Chapter 36: 2-16 Epilogue

Epilogue One, P1: Envious Koneko

Pet, Five Years old, Eighth Month of 947.

Nee-san still isn’t back yet… Pet was laying on her back, Pet’s legs dangling off the side of the bed. Pet’s Nee-san had gone off with the bad man to do something dangerous and left Pet behind with Elienor Ojou-Sama. It wasn’t like Pet disliked Elienor Ojou-Sama, but… She can be a bit overbearing…

Just as Pet was thinking those things, she stiffened up as she caught a scent. Her eyes darted towards the door. Pet should hide. Elienor Ojou-Sama swung open the door, just as Pet was trying to climb into the dresser. Pet froze and started deliberating how she would react. Maybe, if Pet doesn’t move, Elienor Ojou-Sama won’t see her. It was to no avail, as Pet felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder.

Pet felt her ears go flat, as Elienor Ojou-Sama pulled her out from the dresser and sat her in a chair, “Come on! you knew I was coming today, and you didn’t get ready at all!”

It’s not like that… Pet just thinks you come too much… Elienor Ojou-Sama made Pet upset sometimes. She would always complain to her about how lucky Pet was, getting to stay in a nice room and having Stahlia Nee-San for an owner. Pet didn’t think she was that lucky though. Pet had vague memories from when she was little. Memories of a world outside this room. Everything was blurry now, but she wanted to go outside again.

But Stahlia Nee-San told her not to go outside because it was “too dangerous”. Pet knows it’s dangerous… But Stahlia Nee-San can protect Pet. Maybe, if Pet was strong like Stahlia Nee-San, then maybe Pet wouldn’t have been left behind… Elienor Ojou-Sama forced Pet to sit down in a chair and began brushing her tail-fur. Pet isn’t a fox! Pet is a cat! Pet seemed to recall from somewhere that Kitsunemimi enjoyed having their tail’s brushed, but Pet was certain that Nekomimi did not.

The whole affair was exceedingly uncomfortable, it made her spine twitch with each stroke of the brush. But it will be over faster if Pet doesn’t- Nnh! -struggle. Indeed, Pet had tried to get away from Elienor Ojou-Sama before, several times in fact. But Elienor Ojou-Sama would simply track her down somehow and force Pet back into the chair to be brushed. Brushing Pet’s head would be good…

Stahlia Nee-San would rub Pet’s head sometimes, which always felt good. Much better than having her tail brushed. That just made Pet’s fur stand on end. A particularly sharp tug caused Pet’s tail to shoot up straight in the air. Letting out a yowl, Pet jumped up and tried to get away, only for a hand to clamp down on her shoulder. “Comon’ Stali’s coming back in a few days. Dad got a magic communication from the knights! You want to look pretty dontcha’?"

Pet frowned, but eventually, she reluctantly returned to her seat. “Pet wants to look pretty… just…” Pet curled her tail around her waist. “Let Pet brush Pet’s tail?” Elienor Ojou-Sama looked forlorn, but after a moment she passed Pet the brush.

“Fine, but I get to do your ears!” Pet nodded and adjusted her head so as to make it easier for Elienor Ojou-Sama to access her ears. Stahlia Nee-San is coming home… finally… Pet was very happy as she gently brushed her tail, being careful of the angle of the fur and curve of the bones.

★★★★★★

Pet woke up and sat up in bed. Sniffing the air, she stretched her back. Today! Elienor Ojou-Sama said Stahlia Nee-san is coming back today! Pet jumped out of bed and immediately fell onto her face. Sitting up, she tearfully rubbed at her nose and then realized that, sitting felt weird.

Jumping to her feet, she spun in a circle, trying to inspect her back end. It’s gone! It’s gone!? Where’s Pet’s tail!? Indeed, Pet’s tail had seemingly vanished while she slept. Now wide awake, Pet realized something else. This isn’t Stahlia Nee-San’s room… Indeed, the room was fancy, far fancier than Pet’s cage had been, maybe even a bit fancier than Stahlia Nee-San’s room was.

