Chapter 73
Conrad Williams was born into a poor family in America.
The Williams family was poor in material terms, but rich in spirit.
His mother turned the vegetables and fruit from their modest kitchen garden into stylish smoothies and handed them out to the neighborhood ladies.
His father gladly took care of the pets belonging to the couple next door whenever they traveled, and by the time they returned, the pets were more attached to him than to their actual owners.
To protect his childhood friend, Conrad repeatedly and fearlessly challenged a notorious local delinquent. He showed understanding, met the delinquent halfway, and became his friend, eventually getting him to quit dealing drugs and take up boxing instead.
Conrad tried to be a son his parents could be proud of, and his parents tried to be the kind of parents Conrad could be proud of. It was not a burden, but the pride of the entire family.
When Conrad grew up, he enlisted in the United States Army. His childhood friend invited him to work at his parents' store, but Conrad politely declined.
Conrad's grandfather was a war veteran who had met his grandmother while serving. He had fought so valiantly that he received a medal, and he had even won the love of a kind-hearted wife. Conrad adored hearing his grandfather's tales of valor.
About two years after enlisting in the Army, the Gremlin disaster occurred.
Conrad awakened as a Mutant. Despite his youth, his military service and exceptionally good conduct earned him the extraordinary distinction of being assigned to the president's guard.
He quickly formed a firm friendship with Glenn Grayling, a former CIA trainee who had also been assigned as a guard.
Conrad and Glenn raced desperately through an age of turmoil together.
He crisscrossed America with the old and new presidents, achieving more dazzling victories than he could count, yet strangely, he barely remembered the battles.
What he remembered much more clearly was helping an old woman who was struggling to carry water home from a water truck, and repairing a toy a little boy had broken, only to be shown a smile when the boy stopped crying.
One of the finest memories of his life was mediating between Glenn and the brother he had fallen out with years earlier, and being invited to attend Glenn's brother's wedding as a result.
But even the United States of America, powerfully united under its new president and weaving human endeavors into a strong fabric as it advanced toward reconstruction, was soon overshadowed by darkness.
The Demon King's appearance.
The American military was thoroughly beaten by the Demon King.
The army briefly rallied and drove him into a corner after the Witch of Hell's visit, but he narrowly escaped. Then the Demon King returned with his army and defeated them utterly.
In the end, America was driven to the point where it had no choice but to abandon its homeland, and went into exile in Cuba with its refugees.
America could no longer stand against the Demon King alone.
Thus, the four steamships, with Conrad serving as their plenipotentiary ambassador, set out to seek aid. They were America's hope. They were the world's hope as well.
According to the Witch of Hell, their ally Japan possessed several extraordinary Mutants. It also possessed magnificent technology.
They did not know how effective the alliances between nations from the previous era would still be. But if they sincerely and wholeheartedly asked for help, surely they would not be treated badly...
That day, Conrad Williams was captivated by a woman for the first time in his life, on a far-eastern island nation.
"It is an honor to meet you. I am the Witch of Blue."
Even her halting English sounded irresistibly cute and charming, and the soft feel of her hand as they shook left him swooning.
The Witch of Blue was beautiful.
She possessed such pure, flawless beauty that even the most eloquent poet's carefully chosen words and flowery phrases would sound trite, and it pierced straight through Conrad's heart.
It was love at first sight.
From the moment he first saw the Witch of Blue, Conrad's heart became her prisoner.
Even when the Witch of Blue suddenly tried to kill him, Conrad could not bring himself to resist.
Whatever the reason, she was looking at him and directing her attention toward him. The joy that alone brought him was overwhelming, and he struggled to maintain the dignity expected of the plenipotentiary ambassador of the United States.
It was as if he had gone mad, and in fact, perhaps he had. Love drives people mad. Even after realizing it, being unable to resist was both troublesome and intoxicating.
After somehow maintaining his composure and concluding the negotiations with Japan, Conrad was shown to a guest room in the state guest house, where his best friend came to visit him.
