Reincarnated as the Final Boss of an Eroge, but I Just Want a Peaceful Life After the Game Ends - Chapter 24: Interlude – A Letter from Afar

Chapter 24: Interlude – A Letter from Afar

To Sidol Meltrix,

It’s been a year and a half since I lost you.

Not a single day… not even a single moment has passed without you in my thoughts.

When Karen Dyle, now serving me in the royal capital after leaving the Bahamul territory, brought me news that you were still alive—

I don’t think I’ve ever felt such overwhelming joy.

A year and a half.

That’s how long I’ve lived apart from you, Sidol—the one I love and long for beyond words.

It’s been painful. Lonely. As if half of me was missing the entire time.

I want to see you.

I want to hold you.

I want to be wrapped in your scent as we embrace.

My heart and body belong to you, Sidol Meltrix.

I swear, I will give every part of myself—heart and soul—to you and no one else.

Please… stay well until the day we meet again.

From the bottom of my heart, I pray for your safety.

Fina Eternia

◆

It took about a month and a half, but we finally made it back to Bahamul territory.

The harvest season had just ended, and winter was setting in.

The lakeshore was freezing.

“Glad it’s not frozen over yet.”

The lake the people of Bahamul call Lake Bahamul freezes over completely during the heart of winter.

There had been talk of using the frozen lake for trade routes, but that was a discussion for another time.

Right after I returned home, Sophie handed me a letter—sent by Karen.

It was addressed to Sophie, but inside were two letters: one for me, and one for Ivelia.

What I just read was one of them.

Fina had always been pretty open about her feelings for me, even in the past…

And, well—what can I say? It’s very her.

That said, it’s not like I mind her feelings.

If she wants to come see me… she’s more than welcome to try.

Of course, all of that depends on whether or not I actually make it past age seventeen.

“Hey, Sidol. Here’s what she wrote to me.”

I took the letter from Ivelia and read what Fina had written to her.

Apparently, Ivelia had already read the one meant for me.

◆

To Ivelia Milenitrum,

I’m so glad to hear that you’re safe.

Someday, I’ll come visit you—no matter what.

NOT FAIR.

◆

The word Not fair was written so big, it took up half the page.

“Accusing me of being unfair, pouring her whole heart out for you… this is so Fina.”

Ivelia smiled so warmly, I couldn’t help but feel all fuzzy inside.

After we finished reading the letters, Sophie gave me a rundown of what had been happening in Bahamul territory.

Nothing major. The village development was coming along nicely.

Crops were growing well, and this year was shaping up to be a big harvest.

Since things were a little calmer now, the villagers had started preparing to dive into the forest dungeon again.

Last year, we’d helped a bunch of them level up, and apparently, that had made farm work way easier. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

Now, it had practically become a routine—when they had spare time, they’d go train in the forest and then do quick runs through the lower dungeon floors.

Winter in Bahamul was brutal.

The cold was relentless, and the snow piled up higher than an adult’s waist, making farming impossible during the season.

But livestock work stayed just as busy as in the summer.

Between snow removal and tending the animals, people rotated shifts—and whoever had time to spare went off to the dungeon.

At this point, even ten-year-old kids in the territory were hitting level 30. It was kinda insane.

“…Maybe I overdid it.”

That’s what I was thinking—until Ivelia chimed in.

“I don’t think you did. Not at all. Even the forest has monsters over level 30 now. If the kids don’t level up, it’ll only put them at a disadvantage just trying to survive here.”

She made a good point. A very good point.

A few days later—after some well-earned rest from the long journey—I went to see Jorg and asked if he could help me get a horse.

“A horse, you say?”

“Yeah. I was thinking maybe we could have a horse pull a sleigh across the frozen lake during the winter.”

“Horses aren’t native to Bahamul, so we’d have to go out to the Margrave’s territory to buy one. We’ve tried raising horses a few times, but none have ever made it over the mountain pass.”

“I see… So it’s still not a realistic option.”

It really would’ve changed a lot if we had horses.

With one, we could reach the far side of the forest by going along the mountains. We’d probably be able to collect more salt too.

I remembered the Dwarven Kingdom of Moria had horses…

“If it’s just for pulling a sleigh, how about using dogs or wolves instead?”

From Bahamul’s lakeshore to Moria’s was about 50 kilometers in a straight line.

Dogs pulling a sleigh? The memory of that surfaced from Tasuku Takamura’s past life—yeah, that was a thing.

“Dogs, huh? That could work—if we can gather enough of them.”

