Leviathan of the Covenant

Volume 8, Chapter 5 - The World Thereafter Part 4

The Saturday date arrived.

Hal and Juujouji Orihime could finally spend time together for once, without anyone else interfering.

"So, Haruomi-kun? What excuse did you find this time?"

"Nothing, the princess was in my bed before I knew it... You know, right? Walls and locked doors mean nothing to her."

"I know, but your complacency is part of the reason!"

One could consider it a date for explaining and apologizing too.

Trying hard to plead with the sulking Orihime, he had to find a way to make her go "there's helping it" and forgive him. This had happened so many times over the past year and a half already.

Incidentally, in the beginning—

'I know you were cornered during the battle with the princess, b-but why did you kiss her!?'

'She, sh-sh-sh-she said she is your wife!? H-Have you and I divorced already—No! Speaking of which, we aren't married at all yet!?'

Pretty much like that.

However, whether Princess Yukikaze or Hannibal, negotiation and friendship building were necessary against enemies who could not be handled by force alone.

Thanks to Orihime agreeing to this point, GUILD was able to develop so smoothly now.

Today, the two of them went out on a date early in the morning.

They had agreed to meet up at ten in the morning, to watch a movie then have lunch at a trendy cafe.

(Recently, Hal and Orihime both liked to visit the M, the cafe run by Shopkeeper M, but they unanimously decided it was not right for a date. Hence, the two of them went to a cafe at Kiyosumishirakawa to have a light lunch, a place which was not especially fun but at least they would not be running into people they knew.)

Then they went to a seaside park at Gasai—

This park had a huge lawn, facing Tokyo Bay.

And it was quite close to Shin-Kiba too. It was here when Hal, Orihime and Asya met for the first time and were attacked by Raptors.

"The place where Hazumi was captured was at a pier nearby, right?"

"Indeed. On further thought, that happened so long ago."

There were no clouds in the sky on this day in early March.

The weather tended to seesaw between warm and cold, but today's weather was excellent.

Warm. The wind was very gentle. It was totally spring weather. Hal and the smiling Orihime were strolling on the lawn on this holiday.

Their conversation was not particularly interesting.

But incredibly, just being by Orihime's side made Hal felt very contented.

Presumably, Orihime felt the same. He really wished such days could continue forever, but—

"It's almost time for you... to depart, right?"

"Yeah. GUILD has developed very smoothly, so it's fine for me to leave Earth. I'm about to go on a journey of exploration."

Hal calmly described his plan.

"If in the long run, GUILD is to fight dragon king-class enemies and Tyrannoi who'll come into being sooner or later, in addition to Asya and me..."

"We might need more dragonslaying runes—"

"That's why I have to go find them. It'd be a different matter if we could live forever without any chance of dying by accident."

"..."

"Anyway, I'd like to check out Mars or Venus first, which are closer, then beyond the solar system. One day, I'll have to go to the vast universe outside the galaxy—maybe even to another dimension."

Beyond Earth, dragons made expeditions to the sea of stars or alternate dimensions.

Hal had heard about this more than once. However, he never expected himself to step into that territory too.

He planned on leaving the Rune of the Twin Katana at Tokyo for now.

This way, even if he lost his life during his explorations, he would still be able to leave the power of dragonbane with his friends...

"We will need flints in the future too, and maybe I'll even discover a secret technique allowing me to be reborn in a better body. Also, though Asya's current level as Tyrannos isn't that high, so dragonification isn't an issue... One day, she might end up how I used to be."

Slowly losing memories, even the body turning into a dragon.

Once that happened, a new hybrid dragon would be born, and with it, Hal's childhood friend would be lost.

"I think the best way to handle issues in this area is to search for knowledge of Ruruk Soun outside of Earth."

How incredible. Hal smiled wryly.

After doing so much labor that was not his style, Haruga Haruomi finally returned to his original career.

Namely, a treasure hunter and explorer.

Probably because of that, he felt unbelievably relaxed and liberated even though he was about to set off to an unknown world.

Orihime gazed at Hal with a smile—Past tense. Her gaze instantly turned sharp, startling Hal.

Hal braced himself, was she finally going to ask about that?

"Then the one leading the way for you would be Princess Yukikaze..."

"I... I can't help it. Forget about Sophocles who can't be located. I am heading somewhere no human had ever gone before, and Hannibal has GUILD work to do."

Hal forced a smile to block Orihime's sigh.

"It's not like I could ask anyone else—Eh?"

He suddenly felt a pulse from the rune that was paired with his Bow.

Hal immediately looked up at the sky. A small dot of light was approaching from the western sky—the direction from the Arrow user's residence at the Old Tokyo Concession...

"Princess Yukikaze is coming! Why!?"

"H-Haruomi-kun, did you tell her you'll be here!?"

"No way! I tricked her, saying I'll be dealing with desk work at the main office!"

"Anyway, let us hide first! That aquarium looks good! It's near too!"

It was like last time when they were attacked by Raptors at Shin-Kiba.

The two of them had sprinted at full speed to evade dragons. But last time, Hal tripped along the way, almost dooming them both.

This time, they ran together.

People spending a leisurely weekend at the park looked at them questioningly.

"By the way, Haruomi-kun, I thought of something!"

The athletic Orihime with excellent physical stamina said joyfully.

A sprint of this level was not very exhausting for her.

"That extraterrestrial expedition, why don't I come along too!?"

"W-What are you talking about!?"

As for Hal, his physical stamina was still a normal person's, disregarding magic and secret techniques. Hal was already panting heavily when he jumped in surprise.

"It will be a very tough journey!"

"Don't worry, Akuro-Ou will be there, and you too, Haruomi-kun. More importantly, the reliable dragon princess will lead the way for us!"

This move, huh? Hal laughed.

Hearing that her rival had proposed this, Princess Yukikaze might be taken aback.

Hal definitely thought the idea was not bad at all. In any case, the journey would most likely be filled with challenges. In that case, perhaps the more companions the better...

"Why not ask Asya too, while we're at it?"

"Good idea. She will surely manage to find delicious food there and cook for us!"

On July 1999, dragonkind returned to Earth.

After that, more than twenty years passed by within the blink of an eye. Humans resurrected artificial dragons—the magic beasts, leviathans, also known as "serpents"—as a means to oppose dragonkind.

Currently, great changes were occurring in the way mankind was surviving on Earth.

Thrown into the very center of this vortex was Haruga Haruomi. Laughing with the girl who was his reliable partner, he imagined the scenery of the stars far beyond.

The journey was soon about to begin.