusanagi G.o.dou. G.o.dou told Uldin these warnings as a parting gift. "That's why it's possible that you'll meet that guy in the future." "Got it. When the time comes, I will be very careful. When we saw that war G.o.d together, Ruska also spoke a strange oracle." Uldin's wife, Ruska, was a very powerful user of spirit vision. Just like Yuri's predictions, her warnings could not be ignored. "This is what Ruska said. That war G.o.d will further increase in power during his incessant wandering. A hero who persists in the journey of Devil King extermination." A journey undertaken to defeat all Devil Kings, increasing in power throughout his wandering days, finally completing his mission. This was almost like a role playing game, G.o.dou thought. Then thinking over it once again, it was probably the opposite. It was probably the story of the "King of the End" that served as the prototype myth for this sort of "legendary hero's saga"... Spontaneously, G.o.dou looked up at the sky. Up until now, it had been a red evening sky. But now, the sun had already set, causing the sky to darken. Hanging high in the eastern sky was the full moon, s.h.i.+ning clear and bright. It was about time to set off. That said, always being unable to enjoy a relaxing journey could be considered the source of G.o.dou's troubles. "We ended up spending almost two months here huh." G.o.dou muttered with heartfelt emotion. This was like taking a long summer holiday in advance and felt quite unbelievable. Then back to time in the present... A girl stood upright on a mountain's peak at an alt.i.tude of 1912m above sea level. She was dressed in a white garment reminiscent of ancient Greece. Her silver hair reached down to her shoulders while s.h.i.+mmering with faint light as though droplets of the moon had melded into it. Adding to the allure of her young but beautiful face was a pair of eyes, the color of darkness — It was currently nighttime on the peak. The girl exuded a quiet sense of beauty, quite fitting for the pitch-black darkness of the night. However, the wind blowing around the peak was quite noisy. A strong gust of wind, blowing across the southern Mediterranean Sea, was producing rumbling howls. This lone peak of Mont Ventoux stood on the land known to humans as Provence. Moreover, the name of Mont Ventoux even carried the meaning of "wind"... Nevertheless, even the bone-chilling wind was unable to disturb the girl's serenity. Her white garment and silver hair fluttered in the wind while she was standing casually on this snowy peak. Naturally, rather than an ordinary mountain climber, the girl was a supernatural existence. "Thou hast arrived, O wind king." The girl smiled with delight and whispered. From between the stars s.h.i.+ning above the mountain peak, a gust of whirlwind was blowing here. Blowing from the gaps between the stars, the wind changed forms before the girl, turning into a war G.o.d whose body was wrapped in white cloth and whose face was hidden behind a red mask. "Hoho. Since the previous Witch Queen appointed the war G.o.d of the lance as her knight, one should require an equivalent servant. O wind king, respond to mine invitation." The girl was meant to serve the hero, the "King of the End." The wind king was the war G.o.d whom one could call his right hand man, rather than the likes of a subordinate G.o.d. Like Lancelot du Lac of old, the wind king was a G.o.d a.s.sisting him as a brother-in-arms. His valor rivaled that of the war G.o.d of white. A top-cla.s.s warrior and a hero at the same time. Having spent a month's time to complete the wind king's invitation ceremony, the girl smiled with queenly dignity. "In that case, what follows ought to be searching for the slothful hero, is it not...?" The girl gazed into the eastern sky while murmuring. "Or perchance, that hitherto unencountered opponent, bound to one by ill fate. Hohoho, truly a conundrum herewithal." The girl was unaware that three hours later, three G.o.dslayers were about to return from ancient Gaul. Among the three was a youth named Kusanagi G.o.dou. Furthermore, she did not know that the opponent of ill fate, carved beneath her eyelids, bore the same face as this youth — The beginning of the end was imminent. That very moment was already approaching, albeit slowly. Afterword It's been a while, everyone. This series finally reaches its fifteenth volume. A number that would be totally fine for an ending. Despite reaching this volume count, with the anime's broadcast already ended as well, let alone falling, the sales of this series have grown nonstop in the opposite direction, resulting in a development that contradicts the industry's norms. This is all thanks to your love and support, readers. For this, I once again express my solemn grat.i.tude. So, having reached Volume 15, a certain character finally makes a first appearance. Only appearing by name until now, he makes his first appearance in an incomplete state. With this, the story enters the next phase. Once it's time for the volume where his true ident.i.ty is elucidated, it might be fun for me to simply imitate s.h.i.+njou Kazuma-sensei and gather answers from readers on Twitter. But at the same time, it would be quite sad if no one partic.i.p.ated. Bearing such fears, in the end, I gave up on the idea, (wry smile) Due to quite an increase in clues starting from Volume 12, it is possible that there are people who already realized his true ident.i.ty... Also, Volume 3 of the manga adaptation has also gone for sale at the same time as Volume 15. Included with that as a gift are appendix notes about the seven Campiones. This is information that summarizes the stats of the seven G.o.dslayers where finally all members have made their appearance. In particular, there should be quite a lot of content about authorities where "this may be the first time they are described in such detail." Readers who enjoy this type of content, do please check it out. (Due to ma.s.sive spoilers for Volumes 14 and 15, the descriptions about Madame Aisha are glossed over in brief...) Okay okay. About the next volume's content, I'm currently still thinking. I am considering various ideas such as writing a certain little story mentioned at the end of Volume 15, or content related to Valentine's Day, or how about I simply do a spin-off like "Case Files of Annie Charlton", etc. Letting the Marquis and Onee-sama reappear after their long absences also sounds quite interesting.