“There are a decent number of families in the territory who raise hunting dogs. And we could probably get a few from the livestock breeders who raise sheep. I’ll start organizing it. How many people will be going?”

“Let’s see… Me and Ivelia, and we should have someone to help manage the dogs.”

“Understood. I’ll handle gathering both the dogs and the person for the job. Shall I take care of getting the sleds too?”

“Yeah, if you can, I’d appreciate it.”

“Very well. Leave it to me.”

About a month later, the preparations were complete.

Three sleds. Eighteen dogs. And one young girl—standing in front of me and Ivelia, ready to join us on our next journey.

“My name is Kena. Lady Ivelia has been kindly teaching me academics, and I’m very grateful to her. Today, I’m here to help with the dog sled journey.”

Wait, what? Since when had Ivelia been giving lessons!?

“Oh, it’s you, Kena. I heard from Sidol that you’d be joining us on the trip to Moria. So it’ll be the three of us—Sidol, you, and me.”

“Yes, that’s what I was told as well.”

“Then I’ll be counting on you, Kena.”

…Why did I suddenly feel like I was the odd one out?

I didn’t get it.

Apparently, Kena was the daughter of a shepherd family and really skilled with handling dogs.

What’s more surprising was that she—and the other village kids—had been learning reading, writing, etiquette, and noble-style manners from Ivelia.

Turns out… Ivelia wasn’t just a battle-hardened warrior type.

She was seriously capable.

I’d always thought of her as a total muscle-brain, but clearly, I’d underestimated her.

With Kena leading the way, Ivelia and I climbed aboard the dog sled.

We packed up all the gold we could carry, loaded it onto the sled, and the three of us set off from Bahamul.

The dogs ran full-speed across the frozen lake, dragging the sled smoothly behind them.

They were fast. Ridiculously fast.

They covered the entire 50-kilometer distance in just two hours.

And it wasn’t like they slowed down at any point—they ran like they were going full throttle the entire time.

Dogs… seriously amazing.

When we reached the frozen docks on the far side, we tethered the dogs and parked the sled.

“Sidol.”

As we stepped off onto the lakeshore, Ivelia called my name.

“What’s up?”

“His Majesty Regin has agreed to grant you an audience. Celebres sent word ahead.”

“I see… I don’t really have anything urgent to talk about though.”

“That’s fine. Let’s go meet him anyway.”

With her [Spirit Magic], Ivelia could communicate over long distances by channeling messages through spirits to other spirit mages.

Apparently, she stayed in regular contact with Celebres that way.

So when Ivelia mentioned to Celebres that I’d be heading to Moria to try buying a horse, Celebres, ever thoughtful, reached out to King Regin Moria and pulled some strings.

That’s how the audience with the king came about—or so Ivelia explained.

King Regin was quite old, but as a dwarf, he naturally lived several decades longer than the average human, so he was still very much active on the throne.

Once we stepped off the lakeshore, a massive cavern loomed ahead.

Inside that cavern was the dwarven capital of Moria, sharing the same name as the country itself—a sprawling underground city.

Despite being inside a cave, it didn’t feel dark. The whole area was lit with torches, casting a warm glow.

When we gave our names at the city gate, we were promptly led to an audience with King Regin.

Dwarves, like elves, held deep faith in the spirits.

This wasn’t my first visit—it had only been about a month since I was last here—and just like last time, simply announcing our names earned us another direct meeting with the king.

And just like last time… we were served alcohol.

Yeah. That’s a thing here.

I’m only fourteen.

Not even close to the legal drinking age—yet in Moria, even kids were expected to drink.

Last time, Ivelia had joined in. She ended up out-drinking several dwarves without breaking a sweat.

Turns out, Ivelia’s a secret heavyweight drinker.

That day taught me a valuable lesson: never cross Ivelia when alcohol is involved.

As for me… yeah, I wasn’t strong.

Just like in my past life, a little booze was enough to knock me out. Total lightweight.

I had hoped being reborn would at least come with a better alcohol tolerance—but sadly, nope.

We finally sealed a deal with the dwarves to trade salt.

Half of it would be passed along to the elves, but the core of the agreement focused on trading salt and mineral resources.

In the northern mountains of Bahamul territory, there was a large rock salt deposit. Until now, we’d only gone up there twice a year to collect it in bulk.

But by turning it into a proper industry, we could supply both the dwarves and the forest elves consistently.

Bahamul only had around a thousand residents, so labor was tight. That’s when Moria stepped in—they agreed to send workers to help us.

That was the first deal we locked in.