Pet darted her eyes fearfully around the room, taking in everything she could. Did Pet get sold? No, Stahlia Nee-San wouldn’t do that. The bad man might… but Nee-San wouldn’t let him. Truth be told, the room contained a lot of very strange things. There was a small box made of metal and expensive glass, with tiny metal needles spinning around at different speeds.

The bed was fairly plain all things considered. The Bed in Stahlia Nee-San’s room was gigantic and super fluffy. This bed was just barely big enough for two people to fit, and the disheveled bedding that covered it was a bit plain in contrast with the colorful walls and various paintings hung up.

Speaking of paintings, what human would hang up pictures of beast-kin in their room? Stahlia Nee-san and Elienor Ojou-Sama both treated Pet well, but Pet doubted that either of them would go so far as to hang up paintings of demihumans. It wasn’t all demihumans though, there were paintings of girls and boys too, all of them were fairly good-looking, though a few of them were dressed a bit indecently.

As Pet continued surveying the room, she noticed that there was a gigantic mirror in one corner. Pet has never seen one this big before… Carefully, Pet moved to an angle where she could see her own reflection, before jumping back in terror.

That isn’t Pet! Indeed, the face look back from the mirror was not Pet’s. It appeared to be an adult woman, probably in her mid to late twenties. With brown hair and amber-colored eyes, she couldn’t have been more dissimilar to Pet’s own black hair and green eyes.

More importantly, the woman was human. Pet’s ears and tail had vanished. Stumbling back away from the mirror, Pet kept her eyes locked onto the reflection. Who is… Why…? She looks so… familiar… Clutching at her head, the world began to melt around Pet. Just as it faded into blackness, she thought she heard a voice calling out, but couldn’t make out the words.

★★★★★★

Pet woke up in Stahlia Nee-San’s bed. Groggily, she wiped the sleep away from her eyes and stretched. With a start, she jumped up. Right! Stahlia Nee-San is coming back today! Quickly, Pet moved around and got dressed. Only when she had finished getting completely ready, did she remember that she didn’t actually know when Stahlia Nee-San was coming due to arrive.

Well, Pet can just ask Elienor Ojou-Sama when she comes to brush my tail… MY TAIL! Clamping both hands down on her back, Pet was relieved to find that her tail was still attached. But why did I think it was gone…? Before Pet could come up with anything else, Elienor Ojou-Sama arrived.

“Pet come on! She’s going to be here in just a few minutes!” Pet quickly ran to the window, the mystery of her tail long forgotten. Looking out, she could see a carriage making its way to the estate. Running her way down and out into the yard, Pet arrived just as the carriage was preparing to disembark its passengers. Pet slid to a halt, as much as she wanted to run to Stahlia Nee-San right this instant, she knew that do so would only cause problems, she would have to settle for watching from a distance.

Pet’s tail stood up straight, and her ears went down flat as she saw the bad man come out of the carriage, leading Stahlia Nee-San by the hand. What’s worse, Stahlia Nee-San didn’t seem uncomfortable or smell nervous like she usually did when the bad man was nearby. She smelled normal. Pet couldn’t help herself but to glare at the bad man. Stahlia Nee-San is my Nee-San! What did you do to her!?

Seeming to pick up on Pet’s distress, the bad man turned to face her. Pet locked eyes with the bad man, willing him to have his tail pulled off. He looked back somewhat impassively before suddenly grinning. Th-that jerk! Suddenly, Pet felt a tap on her shoulder. Spinning around, she saw a boy, or maybe it was a girl, floating cross-legged in the air.

“How’s life Claire...? No, you would be Pet... Oh, don’t worry, only you can see me… and before you talk, I’m not allowing that.” Pet was looking all around, wondering where this person had come from, and true to his words, when she tried asking them no sound came out of her mouth.

