Episode 174
"..........."
The long silence that began flowing in the judgment room.
"W-what's going on...?"
Within that silence, Ferloche approached the scales with an expression of disbelief.
"W-why is it balanced...? This can't be..."
Eventually, she who had been muttering with trembling eyes suddenly stopped speaking and looked at Frey, who had been wearing a gentle smile behind her, with a shaking expression.
"Surely that can't be?"
"......."
"N-no way. This doesn't make sense. Something must be wrong..."
Before long, Ferloche began speaking into the empty air with a nuance suggesting there must be some mistake.
[The guilt of all main heroines and Frey's love and compassion are perfectly matched.]
[Judgment result: Not guilty]
At the same time, the massive text floating in the air, along with the scales that had already reached a state of perfect balance, drove the final nail into the judgment result.
"Ah..."
Ferloche, who had been alternately looking at the text in the air and the balanced scales, collapsed powerlessly and knelt on the floor.
"Y-Young master..."
"Frey..."
And the same was true for the four girls standing behind her.
"So... what happens next?"
However, Frey asked the question far too calmly. As if he had already predicted the result that had just occurred.
"I, I... that is... ugh..."
Of course, Ferloche still hadn't come to her senses.
The guilt she had cultivated over eons of time, thinking only of the judgment she would receive at this moment and struggling to rationalize it, was bursting forth all at once.
"Just... why...?"
At the same time, there were still questions she couldn't understand.
"Why did you forgive me? Frey?"
Therefore, Ferloche, who had been kneeling, barely lifted her head and looked at Frey with trembling eyes as she began to ask.
"You, you saw it, didn't you? The original sin of me and the girls behind me? And what I did during the retries..."
But before Ferloche could finish her words.
- Hug...
"......!"
Frey carefully embraced Ferloche, who had been kneeling.
"Thank you."
Immediately after, as Frey began patting Ferloche's back, Ferloche, who had been dazed in Frey's arms...
".......Ugh."
Soon buried her face in his chest and began to tremble.
"Let go of unnecessary guilt, and let's start anew, Ferloche."
Frey, looking down at her, said.
"If you're afraid of being swept away by the flow of time, tell me anytime. I'll comfort you."
"U, ugh..."
"So don't worry. I'll give everyone, including myself, the true happy ending you wanted. Of course, before your soul and spirit break."
He whispered while patting her back.
"Something like that time will never happen again. I promise."
After saying that, Frey, who had been stroking Ferloche's back as she buried her face in his chest and shed tears...
"So, what happens next?"
Soon asked casually.
"W-well... ugh..."
Then, Ferloche, who had finally come to her senses, lifted her head and began to speak.
"S-since the judgment ended in not guilty... now only returning to reality remains..."
"...Is that so?"
At those words, Frey made a complicated expression.
"It seems like it'll feel a bit strange since I've been in the trial for too long. Well, I'll have to accept that much myself."
After muttering that, Frey...
"Then... I guess we should head back..."
Quietly helped her to her feet and tried to take a step, but.
"W-wait a moment."
Ferloche stopped him.
"There's something I need to tell you."
And she began speaking with an urgent voice.
"As you saw on the screen... to face the 2nd year DLC story, we all need to attain enlightenment."
"2nd year DLC story..."
When Frey made a serious expression at those words, Ferloche swallowed and said.
"That's when the real beginning starts. A new story will unfold, new crises will come, and the situation may become several times more difficult than now."
"Hmm..."
"But just as much, certain 'hope' will come. So... don't worry too much."
At Frey's nod, Ferloche wiped her tears and continued.
"And I... from now on, I'll be entering a long rest."
"Rest?"
"Yes, I'm very sorry... but my mind and soul have already reached their limit."
Ferloche's expression as she said that was much lighter than before.
"So, from now on, I'll hide myself deep in my unconsciousness and stay by your side as the fool saintess."
"Ferloche."
When Frey frowned at those words, Ferloche gave a clumsy smile.
"I'm not leaving forever. It's just taking a temporary rest to restore my soul and mental state."
"...That's a relief then."
When Frey showed a relieved expression, Ferloche's expression wavered.
"Frey, what... exactly are you?"
".....?"
"How can a person be so..."
Eventually, Ferloche, who had been tightly gripping his hand and trying to say something...
"...Never mind."
Soon shook her head side to side, then...
"Eek...!"
While still holding his hand, she pulled Frey toward her.
- Kiss...
A moment later, his and her tongues intertwined.
"Hah..."
A moment later, Ferloche, who slightly pulled her head back and savored the taste after exhaling...
"You always fall for this method."
Whispered softly in Frey's ear.
"I love you, Frey."
She murmured while holding him tightly.
"...Forever."
Soon, as she slightly lifted her head and smiled with her eyes, her eyes were filled with tears.
- Drip...
Thus, an eternal moment passed.
"...Huh?"
Ferloche, who let a single tear drop that had been welling in her eyes, suddenly began to make a foolish expression.
"W-w-what!"
Ferloche, with a bright red face, pushed Frey away.
"Bad Frey! Beast-like Frey! You can't do such shameful things!"