Aside from that, the dwarves were masters of metalwork—blacksmithing, metalcraft, engraving, all of it.

Since Bahamul’s territory likely held untapped mineral resources, the Moria side wanted to send a survey team and hoped we’d begin developing mining and metal industries too.

I told them we couldn’t just hand over everything to them. We’d need to secure local manpower first—but after that, sure, we’d work together.

With the framework for trade between Bahamul and Moria now sketched out, we wrapped up the talks.

“That took more time than I expected.”

“It did. But if this works out, Bahamul’s going to thrive.”

“Prosperity’s nice and all, but I kinda like how peaceful and quiet Bahamul is right now.”

“I feel the same. But—weren’t we here to buy a horse? Let’s get that done.”

Just as Ivelia nudged me toward the stables, we were about to pass through the castle gates—when one of the guards called out to us.

“A gift from His Majesty. Please accept it with our compliments. I was also asked to convey His apologies for taking up so much of your time.”

Gratefully, I accepted the king’s generous gift—eight horses in total.

…Eight.

Now the real question: how the heck are we getting all of these back?

We doubled the travel time it took with the dog sled and slowly made our way back to Bahamul territory with the horses in tow.

By the time we arrived, the sun had already gone down and it was completely dark.

Still, if it were summer, we’d have made it back before sunset, so I counted that as a win.

The horses were welcomed like royalty in Bahamul.

Thanks to them, we were able to significantly increase the volume of salt transported—and they turned out to be incredibly useful for hauling lumber from the forest as well.

With eight horses, we could now start breeding them too.

And more importantly, since we could move more goods, village development and dock construction progressed faster than ever.

Though Ivelia had only one thing to say:

“That dog sled was really fast. I’ve ridden horses plenty of times back when I lived in the capital, but the speed and thrill of that sled? Nothing compares.”

She clearly loved the low-to-the-ground rush of riding a sled pulled by dogs.

Honestly, I was starting to think she was the type who’d enjoy roller coasters a little too much.

◆

Once regular ship routes began operating from the dock, things really started to shift.

Dwarves began visiting Bahamul more often, and in return, villagers started traveling to trade—buying and selling goods. Bit by bit, the territory was coming to life.

As Bahamul’s development picked up speed, I started spending more time running the forest dungeon—sometimes with Ivelia, other times with Sophie.

The dungeon in Bahamul’s forest was practically a raid zone—full of high-level monsters—and I found myself challenging it solo more often.

Ivelia had already hit level 99, and it didn’t seem like she could level up anymore, so instead of focusing on getting stronger, she started shifting her attention to other things.

Meanwhile, I somehow got stronger after hitting level 99.

Yeah, no idea how, but my leveling pace actually improved after that. Every time I dove into the dungeon, I could feel myself getting stronger.

Plus, the spirits I summoned with [Summoning Magic★] got stronger too, scaling with my level—making dungeon crawling way easier.

Sure, I might get scolded by Celebres for turning spirits into glorified pack mules, but I could make them tangible—and that meant they could carry stuff.

Honestly, [Summoning Magic★] might just be the ultimate convenience skill. Total lifesaver.

And thanks to my unique skill [MP Regeneration★], which seems to grow stronger the higher my level gets, I could summon multiple spirits at once—and still regenerate more MP than I used.

So basically, as long as I didn’t die, my spirit party would keep working for me non-stop.

With that setup, I managed to push all the way through to floor 120—just me and my summoned spirit squad.

The enemies on the lower floors were level 120.

I knew I couldn’t afford to die—but the deeper I went, the more that tension built. Every battle felt like a gamble with my life.

Just like when I went after the [Last Leaf], there was that sharp, exhilarating edge—where each decision could mean success or death. And honestly… I kind of liked it.

I couldn’t really tease others for being battle junkies anymore.

Turns out, I might be one myself.

I was actually enjoying the challenge of dungeon diving.

When I got back from the dungeon, a second letter from Fina had arrived.

‘I’ve been leveling up too! Thanks to Karen, I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I hope you’re looking forward to seeing me!’

That was the short version.

I, uh… left out the more embarrassing parts.

“I’ve hit my cap. No matter how hard I try, I’m not getting any stronger. But lately, I’ve found joy in helping out with things around the village. Fina must be having the time of her life, getting stronger every day. I’m a little jealous, honestly.”

Ivelia read Fina’s letter with a warm smile on her face.

Those two were really close.

Oh—and just like last time, there it was again.

The word “Not fair!” scrawled across the page in big, bold letters.