Short Story Now We can finally Live a Slow Life in this World! (Lover’s Side)

Author: (稲荷竜) Inari ryū

A/N: Lover’s Perspective (posted 12/07/2019)

The last part of the title is “Oh hey! Here’s the one that’s like, What’s that?” is the lover’s point of view.

ncode.syosetu.com/n2394fx/

‘Now we can finally live a slow life in this world! God: “You have done well. You are a brave man. Now let’s return you to your home world as promised. Deportation beam! What is that?

“Now we can finally live a slow life in this world!” (Hero)

　It was long.

　I had an adventure. I saved money. I made friends. And I finally had a girlfriend.

　Before the final battle, we all decided we weren’t going to make it out of there alive.

　But we all survived, and we made it out of the final battle!

　When we return to King’s Landing, the first thing I’ll do is propose to my lover.

　Then we’ll quietly spend the rest of our lives in peace!

“Well done, Hero.”

“……This voice is the God who reincarnated me!” (Hero)

“That is true. I am now speaking directly to your mind. Having defeated the Demon King, I will return you to your home world as I promised you in the beginning.” (God)

“No, God, that’s all right. I’m going to live in this world.” (Hero)

“But that’s the deal.” (God)

“Please do not do that. All my friends and lovers are in this world. This world is my home.” (Hero)

“I see. I understand your feelings. But ……” (God)

“I’m not going back.” (Hero)

(……)

(……)

“Forced Repatriation Beam!” (God)

“Oh, God, damn it!” (Hero)

　This is how I was sent back to my old world.

◆

　When I was brought back to reality, I desperately searched for a way to return to the other world.

　My skills and stats were still intact, and I could take out as many items as I wanted from the storage in the other world. The money I had was also in tax-free account.

　First, I sent a letter to inside the [inventory].

　If this was connected to the other world, then I should get a reply from my lover who shared [inventory] with me.

　I want to save the part where I go inside as a last resort.

　The result was …… I didn’t get any response.

　But I won’t give up.

　I tried sword arts to cut through space.

　I’m not going to be the only one who can do that.

　There was plenty of time to practice.

　When I returned to the real world, I went to college, but I quit right there too.

I had plenty of money. There’s no need to work.

　But I needed to go back to college right away.

　I needed to find a way to return to the other world using physics and scientific method instead of swords and magic.

　I used the translation skills I had mastered in the other world to enroll to a foreign university, where I looked for a way to “Travel to another World”.

　People laughed at my research, but I didn’t give up.

　I will return to that world one day…… With that in mind, I continued my research desperately.

　Five years passed, then ten years have passed.

　I stopped myself from aging using the secret method of the elves and continued my research in remote areas.

　I was forced to move from one home to another since I stayed young forever.

　I became completely adept at travelling, and all kinds of new technology kept being released. I looked through all of it, but none of it was what I needed.

　I’d long since mastered swordsmanship and magic arts, but the skill of inter-world travel was the only thing I couldn’t master.

　Two hundred years later, I changed my research theme from “Moving Between Two Different Worlds” to “becoming a god”.

　God has the authority to perform other world reincarnation or other world transition.

　I hypothesized that the ability does not come first, but is part of the responsibility and powers of being a god.

　Three hundred years had passed, by the time I finally figured out how to ascend from man to a god through further research and practice, referring to the Greek myth of Heracles.

　Although the flow of time can be tinkered with to some extent, it was only between ten years or so.

　The three hundred years I spent in this world is not a short time in the other world either, where time flows similarly.

　Trapped in a sense of emptiness, I made a hole in space to return to the nostalgic world from this world. It was the result of my long research.

　At that moment, I felt wind blowing through a green landscape within my sight. The smell of greenery.

　It was the wind of the previous world; I am sure of it.

　The hometown in my heart that buried in the past.

　I stepped through the portal and landed in the nostalgic world.

　It didn’t take long before I realized that the grasslands I was standing on were once turned into barren wilderness in the aftermath of the final battle.

　That place where not a single blade of grass could grow because of the horrifying miasma and the dark flames.

It’s now been revitalized.

　I was happy about it, and then I despaired.

　Everyone has moved on. No one else in this world knew who I was.

　That’s how much time has gone by.

　So I decided to take one last look at the future of the world my friends…… lover had lived in.

　From the [inventory], I take out the first outfit I wore in this world.

　I put on my old clothes and walked through the meadow.

　Even though it has been revitalized, it’s not as popular as it should be.

　It’s probably only recently that this place has returned to its lush greenery.

　Suddenly, I noticed a hut behind a line of trees.

　As I walked towards it, I felt the presence of a person inside.

　Just as I opened the door, the person inside came out.

　That person was ……

“…… is a lie.” (Lover)

　I was greeted me like they knew I was going to be here at this moment.

　My lover looked the same as the time when we finished our adventure.

　Perhaps they too were waiting for me. Young from using the elves secret to eternal youth.

　We walked up to each other and hugged each other tightly.

　This is how the long, long adventure ends.

　Our slow life, the one we hope to share three hundred years ago, is about to begin.

T/N: The translation might’ve been a bit weird. I wanted to make the genders vague. So readers can feel like they are both the hero and the hero’s love. I believe love surpasses time and space, and all physical boundaries. I hope to celebrate love and hope in this time of isolation and loneliness. COVID separated us from our loved ones. I hope you can read this as a lover or as a friend. Whether you are the hero or their loved one, you are not alone. The time will come and they’ll be with you.