Campione! Vol 13 Epilogue

Epilogue The new year had just begun not too long ago. Alexandre Gascoigne was currently located in Portugal's ancient capital of Coimbra. His latest efforts were directed towards obtaining "a missionary's journal dating back to the Age of Exploration when a certain heretical monk had recorded his activities in various parts of Madagascar, engaged in heinous acts defiling G.o.d." Going through several plans in his head, he strolled along a quiet street in the ancient capital at night. A phone call suddenly arrived. Checking the LCD screen, he discovered it was an old acquaintance — the witch he had run into roughly one month ago. "How nice of you to call expressly this time, Lucretia. But surely you do not intend to engage in idle chitchat. State your matter concisely." 'Hohoho. I offer you my greetings, Your Highness the Prince.' Lucretia's answer could be heard from the phone. 'However, since you put it that way, I shall dispense with the chitchat. Let me cut straight to the matter. I am actually concerned about the latest news the Princess brought back from the Far East.' The matter. She likely meant the "King of the End." Alec nodded. 'The G.o.ddess Circe, who once shared an intimate relation with Your Highness several years ago, has died by Kusanagi G.o.dou's hand. Reportedly, the G.o.ddess used her last strength to summon the hero Odysseus in an attempt to corner the young man... But she failed so close to her goal and finally pa.s.sed away.' "...Oh." 'Through this battle, it is readily apparent that Odysseus is not the 'King of the End.'" Alec reawakened vivid memories dating to several years past. Odysseus. The heroic G.o.d he recently mentioned as having a "35% chance." Alec was intending to investigate him thoroughly when he discovered the 'sleeping G.o.ddess.' The witch G.o.ddess Circe who had trapped the wandering hero for a year. A [Heretic G.o.d] who had apparently remained in slumber for centuries. 'By my speculation, Your Highness the Black Prince awakened the G.o.ddess Circe for the purpose of discerning the truth about the hero Odysseus, am I correct? Your goal was to obtain information about him. Hoho, even if Your Highness went as far as to make a highly unusual proposal of "Would you like to search for Odysseus together with me?" to her, I would not be surprised.' Alec frowned. It felt like Lucretia had seen through the truth. His bringing Circe to the South Seas to revive her was, of course, a part of his explorations. He had awakened the G.o.ddess, who possessed a deep connection to Odysseus, on a land where traces of the "King of the End" had been discovered. This would surely bring his journey of demystifying the Devil King-exterminating hero's ident.i.ty to an entirely new playing field — However, the "experiment" concluded with unexpected results. The awakened G.o.ddess quickly discovered Alec despite his efforts to conceal himself. Furthermore, she began to cling to him annoyingly for some unfathomable reason, always speaking like some kind of delusional girl, even going as far as to attempt imprisoning Alec using magic. In the beginning, Alec accommodated her as appropriate but quickly grew tired of it. After maybe the fourth day of saying "I love you," he immediately fled from the G.o.ddess. Soon after he ran, it developed into an altercation. Finally, Alec used his labyrinth authority on the island he had created together with Circe and succeeded in imprisoning her. Recalling these unhappy memories, Alec naturally put on a bitter face. 'I never expected such a colorful and heroic saga from Your Highness the Prince, who has never been the subject of salacious rumors.' "Really? I, on the other hand, find nothing colorful about it." 'As expected of Your Highness the Prince. Still the same old in this regard, even Italian boys in elementary school are better than you.' The witch's last comment was a sincere exclamation, carrying no sarcasm at all. Alec clicked his tongue disapprovingly and changed the unpleasant topic. "By the way, since Odysseus is not the 'King of the End,' then in that case..." 'Oh? Did you think of something? I would be most grateful if you would enlighten me free of charge. Just as you already know, I too, once took part in the search for that king. Hence I would be rather interested.' "Nothing much, it's just a spontaneous idea." Alec shrugged in response to Lucretia's request. "The image of the wandering Pan-Eurasian hero who often displays his valor through the bow and arrows... Yet the hero who fits this description best, Odysseus, is definitely not a G.o.d with [Steel] characteristics. Nevertheless, given the case, I think the following possibility can be established." Without any pretense, Alec simply explained the possibility he had once suspected in the past. "Simultaneously possessing [Steel] traits and the characteristics of the wandering Pan-Eurasian hero... The 'King of the End' must be a hybrid like that." 