The floating person nodded, “Good, I’m sorry about this Claire, you’re probably not going to appreciate it much. But the way things are going, my brother and sister are really going to muck things up. You know how siblings are… always taking your toys and doing as they please with them… Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to go ahead and make an adjustment now. Pet, do your best for your Nee-San ok? Ok. Claire, try and help out George if you can alright? Good.” The floating youth pointed a strange box that emitted light from one side at Pet, and flicked their finger across it.

Suddenly, as if a fog had lifted from her mind, Pet remembered.

She didn't remember everything, but Pet remembered Claire. Or did Claire come to know about Pet? The line was blurry. One thing Pet knew, was that this would take some time to figure out, suddenly learning that you used to be another person... were two people? It seemed like Claire had known about things like other worlds before she died, so that was helping to keep Pet calm right now. Right, Claire... no, Pet, I she... we... fuck! Pet glanced around to make sure that nobody was paying very much attention to her. Only the bad man was even looking in her direction, and Pet didn't care what he thought right now. The person with the "cellphone" had vanished at some point, leaving Pet alone in the corner of the grounds.

Returning to Stahlia Nee-San's room, Pet set about thinking. It was difficult for her to understand exactly what was going on. It was like she had a wall in her mind, and on one side of it was Claire, on the other was Pet. Pet could reach across to see Claire's memories, but she didn't think that Claire was actually there. A lot of Claire's memories were of this place called "Japan". Apparently, there were lots of very powerful people present in this "Japan", people that Pet could maybe learn from.

There were the words too... Indeed, Pet now realized that she had been speaking "Japanese". Back in her village, she had been the only one to use words like "Nee-san" and "Kaasan". The other Catkin had simply assumed that Pet was in a phase. Pet understands now, she thinks... There were a few memories from "Claire" that explained what was going on. It was likely some sort of "bleed-through" effect, some of these memories had been locked away, then that person had made a door in the wall, and now Pet could see all the memories from this Claire person.

Suddenly, an errant thought flitted across Pet's mind, as if it had been sent through the wall. {Finally! I got through!}

Epilogue Two, F2: Another Time, Another Player

Franklin, 21 Years Old, sometime in the 2020s

Sitting in one of the computer labs at my university, Professor Dayson frowned and tapped a finger onto the side of her temple. Sitting on a table in front of us, was the burned-out carcass of George’s desktop. Claire Dayson, the professor who had taught George’s programming courses, and the one who had sent him an email asking for details about a survey he had apparently filled out just before dying.

“Let me get this straight.” Her voice was a bit harsh, but then again, I had basically just dumped a massive conspiracy theory on her. “You want me to believe that George, not only didn’t intentionally kill himself, he was murdered.” I nodded. “By a game development company.” I nodded again. “After signing up for a beta test?” I nodded a third time.

“I mean, you’re skipping some of the finer points of my theory, but that’s basically it.” Professor Dayson sighed, “Look, Franklin. This isn’t some anime with conspiracies and mafiosos or whatever.”

I nodded, “I know Professor, but I just need to know. Can’t you just look and see if we can recover any data off his hard drive? Anything at all. Otherwise… I’m worried I might have been the reason he did it… I uh, I said some things to him in the cafeteria…” Maybe my attempt at guilt-tripping her got through because Claire uncrossed her arms after a moment.

“Fine… I’ll admit, I am a little bit curious about that survey he mentioned, so I’ll look. But bring the computer to my house. I’m not snooping through a dead student’s stuff at work.” That’s a little cold professor… I get he wasn’t the most polite, but your sort of just blowing off his death like it doesn’t affect you at all…

I nodded and collected George’s stuff, before making my way towards the door. As I passed by, I caught a reflection in the glass of the window; Professor Dayson was staring at George’s seat while clenching and unclenching her fists. I chose not to comment about it. I guess she’s just putting on a front… man I feel like a dick now, asking her to go through his things… but I have to know for sure.

★★★★★★

That evening, I arrived at Claire Dayson’s residence. She lived alone with her husband, however, she was one of those college professors who acted like a hip high school teacher; her husband was somewhat used to students visiting their residence with questions or work projects during off-hours. As such, he greeted me at the door. After introducing myself, he directed me towards one of the rooms in the back of the house.