Glenn tossed him a bottle of sake and asked suspiciously,
"What happened to you today, Conrad? You're acting strange. The Witch of Blue certainly looked about as strong as you, but it's not as though this is your first time meeting someone like her, is it? The Demon King was far more dangerous."
"Glenn. Do you believe in a woman fated for you?"
"Huh? ... Good grief, you've fallen for one hell of a woman. And of all women, you've fallen for one like that? A human nuclear land mine that could go off at any moment?"
Glenn looked thoroughly appalled, but he was not angry.
"I see. So that's why the negotiations were so soft."
"I know. I meant to be tough, though."
"If that was you being tough, then you're in serious trouble. So what was it you fell for? Tell me, you ladies' man!"
Glenn twitched his beard and laughed with mouse-like squeaks.
The two of them drank foreign liquor and talked through the night, eventually deciding that they would somehow bring the bewitching woman who had captured the heart of Conrad, the hero his homeland was proud of, back to America.
It was for America, for the world, and for Conrad himself.
In Mumbai, India, enraged people trying to pursue a bride and a lower-class man who had fled the wedding hall hand in hand were left dumbfounded when a mountain range of ice suddenly appeared and blocked their way.
It had been a loveless arranged marriage. The powerful people backing the bride and groom had said that even without love, there was profit to be had.
In fact, as the plenipotentiary ambassador of the United States, Conrad could have blessed the marriage and secured India's gradual cooperation.
But Conrad chose to be hated by half of India while firmly joining hands with the other half. Half the people of India wanted nothing more than for the bride who had called off the ceremony and eloped to be happy. Conrad thought that was a wonderful thing.
Of course, there were hundreds of people pursuing the bride and trying to bring her back. Conrad had been considering bringing down buildings and blocking the roads if necessary, but he smiled at the Witch of Blue for taking an even flashier approach than he would have.
"Not bad. You looked like you weren't interested, but you're more passionate than anyone."
"Shut up. I was against raiding the wedding in the first place. But... the ring that poor-looking man gave the bride was handmade. He must have made it himself, pouring his feelings into it despite having no money."
"Oh? So you can tell that kind of thing?"
"I'm not particularly knowledgeable. But I learned it naturally. It's my best friend's job, after all."
It was there that Conrad saw the Witch of Blue smile for the first time.
During their journey, the Witch of Blue had not smiled even once. Even before Professor Ohinata, who was as close to her as a real sister, she had only ever relaxed her expression slightly. Now she was smiling as she pictured someone.
Conrad had vaguely suspected as much.
But at last, he became certain.
Just as the Witch of Blue had taken over Conrad's heart, someone was already occupying a place in hers.
Conrad's heart was thrown into turmoil, but at the same time, he felt grateful to someone whose face he had never even seen.
The Witch of Blue herself had told him, with extraordinary hatred, what the mage from Iruma, one of her own kind, had done to her.
Her heart had frozen after being exposed to the cruelty of the ruined world.
Surely that someone was the one who had melted her frozen heart and enabled the Witch of Blue to turn her eyes toward the good things in this world.
Conrad was grateful to that faceless someone, but that did not change the fact that he also began to burn with rivalry. Unfortunately, he had not been the one comforting the beautiful witch's wounded heart all this time.
But from now on, he wanted to take on that role himself, gladly. For the Witch of Blue, he would even challenge the Demon King alone.
To discover the identity of the fortunate someone who had won the honor of being loved by the Witch of Blue, Conrad casually steered the conversation in that direction.
"Your best friend? He must be a good person."
"No, not at all. He casually says terrible things to little children, he's stubborn and carefree, and he's an absolutely outrageous person."
One after another, words came pouring from the Witch of Blue's mouth that hardly sounded like they were about her best friend.
Yet her profile, gazing toward the distant eastern sky as she spoke, was plainly lovestruck.
The story, told without revealing her best friend's name or whereabouts, lost more and more of its thorns the longer he listened, becoming an affectionate brag.
For the next hour, Conrad listened to a long, rambling love story disguised as complaints—more than all the words he had heard from the Witch of Blue during the previous month put together.