'I see, so that runs completely contrary to the notion of purebloodedness. If that really is the case...' "Yeah. If one were to carefully trace forwards and backwards from the pedigree of the hero Odysseus, the chance of finding the 'King of the End' should be substantial. That's what I believe." Naturally, this was nothing more than speculation. But after saying it out loud, Alec somehow found his argument more compelling than first imagined. Afterword h.e.l.lo everyone, it's been a while. This series finally reaches its thirteenth volume, and even rarer still, an anime adaptation... I originally thought it would happen much later. This is all thanks to every reader's loving support. Let me express my outmost thanks to everyone here. Well then, this time we have a volume advertising a vacation story. Even the heroine who is always training in the mountains gets to enter the stage from the very beginning. The content is fully packed with hot springs, the beach, camping and other leisure activities. Oh well, whether the characters themselves were able to relax, who knows? (wry smile) Then there is this series' oft-mentioned great hero whose true name is unknown. New keywords have been disclosed to allow everyone to seek his true visage. These keywords can be used to further narrow down the search range. Perhaps those of you who enjoy myths and other stories might be able to use these clues to confirm a probable target. 'It's not like this is a series based on solving mysteries, isn't it about time to say the answer?' Because that's what I think, I have decided to reveal the solution to the riddle in the near future. Everyone, if a character appearing in the future really does match the name you predicted, it would be wonderful if you make an •MR-style exaggerated pretense of surprise while going "N-No, it can't be-!?" Furthermore, this time is another round for a certain heroine. It goes without saying for Erica and Ena, but even Liliana happens to be a "carnivorous" heroine in actual fact. As the only "herbivore" in the group, this girl usually hides behind other people's backs. Nevertheless, that sort of position can easily turn around into an advantage as the "only one." Anyway, when this volume goes on sale in August 2012, it happens to be during the anime's broadcast. Furthermore, it is also published after the anime plot focuses on her — Mariya-san. It sort of feels like favorable tailwind (laugh). As a side note, I definitely did not plan this ahead of time, it was simply coincidence (wry laugh). I started writing this volume when the release date was still not set... Then by the time I noticed, I realized to my great surprise that the release date miraculously coordinated with the anime broadcast schedule. Could this be considered a coincidence of fate? However, the one who will really receive favorable tailwind might very well be Liliana instead. With regards to the Liliana story in the latter half of the anime, I am always surprised by the potential drawn out, going "this is too amazing" every time, even as the original author. As Liliana fans, readers, please check out her anime version. Promise me. Well then. Of course, as the one responsible for the central role, Erica's all-important sense of presence, necessary for supporting the plot's development, has been portrayed thanks to the anime. In actual fact, during Volume 1, rather than being the heroine, Erica would be more aptly described as the "hero" I recognized... This time, with images and audio added, I am once again confronted with the fact that she really is a heroine with her own strong and distinctive style. Oh dear, despite the lack of Ena's appearances, she turned out to be quite a memorable character. So I guess all the heroines were successful in receiving favorable tailwind. By the way, I also secretly a.s.sisted the anime as the original author. Regarding all the various mythological knowledge mentioned throughout the story, I wrote up a new doc.u.ment suited to the anime's requirements. Without paying attention to things like word counts, I once again cooked up new scenarios to add only to discover "what kind of puzzle is this..." What a brain-racking challenge (wry smile.) Okay okay. Let's talk a bit about the next volume. After such a long time, I intend to let another Devil King apart from our protagonist enter the stage. Who will make an appearance, in what kind of manner, to cause what kind of commotion? If possible, readers, please confirm for yourselves in Volume 14. Actually, wait, I have already decided who is coming out to make a commotion.