Walking in, I let out an involuntary startled gasp. The room was filled with various anime paraphernalia, from posters and figurines to blue-rays and box sets. Sitting in the middle of all this, in front of a workstation, was Professor Dayson. What the hell? Claire Dayson is a weeaboo? I myself was somewhat familiar with the anime subculture, I watched a lot of popular shows and even read a few light novels. But this was excessive.

“Professor…” I began, only for her to wave me off with a quick hand gesture.

“I know, I don’ usually bring students to this room. The only reason I’m letting you in is because of how sensitive the topic is. Don’t. Say. A. Word.” I nodded hurriedly; seeing as I had no idea Professor Dayson was such a fervid follower of 2D media, she was most definitely closeted. A professor with this level of addiction would be a campus legend.

I placed George’s desktop, which I had been carrying, onto the workstation. Professor Dayson nodded and started quickly removing the side panels, exposing the internal components. As we removed the blackened outer panel, we were both surprised to find that the inside was pristine.

Professor Dayson frowned and started tapping her temple, “This is… with how much damage the case had suffered, I was expecting the internals to be a massive pile of melted silicon… but it looks like it could just be turned on. The police didn’t remove the hard drive or anything?”

I shook my head, “No, this is exactly how it was given back to me. As far as I’m aware they didn’t even open it.”

Professor Dayson eyed the screws, where some of the tar had been scraped off by her screwdriver mere moments ago. Nodding her head to indicate her agreement, she motioned to a monitor that was sitting on a side table, “Bring me that while I bypass the front panel power switch.”

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I nodded and brought the monitor over to Professor Dayson while she messed around with a bit of wire. Connecting the monitor to the desktop, we secured a cable from the PSU into a wall outlet. Unsurprisingly, the completely intact internal workings of the computer seemed to boot up just fine. Displayed on the screen was George’s welcome screen. Professor Dayson moved the mouse and selected the profile icon.

Given the security of his phone, the lackluster security on his computer was perhaps to be suspected, and we were able to get access easily enough. After a moment, the computer displayed George’s desktop. Now, this… this is too fucking weird. The only icon on his desktop was a small jpeg of a planet with a different plate structure than the Earth, labeled “NewLife.exe”.

Professor Dayson and I shared a look before she double-clicked the icon. What opened up was a screen reading “Life in Progress, please log into a different account.” Next to me, I heard a nervous chuckle.

“It’s almost like those books you read about being stuck into another world isn’t it…”

I shot Professor Dayson a hard look. Really? George is dead, and you're going to try and play into some sort of weeb thing? Catching my eyes, Professor Dayson glanced away, “Sorry, that was in poor taste wasn’t it…” I nodded, and pulled George’s phone out of my pocket. If his first account doesn’t work, I can just use his second one.

I navigated the menu to go back to the log-in screen, and input the account key I pulled out of George’s email. What greeted me was the model a boy, or perhaps a young man, who looked a bit like myself, only a handful of years younger. Accompanying the figure, was some status information that was presumably the status of my character.

I frowned, “George was saying something about a survey?” Professor Dayson, who had been reading the status information nodded.

“He said that he had to take a really weird survey before he was given the code to make his account. Presumably, he took it again for that second code you just used.” I nodded, her hypothesis made sense.

“Well, he said that his computer caught fire after he clicked on the “play button” so I guess that’s what we should do next. I moved the mouse over to click play, when Professor Dayson suddenly tackled me away!

“What the hell!? What are you…?” I was startled into silence by the look of horror on Professor Dayson’s face. Following her gaze, I saw smoke coming out of the tower, and the screen was emitting light far brighter than an LCD monitor should have been capable of.

Professor Dayson whirled around and stared me hard in the face. “You just had to go and click it! As soon as you said what happened I knew! I knew it was something like this!”

I could only stare blankly, “S-something like what…?”

