Boooooooooooooong!
The luxury cruise ship’s horn blows its sound. I squinted at the orange sunset as I sat on the deck feeling the sea breeze.
“This is the first sunset we’ve seen since we got married.”
“That’s true.”
Erna snuggles up to me, and a ring shines in her left hand.
“Do you regret it?”
“No, I feel so great. Although of course, I feel a little guilty.”
“I think that’s natural. After all, Shinichi is dull-witted when it comes to it but you have the deepest love in this world.”
“You can never really say I’m the best in the world you know.”
“I, as a goddess, says so, so it’s true.”
It’s illogical. But that’s what I want to be too.
A skeleton passing by offered me a cocktail, so I accepted it. The skeleton bowed down and left. My familiars are working everywhere on the ship. The Great Homeless is one of the largest luxury cruise ships on this world, weighing 230,000 tons. Inside, there are a number of bars, amusement parks, casinos, theaters, shopping centers, swimming pools, first-class restaurants and much more. There is also an arena inside, where guests can enjoy a little friendly match.
“Kyahahaha, if you want it back, go for it!”
“You’re bad -Gero! I’ll get back at you!”
Two of the Four Demon Kings run on the deck. It was nice to see that they are enjoying themselves. Beyond the horizon, Leviathan-san makes a brief appearance and immediately sinks again. The fantastic and mysterious sight make my mind calm. It’s strange, but I feel like the scenery I see is different from yesterday. I felt like I remembered how beautiful and vivid the world was.
“It’s already this late. If we don’t hurry up, it’s going to start.”
“Mmm, it’s time to call Liz.”
As I start walking, Erna thrusts her right hand forward.
“……What’s that hand for?”
“Don’t you understand?”
“?”
“Haaah.”
She let out a loud sigh. My ex-wife, Miyuki, overlaps with her appearance.
『You’re really dull huh. Usually, guys are the one who holds a woman’s hand.』
『Really?』
『Haaah. You’re so annoying. If this is how it is on the first date, you’re going to have a hard time going forward you know.』
『S-sorry. This is my first time dating someone.』
『Fine, fine, enough with that. Come on, let’s go.』
On our first date, I learned to hold hands with a woman. I felt like a box of memories that had been closed until now had opened. That’s right, Miyuki. She taught me a lot of things.
I gently took Erna’s hand.
“This is something a man does, right?”
“Y-yes….…”
We went inside the ship while holding hands. The people who we passed by looked at us and grinned as if teasing. It can’t helped because we know all of them. When I went to the casino, Freya is banging on the table in front of the slot.
“What’s this!? Is it broken? I only need one more to get three 7s! Now look at this, Tanaka-dono must be working hard to rip off gold! It’s unfair!”
She was banging so hard on the machine that a staff member Skeleton came over and forcibly pulled her away from the slots machine.
“I’ll bet on red.”
Pero puts the chip forward. The dealer skeleton nods and puts the ball in the roulette. When he raises the sign that says “No More Bet”, the chip can no longer be moved. The ball moved and it went into the red box and Pero won the game. After receiving the chip, Pero happily wags his tail.
In the other seats, I can see the kings of the four kingdom playing blackjack. Vishu, Dodol, and King Kycilia were throwing away playing cards with their hands in their head, and the Queen of Sanargia was chuckling. By the way, Scathach seems to really like the pool, so she’s probably still swimming right now.
The skeleton manager, comes over and bows to us. I asked where Liz and the others are, and he told me that she and her family have just returned to their room.
After passing through several floors, we came to the main hall. This is an atrium with a huge chandelier hanging from it. Looking down from above, I saw a Homeless Seraph playing the piano gracefully. He is a Homeless Seraph, but his appearance has changed since I became a god. He still had an amethyst-like skeleton, but he now had thick, large horns on both sides of the head and two pairs of black wings on the back. He still has a purple orb on the chest.
At the end of the performance, the people who had heard the performance applauded. Seraph stands up and bows. From there, we go to the top. There was a pool and bar to enjoy the open outdoors, and people in swimsuits were enjoying all around. Among them, the most eye-catching is the group of stalls that are already smoking. Fried noodles, candy apples, yakitori, cotton candy, takoyaki, squid, etc. The skeletons continue to cook wholeheartedly.
“Katakata”
Suketarou gives instructions while looking around the stalls. The figure is pure white without a single blemish. He seemed to have come full circle and returned to his original skeleton form. However, in reality, he is incomparably stronger than before. The pure white skeleton had no light in his eyes and his chest was equipped with black orb. Suketarou seemed to have received the most power from me of all my familiars, and had become a being that was infinitely closer to the gods. If Eugrapia was the most powerful of my familiars, then there was no doubt that Suketarou would be next.
| Name: Suketarou Race: Bone Demon Deity Magic Attributes: Darkness, Holy, Evil, Nothingness Magic: — Skills: Eyes of Truth, Space Jump, Demonic Divine Attire, God Slayer Domination Rate: 100% dominated by Shinichi Tanaka Evolution: ― |
The Demonic Divine Attire is Suketarou’s combat form. Its power is so strong that it can apparently shatter stars……. I haven’t actually seen it, so I don’t know if it’s true or not. There are also other changes, such as Sukejiro, the ten division commanders of the skeleton army, and the five division commanders of the Angelton army. Well, I’ll come back to that later.