Soon, puffing her cheeks largely, she shouted.
"If you do this one more time! Then I'll really beat you to dea... huh?"
But she, looking around...
"Where is this?"
Made a blank expression and tilted her head.
"W-where have you taken me! I was definitely in my dormitory..."
Frey, who had been watching Ferloche making a blank expression for a while and then starting to scream frantically...
"...Sigh."
Quietly smiled and began stroking her hair.
"S-stop it... hmm..."
As Ferloche, who was being stroked by Frey, had a drowsy look in her eyes and suddenly fell asleep...
"Hoo."
Frey, holding such Ferloche, carefully headed toward where the main heroines were.
"........"
They had been frozen without saying a single word until then.
"Ha."
Frey, who briefly laughed while looking at them, slowly began taking in the four girls with his eyes.
"Young master..."
She, with whom he had shared the deepest spiritual connection, to the point where he now feels empty and even anxious without her.
She is no longer Kania the black mage who tormented Frey with poison and curses, but the most trustworthy loyal confidante and partner.
"Oh, hmm..."
She who devised the soul-swapping magic to help Frey and even rewrote the laws of magic to establish this trial.
She is no longer a dangerous element targeting Frey's life with overwhelming magical skill, but a childhood friend and reliable fighter.
"Frey..."
Klana who had sworn to serve Frey for her entire life, and to protect him, abandoned her own personality and tried to become a single canary.
She is no longer a political enemy who would crush Frey with power, but a precious existence who promised to serve each other.
"....."
Serena, who had never betrayed him even once in countless playthroughs, except for the ones where Frey himself manipulated his own emotions.
She, who was Frey's first love, is Frey's fiancée both in the past and now.
- Creak...
Thus, as Frey, who had the four restless girls in his eyes, made a bright smile...
"...Hmm?"
The scales that hadn't budged at all began to shake slightly.
"Let's go, everyone."
Frey, who had been watching that with a puzzled expression and scratching his head...
"A new path has opened, so we must move forward."
Said with a bright smile as he headed toward the massive exit that had appeared in the middle of the judgment room.
"Right?"
Even then, as the girls still had blank expressions, Frey smirked and turned his head.
"The future is always more important than the past. So the past events... huh?"
And Frey, who was slowly heading toward the exit while speaking to the girls behind him...
[Third trial cleared!]
[Clear reward...]
"....."
As a system window floated before him, he began to show a cold expression.
- Whoosh!
- Hmm...
As he raised his fist, the system window floating in the air trembled and slightly retreated.
"...Looking at you, it seems you've watched this trial as well."
Looking at that system window, Frey muttered in a cold voice.
"But so what? You can't directly interfere with us right now, can you?"
- Hmm...
"Only able to use such a system as a shield to play pranks."
As Frey tapped the system window with his fingers, the translucent window trembled once again.
"Though I'm currently subject to your constraints... keep this in mind."
Frey, who had approached right in front of the system window, whispered while emitting killing intent enough for cold energy to form around him.
"...Before long, I'll come for you."
After saying that and closing the system window, Frey tried to go outside the door with Ferloche still in his arms, but.
[Warning!]
[Only one person can exit at a time!]
[Originally, the third trial was developed for single player, so we ask for your understanding.]
"...Tsk."
As a system window floated before his eyes once again, he muttered with an expression full of annoyance.
"Being troublesome until the very end."
After saying that, Frey gently placed Ferloche on the ground.
"...Then, see you in a bit."
He smiled at the girls behind him and exited through the entrance.
.
"........"
In the judgment room where silence flowed after Frey exited the entrance.
"...Y-you guys."
It was Irina who broke the silence that had flowed for quite a long time.
"Um... well..."
She asked the girls next to her with a dark expression.
"Do you think... we have the right to love him?"
Then, the girls' complexions changed in various ways.
The last words Frey left with an earnest expression when he chose extinction, the request to 'love himself.'
After Frey looked at them with loving eyes, the scales that had tilted to one side.
Yet the guilt that still remained.
Various complex information and emotions mixed together, creating silence once again.
"........"
In that silence, the girls were unknowingly examining each other intensely.
"Yawn..."
Until Ferloche, who had been unconscious in Frey's arms until just now, got up from her seat with a yawn.
"Oh my, everyone! Hello!"
Ferloche, whom everyone began looking at simultaneously, opened her mouth with a bright expression.
"But, where is this?"
And right at that moment.
- Rumble...!
".......!"
The judgment room darkened and began to shake violently.
"Kyaa!"
"W-what...!"
While the girls, flustered by the situation, began urgently examining their surroundings...
".....!"
Ferloche, who had been wearing a bright expression, unknowingly hardened her face.
"Hello everyone...?"
"Y-you are...!"
Because a familiar presence had popped out from the black smoke seeping through the cracks of the breaking judgment room.
"Tsk, as expected, can't cause direct harm..."
On the other hand, the black presence, who had frowned while trying to manipulate something with a raised hand, muttered...
"Well..."
Soon, began glaring at the main heroines with a cold expression.
"...since I only came to talk, does it matter?"
The demon god Eclipse had descended upon the judgment room.