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“I’m off!”

Today is the camping day at the Little Academy.

“Be careful and listen to your teacher. You shouldn’t wander too far from the knight, okay?”

“Okay!”

After seeing Risen off, I was left alone with my thoughts at home.

Finally, the moment I had been hoping for.

Being alone with just the two of us is great, but…

“Are you not going to work today, Teacher?”

Zion, who was talking to me, looks particularly beautiful today.

I can feel the excitement radiating from Zion as she stretches her arms back and leans in closer.

Could it be that she’s expecting something? That I’m going to propose while Risen’s away?

“I’m going to stay home and take care of some things. I’ll be in my room.”

“Okay, Teacher. Good luck.”

While I’ve actually been spending my time preparing for a proposal instead of working as a rehabilitation expert, Zion probably doesn’t know that.

And today, staying home is because I have one last thing to do.

Once I’m in my room, Zion will think I’m busy with work and won’t try to disturb me.

Next…

“Create the Simplified Space Movement Array.”

I enter the room on the second floor where I’ve stored my collection.

Teleporting from home to home, how absurd.

It’s a bit funny that I had to sneak in without Zion knowing.

What’s piled up here are a bunch of broken items.

Things that became damaged after long personal use…

Some broken items picked up from an antique store…

Things rolling around on the street or items that someone left outside, along with various broken weapons or equipment used by adventurers are all lying around on shelves and racks.

Looking at all this, I realize I’ve accumulated quite a lot.

Staring at them still gives me a nostalgic and bittersweet feeling.

And at the same time, I feel a strange thrill when I sense that pain.

I know it’s due to an implication, but this hint is something I chose to pursue to find Zion.

Moreover, the feelings I’m experiencing are real. I actually enjoyed feeling this way until now…

‘I suppose it all has to come to an end.’

I make a resolution and greet that bittersweet feeling again.

This means I’m finally done preparing to propose to Zion.

***

“I ate well.”

After finishing our day’s work and dinner, we exchanged smiles, looking at each other.

Tonight, without Risen.

We probably both expect the same thing.

“Zion.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Just wait a little and come up to the second floor. I’ll be waiting for you there.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll clean up and head right over.”

Normally, we would all clean up together, but Zion happily nodded when I said I’d go first.

Everything is going so well that it feels oddly unfamiliar.

Were we always like this?

Until now, it seemed like there was always some sort of hardship…

Well, from my perspective, ever since I met Zion, I was always anxious about her figuring out my feelings, anxious about my lies… And then after resolving all that, the Demon King appeared.

Since the end of the Hope War, I’ve been living without my memories, so while I have recollections of that time, it feels as if someone else, not me, moved my body.

Is our true happiness just beginning now?

I opened the door to the second-floor room and positioned myself so that I could see Zion as soon as she came in.

“Feels a bit empty now.”

It’s an empty room now.

All the items that used to be here were sent away with the space movement.

– Knock Knock

Not long after, I heard a knocking sound, and then Zion entered.

“Uh? This room…”

Seeing that there’s nothing in here surprised her.

“What happened to all the broken items that were here?”

“I threw them all away.”

“Excuse me?”

Zion was shocked again after hearing my answer.

“But those items were your precious belongings, weren’t they?”

“They were things I liked, but they weren’t really precious to me. What’s truly precious to me is only…”

I step closer to Zion, who’s looking around the empty room.

“Only you.”

As I close the gap, Zion’s gaze fixes on me.

Then, I opened a spatial portal right in front of her,

– Thud

And pulled out a jewelry box.

Turning it to face Zion, I opened the lid to show her the ring inside.

“This is…”

“I took this magic sphere while you weren’t looking. It’s a sphere, but it’s quite pretty, right? Since it’s made with magic, it’s as sturdy as a gemstone, and I made it slightly smaller to wear as a ring.”

I wonder what Zion is thinking right now?

Zion quietly gazes at the ring.

“You made this into a ring. It’s certainly pretty, but…”

As she watches the three beams of light extending from the ring, her expression isn’t entirely bright.

Although she’s smiling, there’s a complexity in her expression.

Is she thinking something similar to the jeweler who made this?

“Is this because of it?”

Taking out the other two spheres from my pocket, I present them to her.

The one I made into a ring is the one both Zion and I used to own.

The ones I pulled out now are the magic spheres that Naou and Hanamana had from the hero party.

It seems that Zion’s concerns were indeed about these, as her eyes widen in surprise.

“How do you have all of these?”

“I went and asked for them. Because…”

Gently, I opened a small portal beneath my palm.

This portal leads not to a storage space but to another world.

Anything that enters this space no longer exists in this world.

“These are items I no longer need.”

After dropping the two spheres into the hole and closing the space, the two beams of light coming from the spheres set in the ring gradually faded, leaving only one sky-blue beam behind.

Now, this sphere has become an item that connects only the two of us.

“Zion, I told you, didn’t I? That I would make you no longer a hero. The princess and Hanamana have also discarded the symbols of that hero party. Now the hero party no longer exists anywhere in the world. So…”

I pulled only the ring out of the jewelry box and held it in my hand, returning the case back into the space.

“Be mine, Zion. Not as a hero, but as my wife, my other half, the meaning of my life. I’ll give up everything too. I’ll commit to no longer liking any broken things. This is the last time, and the name and role of the hero given to you is also over today. So please, would you…”

“Will you marry me?”

As I held out the ring, Zion looked at it for a moment before closing her eyes and said,

“I see. So the true end of the hero is here.”

For a moment, it seemed like something in her heart was settling down as she stood still, then she slowly opened her eyes.

“But I was glad to be a hero. Even though it was hard and painful, and I felt resentment because I became broken, I met you because I was a hero, and I got to have a future. You also gifted me memories because you liked me as a hero. So I’d like to happily welcome this end, the end of the name ‘hero’…”

With shining golden eyes, Zion looked up at me, gently smiling as she silently extended her left hand.

“You made me the meaning of your life, not the other way around. You changed me, who had no choice but to be a hero. You saved me and the doomed world.”

“As you wish, I, Zion Laurel, the hero of this world, will complete my duty by expressing my gratitude to you on behalf of everyone in the world. Thank you so much for saving the world… and me. And…”

In the end, she shed tears again.

Amidst what was the most beautiful smile in the world, the sparkle in her golden, shining eyes shed tears of joy that fell like glimmers of light.

“I love you. I will gladly become your wife. My dearest Hop Harvey.”

Nodding at Zion, whose face radiated love, I placed the ring on her left hand.

“Will you give me yours too?”

As I extended the matching white light ring, Zion also took it and slipped it onto my finger.

Then, it was as if we had made a promise, naturally embracing each other and sharing a kiss, losing ourselves in the ecstatic feeling.

“Shall we continue? Risen isn’t here today.”

Zion’s voice, sweetly penetrating like a whisper, tingled and danced in my mind.

Today, there was no reason to refuse this.

“Of course, we should. Let’s go down together.”

“Hooray!”

Holding hands, we left the room and made our way down the stairs to the bedroom.

Today marked the day of declaration, the last day of those inevitable things that once bound us.

So, our steps were as light as could be.

It was partly because we had let go of everything, but perhaps more so because…

We now had a partner to walk beside us together.

***

“Then, let us now begin the wedding ceremony of the groom, Hop Harvey, and the bride, Zion Laurel.”