Village No. 23, Northern Europe — 9:30 AM
A gentle breeze carried a pleasant coolness, no longer the bone-chilling cold it once had been. Steve and Ritsuka stood in a lush green meadow where snow-capped mountains stretched into the distance. At their feet bloomed countless wildflowers whose names they did not know. Sunlight filtered through thin clouds, bathing the world in a soft golden glow.
"Here it is…" Ritsuka murmured, looking around in a daze.
Minutes earlier she had been sprinting through New Chaldea's corridors in a life-or-death race.
The next moment she found herself in what seemed like paradise.
The extreme contrast left her mind slightly confused.
Steve brushed grass clippings from his clothes and sighed with relief. "Looks like I'm pretty lucky," he said, smiling. "What I was secretly hoping for was a place where Sion can never find us. This Anywhere Door was supposed to take us to a specific ecosystem zone within the New World."
"A new world?" Ritsuka blinked, then suddenly looked up at the sky as if she'd realized something. There was no sun—only an artificial light source emitting a soft glow. It was the world Steve had reproduced with future technology.
"Wait… this terrain and this vegetation distribution…" Ritsuka's gaze sharpened. As the Master who had personally explored the Scandinavian Lostbelt, she recognized the landscape. Much of the ice and snow had melted; the once-desolate land now overflowed with life, though the familiar contours remained unchanged.
"Is this… the Lost Belt…?" she muttered.
A clear, slightly surprised voice came from behind. "Um… excuse me, are you mages from Chaldea?"
Ritsuka froze.
That voice—one she thought she would never hear again—awakened a memory that still stung. She turned slowly. Disbelief softened her features.
A blonde girl in a simple linen dress stood there, carrying a basket full of berries. Her face still held that unique innocence and purity. Her cheeks were a little rounder and her skin looked healthier, but Ritsuka could never mistake those clear, lake-like eyes.
"Gerda…?" Ritsuka's voice trembled.
Gerda hesitated, then flashed an unbelievably bright smile—brighter than the artificial sun overhead and full of vitality.
"Ah! It really is you!" She set down her basket and ran over like an excited fawn, stopping a few steps away. Fidgeting with the hem of her dress, she said anxiously, "I… I thought I was seeing a hallucination. Everyone said you'd gone somewhere really far away…"
"Gerda… you're alive… wonderful… really wonderful…" Tears welled in Ritsuka's eyes. She ran forward and embraced the girl who had given her warmth and courage in that cruel world.
In the final stages of the Scandinavian Lostbelt, after Surtr was defeated and the Fantasy Tree was felled, Ritsuka had resolved to bear the sin of destroying the world if necessary. She had believed she had cut off Gerda's future. But here Gerda was—warm, breathing, and alive.
"Wow… Mage-san, don't cry…" Gerda patted Ritsuka's back awkwardly. She did not understand why the usually strong Master was crying, but she comforted her gently. "Did you get lost? It's okay. The people here are all very kind. Her Majesty the Queen always says that lost guests must be treated with courtesy…"
Steve stood quietly, watching. A faint smile played on his lips. This was the outcome he had hoped for. If saving humanity simply meant sacrificing all Lostbelts to preserve the history of humankind, it would be too heavy and devoid of meaning. As a savior endowed with extraordinary wisdom and technology, he sought a more perfect ending.
After a moment, Gerda calmed the excited Ritsuka and turned her curious gaze to Steve. "Who is this big brother?"
"Ah… sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." Ritsuka wiped her eyes and released Gerda. "This is Steve. He's my partner at Chaldea. When we were in Northern Europe, he supported us from a warship, so we hardly ever saw him in person."
"Nice to meet you, Gerda." Steve gave a slight, gentlemanly bow. "I'm Steve. Thank you for looking after Ritsuka back then."
"The big brother from the warship!" Gerda's eyes sparkled. "The village elders said a huge iron ship as big as a mountain flew through the sky and, together with the Queen and the Valkyries, defeated that terrifying fire giant! Was that the ship Steve-san piloted? Amazing!"
"Haha, it was just a little help," Steve said modestly, waving a hand. "Compared to that… Gerda, is everyone doing well?"
"I heard the rules here changed a bit?" Steve asked.
"Yes! They've changed a lot!" Gerda brightened and pointed to the distant village. "Ever since the fire giant disappeared, Her Majesty issued a new decree. The rule that said once you turn 25, you must go to that world has been abolished!"
"Really?!" Ritsuka, who had already heard from Steve, was still stunned to hear it from Gerda.
"Yay! Now everyone can live forever!" Gerda exclaimed happily. "We don't have to worry about running out of food anymore. Her Majesty brought back miracle seeds from the neighboring country of Russia—Steve's company had supplied the high-tech agricultural tech—that produce lots of wheat in just a few days! Everyone says it's a gift from the gods!"
She blushed. "The elders were worried living longer would trouble the Queen… but seeing my siblings grow up and being able to stay with my family is truly a happy thing."
Gerda looked up at the artificial yet warm sky. "I… want to experience a romance like the ones in picture books. Since there's no need to die at 25, I want to see what the world is like when you become an adult."
Ritsuka felt warmth fill her chest.
The massive rock called guilt that had weighed on her heart shattered. She had not destroyed the world; she had not taken Gerda's future. In this new world, lives once destined to be cut short now shone with their own light.
"That's wonderful… Gerda." Ritsuka took Gerda's hand, determination in her eyes. "You must be happy. We'll enjoy twice as much happiness, including what we missed before."
"Yes, I will!" Gerda nodded vigorously, then remembered something and took a handful of bright red berries from her basket. "These are freshly picked and very sweet! Magician—ah, Ritsuka-neechan, Steve-oniisan, please try them!"
Steve tasted a berry.
The balance of sweetness and acidity was exquisite; the juice was plentiful. "Mmm, delicious," he said with a smile. "These have the scent of hope."
Ritsuka tried one.
The sweet flavor melted on her tongue. She narrowed her eyes and glanced at Steve. Despite his usual sarcasm—and despite that embarrassing chest touched incident earlier—she felt grateful. If he hadn't been there, if the reverse substitution plan hadn't worked, none of this—including Gerda's smile—would exist.
"Steve…" she said quietly.
"Hm? What is it?" he replied, chewing a berry.
"Thank you." Ritsuka gave a heartfelt, radiant smile. "Thank you so much for bringing me here."
Steve was briefly at a loss, then shrugged back into casualness. "Well, you don't need to thank me… I just happened to pick a location to escape Sion's pursuit. The only reason I can make you happy is luck. It should've been extraordinary luck, but for some reason it plunged to rock bottom in that situation and only occasionally recovered."
Ritsuka burst out laughing. "Really… don't ruin the atmosphere at a time like this!"
…
While the three savored their reunion in the meadow, high atop a distant snow-capped mountain, inside an ice castle hidden by an invisible barrier, a goddess in a purple dress watched through an ice mirror. Scáthach-Skadi, queen of that lost Norse territory, observed Gerda's innocent smile and Ritsuka's relief. She sighed softly, and the corners of her mouth curved into a gentle arc she did not notice.
"What a meddlesome man," she murmured, tapping the ground with her staff.
The image in the ice mirror vanished. "But… it's not bad."
…
…
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