The final battle with the Demon King brought together all of America's strength, all of the world's strength.
It was a great war that would remain in human history, waged in a single day, and also a gruesome battle in which the legacy of the previous era bloomed its final flower of death.
There were countless moments when everything nearly went horribly wrong.
But humanity won.
The Demon King was slain by the party of four heroes.
The scars left by the Demon King ran deep across America. Countries across the world had also been wounded by powerful monsters influenced by the Demon King.
But at last, they could begin moving forward with reconstruction toward peace.
Conrad returned alive carrying three comrades who had fainted from mana depletion. He was greeted by thunderous cheers and swept straight into the victory celebration.
Even the unconscious companions awoke partway through, and the banquet, which had seemed to reach its climax from the very beginning, rose past its limit and erupted into outrageous revelry.
Conrad was laughing as he was jostled around at the center of the banquet when he caught sight of the Witch of Blue slipping quietly through the crowd and away.
He left the people raising their cups, slapping his back, asking for handshakes, and begging him for stories to Glenn, then chased after the Witch of Blue with his friend's curses ringing behind him.
Under the moonlight, the Witch of Blue was stretching broadly in the shadow of a building to loosen up when she noticed Conrad and looked sheepish.
"Conrad? I thought Glenn would be the one to notice."
"Are you leaving? So soon?"
"Mm. I'll tell Kei-chan about our victory, then head straight back to Japan."
"...I see. It'll be lonely without you."
"Don't look like that. Glenn's here. Ruche will be here for a while too, won't she?"
"But you'll be gone."
For a brief moment, their gazes met.
The Witch of Blue met Conrad's passionate gaze head-on.
Then she smiled just a little and shook her head.
Conrad had lost in love, but he had also learned that the Witch of Blue thought of him as a friend.
Then he would not try to stop her. He would not cling to her. For now, that was enough.
When Conrad held out his hand, the Witch of Blue took it and shook it.
Their joined hands soon parted, leaving behind only the bond they shared as friends.
"Then... see you."
"Yeah. See you."
After exchanging those brief words, the Witch of Blue ran away like the wind.
This was not a final farewell in this life. They would meet again someday. They had not become anything special to each other, but they had become close enough to hope for a reunion.
A hairy friend appeared soundlessly beside Conrad, startling him into a leap as he listened to her fading footsteps.
"Glenn! How did you manage to get away?"
"The Saintess-sama is singing a hymn. Anyone who isn't spellbound by it is either deaf or a rat who can't appreciate the beauty of human music... So, you did confess, right? How did it go? Hmm?"
Glenn jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow, and Conrad gave him a wry smile.
The rat man was more astonished at the long-eared man's reaction than he had been when he heard about the president's nuclear bombing operation.
"Come on, Conrad! You're the world's greatest hero, the famous hero Conrad Williams who slew the Demon King! Is there really a woman who could turn down your confession?"
"I didn't want to confess and make the Witch of Blue uncomfortable. I managed to defeat the Demon King, but I couldn't defeat whoever was in her heart."
"What the hell? I thought it would be a story like, 'The Demon King was defeated and peace returned to the world. The hero married the woman he loved. And they lived happily ever after.'"
Conrad laughed at the tone of his best friend, who seemed to have genuinely believed that was how it would turn out.
"It's fine. It seems that she and I have exceptionally long lifespans.
From now on, whether it's fifty years or a hundred, I'll entrust the happiness of being with her to some fortunate someone.
After that person's natural life comes to an end, I've decided to spend a thousand years walking alongside her."
"...That's a long time to wait. Well, invite me to your wedding with the Witch of Blue. Assuming I'm still alive."
"Before that, it'll be your wedding, won't it, Glenn? What do you think of the Witch of Hell? You two seemed close."
"Hey, don't connect everything to romance! She's an ascetic seeker who has cast off the secular world. I won't have you look at her that way."
Laughing, Conrad slapped his indignant friend's back and returned to the victory banquet, where a beautiful hymn filled the air.