Side: Amahashi Kakeru⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

In the afternoon I'd been able to focus on combat training and checking over my magic and the like. Come to think of it, it was the first time since I'd come back here. I wasn't Pricia, but maybe there really was something to it: moving your body cleared your head.

When evening came, my uncle drove up to fetch me and we headed down the mountain.

"Kakeru, come eat dinner at our place tonight. I've already got it ready. The main house has the fridge unplugged anyway."

Once I was in the car, my uncle invited me to dinner. Today was Saturday, and I was planning to stay the night at the family home. I'd gotten ready to just make do with some retort-pouch meals, though.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

"Sure, thanks. Oh, about the hut up the mountain — I'm thinking of fixing it up."

"That hut? I used to play up there a lot when I was a kid, too."

He gave me a look that said same old oddball as ever. Still, it seemed he had a little attachment to the place himself, so he understood.

When the car stopped at a light, my uncle glanced over at me. He looked unusually serious.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

"Hey, Kakeru. I figure you already know, but there's no future in staying in this village. There's no stopping the aging. Come back and you'll be living in a place with nothing but old folks."

The music coming from the car radio stuck in my ears more than it should have. Pricia and the others didn't say a word. It was probably because my uncle — who usually went all soft and doting whenever they were around — was talking with such a straight face.

"'Course, it's fine to keep a place to come home to. I made a promise to Grandma, after all. But even now there's hardly anyone young who comes back to the village. When you get to be around my age, how are you going to make a living?"

Uncle……⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

"I know it's not my place to butt in. But my brother — your old man — he's not coming back. ……It's just, I worry about you. You're a kind kid. Come back here and you'll end up helping old me and all the old folks around you — no question about it. And someday that's going to turn into a burden on you."

I had no intention of living in the past. But this area around the family home was a marginal village.¹No industry, just people living off farming.

The village used to have a combined elementary and middle school, but it had been consolidated away a long time ago.

By the time I was going to elementary school, I rode the village-run school bus to the school in the village center.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

That was just how it was.

"Coming back on your days off is fine. Just, when you're thinking about your future, remember what I said today. I'll buy the materials for the hut and haul them up for you tomorrow."

"……Yeah. Got it."

Unlike the other world, Japan was a peaceful country. I'd lived as the Hero in the other world so I could come back here. But that was only what I, knowing the other world, thought.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

It was different from what my uncle — born here, living here — was looking at.

Guess I made him worry about me a little, huh.

Side: Kakeru's Uncle

I got worried I might have said too much.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

For now it was fine — with Filia-san and the others around, he was busy and probably having a good time. But they would surely go home to their own country one day.

It was fine that he loved the place he was born. I wasn't telling him not to come back. It was just that for Kakeru's generation to live out here, you needed real resolve.

In the city, there were apparently places where you didn't so much as say hello to your next-door neighbor.

But here it was different. This was a village where helping one another still lived on. Everyone took it for granted, but the aging was serious. In the old days there'd been plenty of young folks and everyone worked together, so it was fine — but even now the burden of things like the community grass-cutting was getting heavy.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

What would happen when Kakeru got to be around my age? Would there be any woman willing to come out to a backwater like this? The kid's got a bit of an absent-minded streak to him. If he marries while he's at university and comes back, that's one thing — but if he comes back single, he'll have a hard time finding a partner, too.

Grandma had worried about that as well. She'd probably have been more at ease if he went off and didn't come back, the way my brother did.

Before Grandpa passed — back when Kakeru was in elementary school, was it. There was a stretch where we talked about selling the main house and grounds once Kakeru went on to high school, and moving into a care home. Leaving that house behind might just become a burden on Kakeru, was the thinking.

But before that could happen, Grandpa passed, and Kakeru got so low over it that we never could bring it up, and then Grandma fell ill too.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

After she took to her sickbed, when we talked over what to do with Grandma's estate just to be safe, Kakeru said he wanted that house. Grandma felt less joy than unease over it. It's a house too big for a young man to live in alone, after all.

The kid had the option of going overseas to where his parents are, but Kakeru didn't want that.

There's still time before he finishes high school and university. I hope he manages to find his own path.

Side: Sanctina⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

The homeland Kakeru-san had endured so much in that other world to come back to. It was a peaceful, pleasant place.

There was sorrow here too, but Kakeru-san wanted to live here. And even so……

The night had grown late, and Kakeru-san had gone off to his own room. I was in the guest room, lying in my futon and staring up at the ceiling.

"And it's such a wonderful village, too."⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

Filia-san's voice came. It seemed she was thinking the same thing as me.

"It happened in our country as well. The reasons were many, but there were those who had to leave their homeland in ways they had never wished for."

Yes. It was just as Pricia-san said. Over in that world, once you stepped outside human territory, there were monsters. Depending on the place, just living was hard, and there were even those who abandoned their villages.

The reasons were different, but perhaps the same sort of thing happened in the human race's countries.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

"It's nothing to be gloomy about. There are all kinds of options."

What did she mean? I tried to think through the real meaning behind Noctia-san's words, but I couldn't make it out. Of course, I understood there was the path where Kakeru-san changed his mind and didn't come back here, but……

"I can't really say anything until I read the times a bit more. What kind of effect dungeons will have on this world. There may be a way to make it work, too."

No way……⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

"You mean using that dungeon?"

At Noctia-san's words, Pricia-san had sat up in surprise.

"I'm only saying it's one possibility. Setting aside whether it's a god's dungeon — it shouldn't be a bad idea to consider managing that place and putting it to use."

Indeed, as a direction to think in, it might be possible. Noctia-san and Filia-san were long-lived, so if they put their minds to it they could watch over that dungeon for a very long time.⁠‌‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‍⁠

Though as for whether they'd actually want that……

It might be a good thing to consider the option of making it so that Kakeru-san, his uncle, and the others could make a life around that dungeon.

Living alongside a dungeon. If this world was heading in that direction……