Claire glared at me, “An Isekai, an “other world transfer”. Fuck! So many of my online friends would love this, but I have a husband! God damn it…” The light of the computer had now filled the entire room, outside the door, I could hear Professor Dayson’s husband pounding and shouting something. But an odd buzzing was suffusing the air, preventing me from being able to make out what he was saying.

Shit, we should probably try and run… I got up and tried the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Professor Dayson was watching me, with a few tears starting to trickle down her face. She took a deep breath and nodded, “Franklin, this is super important. Don’t tell anyone you’re from another world. If they ask you to fight a demon lord say no. If there’s an adventurers guild, sign up for it; you can usually make good money that way. Try and find me if you can, I’ll do my best to find you. If you meet a god or goddess on the way over be careful and watch out fo-” There was a loud explosion, and my world went dark.

Epilogue Three, For the Kingdom

Percival von Drakas, Thirty Years Old, Twelfth Month of 947

“And how did the situation develop?” My younger brother, Rupert von Drakas nodded.

“Our esteemed eldest brother was unable to locate the demon, as we suspected, he is incompetent.” I frowned. I had always dislike Rupert, my youngest brother had always struck me as something of a schemer. When he was little, he would amuse himself by setting up elaborate plots to entrap the palace servants. Strangely, his targets were always those who would later turn out to be guilty of some crime.

In a way, his actions were benefitting the kingdom, but his methods… It seemed there was nothing he would not do. Once, a maid was caught sleeping with a few of the guards. Rupert had arranged for her to consume a large amount of an aphrodisiac, then thrown her in with the palace dogs. He was barely fifteen at the time. He might have been one of the princes, but there were some things even he couldn’t say, and accusations against the first prince were among them.

“Rupert, you know you shouldn’t speak ill of brother Antoine. Even with the early intelligence provided by this ‘Stahlia’, a demon of that level would have no issues fleeing. It took a few days to assemble the punitive force after all.”

Rupert was looking at the moon off in the distance, but he reacted to my words. “…You're right. Forgive me, I spoke above my station.”

I nodded, “But of course, you are my brother. Even if we must compete for father’s favor, we are still family.” Rupert nodded, swirling his glass of wine as he turned his gaze back outside the window and up at the moon.

The silence continued for several minutes before I felt compelled to fill it. “So brother, have you given any thought to marriage?” Of course on the surface this was merely an idle question, something to fill the gap. But it would still give me some useful information; whoever Rupert married had a chance to one day become queen. Honestly, for that reason, I was expecting Rupert would answer in the negative. He had never been one to covet the throne, he refrained from the games I would play with our elder brother.

It had been a great surprise to me when Rupert approached me two years ago, offering to support my bid over that of our elder brother. When I questioned him, he stated he was arranging a union between two young nobles that would greatly benefit the country, however one of the nobles, the girl, was descended from the deposed Despita dukedom. As such, Rupert sought to borrow my influence in order to smooth over any tensions this might cause.

Of course I had looked into it, and then agreed to Rupert’s request. If I could gain the support of those nobles in his own faction, and all I had to do was redirect some of the pushback towards one marriage from my own faction of nobles, well it was a bargain. Since then, we had been having these meetings once every other month or so in order to go over our plans for the future. I took a sip of my wine as Rupert turned back to answer my question.

Rupert nodded, “As a matter of fact, I have. I don’t mind telling you, brother, it will be announced at the start of the Academy’s next school year. I am to be engaged to Edith von Claurence, first daughter of Duke Claurence. We will be wed following her coming of age.”

My brother’s declaration caused me to choke on my wine. The Claurence house was well known for their stance of neutrality, and while my brother was professed to have no interest in the crown, he was still a prince. There were very few people who honestly believed that he truly had no ambitions.

“Edith von Claurence… I had heard that she made a move to align her family with your faction early in the school year… but to think that you would truly make such a move, brother.” I paused, and wet my throat. Rupert was once again looking out at the moon, a distant expression on his face.

I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Had we not been alone, this would have caused his gaurds no small amount of anxiety. “Brother, do you truly intend to-”

“…the… Kingdom.”