“Katakata!”
Suketarou finds me and bows reverently. He is wearing an apron and has a chimaki on the head. He is really all out. I later learned that while we were gone, Suketarou had become the owner of three shops in Mana. He has also steadily continued to run the Homeless Cafeteria, and is now a successful manager. Moreover, now he does not even hide his identity, and he usually serves customers in the form of a skeleton.
Suketarou packs yakisoba and yakitori in a bag and brings them to me. Although I refused at first, despite his humble nature, he pushed the bag in my hand with strange force. It looked delicious, so I’ll accept it without hesitation.
By the pool, Scathach was lying in a chair wearing sunglasses, and in the pool, Zefa was playing with Eva and Satanas in school swimsuits. Elsewhere at the bar, Budwell, the branch manager of the Mana Guild, and Duffy, Liz’s specialist, are chatting over a bottle of beer.
“It’s almost night, hurry up.”
“Don’t panic, we still have about 20 minutes until it starts.”
Led by Erna, we descend to the floor where our room is.
“Oh, Dad!”
“Naoki? What’s are you doing here?”
I met Naoki with a pale face in the hallway. He seemed very wary of his surroundings and behaves suspiciously which made me wonder.
“W-well, I was listening to Kurohime-san’s story, then our topic turned about Moore-san and the she started saying things like…… 『Reincarnating your father was a very good deed of yours. I’m going to give you a lot of guidance as a reward.』and so on…..”
“I’ll scold her later.”
What a troublesome old woman. I didn’t think she would try to get her hands on my son.
Naoki said he was going to the rooftop and parted ways. I then knock on the door of a suite room. There was no response, so I opened it and looked inside. The Schmidt family and the Frederia family were all chatting together.
“My, what a very lovely young lady. Well, although she is not as pretty as our daughter Erna, she still boasts good looks. I’m sure as her parent, you are proud of her.”
“No, no, same here. My daughter is more kind and prettier than your daughter, so I was worried that you might think she is inferior to her.”
The two fathers changed their smiles to furious expressions.
“Come outside, Human!”
“Fine! Let’s do it!”
““Stop!””
The two mothers scolded them. Both of them became quiet with regretful expressions.
What’s going on? Why are they fighting?
“They’ve been bragging about their daughters ever since. I don’t think you know this Shinichi, but those two have been on bad terms since the wedding reception.”
Now that she mentioned it, it did seem like they were glaring at each other for a while. The culprit should be Sir Frederia. His bragging must have gotten on Liz’s father’s nerves so he bickered back.
“Shinichi!”
Liz notices me and runs to me. However, as soon as she saw me and Erna holding hands, her brows wrinkled.
“Mmmm”
“I know, I know.”
Just as I held hands with Liz, both families noticed me. The father of the two came running to me smiling.
“It seems like my Erna is the best after all!”
“Is that really so? It seems to me that my daughter is more compatible with Tanaka-dono!”
““Stop messing around!””
Their wife pulls their ears to make them quieter. I could only smile wryly.
“Anyways, Tanaka-san has really great power and financial resources huh. I never thought that he would give Erna such a wedding. I was also amazed by this ship.”
“No, not at all.”
“I’m really surprised as well. I can’t believe that my Liz found such a nice man, so much so that I want to abandon my husband and get married myself.”
“Uh-, no……”
“Shall we throw them to the sea as it is?”
“That’s a great idea!”
The two mothers seems to be getting along well as they are chatting happily. The father of the two was in a cold sweat and their molars were chattering.
“It’s about time to go upstairs.”
I invite both families to go up to the deck where the pool was. Many people had already gathered and looked towards the island. The sky darkens and the star-filled skyline shines.
“I’m starting”
A few seconds after hearing Eugrapia’s voice, a huge firework went up in the sky. The smell of gunpowder arrives on the wind and the popping sound that shakes the air. There were cheers every time the fireworks went off.
I look at my two wife on my left and right side. What is here is what I came to this world and obtained. Wife and son and many acquaintances. It’s the same with my familiars. If I go to the past, most of them may disappear. But the memory remains. This is my thanks and apology for them. A ritual to make a resolve that we’ll meet again.
Again, I’m really sorry.
“Are you still apologizing?”
Kanzaki was there with a cocktail.
“Just a little.”
“It’s not like you, Tanaka-san. You should be the one who doesn’t hold back when you do it. That’s the manager, the Homeless, the Shinichi Tanaka I knew.”
As expected, he is my right-hand man. He always pushes me when I needed it.
“Instead, do your best to save the world.”
“Mmm.”
“And let’s see that sunset again.”
“Yeah.”
The sunset that we just saw is the future. A brilliance that continues into tomorrow. I shook hands with him, and the last fireworks burst into the night sky.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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