I strained my ears, trying to catch what he was saying. “Rupert, what was-” Suddenly, a sharp pain beset my chest. It felt like I was being stabbed through the stomach. Collapsing to my knees, I looked up in time to see Rupert turning towards me.

“For the good of the kingdom, I act only for the good of our kingdom. Everything I do is for the future of our country. I… I am sorry, dear brother Percival, but I could not afford to delay any longer. With your death, bear witness to my resolve.” My limbs were growing cold, and my vision was beginning to flicker in and out.

I watched Rupert from a distance, wiping the rim of his wine glass. So it was poison huh… In the end… you decided… to play… the game as well… Rupert…

★★★★★★

Rupert von Drakas, Nineteen, Twelfth Month of 947.

I watched my brother pass into Mortis’ embrace as I wiped the wine glass I had been using and placed it back on the table. It was imperative that this looked like an assassination so as to trigger an investigation. From there, Five would arrange things to frame my elder brother’s faction.

This would lend credence to my stance when I announced my intentions to pursue the throne out of a desire for justice, alongside my engagement with Lady Edith. If everything went according to plan, the majority of the nobles in my late brother’s faction would side with me. That would most likely secure me the backing of three of the five Dukes. Duke Lawrence was already a member of my faction, and by marrying Edith von Claurence I was securing my connection to the formerly neutral Claurence house. Assuming that Duke Lester joined my faction out of a sense of revenge for his lord, I would hold the most power within the kingdom after my father.

If he had any intelligence at all, my older brother would capitulate to me, but if chose to continue to play the game of thrones, then I would be forced to eliminate him as well. I may have to eliminate him anyways, lest he attempts to stab me in the back… Everything is for Drakas. I just need to remember that all I do, I do for my country. Indeed, when Five had approached me regarding Stahlia and explained what his plans were, I knew I had to act, or else my country would perish. After all, who would have thought that a Hell King of all things would be working as the King’s enforcer?

They were beings of myth, and yet the Fifth Seat, King of Wrath Satan was right here in Drakas. I looked down at my brother’s body as it began to grow cold and laughed to myself, “It is truly a shame brother… you would have made a much better King than I… but what the people need now is the strength to do what must be done, not a good king like yourself.”

Indeed, what the kingdom needed now was a strong hand to guide it down the only path to survival, even if they had to be guided kicking and screaming. For that, I would need to inherit the Divine Right. I would need to become the king myself. I would become king and side with the nine to go against the gods. Only by overthrowing the twelve and ushering in a new era could humanity survive what was to come. The future in the event of my failure… I shuddered at the thought.

I wiped my eyes and stepped outside, where Sitri was waiting for me. I glared at the she-bitch, though she didn’t seem to care. After a moment, I shook my head, “It is done, go take what you need.”

Sitri disappeared into the room and came out a few minutes later holding a vial of something I did not wish to know the name of.

“Well, with this I can finally advent Asmodea… You sure you don’t want to go a round or two before I leave Rupey?” The whore licked her lips suggestively.

I glared at her, “You got the last ingredient for the advent. Get out of my country.” She giggled in response to my order and shrugged her shoulders before skipping off down the hall.

Working with demons… how far I have fallen… But given what was to come, I knew I was doing what I must. The next war, it wouldn't be just one or two of the Hell Kings, Satan was using his connections in Drakas to arrange for all Nine to return. Perhaps I could have moved to stop him, but what would I have done? I was just a man. Now it was too late. I had helped Sitri to get her last component for the advent of the Third Seat. Drakas was well and truly in the camp of the demons now. Our survival would ensure the survival of the human race. Eventually, we would be able to fight back, but not now. Now we had to do what must be done to survive.

I made my way out of the building to where a carriage was waiting, my driver was loyal and wouldn’t talk. For the umpteenth time that night, I found myself gazing up at the moon. I suppose the God of Darkness bore witness to my sins this night… What do you think? What do you think of what your chosen kingdom has become? Of course, I received no answer to my silent questions.

Another Time, Another Player

For the Kingdom

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